WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.020 Welcome back to the deep dive. Hey there Today 00:00:03.020 --> 00:00:05.919 we are We're gonna do something a little different. 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:09.359 Usually we are unpacking, you know complex geopolitical 00:00:09.359 --> 00:00:11.439 shifts or looking at the future renewable energy 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:14.759 or tearing apart Dense scientific studies, right? 00:00:14.900 --> 00:00:17.820 Right, but today today we're looking at a very 00:00:17.820 --> 00:00:22.699 specific Very strange and frankly just a fascinating 00:00:22.699 --> 00:00:25.760 slice of pop culture history we are traveling 00:00:25.760 --> 00:00:29.829 back to the 1990s to talk about the era of The 00:00:29.829 --> 00:00:32.710 catchphrase comedian. It really was a unique 00:00:32.710 --> 00:00:35.130 moment in time, wasn't it? Before the internet 00:00:35.130 --> 00:00:36.969 fractured everything, you had these singular 00:00:36.969 --> 00:00:39.189 moments where a comedian could build an entire 00:00:39.189 --> 00:00:42.929 career and sustain it for decades and just etch 00:00:42.929 --> 00:00:44.890 themselves into the public consciousness using 00:00:44.890 --> 00:00:47.049 a single look and, more importantly, a single 00:00:47.049 --> 00:00:48.689 word. You know exactly what I'm talking about. 00:00:48.789 --> 00:00:50.329 It's that moment in comedy history where you 00:00:50.329 --> 00:00:52.469 didn't necessarily need a tight 45 minutes on 00:00:52.469 --> 00:00:54.590 the nuances of political policy. No, you really 00:00:54.590 --> 00:00:56.570 didn't. You needed a hook. You needed something 00:00:56.570 --> 00:00:59.289 that was instant and repeatable and absolutely 00:00:59.289 --> 00:01:02.189 unmistakable. And the subject of today's deep 00:01:02.189 --> 00:01:06.090 dive is arguably the king or maybe the cowboy 00:01:06.090 --> 00:01:09.510 of this specific technique. It's a fascinating 00:01:09.510 --> 00:01:11.310 phenomenon when you look at it through the lens 00:01:11.310 --> 00:01:14.469 of branding. In an era before viral TikToks, 00:01:14.650 --> 00:01:17.409 comedians had to go viral in a much more analog 00:01:17.409 --> 00:01:19.950 way. Yeah. And the man we are discussing today 00:01:19.950 --> 00:01:23.250 mastered that analog viral fame better than almost 00:01:23.250 --> 00:01:25.670 anyone. We are talking about the man, the myth, 00:01:26.230 --> 00:01:29.069 the cowboy hat wearing legend, Alonzo Hamburger 00:01:29.069 --> 00:01:32.129 Jones. A man whose stage name became so inseparable 00:01:32.129 --> 00:01:34.109 from his identity that if you go to Wikipedia 00:01:34.109 --> 00:01:36.969 right now and search for Alonzo Jones, it literally 00:01:36.969 --> 00:01:39.510 redirects you to Hamburger Jones. Really? Yeah. 00:01:39.670 --> 00:01:42.010 The brand completely consumed the man. That is 00:01:42.010 --> 00:01:44.170 wild. And the central mystery we're looking at 00:01:44.170 --> 00:01:46.189 today for you listening is deceptively simple, 00:01:46.549 --> 00:01:48.870 but the answer is surprisingly deep. The questions 00:01:48.870 --> 00:01:51.810 are, how does a comedian build a decades -long 00:01:51.810 --> 00:01:56.109 career around the word hamburger? Why that specific 00:01:56.109 --> 00:01:59.609 word and how on earth did this specific routine 00:01:59.609 --> 00:02:03.890 a guy in a cowboy hat? yelling a food item Influence 00:02:03.890 --> 00:02:06.129 everything from Saturday Night Live to Family 00:02:06.129 --> 00:02:09.310 Guy and as we will find out later Even cross 00:02:09.310 --> 00:02:11.789 the ocean to inspire a cult following in Japan 00:02:12.120 --> 00:02:14.740 