🎤 What does it actually take to survive stand up comedy in Austin?
Comedian AJ Higlesias joins ONLY BOMBS! to talk bombing, open mics, Kill Tony, finding your voice, social media, psychedelics, and the realities of trying to make comedy work.
AJ talks about why he moved to Austin specifically for comedy, doing stand up on mushrooms, learning from rough sets, finding his place in the Austin comedy scene, and figuring out who he is on stage.
We also get into something almost every comedian has to deal with now: social media. Somehow, one ridiculous frog video AJ posted exploded to 90 MILLION views and 1 million likes. 🐸
If you love stand up comedy, comedian interviews, Austin comedy, or just hearing what life behind the mic is really like, this episode gets into the side of comedy that people do not talk about enough.
🔥 IN THIS EPISODE
• Why AJ moved to Austin specifically for stand up comedy • What the Austin open mic grind is really like • Doing stand up on mushrooms and talking psychedelics • Bombing, confidence, and finding your voice as a comedian • Kill Tony, Vulcan, and the Austin comedy community • Why social media has become such a huge part of being a comedian • How a random frog video somehow reached 90 million views
📱 FOLLOW AJ HIGLESIAS
Instagram: @thatfunnydudeaj
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New conversations with working stand up comedians every week.
00:00:00 --> 00:00:14 Only Bombs! Only Bombs! Welcome to the podcast
00:00:14 --> 00:00:44 where Thank you for having me, man. I've been
00:00:44 --> 00:00:46 very much looking forward to this since I reached
00:00:46 --> 00:00:48 out. I was like, I gotta see if I can get on
00:00:48 --> 00:00:50 this. This looks cool as hell. Dude, I appreciate
00:00:50 --> 00:00:52 you doing that, man, for real. I like your stuff,
00:00:53 --> 00:00:57 too, dude. Oh, thanks, man. I don't do it anymore.
00:00:59 --> 00:01:01 More like a scheduling thing and just like...
00:01:01 --> 00:01:05 It's a lot of work. It is, and I'm incredibly
00:01:05 --> 00:01:08 lazy sometimes. I get it, because you were doing
00:01:08 --> 00:01:13 the man on the street stuff. Yeah, yeah. I wasn't
00:01:13 --> 00:01:16 trying to like make it that... Like I wanted
00:01:16 --> 00:01:18 it to be like a man on the street thing. Yeah.
00:01:19 --> 00:01:21 And I wanted it to kind of be like an on the
00:01:21 --> 00:01:23 spot kind of interview thing. But then it became
00:01:23 --> 00:01:28 like very organized in a way. Yeah. And it was
00:01:28 --> 00:01:30 kind of like, we were kind of like just setting
00:01:30 --> 00:01:34 up in public, you know? It was like, it got to
00:01:34 --> 00:01:35 a point where we were like, we were scheduling
00:01:35 --> 00:01:38 people. Yeah. What was your setup? Because I
00:01:38 --> 00:01:41 saw you actually using a handheld mic and everything.
00:01:41 --> 00:01:45 Yeah, so my buddy Lewis, he was the one who produced
00:01:45 --> 00:01:48 it and edited it and stuff. It was like he had
00:01:48 --> 00:01:52 a camera. Well, we would do two cameras sometimes.
00:01:52 --> 00:01:54 So he had a handheld, something kind of like
00:01:54 --> 00:01:55 the ones that you're using now. And then we actually
00:01:55 --> 00:01:58 filmed on an iPhone most of the time. Oh, no
00:01:58 --> 00:02:02 shit. Yeah, and he had a sound recorder. and
00:02:02 --> 00:02:05 that has a SLR cable in it, and we just ran that
00:02:05 --> 00:02:08 with a hand mic. But audio, I think, was our
00:02:08 --> 00:02:10 biggest issue when we first started because there's
00:02:10 --> 00:02:13 so much background noise on the streets or in
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 a bar or whatever. So we tried to make it sound
00:02:15 --> 00:02:18 as good as possible, but those first few episodes
00:02:18 --> 00:02:23 were really rough. Yeah. a lot of like having
00:02:23 --> 00:02:26 to isolate stuff and go through the editing process
00:02:26 --> 00:02:29 and comic say insane stuff even when they're
00:02:29 --> 00:02:31 not like in a setting like this too so it's like
00:02:31 --> 00:02:34 right we were trying to like I guess catch the
00:02:34 --> 00:02:37 algorithm in a way and I think that's kind of
00:02:37 --> 00:02:38 where it lost me because it's like I wanted to
00:02:38 --> 00:02:42 do it I didn't care about like how popular the
00:02:42 --> 00:02:45 show got sure yeah it was more of like we wanted
00:02:45 --> 00:02:47 to And we still I feel like we still did but
00:02:47 --> 00:02:50 like I wanted to like kind of showcase like what
00:02:50 --> 00:02:52 the scene is Really like for people say like
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54 me, you know what I mean? Right. I'm not like
00:02:54 --> 00:02:58 this I'm not huge or anything. It's like I'd
00:02:58 --> 00:03:01 still go out and I'll go do a mic or I'll do
00:03:01 --> 00:03:03 a showcase and it's more like let me I want to
00:03:03 --> 00:03:05 talk to the guys that I'm on the showcase with
00:03:05 --> 00:03:06 I want to talk to the people that I'm doing mics
00:03:06 --> 00:03:09 with and I kind of gave them a shot to kind of
00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 Exactly. Kind of like what you're doing is like
00:03:11 --> 00:03:13 to kind of just like hey, like here's who I am.
00:03:13 --> 00:03:15 Here's how I see the scene, here's how this,
00:03:16 --> 00:03:18 here's how that, you know? Yeah, that's exactly
00:03:18 --> 00:03:20 what I think I loved about it very much is because
00:03:20 --> 00:03:23 I did notice similarities in a way. I was like,
00:03:23 --> 00:03:25 it's really kind of cool how... you know, like
00:03:25 --> 00:03:27 how you go out and the things that you were asking
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 them were like relevant questions. It wasn't
00:03:29 --> 00:03:33 like shock questions or controversial questions,
00:03:33 --> 00:03:37 you know? And I really love that because it gave
00:03:37 --> 00:03:39 people like a chance like to see them like working
00:03:39 --> 00:03:41 and then get to know them. And that's what I
00:03:41 --> 00:03:43 really loved about your stuff. And you had a
00:03:43 --> 00:03:45 lot of people that have been on this podcast.
00:03:45 --> 00:03:49 Yes. How did you normally catch them? Was it
00:03:49 --> 00:03:51 just like, was it always just shows or was it
00:03:51 --> 00:03:52 when you went like just went out and did these
00:03:52 --> 00:03:59 things? When we first did it, it was like at
00:03:59 --> 00:04:02 certain venues. So like the first one we ever
00:04:02 --> 00:04:04 did was Narbar. So we were just kind of like,
00:04:04 --> 00:04:07 all right, let's go camp out Narbar and see who's
00:04:07 --> 00:04:08 doing the mic or who's doing the showcase there.
00:04:08 --> 00:04:10 That's cool, man. And I would just go out and
00:04:10 --> 00:04:13 was like, hey man, like we're doing like, it
00:04:13 --> 00:04:15 honestly took like five, 10 minutes to shoot,
00:04:15 --> 00:04:18 you know? And it was like, we're like, hey, like,
00:04:18 --> 00:04:20 do you have like five minutes? Hey, do you have
00:04:20 --> 00:04:23 10 minutes to answer a couple of questions? And
00:04:23 --> 00:04:25 like it's really just, it's nothing super nuts.
00:04:26 --> 00:04:29 You can be as funny as you like. You can, you
00:04:29 --> 00:04:32 know, I basically just like was lobbing them
00:04:32 --> 00:04:34 kind of like, it's like, hey, you know, what
00:04:34 --> 00:04:36 do you think about this? Or how's this? How long
00:04:36 --> 00:04:38 you been doing this, you know? And I kind of
00:04:38 --> 00:04:40 wanted to give them their own time to kind of
00:04:40 --> 00:04:43 like showcase themselves in a way. So we were
00:04:43 --> 00:04:45 doing it venue based. So like on like our YouTube
00:04:45 --> 00:04:47 channel, it's like, oh, this is episode one at
00:04:47 --> 00:04:49 Narbar. This is episode two at, you know, Creek
00:04:49 --> 00:04:51 or, you know, Creek Wars are like our finale.
00:04:51 --> 00:04:53 So we had a lot of people who were hanging out
00:04:53 --> 00:04:55 at Creek in the back and were like, hey, do you
00:04:55 --> 00:04:57 have 10 minutes? Hey, do you want to do this?
00:04:57 --> 00:05:00 And then we also did Kill Tony special episodes.
