WEBVTT

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I got obsessed with that Kebmo album, Keep It

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Simple. I remember that record, yeah. That was

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a big album for me also, like at that age. I

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was 10, so I guess maybe there you go. There

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you go. There you go. It was perfect. And to

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be honest with you, you go back and listen to

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that album. I think those songs are just nostalgic

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for me. Because when you go back and listen to

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them, it does feel like the soundtrack to a made

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-for -TV Lifetime movie where a grandpa is teaching

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his disobedient son how to ride a horse for the

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first time. That is Kembo's music. But it's a

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beautiful album. Welcome to Overeducated and

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Underemployed. We got a really fun episode this

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week. Sitting down with my buddy Carson Taylor.

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He's got a comedy special coming out next week

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on YouTube. It's called Tally Ho. Make sure you

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check that out. We got into all kinds of stuff.

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Philosophy of comedy. You know, his whole story.

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Really, really great conversation. Hope you enjoy

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it. I'm going to be up in Athens, Georgia next

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week. For like a week. So come find me. I'll

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be doing Jittery Joe's Clean Comedy on the 17th.

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I'll be doing The Flicker Bar on the 21st. I'll

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be doing A Club in Winder, Georgia, just outside

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of Athens on the 22nd. So come see me. I'm going

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to be doing some new jokes. Those of you up there

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that have seen me before, I will be doing all

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new stuff. This Saturday, make sure you check

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out P -Funk Fest. I'm going to be broadcasting

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live on my YouTube channel, so make sure you

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go over to the YouTube channel and subscribe.

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I'm going to be interviewing members of Parliament

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Funkadelic, covering the fest itself, talking

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to all the artists there. And I've got some new

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equipment to capture it with, so it's going to

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look really good. So y 'all look forward to that.

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And that's about all I have for you this week.

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Here's my interview with Carson Taylor. We get

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into it. It's awesome. 15 % fat. Ground beef.

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And then I went and... Got sauce. What was the

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use of the different beef percentage of fats

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for? It was just one that popped up in my head.

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Oh, okay. That I've seen before. I didn't know

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you got a specific percentage for a specific...

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No. I usually just grab whatever gets me out

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of there faster. You're just grabbing meat willy

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-nilly, huh? Yeah. No. But I see what you're

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trying to do. All right, I think we're good to

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go. Yeah, we're both on frame. Cool. We're here.

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Welcome to Overeducated and Underemployed. I'm

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here with Carson Taylor. He's a comedian. He's

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also sprung on me last night. He's a pretty good

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guitar player, too. Okay. It's easy to impress

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me on guitar. I'm a white boy. Yeah. But I'm

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going to ask you the same question I ask everybody.

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Okay. What's the first song you remember loving

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as a kid? Oh, wow. The first song I remember

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loving as a kid. Oh, yeah, I have three. Cheater.

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Oh, okay. It was all around the same time. It

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was Stash by Phish, because my dad was huge into

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the band Phish. And then it was Smooth by Rob

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Thomas and Santana. Oh, Layla, Eric Clapton,

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Derek and the Dominoes. So those are probably

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the first three songs I remember loving. And

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so the variation of the question that I ask comedians

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is, what's the first joke you remember imitating

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as a kid? The first joke? More like bit. I remember

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my mom and her boyfriend at the time were watching

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Chris Rock, Bigger and Blacker, just come out.

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And it was the joke about Superman can't walk.

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What's next? Aquaman's going to drown in the

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bathtub. And I didn't even really understand

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that joke too much. I just knew it was funny

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because they laughed at it. You know what I mean?

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So I remember going to school and telling people

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that joke. That was the first joke I remember.

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That was probably, like, when I was, like, six

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years old or something like that. I remember,

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like, standing in my room, the way the living

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room was. I could open the door and, like, see

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the TV from the thing. So I, like, watched that

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whole special, like, from a crack through my

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door, basically. It's amazing, like, that end

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up being these, it's like a portal into your

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parents' world. Yeah. They don't have any idea.

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It was a living room TV, and of course I say

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it was a big TV back then. It was probably like

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this size. You're just like spying on them. Yeah.

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I remember watching that special and then watching

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the movie Sleepy Hollow. Oh. Yeah. And then I

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was like, all right, I'm done watching whatever

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they're watching. It freaked me out. At what

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point did you start to... Were you really passionate

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about music as a kid? Yeah. I wanted to be a

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musician all my whole life until I started doing

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comedy. Okay. So you're the example of a thing

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I talk about all the time on this podcast, which

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is that all comedians are going to want to be

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rock stars. Yeah. Maybe not all. I was like,

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no, that's not me. Yeah, but there's definitely

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comedians that you end up finding out they play

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music. And there was a time in high school when

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they were like, I'm going to be the next Neil

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Peart or whatever. So, yeah, no, I totally feel

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that because I was definitely in the same way.

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Because when I was a kid, my dad was huge in

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The Grateful Dead and Phish, and he was a radio

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DJ and everything. So I started playing guitar,

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and I was obsessed with Jimi Hendrix and all

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that stuff. And then you turn 13, and you try

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to learn Eruption and all that stuff. In my mind,

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I was like, I'm going to perform at Bonnaroo.

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Because we went to Bonnaroo when I was 10 and

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11 years old. And that was the dream all throughout

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high school. One day, we're going to play Bonnaroo.

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So yeah, I want to be a rock star for sure. They

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have comedians in Bonnaroo. It could still happen.

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It could still happen. Anything can happen. But

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yeah, and I still make music and release stuff.

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I put out a free little... Just an instrumental

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album of beats that I made and stuff on Bandcamp.

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Okay. There's a link in the description of the

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episode. Yeah. So I still make stuff for fun.

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Just put it out there, but I do not do anything

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for money as far as music at the moment. But

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I did have a band called Shropshire Collective.

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There's still a band called Shropshire Collective.

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Yeah, S -H -R -O -P -S -H -I -R -E Collective.

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And we put out an album like two years ago. That's

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on Spotify and all that stuff or whatever. Let's

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back up a minute. I want to hear about this,

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but I feel like we're getting way ahead of ourselves.

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Oh, yeah, sorry, dude. I'm rambling. You're fine,

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and I want to hear about that, but I want to

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hear how you decided, A, to be like, oh, I'm

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going to pursue music, and then, B, how you moved

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away from that or gave up on it, or it doesn't

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sound like you fully gave up on it, but gave

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up on it as, I'm going to make it. Yeah. And

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now you're making it as a comedian instead. But

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I want to back up. So you're passionate about

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music as a kid. When did you first get a guitar,

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you said? That's my, like, first memories actively.

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Because, like, I saw the movie School of Rock.

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That was the moment. School of Rock came out,

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and I was, like, 10 years old. And we got it

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on DVD right when it hit the shelves. And it

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changed my life. I remember, like, having a guitar.

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And at first I only had a guitar with one string.

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And it was this old electric guitar or whatever,

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like this, like, Gibson knockoff SG. And I would

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just sit there and watch and just play that one

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string over and over again and try to learn.

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Like, my neighbors taught. Tenacious D had the

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one -note song. Oh, I didn't even know that.

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Tenacious D's got a one -note song. Oh, okay.

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So, I mean, they. I think you were just on the

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same wavelength as John. I just knew I had to

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get started at that age. But then eventually

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I got all six strings. And then I would watch

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that movie and I would slow down the part where

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he was teaching the kid. I think he teaches them

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Highway to Hell, Iron Man, and Smoke on the Water.

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Right, that is the way he teaches them. And so

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in super slow -mo, I would just sit there and

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watch their hands and I would just try to learn.

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That's amazing. This is pre -YouTube for those

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of you out there. Yeah, that's two years before

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YouTube, I think. Closest thing you could get

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to do instructional videos. All I had was that,

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and then we had Comcast On Demand, and I think

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HBO, because we had a subscription, they had

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free guitar lesson videos. So it would be like

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a guy teaching you how to play. Because back

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then, at that age, I was obsessed with Green

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Day. So they'd teach me how. when I come around

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and all that stuff. So that's how I started learning

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power chords, just through Comcast On Demand.

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I think they're Xfinity now. So what was the

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first concert that you remember going to as a

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kid? First concert that I remember going to as

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a kid? Ooh. As far as my memories, it's the first

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Bonnaroo. Okay. Yeah. When you went to is a four.

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Yeah. So it'd have been like the second or third

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Bonnaroo. Third one. Yeah. No two. Yeah. So then

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the third Bonnaroo. Well, yeah. Anyway, somewhere

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there, it was the early years before it got bought

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by wide nation and all that. Yeah. So I remember.

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Oh, actually, I'll tell you, Noah, my earliest

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concert memory is actually going to the North

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Mississippi All -Stars soundcheck at Soul Kitchen

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because my dad is friends with the owner of the

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Soul Kitchen and he worked for 92 Zoo at the

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time. And so it was just a radio station and

00:11:07.720 --> 00:11:11.440
mobile. And so he we would listen to the North

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Mississippi All -Stars all the time at home.

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It was 2004. I think I was at that show, man.

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Yeah. So I have Luther. We got to go to soundcheck.

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Dickinson and his brother, they let us come on

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stage, Cody. And they let my sister play the

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drums, and he let me play his guitar. And then

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Luther gave me his slide, which is still the

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slide I use today. Although I suck at slide guitar.

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When I mess around with it, that's the slide

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I've had since 2004. I was like 10. And there's

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a picture of him putting his guitar on me. And

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then I realized, oh, a real guitar is heavy,

00:11:47.129 --> 00:11:50.049
dude. It was as heavy as I was. It was weighing

00:11:50.049 --> 00:11:54.919
me down. What a cool experience. I've had Luther

00:11:54.919 --> 00:11:58.379
Dickinson, his assistant producer, Cody Shade

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Harrell. He's Cedric Burnside's bass player,

00:12:01.580 --> 00:12:06.279
but he plays with those guys a lot nowadays.

00:12:06.500 --> 00:12:08.879
I've been listening to those guys since I was

00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:15.740
18 years old. The All -Stars were my path from

00:12:15.740 --> 00:12:21.700
rock into Americana and blues. And like the more

00:12:21.700 --> 00:12:25.139
modern stuff, not the... Not classic blues. But

00:12:25.139 --> 00:12:28.039
I got into the All -Stars before I got into the

00:12:28.039 --> 00:12:30.179
Drive -By Truckers. They were like my pathway.

00:12:30.659 --> 00:12:34.080
Their album Polaris, which came out in 2003,

00:12:34.279 --> 00:12:37.360
I think. That was a huge album for me. The experimental

00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:39.799
one they did. It was a little more poppy. When

00:12:39.799 --> 00:12:42.679
I was a kid, me and my little sister, that was

00:12:42.679 --> 00:12:45.320
a huge CD to us. We'd listen to that all the

00:12:45.320 --> 00:12:47.320
time. I think it's all them sitting there and

00:12:47.320 --> 00:12:49.340
it's like a greenish background or whatever.

00:12:49.580 --> 00:12:54.840
I know the record. I'll go, dude, that for me,

00:12:54.899 --> 00:12:56.899
it's like when I go back and listen to that album,

00:12:56.980 --> 00:12:59.960
it's like my childhood again. Like, I love that

00:12:59.960 --> 00:13:02.460
album. Yeah, it's like freshman year of college

00:13:02.460 --> 00:13:05.299
for me. Nice. Oddly enough, it was like when

00:13:05.299 --> 00:13:07.519
I was growing up, my two biggest albums were

00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:10.139
that one and like early part of childhood. It

00:13:10.139 --> 00:13:14.779
was that one and Chingy Jackpot. Chingy's a rapper

00:13:14.779 --> 00:13:17.419
from St. Louis. That is not something I've heard

00:13:17.419 --> 00:13:20.279
of. He had a song called Right There and Holiday

00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:24.960
Inn that were huge in 2003, 2004. I think I remember

00:13:24.960 --> 00:13:27.259
Holiday Inn. Yeah, it was with Ludacris and Snoop

00:13:27.259 --> 00:13:34.200
Dogg. Yeah, that was... Ludacris. But that was

00:13:34.200 --> 00:13:38.480
2003, 2004 for me. North Mississippi All -Stars

00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:41.080
and Chingy. That's what I was obsessed with.

00:13:41.100 --> 00:13:43.080
It's about electric blue watermelon, and it's

00:13:43.080 --> 00:13:45.659
like the world's collided. That's the chopped

00:13:45.659 --> 00:13:49.919
and screwed. Yeah, I forget about that one. They

00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:51.600
threw the electric blue watermelon into that.

00:13:51.620 --> 00:13:54.299
That's right. I've got a copy of it laying around

00:13:54.299 --> 00:13:57.659
here somewhere, man. Yeah. It doesn't hold up.

00:13:57.759 --> 00:14:01.360
By 2007, I became obsessed with Nirvana and The

00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:03.759
Doors. So like early part of childhood, it was

00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:06.059
North Mississippi All -Stars and like hip hop.

00:14:06.100 --> 00:14:09.019
And then 2007, it was literally, I think for

00:14:09.019 --> 00:14:11.879
two or three years, all I listened to was Nirvana

00:14:11.879 --> 00:14:16.820
and The Doors. So in 05 at Bonnaroo, which you

00:14:16.820 --> 00:14:19.620
were at too, right? North Mississippi All -Stars

00:14:19.620 --> 00:14:22.460
played, but then they also played that thing

00:14:22.460 --> 00:14:25.210
with... John Medesky and Robert Randolph, The

00:14:25.210 --> 00:14:28.870
Word. Oh, man, I love The Word. I love The Word.

00:14:28.909 --> 00:14:33.029
I've never seen them, but I've... My dad used

00:14:33.029 --> 00:14:35.789
to listen to that. He probably did. Yeah, my

00:14:35.789 --> 00:14:38.649
dad, like, that album, that, like, tannish brown

00:14:38.649 --> 00:14:41.230
album, yeah, with the hard writer, that album

00:14:41.230 --> 00:14:46.429
rules. The Word's awesome. They're badass. It's

00:14:46.429 --> 00:14:48.909
just cool to me. I'm thinking we've been in a

00:14:48.909 --> 00:14:50.929
lot of the same concerts long before we ever

00:14:50.929 --> 00:14:52.830
knew each other. I know, but I was like a fourth

00:14:52.830 --> 00:14:56.669
grader. Not much older than that. That's the

00:14:56.669 --> 00:14:59.690
thing. When I talk to people that are either

00:14:59.690 --> 00:15:01.370
a little bit older than me or a little bit younger

00:15:01.370 --> 00:15:04.830
than me, now the age difference doesn't mean

00:15:04.830 --> 00:15:08.370
shit until you start talking about back then.

00:15:14.429 --> 00:15:17.970
The opposite is true, too, for children's programming.

00:15:18.190 --> 00:15:23.409
Now, I had a kid in 2007, 2008, 2009. But a lot

00:15:23.409 --> 00:15:25.870
of the time, somebody will be talking about some

00:15:25.870 --> 00:15:28.909
children's programming that they grew up on,

00:15:29.009 --> 00:15:30.590
and I'm like, I have no idea what you're talking

00:15:30.590 --> 00:15:33.570
about. All the really good cartoons I grew up

00:15:33.570 --> 00:15:37.110
on and stuff, all the younger people, they know

00:15:37.110 --> 00:15:39.850
a lot of it. Because it stuck around. And they

00:15:39.850 --> 00:15:42.950
rule. It stuck around. I grew up on like early

00:15:42.950 --> 00:15:45.830
Simpsons. My dad, like when I was a kid, my dad,

00:15:45.850 --> 00:15:47.870
there was a time where I don't even know if we

00:15:47.870 --> 00:15:51.409
had cable because he had all these stacks of

00:15:51.409 --> 00:15:54.509
VHS tapes that he had taped of the Simpsons himself.

00:15:54.950 --> 00:15:57.230
And he would even stop the record during the

00:15:57.230 --> 00:16:01.289
commercials and then record again. netflix in

00:16:01.289 --> 00:16:06.210
1999 of like just all commercial free simpsons

00:16:06.210 --> 00:16:08.889
on vhs tape that he labeled and he just labeled

00:16:08.889 --> 00:16:12.629
them like simpsons 1 simpsons 11 so you had to

00:16:12.629 --> 00:16:14.429
guess which one would be a season because maybe

00:16:14.429 --> 00:16:17.830
like simpsons 14 would they were all just randomly

00:16:17.830 --> 00:16:21.549
what would come on tv So Simpsons 14, it would

00:16:21.549 --> 00:16:24.950
start off with an episode from Season 8, Episode

00:16:24.950 --> 00:16:28.210
6. And then it would go into Season 3, Episode

00:16:28.210 --> 00:16:31.350
2. So you never know what you got. But we would

00:16:31.350 --> 00:16:33.570
figure out, like, we like the compilation of

00:16:33.570 --> 00:16:37.250
Simpsons 17 is a good one. So that one would

00:16:37.250 --> 00:16:39.789
get set to the side. And we have the greatest

00:16:39.789 --> 00:16:43.490
hits section. Springfield Roulette. Yeah, we

00:16:43.490 --> 00:16:46.950
knew what episodes we wanted. The softball one

00:16:46.950 --> 00:16:48.929
was huge. We loved that one. Did you ever star

00:16:48.929 --> 00:16:51.470
in the really good ones? Maybe. There's a chance,

00:16:51.629 --> 00:16:55.870
yeah. There's a chance. What were some of the

00:16:55.870 --> 00:17:02.529
other comedy that really got you rocks off? SpongeBob.

00:17:02.669 --> 00:17:05.309
Early SpongeBob as a kid. I remember watching

00:17:05.309 --> 00:17:08.349
the premiere episode of SpongeBob when it first

00:17:08.349 --> 00:17:11.069
came on television. Growing up with those first

00:17:11.069 --> 00:17:15.430
three seasons, it took over. I took over every

00:17:15.430 --> 00:17:19.269
classroom in America. Yeah, I got into Spongebob

00:17:19.269 --> 00:17:23.089
way later when I just... Yeah. Stoner culture.

00:17:23.890 --> 00:17:27.369
Or just by the time I had a kid that got into

00:17:27.369 --> 00:17:31.349
Spongebob. But I missed the window. I was too

00:17:31.349 --> 00:17:33.849
old for Spongebob. Yeah. So I got into Spongebob

00:17:33.849 --> 00:17:36.869
later. But if I had not had a kid or while it

00:17:36.869 --> 00:17:40.009
was on, I had no idea about Spongebob. Now, like...

00:17:40.490 --> 00:17:42.609
I think I told you last night, like, I took mushrooms

00:17:42.609 --> 00:17:44.569
and watched the Spongebob musical, and it was

00:17:44.569 --> 00:17:46.029
one of the greatest fucking nights of my life.

00:17:46.029 --> 00:17:48.589
Yeah. Fantastic. I love Spongebob. I feel like

00:17:48.589 --> 00:17:53.630
from, like, 1999 to 2003, as far as, like, references

00:17:53.630 --> 00:17:56.710
and being part of a culture, Spongebob was to

00:17:56.710 --> 00:17:59.910
kids what Chappelle's show was for adults. Like,

00:17:59.970 --> 00:18:02.329
we knew the lines and the references, and we

00:18:02.329 --> 00:18:05.730
tried to do the characters. It was a big deal.

00:18:05.809 --> 00:18:08.150
I was not aware of it. Oh, yeah. Yeah. At least

00:18:08.150 --> 00:18:10.660
it was where I grew up. This one probably was

00:18:10.660 --> 00:18:13.319
huge for us. I'm sure it was. I think those are

00:18:13.319 --> 00:18:15.440
the kinds of cultural things, though, that I...

00:18:15.440 --> 00:18:19.400
But we also... I love Chappelle's show, too.

00:18:19.599 --> 00:18:22.420
I would go to my friend Dwight's house. His parents...

00:18:22.420 --> 00:18:26.900
His mom was cool. He got to play Grand Theft

00:18:26.900 --> 00:18:29.200
Auto. So I was like, I go over there and I get

00:18:29.200 --> 00:18:31.160
to play Grand Theft Auto. So that was cool. And

00:18:31.160 --> 00:18:33.400
then when I went over there, I saw Chappelle's

00:18:33.400 --> 00:18:36.980
show for the first time. And it was like... I

00:18:36.980 --> 00:18:39.240
didn't fully get everything, but I was like,

00:18:39.259 --> 00:18:42.240
something's happening here. Chappelle's just

00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:45.500
funny. Yeah, he's one of my all -time favorites.

00:18:47.059 --> 00:18:49.859
He's made his mistakes like anybody else. I haven't

00:18:49.859 --> 00:18:52.059
seen his last two or three specials, but hands

00:18:52.059 --> 00:18:55.259
down, he's one of the greatest of all time. The

00:18:55.259 --> 00:18:57.460
thing that bothers me, and we don't have to get

00:18:57.460 --> 00:18:59.140
too super into this, but the thing that bothers

00:18:59.140 --> 00:19:03.980
me about him is... I don't think that the material

00:19:03.980 --> 00:19:06.559
that he keeps getting in trouble for is worth

00:19:06.559 --> 00:19:10.240
the trouble. Yeah. It's not funny enough to be

00:19:10.240 --> 00:19:13.559
like, regardless of any punching down, like,

00:19:13.599 --> 00:19:15.460
I don't even want to get into all that, but I'm

00:19:15.460 --> 00:19:18.660
just saying it's not funny. Like it's not funny

00:19:18.660 --> 00:19:21.539
enough hill for him to die on. That's what I

00:19:21.539 --> 00:19:24.240
would say. And then his last special was like

00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:26.519
an hour and 20 minutes. And if you cut that,

00:19:26.539 --> 00:19:29.559
that 20, if you cut 20 minutes of it, it was

00:19:29.559 --> 00:19:33.230
fucking amazing. Yeah. So I just don't think

00:19:33.230 --> 00:19:36.990
that I think he's doubling down on the wrong

00:19:36.990 --> 00:19:40.009
shit and it's making him less funny. Yeah. His

00:19:40.009 --> 00:19:42.650
humor as far as what I've heard other people

00:19:42.650 --> 00:19:45.190
say and stuff it seems like his newer specials

00:19:45.190 --> 00:19:48.930
have definitely like caused more divide than

00:19:48.930 --> 00:19:54.339
his earlier stuff. But and it's like He's speaking

00:19:54.339 --> 00:19:57.220
his mind as part of being in America. I need

00:19:57.220 --> 00:19:59.279
to check him out before I really have an opinion

00:19:59.279 --> 00:20:00.579
on him. You know what I mean? We're not even

00:20:00.579 --> 00:20:02.619
trying to comment on the content. I just don't

00:20:02.619 --> 00:20:06.259
think... At a certain point, I think he's letting

00:20:06.259 --> 00:20:09.740
his, like, desire to prove that he will keep

00:20:09.740 --> 00:20:12.660
doing whatever he wants is making him less funny.