It sounds absurd on the surface. I mean, it sounds 00:02:14.740 --> 00:02:17.180 like a joke within a joke. It really does. But 00:02:17.180 --> 00:02:18.960 when we looked at the source material and we're 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:21.520 talking about biographical data performance history 00:02:21.520 --> 00:02:23.900 and pop culture records here, what we found was 00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:27.159 actually a story about conviction. Right. It 00:02:27.159 --> 00:02:30.740 is a story about a clean comedian trying to survive 00:02:30.740 --> 00:02:33.159 in the dirtiest era of stand -up history. Exactly. 00:02:33.240 --> 00:02:35.139 So let's unpack this. We have to start with the 00:02:35.139 --> 00:02:38.460 core identity, the name. His birth name is Alonzo 00:02:38.460 --> 00:02:41.740 Jones. But nobody calls him that he is hamburger 00:02:41.740 --> 00:02:43.979 right and the sources indicate this wasn't just 00:02:43.979 --> 00:02:46.180 a nickname Bestowed upon him by friends because 00:02:46.180 --> 00:02:47.919 he enjoyed a cookout or something right this 00:02:47.919 --> 00:02:51.259 was a calculated part of the act the core mechanic 00:02:51.259 --> 00:02:55.080 of his comedy the shtick if you will Was using 00:02:55.080 --> 00:02:57.520 the word hamburger at the very end of a joke 00:02:57.520 --> 00:03:00.000 it was his closer And it wasn't just saying the 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:01.960 word right I watched some of the archival footage 00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:04.930 you sent over it was the delivery The sources 00:03:04.930 --> 00:03:07.409 describe it as stretching the syllables. Exactly. 00:03:07.590 --> 00:03:10.349 It wasn't just stating the noun hamburger. It 00:03:10.349 --> 00:03:13.689 was a vocal event. Yeah. It was hamburger. He 00:03:13.689 --> 00:03:15.310 would stretch it out. It became a punctuation 00:03:15.310 --> 00:03:18.550 mark, a sonic signature. From a linguistic perspective, 00:03:18.610 --> 00:03:20.689 he's essentially turning a word into a sound 00:03:20.689 --> 00:03:23.889 effect, like a rimshot or a foghorn. But here 00:03:23.889 --> 00:03:25.590 is where it gets fascinating. This is where I 00:03:25.590 --> 00:03:29.050 had my big aha moment in the research. I always 00:03:29.050 --> 00:03:31.349 assumed growing up watching this guide that it 00:03:31.349 --> 00:03:34.409 was just random nonsense. Just a goofy prop comic 00:03:34.409 --> 00:03:36.389 thing. Exactly. You know, I'm a prop comic. I'm 00:03:36.389 --> 00:03:39.569 wearing a hat. I'll say a funny food word. But 00:03:39.569 --> 00:03:42.169 if you dig into the biography provided by his 00:03:42.169 --> 00:03:45.169 booking agent, you find the why. And it's not 00:03:45.169 --> 00:03:46.949 just because he likes grilled beef. No, there 00:03:46.949 --> 00:03:49.090 is a logic to it. And surprisingly, there is 00:03:49.090 --> 00:03:52.129 a moral code to it. According to his biography, 00:03:52.710 --> 00:03:56.409 Alonzo Jones is on a mission. His stated goal 00:03:56.409 --> 00:03:58.830 is to let people know they are not living right. 00:03:59.210 --> 00:04:01.949 He wants to critique behavior. But, and this 00:04:01.949 --> 00:04:04.669 is the key constraint he placed on himself, he 00:04:04.669 --> 00:04:08.210 didn't want to live wrong himself by using profanity 00:04:08.210 --> 00:04:10.770 to tell them off. So hamburger's a stand -in. 00:04:10.840 --> 00:04:13.620 It's a placeholder for a swear word. Precisely. 