WEBVTT 00:00:08.719 --> 00:00:12.000 Hey folks welcome to good news York brought to 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:15.759 you by ads on the go Get ads on the go comm is 00:00:15.759 --> 00:00:18.140 the website check that out Go talk to our man 00:00:18.140 --> 00:00:20.960 Zach and get your face on the side of a truck 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:24.500 driving around 31. Absolutely, which I I did 00:00:24.500 --> 00:00:29.280 that recently I Was up on 11 and was gonna go 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:31.920 to 31, and it was the worst traffic I've ever 00:00:31.920 --> 00:00:34.399 experienced in my whole life. I've never experienced 00:00:34.399 --> 00:00:36.380 that before. I know the traffic's always a little 00:00:36.380 --> 00:00:40.299 tight there, but it was insane for no obvious 00:00:40.299 --> 00:00:42.579 good reason. So I think people are avoiding the 00:00:42.579 --> 00:00:45.240 81 traffic and trying to take regular roads. 00:00:45.679 --> 00:00:48.119 So one thing Zach's doing now so that his truck 00:00:48.119 --> 00:00:51.039 doesn't get stuck in traffic just with one person 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:54.539 getting berated with ads is he's working out 00:00:54.539 --> 00:00:57.299 arrangements with local parking lots to be like, 00:00:57.289 --> 00:01:00.329 a digital billboard that can go to the most populated 00:01:00.329 --> 00:01:02.450 area at any point. Like he was out in Berutan 00:01:02.450 --> 00:01:06.629 for the fireworks. The most brilliant young man 00:01:06.629 --> 00:01:09.750 I've encountered in a long time. I really like 00:01:09.750 --> 00:01:13.049 Zach. By the way, you might have noticed, that's 00:01:13.049 --> 00:01:15.569 not Mike. Mike will be joining us a little later. 00:01:15.629 --> 00:01:18.269 He's got another guest that's gonna join us in 00:01:18.269 --> 00:01:19.810 the studio. He's gonna do an incredible interview 00:01:19.810 --> 00:01:22.010 with them, so stick around for that. But first, 00:01:22.609 --> 00:01:25.430 I am joined by my good buddy, Dylan Wirtz. Hey, 00:01:25.530 --> 00:01:29.810 what's up everybody? Dylan is a, I guess you'd 00:01:29.810 --> 00:01:32.969 say, newfound comedy promoter here in Syracuse. 00:01:34.230 --> 00:01:36.730 He put together this event called the Cuse Comedy 00:01:36.730 --> 00:01:38.730 Throwdown. Did I get it right? Correct. All right, 00:01:38.849 --> 00:01:43.750 cool. A couple months back now. April. Incredible 00:01:43.750 --> 00:01:46.609 event. First one he's ever put on. Sold it out 00:01:46.609 --> 00:01:49.150 in, I don't know, 20 minutes or something crazy 00:01:49.150 --> 00:01:51.900 like that? Couple weeks. And it was a competition, 00:01:52.079 --> 00:01:54.400 so there was a number of comedians that came 00:01:54.400 --> 00:01:56.519 on. I was lucky enough to be a judge for the 00:01:56.519 --> 00:02:00.739 event. It was really cool. And they got points, 00:02:01.459 --> 00:02:04.159 and you had some top three winners. Now you're 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:05.939 having a championship, and if you wouldn't mind, 00:02:06.099 --> 00:02:08.699 talk about that, and then also introduce our 00:02:08.699 --> 00:02:10.819 other guests for us, if you wouldn't mind. Yeah, 00:02:10.819 --> 00:02:13.659 so it all came together. Should I be looking 00:02:13.659 --> 00:02:15.319 at you or looking at the camera? Anywhere, buddy. 00:02:15.379 --> 00:02:18.879 Okay, cool. So basically how it came about is... 00:02:18.810 --> 00:02:20.830 Less than a year ago, I had just decided on a 00:02:20.830 --> 00:02:23.050 random Thursday night to go try a local open 00:02:23.050 --> 00:02:26.050 mic. I went out to Average Shows in Baldensville, 00:02:26.330 --> 00:02:28.770 kind of wrote some chicken scratch jokes and 00:02:28.770 --> 00:02:31.990 went up there and really enjoyed it. I had a 00:02:31.990 --> 00:02:33.909 coffee meeting with a friend, Robin Cortese, 00:02:33.949 --> 00:02:36.650 you probably know, a few months later, and she 00:02:36.650 --> 00:02:38.930 had just asked what I had been up to. I'd mentioned 00:02:38.930 --> 00:02:41.469 I was doing some stand -up comedy. The thing 00:02:41.469 --> 00:02:44.189 about doing stand -up at local open mics is it's 00:02:44.189 --> 00:02:46.509 a bit of a mixed crowd. There's some folks there 00:02:46.509 --> 00:02:48.439 that just want to, like, have a beer. some of 00:02:48.439 --> 00:02:49.780 the comics who just want to, like, get their 00:02:49.780 --> 00:02:52.360 jokes off, and then a few people that are, like, 00:02:52.479 --> 00:02:55.580 kind of actively paying attention. Yeah. So it's 00:02:55.580 --> 00:02:57.060 hard to get that feedback, and if you're, like, 00:02:57.060 --> 00:02:59.419 actually doing well. So I had mentioned to Robin 00:02:59.419 --> 00:03:01.620 that I was hoping to try out a competition sometime 00:03:01.620 --> 00:03:03.840 soon so I could really figure out where I was 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:06.319 at with