00:20:12.759 --> 00:20:16.190
I feel that. Like, sometimes, like... I think

00:20:16.190 --> 00:20:19.529
some people can get way too preachy. But see,

00:20:19.569 --> 00:20:21.390
that's the other thing. It's hard to say that

00:20:21.390 --> 00:20:23.509
about him because sometimes he'll have 15 minutes

00:20:23.509 --> 00:20:26.490
of silence that builds up to one line that like,

00:20:26.589 --> 00:20:30.309
boom, it explodes in the room and you just have

00:20:30.309 --> 00:20:31.829
to sit there and be like, this guy's a genius.

00:20:32.250 --> 00:20:35.769
I think what's important is like... What we were

00:20:35.769 --> 00:20:37.650
talking about that I think is relevant to what

00:20:37.650 --> 00:20:40.250
I'm after here on this podcast is your early

00:20:40.250 --> 00:20:44.150
influences of comedy and your early influences

00:20:44.150 --> 00:20:49.670
of music. Did that ever converge for you? Music

00:20:49.670 --> 00:20:55.849
and comedy? I was never a big Weird Al fan. I

00:20:55.849 --> 00:20:57.950
remember when White and Nerdy was huge growing

00:20:57.950 --> 00:21:00.950
up. I would watch his, because I was such a Nirvana

00:21:00.950 --> 00:21:03.490
fan, I would go back and watch his Smells Like...

00:21:04.029 --> 00:21:05.990
Team Spirit or whatever the song is. It smells

00:21:05.990 --> 00:21:08.069
like Nirvana. Yeah, it smells like Nirvana. That's

00:21:08.069 --> 00:21:12.769
what it is. That's what it is. I think it smells

00:21:12.769 --> 00:21:15.269
like Team Spirit instead of Team. I don't know.

00:21:15.609 --> 00:21:17.950
Anyway, but it was probably one of the early

00:21:17.950 --> 00:21:19.650
days of YouTube and someone would just be wrong.

00:21:19.829 --> 00:21:21.809
Like when everyone thought Phish was that bluegrass

00:21:21.809 --> 00:21:24.089
band that covered gin and juice. Or Napster.

00:21:24.130 --> 00:21:27.690
I remember Napster. It was probably one of those

00:21:27.690 --> 00:21:31.630
situations. So I knew Weird Al from just a handful

00:21:31.630 --> 00:21:35.910
of songs, like A Surgeon and all that. But I

00:21:35.910 --> 00:21:38.309
can't ever say that I was a huge fan or I knew

00:21:38.309 --> 00:21:39.910
too much about him. I haven't watched that movie

00:21:39.910 --> 00:21:43.450
on him either, which I hear is good. So you weren't

00:21:43.450 --> 00:21:47.809
super into Weird Al, but did music and comedy

00:21:47.809 --> 00:21:51.150
ever really cross over for you? Music and comedy

00:21:51.150 --> 00:21:53.230
stuff that kind of crossed over for me, really,

00:21:53.309 --> 00:21:57.589
that I realized was this is like when I was young.

00:21:59.309 --> 00:22:02.309
the Chappelle show, the episode with John Mayer.

00:22:02.309 --> 00:22:04.829
Oh yeah. Where he played the guitar. Cause I

00:22:04.829 --> 00:22:06.930
was just starting to learn how to play the guitar.

00:22:06.990 --> 00:22:09.269
Like when that episode came out and had it on

00:22:09.269 --> 00:22:13.450
DVD. It's one of my favorites. Yeah. Actually

00:22:13.450 --> 00:22:15.710
what I was referencing when I said it was easy

00:22:15.710 --> 00:22:17.930
to impress me with guitar. Cause I'm a white

00:22:17.930 --> 00:22:21.000
boy. Yeah, dude. And that was huge to me because,

00:22:21.059 --> 00:22:22.880
like, eventually, this might have been a few

00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:25.000
years after it came out, but eventually my parents

00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:27.420
just let me, like, have a Chappelle show on DVD

00:22:27.420 --> 00:22:31.000
because I, like, kept talking about it. So they

00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:35.619
obviously watched the whole damn thing. So I

00:22:35.619 --> 00:22:38.839
was obsessed with that sketch. And I just loved

00:22:38.839 --> 00:22:43.099
how he played guitar on it, on each one. And

00:22:43.099 --> 00:22:45.640
then at the end, when they started doing the

00:22:45.640 --> 00:22:49.380
theme songs, it was, like, hilarious. And so

00:22:49.380 --> 00:22:51.779
that was a huge influence, I think, on how comedy

00:22:51.779 --> 00:22:54.319
and music can go together. He even did music.

00:22:54.539 --> 00:22:56.700
But he had a song that I remember being obsessed

00:22:56.700 --> 00:23:00.119
with. And then this guy that used to be a, what

00:23:00.119 --> 00:23:02.539
was his name? Oh, Demetri Martin. Oh, yeah, Demetri.

00:23:02.599 --> 00:23:04.440
Loved Demetri Martin. And so, like, when he would

00:23:04.440 --> 00:23:06.440
do musical comedy every now and again, like,

00:23:06.480 --> 00:23:08.799
I loved that. Yeah. There's a handful of things

00:23:08.799 --> 00:23:10.579
that I realized that it could be married, but

00:23:10.579 --> 00:23:13.000
I never. That's never something you've tried

00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:16.220
to do. I've written one funny song before. It's

00:23:16.220 --> 00:23:21.680
a breakup song, but it's also each last line

00:23:21.680 --> 00:23:25.500
is funny. You know what I mean? At first, I actually

00:23:25.500 --> 00:23:27.920
just went through a breakup, and I meant for

00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:31.059
just the song to be sad. And then I played it

00:23:31.059 --> 00:23:34.279
for somebody, and they laughed. And I was like,

00:23:34.460 --> 00:23:38.019
yeah, that is ridiculous. So now I realize it's

00:23:38.019 --> 00:23:41.710
just a comedy song. You know what I mean? Like,

00:23:41.710 --> 00:23:45.210
I think there's some poetry in there in the beginning.

00:23:45.869 --> 00:23:50.869
And then it just goes into ridiculousness. Was

00:23:50.869 --> 00:23:54.130
it soul -crushing when they just laughed? No.

00:23:54.670 --> 00:23:56.650
Maybe it was obvious. I was like, yeah, this

00:23:56.650 --> 00:23:58.529
is funny. You were like, oh, I'm hearing this

00:23:58.529 --> 00:24:01.750
out loud for the first time, too. I played it

00:24:01.750 --> 00:24:05.210
at, like, one open mic before. But I don't...

00:24:05.210 --> 00:24:08.089
It just feels weird to do music and comedy. Frank

00:24:08.089 --> 00:24:12.500
Zappa is... I love that. That's incredible to

00:24:12.500 --> 00:24:14.640
me. Or like Parliament Funkadelic, the way that

00:24:14.640 --> 00:24:18.319
they use comedy and music is awesome. But it's

00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:21.880
still... I feel like when you do it in a musical

00:24:21.880 --> 00:24:23.980
way like that, on that big level, like Fish is

00:24:23.980 --> 00:24:26.579
very comical and sometimes on their New Year

00:24:26.579 --> 00:24:28.740
shows they'll do big things. But I feel like

00:24:28.740 --> 00:24:31.819
it almost has to be more theatrical in a way.

00:24:32.019 --> 00:24:35.900
And I'm just not a theatrical... I just sort

00:24:35.900 --> 00:24:38.829
of like... Musicals or... I remember when Across

00:24:38.829 --> 00:24:42.589
the Universe came out. That was good. But I've

00:24:42.589 --> 00:24:44.029
never been a huge... I'm trying to think if I

00:24:44.029 --> 00:24:48.390
ever liked a musical. So there's old musicals

00:24:48.390 --> 00:24:51.789
that I've seen that I love. On the Town with

00:24:51.789 --> 00:24:56.430
Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly and another guy

00:24:56.430 --> 00:24:59.730
that I can't... But that one, the sets are huge.

00:24:59.809 --> 00:25:02.559
There's this one where this... It's like they

00:25:02.559 --> 00:25:05.380
obviously just use the stage, but the way that

00:25:05.380 --> 00:25:09.000
they do the background, you're like, where is

00:25:09.000 --> 00:25:12.019
this filmed? It's crazy, like in the Superdome.

00:25:12.819 --> 00:25:15.319
And yeah, some of that stuff's just... I love

00:25:15.319 --> 00:25:18.859
old films. One of my favorite movies that I haven't

00:25:18.859 --> 00:25:20.599
watched in a while, but I have it on DVD, and

00:25:20.599 --> 00:25:22.079
I'll go back and watch it from time to time,

00:25:22.079 --> 00:25:25.420
is the original Ten Commandments. And I'm not

00:25:25.420 --> 00:25:30.880
a religious person at all. But I love that movie.

00:25:30.900 --> 00:25:35.230
Just the story of Moses rules. And just how big

00:25:35.230 --> 00:25:38.430
that they basically just built Egypt. And like

00:25:38.430 --> 00:25:40.690
now that everything's like digital and can be

00:25:40.690 --> 00:25:43.849
AI now and everything, it ruins like a huge aesthetic

00:25:43.849 --> 00:25:46.170
of like back in the day, they would just hire

00:25:46.170 --> 00:25:49.289
a bunch of people. People had jobs. And I was

00:25:49.289 --> 00:25:50.589
like, all right, so what are we doing today?

00:25:50.630 --> 00:25:52.930
We're building three pyramids. And you're like,

00:25:52.970 --> 00:25:56.930
Jesus, let's do it. And it's like crazy. I think

00:25:56.930 --> 00:25:59.849
if you watch the Lord of the Rings movies and

00:25:59.849 --> 00:26:03.140
then you watch the Hobbit movies. Yeah. That

00:26:03.140 --> 00:26:05.180
exemplifies exactly what you're talking about.

00:26:05.259 --> 00:26:08.059
You go from these massive sets in the Lord of

00:26:08.059 --> 00:26:11.420
the Rings movies, handmade costumes, and everything

00:26:11.420 --> 00:26:13.819
being on a fucking green screen. It's just...

00:26:13.819 --> 00:26:18.500
Those old movies are wild. The good, bad, and

00:26:18.500 --> 00:26:21.420
the ugly. Just some of those shots of the landscapes,

00:26:21.759 --> 00:26:26.079
they're incredible. Oh man, his music is fire.

00:26:27.079 --> 00:26:29.420
There's just certain musicians where every time

00:26:29.420 --> 00:26:32.579
there's a chord change, of course... It just

00:26:32.579 --> 00:26:35.940
makes me mad. What is that? It's incredible.

00:26:36.700 --> 00:26:39.640
So at what point did you decide you wanted to

00:26:39.640 --> 00:26:43.539
be a performer? You're playing guitar as a kid,

00:26:43.619 --> 00:26:46.700
and you're performing. It sounds like you're

00:26:46.700 --> 00:26:51.039
performative with your friends, repeating sketches

00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:55.079
on TV and things like that. But at what point

00:26:55.079 --> 00:26:58.480
does it go from, okay, this is a hobby that I

00:26:58.480 --> 00:27:01.099
enjoy doing, to I want to take this really seriously.

00:27:02.569 --> 00:27:05.369
And not necessarily I want to be a comedian or

00:27:05.369 --> 00:27:07.410
I want to be a guitarist or whatever, but it

00:27:07.410 --> 00:27:09.710
sounds like you always knew you wanted to be

00:27:09.710 --> 00:27:12.170
some kind of entertainer. When did that realization

00:27:12.170 --> 00:27:15.769
happen? There was times around, it all probably

00:27:15.769 --> 00:27:17.789
was around high school, ninth or tenth grade,

00:27:17.849 --> 00:27:20.269
because somewhere around ninth grade, my dad

00:27:20.269 --> 00:27:23.880
showed me the movie Pulp Fiction. All of a sudden,

00:27:23.960 --> 00:27:25.599
I was like, I didn't realize there's people behind

00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:28.000
the camera doing stuff. You know what I mean?

00:27:28.079 --> 00:27:30.799
I never looked at it like, you don't realize

00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:32.880
what you're not conscious of as a kid until you

00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:34.859
become conscious of it. I think it was just the

00:27:34.859 --> 00:27:37.140
fact that he was just telling me about Tarantino

00:27:37.140 --> 00:27:39.440
and all this stuff. And then we watched Reservoir

00:27:39.440 --> 00:27:41.299
Dogs because I started getting at that age. I

00:27:41.299 --> 00:27:44.480
was like 15, 16 and stuff. So, yeah, yeah. So

00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:46.559
he started showing me. We started watching like

00:27:46.559 --> 00:27:48.460
cooler movies that we thought I should see. And

00:27:48.460 --> 00:27:50.619
then like Goodfellas and all that. And then I

00:27:50.619 --> 00:27:53.210
got obsessed with like directors. and like writing

00:27:53.210 --> 00:27:55.349
and stuff like that. So then I would try to write

00:27:55.349 --> 00:27:58.509
my own like little short films. And then another

00:27:58.509 --> 00:28:03.190
huge moment was I got in a band when I was in

00:28:03.190 --> 00:28:05.410
high school and it was these guys, Shropshire.

00:28:05.710 --> 00:28:10.069
We, these two guys in high school basically heard

00:28:10.069 --> 00:28:14.329
that I could rap because our album is like pretty

00:28:14.329 --> 00:28:19.089
much like half hip hop and half like funk. Rock.

00:28:19.089 --> 00:28:23.410
So my best friend Curtis, he basically, they

00:28:23.410 --> 00:28:25.750
said that they were looking for somebody to join

00:28:25.750 --> 00:28:27.869
their band and they wanted someone who could

00:28:27.869 --> 00:28:30.710
rap. And he was like, oh, dude, my buddy Carson

00:28:30.710 --> 00:28:32.930
can rap. And they're like, really? And they're

00:28:32.930 --> 00:28:35.089
like, yeah, and he plays guitar. And they're

00:28:35.089 --> 00:28:36.930
like, but he can rap? And then he was like, yeah,

00:28:36.930 --> 00:28:38.970
but for some reason he always has to rap about

00:28:38.970 --> 00:28:42.329
doo -doo. And that's, we were in the ninth grade.

00:28:42.829 --> 00:28:44.950
And I was like, we were obsessed with Dave Chappelle

00:28:44.950 --> 00:28:48.849
and all that. Doo -doo's a big word. It's hilarious.

00:28:49.250 --> 00:28:52.910
It's so funny. It works. I went to the first

00:28:52.910 --> 00:28:56.089
band practice there, and I, like, brought my

00:28:56.089 --> 00:28:58.170
guitar, even though I was supposed to rap. And

00:28:58.170 --> 00:28:59.809
I was like, I'll play guitar or whatever. And

00:28:59.809 --> 00:29:02.630
at that point, I was, like, getting good with

00:29:02.630 --> 00:29:05.309
the blue scale and the major scale so I could,

00:29:05.329 --> 00:29:07.990
like, solo a little bit. But, like, high school

00:29:07.990 --> 00:29:13.710
soloing, which for a smaller town in 2010 wasn't,

00:29:13.710 --> 00:29:17.589
like... I go back and in my mind, I was like

00:29:17.589 --> 00:29:20.930
shredding back then. I'll go back and listen.

00:29:21.089 --> 00:29:24.910
And it's almost like an SNL sketch. It's what

00:29:24.910 --> 00:29:29.289
it feels like now. But I knew how to solo a little

00:29:29.289 --> 00:29:32.009
bit and be a lead a little bit and like improvise

00:29:32.009 --> 00:29:34.089
because I was obsessed with like Fish at that

00:29:34.089 --> 00:29:36.250
time and the Grateful Dead and all that stuff,

00:29:36.250 --> 00:29:40.170
like around 16. So I started smoking weed. And

00:29:40.170 --> 00:29:43.339
then. And there's a story that I'll tell you

00:29:43.339 --> 00:29:46.119
in a little bit. There's a solidifying moment

00:29:46.119 --> 00:29:47.960
where I knew I wanted to be a live performer.

00:29:48.799 --> 00:29:54.779
But I got into the band, and we, like, in a year,

00:29:54.880 --> 00:29:57.200
it was, like, all we worried about, dude. Like,

00:29:57.200 --> 00:29:58.940
I'm sure all of our grades were, like, slipping.

00:29:59.039 --> 00:30:03.579
We had to be the best band. And so we got to

00:30:03.579 --> 00:30:06.740
play Bay Fest, which was cool in Mobile. And

00:30:06.740 --> 00:30:08.740
then we played three shows at the Soul Kitchen

00:30:08.740 --> 00:30:12.410
in high school. That's wild. So it was fun and

00:30:12.410 --> 00:30:14.529
then everybody went to college and then we were

00:30:14.529 --> 00:30:16.609
like doing that thing where it's like we'd all

00:30:16.609 --> 00:30:19.509
get back together for three months and do shows

00:30:19.509 --> 00:30:21.369
and then everybody would go their separate ways

00:30:21.369 --> 00:30:22.970
and get back together for three months and do

00:30:22.970 --> 00:30:26.470
shows. We did that for years and then COVID happened

00:30:26.470 --> 00:30:29.309
and my buddy Zeke hit me up and he was like hey

00:30:29.309 --> 00:30:31.990
man we should we're always trying to like still

00:30:31.990 --> 00:30:35.470
rap and freestyle and make beats and mix. We

00:30:35.470 --> 00:30:37.670
love like mixing genres and stuff so we have

00:30:37.670 --> 00:30:40.230
songs where it's It's like a hip -hop beat, but

00:30:40.230 --> 00:30:44.430
it's got slide guitar and electric piano. Just

00:30:44.430 --> 00:30:47.269
different. Just having fun, trying to mix. I'm

00:30:47.269 --> 00:30:48.869
stoked to listen to this. Trying to mix. It's

00:30:48.869 --> 00:30:51.789
half comedy, half serious, half hip -hop, half

00:30:51.789 --> 00:30:57.190
rock and funk. It's fun. I enjoy it. It's weird.

00:30:57.630 --> 00:31:00.450
One thing that I'm still upset about is we named

00:31:00.450 --> 00:31:02.589
the first song. The first song is beautiful,

00:31:02.809 --> 00:31:05.250
in my opinion. I really think it's the best song

00:31:05.250 --> 00:31:08.730
on the album that opens the thing. And the album's

00:31:08.730 --> 00:31:15.890
called For the Children. And so Zeke just named

00:31:15.890 --> 00:31:18.849
it Drops of Poopeter. And I feel like when people

00:31:18.849 --> 00:31:22.650
read that, it's like, dude, still, 20 years later,

00:31:22.730 --> 00:31:25.009
the poop and doo -doo jokes, it doesn't end.

00:31:26.289 --> 00:31:28.920
Train of them. Yeah, and I just feel like when

00:31:28.920 --> 00:31:30.599
people read that, they're just like, I don't

00:31:30.599 --> 00:31:32.220
know if I'm going to listen to that one. And

00:31:32.220 --> 00:31:34.940
it's like, oh, that should be called just, no,

00:31:35.019 --> 00:31:37.240
please, this is a beautiful song. I'd rather

00:31:37.240 --> 00:31:39.960
call it that. You know what I mean? That's hilarious.

00:31:40.599 --> 00:31:43.740
But yeah, no, so it's a weird album, but I enjoy

00:31:43.740 --> 00:31:46.710
it. You said a minute ago there was a moment

00:31:46.710 --> 00:31:49.089
you realized you wanted to be a live performer.

00:31:49.450 --> 00:31:51.430
The moment I realized I wanted to be a live performer

00:31:51.430 --> 00:31:55.809
was when I was 16 and my dad, or maybe 17, but

00:31:55.809 --> 00:31:58.910
my dad took me and two of my friends to our first

00:31:58.910 --> 00:32:03.190
ever fish show in Alpharetta, Georgia. So it

00:32:03.190 --> 00:32:08.250
was like 2011. It was June 14th and 15th, 2011.

00:32:09.470 --> 00:32:15.079
And we went, and the first night, Me and my friends,

00:32:15.099 --> 00:32:18.359
like, snuck and got some mushrooms, and we ate

00:32:18.359 --> 00:32:20.960
them. And so we tripped for the first show, and

00:32:20.960 --> 00:32:24.240
it was like, oh, man, this is incredible. And

00:32:24.240 --> 00:32:26.720
then for the second show, we, like, slipped away

00:32:26.720 --> 00:32:30.619
from my dad so we could, like, do more, get in

00:32:30.619 --> 00:32:33.839
more trouble. We, like, the second show, there

00:32:33.839 --> 00:32:36.680
was, like, this crazy thunderstorm. It was, like,

00:32:36.680 --> 00:32:39.619
almost like Tornado Watch. It was wild, dude.

00:32:39.660 --> 00:32:41.859
It was lightning. A tree like fell over on a

00:32:41.859 --> 00:32:46.720
concession stand. Was this the Hi -Fi Buys Amphitheater?

00:32:46.859 --> 00:32:49.059
It was the, back then it was the Verizon Wireless

00:32:49.059 --> 00:32:51.960
Amphitheater. The first time I went to it, I

00:32:51.960 --> 00:32:53.480
think it was called the Lakewood Amphitheater.

00:32:53.900 --> 00:32:57.869
But yeah, so we... It was like going, we were

00:32:57.869 --> 00:32:59.829
tripping our balls off and it was going down,

00:32:59.849 --> 00:33:02.170
dude. Like the storm was crazy and they were

00:33:02.170 --> 00:33:05.890
in the middle of the song Mound and it was getting

00:33:05.890 --> 00:33:08.130
weird. And then they knew they had to leave the

00:33:08.130 --> 00:33:11.049
stage. So Trey goes into the mic and he's just,

00:33:11.130 --> 00:33:13.349
sorry guys, we have to leave. There's a storm,

00:33:13.490 --> 00:33:16.190
storm, storm. They just got to keep doing all

00:33:16.190 --> 00:33:17.630
that and messing with the noise and everything.

00:33:17.809 --> 00:33:20.150
And then lightning struck and everyone screamed

00:33:20.150 --> 00:33:22.789
and they kept hitting this bell on the stage.

00:33:23.690 --> 00:33:26.509
It was just a lot to take in as a kid. And this

00:33:26.509 --> 00:33:28.990
lady behind me was freaking out. And she, like,

00:33:28.990 --> 00:33:31.089
grabbed me and started swinging me while the

00:33:31.089 --> 00:33:33.410
music was going on. And it was like we started,

00:33:33.430 --> 00:33:36.049
like, sliding down the mud on the hill or whatever.