00:05:01 --> 00:05:06 Oh, nice. So on that Monday, we'd go and just
00:05:06 --> 00:05:08 see who has a red wristband on and be like, hey,
00:05:08 --> 00:05:10 we need to talk to you. Hey, can we talk to you
00:05:10 --> 00:05:13 for five minutes? Yeah. We got nos. We also got
00:05:13 --> 00:05:15 yeses. And we also got yeses that we never filmed.
00:05:16 --> 00:05:19 Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. The Kill Tony episodes
00:05:19 --> 00:05:23 were very, like, Chaotic. Yeah, because we kind
00:05:23 --> 00:05:26 of shot it like guerrilla style right? Yeah,
00:05:26 --> 00:05:28 cuz they they're very like, you know, no no on
00:05:28 --> 00:05:31 filming at shakes, right? We filmed a few interviews
00:05:31 --> 00:05:35 at shakes during kill town ain't no way That's
00:05:35 --> 00:05:38 awesome, man. Yeah, I remember It was like some
00:05:38 --> 00:05:40 it was some girl who was just passing through
00:05:40 --> 00:05:41 and she's on the show and I've never seen her
00:05:41 --> 00:05:44 ever again But we were filming like on that side
00:05:44 --> 00:05:47 part like we're like the like the balcony is
00:05:47 --> 00:05:49 like in between the two buildings, you know what
00:05:49 --> 00:05:53 I mean? Yeah. And we were, we go, we're talking
00:05:53 --> 00:05:54 about the balcony to kind of like get like some,
00:05:54 --> 00:05:57 just some background or whatever. And I saw that
00:05:57 --> 00:05:59 the sliding door was open and like we looked
00:05:59 --> 00:06:01 and like we see somebody like doing like the
00:06:01 --> 00:06:03 microphone stuff. I don't know if it was like.
00:06:03 --> 00:06:05 Somebody saw us and they're like, huh? And then
00:06:05 --> 00:06:08 like I just remember Lewis like shutting the
00:06:08 --> 00:06:10 door and be like, okay We need to finish right
00:06:10 --> 00:06:12 fucking that before they kick us out Yeah, cuz
00:06:12 --> 00:06:14 they tell us that I went there last night and
00:06:14 --> 00:06:16 they literally told everybody like no filming
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 you will be banned from the bar Yeah, you know,
00:06:18 --> 00:06:21 so I think it's kind of crazy that but I love
00:06:21 --> 00:06:22 that like, you know Like no filming and you're
00:06:22 --> 00:06:24 out there like with like a camera and like like
00:06:24 --> 00:06:26 a microphone a whole set up and shit Yeah, but
00:06:26 --> 00:06:31 so uh, so like so what do you do? Right. Do you
00:06:31 --> 00:06:33 think kill Tony is a good model for? judging
00:06:33 --> 00:06:36 good comics? Yeah, yeah, exactly. People were
00:06:36 --> 00:06:37 like, what the fuck, get him out of here. Yeah,
00:06:38 --> 00:06:40 I'm honestly surprised we didn't get kicked out,
00:06:40 --> 00:06:43 but then we just kind of started filming just
00:06:43 --> 00:06:46 outside. Yeah. It was just a lot easier to do
00:06:46 --> 00:06:48 like across the street with like, with the mothership
00:06:48 --> 00:06:50 in the background or with all the crowd in the
00:06:50 --> 00:06:53 background and stuff too. So like we, once we
00:06:53 --> 00:06:55 kind of like stopped doing it like secretly,
00:06:55 --> 00:06:57 we were like, okay, we need to do this like this
00:06:57 --> 00:06:59 just in case we don't get in trouble, you know.
00:06:59 --> 00:07:02 Have you ever actually gotten pushback from anywhere?
00:07:02 --> 00:07:05 No, um, like, obviously, like, people, like,
00:07:05 --> 00:07:07 will stare at us and stuff like that because
00:07:07 --> 00:07:09 we're filming on the street and stuff, but, like,
00:07:09 --> 00:07:13 uh, no, um, I've never, like, no one's, like,
00:07:13 --> 00:07:15 ever, like, came up to us, like, hey, like, what
00:07:15 --> 00:07:16 are you guys doing? Stuff like that. Okay. Yeah,
00:07:16 --> 00:07:18 like, no bar has ever been, like, you guys can't
00:07:18 --> 00:07:22 film here. No, no, like, with, um, like, with,
00:07:22 --> 00:07:24 like, with Creek, like, we filmed outside, like,
00:07:24 --> 00:07:26 on the patio in the back. Oh, nice. Like, we've
00:07:26 --> 00:07:29 done that, and, like, they don't really care.
00:07:29 --> 00:07:30 You know what I mean? Like they have people film
00:07:30 --> 00:07:32 whatever they film back there all the time anyway.
00:07:33 --> 00:07:35 We never did it like in the club, proper. I know
00:07:35 --> 00:07:37 like with Narbar, we were kind of like in that,
00:07:37 --> 00:07:39 if you've been there before, yeah? Oh yeah. We're
00:07:39 --> 00:07:42 like in that top section where like all the comics
00:07:42 --> 00:07:43 are waiting to go up. Like we filmed up there
00:07:43 --> 00:07:45 that no one's bothered us there either. Oh nice.
00:07:45 --> 00:07:47 And like on the street, no one's really bothered
00:07:47 --> 00:07:51 us. So it's like, we try to keep it as less intrusive
00:07:51 --> 00:07:54 as possible. Yeah, so like like with shit like
00:07:54 --> 00:07:56 we just did a Shakespeare's just one a straight
00:07:56 --> 00:07:58 Shakespeare's episode not a kill Tony one And
00:07:58 --> 00:08:00 we were filming all in Shakespeare's and like
00:08:00 --> 00:08:02 that was fine. No one really got mad at us. Oh,
00:08:02 --> 00:08:05 okay That's awesome, man. I love Narvar I post
00:08:05 --> 00:08:07 I say I don't hear a lot of mine those crusty
00:08:07 --> 00:08:09 motherfuckers. I'm like, I love that fucking
00:08:09 --> 00:08:11 place You need a tetanus shot before you go.
00:08:11 --> 00:08:13 Oh, yeah, man. It's like but it's fun, man Oh,
00:08:13 --> 00:08:18 it is. I I don't go as much as I used to like
00:08:18 --> 00:08:20 Narvar like it definitely holds like a special
00:08:20 --> 00:08:23 place in my heart in a way it's like It's definitely
00:08:23 --> 00:08:26 an acquired taste for some people, but I remember
00:08:26 --> 00:08:30 when I finally started getting more ingrained
00:08:30 --> 00:08:32 into the scene, I just remember having to bark
00:08:32 --> 00:08:35 for shows for Narbar and stuff, and kind of doing,
00:08:36 --> 00:08:39 cutting my teeth there, or working the door for
00:08:39 --> 00:08:44 somebody, or sitting on that back. on that back
00:08:44 --> 00:08:46 door being like, hey, it's a $5 show or whatever
00:08:46 --> 00:08:48 you have. It was like a pay -what -you -want
00:08:48 --> 00:08:51 kind of show. Yeah, donations only. Donations
00:08:51 --> 00:08:53 only, but you need to donate something to go
00:08:53 --> 00:08:55 inside. Yeah, exactly. I remember somebody dropped
00:08:55 --> 00:08:57 a cigarette into my cash box one time and he
00:08:57 --> 00:09:00 just walked in. I was like, you know what? Fine.