things. And she said, hey, how about 00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:10.120 you just throw a competition? So one thing became 00:03:10.120 --> 00:03:12.500 another. We booked the Syracuse Polish home. 00:03:12.900 --> 00:03:14.819 I reached out to some buddies who knew a lot 00:03:14.819 --> 00:03:17.289 of comics in the area, got in touch with... as 00:03:17.289 --> 00:03:20.150 many people as I could find. And the show came 00:03:20.150 --> 00:03:22.830 together really quickly. I think the format of 00:03:22.830 --> 00:03:25.530 it really sold itself. The Polish Home kind of 00:03:25.530 --> 00:03:27.770 has this rabid fan base of people that just want 00:03:27.770 --> 00:03:30.629 to get drunk on the weekend. And they're good 00:03:30.629 --> 00:03:32.629 folks over there. And then the comics were inviting 00:03:32.629 --> 00:03:35.469 their friends and their family. So the show kind 00:03:35.469 --> 00:03:37.550 of sold itself. We put together that panel of 00:03:37.550 --> 00:03:39.889 judges and the night came together better than 00:03:39.889 --> 00:03:42.219 I could have imagined. My best friend traveled 00:03:42.219 --> 00:03:43.699 up from New Jersey. It was just a really cool 00:03:43.699 --> 00:03:45.900 night. That's awesome. So we raised some money 00:03:45.900 --> 00:03:48.039 for Golisano Children's Hospital. That was a 00:03:48.039 --> 00:03:50.939 charity show. Nice. So the Polish Home was able 00:03:50.939 --> 00:03:53.800 to make some cash. We made a significant donation 00:03:53.800 --> 00:03:57.400 to Golisano. And we, as you saw, we made it as 00:03:57.400 --> 00:03:59.960 fair as we possibly could. We had different categories 00:03:59.960 --> 00:04:02.800 for the judging and we had eight judges and we 00:04:02.800 --> 00:04:05.259 were telling... There's detailed criteria I had 00:04:05.259 --> 00:04:07.900 to pay. I had to like think about it. Holy shit. 00:04:08.009 --> 00:04:11.009 But yeah, it was serious. I wanted to make it 00:04:11.009 --> 00:04:14.849 fair. Yeah, so we did that, and then we had the 00:04:14.849 --> 00:04:17.329 three winners. We had Mr. Mike Terry in third 00:04:17.329 --> 00:04:20.050 place, Tommy Armstrong in second place, and then 00:04:20.050 --> 00:04:22.889 Abdul took the crown as the Cuse Comedy Throwdown 00:04:22.889 --> 00:04:26.769 Champion. And a few weeks after the show, the 00:04:26.769 --> 00:04:28.910 idea came to mind, like, hey, let's throw a private, 00:04:28.910 --> 00:04:31.189 more intimate show with the winners of the competition. 00:04:31.610 --> 00:04:35.779 And we reached out to CNY Jazz Central. got the 00:04:35.779 --> 00:04:37.199 room booked, reached out to these guys. They 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:40.240 were all down right away. We have two other comics 00:04:40.240 --> 00:04:42.199 that placed highly in the competition, Screech 00:04:42.199 --> 00:04:46.500 Monroe and Phoenix Thomas. Nice. We got some 00:04:46.500 --> 00:04:49.879 musical support from Theo Curtin who is, we're 00:04:49.879 --> 00:04:52.939 not roommates, we're housemates. Okay. And Theo 00:04:52.939 --> 00:04:56.360 is a super talented improvisational pianist and 00:04:56.360 --> 00:04:59.259 guitar player. Damn. He's done solos at like 00:04:59.259 --> 00:05:01.639 the Boston Music Hall and he travels all over. 00:05:02.270 --> 00:05:04.910 Because he can do improv music. He's a part of 00:05:04.910 --> 00:05:07.370 a number of local groups Because he can just 00:05:07.370 --> 00:05:08.949 hop on there and kind of feel the vibe of the 00:05:08.949 --> 00:05:12.370 music and then play his thing. Yeah Yeah, so 00:05:12.370 --> 00:05:15.550 that's what that's what we're doing and uh, it's 00:05:15.550 --> 00:05:19.910 on Thursday, July 24th At doors at five show 00:05:19.910 --> 00:05:22.529 at six and it should be a good time. That's awesome, 00:05:22.670 --> 00:05:25.889 man. I'm really excited for the show gentlemen, 00:05:26.009 --> 00:05:28.930 like I said the The competition was tight. It 00:05:28.930 --> 00:05:31.470 was incredible. There was so many comedians. 00:05:31.470 --> 00:05:34.350 Yeah. But of such high quality, like there was 00:05:34.350 --> 00:05:36.129 we were we were laughing all night, which was 00:05:36.129 --> 00:05:39.509 really cool. But you all really pulled it out. 00:05:40.129 --> 00:05:44.829 And I guess we'll go to Abdul first. What as 00:05:44.829 --> 00:05:46.410 you were going through your performance there 00:05:46.410 --> 00:05:48.970 in the competition, how did you feel you did 00:05:48.970 --> 00:05:53.730 compared to some of the comedians? I don't know. 00:05:53.730 --> 00:05:55.990 Usually, like every time I'm on stage, I just 00:05:55.990 --> 00:06:01.449 usually think But that was fine. So as soon as 00:06:01.449 --> 00:06:03.709 I got off the stage, I wasn't thinking about 00:06:03.709 --> 00:06:05.810 placing or anything. I was just happy I had a 00:06:05.810 --> 00:06:12.750 good set. My mind's usually just thinking about 00:06:12.750 --> 00:06:18.949 the next joke or it's just always a blank. I 