00:33:36.529 --> 00:33:39.430
And I was, like, got to the point that I was,

00:33:39.470 --> 00:33:42.690
like, scared. And then next thing you know, we.

00:33:43.899 --> 00:33:46.500
we're like they left the stage and everyone's

00:33:46.500 --> 00:33:49.299
just like trying to pile under the pavilion and

00:33:49.299 --> 00:33:52.460
we're like sitting there just like getting soaked

00:33:52.460 --> 00:33:54.720
and rain's like pouring down and we're trying

00:33:54.720 --> 00:33:57.039
to make our way through all these people and

00:33:57.039 --> 00:33:58.779
then next thing you know there was this dude

00:33:58.779 --> 00:34:01.900
that i had met i don't know who he was anything

00:34:01.900 --> 00:34:06.700
about him and then next thing you know he We

00:34:06.700 --> 00:34:08.500
like get through all these people and there's

00:34:08.500 --> 00:34:11.320
just this patch of just empty space. And I look

00:34:11.320 --> 00:34:14.519
up and that guy's just standing there and he's

00:34:14.519 --> 00:34:17.340
wearing George and a black trench coat. And he

00:34:17.340 --> 00:34:20.340
just looks at me and I looked at him like, and

00:34:20.340 --> 00:34:24.460
he just goes, I know. And we hugged and I just

00:34:24.460 --> 00:34:28.099
instantly felt better. And then it was a great

00:34:28.099 --> 00:34:30.340
experience. But that was the moment that fish

00:34:30.340 --> 00:34:34.199
there. When the show started, they played this

00:34:34.199 --> 00:34:37.219
bluegrass cover, Paul and Silas, and it was clear,

00:34:37.340 --> 00:34:40.679
blue, beautiful skies, and each song got darker,

00:34:40.800 --> 00:34:43.300
and the clouds got darker. Then as soon as I

00:34:43.300 --> 00:34:44.780
felt better, I was like, I don't know what's

00:34:44.780 --> 00:34:47.099
going on, but I want to do this to people. I

00:34:47.099 --> 00:34:49.199
want to take people on a journey like this. That

00:34:49.199 --> 00:34:51.500
was the moment that I knew I was like, I want

00:34:51.500 --> 00:34:53.860
to be a live performer. At the time, musician,

00:34:54.099 --> 00:34:58.460
but now comedian. That's wild as hell. I had

00:34:58.460 --> 00:35:01.920
a similar experience with panic one time. I was

00:35:01.920 --> 00:35:04.099
on mushrooms and they were playing spirit of

00:35:04.099 --> 00:35:06.340
the Swanee music park. It started. It was like

00:35:06.340 --> 00:35:08.699
one of the really good panic shows. Yeah. Cause

00:35:08.699 --> 00:35:11.159
we've talked before and I think everybody knows

00:35:11.159 --> 00:35:13.079
like panic can be really great and they can be

00:35:13.079 --> 00:35:15.340
really not great. Yeah. But this was a great

00:35:15.340 --> 00:35:18.460
night. This was a great show. And it started,

00:35:18.539 --> 00:35:22.099
it wasn't scary. It didn't get scary. But it

00:35:22.099 --> 00:35:25.039
did feel like they were controlling the weather.

00:35:25.659 --> 00:35:29.760
Dude. I was convinced. Because they started playing

00:35:29.760 --> 00:35:32.880
Maggot Brain. Yeah. And the skies opened up.

00:35:32.960 --> 00:35:36.340
And I'm just like, it's these fucking sorcerers,

00:35:36.340 --> 00:35:39.559
man. Dude, I'm telling you. I tell people all

00:35:39.559 --> 00:35:41.739
the time, I have friends that hate jam bands.

00:35:41.860 --> 00:35:43.599
They're not into it. And I try to get them to

00:35:43.599 --> 00:35:45.980
go to a show with me. Because I finally convinced

00:35:45.980 --> 00:35:48.059
my buddy Curtis to come see Fish with me. And

00:35:48.059 --> 00:35:50.809
we saw him three times. I think he just went

00:35:50.809 --> 00:35:54.250
to one show. I went to three. But he finally

00:35:54.250 --> 00:35:56.550
got it because he was like, oh, shit, this is

00:35:56.550 --> 00:35:59.190
like a fucking wild party. And I was like, dude.

00:35:59.489 --> 00:36:02.750
But the moments when your favorite band gets

00:36:02.750 --> 00:36:06.429
deep in a jam and they're like locked in, you're

00:36:06.429 --> 00:36:09.510
like, this is like one of the, you know what

00:36:09.510 --> 00:36:12.389
I mean? I think we were talking last night about

00:36:12.389 --> 00:36:14.510
the drive -by truckers. I played you that video.

00:36:15.239 --> 00:36:17.500
Of them doing Hell No, I Ain't Happy, going into

00:36:17.500 --> 00:36:19.940
Prince's Sign of the Time. Yeah. That's one of

00:36:19.940 --> 00:36:22.119
those moments for me when they're like, when

00:36:22.119 --> 00:36:23.699
I've seen them do that. There's been times where

00:36:23.699 --> 00:36:25.159
I've seen them do that where it's just like,

00:36:25.280 --> 00:36:28.480
they are nowhere but with each other and with

00:36:28.480 --> 00:36:34.059
us and present. Yeah. And there's nothing like

00:36:34.059 --> 00:36:36.559
that in the world, man. Yeah. And I think that's

00:36:36.559 --> 00:36:38.599
the kind of shit that I locked into as a kid

00:36:38.599 --> 00:36:43.500
with music that made me, I don't know that I

00:36:43.500 --> 00:36:47.639
ever wanted to be it. a rock star or whatever,

00:36:47.760 --> 00:36:51.539
but I have followed bands around since I was

00:36:51.539 --> 00:36:54.900
like 13 years old, nonstop. It's just, that's

00:36:54.900 --> 00:36:57.860
what I do. Like my hobby is traveling and going

00:36:57.860 --> 00:37:01.559
to concerts. Yeah. What was, do you, did you

00:37:01.559 --> 00:37:04.300
struggle with like anxiety or depression as a

00:37:04.300 --> 00:37:06.780
kid? Was he, were these like an escape for you?

00:37:06.960 --> 00:37:12.860
Um, maybe. I mean, my parents were divorced.

00:37:13.710 --> 00:37:19.030
My dad, he got a divorce. He got two different

00:37:19.030 --> 00:37:23.590
divorces in my childhood. I didn't struggle with

00:37:23.590 --> 00:37:25.670
depression or anything, but I think definitely

00:37:25.670 --> 00:37:32.250
from maybe some of that stuff, I really got locked

00:37:32.250 --> 00:37:36.050
in to how music can take you to a million different

00:37:36.050 --> 00:37:40.590
places. I remember maybe around that time when

00:37:40.590 --> 00:37:44.400
he was like, Going through stuff, I got obsessed

00:37:44.400 --> 00:37:47.500
with that Kebmo album, Keep It Simple. Yeah,

00:37:47.500 --> 00:37:50.119
I remember that record. Yeah, that was a big

00:37:50.119 --> 00:37:55.820
album for me also, like at that age. I was 10,

00:37:56.039 --> 00:37:59.639
so I guess maybe there you go. There you go.

00:37:59.900 --> 00:38:04.400
There you go. It was perfect. And to be honest

00:38:04.400 --> 00:38:05.960
with you, you go back and listen to that album.

00:38:06.059 --> 00:38:08.559
I think those songs are just nostalgic for me.

00:38:08.639 --> 00:38:10.519
Because when you go back and listen to them,

00:38:10.579 --> 00:38:13.599
it does feel like the soundtrack to a made -for

00:38:13.599 --> 00:38:17.219
-TV Lifetime movie where a grandpa is teaching

00:38:17.219 --> 00:38:20.159
his disobedient son how to ride a horse for the

00:38:20.159 --> 00:38:26.159
first time. That is Kembo's music. But it's a

00:38:26.159 --> 00:38:28.780
beautiful album. It reminds me of that thing.

00:38:28.820 --> 00:38:32.699
Remember that? Hawaiian guitarist is. Beautiful.

00:38:33.119 --> 00:38:35.440
That's what will make you cry. Yeah. And I don't

00:38:35.440 --> 00:38:38.059
know anything else that he does. Assume that

00:38:38.059 --> 00:38:41.360
his other songs are just like, here's a song

00:38:41.360 --> 00:38:44.820
from Aladdin. And then he just does another hit

00:38:44.820 --> 00:38:47.780
song from people's childhoods. Because I don't

00:38:47.780 --> 00:38:49.800
know any other thing that he covers. I would

00:38:49.800 --> 00:38:54.969
love to think this would be awesome if he. Did

00:38:54.969 --> 00:38:58.289
that one song and then I go to find his other

00:38:58.289 --> 00:39:01.010
music and turns out he just did like outcast

00:39:01.010 --> 00:39:04.889
covers. That would be, I want that to be the

00:39:04.889 --> 00:39:09.690
truth. I only knew, he had one record that I

00:39:09.690 --> 00:39:11.349
knew of that had that Over the Rainbow cover

00:39:11.349 --> 00:39:13.630
on it. I think he passed away. Yeah, he did pass

00:39:13.630 --> 00:39:16.150
away. But I don't think anybody knew anything

00:39:16.150 --> 00:39:18.510
other than they would buy that album and they

00:39:18.510 --> 00:39:21.940
would only listen to Over the Rainbow. Because

00:39:21.940 --> 00:39:24.300
depending on what you're going through, it could

00:39:24.300 --> 00:39:27.039
make or break your day. Like it might be the

00:39:27.039 --> 00:39:29.139
last song you want to listen to for the day.

00:39:29.179 --> 00:39:31.159
You're like, all right, and we did that. We did

00:39:31.159 --> 00:39:35.219
that. Yeah. It was like 50 first dates. When

00:39:35.219 --> 00:39:37.239
you get to the end and he sees his daughter,

00:39:37.460 --> 00:39:42.099
spoiler alert, or she sees his daughter, whatever.

00:39:42.320 --> 00:39:45.099
You know how it ends. That song starts playing,

00:39:45.260 --> 00:39:48.280
and every time you're like. I guess I watched

00:39:48.280 --> 00:39:53.199
what after this? That 70s show? I should read

00:39:53.199 --> 00:39:57.360
a book and go to sleep. So at that point, did

00:39:57.360 --> 00:39:59.900
you think you wanted to be a musician? Yeah,

00:39:59.940 --> 00:40:03.639
I wanted to be a musician. When you had that

00:40:03.639 --> 00:40:07.550
moment. For sure. I was in the band at the time,

00:40:07.550 --> 00:40:10.650
and then we broke up after we were together for

00:40:10.650 --> 00:40:12.590
a year, and then we broke up, and me and one

00:40:12.590 --> 00:40:15.289
of the guys and another dude started a jam band

00:40:15.289 --> 00:40:18.269
senior year of high school called The Young Uncles.

00:40:18.510 --> 00:40:21.210
I'm pretty sure that Ben Folds wrote that. Yeah?

00:40:22.550 --> 00:40:27.750
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He just took the long way of

00:40:27.750 --> 00:40:31.210
kicking one dude out. Because we ended up having,

00:40:31.309 --> 00:40:34.190
so like we ended up having a, it's so funny because

00:40:34.190 --> 00:40:37.489
the album ends up becoming both these things,

00:40:37.550 --> 00:40:39.949
but we had an argument between the band where

00:40:39.949 --> 00:40:43.610
two of us wanted to be more of a jam band after,

00:40:43.690 --> 00:40:46.710
because we went to that fish show and we came

00:40:46.710 --> 00:40:50.030
back and we're like, guys, we went to the bass

00:40:50.030 --> 00:40:52.250
player of the drummers. You don't get, you don't

00:40:52.250 --> 00:40:57.059
understand what we could do. You don't. We need

00:40:57.059 --> 00:41:01.360
to be playing 31 -minute songs that change people's

00:41:01.360 --> 00:41:07.380
lives. Not the skills to be doing that at all.

00:41:07.679 --> 00:41:10.820
We should be playing 2 -minute and 30 -second

00:41:10.820 --> 00:41:14.340
songs and learning proper chord structure and

00:41:14.340 --> 00:41:19.239
changes. So we literally, what happened was the

00:41:19.239 --> 00:41:21.480
other guys, they wanted to be like the Red Hot

00:41:21.480 --> 00:41:24.039
Chili Peppers. And when you listen to our new

00:41:24.039 --> 00:41:26.960
stuff, it's basically like a jammy Chili Peppers,

00:41:26.960 --> 00:41:29.820
like when you listen to the album we made. But

00:41:29.820 --> 00:41:32.300
yeah, eventually it's just like, okay, I think

00:41:32.300 --> 00:41:34.460
we're just these guys and we just need to have

00:41:34.460 --> 00:41:36.300
fun. We were in the bass player to take mushrooms

00:41:36.300 --> 00:41:39.360
is probably what happened. Yeah, we were, for

00:41:39.360 --> 00:41:42.960
that age, we were doing wild shit. You came back.

00:41:43.449 --> 00:41:45.570
From the fifth show, and you had also, like,

00:41:45.630 --> 00:41:48.869
you had been on psychedelics during this. Experience,

00:41:49.190 --> 00:41:53.250
yes. You're, like, wiser now. Oh, dude. You come

00:41:53.250 --> 00:41:55.449
back and you're like, I've been through, I've

00:41:55.449 --> 00:41:57.730
seen the shit, guys. And it's so funny to be

00:41:57.730 --> 00:42:01.389
like that when the place that you went to be

00:42:01.389 --> 00:42:04.909
enlightened waters $11. You know what I mean?

00:42:05.530 --> 00:42:09.070
No, I went to the land of the free to learn to

00:42:09.070 --> 00:42:14.369
meet my God. And you don't start doing comedy

00:42:14.369 --> 00:42:17.750
for like another almost 10 years at that point?

00:42:17.809 --> 00:42:20.530
No, I did comedy. I started doing comedy when

00:42:20.530 --> 00:42:24.030
I was 20. So I started four years later. Like

00:42:24.030 --> 00:42:29.789
25. I'm 30. I'm about to be 32 in four days.

00:42:30.269 --> 00:42:34.840
Forgetting how young you are. Oh, yeah. I'm so

00:42:34.840 --> 00:42:39.480
gray. I'm bald. I got, I'm starting to go gray.

00:42:39.880 --> 00:42:42.900
You got your hair, man. Yeah, that's true. Yeah,

00:42:42.920 --> 00:42:47.059
this is, I'm like hoping eventually maybe I can

00:42:47.059 --> 00:42:49.440
just pull off like this Dobby look or something.

00:42:49.559 --> 00:42:53.360
You just gotta, you just gotta enjoy what you

00:42:53.360 --> 00:42:56.769
are. Enjoy what you wear. That's the trick to

00:42:56.769 --> 00:42:59.650
comedy. Crowds will eat you alive if they think

00:42:59.650 --> 00:43:04.090
you're uncomfortable. And not even in a they'll

00:43:04.090 --> 00:43:09.869
heckle you way. You can just feel them not like

00:43:09.869 --> 00:43:13.150
you. You know what I mean? Or they're nervous

00:43:13.150 --> 00:43:14.969
for you because they can tell you're nervous

00:43:14.969 --> 00:43:19.329
for yourself kind of thing. I had set myself

00:43:19.329 --> 00:43:23.539
up for an advantage. to start really strong with

00:43:23.539 --> 00:43:28.699
comedy was I had already taught college. I'd

00:43:28.699 --> 00:43:32.000
already taught adults. I was already very comfortable

00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:35.340
up in front of a room of people that didn't necessarily

00:43:35.340 --> 00:43:39.239
want to hear me talk. Yeah. In front of people

00:43:39.239 --> 00:43:41.719
that were like, this is fucking school or this

00:43:41.719 --> 00:43:44.719
is required training that the state's making

00:43:44.719 --> 00:43:49.699
me do or whatever. And I think... Just being

00:43:49.699 --> 00:43:55.280
comfortable in that situation. I can go up and

00:43:55.280 --> 00:44:01.199
bomb and it doesn't bother me. It doesn't bother

00:44:01.199 --> 00:44:05.559
me at all. I'll learn from it. I feel like I

00:44:05.559 --> 00:44:07.519
have enough sensibility to know whether it was

00:44:07.519 --> 00:44:11.659
me or the room. Sometimes it's both. There's

00:44:11.659 --> 00:44:15.500
this synergistic energy in a comedy show. The

00:44:15.500 --> 00:44:19.079
crowd has to want to laugh. They also have to

00:44:19.079 --> 00:44:21.519
feel like they're in good hands. Yeah. Because

00:44:21.519 --> 00:44:24.579
comedy is one of those things, especially on

00:44:24.579 --> 00:44:27.440
the lower open mic level, stuff like that. People

00:44:27.440 --> 00:44:29.519
don't know what anyone's going to say, and they're

00:44:29.519 --> 00:44:33.699
just there to eat a sandwich. Yeah, and I think

00:44:33.699 --> 00:44:35.739
that's one of the ways that Kill Tony has really

00:44:35.739 --> 00:44:40.000
damaged our industry. Yeah. That type of comedy

00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:43.260
is lord shit. It's like the yin and yang, because

00:44:43.260 --> 00:44:45.659
I'm not a big fan of the show. I have friends

00:44:45.659 --> 00:44:49.340
that have done it, and I support them. I wouldn't

00:44:49.340 --> 00:44:53.179
do it. Yeah, 100%. If I was in Austin when it

00:44:53.179 --> 00:44:55.059
was going on, I'd probably sign up and check

00:44:55.059 --> 00:44:58.219
it out. But Tony is the worst part of the show.

00:44:59.000 --> 00:45:03.260
There is a good and bad to it. And just from,

00:45:03.400 --> 00:45:07.579
I think, what could end up happening with some

00:45:07.579 --> 00:45:10.920
people is they get to a point in their career

00:45:10.920 --> 00:45:14.219
way too early. that they're not ready for. And

00:45:14.219 --> 00:45:16.340
then when you go to these towns and you have

00:45:16.340 --> 00:45:18.699
a bad set because you weren't ready to do 45

00:45:18.699 --> 00:45:21.539
minutes, you should have been doing 15. Then

00:45:21.539 --> 00:45:24.739
also there's the fear that that might hurt you.

00:45:25.139 --> 00:45:28.139
Not forever, because I think people's time, as

00:45:28.139 --> 00:45:30.260
long as you get better, there's nothing that

00:45:30.260 --> 00:45:32.579
anyone can say if you're getting better. You

00:45:32.579 --> 00:45:35.280
know what I mean? It's just as long as you're

00:45:35.280 --> 00:45:36.800
getting better, you know, you're going to be

00:45:36.800 --> 00:45:42.599
fine. And so it is one of those things. I have

00:45:42.599 --> 00:45:46.340
a buddy who... I've been to Austin twice. I went

00:45:46.340 --> 00:45:50.039
before the comedy boom in 2017. When I started,

00:45:50.119 --> 00:45:56.260
podcasts blew up. It was like 2014. WTF and Joe

00:45:56.260 --> 00:45:58.300
Rogan became the biggest things on the planet.

00:45:58.619 --> 00:46:02.650
I waited for Marin to finish it. That put more

00:46:02.650 --> 00:46:06.030
eyes on stand -up comedy because all these comedians

00:46:06.030 --> 00:46:09.070
were starting podcasts. And then the Kill Tony

00:46:09.070 --> 00:46:11.909
thing happened. And then it was like... Kill

00:46:11.909 --> 00:46:14.769
Tony is basically the lottery for stand -up comedy.

00:46:14.949 --> 00:46:16.889
Right. Where you go and you pull your ticket

00:46:16.889 --> 00:46:18.750
and you just pray that your number gets called.

00:46:18.849 --> 00:46:21.670
And then there's the second... It's almost...

00:46:23.039 --> 00:46:26.420
Imagine to get a million dollars, you buy your

00:46:26.420 --> 00:46:28.320
ticket from the gas station, you scratch it off.

00:46:28.440 --> 00:46:31.940
They're like, you got the right number. Now three

00:46:31.940 --> 00:46:36.059
people are going to punch you in the face. And

00:46:36.059 --> 00:46:39.539
if you can withstand it and be funny, you might

00:46:39.539 --> 00:46:42.880
become the next whatever. So there's like an

00:46:42.880 --> 00:46:44.760
element of it, too, where it feels like the lottery

00:46:44.760 --> 00:46:47.039
for comedians. I think that's the element that

00:46:47.039 --> 00:46:51.769
I think has damaged the industry the most. The

00:46:51.769 --> 00:46:55.369
trickle -down effect of that is that now everybody

00:46:55.369 --> 00:46:59.570
thinks they can do comedy. Yeah. And it's one

00:46:59.570 --> 00:47:02.110
of the hardest things you can do, I think, period.

00:47:02.849 --> 00:47:06.110
And I think one of the issues that, for me personally,

00:47:06.369 --> 00:47:08.409
you know, and I can't speak for everybody, but

00:47:08.409 --> 00:47:10.829
I think, for me, one thing that I don't like

00:47:10.829 --> 00:47:15.309
is that it showcases that comedy. A lot of Kill

00:47:15.309 --> 00:47:18.989
Tony, let's say 90 % of it, is... comedians on

00:47:18.989 --> 00:47:21.030
an open mic level how many times have you seen

00:47:21.030 --> 00:47:22.949
where someone's like first second or third time

00:47:22.949 --> 00:47:26.409
ever doing stand -up and it's on they get on

00:47:26.409 --> 00:47:29.429
there and i get it you've won in the lottery

00:47:29.429 --> 00:47:32.250
you could have you could just happen to just

00:47:32.250 --> 00:47:36.320
be perfect for that Three minutes. What a stupid

00:47:36.320 --> 00:47:39.940
decision on the part of the comedians. But they

00:47:39.940 --> 00:47:43.599
get their clip out of it and all that. So I understand

00:47:43.599 --> 00:47:47.119
that. But I think when most comedians start out,

00:47:47.179 --> 00:47:51.400
especially just in modern times, we usually start

00:47:51.400 --> 00:47:54.760
off trying to do... We think comedy is offensive.