00:04:13.680 --> 00:04:16.620 It is a substitution for profanity. The biography 00:04:16.620 --> 00:04:19.040 explicitly states that he wanted to emulate, 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:22.680 quote, gentlemen of the Old West who do not swear 00:04:22.680 --> 00:04:25.279 in front of the ladies. That is incredible. So 00:04:25.279 --> 00:04:28.279 the cowboy hat isn't just a random costume choice. 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:32.439 It's a signal of this gentlemanly persona. Exactly. 00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:34.920 He's adopting a cowboy coat of conduct. When 00:04:34.920 --> 00:04:36.720 he's screaming hamburger the top of his lungs, 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:38.939 he's effectively censoring himself in real time. 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:41.360 It's a brilliant workaround when you think about 00:04:41.360 --> 00:04:43.259 it. Think about the mechanics of a curse word 00:04:43.259 --> 00:04:46.319 in comedy. Usually comedians use them for the 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:48.439 plosive sound, the aggression, the ability to 00:04:48.439 --> 00:04:50.879 punch up a punch line. Jones found a way to get 00:04:50.879 --> 00:04:53.339 that explosive energy, the volume, the impact, 00:04:53.620 --> 00:04:55.439 without actually violating his own standards 00:04:55.439 --> 00:04:58.379 of clean comedy. He created a way to be aggressive 00:04:58.379 --> 00:05:01.620 and wholesome simultaneously. That recontextualizes 00:05:01.620 --> 00:05:04.540 the whole act for me. He is playing a character 00:05:04.540 --> 00:05:07.180 who is so frustrated by the world that he wants 00:05:07.180 --> 00:05:10.529 to scream. but his code forces him to screen 00:05:10.529 --> 00:05:13.449 Hamburger instead. Yes. It adds this layer of 00:05:13.449 --> 00:05:15.769 tension that makes it infinitely funnier than 00:05:15.769 --> 00:05:18.509 just a random word. And that context is so important 00:05:18.509 --> 00:05:20.750 because of where he got famous. Yeah. We have 00:05:20.750 --> 00:05:22.550 to talk about the platform that launched him. 00:05:22.870 --> 00:05:25.069 You cannot understand Hamburger Jones without 00:05:25.069 --> 00:05:27.990 understanding the deaf comedy jam paradox. The 00:05:27.990 --> 00:05:31.209 deaf comedy jam paradox. I love that. Let's set 00:05:31.209 --> 00:05:32.889 the scene for the listeners who might be too 00:05:32.889 --> 00:05:35.730 young to remember the early 90s HBO landscape. 00:05:35.870 --> 00:05:38.389 This is critical. If you remember, the early 00:05:38.389 --> 00:05:41.069 90s, HBO's Def Comedy Jam was not known for its 00:05:41.069 --> 00:05:44.029 restraint. Not at all. It was legendary for being 00:05:44.029 --> 00:05:46.870 raw, unfiltered, and incredibly explicit. It 00:05:46.870 --> 00:05:48.689 was a place you went to see comedy that couldn't 00:05:48.689 --> 00:05:51.050 get on network TV. You had Martin Lawrence hosting, 00:05:51.209 --> 00:05:53.370 usually in a leather outfit, roasting the crowd. 00:05:53.730 --> 00:05:57.439 You had a... DJ blasting hip hop, the energy 00:05:57.439 --> 00:06:00.079 in that room was intense. Intimidating even. 00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:03.139 You had legends like Bernie Mac delivering incredibly 00:06:03.139 --> 00:06:04.899 hard -hitting adult material. I ain't scared 00:06:04.899 --> 00:06:07.259 of you. That was the vibe. Yeah. It was aggressive. 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:10.339 It was alpha. And then in the middle of all that 00:06:10.339 --> 00:06:13.240 smoke and profanity, out walks a guy in a cowboy 00:06:13.240 --> 00:06:15.720 hat. Who refuses to curse. Who refuses to curse. 