00:06:18.949 --> 00:06:22.029 love this guy. I've seen him around for a few 00:06:22.029 --> 00:06:26.360 years now in the local comedy scene. He's never 00:06:26.360 --> 00:06:30.339 not been funny. Seriously, it was always like, 00:06:30.379 --> 00:06:33.120 this dude is made for comedy, and I'm glad to 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:35.899 see him do it. And you can see it as he pulled 00:06:35.899 --> 00:06:40.040 out the win. Thank you. Mike, tell me, so in 00:06:40.040 --> 00:06:43.079 this next event, that last one was kind of a 00:06:43.079 --> 00:06:46.759 quick showcase where you did a short set. This 00:06:46.759 --> 00:06:48.860 one, I understand, is going to be quite a bit 00:06:48.860 --> 00:06:51.300 longer, right? Where you're going to get to do 00:06:51.300 --> 00:06:54.699 a lot more material. What's it like preparing 00:06:54.699 --> 00:06:57.550 for that? or did you have a longer set and you 00:06:57.550 --> 00:07:00.009 had to cut it down for the previous show? How's 00:07:00.009 --> 00:07:02.310 that work? Yeah, so that's like, when you do 00:07:02.310 --> 00:07:04.949 competitions, you wanna give people a good taste, 00:07:05.009 --> 00:07:09.370 what not. You wanna give them your best five 00:07:09.370 --> 00:07:11.730 minutes. Yeah, your best five minutes. So you 00:07:11.730 --> 00:07:14.170 might not do a whole bunch of long jokes, you 00:07:14.170 --> 00:07:16.870 might chop it up, hit them with a bunch of 30 00:07:16.870 --> 00:07:20.329 second jokes, but with this upcoming set, you 00:07:20.329 --> 00:07:22.529 can take your time. You can take your shoes off. 00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:26.819 get a little comfortable, do some crowd work, 00:07:26.959 --> 00:07:28.319 you know what I mean? Get too comfortable. Yeah, 00:07:28.339 --> 00:07:30.259 right, right. Gotta make sure the socks smell 00:07:30.259 --> 00:07:34.000 good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, you know, tell 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:35.939 a little bit more stories, get to know the people 00:07:35.939 --> 00:07:39.279 that you're talking to, take your time. Your 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:43.980 demeanor is more relaxed. Yeah, yeah. So, and 00:07:43.980 --> 00:07:49.600 it's exciting. It's exciting. I'm not having 00:07:49.600 --> 00:07:51.459 a blank. I thought about something completely 00:07:51.459 --> 00:07:54.430 different. We are still having it recorded, I 00:07:54.430 --> 00:07:56.649 believe. Say it again? We are still having it 00:07:56.649 --> 00:07:59.649 recorded. The Night of Champions? Yeah. Okay, 00:07:59.850 --> 00:08:01.569 yeah. We're still having it recorded, so. That's 00:08:01.569 --> 00:08:03.610 all. I mean, that's another way to continue to 00:08:03.610 --> 00:08:08.230 promote ourselves. Yeah. Whether we take that 00:08:08.230 --> 00:08:10.829 footage and shop it to comedy clubs and try to 00:08:10.829 --> 00:08:13.290 get in the comedy clubs, or we just post it, 00:08:13.290 --> 00:08:17.009 you know, gives us the avenue to post more YouTube 00:08:17.009 --> 00:08:21.620 clips or whatever and spread more reach. I'm 00:08:21.620 --> 00:08:24.019 so glad you mentioned that I'd love to ask all 00:08:24.019 --> 00:08:27.779 you fellas, you know back in the day When the 00:08:27.779 --> 00:08:29.300 internet YouTube all these things started with 00:08:29.300 --> 00:08:31.980 a lot of comedians I felt like the last thing 00:08:31.980 --> 00:08:34.980 they wanted was their set or their jokes posted. 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:38.980 Yeah And now I feel like that's flipped and they 00:08:38.980 --> 00:08:40.860 see the promotional value. Is that is that accurate? 00:08:40.899 --> 00:08:41.899 And what do you what do you guys think about 00:08:41.899 --> 00:08:45.039 that? I mean, I do agree that like like posting 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:47.879 clips has gotten like a lot of people far in 00:08:47.879 --> 00:08:52.610 comedy like Like I just started recently posting 00:08:52.610 --> 00:08:54.730 clips because I like I want people to be more 00:08:54.730 --> 00:08:59.090 aware of who I am sure and My only issue with 00:08:59.090 --> 00:09:01.850 it is just like I see a lot of comics like especially 00:09:01.850 --> 00:09:06.250 young comics like posting like clip like Jokes 00:09:06.250 --> 00:09:08.710 from like an open mic and stuff and like yeah, 00:09:09.029 --> 00:09:12.490 these jokes are like way too Like like let them 00:09:12.490 --> 00:09:14.789 settle like yeah, let them like breathe a little 00:09:14.789 --> 00:09:16.950 bit before you like post them out in the world 00:09:16.950 --> 00:09:19.769 So all you're doing is just like posting a really 00:09:19.769 --> 00:09:23.350 good premise and that's it. Yeah. But like, yeah, 00:09:23.350 --> 00:09:26.990 it's crazy that like back in the day, like all 00:09:26.990 --> 00:09:29.909 you had to do was just work hard, like keep on 00:09:29.909 --> 00:09:32.570 working. And then I just waited until someone 00:09:32.570 --> 00:09:36.470 noticed you. And like, it's very empowering to 00:09:36.470 --> 00:09:38.610 see comedians just like, you know, I'm just going 00:09:38.610 --> 00:09:41.809 to take this in my own hand, throw it on TikTok. 