00:47:55.880 --> 00:47:58.980
Or we have to go for shocking topics. And I was

00:47:58.980 --> 00:48:00.800
the same way. When I first started, my first

00:48:00.800 --> 00:48:03.360
couple of joke notebooks were just like... shock

00:48:03.360 --> 00:48:06.639
value comedy. And I think a lot of people start

00:48:06.639 --> 00:48:09.539
off doing that until they figure out how to make

00:48:09.539 --> 00:48:12.519
joke structures and then how to make anything

00:48:12.519 --> 00:48:15.320
funny and start putting their personality into

00:48:15.320 --> 00:48:18.079
stuff and things like that. So I think it showcases

00:48:18.079 --> 00:48:21.760
nationwide that comedy is this thing that it

00:48:21.760 --> 00:48:24.179
really is just on the amateur level and some

00:48:24.179 --> 00:48:27.780
people just think that's what comedy is. You

00:48:27.780 --> 00:48:31.219
know what I mean? Because it is so big. It's

00:48:31.219 --> 00:48:35.269
like... the Walmart of comedy right now. And

00:48:35.269 --> 00:48:37.269
that's one of the good things that Kill Tony

00:48:37.269 --> 00:48:40.230
and Joe Rogan have done. I was a Marin guy big

00:48:40.230 --> 00:48:42.710
time. I don't take advice from him unless it's

00:48:42.710 --> 00:48:46.849
about fighting or like stage presence. I don't

00:48:46.849 --> 00:48:50.309
know if that's good advice. Yeah. If I want to

00:48:50.309 --> 00:48:51.889
learn how to shoot a bow and arrow properly,

00:48:52.050 --> 00:48:55.050
I'll listen to Joe Rogan. But past that, I'm

00:48:55.050 --> 00:48:57.730
not voting a certain way because Joe Rogan's...

00:48:57.730 --> 00:49:02.449
I gotta figure it out. But, like, I just think

00:49:02.449 --> 00:49:06.070
Joe Rogan and Kill Tony, a part of the reason

00:49:06.070 --> 00:49:10.050
why I could even do this tour is, I would say,

00:49:10.110 --> 00:49:13.010
a huge part is because of them, because they've

00:49:13.010 --> 00:49:17.050
made comedy so popular. Yeah, yeah. I agree.

00:49:17.110 --> 00:49:19.849
It's a yin and yang. So, like, it is one of those

00:49:19.849 --> 00:49:21.289
things where, like, as much as there's things

00:49:21.289 --> 00:49:23.869
that I don't like about it, there's also things

00:49:23.869 --> 00:49:28.409
that I'm like, I get to eat a lot off of comedy

00:49:28.409 --> 00:49:31.360
because there was not this much work. in the

00:49:31.360 --> 00:49:35.300
south 10 years ago i think it's helped the industry

00:49:35.300 --> 00:49:38.780
but it's hurt here i think we what you were talking

00:49:38.780 --> 00:49:43.260
about i think helped me get to where i really

00:49:43.260 --> 00:49:46.639
feel about it and i think what it is i think

00:49:46.639 --> 00:49:49.320
that any comedian who thinks it's a good idea

00:49:49.320 --> 00:49:51.519
to go on one of the biggest platforms in the

00:49:51.519 --> 00:49:55.480
world for comedy their first second or third

00:49:55.480 --> 00:49:58.550
time or whatever If you haven't been doing comedy

00:49:58.550 --> 00:50:03.409
for like at least six months or a year, I'm not

00:50:03.409 --> 00:50:05.670
saying they shouldn't let them on. Yeah. But

00:50:05.670 --> 00:50:08.329
I think it's an incredibly stupid career move

00:50:08.329 --> 00:50:12.369
to sign up because if you do get pulled in, you

00:50:12.369 --> 00:50:17.170
suck. Like first impression. And second, you

00:50:17.170 --> 00:50:19.369
only have one minute, which means you can't really

00:50:19.369 --> 00:50:22.809
do a story. No. You have to get. It's incredible.

00:50:22.869 --> 00:50:25.909
And then. The other thing is, I feel like your

00:50:25.909 --> 00:50:28.630
chances are better if you have years of theater.

00:50:29.349 --> 00:50:31.389
Because then you're not so nervous about being

00:50:31.389 --> 00:50:33.289
in front of a live audience and talking. You

00:50:33.289 --> 00:50:35.289
have experience doing that. The people who have

00:50:35.289 --> 00:50:37.369
no experience doing that, and it's their second

00:50:37.369 --> 00:50:39.449
time ever on stage, and they do Kill Tony, I'm

00:50:39.449 --> 00:50:44.690
like, oh my god. I was like, dude, there's no

00:50:44.690 --> 00:50:48.309
way you're comfortable. And we can all see it.

00:50:48.949 --> 00:50:53.869
For sure. launched this whole conversation is

00:50:53.869 --> 00:50:57.289
the moment that you're not comfortable on stage

00:50:57.289 --> 00:51:01.909
the audience will eat you alive yeah the moment

00:51:01.909 --> 00:51:03.670
they can say now i think there's comics that

00:51:03.670 --> 00:51:06.130
can lean into being uncomfortable on stage emo

00:51:06.130 --> 00:51:08.409
phillips is a good example i think like he he

00:51:08.409 --> 00:51:12.949
is like awkward by nature and and that's his

00:51:12.949 --> 00:51:15.530
stick but yeah but he's still in control though

00:51:15.530 --> 00:51:18.230
because he has the you know i mean you can still

00:51:18.230 --> 00:51:20.190
feel it i feel like people put off an energy

00:51:20.190 --> 00:51:24.659
you know Deprecating humor is so effective because

00:51:24.659 --> 00:51:28.340
you start saying anything that somebody else

00:51:28.340 --> 00:51:30.599
might be thinking about you and it completely

00:51:30.599 --> 00:51:33.599
disarms that. I do a lot of self -deprecating

00:51:33.599 --> 00:51:36.480
humor just because that's always the kind of...

00:51:36.480 --> 00:51:41.519
I grew up, I loved Homer Simpson and Dave Chappelle

00:51:41.519 --> 00:51:44.820
and a lot of the times they're the punchline

00:51:44.820 --> 00:51:50.210
of the joke or the situation. And so... Yeah,

00:51:50.230 --> 00:51:53.949
I've always just enjoyed humor where I just beat

00:51:53.949 --> 00:51:56.670
up on myself. And then I have things or observations

00:51:56.670 --> 00:51:59.210
and opinions and stuff sprinkled throughout my

00:51:59.210 --> 00:52:01.909
set and everything. But for the most part, I

00:52:01.909 --> 00:52:05.190
know my story, so I like just figuring out jokes

00:52:05.190 --> 00:52:07.610
that I can remember about funny things that happened

00:52:07.610 --> 00:52:10.889
in my life. If I have an experience, say I go

00:52:10.889 --> 00:52:12.429
through a drive -thru and something hilarious

00:52:12.429 --> 00:52:15.190
happens, I need to jot that down. Yeah, I think

00:52:15.190 --> 00:52:19.860
for me, it's similar, but it's... Almost just

00:52:19.860 --> 00:52:23.300
like the reverse of that, where it's I'll find

00:52:23.300 --> 00:52:27.340
a joke about something in the world that I think

00:52:27.340 --> 00:52:32.840
is particularly funny. But then I'm like, but

00:52:32.840 --> 00:52:35.940
what will really make it funny is if it's really

00:52:35.940 --> 00:52:40.639
about my perspective or my insecurity or my whatever.

00:52:41.039 --> 00:52:45.340
And usually that's the truth anyway. It's like

00:52:45.340 --> 00:52:46.980
getting to whatever it is that I'm uncomfortable

00:52:46.980 --> 00:52:50.610
with. in the world usually comes back to me anyhow

00:52:50.610 --> 00:52:54.769
but if I could get to the root of that's usually

00:52:54.769 --> 00:52:58.230
where it's really clicks because it's okay I'm

00:52:58.230 --> 00:53:02.550
no longer criticizing the world I'm just talking

00:53:02.550 --> 00:53:04.489
about this thing in the world that bothers me

00:53:04.489 --> 00:53:07.690
and here's what about me makes it like incompatible

00:53:07.690 --> 00:53:14.219
yeah and yeah I think those are like Especially

00:53:14.219 --> 00:53:16.400
the opinionated jokes. The best ones are the

00:53:16.400 --> 00:53:18.800
ones that are almost completely bulletproof.

00:53:19.300 --> 00:53:21.300
Every angle you think about it, you're like,

00:53:21.360 --> 00:53:23.179
damn, that's a good point. You know what I mean?

00:53:24.500 --> 00:53:27.440
It's tough to write those. It takes a lot of

00:53:27.440 --> 00:53:29.519
figuring it out and thinking about it from different

00:53:29.519 --> 00:53:32.940
angles. I have a joke that I worked on. I worked

00:53:32.940 --> 00:53:35.659
on it for nine months before I told it on stage.

00:53:36.480 --> 00:53:41.119
I workshopped it with one of my friends. Not

00:53:41.119 --> 00:53:43.420
because I was worried about whether it was offensive,

00:53:43.599 --> 00:53:49.159
but just in case. I'm like, if he thinks it's

00:53:49.159 --> 00:53:54.460
funny, then it's bulletproof. I'm not worried

00:53:54.460 --> 00:53:56.000
about being offensive because it comes from a

00:53:56.000 --> 00:53:59.440
real place and I'm not hateful about any of it.

00:54:00.480 --> 00:54:06.059
But if I get him to laugh at the joke, I've won.

00:54:06.719 --> 00:54:09.840
It's over. I think it's good to get people's

00:54:09.840 --> 00:54:14.199
opinions on it. Definitely. I do that. But I

00:54:14.199 --> 00:54:17.179
always am like a believer to just listen to the

00:54:17.179 --> 00:54:19.900
audience. Because if something's funny and it's

00:54:19.900 --> 00:54:24.199
a good point, audiences will give it up. Let

00:54:24.199 --> 00:54:26.039
me clarify. I was working on this joke for nine

00:54:26.039 --> 00:54:28.420
months before I ever told it. Because I'm like,

00:54:28.559 --> 00:54:31.500
I heard Jerry Seinfeld saying the thing, the

00:54:31.500 --> 00:54:34.019
audience will teach you what kind of comedian

00:54:34.019 --> 00:54:36.539
you are. And I really think that's so funny just

00:54:36.539 --> 00:54:41.050
because it is. He doesn't listen to us. I love

00:54:41.050 --> 00:54:44.329
Seinfeld. But I don't think he's a great stand

00:54:44.329 --> 00:54:50.050
-up. Oh, I do. I love Seinfeld. I do believe

00:54:50.050 --> 00:54:52.210
it's like when you listen, if you're going on

00:54:52.210 --> 00:54:55.210
stage and you're completely being yourself, it's

00:54:55.210 --> 00:54:58.730
almost like you're this blank marble slab and

00:54:58.730 --> 00:55:01.909
every audience chisels away at you until you

00:55:01.909 --> 00:55:04.170
become the sculpture you're supposed to be. You

00:55:04.170 --> 00:55:07.510
know what I mean? I think I'd approach it the

00:55:07.510 --> 00:55:10.630
complete opposite. I started comedy really late

00:55:10.630 --> 00:55:12.889
in life. I had a really good idea of who I was,

00:55:12.989 --> 00:55:17.369
what my value was. I was in my late 30s, mid

00:55:17.369 --> 00:55:19.929
-30s when I started. I had already raised a kid.

00:55:21.289 --> 00:55:24.610
I think had I been doing comedy throughout that

00:55:24.610 --> 00:55:28.010
time period, that would have been true. But coming

00:55:28.010 --> 00:55:32.670
at it as an older person... Stepped away from

00:55:32.670 --> 00:55:34.769
my quote -unquote normal life to pursue this

00:55:34.769 --> 00:55:39.269
shit. Yeah. I'm more like, here I am. I know

00:55:39.269 --> 00:55:43.489
who I am. Rock me like a hurricane. But no, it's

00:55:43.489 --> 00:55:46.010
like, I know exactly who I am, and you can either

00:55:46.010 --> 00:55:48.730
like me or hate me, but I know that I'll find

00:55:48.730 --> 00:55:51.670
the people that like me. For me, it's like the

00:55:51.670 --> 00:55:55.710
opposite. Like, I don't... But that's why I waited

00:55:55.710 --> 00:55:57.650
nine months before I told that joke on stage.

00:55:57.809 --> 00:56:02.429
I knew it wasn't there yet. Once I was confident,

00:56:02.590 --> 00:56:07.510
it fucking killed. But I was like, I know it's

00:56:07.510 --> 00:56:11.550
not there yet. So it was... I do listen to the

00:56:11.550 --> 00:56:14.769
audience if I know a joke is funny, but it's

00:56:14.769 --> 00:56:18.289
not working. Because it's, okay, I'm not setting

00:56:18.289 --> 00:56:21.829
it up properly. Yeah. I'm not. There's something

00:56:21.829 --> 00:56:24.489
I'm not doing right, but I still know. I'm confident

00:56:24.489 --> 00:56:26.949
in, like, the core of the joke or whatever. I

00:56:26.949 --> 00:56:29.170
think what you're saying is completely valid.

00:56:29.389 --> 00:56:32.030
It's just, like, I approach it. Oh, yeah. That's

00:56:32.030 --> 00:56:33.789
the best part about comedy is everybody, like,

00:56:33.869 --> 00:56:36.130
as long as your way is working, then that's the

00:56:36.130 --> 00:56:38.769
way to do it. And so that's. Working for you.

00:56:38.789 --> 00:56:41.789
I appreciate it. Thank you. You really are one

00:56:41.789 --> 00:56:45.210
of the funniest people I know. For real. I think

00:56:45.210 --> 00:56:47.190
you're fucking hilarious. Dude, thank you. Thank

00:56:47.190 --> 00:56:49.510
you so much. I think it's important to take people's

00:56:49.510 --> 00:56:52.489
advice when it's in terms of just stage presence.

00:56:53.030 --> 00:56:56.630
I had a guy a year or two ago tell me that apparently,

00:56:56.710 --> 00:56:58.329
I didn't even notice this, but he's like, yeah,

00:56:58.329 --> 00:57:00.309
dude, when you talk, a lot of the times you rock

00:57:00.309 --> 00:57:03.469
side to side a lot when you're on stage. And

00:57:03.469 --> 00:57:05.570
so now I'm way conscious of that. And sometimes

00:57:05.570 --> 00:57:09.210
if I'm about to do it for a second, I'll be in

00:57:09.210 --> 00:57:11.369
the moment conscious of it and stop myself and

00:57:11.369 --> 00:57:14.159
just stand there and talk. hold my stage presence

00:57:14.159 --> 00:57:16.519
and so like little things like that are important

00:57:16.519 --> 00:57:18.639
to take but i think as far as what you want to

00:57:18.639 --> 00:57:20.900
talk about it's like you got to be the person

00:57:20.900 --> 00:57:23.920
that you want to be on stage and even if you're

00:57:23.920 --> 00:57:25.760
going to do hard -hitting subjects and stuff

00:57:25.760 --> 00:57:28.679
like that that are going to make people's neck

00:57:28.679 --> 00:57:30.699
hair stand up when they first hear the setups

00:57:30.699 --> 00:57:33.679
of jokes you just that's just something that

00:57:33.679 --> 00:57:36.590
you got to ride out It ends up being about an

00:57:36.590 --> 00:57:39.969
insecurity that I have. You're saying something

00:57:39.969 --> 00:57:41.889
and doing a misdirect. It's just one of those

00:57:41.889 --> 00:57:44.030
things where it's like, when you do that humor,

00:57:44.429 --> 00:57:47.530
the setups usually make people's hair stand up

00:57:47.530 --> 00:57:51.690
on the back of their neck. I told that joke last

00:57:51.690 --> 00:57:53.969
night, and I could see. I told her afterwards,

00:57:54.070 --> 00:57:56.769
I was like, I saw you clench. I saw it, and then

00:57:56.769 --> 00:58:00.289
once I got through it, she was relaxed and laughed

00:58:00.289 --> 00:58:03.599
and whatever. But I could see. She was nervous

00:58:03.599 --> 00:58:06.559
for me. Yeah. That's definitely like how I changed.

00:58:06.699 --> 00:58:09.699
Cause when I first started off, I was like, just

00:58:09.699 --> 00:58:12.300
like straight up shock humor. Like I was just

00:58:12.300 --> 00:58:14.739
trying to be shocking, but I'm saying like, and

00:58:14.739 --> 00:58:18.840
then like eventually I started doing like, I

00:58:18.840 --> 00:58:21.960
think I've gotten to the point now where I like.

00:58:23.019 --> 00:58:28.480
I think what I've learned is what was the shock

00:58:28.480 --> 00:58:33.599
jokes that got laughs. Like I started understanding

00:58:33.599 --> 00:58:37.079
why it got a laugh and then what was funny about

00:58:37.079 --> 00:58:40.179
how it was written and that kind of stuff. And

00:58:40.179 --> 00:58:44.699
then I started taking that kind of knowledge

00:58:44.699 --> 00:58:47.559
of the structure or whatever. Okay, this is a

00:58:47.559 --> 00:58:50.619
joke. And then putting that into other places.

00:58:51.340 --> 00:58:53.840
And still having moments where I say something

00:58:53.840 --> 00:58:57.500
that's really, cause I have a few lines in my

00:58:57.500 --> 00:59:00.900
set that sometimes just get a straight up groan.

00:59:01.360 --> 00:59:03.840
And then I have the next line that'll get a laugh

00:59:03.840 --> 00:59:08.340
or whatever, but it's, I still definitely, I've

00:59:08.340 --> 00:59:11.579
calmed down a lot in terms of like how edgy I

00:59:11.579 --> 00:59:14.469
used to be, but I still. I love all kinds of

00:59:14.469 --> 00:59:16.809
comedy. So I like having jokes that are clean

00:59:16.809 --> 00:59:19.309
and then having jokes that are dirty and having

00:59:19.309 --> 00:59:23.030
a mix of both in my set. A little silly. Yeah,

00:59:23.030 --> 00:59:27.030
yeah, exactly. I enjoy it all. Like Brian Regan,

00:59:27.070 --> 00:59:29.630
clean comic, one of my favorites. Seinfeld, clean

00:59:29.630 --> 00:59:32.230
comic, I love him. But then there's also people

00:59:32.230 --> 00:59:36.570
that I enjoy that it's Richard Pryor, classic,

00:59:36.889 --> 00:59:40.429
Dave Chappelle, Patrice O 'Neill, and guys like

00:59:40.429 --> 00:59:42.860
that. Let's talk about Seinfeld for a second.

00:59:43.000 --> 00:59:47.099
Yeah. Because I do like Seinfeld. I think he's

00:59:47.099 --> 00:59:48.980
one of the greatest comedy writers of all time.

00:59:49.159 --> 00:59:52.300
Yeah. I like his material the first time I heard

00:59:52.300 --> 00:59:57.239
it. My problem with Seinfeld is that, and he'll

00:59:57.239 --> 01:00:00.340
tell you this, he's like, when I do a show, people

01:00:00.340 --> 01:00:02.920
come and they want to hear the greatest hits.

01:00:03.710 --> 01:00:06.409
And I don't think that's true for comics most

01:00:06.409 --> 01:00:08.710
of the time. That might be true for Seinfeld,

01:00:08.750 --> 01:00:11.650
right? Yeah. But I don't think that's true. I

01:00:11.650 --> 01:00:15.769
think the core difference between comedians and

01:00:15.769 --> 01:00:18.789
musicians is musicians can write a song that

01:00:18.789 --> 01:00:21.670
people want to hear all the time over and over.

01:00:21.789 --> 01:00:24.960
You don't listen to jokes over and over. You

01:00:24.960 --> 01:00:27.880
might watch a special more than once. Yeah. But

01:00:27.880 --> 01:00:30.619
you don't listen to jokes like you listen to

01:00:30.619 --> 01:00:32.940
songs. Two people that I could listen to over

01:00:32.940 --> 01:00:35.699
and over again would be, like, Dave Attell and

01:00:35.699 --> 01:00:38.000
Ronnie Dangerfield. Okay. They're just, like,

01:00:38.099 --> 01:00:41.800
everything's quick, and the jokes are hilarious.

01:00:42.300 --> 01:00:48.039
Punchlines. But my point is just that he just

01:00:48.039 --> 01:00:50.820
goes out and does the same jokes, right? Yeah.

01:00:52.059 --> 01:00:55.239
He'll switch it up, I think. Like, he says he'll

01:00:55.239 --> 01:00:57.559
add, like, a new 10%, like, every couple years.

01:00:57.900 --> 01:01:00.340
Yeah. And then so eventually it slowly evolves.

01:01:00.619 --> 01:01:03.480
It's probably a brand new set every, like, eight

01:01:03.480 --> 01:01:05.800
years. It's, like, the opposite of what most

01:01:05.800 --> 01:01:09.059
comics do. Yeah. That's the new thing, though,

01:01:09.139 --> 01:01:12.599
because what most comics do is... Carlin was,

01:01:12.659 --> 01:01:15.380
like... Yeah, Carlin was, like, the first one

01:01:15.380 --> 01:01:19.420
to... do an hour every single year and Steve

01:01:19.420 --> 01:01:22.260
Martin would do that but even like prior it's

01:01:22.260 --> 01:01:26.079
probably like every two or three years but yeah

01:01:26.079 --> 01:01:28.400
like I think it became more because of those

01:01:28.400 --> 01:01:32.699
handful of guys it became more mainstream to

01:01:32.699 --> 01:01:37.300
make a new hour every year but I think like a

01:01:37.300 --> 01:01:40.480
lot of the 70s and 80s and even 90s there's a

01:01:40.480 --> 01:01:43.400
lot of guys who They've made a career out of

01:01:43.400 --> 01:01:46.500
just doing that same set for 10 years. Just hitting

01:01:46.500 --> 01:01:50.159
the clubs. And I think eventually it is true

01:01:50.159 --> 01:01:55.440
that unless you are Seinfeld, because to me,

01:01:55.460 --> 01:01:57.360
he's like Paul McCartney when it comes to writing

01:01:57.360 --> 01:02:00.760
jokes. He writes jokes about Pop -Tarts. And

01:02:00.760 --> 01:02:03.519
to me, Rodney Dangerfield is like John Lennon.

01:02:03.519 --> 01:02:06.139
All of his jokes are about getting cheated on.