00:09:00 --> 00:09:01 That'll work. I'm like, whatever. Dude, this
00:09:01 --> 00:09:06 is Gnar, bro. Yeah, exactly. No problem. You
00:09:06 --> 00:09:08 can have the worst show ever or sometimes the
00:09:08 --> 00:09:11 best show ever. I think one of my favorite sets
00:09:11 --> 00:09:14 was actually at Gnar Bar. It was like right after,
00:09:14 --> 00:09:18 I went to, I was at like a rock show at Valhalla,
00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 like way down the street. And then I remember
00:09:20 --> 00:09:22 a buddy of mine hit me up and he goes, hey, like
00:09:22 --> 00:09:26 I have a spot for you if you can get here. I
00:09:26 --> 00:09:29 was like, sure man, but I was just at this show
00:09:29 --> 00:09:31 and I decided, like I didn't know I was doing
00:09:31 --> 00:09:33 comedy that day. So I'm on mushrooms at this
00:09:33 --> 00:09:38 time. Oh, no shit. Yeah. I was like peaking and
00:09:38 --> 00:09:41 I was like, okay. If I get through Sixth Street
00:09:41 --> 00:09:43 on a Saturday night, I can get there and fucking
00:09:43 --> 00:09:47 do this. Dude, holy shit. It was like the most
00:09:47 --> 00:09:49 packed I've ever seen Sixth Street. I don't know
00:09:49 --> 00:09:51 if I'm remembering this correctly, but I'm like
00:09:51 --> 00:09:53 weaving through people trying to get all the
00:09:53 --> 00:09:55 way down Sixth so I can get to Gnar Bar and do
00:09:55 --> 00:09:58 this set in front of I don't know how many people
00:09:58 --> 00:10:00 are going to be there, you know? Yeah. And surprisingly,
00:10:00 --> 00:10:03 it's like one of the nights where Gnar is packed
00:10:03 --> 00:10:06 as packed as Gnar can get. And it was just like,
00:10:06 --> 00:10:08 you know, people are still standing up and I
00:10:08 --> 00:10:11 remember doing my thing and like, it was like
00:10:11 --> 00:10:13 last summer sometime. It was like 95 degrees
00:10:13 --> 00:10:16 outside. I'm sweating my ass off. Yeah. And I
00:10:16 --> 00:10:20 end up doing really well. Really? No shit. Oh
00:10:20 --> 00:10:23 my God. And then the trip is over and you realize
00:10:23 --> 00:10:26 you're at your house still. Exactly. And I just
00:10:26 --> 00:10:29 remember being like, oh, okay. We did it. All
00:10:29 --> 00:10:32 right. Cool. Cool. Like my buddy Mark who was
00:10:32 --> 00:10:34 hosting was like, you're right. You look like
00:10:34 --> 00:10:36 you're sweating. I'm like, I am so high on mushrooms
00:10:36 --> 00:10:39 right now. God damn. Could have fooled me. That's
00:10:39 --> 00:10:41 like the first and only time I think I'll ever
00:10:41 --> 00:10:44 do that. Man, dude, I can't do anything on mushrooms.
00:10:44 --> 00:10:48 No? Stand up, dude. Like, but I've also, I've
00:10:48 --> 00:10:50 never had like actually good trip though. Oh.
00:10:50 --> 00:10:52 All of my trips have been bad and I don't know
00:10:52 --> 00:10:55 why. Oh no. Yeah, like, but I hear great things.
00:10:55 --> 00:11:00 It's definitely, I think... Don't know I hate
00:11:00 --> 00:11:03 I don't want to sound like to like Therapy speak,
00:11:03 --> 00:11:05 but you really got to just be okay with you got
00:11:05 --> 00:11:08 with what you got going on up in your head Yeah,
00:11:08 --> 00:11:10 you know it cuz it'll like open doors for you
00:11:10 --> 00:11:12 like I don't even know that was there That's
00:11:12 --> 00:11:15 very true, man. You know? Yeah. So it's like,
00:11:15 --> 00:11:17 I've had, honestly, I've never really had a bad
00:11:17 --> 00:11:20 trip. That's great, dude. It's comfort's a big
00:11:20 --> 00:11:22 thing. You gotta be somewhere comfortable. You
00:11:22 --> 00:11:23 gotta be around people that you like if you're
00:11:23 --> 00:11:26 doing it in a group setting. Yeah. I don't know,
00:11:26 --> 00:11:30 even when I've done really big hero doses. No
00:11:30 --> 00:11:32 way. The last time I did a hero, a big one was
00:11:32 --> 00:11:34 with, surprisingly enough, my dad. Me and my
00:11:34 --> 00:11:37 dad did mushrooms together. Really? Yeah, he's
00:11:37 --> 00:11:40 like a big... Like psychonaut nowadays really
00:11:40 --> 00:11:43 and yeah, it does like over like five, isn't
00:11:43 --> 00:11:46 it? We did five we did five milligrams of tea.
00:11:46 --> 00:11:48 We did tea. He makes it into like a tea Jesus
00:11:48 --> 00:11:52 dude Yeah, and he lives like on the road full
00:11:52 --> 00:11:54 -time now. So like he has like this big ass RV
00:11:54 --> 00:11:58 and like oh fun Yeah, so he was in Texas and
00:11:58 --> 00:12:00 he's like, let's like I I want a trip with you
00:12:00 --> 00:12:02 so bad and I was like, okay, cool Let's go do
00:12:02 --> 00:12:05 that And he has a whole French press thing that
00:12:05 --> 00:12:08 he presses it all down in. What? Yeah, and I
00:12:08 --> 00:12:10 just remember he's like, all right, just down
00:12:10 --> 00:12:12 the hatch. So we took it. And that was the first
00:12:12 --> 00:12:15 time I remember taking it as a tee before. Oh,
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 wow. And it's probably the only way I want to
00:12:17 --> 00:12:20 do it nowadays. No shit, huh? It hits in two
00:12:20 --> 00:12:22 minutes. Oh my gosh. And I just remember being
00:12:22 --> 00:12:24 like, OK, I think we need to go outside now.
00:12:25 --> 00:12:27 And he does the worst thing I think anybody could
00:12:27 --> 00:12:29 ever do while you're tripping balls. He puts
00:12:29 --> 00:12:31 his hand on my shoulder, and he's like, I'm going
00:12:31 --> 00:12:33 to be honest with you. I get a little weird.
00:12:34 --> 00:12:35 I was like, what are you talking about? What
00:12:35 --> 00:12:38 the fuck? Now is not a good time, dad. It's not
00:12:38 --> 00:12:41 a good time. It's not a good time. Yeah, dad,
00:12:41 --> 00:12:45 what the fuck? What the fuck? Yeah. So it's,
00:12:45 --> 00:12:47 yeah, no, it's awesome. I swear by him if you
00:12:47 --> 00:12:50 can, like, I guess have a good trip. I definitely
00:12:50 --> 00:12:52 do swear by him. It's like a huge reset. I couldn't
00:12:52 --> 00:12:56 imagine doing, like, like five grams like the
00:12:56 --> 00:12:58 Hiradesi you're talking about. Dude, I did an
00:12:58 --> 00:13:02 eighth and I was... like fucking ruined, dude.
00:13:03 --> 00:13:05 It messed up my life for like 20 minutes, like
00:13:05 --> 00:13:08 hours. It was crazy, dude. You know those loops?
00:13:09 --> 00:13:12 You ever get in those time loops? Oh yeah, yeah,
00:13:12 --> 00:13:16 yeah. That was hard to... That's tough, yeah.
00:13:16 --> 00:13:19 I've been stuck in a loop before where I'm like,
00:13:19 --> 00:13:20 oh shit, I've been here, oh shit, I've been here,
00:13:20 --> 00:13:23 oh no, oh god. And you realize it and you get
00:13:23 --> 00:13:26 out of it. I don't know, when I did that five
00:13:26 --> 00:13:30 grammar, I think that's like... the hardest visuals
00:13:30 --> 00:13:34 I've ever gotten. I thought that was fake because
00:13:34 --> 00:13:39 I've done acid and I don't get nearly as much
00:13:39 --> 00:13:41 visuals. It's more of a in your mind kind of
00:13:41 --> 00:13:45 thing for me. Things will kaleidoscope a little
00:13:45 --> 00:13:48 bit, but I don't know. When I took that T, I
00:13:48 --> 00:13:52 was really seeing stuff. No way. My dad tried
00:13:52 --> 00:13:53 to get real deep on me and talk with me and stuff,
00:13:53 --> 00:13:56 and I'm looking at him, but I'm looking behind
00:13:56 --> 00:13:59 him. And there was like a fence line and like
00:13:59 --> 00:14:01 you ever seen like who framed Roger Rabbit? Yeah,
00:14:01 --> 00:14:03 like looking over the wall on the toontown. He's
00:14:03 --> 00:14:05 like all the stuff like kind of yeah. Yeah, I
00:14:05 --> 00:14:08 was seeing that and I kind of was just like I
00:14:08 --> 00:14:09 don't know what the fuck you're I don't know
00:14:09 --> 00:14:11 what you're telling me, but there's some crazy
00:14:11 --> 00:14:15 shit going on behind you. It was what? Yeah,
00:14:15 --> 00:14:17 like gosh, that sounds so magical. It was it
00:14:17 --> 00:14:19 really was I'm like and he had like those like
00:14:19 --> 00:14:21 zero gravity chairs that you can like lean back
00:14:21 --> 00:14:24 in. So we're like I'm like leaning back looking
00:14:24 --> 00:14:26 up into the trees and they start to like connect.
00:14:27 --> 00:14:29 into like, you know, like hexagonal shapes and
00:14:29 --> 00:14:32 shit, and I'm like, okay, all right, this is
00:14:32 --> 00:14:34 where we're going. Wow. And we probably just
00:14:34 --> 00:14:36 look like a couple of psychopaths just sitting
00:14:36 --> 00:14:39 in a chair going, wah! They're like, oh my God,
00:14:39 --> 00:14:40 what the fuck? People outside having their coffee,
00:14:41 --> 00:14:43 like what? Yeah, we're like at a campground.
00:14:43 --> 00:14:45 We're like at a family campground in the middle
00:14:45 --> 00:14:48 of the day. Right, hey, did you bring the uncrustables?