00:09:41.929 --> 00:09:44.610 And if like, if they like it, they like it. If 00:09:44.610 --> 00:09:47.289 they don't, then I guess I gotta stick with my 00:09:47.289 --> 00:09:52.549 day job. You always wanna keep writing too. So 00:09:52.549 --> 00:09:54.889 that helps you to, cause you know what I mean, 00:09:55.169 --> 00:09:57.789 no comedian, as we brought up no comedian, you 00:09:57.789 --> 00:10:00.730 don't wanna post your best stuff, and then, hey, 00:10:00.850 --> 00:10:02.750 come on out to the show, come on out to the show, 00:10:02.909 --> 00:10:04.370 and they're like, wait, this thing. They've seen 00:10:04.370 --> 00:10:08.450 it, yeah. Now you tricked us. You don't want 00:10:08.450 --> 00:10:10.269 them to have that reaction, so you always wanna 00:10:10.269 --> 00:10:14.080 keep writing, and that way you can. You can mix 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:16.059 it in. You can mix in your new stuff with your 00:10:16.059 --> 00:10:18.720 old stuff. Sure. And try it in true if you want 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:21.379 to call it that. But... I love that. One thing 00:10:21.379 --> 00:10:23.139 I've noticed, and I'm relatively new to this, 00:10:23.259 --> 00:10:25.860 is I feel like a lot of comics, they use their 00:10:25.860 --> 00:10:27.799 social media as proof that they're funny. Yeah. 00:10:27.940 --> 00:10:29.600 Whether it be, like, sharing funny memes or, 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:31.480 like, doing sketch comedy. Like, I've seen your 00:10:31.480 --> 00:10:33.919 sketches. I know Tommy is very popular for his 00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:36.720 sketches. So it's like, if you can make the Instagram 00:10:36.720 --> 00:10:38.519 or the Facebook or the TikTok be a proof that 00:10:38.519 --> 00:10:41.350 you're funny, then it'll want... get people into 00:10:41.350 --> 00:10:44.289 the show to hear those actual jokes. And I feel 00:10:44.289 --> 00:10:47.450 like as I've been promoting the Night of Champions 00:10:47.450 --> 00:10:49.090 specifically, because it's been a bit more of 00:10:49.090 --> 00:10:51.809 a grind, is I'm trying to get sillier and just 00:10:51.809 --> 00:10:54.370 kind of immune to embarrassment online. And like 00:10:54.370 --> 00:10:56.490 the ticket sales have picked up, the interest 00:10:56.490 --> 00:10:58.429 has picked up as I get sillier, as I get a little 00:10:58.429 --> 00:11:02.090 funnier online. You're doing a great job of really 00:11:02.090 --> 00:11:03.750 just having fun with it and promoting it in every 00:11:03.750 --> 00:11:07.190 way you can. Telling goofy stories as they come 00:11:07.190 --> 00:11:09.509 up. I mean, that's really the formula and and 00:11:09.509 --> 00:11:11.149 I love to see that you figured that out It's 00:11:11.149 --> 00:11:12.990 taking a lot of people. There's a lot of social 00:11:12.990 --> 00:11:16.409 media experts that spend lots of money and haven't 00:11:16.409 --> 00:11:18.629 figured that out You're nailing it buddy. I really 00:11:18.629 --> 00:11:21.529 I love to see it. Thank you. It's awesome The 00:11:21.529 --> 00:11:24.009 the venue is jazz central. Is that the name of 00:11:24.009 --> 00:11:26.730 the place CNY jazz central? So I've never been 00:11:26.730 --> 00:11:28.909 there before but just the look of the place on 00:11:28.909 --> 00:11:32.450 the outside looks super cool Yeah, and the stage 00:11:32.450 --> 00:11:35.360 is really set up like a comedy club. So wow comedy 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:36.899 club, you typically have that like little tiny 00:11:36.899 --> 00:11:38.580 backdrop that people are in front of like a brick 00:11:38.580 --> 00:11:40.860 wall or something. I don't know exactly what 00:11:40.860 --> 00:11:42.759 it is, but it looks just like that. And then 00:11:42.759 --> 00:11:45.580 the seats kind of like ascend upward. So the 00:11:45.580 --> 00:11:47.259 crowds not on top of you at all. You have like, 00:11:47.259 --> 00:11:49.139 I don't know, maybe the size of this room to 00:11:49.139 --> 00:11:51.259 walk. And then the crowd goes up from there. 00:11:51.860 --> 00:11:55.059 75 people. So yeah, it's gonna be cool. It's 00:11:55.059 --> 00:11:58.700 gonna be a great night. Yeah, I'm excited to 00:11:58.700 --> 00:12:01.769 see it. It's Anytime I think of a jazz club all 00:12:01.769 --> 00:12:03.809 I can think of is Ron Swanson playing the sax. 00:12:05.090 --> 00:12:08.850 You gotta get him to come out. That's it. That's 00:12:08.850 --> 00:12:12.570 awesome, fellas. What's the website for tickets? 00:12:12.649 --> 00:12:13.789 I know you might have mentioned it already, but 00:12:13.789 --> 00:12:16.070 I love to get those plugs as many as I can. Absolutely. 