01:02:07.340 --> 01:02:12.190
My wife, she's always sleeping around. All of

01:02:12.190 --> 01:02:14.010
his bits are just about a human being having

01:02:14.010 --> 01:02:17.389
the worst day of their life. There's like the

01:02:17.389 --> 01:02:21.250
light and the dark with them. But because I just

01:02:21.250 --> 01:02:23.809
think they're like a top just joke structure

01:02:23.809 --> 01:02:27.250
and just how every line and every word means

01:02:27.250 --> 01:02:32.349
something. And we're the comma. Yeah. But those

01:02:32.349 --> 01:02:37.070
are things that like I are like subconscious

01:02:37.070 --> 01:02:40.400
for me. Like, I don't think I'm like. To the

01:02:40.400 --> 01:02:43.880
point where I'm like consciously, okay, I pause

01:02:43.880 --> 01:02:47.539
here or it's feelings based. Just recording and

01:02:47.539 --> 01:02:51.199
listening back and then learning. Like I do believe

01:02:51.199 --> 01:02:53.960
it's listen back and where they laughed, put

01:02:53.960 --> 01:02:56.739
a star by that and figure out why they laughed

01:02:56.739 --> 01:02:59.320
there. And a lot of the times like you'll get

01:02:59.320 --> 01:03:01.139
a laugh from the moment that wasn't supposed

01:03:01.139 --> 01:03:03.900
to be funny. And it's usually because you said

01:03:03.900 --> 01:03:07.360
something in your true, honest, just how you

01:03:07.360 --> 01:03:10.989
talk to your friend's voice. and they liked that

01:03:10.989 --> 01:03:13.869
it's it's so hard to figure out dude and like

01:03:13.869 --> 01:03:16.929
i've been doing this for going on 12 years now

01:03:16.929 --> 01:03:21.050
and i still bomb it just it never ends dude you

01:03:21.050 --> 01:03:23.309
do new material most likely like i say this like

01:03:23.309 --> 01:03:26.630
if i write 10 jokes 10 new jokes and try them

01:03:26.630 --> 01:03:29.349
at an open mic i usually like my batting average

01:03:29.349 --> 01:03:33.230
with 10 brand new jokes is usually two did well

01:03:33.230 --> 01:03:36.780
and eight bombed And I take those two and I just

01:03:36.780 --> 01:03:38.719
try to turn them into a little bit something

01:03:38.719 --> 01:03:42.420
better. And then even sometimes jokes that work,

01:03:42.500 --> 01:03:44.579
they just don't make it. You just forget about

01:03:44.579 --> 01:03:46.559
it. Some of them will remind me sometimes, hey,

01:03:46.559 --> 01:03:48.639
why aren't you doing that bit anymore about the

01:03:48.639 --> 01:03:50.579
thing? And I'm like, oh, I forgot about that.

01:03:50.780 --> 01:03:52.900
I haven't done that in six months. Because it's

01:03:52.900 --> 01:03:54.559
just not what you're interested in, even though

01:03:54.559 --> 01:03:57.780
it was a good joke. It's just not what I want

01:03:57.780 --> 01:04:02.619
to talk about. I was talking to this comic, Ian

01:04:02.619 --> 01:04:05.159
Aber. He's a comic from Atlanta. He's hilarious.

01:04:05.559 --> 01:04:08.719
And he was telling me something that he heard.

01:04:09.950 --> 01:04:12.730
about, I can't remember who said it, might have

01:04:12.730 --> 01:04:15.030
been Chris Rock or somebody, but basically like

01:04:15.030 --> 01:04:20.949
a comedian has five subjects that they basically

01:04:20.949 --> 01:04:24.630
talk about. 15 minutes at a time you know i mean

01:04:24.630 --> 01:04:27.630
like in like your whole career so it's like you

01:04:27.630 --> 01:04:32.329
basically you watch any special by any of your

01:04:32.329 --> 01:04:34.329
favorite comedians it's usually about the same

01:04:34.329 --> 01:04:37.929
five subjects and so that's the things that they

01:04:37.929 --> 01:04:39.730
like to talk about it and it's the things that

01:04:39.730 --> 01:04:42.210
they view from a million different angles and

01:04:42.210 --> 01:04:43.610
so that's one thing where i've definitely figured

01:04:43.610 --> 01:04:45.630
out like the things that i like to talk about

01:04:45.630 --> 01:04:51.309
a lot of it's like childhood or just trying to

01:04:51.309 --> 01:04:55.789
stay sober jokes about that or go into concerts

01:04:55.789 --> 01:05:00.650
or things like that movies and I just I think

01:05:00.650 --> 01:05:02.110
that's one thing that happens too is it gets

01:05:02.110 --> 01:05:05.429
easier to write even though writing jokes will

01:05:05.429 --> 01:05:10.309
never be easy it's easier to get to what you

01:05:10.309 --> 01:05:13.550
want to talk about because the longer you do

01:05:13.550 --> 01:05:16.230
it you realize what you want to talk about And

01:05:16.230 --> 01:05:18.530
I think in the beginning, you just have all this

01:05:18.530 --> 01:05:21.309
stuff jumbled in your head, and it's hard to

01:05:21.309 --> 01:05:25.989
like. I think good advice for anybody out there

01:05:25.989 --> 01:05:28.429
who's thinking about doing comedy or who is on

01:05:28.429 --> 01:05:31.969
open mic level still and trying to get to a point

01:05:31.969 --> 01:05:34.570
where you're getting booked all the time, think

01:05:34.570 --> 01:05:39.550
of the top five things you love, and it doesn't

01:05:39.550 --> 01:05:45.530
have to be like, and not anything shocking. just

01:05:45.530 --> 01:05:48.030
like top five things that you love or just pick

01:05:48.030 --> 01:05:50.670
five things you love pick five things that you

01:05:50.670 --> 01:05:54.210
hate and try to just write about those subjects

01:05:54.210 --> 01:05:56.789
and narrow it down to that so you're not just

01:05:56.789 --> 01:05:58.210
sitting there it's like oh should i write about

01:05:58.210 --> 01:06:02.719
hotels should i write about politics Some comics

01:06:02.719 --> 01:06:05.320
don't even really sit down and write. I don't

01:06:05.320 --> 01:06:07.059
sit down with a blank piece of paper and a pen

01:06:07.059 --> 01:06:10.659
and write. I pace around like a psychopath and

01:06:10.659 --> 01:06:12.739
think of an entire joke in my head, basically.

01:06:13.039 --> 01:06:15.019
And then when I like what I have in my head,

01:06:15.059 --> 01:06:16.519
or at least where I'm going, then I'll start

01:06:16.519 --> 01:06:19.239
putting it down on paper. And I'll leave the

01:06:19.239 --> 01:06:21.579
setups with no mark. And then every time there's

01:06:21.579 --> 01:06:24.059
a punchline or some kind of tag, I put a star

01:06:24.059 --> 01:06:28.829
by it. Like a lot of the times my advice to people

01:06:28.829 --> 01:06:31.230
is if you're struggling with writer's block,

01:06:31.329 --> 01:06:33.070
which people, there's no writer's block. And

01:06:33.070 --> 01:06:35.650
I think it's, I don't think you should try to

01:06:35.650 --> 01:06:38.130
force it, but I think one thing to help get over

01:06:38.130 --> 01:06:42.170
the hump that I've done is I'll take an old joke

01:06:42.170 --> 01:06:44.409
and just try to rewrite the punchline. Cause

01:06:44.409 --> 01:06:46.590
it's like putting a ball on a tee. It's like,

01:06:46.610 --> 01:06:49.010
I just said, no one's got the setup. It's literally

01:06:49.010 --> 01:06:51.869
already set up for me. Just rewrite the punchline.

01:06:52.380 --> 01:06:54.579
Like I did that with the briefs joke. I do a

01:06:54.579 --> 01:06:57.659
joke about boxers and briefs. And I just kept

01:06:57.659 --> 01:07:00.679
rewriting what I thought briefs looked like or

01:07:00.679 --> 01:07:04.059
like what I thought boxers looked like over and

01:07:04.059 --> 01:07:06.260
over again or what I looked like when I wear

01:07:06.260 --> 01:07:08.019
briefs or what I looked like. And I just kept

01:07:08.019 --> 01:07:10.440
thinking of different angles and analogies and

01:07:10.440 --> 01:07:12.940
funny stuff. And then I would try them all out

01:07:12.940 --> 01:07:14.860
at open mics and I would narrow them down to

01:07:14.860 --> 01:07:17.260
what were getting the biggest laughs. I was like,

01:07:17.280 --> 01:07:20.000
okay, here's the three best ones for this. But

01:07:20.000 --> 01:07:22.590
I think, yeah, sometimes. when you're trying

01:07:22.590 --> 01:07:24.489
to write new jokes or you don't even really know

01:07:24.489 --> 01:07:27.570
how to write jokes yet. You just have so much,

01:07:27.630 --> 01:07:30.150
like the world's just in your head and you don't

01:07:30.150 --> 01:07:32.510
know what to pull out. So it's narrow it down

01:07:32.510 --> 01:07:34.269
for yourself. What's five things I love? What's

01:07:34.269 --> 01:07:37.550
five things I hate? Write about that. What's

01:07:37.550 --> 01:07:39.170
something I've already written that's gotten

01:07:39.170 --> 01:07:42.170
a laugh? Okay, maybe I can, let me try to, this

01:07:42.170 --> 01:07:44.409
already works and I won't forget this. It's written

01:07:44.409 --> 01:07:46.650
down here. Let me try to rewrite it and see if

01:07:46.650 --> 01:07:48.929
I can get a bigger laugh on it. Or let me see

01:07:48.929 --> 01:07:52.659
if I can add a tag to this. maybe this could

01:07:52.659 --> 01:07:54.780
be an even bigger joke than just these three

01:07:54.780 --> 01:07:56.800
lines. This could end up being a three -minute

01:07:56.800 --> 01:08:00.239
joke. So you've talked a lot about your writing

01:08:00.239 --> 01:08:03.699
process, and you've talked a lot about kind of

01:08:03.699 --> 01:08:06.900
the early days of wanting to become a performer.

01:08:07.639 --> 01:08:11.699
I really want to know, Carson, what's the story

01:08:11.699 --> 01:08:16.340
with going from being in a band, being, I want

01:08:16.340 --> 01:08:21.390
to be a musician, to starting comedy at 20? I

01:08:21.390 --> 01:08:23.590
feel like we were, like, age 16. You saw Fish.

01:08:24.149 --> 01:08:26.689
The band broke up, and then you guys would do

01:08:26.689 --> 01:08:32.250
these annual shows three months a year. How did

01:08:32.250 --> 01:08:34.750
that... Did you start doing comedy, like, during

01:08:34.750 --> 01:08:37.510
the off months when the band was not around?

01:08:37.729 --> 01:08:41.250
No, so the drummer in the band, Zeke Buchholz,

01:08:41.369 --> 01:08:44.050
another one of my best friends, he actually owns

01:08:44.050 --> 01:08:47.210
the Crescent Theater in Mobile, Alabama, comedy

01:08:47.210 --> 01:08:52.390
club. He... Oddly enough, we just graduated high

01:08:52.390 --> 01:08:58.229
school, so this was probably October 2013. He

01:08:58.229 --> 01:09:01.689
did comedy one night in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

01:09:01.829 --> 01:09:03.909
I think he did a couple open mics and decided

01:09:03.909 --> 01:09:09.130
he wanted to do stand -up comedy. We bought tickets,

01:09:09.310 --> 01:09:11.750
me, him, and another guy bought tickets to go

01:09:11.750 --> 01:09:14.590
see fish in Redding, Pennsylvania. And so we

01:09:14.590 --> 01:09:17.310
drove from Mobile, Alabama to Redding, Pennsylvania,

01:09:17.729 --> 01:09:21.729
saw the show, and then on the way back, we dropped

01:09:21.729 --> 01:09:25.590
him off in Washington, D .C., where he just lived

01:09:25.590 --> 01:09:32.199
after we dropped him off. Yeah, and he just did

01:09:32.199 --> 01:09:35.039
comedy there in Philadelphia. I think he eventually

01:09:35.039 --> 01:09:37.659
moved to Philadelphia, and it was like for maybe

01:09:37.659 --> 01:09:41.399
six months. Okay. And then he moved back to Mobile,

01:09:41.680 --> 01:09:45.279
and he discovered an open mic that was happening

01:09:45.279 --> 01:09:48.460
at the Bly Mule, this restaurant in Mobile, and

01:09:48.460 --> 01:09:50.800
they're doing comedy in the attic every Wednesday.

01:09:51.300 --> 01:09:54.859
And I would go and just watch him do it and support

01:09:54.859 --> 01:09:59.140
him. And so we went, I probably went and saw

01:09:59.140 --> 01:10:02.479
him do it like five or six times. He was telling

01:10:02.479 --> 01:10:04.640
me that I should do it. Like I should sign up,

01:10:04.640 --> 01:10:06.960
you know what I mean? So then I signed up for

01:10:06.960 --> 01:10:10.199
the first time on October 8th, 2014. I still

01:10:10.199 --> 01:10:13.220
remember the date. Do you remember like the first

01:10:13.220 --> 01:10:16.579
jokes you told? My whole set, so you get five

01:10:16.579 --> 01:10:21.260
minutes at the open mic, and my first set was,

01:10:21.380 --> 01:10:25.560
I probably did three minutes, and it was all

01:10:25.560 --> 01:10:28.140
about the shirt that I was wearing, which was

01:10:28.140 --> 01:10:31.060
a Cheech and Chong shirt. And I don't even remember

01:10:31.060 --> 01:10:33.779
what the punchlines were or what I said. I just

01:10:33.779 --> 01:10:36.279
remember that it was... It might be for the better.

01:10:36.520 --> 01:10:39.399
It was awful. I just don't even remember. I just

01:10:39.399 --> 01:10:42.779
think... I don't even remember what the jokes

01:10:42.779 --> 01:10:45.439
were about. I just remember that I was wearing

01:10:45.439 --> 01:10:48.199
that shirt and all my jokes were about me and

01:10:48.199 --> 01:10:52.060
my shirt. It might be good that you don't remember.

01:10:52.460 --> 01:10:57.119
Oh, I don't think I said anything that would

01:10:57.119 --> 01:11:01.079
get me in trouble. But I'm sure all the punchlines

01:11:01.079 --> 01:11:06.039
were just horrendous. But then the next time

01:11:06.039 --> 01:11:12.210
I wrote my first joke. A kind of joke, and it

01:11:12.210 --> 01:11:15.050
got a laugh. And so it was like the second time

01:11:15.050 --> 01:11:17.689
on stage when I got a laugh off of writing something,

01:11:17.869 --> 01:11:20.930
I was like, oh, wait. I think I could do this.

01:11:21.149 --> 01:11:25.130
And then you go through some awful experiences

01:11:25.130 --> 01:11:29.329
for 12 years, and then you sit here, and now

01:11:29.329 --> 01:11:33.109
I'm talking to you. You talked a lot about the

01:11:33.109 --> 01:11:36.250
writing process that you went through and how

01:11:36.250 --> 01:11:39.390
that developed as a stand -up over the years.

01:11:40.279 --> 01:11:43.979
What are some of the more, like, less artistic

01:11:43.979 --> 01:11:47.500
challenges that you can think about? Obviously,

01:11:47.500 --> 01:11:51.039
there's, like, life on the road and money. And

01:11:51.039 --> 01:11:53.960
I know that you've struggled with addiction and

01:11:53.960 --> 01:11:58.739
sobriety. Now you're two years sober. Yeah. And

01:11:58.739 --> 01:12:02.560
what are some of the biggest, like, what? So

01:12:02.560 --> 01:12:05.159
that's, like, kind of the overarching thing,

01:12:05.319 --> 01:12:08.619
the overarching story of everything. Life on

01:12:08.619 --> 01:12:11.720
the road is hard. Do you think that you tell

01:12:11.720 --> 01:12:17.060
a joke about your parents? You're one of your

01:12:17.060 --> 01:12:19.060
parents being an alcoholic and that's how you

01:12:19.060 --> 01:12:21.979
make alcoholics, right? Do you think that was

01:12:21.979 --> 01:12:24.960
where a lot of your addiction really did come

01:12:24.960 --> 01:12:27.279
from? Or do you think it was something that like

01:12:27.279 --> 01:12:32.020
the lifestyle also? Yeah, it was. I think it

01:12:32.020 --> 01:12:36.300
was a combination of, I think a lot of. me dealing

01:12:36.300 --> 01:12:39.939
with outside stress improperly because I was

01:12:39.939 --> 01:12:42.340
a caretaker for my grandpa when I first started

01:12:42.340 --> 01:12:45.859
doing comedy and then year one of comedy I was

01:12:45.859 --> 01:12:49.920
21 and my girlfriend was like we were having

01:12:49.920 --> 01:12:52.960
a baby already when I was 21 and I was taking

01:12:52.960 --> 01:12:55.239
care of my grandfather and I was trying to do

01:12:55.239 --> 01:12:58.750
stand -up comedy at night And so I think a lot

01:12:58.750 --> 01:13:01.310
of the outside forces and stress and stuff and

01:13:01.310 --> 01:13:03.850
not being able to handle it, that started. I

01:13:03.850 --> 01:13:05.729
think when I really started drinking more is

01:13:05.729 --> 01:13:08.989
when my grandfather died. Okay. So I just handled

01:13:08.989 --> 01:13:11.649
that incorrectly, and I started drinking, like,

01:13:11.689 --> 01:13:15.569
every night. Yeah. And then it was just, like,

01:13:15.649 --> 01:13:20.170
balancing that cycle of trying to keep it together

01:13:20.170 --> 01:13:22.949
and then eventually just being like, all right,

01:13:22.970 --> 01:13:25.609
I just want to be done with all this. Yeah. A

01:13:25.609 --> 01:13:29.350
lot of addicts, especially with alcoholism, people

01:13:29.350 --> 01:13:33.310
talk about it became easier to just not do it

01:13:33.310 --> 01:13:36.149
than it was to control it. Yeah. And that's when

01:13:36.149 --> 01:13:39.310
the turning point was for them. And I still smoke

01:13:39.310 --> 01:13:43.390
weed. And I still do. It doesn't even feel like

01:13:43.390 --> 01:13:49.439
it feels wrong to say sober. No, 100%. There

01:13:49.439 --> 01:13:51.859
are people who, if they smoked one joint, like,

01:13:51.899 --> 01:13:53.960
within two weeks, they'd be back on, like, trying

01:13:53.960 --> 01:13:57.220
to find OxyCons, you know what I mean? So there's

01:13:57.220 --> 01:13:59.479
people who really struggle with things, like,

01:13:59.479 --> 01:14:02.520
on a whole other scale than what I'm dealing

01:14:02.520 --> 01:14:04.500
with, you know what I mean? I just knew that,

01:14:04.539 --> 01:14:09.000
like, alcohol was, like, going to hold me back

01:14:09.000 --> 01:14:11.640
from everything. And so I knew, like, I just

01:14:11.640 --> 01:14:15.250
had to get that out of my life. So did you feel

01:14:15.250 --> 01:14:17.670
like you really hit a rock bottom or was it really

01:14:17.670 --> 01:14:20.689
more of a, I know I can't, like the ceiling is

01:14:20.689 --> 01:14:24.329
too low if I keep drinking? Yeah. Like I would

01:14:24.329 --> 01:14:27.069
just like, I couldn't, I was like all my money

01:14:27.069 --> 01:14:29.149
was just going to the gas station at that point.

01:14:29.369 --> 01:14:32.170
And then you just start chilling hard and not

01:14:32.170 --> 01:14:35.529
like working towards anything. I heard Nate Bargetzi

01:14:35.529 --> 01:14:38.550
tell a similar story where he like, it wasn't

01:14:38.550 --> 01:14:40.970
like, he was like drunk with his friends and

01:14:40.970 --> 01:14:43.149
nothing bad had happened, but he looked at them.

01:14:43.520 --> 01:14:45.460
And he was like, I got to quit drinking or I'm

01:14:45.460 --> 01:14:48.539
not going to get where I want to be. Yeah. I

01:14:48.539 --> 01:14:53.279
think everybody that has, it's not like he didn't

01:14:53.279 --> 01:14:55.420
have things that he regretted that would cause

01:14:55.420 --> 01:14:57.640
my alcohol or him drinking too much or whatever.

01:14:57.720 --> 01:15:00.859
But I think it was not like my life has fallen

01:15:00.859 --> 01:15:03.180
apart because of it. Yeah. Kind of realization.

01:15:03.619 --> 01:15:05.840
Yeah. Like I have friends that drink are doing

01:15:05.840 --> 01:15:10.239
great. Like they can handle it. It doesn't affect

01:15:10.239 --> 01:15:13.510
their lives negatively. But like for me personally,

01:15:13.609 --> 01:15:17.270
it was just like a downward spiral of just couldn't

01:15:17.270 --> 01:15:19.789
get it together. But you didn't really feel like

01:15:19.789 --> 01:15:24.630
you had hit a rock bottom per se. No, there was

01:15:24.630 --> 01:15:28.210
never that. There was a handful of moments that

01:15:28.210 --> 01:15:31.649
probably should have felt like that. But I think

01:15:31.649 --> 01:15:33.630
that's the thing. You just wake up and brush

01:15:33.630 --> 01:15:36.289
it off and be like, I guess we'll keep drinking.

01:15:36.869 --> 01:15:42.079
Yeah, I got you. You know, nothing, like, I never

01:15:42.079 --> 01:15:45.560
got a DUI. I never went to jail. I went to jail

01:15:45.560 --> 01:15:48.739
when I was, like, 18 for being on the roof of

01:15:48.739 --> 01:15:51.939
my high school. And we got caught with weed and

01:15:51.939 --> 01:15:53.560
alcohol because it was, like, a red and brown

01:15:53.560 --> 01:15:55.939
Mardi Gras. Right. We were tripping on acid.

01:15:56.000 --> 01:15:57.840
Of course, we did not tell the cops that. That

01:15:57.840 --> 01:16:00.220
was smart. But I had to spend the night in jail

01:16:00.220 --> 01:16:03.500
when I was, like, two weeks into being 18. That

01:16:03.500 --> 01:16:05.279
was the last time I've ever been in trouble with

01:16:05.279 --> 01:16:10.760
the cops. And thank God I quit. And thank God

01:16:10.760 --> 01:16:12.699
I quit drinking, you know what I mean? Because

01:16:12.699 --> 01:16:15.260
I do have friends who have gotten a lot of DUIs.

01:16:15.359 --> 01:16:19.239
But I just know that no one's like, hell yeah,

01:16:19.380 --> 01:16:22.340
I got a DUI. It sucks, but it's a lot to deal

01:16:22.340 --> 01:16:25.899
with. Yeah, I think DUIs are a turning point

01:16:25.899 --> 01:16:29.680
for a lot of people. Yeah, for sure. And most

01:16:29.680 --> 01:16:31.840
of my friends, everyone's grown up. We all have

01:16:31.840 --> 01:16:35.659
responsibilities and stuff now. So I've seen

01:16:35.659 --> 01:16:38.340
everybody calm down around me for the most part.