00:14:48 --> 00:14:52 Wait, what are those guys doing? So it's just
00:14:52 --> 00:14:56 looking at a bug in the grass. Whoa, look at
00:14:56 --> 00:14:58 that guy. There's so many of them. Bro, those
00:14:58 --> 00:15:02 are ants. What are they doing down there? Right,
00:15:02 --> 00:15:05 like, why are they so big? Exactly. It's like,
00:15:05 --> 00:15:08 what do you mean? Oh my gosh, when I did it,
00:15:08 --> 00:15:11 it was like, I just, I started seeing like, like.
00:15:11 --> 00:15:13 I don't know, like carousels and caterpillars
00:15:13 --> 00:15:15 and all sorts of crazy shit. It was like in my
00:15:15 --> 00:15:18 head, it wasn't like out and about. And then
00:15:18 --> 00:15:20 all of a sudden, dude, I just lost all control.
00:15:20 --> 00:15:23 And that was an eighth. So I couldn't imagine,
00:15:23 --> 00:15:24 like five, I'd be like, I don't even know what
00:15:24 --> 00:15:26 the fuck would happen to me, dude. Yeah, things
00:15:26 --> 00:15:28 didn't feel real for a little bit, I can't even
00:15:28 --> 00:15:32 lie. It's like when you're lucid dreaming, you
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 know? Oh yeah. And that's kind of what it feels
00:15:34 --> 00:15:36 like. But you're like, oh, this is like, this
00:15:36 --> 00:15:39 is like happening. You feel everything breathing
00:15:39 --> 00:15:41 around you. And it's coming ready or not, dude.
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 Oh yeah, I know. And I think that's another thing
00:15:43 --> 00:15:45 I feel like that people might have issues with
00:15:45 --> 00:15:48 when they do anything psychedelic is the letting
00:15:48 --> 00:15:51 go part. The letting go, yeah. That's another
00:15:51 --> 00:15:53 big thing. You kind of have to just let it run
00:15:53 --> 00:15:56 its course. You can't... You have to be like,
00:15:56 --> 00:16:00 okay, this is gonna be a big part of my day.
00:16:00 --> 00:16:04 Or my weekend even. And it's like you really
00:16:04 --> 00:16:07 need to just let it happen. That's true. And
00:16:07 --> 00:16:10 I feel like if some people have like that issue,
00:16:10 --> 00:16:12 like if you have like that, like if you can't
00:16:12 --> 00:16:14 just let it happen, like let it run its course,
00:16:15 --> 00:16:17 like that's when you kind of start getting into
00:16:17 --> 00:16:20 like bad trip territory. Dude, that might be
00:16:20 --> 00:16:22 it is that because I'm such an insane control
00:16:22 --> 00:16:25 freak. Yeah, that could, yeah. You know, and
00:16:25 --> 00:16:27 so I think there was like a portion of it where
00:16:27 --> 00:16:30 I was like fighting it being like, I'm done.
00:16:30 --> 00:16:32 Like I can't, you know, like no, no, I was like,
00:16:32 --> 00:16:34 we gotta do this, we gotta do it my way. It's
00:16:34 --> 00:16:37 like, that doesn't work like that. Yeah, man,
00:16:37 --> 00:16:40 it's like when people like, you know, like, it's
00:16:40 --> 00:16:42 like the guys who like tame lions or whatever,
00:16:42 --> 00:16:43 it's like, you need to, you're on their time,
00:16:43 --> 00:16:47 you're on their time. You're like, I respect
00:16:47 --> 00:16:49 you, I see you, you know? And that's kind of
00:16:49 --> 00:16:51 how, like, I try to explain to people, it's like,
00:16:51 --> 00:16:53 if you're gonna do it, like, you need to like,
00:16:53 --> 00:16:55 you need to let it do its thing, you need to
00:16:55 --> 00:16:58 respect what it's doing to you. Yeah. You know?
00:16:58 --> 00:17:01 And it's like, if you're able to let go and just
00:17:01 --> 00:17:03 kind of just like, all right, I'm safe, I'm chilling,
00:17:03 --> 00:17:06 let's just ride this out. That's when I feel
00:17:06 --> 00:17:08 like you can have a good time. Dude, I don't
00:17:08 --> 00:17:10 mean to get all Rogan, but have you ever tried
00:17:10 --> 00:17:14 DMT? No, actually, I haven't. Oh, see, that was
00:17:14 --> 00:17:16 awesome. Really? Yeah. See, that's the one I'm
00:17:16 --> 00:17:19 a little like, I'm a little skeeved out about
00:17:19 --> 00:17:24 it. I don't know. Really? I like, acid was still
00:17:24 --> 00:17:25 kind of a lot for me. I've done it a couple of
00:17:25 --> 00:17:28 times, but it's like, it's too long. It's like
00:17:28 --> 00:17:31 18 hours. Yeah, no. That's too long. And I like
00:17:31 --> 00:17:33 mushrooms, but it's like... I think I might be
00:17:33 --> 00:17:35 a little allergic, because every time I do mushrooms
00:17:35 --> 00:17:38 and I eat them or something, I puke. Oh, okay.
00:17:38 --> 00:17:40 Yeah, so that come up is really high for me,
00:17:40 --> 00:17:42 and I just puke every time, but when I had the
00:17:42 --> 00:17:44 tea, I never, I didn't, because it got rid of
00:17:44 --> 00:17:47 whatever was bugging me about it. Oh, interesting.
00:17:47 --> 00:17:50 So it just extracts all that stuff. DMT, I'm
00:17:50 --> 00:17:52 like, I've heard people be like, yeah, you just
00:17:52 --> 00:17:54 meet machine elves, and I was like, I don't know
00:17:54 --> 00:17:57 if I want to do that. Dude, you know, there is
00:17:57 --> 00:18:00 truth to that, because I don't know what I was
00:18:00 --> 00:18:03 expecting when I... did it, but I was like, you
00:18:03 --> 00:18:05 know, it basically everything that people say
00:18:05 --> 00:18:07 about like entities and shit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00:18:07 --> 00:18:09 That's a fucking thing. Like it's legit. Yeah.
00:18:09 --> 00:18:11 Like because it was almost like it felt like
00:18:11 --> 00:18:13 a welcoming. Like it was like. And it's the same
00:18:13 --> 00:18:15 story with a lot of people with that. Like it's
00:18:15 --> 00:18:17 so crazy to me. Yeah. And like, I don't know
00:18:17 --> 00:18:20 if I'm ready. Yeah. And the thing is, it's not
00:18:20 --> 00:18:25 bad, dude. Like the. Mushrooms were way more
00:18:25 --> 00:18:28 abrasive than that was really yeah, it's well
00:18:28 --> 00:18:31 at least for me Yeah, yeah, and uh, but DMT like
00:18:31 --> 00:18:33 I get there was like, you know I saw this being
00:18:33 --> 00:18:36 and it was like it made shapes appear and everything
00:18:36 --> 00:18:38 was made out of geometry And it what it did was
00:18:38 --> 00:18:40 it took the shape it would create a shape and
00:18:40 --> 00:18:43 then throw it at me Like here like look at this
00:18:43 --> 00:18:45 Wow, you know, it was like it was fucking nuts
00:18:45 --> 00:18:47 And I felt like I was on like a roller coaster,
00:18:47 --> 00:18:50 but like it wasn't moving but like the ground
00:18:50 --> 00:18:54 below me was moving. Oh my God. And I had my
00:18:54 --> 00:18:56 eyes closed and it was like, yeah, it literally
00:18:56 --> 00:18:58 felt like the closest thing to being in another
00:18:58 --> 00:19:01 dimension. Because like your reality too, that's
00:19:01 --> 00:19:04 another thing, is you are existing in something
00:19:04 --> 00:19:07 else. Yeah. Like it's the craziest thing. Oh
00:19:07 --> 00:19:09 my God. And I even narrated it to my brother.
00:19:10 --> 00:19:12 My brother and I, we were talking and I was telling
00:19:12 --> 00:19:15 him, I was like, bro, I know that I'm talking
00:19:15 --> 00:19:18 to you. I know you are in... my reality, but
00:19:18 --> 00:19:21 I am not here. Yeah. Oh my God. It was crazy.
00:19:21 --> 00:19:23 And I think that's like, I think that's where
00:19:23 --> 00:19:25 I'm like, kind of like, hesitant about doing
00:19:25 --> 00:19:29 it is because I'm like, okay. Yeah. I think I'm
00:19:29 --> 00:19:31 like, I'm very comfortable in my reality right
00:19:31 --> 00:19:33 now. I'm like, I feel like if that gets shattered,
00:19:33 --> 00:19:36 I really don't know how I would react to it.