00:06:16.279 --> 00:06:19.319 He gained national attention following two appearances 00:06:19.319 --> 00:06:22.819 on the show in the early 90s. And the contrast 00:06:22.819 --> 00:06:26.040 must have been jarring. Oh, absolutely. In a 00:06:26.040 --> 00:06:29.360 sea of profanity, here is a man shouting a sandwich 00:06:29.360 --> 00:06:31.899 ingredient. It made him instantly memorable because 00:06:31.899 --> 00:06:34.639 he was zigging while everyone else was zagging. 00:06:34.759 --> 00:06:37.639 It's the ultimate branding lesson, really. Differentiation. 00:06:37.819 --> 00:06:40.019 If everyone is shouting explicitly, the guy who 00:06:40.019 --> 00:06:43.199 keeps it clean becomes the outlier. He becomes 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:45.500 the punk rock option just because he's going 00:06:45.500 --> 00:06:47.660 against the grain of the room. And the risk factor 00:06:47.660 --> 00:06:49.459 there is huge. We have to remember that deaf 00:06:49.459 --> 00:06:51.879 comedy jam audiences were not polite. If they 00:06:51.879 --> 00:06:53.899 didn't like you, they let you know. They would 00:06:53.899 --> 00:06:56.459 boo you right off the stage. Exactly. But the 00:06:56.459 --> 00:06:58.600 sources show he didn't just survive there, he 00:06:58.600 --> 00:07:01.399 thrived. And he took this act everywhere. He 00:07:01.399 --> 00:07:04.149 really did. The list of venues in the notes shows 00:07:04.149 --> 00:07:06.730 his incredible range. The sources mention he 00:07:06.730 --> 00:07:09.189 performed on Showtime at the Apollo. Which, let's 00:07:09.189 --> 00:07:11.370 be honest, is legendarily the toughest crowd 00:07:11.370 --> 00:07:14.110 in the world. Oh, yeah. The Apollo in Harlem. 00:07:14.769 --> 00:07:17.750 They have Guy the Sandman, whose entire job is 00:07:17.750 --> 00:07:20.290 to sweep you off stage if the crowd starts booing. 00:07:20.550 --> 00:07:23.209 It is a gladiator pit. And yet the hamburger 00:07:23.209 --> 00:07:25.769 routine worked there. He survived the executioner. 00:07:25.990 --> 00:07:28.089 He did. But then look at the other side of the 00:07:28.089 --> 00:07:31.399 spectrum. He also appeared on BT's Teen Summit, 00:07:31.839 --> 00:07:34.199 which implies his act was safe enough for a youth 00:07:34.199 --> 00:07:37.139 demographic and comic view. That's a huge contract. 00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:39.720 He was straddling these entirely different worlds. 00:07:40.279 --> 00:07:42.860 Adult late night HBO and youth programming just 00:07:42.860 --> 00:07:45.610 by virtue of this substitution technique? That 00:07:45.610 --> 00:07:47.850 is the utility of the catchphrase. It's safe 00:07:47.850 --> 00:07:49.910 for work, but because of the delivery it feels 00:07:49.910 --> 00:07:52.670 rebellious. Now usually these kinds of gimmicks 00:07:52.670 --> 00:07:54.850 burn out fast. You know, you see the line for 00:07:54.850 --> 00:07:56.569 six months, sell some t -shirts, and then everyone 00:07:56.569 --> 00:07:58.589 gets sick of it. The novelty wears off quickly. 00:07:58.829 --> 00:08:00.769 Exactly. But that didn't happen with Hamburger 00:08:00.769 --> 00:08:04.170 Jones. And this is where we transition to the 00:08:04.170 --> 00:08:06.649 cultural ripple effects. When you look at the 00:08:06.649 --> 00:08:09.329 pop culture records, you see that Alonzo Jones 00:08:09.329 --> 00:08:12.329 didn't just perform comedy. He infiltrated the 00:08:12.329 --> 00:08:14.829 comedic subconscious of the generation. It's 00:08:14.829 --> 00:08:17.970 true. Even other comedian professionals who dissect 00:08:17.970 --> 00:08:20.629 comedy for a living are obsessed with him. The 00:08:20.629 --> 00:08:23.569 sources mention Artie Lange, right? Yes, Artie 00:08:23.569 --> 00:08:26.730 Lange. Now, for context, Artie Lange is known 00:08:26.730 --> 00:08:30.459 for a very different, much rougher... darker 00:08:30.459 --> 00:08:32.980 style of comedy. Very different. He's a storyteller, 00:08:33.000 --> 00:08:35.740 often dealing with addiction and chaos. But on 00:08:35.740 --> 00:08:38.220 the Artie Quitter podcast, Lange frequently referred 00:08:38.220 --> 00:08:41.240 to Jones. Really? The hamburger bit stuck with 00:08:41.240 --> 00:08:43.559 him. It lived rent free in his head. And then 00:08:43.559 --> 00:08:45.840 you have Opie and Anthony, the radio show. Right. 