01:16:39.570 --> 01:16:42.090
But, yeah, it is one of those things where I

01:16:42.090 --> 01:16:44.510
think everybody peaks in their chaos in their,

01:16:44.590 --> 01:16:48.369
like, late 20s. And then at some point there's,

01:16:48.409 --> 01:16:50.010
like, a moment of, I think you've got to slow

01:16:50.010 --> 01:16:54.430
down a little bit. Yeah. Or at least, like, redirect

01:16:54.430 --> 01:16:58.130
that energy into something else. That's the other

01:16:58.130 --> 01:17:01.090
thing is I don't ever think about drinking because

01:17:01.090 --> 01:17:04.489
I'm, like, I have so many other things that I'm

01:17:04.489 --> 01:17:07.289
focused on. And I've learned how to handle stress

01:17:07.289 --> 01:17:11.659
better. and realize that, like, you know, there's

01:17:11.659 --> 01:17:14.220
good things and the bad things, and not everything

01:17:14.220 --> 01:17:17.380
means it's the end of the universe or whatever.

01:17:17.619 --> 01:17:20.239
I didn't even think that back in the day. I just

01:17:20.239 --> 01:17:24.220
think I can tell it's like I just got so used

01:17:24.220 --> 01:17:28.060
to having alcohol be the thing that cured everything.

01:17:29.130 --> 01:17:31.850
That it just became a routine. It's like, okay,

01:17:31.949 --> 01:17:35.770
I gotta go to... It stops curing anything. That's

01:17:35.770 --> 01:17:38.250
what you do. He's like, alright, gotta wake up,

01:17:38.329 --> 01:17:41.229
gotta shower, gotta go to work, gotta get off

01:17:41.229 --> 01:17:43.649
work, gotta black out, gotta wake up, gotta do

01:17:43.649 --> 01:17:45.670
it again. It just became like a part of everyday

01:17:45.670 --> 01:17:48.850
life. You don't even see it happening. Was that

01:17:48.850 --> 01:17:52.819
part of... Taking your comedy career to the next

01:17:52.819 --> 01:17:55.579
level, too. I think... I got to the point, like,

01:17:55.600 --> 01:17:58.060
when I first got into comedy before, because

01:17:58.060 --> 01:17:59.819
I would say, like, I started doing comedy at

01:17:59.819 --> 01:18:02.720
20. I started drinking, like, really heavy at

01:18:02.720 --> 01:18:08.039
23, 24, somewhere around there. But those first

01:18:08.039 --> 01:18:11.359
three years, I was, like, dedicated. And I would

01:18:11.359 --> 01:18:15.960
ride around. So we would go to... I figured out

01:18:15.960 --> 01:18:18.869
where all these music open mics were. And so

01:18:18.869 --> 01:18:20.670
I would just go to these music open mics. There

01:18:20.670 --> 01:18:22.329
would be like one at this place called the Blues

01:18:22.329 --> 01:18:25.810
Tavern. And it was all just like bikers with

01:18:25.810 --> 01:18:28.890
like ponytails, gray ponytails and their wives.

01:18:29.569 --> 01:18:33.010
These dudes in their 60s who want to play Midnight

01:18:33.010 --> 01:18:40.119
Rider three times. Yeah, exactly. It'd be 27

01:18:40.119 --> 01:18:43.199
minute long midnight riders of a line of seven

01:18:43.199 --> 01:18:45.739
guys waiting their turn to rip a guitar solo

01:18:45.739 --> 01:18:51.039
at the music open mic. All played. Yeah, it was

01:18:51.039 --> 01:18:54.539
cool. But I would just go into these music open

01:18:54.539 --> 01:18:58.329
mics and ask if I could do comedy. And then a

01:18:58.329 --> 01:19:02.510
friend of ours figured out that there was a coffee

01:19:02.510 --> 01:19:05.090
shop called Satori, and they were doing, like,

01:19:05.090 --> 01:19:07.770
a music poetry open mic. So we just asked them,

01:19:07.810 --> 01:19:09.510
like, hey, can we do comedy? They're like, yeah,

01:19:09.529 --> 01:19:12.270
sure, why not? So we started doing comedy there,

01:19:12.329 --> 01:19:13.789
too. And then they were like, no, that was a

01:19:13.789 --> 01:19:19.609
bad idea. No, they have other reasons. It's always

01:19:19.609 --> 01:19:23.010
the college bar that fucks it up for everybody,

01:19:23.250 --> 01:19:25.810
you know what I mean? Everyone's making fake

01:19:25.810 --> 01:19:29.210
IDs. And then the cops were like, there's underage

01:19:29.210 --> 01:19:32.109
drinking. And you're like, no. So yeah, the whole

01:19:32.109 --> 01:19:36.210
open mic got shut down. But I was like 20, 21

01:19:36.210 --> 01:19:37.810
when I started. That was the other thing. I was

01:19:37.810 --> 01:19:41.670
not, I was lied and said I was 21 for the first

01:19:41.670 --> 01:19:43.350
year of comedy because I wasn't going to be able

01:19:43.350 --> 01:19:46.770
to do comedy if I was under 21. So I was already

01:19:46.770 --> 01:19:50.090
the first year. I remember announcing that I

01:19:50.090 --> 01:19:52.430
was 21 at one of the open mics and the bartender

01:19:52.430 --> 01:19:56.899
was like, you motherfucker. What were some of

01:19:56.899 --> 01:19:59.979
the things, so it's like you're, I'm stumbling

01:19:59.979 --> 01:20:03.119
over my words here. You're, you talked about

01:20:03.119 --> 01:20:06.939
how you're an adult now with responsibilities

01:20:06.939 --> 01:20:10.800
and you're very much like aware of who you are.

01:20:10.920 --> 01:20:15.420
And what do you talk about on stage at 20? Oh,

01:20:15.420 --> 01:20:18.979
dude, nothing jerking off. Yeah. Like I think

01:20:18.979 --> 01:20:23.500
this is why I waited so long to do comedy. In

01:20:23.500 --> 01:20:26.039
my life. One of the big reasons was like, I didn't

01:20:26.039 --> 01:20:31.840
think I had any. Yeah. I was a 20 -year -old

01:20:31.840 --> 01:20:36.340
kid who only, for some reason, young guys, it's

01:20:36.340 --> 01:20:39.319
always young dudes, they start off thinking comedy

01:20:39.319 --> 01:20:44.180
is like this. Not everybody, but they only hear

01:20:44.180 --> 01:20:49.909
certain words. So, like, literally it was all

01:20:49.909 --> 01:20:52.989
trying to be shocking. I was like, I know what's

01:20:52.989 --> 01:20:56.770
funny. Cancer, AIDS, 9 -11. You know what I mean?

01:20:56.770 --> 01:20:59.689
And then, like, eventually after, you know, enough.

01:20:59.909 --> 01:21:01.829
Because then what happens is if you do a well

01:21:01.829 --> 01:21:03.590
-written joke about one of those things from,

01:21:03.630 --> 01:21:05.369
like, an interesting perspective and it gets

01:21:05.369 --> 01:21:07.130
a laugh, then you're like, okay, shit, that got

01:21:07.130 --> 01:21:10.420
a laugh. But then all the other ones that get

01:21:10.420 --> 01:21:12.380
groans, you're like, why is that getting groans?

01:21:12.539 --> 01:21:14.140
And you really have to look at it and go, it's

01:21:14.140 --> 01:21:16.079
getting groans because it's just a shitty thing

01:21:16.079 --> 01:21:18.979
to say. Right, yeah. So it's, who do I want to

01:21:18.979 --> 01:21:22.640
be? And then you start figuring it out and chiseling

01:21:22.640 --> 01:21:26.439
it away. And then, you know, you start understanding,

01:21:26.500 --> 01:21:30.199
like, context and then also different perspectives.

01:21:31.159 --> 01:21:33.340
So one thing you talked about that shaped your

01:21:33.340 --> 01:21:36.939
comedy was, like, what you're talking about here.

01:21:37.899 --> 01:21:40.300
going up as a blank slate in the audience, kind

01:21:40.300 --> 01:21:43.640
of chiseling away. How much of that do you think

01:21:43.640 --> 01:21:46.100
went into your personal development as a person

01:21:46.100 --> 01:21:50.279
too, as a human being too? Do you think that

01:21:50.279 --> 01:21:53.399
sort of approach helped shape your like moral

01:21:53.399 --> 01:21:57.079
view on the world too? Yeah, I think so. That's

01:21:57.079 --> 01:22:00.819
interesting. Definitely. I think also like just

01:22:00.819 --> 01:22:06.930
getting sober helped me. I just don't. I don't

01:22:06.930 --> 01:22:09.170
know. I can tell there's a transformation from

01:22:09.170 --> 01:22:12.970
being overtly dirty to whatever I'm doing now,

01:22:13.050 --> 01:22:20.720
which is like a PG -13 slash R thing. yeah i

01:22:20.720 --> 01:22:23.680
don't know i guess so i guess it's helped in

01:22:23.680 --> 01:22:25.739
that way but i think also you just get older

01:22:25.739 --> 01:22:28.100
and you meet all kinds of people especially with

01:22:28.100 --> 01:22:31.300
comedy you travel more i guess the bigger question

01:22:31.300 --> 01:22:33.500
and i've performed in front of all kinds of audiences

01:22:33.500 --> 01:22:38.560
but really just mainly in the south so it's yeah

01:22:38.560 --> 01:22:41.939
i guess my question though is as somebody who

01:22:41.939 --> 01:22:46.039
like you've spent more than a third of your life

01:22:47.050 --> 01:22:49.609
As a comic and starting at such a young age when

01:22:49.609 --> 01:22:52.289
you didn't necessarily have a formed worldview,

01:22:52.810 --> 01:22:56.770
how much do you think being a comic and these

01:22:56.770 --> 01:22:59.029
experiences of talking about things and getting

01:22:59.029 --> 01:23:02.390
feedback, how much of that has shaped who you

01:23:02.390 --> 01:23:07.289
are as a person? A lot. A lot. It seems like.

01:23:07.630 --> 01:23:10.930
I think I don't notice until I go back and say

01:23:10.930 --> 01:23:14.569
I listen to an old thing or watch an old thing

01:23:14.569 --> 01:23:18.640
of myself. Or whatever. There's a video that

01:23:18.640 --> 01:23:20.859
I put on my YouTube, and it's me and two of my

01:23:20.859 --> 01:23:22.760
friends, the first time we ever tried to go on

01:23:22.760 --> 01:23:29.300
a tour. And it's 2017, so I'm 23 years old. I've

01:23:29.300 --> 01:23:31.199
been doing comedy for three years, and we went

01:23:31.199 --> 01:23:33.779
to Austin. This was before Joe Rogan or anybody

01:23:33.779 --> 01:23:36.739
lived there. And we went to Austin, and we went

01:23:36.739 --> 01:23:39.560
to Tallahassee here, to Byrds, and we went to

01:23:39.560 --> 01:23:42.180
Knoxville, Tennessee, and we did this whole trip

01:23:42.180 --> 01:23:46.010
of the South. Going back and watching that video

01:23:46.010 --> 01:23:49.409
and then seeing where I'm at now, it was just

01:23:49.409 --> 01:23:52.130
like I didn't realize. I was like, man, this

01:23:52.130 --> 01:23:57.250
has really become a huge part of my life. It

01:23:57.250 --> 01:24:00.689
really has shaped a lot of all my closest friends

01:24:00.689 --> 01:24:03.710
now are stand -up comedians. The people that

01:24:03.710 --> 01:24:06.609
I normally talk to and hang out with for the

01:24:06.609 --> 01:24:11.899
most part are all comics. That was a slow transformation.

01:24:11.939 --> 01:24:15.279
When I started, I only knew... I had all my friends

01:24:15.279 --> 01:24:18.840
that I knew, comedians that I saw at open mics.

01:24:19.180 --> 01:24:22.340
And then eventually things transfer and people

01:24:22.340 --> 01:24:24.399
go this way and you go this way. And it's like,

01:24:24.479 --> 01:24:27.100
damn, I only hang out with comics. I mean, I'm

01:24:27.100 --> 01:24:29.840
somebody that pretty much only hung out with

01:24:29.840 --> 01:24:33.760
musicians for the longest time. It was just like...

01:24:33.760 --> 01:24:37.310
I was like the roadie or the fucking... promo

01:24:37.310 --> 01:24:40.449
guy or the merch guy or eventually I managed

01:24:40.449 --> 01:24:43.930
bands and I tried to start a small record label

01:24:43.930 --> 01:24:48.869
here and all kinds of shit. I have friends that

01:24:48.869 --> 01:24:52.810
aren't comics, but it used to be 80 -20 this

01:24:52.810 --> 01:24:55.810
way and now it's 80 -20 the other way. What I'm

01:24:55.810 --> 01:24:59.229
getting at is now it's 50 -50 comics and music.

01:25:00.090 --> 01:25:02.930
Now I hang out with comics and I hang out with

01:25:02.930 --> 01:25:06.600
music, but that's about it. And, you know, exactly.

01:25:07.539 --> 01:25:11.180
Yeah, it's changed my social life completely.

01:25:12.319 --> 01:25:15.939
But it also, I think, you're somebody that, like,

01:25:15.979 --> 01:25:18.279
had their, like, A thing. Like, you're in a band.

01:25:19.079 --> 01:25:21.779
Like, growing up, like, you had this thing that

01:25:21.779 --> 01:25:24.399
you produced, that you made, that you were proud

01:25:24.399 --> 01:25:28.000
of, and you were, like, focused on. And it was,

01:25:28.000 --> 01:25:30.399
like, your output. And I don't think I ever...

01:25:30.960 --> 01:25:34.460
had that until i started doing comedy yeah so

01:25:34.460 --> 01:25:37.119
for me when i like the way that comedy and doing

01:25:37.119 --> 01:25:39.140
comedy like helps shape who i am is it's like

01:25:39.140 --> 01:25:42.279
it's almost giving me like a new sense of purpose

01:25:42.279 --> 01:25:46.500
yeah and confidence in the my place in the world

01:25:46.500 --> 01:25:50.680
yeah that too that's awesome and i think like

01:25:50.680 --> 01:25:52.659
it's the bet like that's the one thing for like

01:25:53.500 --> 01:25:55.920
When you tell a joke and it gets a laugh in front

01:25:55.920 --> 01:25:57.840
of a group of strangers who have no idea who

01:25:57.840 --> 01:25:59.939
you are, and they're, like, basically of all,

01:25:59.979 --> 01:26:03.140
with a noise, said yes to the thing that you

01:26:03.140 --> 01:26:05.500
did, that's, like, the greatest feeling, dude.

01:26:05.579 --> 01:26:07.720
You cannot overdo it. It's, like, the closest

01:26:07.720 --> 01:26:09.859
I'll feel, like, to feeling like Vince Carter

01:26:09.859 --> 01:26:13.659
doing a windmill dunk. Because that's, like,

01:26:13.760 --> 01:26:16.739
sometimes I just... I want to feel like what

01:26:16.739 --> 01:26:19.100
it feels like to be Vince Carter for two seconds.

01:26:19.659 --> 01:26:23.069
Yeah, I just want to, like... Like if there was

01:26:23.069 --> 01:26:24.989
like a time machine and it's like you can be

01:26:24.989 --> 01:26:27.409
anybody you want, but you only get 15 seconds.

01:26:27.449 --> 01:26:30.869
I'm like, I want to be Vince Carter when he jumped

01:26:30.869 --> 01:26:34.529
over that guy in the Olympics. That's who I want

01:26:34.529 --> 01:26:38.930
to be for 15 seconds. You're about to record

01:26:38.930 --> 01:26:42.250
your first special. Yeah. At what point do you

01:26:42.250 --> 01:26:45.670
think you decided you felt like you were ready?

01:26:46.369 --> 01:26:49.689
I guess. That's like a hard question for a lot

01:26:49.689 --> 01:26:52.449
of comedians. I guess it was because other people

01:26:52.449 --> 01:26:55.810
told me that I should do it. Okay. Which I think

01:26:55.810 --> 01:26:58.310
is a good sign. I think that means it's too late.

01:26:58.489 --> 01:27:01.270
Yeah. You should have done it. Because like I

01:27:01.270 --> 01:27:04.310
have. Not too late. I have a couple of friends

01:27:04.310 --> 01:27:05.989
that have made specials, and they're awesome.

01:27:06.130 --> 01:27:08.810
My friend Olivia Searcy made a special. She made

01:27:08.810 --> 01:27:11.229
a special, and it's great. It's fucking hilarious.

01:27:11.430 --> 01:27:13.050
I think I watched it over the holidays, but I

01:27:13.050 --> 01:27:14.850
loved it. Yeah, it's hilarious. So there was

01:27:14.850 --> 01:27:16.590
just different people that said I should make

01:27:16.590 --> 01:27:19.229
a special, and so I was like, and then when I

01:27:19.229 --> 01:27:22.310
thought about it, and I was like, I do have the

01:27:22.310 --> 01:27:25.050
material to do a half -hour special, and some

01:27:25.050 --> 01:27:26.890
of these jokes I've been doing for a long time,

01:27:27.069 --> 01:27:29.470
and I'm tired of it. And I feel like it's also,

01:27:29.630 --> 01:27:32.640
I feel like every comedian, thinks that they

01:27:32.640 --> 01:27:36.739
don't work hard enough, and we probably all don't.

01:27:37.320 --> 01:27:39.600
And I feel that way about myself all the time.

01:27:39.659 --> 01:27:41.739
I'll go through pockets where I'm writing like

01:27:41.739 --> 01:27:44.720
crazy, and then I'll be a lazy bastard for a

01:27:44.720 --> 01:27:46.600
month. You know what I mean? And won't write

01:27:46.600 --> 01:27:49.760
shit. And so I really want to, because some of

01:27:49.760 --> 01:27:52.680
these jokes are so old, and not all of it, like

01:27:52.680 --> 01:27:55.680
10 minutes of this 30 minutes are jokes that

01:27:55.680 --> 01:27:58.340
I have been doing for years. And then 20 minutes

01:27:58.340 --> 01:28:00.020
of it is stuff that I've probably written in

01:28:00.020 --> 01:28:04.590
the past year or two. I do want to write it and

01:28:04.590 --> 01:28:08.109
scrap it all and then force myself to, all right,

01:28:08.130 --> 01:28:11.909
you've been doing this for now 12 years. You

01:28:11.909 --> 01:28:16.130
can write an hour from scratch, start working

01:28:16.130 --> 01:28:19.930
towards it, put the work in, and so that's what

01:28:19.930 --> 01:28:23.529
I'm going to try to do. So when you're putting

01:28:23.529 --> 01:28:26.310
together a special, how do you approach that

01:28:26.310 --> 01:28:29.729
differently than just doing a set of the same

01:28:29.729 --> 01:28:34.489
amount of time somewhere? I'm performing. All

01:28:34.489 --> 01:28:37.970
I try to remember is how I'm going to open and

01:28:37.970 --> 01:28:40.329
how I'm going to close. And sometimes how I'm

01:28:40.329 --> 01:28:42.729
going to close will change depending on how the

01:28:42.729 --> 01:28:46.670
set's going. If I'm headlining, if I'm featuring,

01:28:46.770 --> 01:28:49.010
I pretty much have down what I'm going to do

01:28:49.010 --> 01:28:52.630
for a 15 to 20 minute set. But if I'm doing like

01:28:52.630 --> 01:28:54.989
30 plus, I pretty much just know how I'm going

01:28:54.989 --> 01:28:57.430
to open the first like two, three minutes and

01:28:57.430 --> 01:28:59.109
then how I'm going to close the last two or three

01:28:59.109 --> 01:29:03.510
minutes. And then in between, I'll just see what

01:29:03.510 --> 01:29:06.130
happens and let the energy goes how it goes.

01:29:06.229 --> 01:29:08.130
But what I've been doing for this past month

01:29:08.130 --> 01:29:11.850
is actually narrowing down, like, 30 minutes

01:29:11.850 --> 01:29:16.050
that, like, works. Or I can tell, like, the ebb

01:29:16.050 --> 01:29:18.750
and flow of how, like, each subject changes to

01:29:18.750 --> 01:29:21.510
this one and changes to this one. Yeah. Wraps

01:29:21.510 --> 01:29:25.670
up at the end. My next question was, like, is

01:29:25.670 --> 01:29:29.470
there... I think some comics put out a special

01:29:29.470 --> 01:29:31.189
and it's just like the greatest hits of their

01:29:31.189 --> 01:29:33.689
jokes. And maybe they're not longer form comics

01:29:33.689 --> 01:29:38.909
that tell stories. Like, Jesselnik is somebody

01:29:38.909 --> 01:29:40.829
that comes to mind. Even though his last special

01:29:40.829 --> 01:29:44.609
got a little bit more involved and had a bit

01:29:44.609 --> 01:29:47.470
of a narrative going throughout of it. Most of

01:29:47.470 --> 01:29:50.590
them are just like, boom, let me get the jokes

01:29:50.590 --> 01:29:54.760
per minute up. How intentional. are you trying

01:29:54.760 --> 01:29:56.939
to build a narrative in your special and how

01:29:56.939 --> 01:29:59.939
much of it is, I've got these jokes and I just

01:29:59.939 --> 01:30:02.359
want to connect them. Like, usually I just kind

01:30:02.359 --> 01:30:04.920
of find the connections, like, naturally just

01:30:04.920 --> 01:30:07.859
by telling them and doing different sets. And

01:30:07.859 --> 01:30:09.920
that's probably being lazy. Like, I should be

01:30:09.920 --> 01:30:12.000
looking, and this is the thing where, like, I

01:30:12.000 --> 01:30:13.500
never feel like I'm doing enough work. I should

01:30:13.500 --> 01:30:15.039
be looking down and finding the connections.

01:30:15.220 --> 01:30:17.439
Your brain is doing that, though. Yeah, I think

01:30:17.439 --> 01:30:23.010
naturally it's trying to. Like the beginning

01:30:23.010 --> 01:30:25.470
set list that I was doing when this tour started,

01:30:25.710 --> 01:30:28.090
like in comparison to like now, I can already

01:30:28.090 --> 01:30:29.930
tell where it's like towards the middle part.

01:30:30.029 --> 01:30:32.029
I've definitely slid a lot of things out, other

01:30:32.029 --> 01:30:35.090
things in and mix some things up to where it

01:30:35.090 --> 01:30:39.310
was in the beginning. So the ending I'm worried

01:30:39.310 --> 01:30:43.579
about now because of last night. Because they

01:30:43.579 --> 01:30:46.960
were taken aback. Yeah, it was a bunch of young

01:30:46.960 --> 01:30:50.819
kids. They were afraid to laugh at a lot of things.