00:19:36 --> 00:19:40 For me, it was legitimately euphoric. That's
00:19:40 --> 00:19:41 awesome. When I was done, I was like, I felt
00:19:41 --> 00:19:43 like... I was like, man, I was like, wow, this,
00:19:43 --> 00:19:45 I feel like the presence of love. Yeah, yeah,
00:19:45 --> 00:19:47 yeah, yeah, yeah. It was honestly insane. Oh,
00:19:47 --> 00:19:49 sick. You know, but it only lasts for like five
00:19:49 --> 00:19:53 minutes. See, that's a nuts five minutes. Yeah,
00:19:53 --> 00:19:56 it was a good five. It was a good five. I do
00:19:56 --> 00:19:58 a tight five of DMT every now and again. The
00:19:58 --> 00:20:01 band tool made a lot more sense after that. I
00:20:01 --> 00:20:06 was like, bro, I get it now. I had to start...
00:20:06 --> 00:20:10 You're like Maynard, you son of a bitch. I'm
00:20:10 --> 00:20:12 like, you're actually really smart. Oh, dude,
00:20:12 --> 00:20:17 you get it. The pieces do fit, dude. Yeah, dude.
00:20:18 --> 00:20:22 I know, I know. I know the business. Oh my God.
00:20:22 --> 00:20:27 Dude, I just watched them fall away, bro. Yeah,
00:20:27 --> 00:20:29 dude, it's like, it's fucking, it is crazy like
00:20:29 --> 00:20:31 that, man. So we gave you like the whole idea
00:20:31 --> 00:20:34 to actually go out and like, and start your thing
00:20:34 --> 00:20:36 like out on the street like that. Like, was it
00:20:36 --> 00:20:40 just barking like you were saying? The show kind
00:20:40 --> 00:20:44 of like, like I used to... Don't know like I've
00:20:44 --> 00:20:47 always like loved like talking to people like
00:20:47 --> 00:20:49 that's coming That's why you know do stand -up
00:20:49 --> 00:20:52 is because like I'm just I get to talk at people
00:20:52 --> 00:20:55 Yeah, knowing like like this isn't like the first
00:20:55 --> 00:20:59 I guess like artist Show I've ever done like
00:20:59 --> 00:21:01 back home in California like where I'm from I'm
00:21:01 --> 00:21:04 from like a little town called Los Banos, California
00:21:04 --> 00:21:06 Los Banos, where's that? Central Valley like
00:21:06 --> 00:21:08 if you're looking at a map of California. I'm
00:21:08 --> 00:21:11 like in the middle Oh, okay. Like where no one
00:21:11 --> 00:21:13 goes. That's cool though. Yeah, it's a town of
00:21:13 --> 00:21:17 like 35 people. Oh, okay. It's like dairies
00:21:17 --> 00:21:21 and tomatoes and cows and - Hell yeah. That's
00:21:21 --> 00:21:23 it. Good shit. Yeah, we're like an hour, we're
00:21:23 --> 00:21:25 like two hours outside of San Francisco, an hour
00:21:25 --> 00:21:27 and a half out of like Santa Cruz. So it's like
00:21:27 --> 00:21:29 we'd have to, we're in a valley, so we'd have
00:21:29 --> 00:21:31 to go over that valley to go anywhere cool. Man.
00:21:32 --> 00:21:36 And I used to throw like DIY like punk shows
00:21:36 --> 00:21:40 kind of. That's what's up. Yeah, so I was still
00:21:40 --> 00:21:42 doing comedy, but I was living in the Valley
00:21:42 --> 00:21:45 at the time. And a buddy of mine, my good friend,
00:21:46 --> 00:21:49 Andrew, and he was also my roommate, he, unfortunately,
00:21:49 --> 00:21:52 his house, he had a house out in the sticks,
00:21:52 --> 00:21:54 just outside of City Limits a little bit at Los
00:21:54 --> 00:21:57 Banos, so we had all this space. And unfortunately,
00:21:57 --> 00:22:00 his house burnt down. It was his parents' house
00:22:00 --> 00:22:03 burnt down, so we had just a foundation and all
00:22:03 --> 00:22:05 this land and his yards and stuff, so we're like,
00:22:05 --> 00:22:09 oh, well, let's throw shows there. Yeah, sorry
00:22:09 --> 00:22:11 about your house. Can we throw some shows there?
00:22:11 --> 00:22:13 He came up with the idea. That's fucking awesome.
00:22:13 --> 00:22:16 Yeah, and we're like, okay We're like, alright,
00:22:16 --> 00:22:18 let's like I we know tons of people in bands
00:22:18 --> 00:22:20 I know tons of like, you know independent like
00:22:20 --> 00:22:23 rap artists and stuff. Like how do we you know,
00:22:23 --> 00:22:25 how do we do this and we we call that it was
00:22:25 --> 00:22:29 called Wreck -It Ranch and we had Yes, yeah,
00:22:29 --> 00:22:32 we had we had three shows our first show was
00:22:32 --> 00:22:34 like a Halloween show and we sold tickets and
00:22:34 --> 00:22:36 everything like there's nothing that, nothing
00:22:36 --> 00:22:39 goes on in Los Banos, like something like that.
00:22:39 --> 00:22:42 So you're like, like, you know, house parties
00:22:42 --> 00:22:44 were a big thing there, like, you know, going,
00:22:44 --> 00:22:46 and all you can do is like mostly, the only thing
00:22:46 --> 00:22:48 to do out there is like drink or do drugs, you
00:22:48 --> 00:22:50 know? Yeah. So we were like, all right, let's,
00:22:50 --> 00:22:53 we have friends that are in bands, let's try
00:22:53 --> 00:22:54 and like organize something. And there's a lot
00:22:54 --> 00:22:56 of, there's a lot of my friends that made music
00:22:56 --> 00:22:59 that never had a chance to like perform or anything
00:22:59 --> 00:23:01 like that. So like. where my buddy Andrew was
00:23:01 --> 00:23:03 more like on the logistical side of things. It's
00:23:03 --> 00:23:04 like, he's like, all right, well, my girlfriend's
00:23:04 --> 00:23:07 dad's a lawyer, so let's draw up a contract saying
00:23:07 --> 00:23:09 like, hey, if any of our stuff, your stuff gets
00:23:09 --> 00:23:10 lost here, you won't be liable for it. Like we
00:23:10 --> 00:23:12 try to cover our bases as much as possible. We
00:23:12 --> 00:23:14 talk with the sheriff about noise, like a noise
00:23:14 --> 00:23:17 complaint or noise ordinances. We try to make
00:23:17 --> 00:23:19 it as legit as possible. We like, so we sold
00:23:19 --> 00:23:21 tickets at like 10 bucks a head or two for 15.
00:23:21 --> 00:23:23 People would buy, you know, they would buy tickets.
00:23:23 --> 00:23:25 We were putting up flyers around town and shit
00:23:25 --> 00:23:27 like all, and then our first show we had like
00:23:27 --> 00:23:31 over 200 people. What? I had friends that did
00:23:31 --> 00:23:32 security. I had friends that were bartenders.
00:23:33 --> 00:23:35 It was pretty cool. We set it up like that. And
00:23:35 --> 00:23:40 then to, I guess, promote the show, we would
00:23:40 --> 00:23:43 do live streams with the artists that were gonna
00:23:43 --> 00:23:48 be performing. Oh, nice. I would just kind of
00:23:48 --> 00:23:50 be like, hey, what about this? What do you got
00:23:50 --> 00:23:54 going on project -wise? That kind of thing always
00:23:54 --> 00:23:58 interested me. So when I... Like when I moved
00:23:58 --> 00:24:00 out here to Austin finally like it was two years
00:24:00 --> 00:24:03 last month I've been here and I was like, all
00:24:03 --> 00:24:04 right. Well, there's a ton of comics like I think
00:24:04 --> 00:24:07 it'd be really cool To talk to everybody but
00:24:07 --> 00:24:10 like I don't want Like I specifically didn't
00:24:10 --> 00:24:12 want somebody who was like a regular at, you
00:24:12 --> 00:24:15 know, kill Tony I didn't want someone who is
00:24:15 --> 00:24:17 like like a working comedian. That's fine. But
00:24:17 --> 00:24:20 like I just I wanted to talk to the people like
00:24:20 --> 00:24:24 me who are out there every day or grinding to
00:24:24 --> 00:24:26 do a show, grinding to maybe do 10 minutes on
00:24:26 --> 00:24:33 a showcase somewhere. And I feel like that part
00:24:33 --> 00:24:37 of comedy isn't talked about nearly enough. It's
00:24:37 --> 00:24:41 like, oh, it's a bringer show or all this thing.