00:12:16.350 --> 00:12:20.850 It's nightofchampions .card with two R's .co 00:12:20.850 --> 00:12:24.909 with no M. Awesome. Yeah, so that's the website. 00:12:25.230 --> 00:12:27.210 And there's probably Facebook things to check 00:12:27.210 --> 00:12:29.639 out for that too. Yeah, so there's an event page. 00:12:30.379 --> 00:12:32.320 I think the game plan for this is that annually 00:12:32.320 --> 00:12:34.700 we'll do the Throwdown as a charity show, and 00:12:34.700 --> 00:12:36.440 then the Night of Champions as a private show. 00:12:37.080 --> 00:12:39.500 And I think with that in mind, it'll kind of 00:12:39.500 --> 00:12:41.940 raise the stakes of the Throwdown a bit, like 00:12:41.940 --> 00:12:44.740 knowing that there's a show on the horizon. So 00:12:44.740 --> 00:12:46.960 I think after the show, I'll establish formal 00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:48.960 social media pages for both. Gotcha. But right 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:50.899 now it's just an event page and my private page 00:12:50.899 --> 00:12:54.659 at Dylan Wirtz. OK, cool, cool. This is awesome. 00:12:54.860 --> 00:12:57.559 Also like real quick shout out to Dylan for putting 00:12:57.559 --> 00:13:00.419 all this together. Absolutely all this hard work 00:13:00.419 --> 00:13:04.100 You standing near the what's that highway where 00:13:04.100 --> 00:13:09.740 all the crashes happen? Yeah, the parkway I'm 00:13:09.740 --> 00:13:11.639 like, oh man, I'm proud of him, but you will 00:13:11.639 --> 00:13:21.750 not see me I'm trying to be funny. We just dropped 00:13:21.750 --> 00:13:24.970 a new one yesterday. Wayne Wigglebottom was reporting. 00:13:25.190 --> 00:13:26.710 Did you see the video? I don't think I saw that 00:13:26.710 --> 00:13:28.929 one yet. There's a local man dressed in a pickle 00:13:28.929 --> 00:13:32.629 costume making everyone laugh hysterically. Wayne 00:13:32.629 --> 00:13:36.129 Wigglebottom was on the scene. That's incredible. 00:13:36.710 --> 00:13:38.909 We'll mix that in the episode so folks can see 00:13:38.909 --> 00:13:41.009 that. While we're shouting people out, I just 00:13:41.009 --> 00:13:42.210 wanted to plug something that you might find 00:13:42.210 --> 00:13:45.190 interesting. Mike just went... 30 days in 30 00:13:45.190 --> 00:13:47.830 states and did 30 different open mics. Holy shit. 00:13:47.970 --> 00:13:49.450 They documented the whole journey. So I thought 00:13:49.450 --> 00:13:53.289 that took a lot of courage. Wow. That's, you 00:13:53.289 --> 00:13:54.750 know, here's what's wild. You guys mentioned 00:13:54.750 --> 00:13:59.169 open mics and I went to probably a decade ago 00:13:59.169 --> 00:14:03.409 now. Phil Farta and I went to O'Days back in 00:14:03.409 --> 00:14:07.529 the day when that was a place. I miss that place. 00:14:08.610 --> 00:14:11.710 And that open mic, dude, it's where, it's now 00:14:11.710 --> 00:14:14.210 the rooftop bar on Tip Hill. Yeah, it's so big. 00:14:14.210 --> 00:14:17.149 Before they renovated it. Got it. And it was 00:14:17.149 --> 00:14:20.610 downstairs. And we walked in and there was, I 00:14:20.610 --> 00:14:22.690 don't know, maybe a dozen comedians. The place 00:14:22.690 --> 00:14:26.669 was dark as hell. And it looked like an opium 00:14:26.669 --> 00:14:29.870 den, like right after everybody got high. And 00:14:29.870 --> 00:14:32.250 I was like, this is the most depressing fucking 00:14:32.250 --> 00:14:34.330 comedy room I ever seen in my whole life. And 00:14:34.330 --> 00:14:36.149 people would get up and tell their jokes, and 00:14:36.149 --> 00:14:37.769 the other comedians would be like pissed off 00:14:37.769 --> 00:14:40.350 at them that they were funny. It was the weirdest, 00:14:40.669 --> 00:14:42.190 wildest thing I had ever seen. And I'm like, 00:14:42.210 --> 00:14:44.990 damn, these open mics are rough, man. Yeah, those 00:14:44.990 --> 00:14:48.509 days was different back in the day. It was wild. 00:14:48.789 --> 00:14:52.149 Then again, I will say, I also remember going 00:14:52.149 --> 00:14:55.190 to ones at the Funkin' Waffles that used to be 00:14:55.190 --> 00:14:57.929 on the hill. OK. That was an awesome venue. If 00:14:57.929 --> 00:14:59.549 you remember that, it was sort of downstairs, 00:14:59.610 --> 00:15:01.629 and it had that cool stage the way it was. It 00:15:01.629 --> 00:15:06.289 was awesome. But that was an open open mic where 00:15:06.289 --> 00:15:08.049 people couldn't be happier and it was a great 00:15:08.049 --> 00:15:10.669 time and you know even the people that weren't 00:15:10.669 --> 00:15:12.789 funny got cheered because yeah people were being 00:15:12.789 --> 00:15:15.090 kind, you know, like it was it was an interesting 00:15:15.090 --> 00:15:18.490 vibe, but Mike tell us just a little bit about 00:15:18.490 --> 00:15:22.210 this this tour. What? Where'd you get that idea? 00:15:22.750 --> 00:15:26.350 Yeah, so it's There's definitely a spiritual 00:15:26.350 --> 00:15:29.750 aspect to it. Like I tried to make it short because 00:15:29.750 --> 00:15:34.049 I don't you know, you're good our Is that how 00:15:34.049 --> 