00:08:46.139 --> 00:08:48.940 They dedicated a significant portion of a discussion 00:08:48.940 --> 00:08:51.860 specifically to catchphrase comedians. And it 00:08:51.860 --> 00:08:54.980 was triggered by recalling Jones's routine. He 00:08:54.980 --> 00:08:57.559 became the prototype for that entire genre of 00:08:57.559 --> 00:08:59.659 comedy in their minds. You're talking about you 00:08:59.659 --> 00:09:01.700 had to talk about Hamburger Jones. But I always 00:09:01.700 --> 00:09:04.360 think the highest form of flattery and the surest 00:09:04.360 --> 00:09:07.220 sign of cultural dominance is parody. If people 00:09:07.220 --> 00:09:09.059 are making fun of you on national television, 00:09:09.240 --> 00:09:11.059 you have made it. And Hamburger Jones got the 00:09:11.059 --> 00:09:13.299 Saturday Night Live treatment. He did. This is 00:09:13.299 --> 00:09:15.519 a deep cut. But there was a recurring sketch 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:18.440 on SNL called Kings of Catchphrase Comedy. It 00:09:18.440 --> 00:09:21.100 was a direct send -up of the deaf comedy jam 00:09:21.100 --> 00:09:24.440 era. And in that sketch, Kenan Thompson plays 00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:26.620 a character named David Beef Jelly Winfield. 00:09:26.679 --> 00:09:29.259 Beef Jelly. I remember this sketch. It is a clear 00:09:29.259 --> 00:09:31.460 nod. Think about the construction of that character. 00:09:31.679 --> 00:09:34.259 Beef Jelly. It's a nonsense food item just like 00:09:34.259 --> 00:09:37.200 hamburger. The structure of the jokes, it's Kenan 00:09:37.200 --> 00:09:39.799 Thompson channeling Hamburger Jones. And SNL 00:09:39.799 --> 00:09:41.960 writers are comedy nerds. They aren't writing 00:09:41.960 --> 00:09:43.980 that joke unless they know the audience, or at 00:09:43.980 --> 00:09:46.019 least the culturally savvy part of the audience, 00:09:46.100 --> 00:09:48.519 is going to get the reference. It validates him 00:09:48.519 --> 00:09:50.940 as a cultural touchstone. It wasn't just sketch 00:09:50.940 --> 00:09:53.139 comedy. He showed up in primetime animation, 00:09:53.440 --> 00:09:56.620 too. Family guy. That's right. The episode scammed 00:09:56.620 --> 00:09:59.240 Yankees. There's a scene where a soldier is talking 00:09:59.240 --> 00:10:01.960 to hostages, and he uses the hamburger phrase. 00:10:02.059 --> 00:10:05.110 Just drops it in there. drops it right in. Seth 00:10:05.110 --> 00:10:07.309 MacFarlane and the Family Guy writers are famous 00:10:07.309 --> 00:10:10.429 for their encyclopedic knowledge of 90s pop culture. 00:10:11.149 --> 00:10:13.330 Dropping a Hamburger Jones reference is like 00:10:13.330 --> 00:10:15.429 a dog whistle to everyone who grew up watching 00:10:15.429 --> 00:10:18.549 late night HBO. It creates this in -group feeling. 00:10:18.809 --> 00:10:21.769 If you laugh, you were there. That is wild, and 00:10:21.769 --> 00:10:23.870 sources even mention a connection to hip -hop. 00:10:24.169 --> 00:10:27.450 Yes, the Odd Squad album fought enough fi, everybody. 