00:24:42 --> 00:24:45 And people who are in it understand, they understand
00:24:45 --> 00:24:48 how the game works and how all this works. But
00:24:48 --> 00:24:51 I feel like... my show, I wanted to kind of showcase
00:24:51 --> 00:24:54 what it's really like for somebody who is out
00:24:54 --> 00:24:56 there doing it every day and what the realities
00:24:56 --> 00:24:59 of that is. And it's like, even if, I want to
00:24:59 --> 00:25:01 hear the complaints, not all the positives, you
00:25:01 --> 00:25:03 know? Because I can tell somebody, oh, I'm Lupin
00:25:03 --> 00:25:04 Olsen, I do stand -up, it's so great. Right.
00:25:05 --> 00:25:07 And to be honest, I feel like comedy is half
00:25:07 --> 00:25:11 shit. Yeah. You know? And I'm not saying that
00:25:11 --> 00:25:14 as a bad thing, that's just any art, I feel like,
00:25:14 --> 00:25:16 you get into. It's like, yeah, I'm gonna perform
00:25:16 --> 00:25:18 in front of two people and it's gonna suck, but
00:25:18 --> 00:25:21 you have to do it. Yeah. And it's like, when
00:25:21 --> 00:25:24 I tell people that, just when I tell people who
00:25:24 --> 00:25:26 aren't in standup that, it's like, what do you
00:25:26 --> 00:25:28 mean? Why do you still, why? Because I like to
00:25:28 --> 00:25:32 do it. But I feel like showcasing that to people,
00:25:32 --> 00:25:34 that's kind of what my goal was, is to be like,
00:25:34 --> 00:25:38 hey, here's where comedy happens, but also here's
00:25:38 --> 00:25:42 what the realities of that could be. you know,
00:25:42 --> 00:25:43 this isn't built for everybody. I'm not trying
00:25:43 --> 00:25:45 to be like, oh, we're fucking tougher than we
00:25:45 --> 00:25:48 are, but it's like, it isn't, you know what I
00:25:48 --> 00:25:50 mean? It's like, you kind of have to, I guess,
00:25:51 --> 00:25:53 get humbled by it a little bit. You do. You know?
00:25:54 --> 00:25:57 There is a massive learning curve, you know,
00:25:57 --> 00:26:01 like, and it's so expansive that there's no way
00:26:01 --> 00:26:04 to like, to... Just kind of ball it up and be
00:26:04 --> 00:26:06 like, okay, cool. This is the all around comedy
00:26:06 --> 00:26:09 guide. Like it's because everybody, everybody's
00:26:09 --> 00:26:11 journey is different. Like, no, it is. Like,
00:26:11 --> 00:26:14 I remember like when I first started, I just
00:26:14 --> 00:26:16 was like Googling open mics. I was like, I didn't
00:26:16 --> 00:26:19 even know how to approach an open mic, you know?
00:26:19 --> 00:26:21 Right. Yeah. I was just like, okay, well let's
00:26:21 --> 00:26:24 just see where open mics are or let's just see
00:26:24 --> 00:26:27 where I can do this. Like I just, like the first
00:26:27 --> 00:26:29 like real open mic I went to was like, it was
00:26:29 --> 00:26:31 in San Francisco and like, I didn't even perform.
00:26:31 --> 00:26:34 I just sat and watched. I was like, all right,
00:26:34 --> 00:26:36 well, let me, let me sit, let me watch, let me
00:26:36 --> 00:26:39 see how like this, this all goes down before
00:26:39 --> 00:26:42 I even try to like go and do it. So it's like,
00:26:42 --> 00:26:46 yeah, I made the trip just to go see. Sure. Yeah.
00:26:46 --> 00:26:49 Yeah. Did you come to Austin specifically for
00:26:49 --> 00:26:52 comedy? Yeah. Yeah, I did. What was it about
00:26:52 --> 00:26:57 Austin that intrigued you? I was, so I was living
00:26:57 --> 00:26:59 in, I was actually, I was living in Hawaii before
00:26:59 --> 00:27:01 I was living in Austin. Like I was there for
00:27:01 --> 00:27:03 like three years. And I was in the scene there.
00:27:04 --> 00:27:06 And I kind of was like, all right, I feel like
00:27:06 --> 00:27:09 I've done everything I could do in Hawaii. And
00:27:09 --> 00:27:12 I was like, all right, I want to go somewhere
00:27:12 --> 00:27:15 where one, nobody knows who the fuck I am. I
00:27:15 --> 00:27:18 want to go somewhere where it's going to be difficult
00:27:18 --> 00:27:21 and I know it's going to suck for a minute. And
00:27:21 --> 00:27:23 I was like, my three choices, I was like, L .A.,
00:27:23 --> 00:27:26 New York and Austin. And I was like, OK. Yeah,
00:27:26 --> 00:27:28 I would think that you would have gone to L .A.
00:27:29 --> 00:27:33 I can hate that city. Gotcha. Gotcha. I don't
00:27:33 --> 00:27:35 know if it's just the Northern California person
00:27:35 --> 00:27:38 in me that hates the city, but it's just, I don't
00:27:38 --> 00:27:40 know. I've been to LA a few times. I've done
00:27:40 --> 00:27:43 shows and mics and stuff out there, and I just,
00:27:43 --> 00:27:46 I don't know, it just didn't feel, I didn't like
00:27:46 --> 00:27:48 the way it felt. Yeah. You know? Sure. Yeah,
00:27:48 --> 00:27:50 it makes sense, man. Because I started doing
00:27:50 --> 00:27:53 stand -up in San Francisco, and it felt more,
00:27:53 --> 00:27:55 there was more of a community there. Mm -hmm.
00:27:55 --> 00:27:57 You know? Because you don't hear, San Francisco
00:27:57 --> 00:28:02 is such a big comedy town. But the guys and gals
00:28:02 --> 00:28:06 that are in it, everyone's really in it. And
00:28:06 --> 00:28:08 they were very welcoming to me when I first started.
00:28:08 --> 00:28:10 So I was like, OK, cool. I want to go somewhere
00:28:10 --> 00:28:14 that feels like that. It feels very comic -oriented.
00:28:14 --> 00:28:15 I can make friends easily. But when I was in
00:28:15 --> 00:28:18 LA, I just felt like, I don't know. I didn't
00:28:18 --> 00:28:22 feel like that warmness. And I know that this
00:28:22 --> 00:28:23 business that we're in isn't like that all the
00:28:23 --> 00:28:26 time. For me, I just was like, I don't know if
00:28:26 --> 00:28:29 I can do that little little Ford to live there.
00:28:29 --> 00:28:32 Sure, yeah. And I was like, okay, New York would
00:28:32 --> 00:28:34 be cool, but that would be tough also. And I
00:28:34 --> 00:28:36 was like, you know what? Fuck it, let's just
00:28:36 --> 00:28:38 go see what Austin's like. And I was like, well,
00:28:38 --> 00:28:40 Kiltoni's there, might as well try my hand at
00:28:40 --> 00:28:42 that, because everyone and their mom at the time
00:28:42 --> 00:28:45 was telling me about it. I wasn't even like a
00:28:45 --> 00:28:47 watcher or a fan of it or anything like that.
00:28:47 --> 00:28:49 Oh, okay, so you didn't even know about Kiltoni.
00:28:49 --> 00:28:54 I knew of it, but I wasn't like super like...
00:28:54 --> 00:28:56 all about it, like I'm not even like the biggest
00:28:56 --> 00:29:01 like Rogan fan even, you know, like, but I was
00:29:01 --> 00:29:04 like, you know what, like they're, they're like
00:29:04 --> 00:29:06 the gatekeepers right now. You know, they're
00:29:06 --> 00:29:09 the, I guess some people might say they're the
00:29:09 --> 00:29:12 necessary evil right now in a way. So, yeah,
00:29:12 --> 00:29:14 you know, but like just, and I was like, you
00:29:14 --> 00:29:16 know what, let's go try it out, let's go do it.
00:29:16 --> 00:29:18 And of course, like you have like that, that
00:29:18 --> 00:29:20 romantic, that romanticization of like the city
00:29:20 --> 00:29:22 and everyone's like, dude, you gotta go to Austin.
00:29:22 --> 00:29:24 I've had, I've had comedian friends from Hawaii
00:29:24 --> 00:29:26 go to Austin for like a week and they go, dude,
00:29:27 --> 00:29:29 it's fucking crazy. You gotta go. And I was like,
00:29:29 --> 00:29:31 it's fucking incredible. It's fucking nuts. I've
00:29:31 --> 00:29:33 never fucking done so much, you know, you know,
00:29:33 --> 00:29:35 I've never done so much comedy at one time, blah,
00:29:35 --> 00:29:36 blah, blah. And I was like, all right, cool.