00:15:39.730 long the story's gonna take? So like 2022 when 00:15:39.730 --> 00:15:43.250 they all just like driving and my mind was on 00:15:43.250 --> 00:15:45.029 like something that was stressing me out and 00:15:45.029 --> 00:15:48.370 then just boom randomly I had like a visual of 00:15:48.370 --> 00:15:51.210 me making that initial pose hey for 30 days I'm 00:15:51.210 --> 00:15:54.269 traveling to 30 states getting on 30 mics and 00:15:54.269 --> 00:15:57.590 I was like yes Lord I'll do that like I'll go 00:15:57.590 --> 00:16:00.070 ahead and do that and it took some time. So like 00:16:00.070 --> 00:16:02.289 I was telling Dylan before we got on here, it 00:16:02.289 --> 00:16:05.129 was like three aspects to having that thing work 00:16:05.129 --> 00:16:08.009 out. Like the faith that God will do it, the 00:16:08.009 --> 00:16:11.370 money to fund it, and then the plan to see it 00:16:11.370 --> 00:16:17.049 through. So like 2022 to 2025, those three things 00:16:17.049 --> 00:16:19.710 didn't line up. But like, so like I broke my 00:16:19.710 --> 00:16:22.950 finger. I hope y 'all can see that. It was December 00:16:22.950 --> 00:16:27.419 20th, 2025. 2024, my bad. Wow. I love how you 00:16:27.419 --> 00:16:29.919 looked at us. It's like we would remember the 00:16:29.919 --> 00:16:33.580 day. Yeah, right. But short story is I broke 00:16:33.580 --> 00:16:38.279 my finger and then I was on a, I was on a, not 00:16:38.279 --> 00:16:40.440 unemployment, I was on a workers' camp. Yeah. 00:16:40.500 --> 00:16:42.620 Out of work and stuff like that. Had a couple 00:16:42.620 --> 00:16:45.519 surgeries and I was like, you know what? Let 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:48.080 me just put the plan together as if the money's 00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:49.740 coming. Yeah. You know what I mean? And let me 00:16:49.740 --> 00:16:54.840 just start there. So prior years I had, Jumped 00:16:54.840 --> 00:16:57.580 in a bunch of Facebook groups and stuff like 00:16:57.580 --> 00:17:01.419 that. So just started to Like do it the hard 00:17:01.419 --> 00:17:03.899 way the ones that had list I wrote down the list 00:17:03.899 --> 00:17:06.519 and all that and just put the plan together and 00:17:06.519 --> 00:17:11.279 then like around I say late February around March 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:14.779 found out okay, I'm getting like a couple lump 00:17:14.779 --> 00:17:18.259 sum payments sure and I had like a disability 00:17:18.259 --> 00:17:21.640 on my disability insurance on my auto loan and 00:17:21.640 --> 00:17:26.240 then also Shout out to Abdu, he let me know about 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:30.500 empty a notch of 401k. Not to put all your business 00:17:30.500 --> 00:17:33.519 out there, but it's a couple aspects. It's a 00:17:33.519 --> 00:17:35.380 thing you can do. Yeah, and I was like, you know 00:17:35.380 --> 00:17:38.019 what? I think I might have the money to do this. 00:17:38.500 --> 00:17:42.220 So I'm like, the plan's falling into place. The 00:17:42.220 --> 00:17:44.539 whole just getting it to line up, just, you know, 00:17:44.599 --> 00:17:46.660 to make it in 30 days when there wasn't like 00:17:46.660 --> 00:17:48.380 that night and you can get to another state the 00:17:48.380 --> 00:17:50.700 next day. That part seems to blow my mind by 00:17:50.700 --> 00:17:55.319 itself, man. there was definitely a grind. And 00:17:55.319 --> 00:17:57.740 initially it started off rough, I ain't gonna 00:17:57.740 --> 00:18:00.160 lie. So it was putting it together all right 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:04.160 now and then quit my job, gave him two weeks 00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:05.920 and said, you know, I wasn't gonna tell him the 00:18:05.920 --> 00:18:08.759 day of, like, all right. But I was like, nah, 00:18:08.880 --> 00:18:11.519 man. But yeah, so like day one, I didn't know 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:14.839 that June 1st was the start of Pride Month. So 00:18:14.839 --> 00:18:17.519 they pretty much took over downtown Philadelphia 00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:25.109 and it was, It was a little thottish. It was 00:18:25.109 --> 00:18:30.009 a lot of butt shaking and beads. That's wild. 00:18:30.329 --> 00:18:36.190 Cocoa butter everywhere. It's a strange combination. 00:18:37.390 --> 00:18:39.690 I'll leave some of the details out, but the open 00:18:39.690 --> 00:18:45.369 mic got canceled. I continued to try to look 00:18:45.369 --> 00:18:51.599 for somewhere to perform. I'm working on that 00:18:51.599 --> 00:18:53.859 story, but I just, I kept hitting roadblock after 00:18:53.859 --> 00:18:55.460 roadblock, but I'm like, all right, this is day 00:18:55.460 --> 00:19:00.200 one, and then day two was Rhode Island. That 00:19:00.200 --> 00:19:02.599 worked out, I hit two mics in one day, so I had 00:19:02.599 --> 00:19:04.299 to kind of get the - You got your average in, 00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:06.559 yeah? Yeah, yeah, got the average back up, and 00:19:06.559 --> 00:19:09.779 then next day was Boston, then it was Delaware, 00:19:10.259 --> 00:19:12.519 then it was Maryland, then I had a show in Cleveland. 