00:10:27.610 --> 00:10:31.129 There is a track called Came Nage Down. One of 00:10:31.129 --> 00:10:33.629 the lines ends with the word hamburger, specifically 00:10:33.629 --> 00:10:35.950 referencing Jones. Amazing. So let's look at 00:10:35.950 --> 00:10:38.230 the map here. He is in the standup scene, the 00:10:38.230 --> 00:10:40.970 shock jock radio scene, the NBC sketch comedy 00:10:40.970 --> 00:10:44.610 scene, primetime FOX animation, and on hip hop 00:10:44.610 --> 00:10:47.370 albums. That is a serious cultural footprint 00:10:47.370 --> 00:10:49.669 for a guy with one word. OK, but here is where 00:10:49.669 --> 00:10:51.289 it gets really interesting. We've talked about 00:10:51.289 --> 00:10:53.509 his impact in the US. We've talked about the 00:10:53.509 --> 00:10:55.769 90s. nostalgia. But when we were digging through 00:10:55.769 --> 00:10:57.889 the sources you sent over something that honestly 00:10:57.889 --> 00:11:01.009 blew my mind, this phenomenon isn't limited to 00:11:01.009 --> 00:11:02.909 English speakers. Oh, this is my favorite part. 00:11:02.929 --> 00:11:04.669 This is the international twist that I think 00:11:04.669 --> 00:11:08.289 really validates the power of a strong visual 00:11:08.289 --> 00:11:11.570 and vocal gimmick. We have to look at Japan. 00:11:11.990 --> 00:11:14.370 Japan? This sounds like an internet rumor, but 00:11:14.370 --> 00:11:16.450 the sources back it up. Tell me about the Hamburg 00:11:16.450 --> 00:11:19.570 Stakemaster. It is absolutely real. So there 00:11:19.570 --> 00:11:23.179 is a Japanese comedian named Jun Aitoda. And 00:11:23.179 --> 00:11:25.600 one of the characters he portrays is known as 00:11:25.600 --> 00:11:28.899 the Hamburg Stakemaster. I'm looking at the description 00:11:28.899 --> 00:11:32.740 here and he is dressed as a cowboy. He is a stereotypical 00:11:32.740 --> 00:11:35.639 cowboy who is known for unnecessarily shouting 00:11:35.639 --> 00:11:37.759 Hamburg aggressively at the end of sentences. 00:11:37.980 --> 00:11:41.100 That is uncanny. and the sources explicitly state 00:11:41.100 --> 00:11:43.559 this is a direct inspiration from Alonzo Jones. 00:11:43.879 --> 00:11:46.320 This isn't parallel thinking. This isn't a coincidence. 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:48.559 That is absolutely incredible. Think about the 00:11:48.559 --> 00:11:50.500 trajectory of that idea for a second. Yeah. The 00:11:50.500 --> 00:11:52.720 cowboy coat of a comedian from the U .S. deaf 00:11:52.720 --> 00:11:55.000 comedy jam circuit traveled all the way to Japan 00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:58.480 was translated and re -emerged as the Hamburg 00:11:58.480 --> 00:12:01.039 Steakmaster. It speaks to the universality of 00:12:01.039 --> 00:12:02.779 the performance. You don't necessarily need to 00:12:02.779 --> 00:12:04.679 understand the nuance of the English language 00:12:04.679 --> 00:12:07.539 or the specific cultural context of 90s American 00:12:07.539 --> 00:12:10.240 standup to find a guy in a cowboy hat shouting 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:13.159 Hamburg funny. It transcends language. It's physical. 00:12:13.480 --> 00:12:16.659 It's visceral. It bypasses the intellect. It's 00:12:16.659 --> 00:12:19.340 the plosive sound hamburger. It's inherently 00:12:19.340 --> 00:12:21.899 funny to say and to hear. It's like Charlie Chaplin 00:12:21.899 --> 00:12:25.279 or Mr. Bean. The physical commitment sells the 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:28.159 joke. not the vocabulary. It's the ultimate proof 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:30.940 that the catchphrase works. It travels. It survives 00:12:30.940 --> 00:12:33.620 translation. It does. But that brings us to the 00:12:33.620 --> 00:12:35.960 question of longevity. We see the influence, 00:12:36.039 --> 00:12:38.340 but what happens to the man behind the catchphrase? 