00:29:36 --> 00:29:39 I guess it's settled, let's go. Yeah, there is
00:29:39 --> 00:29:41 something intriguing about Austin. Like, the
00:29:41 --> 00:29:44 reason why I wanted to come here was years ago,
00:29:44 --> 00:29:46 I just came and I just fell in love with the
00:29:46 --> 00:29:48 city, like, itself, you know? And at the time,
00:29:48 --> 00:29:51 I was playing music, and so I was really big
00:29:51 --> 00:29:54 with, like, I wanted to go see, like, the Stebrie
00:29:54 --> 00:29:57 Vaughn statue, and, you know, I played a few,
00:29:57 --> 00:29:59 like, shows out here, just me and my guitar,
00:30:00 --> 00:30:03 you know? And, but... You know, I've always wanted
00:30:03 --> 00:30:06 to do stand up. I just didn't know what to do.
00:30:06 --> 00:30:08 You know, so when I got out of here is that the
00:30:08 --> 00:30:11 first place I went to is the creek. Yeah. And
00:30:11 --> 00:30:13 and yeah, I got humbled like a motherfucker like
00:30:13 --> 00:30:16 that. Yeah, dude. You know, is so where was like
00:30:16 --> 00:30:18 the first place that you went to when you got
00:30:18 --> 00:30:21 here? Well, the first thing I did was like I
00:30:21 --> 00:30:23 I figured out where to go sign up for for Kelton
00:30:23 --> 00:30:26 because like I didn't know anything. I've never
00:30:26 --> 00:30:29 set foot in Austin. Wow. Like I like I've got
00:30:29 --> 00:30:33 an apartment like side unseen. I drove from California,
00:30:33 --> 00:30:36 from my mom's place, all the way here, got in,
00:30:37 --> 00:30:38 and I was like, all right, it's Mondays, I gotta
00:30:38 --> 00:30:41 find out where to go sign up on Mondays, figured
00:30:41 --> 00:30:43 out where to go sign up. I remember signing up
00:30:43 --> 00:30:45 and signing their release form or whatever, and
00:30:45 --> 00:30:48 I was like, ooh, this is, ooh. And you build
00:30:48 --> 00:30:51 it up so much in your head, and I was just like,
00:30:51 --> 00:30:53 all right, I made some friends, and then obviously
00:30:53 --> 00:30:55 I didn't get picked. If you get picked for your
00:30:55 --> 00:30:57 first time, it's fucking crazy. I did. You did?
00:30:57 --> 00:31:00 I did. Holy shit. Yeah, that fucking blew my
00:31:00 --> 00:31:02 mind. Yeah, yeah, I still think about it. It's
00:31:02 --> 00:31:06 almost like PTSD. It's like, yeah, so I was just
00:31:06 --> 00:31:07 like and then like I saw somebody like passing
00:31:07 --> 00:31:09 around like a open mic sign up sheet. That's
00:31:09 --> 00:31:11 when they were doing it at Poor Choices still
00:31:11 --> 00:31:13 and they were like, oh, we're doing an open mic
00:31:13 --> 00:31:15 over at Maggie Mays and that was like the first
00:31:15 --> 00:31:18 set I ever did. No, it was at Maggie Mays. I
00:31:18 --> 00:31:19 got an open mic at like two in the morning. So
00:31:19 --> 00:31:21 let me make sure I'm understanding. You did like,
00:31:21 --> 00:31:24 oh, two more. Yeah, it's like one in the morning.
00:31:24 --> 00:31:27 Like it was like. After kill Tony ended everyone's
00:31:27 --> 00:31:29 just like putting their time in or whatever and
00:31:29 --> 00:31:31 like for some reason I thought you were like
00:31:31 --> 00:31:32 you did like the parallel like you were going
00:31:32 --> 00:31:35 from my kill Tony that you wanna Maggie Mase
00:31:35 --> 00:31:37 cuz I've seen people do that I think back in
00:31:37 --> 00:31:40 the day and and I was like dude So you're you
00:31:40 --> 00:31:41 were like, hold on. Let me go ahead and just
00:31:41 --> 00:31:44 try this out real quick Yeah, I was like I was
00:31:44 --> 00:31:46 like this is my first night like out out like
00:31:46 --> 00:31:49 I need to do something some kind of stage time
00:31:49 --> 00:31:52 Yeah, and I like I was like, all right And I
00:31:52 --> 00:31:55 did get kind of, it humbled me and I'm like,
00:31:55 --> 00:31:56 oh yeah, you're not gonna get picked for your
00:31:56 --> 00:31:58 first time. You know, like why did I even, you
00:31:58 --> 00:32:00 know what I mean? It's like, well, also nobody
00:32:00 --> 00:32:02 knows who the fuck you are yet. You've made zero
00:32:02 --> 00:32:05 friends. You don't know anybody yet. So I was
00:32:05 --> 00:32:07 like, all right, let's just do my, let's do like
00:32:07 --> 00:32:08 my three minutes that they gave me at Maggie
00:32:08 --> 00:32:11 Mae's and it went well. So I was like, all right,
00:32:11 --> 00:32:14 cool. And then just the more, I guess I just
00:32:14 --> 00:32:16 explored and the more, you know, people I started
00:32:16 --> 00:32:18 talking to, obviously you make friends and stuff,
00:32:18 --> 00:32:21 but. I feel like this city can humble you a lot
00:32:21 --> 00:32:24 because you may think that, like with me, I feel
00:32:24 --> 00:32:26 like I got comfortable back in Hawaii because
00:32:26 --> 00:32:29 there were only like 15 comics then. And we all
00:32:29 --> 00:32:32 rotate spots all the time. Yeah. So you guys,
00:32:32 --> 00:32:34 it was like a little family, huh? Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:34 --> 00:32:35 So it's like, when I came out here, I was like,
00:32:35 --> 00:32:40 oh shit. Oh shit. Were you on the big island?
00:32:40 --> 00:32:43 Yeah. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah, I was. I went to
00:32:43 --> 00:32:45 Waikiki Beach like way back in like, I want to
00:32:45 --> 00:32:48 say like 2011. I loved it. Yeah. I loved it.
00:32:48 --> 00:32:50 You know, but it was like one of those like,
00:32:50 --> 00:32:53 but I have to leave. Exactly. Yeah. No, I moved.
00:32:53 --> 00:32:55 I moved to Hawaii, like in the middle of COVID.
00:32:56 --> 00:32:58 Oh, no shit. Yeah. Yeah. And I was staying with
00:32:58 --> 00:33:00 my buddy still and I was just like, man, I like.
00:33:01 --> 00:33:04 stand -up isn't happening because it's COVID
00:33:04 --> 00:33:08 and I just refuse to do Zoom shows. Zoom shows,
00:33:08 --> 00:33:10 yeah, that's right, I almost forgot about that.
00:33:10 --> 00:33:12 Yeah, yeah, I got asked to do a couple and I
00:33:12 --> 00:33:13 was like, there's no fucking way I'm doing that.
00:33:14 --> 00:33:17 I don't know, like, props to the people that
00:33:17 --> 00:33:19 did do it, but I just never was, I was like,
00:33:20 --> 00:33:23 I can't. Yeah, I feel that though. Yeah. I know
00:33:23 --> 00:33:25 exactly. Like, no hate to them, just in my own
00:33:25 --> 00:33:27 head, I was like, dude, there's no fucking way
00:33:27 --> 00:33:29 I'm doing a Zoom show to be like, yeah, so anyway,
00:33:29 --> 00:33:32 and then just be like, hear one guy. Yeah, like
00:33:32 --> 00:33:34 this. Like, I can't. I think that's worse than
00:33:34 --> 00:33:36 an empty bar. Right. I think it's way worse than
00:33:36 --> 00:33:38 an empty bar. Fuck that. Yeah. Just imagine like
00:33:38 --> 00:33:40 over the computer speakers, like you're just.
00:33:42 --> 00:33:44 You're like. Because the way Zoom structures
00:33:44 --> 00:33:46 like green light up, green light up, green light
00:33:46 --> 00:33:47 up. I'm like, cool, cool, cool. I'm like, so
00:33:47 --> 00:33:50 do I get lit? Like with a flashlight emoji, what
00:33:50 --> 00:33:53 the fuck's going on? How the fuck does this work?
00:33:54 --> 00:33:56 Yeah, just a big ass flashlight emoji. I'm like,
00:33:56 --> 00:33:58 if I wanted to perform in comics, I would just
00:33:58 --> 00:33:59 go do a bar open mic. Like, what are we talking
00:33:59 --> 00:34:01 about? And I'm like, you guys don't need to see
00:34:01 --> 00:34:04 where I live. You guys don't need to see this.
00:34:04 --> 00:34:08 Right, what the fuck? Yeah, so I have a local
00:34:08 --> 00:34:10 side of family that lives out in Hawaii and my
00:34:10 --> 00:34:12 cousin hits me up and he's like, dude, you need
00:34:12 --> 00:34:13 to come visit. And I was like, dude, if I visit,
00:34:13 --> 00:34:15 I might stay. And he's like, why the fuck not?