00:19:12.779 --> 00:19:16.299 So that was like, I got four mics in or six mics 00:19:16.299 --> 00:19:18.539 in and then. You didn't necessarily go and order 00:19:18.539 --> 00:19:20.579 these states. You kind of jumped around, man. 00:19:20.579 --> 00:19:22.839 Yeah, it was. Holy shit. It was like a heartbeat. 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:25.039 It was like in my phone and it's a heartbeat. 00:19:25.200 --> 00:19:29.599 Yeah. Heartbeat, yeah. So it was definitely like 00:19:29.599 --> 00:19:32.599 a whole loop around. Wow. The goal was doing 00:19:32.599 --> 00:19:35.019 an open mic each day. It was like, how close 00:19:35.019 --> 00:19:39.240 can I do that for each state if possible? I wanted 00:19:39.240 --> 00:19:41.400 to do it in one circle, but that's not how everything 00:19:41.400 --> 00:19:47.140 worked out. but my longest drive was 15 hours. 00:19:47.579 --> 00:19:51.779 So that was from Denver to Austin, Texas. And 00:19:51.779 --> 00:19:54.700 the reason why it was 15 hours and not 14, like 00:19:54.700 --> 00:19:56.880 if you Google it. Oh wow, that made it shorter. 00:19:58.140 --> 00:20:00.819 Yeah, if you Google Denver, Colorado to Austin, 00:20:00.819 --> 00:20:04.339 Texas, where I was going, it was 14 hours. However, 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:07.480 when I was in Denver, on the journey, my tire 00:20:07.480 --> 00:20:10.819 blew up. Of course. Yeah, potholes, aggressive. 00:20:13.420 --> 00:20:16.079 aggressive, potholes, blew my tire out. That 00:20:16.079 --> 00:20:18.599 was the whole thing. Had to put a boot on it. 00:20:18.940 --> 00:20:21.259 So I was like, all right, you know, this is the 00:20:21.259 --> 00:20:23.059 part where somebody would be like, ah, you know 00:20:23.059 --> 00:20:25.579 what, tire blew out, ah, you know what, it didn't 00:20:25.579 --> 00:20:28.420 work out, fuck that. I'm sorry, can we? All right, 00:20:28.599 --> 00:20:30.819 my bad. After that, I kept going. I went to the 00:20:30.819 --> 00:20:35.960 over, Mike. Short story is, my bad, this is all 00:20:35.960 --> 00:20:37.380 supposed to be a short story. Nah, you're good. 00:20:38.660 --> 00:20:41.519 That's not true. So yeah, Tyra blew out and then 00:20:41.519 --> 00:20:43.240 I'm like, all right, let me just post real quick. 00:20:43.359 --> 00:20:46.660 I put my name on the list, post real quick. Um, 00:20:46.660 --> 00:20:49.019 and I do all the posts and I get there, back 00:20:49.019 --> 00:20:51.579 to the venue and it's empty. Everybody left. 00:20:51.700 --> 00:20:54.319 I missed my opportunity to perform. I was pissed. 00:20:54.859 --> 00:20:56.619 And then, you know, talking to the person running 00:20:56.619 --> 00:20:58.799 the mic, uh, they let me know what is actually 00:20:58.799 --> 00:21:02.180 another one over here. Okay. All right. There's 00:21:02.180 --> 00:21:04.920 still hope. And then, uh, went to that open mic. 00:21:05.099 --> 00:21:06.980 It was a little different. So it was like a little, 00:21:06.980 --> 00:21:10.029 uh, bucket mic. You put your name in the hat 00:21:10.029 --> 00:21:13.789 and stuff like that. And yeah, so if you did 00:21:13.789 --> 00:21:16.150 good, it was like they called you in three. So 00:21:16.150 --> 00:21:18.549 if you won that round of three people, you won 00:21:18.549 --> 00:21:22.490 $20 and stuff like that. And then you get called 00:21:22.490 --> 00:21:25.390 back. Almost like a kill Tony sort of situation 00:21:25.390 --> 00:21:27.670 where they call you up randomly and give you 00:21:27.670 --> 00:21:31.309 a few minutes, that deal. So it's interesting. 00:21:31.430 --> 00:21:34.730 I was going to Texas to do kill Tony. And after 00:21:34.730 --> 00:21:38.029 that 15 -hour drive, it was the longest. Reason 00:21:38.029 --> 00:21:40.250 why it was 15, because I was driving gingerly. 00:21:40.349 --> 00:21:44.849 I didn't want to bust out that donut. I'd be 00:21:44.849 --> 00:21:46.890 messed up. Yeah, man, you got to start to shake 00:21:46.890 --> 00:21:49.569 around 50. Right, right. I got all the way to 00:21:49.569 --> 00:21:51.650 Austin, Texas, and they said, oh, no, no kill 00:21:51.650 --> 00:21:56.329 Tony tonight. I was like, damn. All right, and 00:21:56.329 --> 00:21:58.730 I just looked up the list. All right, where else 00:21:58.730 --> 00:22:00.980 did they have? They got other open mics. and 00:22:00.980 --> 00:22:03.799 every place that I went to, it was a closed door. 00:22:03.980 --> 00:22:06.380 It was, one place wasn't even open. Damn. Like 00:22:06.380 --> 00:22:09.119 they even had a light sound. Like, did they open 00:22:09.119 --> 00:22:11.500 today? Like I just can't. I didn't know that 00:22:11.500 --> 00:22:13.460 was the Kill Tony night. That's crazy. Oh yeah, 00:22:13.480 --> 00:22:15.920 yeah. So that was, that was a, but they had, 00:22:15.920 --> 00:22:18.299 they had another open mic. Like there was an 00:22:18.299 --> 00:22:20.640 open mic before Kill Tony. They were having that, 00:22:20.940 --> 00:22:23.180 but you had to be there like, you know, a couple 00:22:23.180 --> 00:22:28.700 hours before I got there. But yeah, so, but. 00:22:28.799 --> 00:22:33.369 That's incredible. And side note, I got a bunch 00:22:33.369 --> 00:22:37.589 of footage on this thing right here. That's awesome. 