00:12:38.559 --> 00:12:40.399 Did he disappear when the 90s ended? Because 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:42.320 we don't see him on TV much anymore. That's the 00:12:42.320 --> 00:12:44.940 where are they now question. The sources note 00:12:44.940 --> 00:12:47.690 that he rarely appeared on television. After 00:12:47.690 --> 00:12:50.070 that initial 90s run, there was a significant 00:12:50.070 --> 00:12:52.809 gap. Right. The bio mentions he appeared on Byron 00:12:52.809 --> 00:12:55.250 Allen's comics Unleashed, which is a great show 00:12:55.250 --> 00:12:57.289 for highlighting veteran comics, by the way, 00:12:57.289 --> 00:12:59.870 but he was only on twice. And those appearances 00:12:59.870 --> 00:13:02.429 were seven years apart. Wow. And that was nearly 00:13:02.429 --> 00:13:05.269 a decade after his last deaf comedy jam performance. 00:13:05.549 --> 00:13:08.769 So in terms of mainstream primetime TV visibility, 00:13:08.970 --> 00:13:11.830 he went dark. But and this is important for anyone 00:13:11.830 --> 00:13:14.190 listening who thinks fame is just about TV going 00:13:14.190 --> 00:13:17.149 dark on TV doesn't mean he stopped working. No, 00:13:17.149 --> 00:13:19.509 and that is the hallmark of a working comedian 00:13:19.509 --> 00:13:22.570 versus a celebrity. The sources confirm he was 00:13:22.570 --> 00:13:25.750 appearing on tour as recently as May 2019. That 00:13:25.750 --> 00:13:28.970 is nearly 30 years after his breakout. 30 years. 00:13:29.070 --> 00:13:32.049 That is just impressive. It's the grind. He might 00:13:32.049 --> 00:13:34.850 not be on HBO every Friday night, but the hamburger 00:13:34.850 --> 00:13:37.129 brand is strong enough to keep him on the road 00:13:37.129 --> 00:13:39.690 selling tickets three decades later. Yeah. He 00:13:39.690 --> 00:13:42.190 built an engine that runs itself. He doesn't 00:13:42.190 --> 00:13:44.690 need the TV networks because the brand recognition 00:13:44.690 --> 00:13:47.740 is already there. That is the true road dog life. 00:13:48.519 --> 00:13:50.799 The sources also touch a little bit on his personal 00:13:50.799 --> 00:13:53.539 life, which reinforces that clean living image 00:13:53.539 --> 00:13:55.279 we talked about earlier. It wasn't just a bit 00:13:55.279 --> 00:13:57.960 for the stage. Right. It mentions his friendship 00:13:57.960 --> 00:14:00.559 with the comedian Uncle Jimmy Mack. There is 00:14:00.559 --> 00:14:03.120 a touching detail that Mack contacted Jones after 00:14:03.120 --> 00:14:05.340 beginning a relationship with the Lord. Which 00:14:05.340 --> 00:14:07.679 suggests that within the industry, amongst his 00:14:07.679 --> 00:14:10.419 peers, Jones was known as a figure of faith, 00:14:10.820 --> 00:14:13.159 or at least someone deeply associated with that 00:14:13.159 --> 00:14:15.820 lifestyle. Exactly. He wasn't just playing a 00:14:15.820 --> 00:14:18.960 character who didn't curse. It seems that reputation 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:21.940 was genuine enough that other comedians reached 00:14:21.940 --> 00:14:23.639 out to him when they were going through their 00:14:23.639 --> 00:14:26.700 own spiritual transitions. That is fascinating. 00:14:27.340 --> 00:14:30.259 It implies he was seen as a safe harbor in a 00:14:30.259 --> 00:14:34.389 fairly chaotic, vice -filled industry. It reinforces 00:14:34.389 --> 00:14:36.789 that the hamburger substitution wasn't a cynical 00:14:36.789 --> 00:14:38.929 marketing ploy. It was a reflection of who he 00:14:38.929 --> 00:14:41.549 actually was. He was authentically himself. He 00:14:41.549 --> 00:14:43.929 didn't compromise his gentleman of the old West 00:14:43.929 --> 00:14:46.429 standard to get the laugh. He made the audience 00:14:46.429 --> 00:14:48.610 come to him. So what does this all mean for you 00:14:48.610 --> 00:14:50.789 listening? We have a guy who took a cowboy hat, 00:14:51.090 --> 00:14:53.929 a strict moral code against swearing, and a single 00:14:53.929 --> 00:14:56.350 item from the McDonald's menu. And he built a 00:14:56.350 --> 00:14:58.509 legacy that's lasted longer than most TV shows. 