01:30:51.159 --> 01:30:56.199
One thing that I'll say, man, is you weren't

01:30:56.199 --> 01:30:58.520
there early. I feel like the middle comics, but

01:30:58.520 --> 01:31:01.619
the early comics, they were not having us. They

01:31:01.619 --> 01:31:04.319
were not having us. It was like an ebb and flow

01:31:04.319 --> 01:31:07.880
all night. It was weird. They were pretty responsive

01:31:07.880 --> 01:31:11.149
for me. But compared to two weeks ago, it was

01:31:11.149 --> 01:31:15.050
almost the same set that I did. Totally different

01:31:15.050 --> 01:31:17.810
crowd. But it was like they were afraid to laugh.

01:31:18.010 --> 01:31:22.029
Yeah. And that's what I've experienced with younger

01:31:22.029 --> 01:31:27.069
audiences in general. Somebody who's toured the

01:31:27.069 --> 01:31:32.649
last month, what have you noticed? No group of

01:31:32.649 --> 01:31:35.369
people is uniform, right? Yeah. So one thing

01:31:35.369 --> 01:31:38.260
that I've noticed, I think, that is... When I

01:31:38.260 --> 01:31:40.640
first started, it was pretty much the average.

01:31:41.659 --> 01:31:45.500
Older people were less offended. Unless you,

01:31:45.640 --> 01:31:50.100
in the South, sometimes you punch down on God

01:31:50.100 --> 01:31:53.239
and Jesus too much. Can you punch down on God?

01:31:53.340 --> 01:31:57.920
You can. I've seen some older people get upset

01:31:57.920 --> 01:32:00.319
or just straight up leave if they feel like you're

01:32:00.319 --> 01:32:04.020
shitting on the Lord too much. I guess you can

01:32:04.020 --> 01:32:07.699
punch up and down on God. But so no one, everyone

01:32:07.699 --> 01:32:10.100
acts like there's a generation that's not offended

01:32:10.100 --> 01:32:12.920
and you can find someone's button no matter what.

01:32:13.460 --> 01:32:15.619
But I have noticed like younger people definitely

01:32:15.619 --> 01:32:19.579
don't like it when you talk about the hot button

01:32:19.579 --> 01:32:23.199
issues in a way that they view as a negative

01:32:23.199 --> 01:32:26.640
way. You know what I mean? So you gotta be, if

01:32:26.640 --> 01:32:28.899
the joke's well written, like I'm a big believer

01:32:28.899 --> 01:32:32.000
if it's a good joke, people, they'll give it

01:32:32.000 --> 01:32:36.109
up. And if it's not, You just have to be careful.

01:32:36.789 --> 01:32:40.829
Because I do certain jokes where I can look at

01:32:40.829 --> 01:32:44.090
the audience and I can tell they might find this

01:32:44.090 --> 01:32:46.609
too dirty. You know what I mean? Like older.

01:32:46.829 --> 01:32:51.229
Do it more. It makes me curious on what's going

01:32:51.229 --> 01:32:54.090
to happen. You know what I mean? I think sometimes

01:32:54.090 --> 01:32:57.550
I used to overly be like, I have something to

01:32:57.550 --> 01:32:59.729
prove to you now. And then it ruined the energy

01:32:59.729 --> 01:33:02.569
of the room. And now it's more like I try to

01:33:02.569 --> 01:33:05.829
go up with this understanding. hear me out you

01:33:05.829 --> 01:33:08.590
know what i mean because especially when i've

01:33:08.590 --> 01:33:11.529
done older crowds and i'll do like jokes about

01:33:11.529 --> 01:33:16.470
pornography or like dirty or sex jokes and stuff

01:33:16.470 --> 01:33:21.789
it's i feel like if the joke's well written they'll

01:33:21.789 --> 01:33:25.569
laugh and if i'm just being dirty to be dirty

01:33:25.569 --> 01:33:27.729
i'll figure that out based on their reactions

01:33:27.729 --> 01:33:31.149
you know what i mean yeah it's just these all

01:33:31.149 --> 01:33:33.819
different kinds of things I think like every

01:33:33.819 --> 01:33:36.560
audience is, you should try everything in every

01:33:36.560 --> 01:33:40.239
kind of room. Because like I just did, like North

01:33:40.239 --> 01:33:45.000
Carolina, I did a show at the Playhouse in Jacksonville,

01:33:45.020 --> 01:33:48.149
North Carolina, which is... near Camp Lejeune,

01:33:48.289 --> 01:33:50.850
which is a military base, and then at another

01:33:50.850 --> 01:33:53.890
place called Chicano's. So it was like families

01:33:53.890 --> 01:33:56.890
in there with kids the next night. So I had to

01:33:56.890 --> 01:34:00.590
do a headline with, I did my R set, and then

01:34:00.590 --> 01:34:02.710
I headlined the next night and had to do like

01:34:02.710 --> 01:34:07.140
a PG -13, PG -er set. Two nights later, I was

01:34:07.140 --> 01:34:09.699
at this place in Matthews, North Carolina. You

01:34:09.699 --> 01:34:12.840
could tell they had money. And so then it was

01:34:12.840 --> 01:34:14.779
weird in that town because it's like they love

01:34:14.779 --> 01:34:17.100
certain dirty shit, but then certain stuff, they're

01:34:17.100 --> 01:34:20.300
like, they would just fall silent. I'm glad I

01:34:20.300 --> 01:34:23.100
did this month on the road because it's... I'll

01:34:23.100 --> 01:34:25.000
be back home, and a lot of the people in the

01:34:25.000 --> 01:34:26.539
audience are people that are there to support

01:34:26.539 --> 01:34:30.979
me. You know what I mean? I have that in my favor,

01:34:31.159 --> 01:34:34.180
but I also wanted an honest opinion on these

01:34:34.180 --> 01:34:38.420
jokes. Let me tour all these cities where no

01:34:38.420 --> 01:34:41.239
one in the audience has any idea who I am and

01:34:41.239 --> 01:34:44.180
figure out which of these jokes are unanimously

01:34:44.180 --> 01:34:51.050
funny. Almost everywhere. But that other joke

01:34:51.050 --> 01:34:53.710
did great in North Carolina. The one that I'm

01:34:53.710 --> 01:34:56.310
planning on ending, we won't give it away. Hey,

01:34:56.310 --> 01:34:57.689
of course not. But the one that I'm planning

01:34:57.689 --> 01:35:00.909
on... But the joke that I plan on ending the

01:35:00.909 --> 01:35:04.310
special with in North Carolina, the two times

01:35:04.310 --> 01:35:07.949
that I did it, it did great. I got the reaction

01:35:07.949 --> 01:35:10.489
that I was hoping it would get. And then last

01:35:10.489 --> 01:35:14.130
night, everybody was like, absolutely not. And

01:35:14.130 --> 01:35:16.510
it makes me worried now. I'm like, oh shit, I

01:35:16.510 --> 01:35:18.989
have two more shows to figure this out. I think

01:35:18.989 --> 01:35:21.970
I would not listen to that room on that joke.

01:35:22.130 --> 01:35:24.760
And I'll just leave it at that. Okay. I would

01:35:24.760 --> 01:35:27.000
take that response with a grain of salt. I'm

01:35:27.000 --> 01:35:30.340
worried if I am going too emotional and really

01:35:30.340 --> 01:35:33.720
wrapping people too far in to where I say that

01:35:33.720 --> 01:35:37.420
it is like, why would you do that to me? But

01:35:37.420 --> 01:35:40.079
I think now that I know that's a possibility,

01:35:40.239 --> 01:35:45.069
I should just stick with it. Trust that I'm in

01:35:45.069 --> 01:35:49.229
a room where everybody knows me and then no matter

01:35:49.229 --> 01:35:51.750
what the reaction is, just stand there with a

01:35:51.750 --> 01:35:54.729
smile on my face and sit in it. Yeah. And then

01:35:54.729 --> 01:35:58.270
say goodnight. I think that is exactly the right

01:35:58.270 --> 01:36:02.449
way to do it. Okay. Yeah. I agree with that 100%,

01:36:02.449 --> 01:36:06.989
man. I think if you sit in it, even if they have

01:36:06.989 --> 01:36:11.220
that response initially. It's okay. And I have

01:36:11.220 --> 01:36:13.300
another line that I didn't do last night. There's

01:36:13.300 --> 01:36:15.739
another line that I have. Tell me after if you

01:36:15.739 --> 01:36:18.380
want. I'll tell you after. I didn't do it last

01:36:18.380 --> 01:36:20.899
night because I was like, if they hated that

01:36:20.899 --> 01:36:24.979
to that level, they're going to hate what's supposed

01:36:24.979 --> 01:36:28.840
to be the last line. So I literally, I have no

01:36:28.840 --> 01:36:33.119
qualms. You might be wrong about that, too. I

01:36:33.119 --> 01:36:37.550
feel like sometimes you push. Oh, I pulled out.

01:36:38.010 --> 01:36:42.010
If you don't push it over the line, that's when

01:36:42.010 --> 01:36:45.550
you fucked up. Because it's, all right, I'm uncomfortable.

01:36:45.670 --> 01:36:48.470
But if you shove them over the line. They didn't

01:36:48.470 --> 01:36:51.109
know that there was another line coming. So I

01:36:51.109 --> 01:36:54.930
just pivoted to shitting on towns and stuff.

01:36:55.050 --> 01:36:57.930
And then shitting on Mobile. And I ended with

01:36:57.930 --> 01:37:02.210
a big laugh. So it's fine. It's fine. I pivoted

01:37:02.210 --> 01:37:04.909
and found a different direction. And we got where

01:37:04.909 --> 01:37:10.130
we needed to go. But I was shocked. It's so funny.

01:37:10.210 --> 01:37:11.989
It's like I read like Louis C .K. said something

01:37:11.989 --> 01:37:14.170
about this in an interview. But it is true. It's

01:37:14.170 --> 01:37:17.489
like I got too cocky with that joke. And I forgot

01:37:17.489 --> 01:37:23.890
that it's like an awful thing to say. So it's

01:37:23.890 --> 01:37:26.069
literally because it did well. It was like the

01:37:26.069 --> 01:37:28.949
last three times I've said it, I was like, got

01:37:28.949 --> 01:37:31.149
this. So then I said it and everyone was like.

01:37:31.659 --> 01:37:34.680
And I was like, oh, shit. Oh, shit, I forgot.

01:37:34.840 --> 01:37:38.899
I'm sorry. Though, there is also, like, a point

01:37:38.899 --> 01:37:42.720
where if you sit in that uncomfortableness for

01:37:42.720 --> 01:37:45.920
a minute, then people find it funny. And that's

01:37:45.920 --> 01:37:48.699
what I think you're, like, on to with it. It's

01:37:48.699 --> 01:37:51.979
like... They got to calm down, and then they'll

01:37:51.979 --> 01:37:54.600
see the humor. The shock wears off, and then

01:37:54.600 --> 01:37:57.140
they see how smart it is, too. Yeah. If that

01:37:57.140 --> 01:37:59.380
makes sense. Yeah, I think I just need to approach

01:37:59.380 --> 01:38:03.600
it with more sensitivity. Yeah. I think I said

01:38:03.600 --> 01:38:06.420
it last night too confidently, and that made

01:38:06.420 --> 01:38:11.399
it worse. You know what I mean? This is, I think,

01:38:11.399 --> 01:38:13.539
where weird might just be different is comics.

01:38:14.180 --> 01:38:16.500
I would have taken the response you got last

01:38:16.500 --> 01:38:19.840
night from that joke as a win. I did not. I would

01:38:19.840 --> 01:38:22.319
have. It made my forehead sweat a little bit.

01:38:22.779 --> 01:38:25.640
I was like, oh, they hate me. I was like 17 minutes

01:38:25.640 --> 01:38:30.140
in at that point. And for 16 minutes and 59 seconds,

01:38:30.260 --> 01:38:33.640
they loved me. And then in one second, they were

01:38:33.640 --> 01:38:39.659
like, get the fuck out of Tallahassee. I know.

01:38:39.939 --> 01:38:42.699
But the look on the, you know what really hurt

01:38:42.699 --> 01:38:46.520
me? It was the look on the lady's face. All the

01:38:46.520 --> 01:38:48.539
women in the crowd were like, just like this

01:38:48.539 --> 01:38:51.739
during my whole story. And then when I ripped

01:38:51.739 --> 01:38:55.979
the cord on that, I just saw them like, I hate

01:38:55.979 --> 01:39:00.060
this guy. Like, I actually hate this guy. And

01:39:00.060 --> 01:39:03.460
that kind of broke my heart a little bit. I don't

01:39:03.460 --> 01:39:05.840
think they hated you. No, I think it was fine.

01:39:06.560 --> 01:39:09.699
I think the fact that I pivoted and moved on,

01:39:09.800 --> 01:39:12.699
it made it better because it's just comedy. And

01:39:12.699 --> 01:39:16.340
I think that made the joke more likable to bandage

01:39:16.340 --> 01:39:19.479
it up on the end. If I would have done the last

01:39:19.479 --> 01:39:24.739
line, there's no way, dude. I knew better. I'm

01:39:24.739 --> 01:39:28.239
anxious to hear that. Basically, part of me feels

01:39:28.239 --> 01:39:30.159
like I did the right thing. Part of me makes

01:39:30.159 --> 01:39:33.000
me feel like a pussy. You know what I mean? I

01:39:33.000 --> 01:39:35.479
just want to note right here that after he told

01:39:35.479 --> 01:39:38.619
me what the line was, I totally agreed that he

01:39:38.619 --> 01:39:41.779
should not have told it. Carson was right here.

01:39:41.859 --> 01:39:46.710
He made the right call. Reading the room is always

01:39:46.710 --> 01:39:49.289
really important. I also want to respect the

01:39:49.289 --> 01:39:53.100
room and don't want anybody to... You don't want

01:39:53.100 --> 01:39:56.039
to be the guy that was like, I said the thing,

01:39:56.060 --> 01:39:58.140
and they're like, now we can't do comedy here.

01:39:58.760 --> 01:40:00.840
And it's not like I have anything to say that's

01:40:00.840 --> 01:40:03.159
bad, nor would that joke even in the line is

01:40:03.159 --> 01:40:06.220
not that bad. I just don't want to give away

01:40:06.220 --> 01:40:07.619
the joke because that's how I'm going to end

01:40:07.619 --> 01:40:11.760
my special. It's not like no one would have actually

01:40:11.760 --> 01:40:15.199
been mad if I said the last line, but it just

01:40:15.199 --> 01:40:17.340
would have been the continuation of, please stop.

01:40:18.079 --> 01:40:21.220
What's next for you, man? What do you think?

01:40:22.000 --> 01:40:24.899
Do you have goals with what you have in front

01:40:24.899 --> 01:40:27.119
of you? No, I have goals. I didn't mean that.

01:40:27.340 --> 01:40:29.939
I don't really have goals. No, I understand.

01:40:30.039 --> 01:40:32.779
I didn't have goals until I got sober. Didn't

01:40:32.779 --> 01:40:34.840
even think about it. All I knew was I wanted

01:40:34.840 --> 01:40:36.699
to do comedy, and I got to the point that I was

01:40:36.699 --> 01:40:38.359
just getting drunk every night and doing it once

01:40:38.359 --> 01:40:41.359
a week. I think the way that I approach it is

01:40:41.359 --> 01:40:45.079
more like what Hank Green, he's like a science

01:40:45.079 --> 01:40:50.439
popsicle. There it is. But what he basically

01:40:50.439 --> 01:40:55.939
says is like having goals is fine, but like operating

01:40:55.939 --> 01:40:58.680
with the tools you have and just making whatever

01:40:58.680 --> 01:41:02.579
you can with what you have is usually how he

01:41:02.579 --> 01:41:06.260
operates, right? He makes a new app and it's

01:41:06.260 --> 01:41:09.500
just like because I can and I want to, not because

01:41:09.500 --> 01:41:13.720
I have this goal of making this. Yeah. And that's

01:41:13.720 --> 01:41:16.880
what I mean by I don't have goals. It sounds

01:41:16.880 --> 01:41:19.909
like with the special, that's. What happened

01:41:19.909 --> 01:41:21.970
is I have all the tools to do this and people

01:41:21.970 --> 01:41:24.930
are telling me I should do this. Yeah. Yeah,

01:41:25.090 --> 01:41:28.210
this is like where I've set a goal and I've been

01:41:28.210 --> 01:41:32.350
working towards this one thing, which has been

01:41:32.350 --> 01:41:36.710
exciting. After that, my goal is to try to build

01:41:36.710 --> 01:41:40.869
to an hour, do another special maybe in two years.

01:41:41.750 --> 01:41:45.829
And in between that, I want to try to get booked

01:41:45.829 --> 01:41:49.909
at more clubs, actual comedy clubs. More festivals.

01:41:50.310 --> 01:41:52.869
So I did a few festivals this past year. Has

01:41:52.869 --> 01:41:54.289
that been a good experience for you? Yeah, I've

01:41:54.289 --> 01:41:56.409
enjoyed it. Going to festivals is fun to me.

01:41:56.710 --> 01:41:58.789
What are some of the festivals that you got a

01:41:58.789 --> 01:42:02.369
lot out of? Fountain City Comedy Festival. And

01:42:02.369 --> 01:42:04.630
another one that I enjoyed was the Lunchbox Comedy

01:42:04.630 --> 01:42:08.949
Festival. Just because it was like a lot of Louisiana

01:42:08.949 --> 01:42:12.590
and Mississippi comics that I'm friends with.

01:42:13.210 --> 01:42:16.909
And so that almost felt like a family gathering.

01:42:17.770 --> 01:42:19.649
So it was like a bunch of, there's like people

01:42:19.649 --> 01:42:23.210
that I hadn't seen in years. So it was fun. That's

01:42:23.210 --> 01:42:25.829
a good one. But the Fountain City Comedy Festival

01:42:25.829 --> 01:42:28.729
was cool because that's a guy named Steven Taylor.

01:42:29.289 --> 01:42:31.210
And there's other people involved. I can't think

01:42:31.210 --> 01:42:33.189
of their names right now, but he's the one that

01:42:33.189 --> 01:42:36.470
I usually talk to from that area because in Kansas

01:42:36.470 --> 01:42:40.010
City. And so he, it was the fourth one that we

01:42:40.010 --> 01:42:43.069
did, that they did. And it was the first time

01:42:43.069 --> 01:42:47.060
that I did one. And the, The cool thing about

01:42:47.060 --> 01:42:50.420
it was, like, they had a day where they made,

01:42:50.539 --> 01:42:55.779
they had a waffle bar. And so we got up early

01:42:55.779 --> 01:42:58.300
one morning and went to this bar that they. Coveted

01:42:58.300 --> 01:43:03.000
as fuck. So, like, look. They had a guy that

01:43:03.000 --> 01:43:05.140
came in, this dude Will, who's like a fucking,

01:43:05.340 --> 01:43:08.199
he's a saint. He like came in from Colorado or

01:43:08.199 --> 01:43:12.159
something and just rented a car and was just

01:43:12.159 --> 01:43:14.079
willing to drive all the comics wherever they

01:43:14.079 --> 01:43:16.579
needed to go for free. So he literally just picked

01:43:16.579 --> 01:43:19.460
us up. We had places to stay for free. Like they

01:43:19.460 --> 01:43:22.750
hooked us up with all this stuff. weed's legal

01:43:22.750 --> 01:43:25.590
on the Missouri side of Kansas city. So that

01:43:25.590 --> 01:43:29.409
was the shit. Yeah. That was the shit. Just don't

01:43:29.409 --> 01:43:33.510
go to the Kansas side. And then fucking like

01:43:33.510 --> 01:43:35.970
all the venues were like close by. They were

01:43:35.970 --> 01:43:39.729
all bad -ass. Yeah. Kansas city is just cool.

01:43:39.850 --> 01:43:42.050
I love the whole scene. The barbecue best I've

01:43:42.050 --> 01:43:44.970
ever had in my life. It was killer. And then

01:43:44.970 --> 01:43:47.689
one morning they did this awesome thing that

01:43:47.689 --> 01:43:49.989
I have notes in my notebook that I wrote down

01:43:49.989 --> 01:43:53.829
from this night. But they did an industry thing

01:43:53.829 --> 01:43:57.109
where we all went to this bar at 11 a .m., 10

01:43:57.109 --> 01:44:00.600
a .m. had the waffle bar like ready so we could

01:44:00.600 --> 01:44:03.239
have breakfast and they have four different people

01:44:03.239 --> 01:44:06.560
that book like major like festivals or clubs

01:44:06.560 --> 01:44:12.000
or one guy ran don't tell comedy and but he was

01:44:12.000 --> 01:44:14.159
like one of the head guys that run it nationwide

01:44:15.229 --> 01:44:18.170
And they had them sit on the stage and just give

01:44:18.170 --> 01:44:21.130
us all like career advice about where to go or

01:44:21.130 --> 01:44:22.670
where they think comedy is going or where they

01:44:22.670 --> 01:44:24.670
see it going in the next five years and all this

01:44:24.670 --> 01:44:27.149
different stuff. And I took down a bunch of notes.

01:44:27.170 --> 01:44:30.130
And then they like just explained also like what

01:44:30.130 --> 01:44:32.170
they're looking for, like when you submit a video

01:44:32.170 --> 01:44:35.770
or when you submit different things. And so it

01:44:35.770 --> 01:44:38.310
was just super. Not only was like the festival

01:44:38.310 --> 01:44:41.899
like. they took care of us the shows were all

01:44:41.899 --> 01:44:44.840
like packed and awesome and then like they also

01:44:44.840 --> 01:44:49.300
i got a lot of great like industry advice out

01:44:49.300 --> 01:44:51.680
of it like a lot of times you're just bobbing

01:44:51.680 --> 01:44:54.199
your head around mics trying to get as much stage

01:44:54.199 --> 01:44:58.880
time as possible and the best way i think a lot

01:44:58.880 --> 01:45:02.319
of people still I know that the social media

01:45:02.319 --> 01:45:04.180
side is important because I'm trying to build

01:45:04.180 --> 01:45:06.659
my social media presence and look as professional

01:45:06.659 --> 01:45:09.479
as possible. But I think some people get so stuck

01:45:09.479 --> 01:45:11.939
into that that they stop writing and forget that

01:45:11.939 --> 01:45:14.319
at the end of the day, your social media is a

01:45:14.319 --> 01:45:16.680
commercial for a product that needs to be good

01:45:16.680 --> 01:45:20.039
and tight on stage. So it's like your number

01:45:20.039 --> 01:45:22.819
one focus should be getting as funny as possible

01:45:22.819 --> 01:45:26.319
and really building the best set possible and

01:45:26.319 --> 01:45:29.239
then building your social media around a product

01:45:29.239 --> 01:45:33.880
that's... product. I hate that we even have to

01:45:33.880 --> 01:45:36.579
talk like this. It's like icky. I want to throw

01:45:36.579 --> 01:45:41.670
it off of me. It sucks. Self -promotion is so

01:45:41.670 --> 01:45:44.250
hard sometimes. Towards the end of my drinking,

01:45:44.390 --> 01:45:46.670
I took a job. This is like the peak of my alcoholism,

01:45:46.710 --> 01:45:49.210
but I took a job as a broker for one year with

01:45:49.210 --> 01:45:51.289
a company called, you can bleep that if you want.