00:22:37.630 --> 00:22:40.430 But also, I got an external hard drive and got 00:22:40.430 --> 00:22:42.829 some of it on my phone. So I documented the journey, 00:22:43.269 --> 00:22:45.269 working on it and putting the documentary together. 00:22:45.829 --> 00:22:50.390 Yeah. And afterwards, if y 'all wouldn't mind, 00:22:50.509 --> 00:22:52.670 I'll probably do a video with y 'all or something. 00:22:52.730 --> 00:22:54.890 Sure, sure. You guys got to talk to our man, 00:22:55.089 --> 00:22:56.650 Brian Ink, if you don't know. You know Brian, 00:22:56.650 --> 00:23:01.089 of course. I really love how he's taking it seriously 00:23:01.089 --> 00:23:04.170 and doing, of course, you were on his special 00:23:04.170 --> 00:23:06.589 that he recorded and learning about that whole 00:23:06.589 --> 00:23:09.349 world of shooting your own special and then shopping 00:23:09.349 --> 00:23:10.869 it around to these different places. I didn't 00:23:10.869 --> 00:23:13.289 even know it was a thing. And it's pretty cool 00:23:13.289 --> 00:23:15.109 what he's got going on. Yeah, it's really dope. 00:23:16.140 --> 00:23:19.240 Before we go, Abdul, where can folks find you 00:23:19.240 --> 00:23:21.119 aside from the show? Anywhere in particular they 00:23:21.119 --> 00:23:22.960 should go to follow you and all that fun stuff? 00:23:23.160 --> 00:23:26.819 Yeah, you can follow me. I'm on Instagram. My 00:23:26.819 --> 00:23:32.160 name's Oscar winner Sean Penn. It is a hilarious 00:23:32.160 --> 00:23:34.000 Instagram, too. I was just going to say that. 00:23:34.619 --> 00:23:37.740 I don't like the actor. That's mainly... My whole 00:23:37.740 --> 00:23:41.119 comedy goal is just to get a cease and desist 00:23:41.119 --> 00:23:47.500 letter from him. And then I'll quit comedy. But 00:23:47.500 --> 00:23:50.400 yeah, Oscar winner, Sean Penn on all forms of 00:23:50.400 --> 00:23:53.380 social media. Nice, nice. And Mike, you as well, 00:23:53.400 --> 00:23:56.619 where can they find you? So Instagram, MikeCherry7, 00:23:56.980 --> 00:24:02.039 Facebook, M -I -K -E -T -E -R -R -Y. Some people 00:24:02.039 --> 00:24:05.220 call me Mike Perry and stuff, MikeCherry. I don't 00:24:05.220 --> 00:24:08.539 know where it gets confused, but yeah, Facebook, 00:24:08.700 --> 00:24:10.700 MikeCherry. It's a pretty simple name. Yeah, 00:24:10.859 --> 00:24:14.940 I'm on YouTube, Mike on YouTube. at Mike on YouTube, 00:24:15.079 --> 00:24:18.700 and then TikTok, Mike's Voice 7. I should probably 00:24:18.700 --> 00:24:24.359 get one name. Also make it a lot smoother, but 00:24:24.359 --> 00:24:27.619 getting the process, man. Dylan, and one more 00:24:27.619 --> 00:24:31.039 time, where can folks find you, and give the 00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:32.619 details for the show one more time too, if you 00:24:32.619 --> 00:24:35.339 could. Absolutely, so Dylan Wirtz on Facebook, 00:24:35.579 --> 00:24:40.599 W -E -R -T -S on Instagram, DilPickle3737. And 00:24:40.599 --> 00:24:42.519 then the show is the Cuse Comedy Throwdown presents 00:24:42.519 --> 00:24:45.119 Night of Champions on Thursday, July 24th at 00:24:45.119 --> 00:24:47.319 CMY Jazz Central. And you can get tickets at 00:24:47.319 --> 00:24:50.180 nightofchampions .card with two R's, .co with 00:24:50.180 --> 00:24:53.059 no M. Nice. Thanks for having us on, Matt. Appreciate 00:24:53.059 --> 00:24:55.160 it. Absolutely, man. And of course, the links 00:24:55.160 --> 00:24:57.740 will be in the description for all the videos 00:24:57.740 --> 00:25:01.240 as well. So people don't have to do that R math. 00:25:01.549 --> 00:25:05.390 And they're typing. Guys, thank you so much for 00:25:05.390 --> 00:25:06.910 joining us. Thanks for having us. This has been 00:25:06.910 --> 00:25:08.990 awesome. Come back any time you got any of you 00:25:08.990 --> 00:25:11.490 guys. Got shows going on. Anything you want to 00:25:11.490 --> 00:25:13.950 talk about, you want to just shoot the breeze 00:25:13.950 --> 00:25:15.990 and spread the good news. In New York state here, 00:25:15.990 --> 00:25:17.690 we'd love to have it. I feel like I could sit 00:25:17.690 --> 00:25:20.849 up here all day. You're made for it, buddy. You're 00:25:20.849 --> 00:25:22.329 good at it, dude. Makes you feel chatty, these 00:25:22.329 --> 00:25:25.130 headphones. That's what's up. That's how it works. 00:25:26.190 --> 00:25:29.089 Folks, this is Good News York. I love you guys. 00:25:29.450 --> 00:25:31.950 Thank you so much for joining us. This has been 00:25:31.950 --> 00:25:36.029 Good News York. We will see you tomorrow. Peace 00:25:36.029 --> 00:25:36.890 out. Peace.