00:14:58.750 --> 00:15:01.850 If we look at the big picture, Alonzo Jones represents 00:15:01.850 --> 00:15:03.769 the power of constraints. We talk about that 00:15:03.769 --> 00:15:06.450 in business and art all the time. He placed a 00:15:06.450 --> 00:15:08.970 constraint on himself. No swearing in an environment 00:15:08.970 --> 00:15:11.509 that rewarded swearing. That constraint forced 00:15:11.509 --> 00:15:14.370 him to be creative. It forced him to invent hamburger. 00:15:14.789 --> 00:15:17.230 And that invention made him unique. It's a master 00:15:17.230 --> 00:15:19.730 class in branding, really. In a sea of noise, 00:15:20.149 --> 00:15:22.210 sometimes the person who whispers, or in this 00:15:22.210 --> 00:15:24.889 case, the person who shouts a random food item, 00:15:25.289 --> 00:15:27.639 is the one you remember. And it challenges our 00:15:27.639 --> 00:15:29.700 snobbery about catchphrase comedy. We tend to 00:15:29.700 --> 00:15:32.519 look down on it as hacky or simple. We want our 00:15:32.519 --> 00:15:34.840 comedy to be intellectual and layered. But if 00:15:34.840 --> 00:15:37.200 you can create a sound and an image that sticks 00:15:37.200 --> 00:15:40.379 in a stranger's brain for 30 years that is a 00:15:40.379 --> 00:15:42.940 form of genius, it's efficient communication. 00:15:43.139 --> 00:15:45.860 It really is. He stripped comedy down to its 00:15:45.860 --> 00:15:48.919 absolute barest essentials. A look and a sound. 00:15:49.460 --> 00:15:51.860 And he won. And he did it on his own terms. He 00:15:51.860 --> 00:15:54.740 didn't have to change who he was to fit the deaf 00:15:54.740 --> 00:15:57.080 comedy jam mold. He bent the mold to fit him. 00:15:57.379 --> 00:15:59.620 So as we wrap up this deep dive into the Hamburger 00:15:59.620 --> 00:16:01.399 Jones phenomenon, I want to leave you with a 00:16:01.399 --> 00:16:04.659 thought. We often feel like we need to be everything 00:16:04.659 --> 00:16:07.480 to everyone complex, multifaceted, constantly 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:10.159 changing our profile pictures and our bios to 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:12.960 match the current trend. But Alonzo Jones proves 00:16:12.960 --> 00:16:15.480 there's a power in being one thing really loudly 00:16:15.480 --> 00:16:17.919 for a really long time. It raises an important 00:16:17.919 --> 00:16:20.279 question for all of us in our own lives and careers. 00:16:21.059 --> 00:16:24.480 Exactly. Does reducing your message to a single 00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:28.320 word limit you? Or is it the ultimate hack to 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:30.519 immortality in a fragmented media landscape? 00:16:30.919 --> 00:16:32.580 And perhaps more importantly in your own life, 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:35.179 what is your hamburger? What is the one signature 00:16:35.179 --> 00:16:37.159 thing, the one value, the one quirk that people 00:16:37.159 --> 00:16:39.500 will remember you for in 30 years? Hopefully 00:16:39.500 --> 00:16:41.659 mine isn't a sandwich, but if it works for Alonzo, 00:16:41.700 --> 00:16:43.580 maybe I should reconsider. Thanks for listening 00:16:43.580 --> 00:16:45.460 to The Deep Dive. We'll catch you next time.