01:45:51.789 --> 01:45:54.250
You don't work there anymore. No, they're awful.

01:45:54.989 --> 01:45:58.989
It's a blood -sucking vampire corporation. You

01:45:58.989 --> 01:46:01.510
would have to do this thing for the company that

01:46:01.510 --> 01:46:03.550
they would convince you was the only way to get

01:46:03.550 --> 01:46:05.750
ahead, and the way to do that was you had to

01:46:05.750 --> 01:46:08.350
get to work at 4 a .m. to do the thing between

01:46:08.350 --> 01:46:11.380
4 and 6 a .m. but you don't start getting paid

01:46:11.380 --> 01:46:16.739
for your job until 6 .15. Oh, okay. You're doing

01:46:16.739 --> 01:46:19.100
all this extra work for free that they're convincing

01:46:19.100 --> 01:46:25.119
you. It's corporate. When you said vampire blood

01:46:25.119 --> 01:46:30.380
-sucking corporation... and it was like I was

01:46:30.380 --> 01:46:33.000
not and there's people there that was what they

01:46:33.000 --> 01:46:35.159
were meant to do they were very successful at

01:46:35.159 --> 01:46:37.039
it and they could do the whole mumbo jumbo and

01:46:37.039 --> 01:46:39.819
they liked wearing the they liked wearing the

01:46:39.819 --> 01:46:43.239
khakis and it would be so weird dude office environments

01:46:43.239 --> 01:46:45.159
are so weird because it would be like a bunch

01:46:45.159 --> 01:46:48.609
of bros It was like ex -fraternity dudes. It

01:46:48.609 --> 01:46:51.729
was like ex -athletes, ex -military guys. That

01:46:51.729 --> 01:46:54.449
was like 80 % of the staff. That's like the type

01:46:54.449 --> 01:46:56.609
of people that they were trying to like get to

01:46:56.609 --> 01:47:01.239
work there. Yeah, exactly. It would just be so

01:47:01.239 --> 01:47:03.260
weird because it'd be like somebody over here

01:47:03.260 --> 01:47:05.260
is like cussing out another dude. There's a guy

01:47:05.260 --> 01:47:07.460
with a Russian accent cussing me out from the

01:47:07.460 --> 01:47:10.079
truck. And then the dude behind you like rolls

01:47:10.079 --> 01:47:12.500
around on wheelies like one of those balls in

01:47:12.500 --> 01:47:15.060
a cup. You know what I mean? You're like, what

01:47:15.060 --> 01:47:18.760
the hell is going on in this place, dude? Someone's

01:47:18.760 --> 01:47:20.819
shooting a basketball in the corner. Straight

01:47:20.819 --> 01:47:23.560
up severance kind of shit going on. Yeah. Is

01:47:23.560 --> 01:47:25.060
this the place where you got the waffle bar?

01:47:25.819 --> 01:47:28.949
No. That was a comedy festival. That was actually

01:47:28.949 --> 01:47:31.909
fun. If you haven't watched Severance, it's like

01:47:31.909 --> 01:47:34.970
a workplace comedy. Oh, okay. I've heard of it.

01:47:35.050 --> 01:47:38.770
It's a waffle party. Oh, nice. And the line from

01:47:38.770 --> 01:47:42.130
it is, it's coveted as fuck. The waffle party

01:47:42.130 --> 01:47:44.189
sounds like it would be a thing at this company.

01:47:44.329 --> 01:47:47.569
But I'll say this, having a shit on one thing

01:47:47.569 --> 01:47:50.069
that it did that was good for my life was...

01:47:50.750 --> 01:47:53.390
Getting prepared for that interview and really

01:47:53.390 --> 01:47:55.829
wanting that job and having to go through the

01:47:55.829 --> 01:47:57.930
whole three interview process and go out and

01:47:57.930 --> 01:48:00.550
get my own suit. Because I was just a drunk mess

01:48:00.550 --> 01:48:02.750
at this point in my life. And one day I was just

01:48:02.750 --> 01:48:04.909
sitting at work at my job waiting tables and

01:48:04.909 --> 01:48:07.430
I was just tired of it. And I was like, I went

01:48:07.430 --> 01:48:09.909
online. I was like, jobs, hiring, and mobile.

01:48:10.350 --> 01:48:12.630
And it was the first thing I saw. And I clicked

01:48:12.630 --> 01:48:14.770
on it and I filled out the application and they

01:48:14.770 --> 01:48:16.529
called me the next day and said they wanted to

01:48:16.529 --> 01:48:19.229
do a phone interview. And I did that. And then

01:48:19.229 --> 01:48:21.109
they wanted to do two. in -person interviews

01:48:21.109 --> 01:48:23.630
and I had to wear a suit and I did that and then

01:48:23.630 --> 01:48:26.170
I got the job and I had to do six months of training

01:48:26.170 --> 01:48:28.829
where you could not get the job at the end possibly

01:48:28.829 --> 01:48:33.090
and I got it and then everything that like I

01:48:33.090 --> 01:48:36.069
did to do that because I was still drinking heavy

01:48:36.069 --> 01:48:39.510
at the time but it made me more like professional

01:48:39.510 --> 01:48:43.010
and mentally aware. There's a way that I still

01:48:43.010 --> 01:48:45.979
want to carry myself. Now that I wasn't carrying

01:48:45.979 --> 01:48:48.319
myself before and a lot of it was preparing for

01:48:48.319 --> 01:48:51.409
that job and getting that job. regardless of

01:48:51.409 --> 01:48:54.869
how much, I just would never do that again. But

01:48:54.869 --> 01:48:57.390
towards the end of my drinking there, I can't

01:48:57.390 --> 01:48:58.649
say this because I don't work there anymore,

01:48:58.810 --> 01:49:02.229
but I was not handling the stress of trying to

01:49:02.229 --> 01:49:04.149
keep that job correctly because there's a number

01:49:04.149 --> 01:49:06.449
that you always have to try to hit in sales and

01:49:06.449 --> 01:49:10.229
all that shit. And so I would literally clock

01:49:10.229 --> 01:49:13.750
in on my lunch break, and there was a Mexican

01:49:13.750 --> 01:49:16.470
restaurant around the corner, and I would go

01:49:16.470 --> 01:49:18.529
to it, and I would sit in a booth that faced

01:49:18.529 --> 01:49:21.949
the entrance. And I would order three double

01:49:21.949 --> 01:49:24.970
shots of tequila. And I would try to slam them

01:49:24.970 --> 01:49:27.270
real quick and make sure no one from my job would

01:49:27.270 --> 01:49:30.430
walk in and see me. And then I'd clock out or,

01:49:30.449 --> 01:49:31.909
you know what I mean, I'd sign my check and then

01:49:31.909 --> 01:49:34.609
I'd run back to work real quick. And I'd go in

01:49:34.609 --> 01:49:38.710
and sit at the computer just like, whoo. That's

01:49:38.710 --> 01:49:40.649
one of those times where you're like, oh, that

01:49:40.649 --> 01:49:42.569
should have been a sign. Yeah, it started feeling

01:49:42.569 --> 01:49:44.550
like flight a little bit. I was like, are they

01:49:44.550 --> 01:49:48.560
going to chill out? If anybody wanted to hire

01:49:48.560 --> 01:49:52.319
me as badly as they wanted to hire you, it sounds

01:49:52.319 --> 01:49:55.119
like, I would have taken that as a red flag.

01:49:55.739 --> 01:50:00.300
Yeah, no. Dude, it's so funny. My buddy Nick,

01:50:00.460 --> 01:50:02.579
he's a comic in Mobile. Nick Brackett, he's hilarious.

01:50:03.560 --> 01:50:06.539
He tried to get that job, too, and he ruined

01:50:06.539 --> 01:50:09.579
it all. He got to the last interview. He's perfect

01:50:09.579 --> 01:50:12.119
for that job, and I don't mean that in a bad

01:50:12.119 --> 01:50:16.210
way. I just mean, he's a server at a restaurant.

01:50:16.229 --> 01:50:18.970
He's now the manager of the... He was a server

01:50:18.970 --> 01:50:20.489
and a bartender, and now he's the manager of

01:50:20.489 --> 01:50:23.569
the place. In the service energy sales position,

01:50:23.789 --> 01:50:27.050
he's the shit, dude. He's just good at that.

01:50:27.329 --> 01:50:31.090
So it's like, I know that they wanted him. And

01:50:31.090 --> 01:50:33.470
he gets to the last interview, and they're like,

01:50:34.069 --> 01:50:36.189
so yeah, we just want to make... Basically, we're

01:50:36.189 --> 01:50:39.109
saying, we just want to make sure that you're

01:50:39.109 --> 01:50:41.149
not going to use foul language, which they really...

01:50:41.770 --> 01:50:44.050
If you're crushing there and making them a million

01:50:44.050 --> 01:50:45.689
dollars, you can say whatever the fuck you want

01:50:45.689 --> 01:50:49.010
on the phone. But basically, just make sure you're

01:50:49.010 --> 01:50:50.770
not going to get angry or, like, cuss on the

01:50:50.770 --> 01:50:52.649
phone with anybody. No, I'm not going to tell

01:50:52.649 --> 01:50:54.250
anybody to fuck off, if that's what you mean.

01:50:54.409 --> 01:50:58.189
And just saying that, they were like, nah. And

01:50:58.189 --> 01:50:59.789
he didn't get the job. And I'm like, why would

01:50:59.789 --> 01:51:04.270
you say that? Why would you say the thing? Even

01:51:04.270 --> 01:51:08.489
in an example of the thing that they don't want

01:51:08.489 --> 01:51:11.069
to come out of your mouth at all. Like that white

01:51:11.069 --> 01:51:16.949
as kids. Yeah. But no. So, yeah. That place stressed

01:51:16.949 --> 01:51:19.810
me out. It really did. I remember there was a

01:51:19.810 --> 01:51:21.789
manager there. I bet you got some good material

01:51:21.789 --> 01:51:24.529
out of it, though. No, I got nothing out of it,

01:51:24.569 --> 01:51:26.470
dude. It's like a nightmare to think about. I

01:51:26.470 --> 01:51:28.510
just hated getting up and going to that place.

01:51:28.810 --> 01:51:31.270
Sharing it with us here. Yeah, no, it's fine.

01:51:32.380 --> 01:51:35.439
They have an 80 % turnover rate there, too. So

01:51:35.439 --> 01:51:38.260
every six months, dude, you look around and half

01:51:38.260 --> 01:51:40.760
the people that were there are not there anymore,

01:51:40.880 --> 01:51:44.060
dude. They're, like, fired or quit. Because it's

01:51:44.060 --> 01:51:48.699
a stressful job. But I remember when I hit the

01:51:48.699 --> 01:51:52.399
number that I needed to pass the internship,

01:51:52.600 --> 01:51:56.199
I remember one of the managers there was like,

01:51:56.260 --> 01:51:58.939
man, I thought we were going to kill you there

01:51:58.939 --> 01:52:00.600
for a second. I could tell you were stressed

01:52:00.600 --> 01:52:03.500
out. I was like, yeah, I'm not going to lie,

01:52:03.600 --> 01:52:06.300
I was. Double shot of tequila on my lunch break.

01:52:06.380 --> 01:52:08.840
Yeah. Everyone there would describe that when

01:52:08.840 --> 01:52:11.260
you first tried to get the job, to make you feel

01:52:11.260 --> 01:52:13.699
like it was cool, they'd be like, it's like PG

01:52:13.699 --> 01:52:18.260
-13 Wolf of Wall Street. So we can vape in the

01:52:18.260 --> 01:52:22.880
bathroom. Cool. Every job that I've ever worked

01:52:22.880 --> 01:52:25.300
at, it's like that David Tell bit where it's

01:52:25.300 --> 01:52:26.859
like, you should have been there. You know what

01:52:26.859 --> 01:52:30.359
I mean? Yeah. I swear to God, every job I've

01:52:30.359 --> 01:52:32.899
ever worked at, the whole place is like, dude,

01:52:32.920 --> 01:52:34.460
if you would have worked here six months ago,

01:52:34.659 --> 01:52:37.180
we were literally banging strippers and doing

01:52:37.180 --> 01:52:39.420
cocaine in the bathroom. It's like, man, shit's

01:52:39.420 --> 01:52:42.100
changed now, dude. He used to get free food.

01:52:42.180 --> 01:52:45.380
Now it's half off. Every time I work at a place,

01:52:45.439 --> 01:52:48.039
I should have worked there six months before.

01:52:48.880 --> 01:52:53.279
I was like, oh, yeah, dude. George Clinton would

01:52:53.279 --> 01:52:56.960
come in with the saxophone player every Tuesday.

01:52:57.100 --> 01:52:59.420
Like, what? I won't do that anymore. What the

01:52:59.420 --> 01:53:02.739
fuck? So the last thing I want to ask you about,

01:53:02.840 --> 01:53:05.819
because I realize we never tied up this little

01:53:05.819 --> 01:53:08.100
bit, is your band recorded an album two years

01:53:08.100 --> 01:53:12.920
ago. Yeah. After years of doing this cyclical

01:53:12.920 --> 01:53:17.439
seasonal show thing, tell me about that. It was

01:53:17.439 --> 01:53:20.279
during COVID, and we had nothing going on, and

01:53:20.279 --> 01:53:23.479
I was just drinking like a half a bottle of Evan

01:53:23.479 --> 01:53:26.520
Williams every day. Oh, God. And room temperature

01:53:26.520 --> 01:53:29.380
Andy Gator. That was my go -to during COVID,

01:53:29.479 --> 01:53:31.760
and I was watching The Exorcist like every night.

01:53:33.270 --> 01:53:36.550
At the time, it was just like, this is what I'm

01:53:36.550 --> 01:53:38.350
doing. And I look back at that time and I'm like,

01:53:38.430 --> 01:53:40.430
that's pretty dark. Something's going on there.

01:53:40.649 --> 01:53:43.090
And I still love The Exorcist. I'd watch it tonight.

01:53:43.329 --> 01:53:46.930
But like every night and drinking whiskey, you're

01:53:46.930 --> 01:53:49.069
like, okay, this dude's literally fighting demons

01:53:49.069 --> 01:53:53.609
on the television screen and in life. But my

01:53:53.609 --> 01:53:56.930
buddy Zeke hit me up, the one that owns the comedy

01:53:56.930 --> 01:53:59.630
club that first started doing comedy. And he

01:53:59.630 --> 01:54:03.439
was like, he gave me this. speech dude he gave

01:54:03.439 --> 01:54:06.060
me the fucking we need to be doing something

01:54:06.060 --> 01:54:09.800
bro we need to be like it's time dude like we

01:54:09.800 --> 01:54:12.439
we've been making these music for all these years

01:54:12.439 --> 01:54:14.600
like we need to make an album or try to like

01:54:14.600 --> 01:54:17.659
make music yeah yeah and so during covet i'd

01:54:17.659 --> 01:54:19.659
go over to his house because he lives in my neighborhood

01:54:19.659 --> 01:54:22.720
and we'd sit in his garage dude till sunrise

01:54:22.720 --> 01:54:26.600
and we would make songs and just eat mushrooms

01:54:26.600 --> 01:54:29.300
and drink whatever just sit there and play music

01:54:29.300 --> 01:54:32.649
dude and just record and record and then whatever

01:54:32.649 --> 01:54:35.390
we liked we would go and we would get our friends

01:54:35.390 --> 01:54:37.810
to like record verses on it and stuff or play

01:54:37.810 --> 01:54:40.369
another instrument or whatever and then we would

01:54:40.369 --> 01:54:42.670
make a music video out of our favorite songs

01:54:42.670 --> 01:54:44.750
so it got to the point that we were releasing

01:54:44.750 --> 01:54:47.409
like one music video a month we did that for

01:54:47.409 --> 01:54:51.250
about two years probably 15 to 20 music videos

01:54:51.250 --> 01:54:55.470
on youtube okay shropshire collective yeah i'll

01:54:55.470 --> 01:54:57.710
link it in the description so all covid that's

01:54:57.710 --> 01:54:59.090
what we were doing we'd make a song and then

01:54:59.090 --> 01:55:01.090
make a music video for the song make a song and

01:55:01.090 --> 01:55:02.850
make a music video for the song we were just

01:55:02.850 --> 01:55:04.970
doing that and then eventually it's like we should

01:55:04.970 --> 01:55:08.310
make an album so we took all of our favorite

01:55:08.310 --> 01:55:11.909
songs basically and that was probably like 90

01:55:11.909 --> 01:55:15.770
or not 90 it's probably like 60 of the album

01:55:15.770 --> 01:55:18.409
and then the other 40 was probably like newer

01:55:18.409 --> 01:55:21.170
songs that we were working on that we like we

01:55:21.170 --> 01:55:22.770
always want the new your newer shit's always

01:55:22.770 --> 01:55:26.250
your favorite shit yeah so and we kept getting

01:55:26.250 --> 01:55:29.529
better so that it was hard to pick older songs

01:55:29.529 --> 01:55:31.489
that we liked because it was like that kind of

01:55:31.489 --> 01:55:34.149
sounds like trash now two years later in comparison

01:55:34.149 --> 01:55:36.630
to what we're doing now yeah because you start

01:55:36.630 --> 01:55:38.689
figuring out recording better and different things

01:55:38.689 --> 01:55:41.399
like that So yeah, so we basically just compiled

01:55:41.399 --> 01:55:44.720
all of our favorite songs and then had our buddy

01:55:44.720 --> 01:55:48.340
produce it and mix it and all that and then made

01:55:48.340 --> 01:55:51.760
an album. Do you think going into the process

01:55:51.760 --> 01:55:57.640
of making an album and music videos led you to

01:55:57.640 --> 01:56:01.619
deciding to make a special too? It made me decide

01:56:01.619 --> 01:56:04.359
that I'm going to edit it myself. Okay. Because

01:56:04.359 --> 01:56:06.899
I did a couple of our music videos and edited

01:56:06.899 --> 01:56:10.020
them and then we've done... short films and stuff

01:56:10.020 --> 01:56:14.800
in the past and i just enjoy editing and also

01:56:14.800 --> 01:56:18.859
for my first special i just if it's gonna be

01:56:18.859 --> 01:56:22.779
bad i want it to be my fault word you know what

01:56:22.779 --> 01:56:26.319
i mean yeah i want to learn so i have a bunch

01:56:26.319 --> 01:56:28.119
of friends that are helping me film which is

01:56:28.119 --> 01:56:31.960
awesome that i trust that do that and then i

01:56:31.960 --> 01:56:35.220
have another friend of mine that's a comedian

01:56:35.220 --> 01:56:38.949
that He's good at editing too. And so he's going

01:56:38.949 --> 01:56:41.430
to like co -edit with me. Gotcha. And be like

01:56:41.430 --> 01:56:44.149
an extra set of eyes. Do you have a name for

01:56:44.149 --> 01:56:47.909
it yet? So the working title at the moment is

01:56:47.909 --> 01:56:51.329
just a matter of time. Just a matter of time.

01:56:51.369 --> 01:56:54.710
But I think I just like that because the story

01:56:54.710 --> 01:56:57.010
behind that, I don't have a joke for it. The

01:56:57.010 --> 01:56:59.510
story behind that is I got fired from a job and

01:56:59.510 --> 01:57:04.319
then the boss hired me back. When I walked in

01:57:04.319 --> 01:57:07.819
my first day back, he looked at me and he goes,

01:57:07.840 --> 01:57:10.479
if it isn't old J -Mott. And I was like, what

01:57:10.479 --> 01:57:12.859
does that mean? He goes, just a matter of time.

01:57:13.579 --> 01:57:17.039
And I thought that was hilarious. So I named

01:57:17.039 --> 01:57:18.640
it that, but it's really just a working title

01:57:18.640 --> 01:57:20.859
for the filming of the special, I think, just

01:57:20.859 --> 01:57:22.960
because I like how it sounds. I think it might

01:57:22.960 --> 01:57:25.979
draw people in more, but it makes it sound like

01:57:25.979 --> 01:57:28.659
a bigger deal than it actually is. Whatever the

01:57:28.659 --> 01:57:31.430
actual title is. I'm probably going to name it

01:57:31.430 --> 01:57:34.949
something that I say in a line in one of the...

01:57:34.949 --> 01:57:38.710
I want to find a line in my act that I think

01:57:38.710 --> 01:57:41.090
represents the whole thing. You could just call

01:57:41.090 --> 01:57:43.170
it... Like the classic way. Yeah, you could just

01:57:43.170 --> 01:57:46.550
call it a line from my act. I mean, I'll probably

01:57:46.550 --> 01:57:48.609
just find something that I say in the special

01:57:48.609 --> 01:57:51.369
and make that the title. I'm really fucking excited

01:57:51.369 --> 01:57:53.729
for it, man. Thank you, man. I'm excited too.

01:57:53.909 --> 01:57:55.550
Thanks for coming on the show. Is there anything

01:57:55.550 --> 01:57:57.289
else you want to mention before we wrap it up?

01:57:58.039 --> 01:58:01.819
Yeah, listen to that album by Shropshire Collective.

01:58:01.819 --> 01:58:04.279
It's called For the Children. My special. Link

01:58:04.279 --> 01:58:06.279
in the description. Yeah, you can find me at

01:58:06.279 --> 01:58:10.020
CarsonTaylorComedy on everything. Although I

01:58:10.020 --> 01:58:13.619
just deleted my TikTok. But I still have my Facebook,

01:58:13.800 --> 01:58:16.819
Instagram, and YouTube. Special will be coming

01:58:16.819 --> 01:58:19.399
out in probably like two months. I'll update.

01:58:20.130 --> 01:58:22.590
Once it's out, I'll put a link to it in the description.

01:58:23.050 --> 01:58:25.050
And until then, I'll put links to everything

01:58:25.050 --> 01:58:27.930
else, too. Sweet. Appreciate it. Thanks for being

01:58:27.930 --> 01:58:30.130
here, man. That was my talk with Carson Taylor.

01:58:30.350 --> 01:58:32.569
Make sure you check out his comedy special, Tally

01:58:32.569 --> 01:58:35.989
Ho. It drops on the 17th. Come see me up in Athens.

01:58:36.369 --> 01:58:38.350
And I'll see you all Saturday at Phipps Farm

01:58:38.350 --> 01:58:41.489
for P -Funk Fest. Thanks for listening.