00:34:15 --> 00:34:18 I have an extra room. And I said, I'm gone. Damn,
00:34:18 --> 00:34:20 that's awesome. Yeah, so I was out there for
00:34:20 --> 00:34:23 like three years. And then when things started
00:34:23 --> 00:34:27 to kind of open up, I found a small little group
00:34:27 --> 00:34:30 that did comedy out there. Man, that's really
00:34:30 --> 00:34:35 neat, man. What was something that you kind of
00:34:35 --> 00:34:37 noticed, the differences between coming from
00:34:37 --> 00:34:41 such a small place like that? to like to coming
00:34:41 --> 00:34:43 here like and you kind of see the comedy community
00:34:43 --> 00:34:46 here like what's like kind of like one of the
00:34:46 --> 00:34:48 biggest differences that you sort of noticed
00:34:48 --> 00:34:52 the quantity of comics yeah you know i've never
00:34:52 --> 00:34:56 been around so many right you know yeah like
00:34:56 --> 00:34:59 in such a high concentration it's like i feel
00:34:59 --> 00:35:01 like you can like just throw a rock on the street
00:35:01 --> 00:35:04 and hit a comic you know what i mean like there's
00:35:04 --> 00:35:06 there's so many Like I hear like the stat, there's
00:35:06 --> 00:35:09 like probably at least like 400 comedians in
00:35:09 --> 00:35:12 the city at like one time, which is just maybe
00:35:12 --> 00:35:14 more, it's just staggering. It's insane, yeah.
00:35:14 --> 00:35:16 With how many people that are out here trying
00:35:16 --> 00:35:20 to do it. And I think that's something that was
00:35:20 --> 00:35:22 basically really alluring to me too, because
00:35:22 --> 00:35:24 it's like I've never been around that many people
00:35:24 --> 00:35:27 that are trying to do it. Right. And I also was
00:35:27 --> 00:35:30 like, oh, okay, like we're all. We're all kinda
00:35:30 --> 00:35:34 in this together, kinda? No. You'll be here years
00:35:34 --> 00:35:37 and not know somebody the entire time. Yeah,
00:35:37 --> 00:35:41 exactly. And I swear, you meet somebody new every
00:35:41 --> 00:35:43 time you go out. Yeah. And they go, yeah, I've
00:35:43 --> 00:35:44 been here for like three years. You're like,
00:35:44 --> 00:35:47 I've never fucking met you. Yeah. Or like when
00:35:47 --> 00:35:49 you go to Kill Tony and somebody gets picked
00:35:49 --> 00:35:51 at Kill Tony, you go, who the fuck is that? Right,
00:35:51 --> 00:35:53 who is that fucking person? You know, like, oh,
00:35:53 --> 00:35:55 yeah, that's so and so that, you know, they do
00:35:55 --> 00:35:57 spots over at Velveeta all the time. And you're
00:35:57 --> 00:35:59 like, dude, what the fuck? Where the fuck did
00:35:59 --> 00:36:01 they come from? You're like, I'm out here every
00:36:01 --> 00:36:03 goddamn day. Like, how the fuck? I've never met,
00:36:03 --> 00:36:06 you know what I mean? And like that's like that
00:36:06 --> 00:36:07 was cool because I'm like, I can be around so
00:36:07 --> 00:36:10 many like minded people and all this stuff. And
00:36:10 --> 00:36:13 because we were such like like over over in our
00:36:13 --> 00:36:15 town, like in Hawaii and Kona, it was like, you
00:36:15 --> 00:36:17 know, there wasn't a lot of us. Yeah. And it's
00:36:17 --> 00:36:18 just like we were very tight knit. We're very
00:36:18 --> 00:36:21 like, you know, yeah. And like, I do kind of
00:36:21 --> 00:36:26 get that. But like, I don't know, I've realized
00:36:26 --> 00:36:29 I gotta be a little bit more choosy. Interesting.
00:36:29 --> 00:36:31 Yeah, so what does that mean? I don't know, it's
00:36:31 --> 00:36:34 just like, some people I would consider friends,
00:36:34 --> 00:36:36 other people I just consider colleagues, you
00:36:36 --> 00:36:39 know? Yeah, I get that. Yeah. Yeah, I feel that.
00:36:39 --> 00:36:41 And it's like, no offense to anybody, but it's
00:36:41 --> 00:36:43 just like, all right, like I can, like everybody
00:36:43 --> 00:36:45 in Hawaii, honestly, they're all friends. We
00:36:45 --> 00:36:47 all do the same thing. There's only 10 of us,
00:36:47 --> 00:36:49 you know what I mean? But it's like, Here, it's
00:36:49 --> 00:36:50 like, okay, like, here's somebody I do shows
00:36:50 --> 00:36:51 with, here's someone that I would hang out with,
00:36:51 --> 00:36:54 here's somebody that, you know, I'll just, I,
00:36:54 --> 00:36:55 whatever, they can do their thing, you know?
00:36:55 --> 00:36:59 Sure. Obviously, there's so many different people
00:36:59 --> 00:37:02 and opinions and belief systems and all these
00:37:02 --> 00:37:04 things. And I'm really, I also realize I don't
00:37:04 --> 00:37:06 have to be friends with everybody, but also you
00:37:06 --> 00:37:08 don't gotta be a dick to everybody either, you
00:37:08 --> 00:37:10 know? Exactly, yeah. And that's kind of where,
00:37:10 --> 00:37:13 like, I feel like some people don't understand
00:37:13 --> 00:37:16 that part. Yeah. Was that something that you
00:37:16 --> 00:37:19 feel like, like, um, how to, you know, in comedy
00:37:19 --> 00:37:21 was just like sort of, you know, you're like,
00:37:22 --> 00:37:24 your kindness there, like, or do you think that
00:37:24 --> 00:37:28 kind of hurts you a little bit? Uh, I feel like,
00:37:28 --> 00:37:31 I mean, it can, you know, people definitely take
00:37:31 --> 00:37:34 that, that kindness for like a weakness sometimes
00:37:34 --> 00:37:36 and they are like, well, I'm going to hang out
00:37:36 --> 00:37:39 with him because like he may get me on more shows
00:37:39 --> 00:37:42 or he may do this or, oh, he does, oh, he makes
00:37:42 --> 00:37:44 a show. I want to be friends with him or he does
00:37:44 --> 00:37:46 this. Oh, it's really cool. I'm going to latch
00:37:46 --> 00:37:48 on to him because of that. But I mean, like I
00:37:48 --> 00:37:50 kind of look at it as like I try to respect everybody
00:37:50 --> 00:37:52 that's, you know, doing the same thing that we
00:37:52 --> 00:37:55 are because it does take balls to do this. But
00:37:55 --> 00:37:57 it's also I mean, like no one's fucking from
00:37:57 --> 00:38:00 here either. So it's like we all made the majority
00:38:00 --> 00:38:03 of us made this pilgrimage here, you know, to
00:38:03 --> 00:38:05 do it. Yeah. You know, it's so crazy about that,
00:38:05 --> 00:38:08 too, because then you like you like meet somebody
00:38:08 --> 00:38:10 who's from here and you almost look at them like
00:38:10 --> 00:38:12 they were forming. Yeah. You know what I mean?
00:38:13 --> 00:38:15 It's so weird. I respect the hell out of somebody
00:38:15 --> 00:38:16 who was like, they're like, yeah, I started to
00:38:16 --> 00:38:18 stand up here. I'm like, oh, you from here? Yeah.
00:38:19 --> 00:38:21 Holy shit. Whoa. What the fuck? That's so cool.
00:38:21 --> 00:38:24 God, I would kill to be from here. You know,
00:38:24 --> 00:38:27 some people are like, oh my God. Yeah. Really?
00:38:27 --> 00:38:29 Oh, you're like Courtney. I think simply Courtney,
00:38:29 --> 00:38:31 he's from here. Yeah, exactly. It's got to be
00:38:31 --> 00:38:34 nuts to see how the scene has exploded, you know?
00:38:34 --> 00:38:36 Yeah. Yeah. Because I think about New Orleans,
00:38:36 --> 00:38:40 you know, and I just, I never. I don't know the
00:38:40 --> 00:38:43 comedy scene in New Orleans, but that's where
00:38:43 --> 00:38:48 I'm from and I don't know it at all. So I don't
00:38:48 --> 00:38:50 know how it's grown or anything like that, but
00:38:50 --> 00:38:52 when I think about what I'm used to here in Austin,
00:38:53 --> 00:38:56 I think about that. I don't know if that makes
00:38:56 --> 00:39:00 any sense. I try to commiserate with them. If
00:39:00 --> 00:39:03 I saw that happen in New Orleans, it would just
00:39:03 --> 00:39:06 be crazy if Kil Tony was in New Orleans. No,
00:39:06 --> 00:39:08 exactly. That would be fucking nuts. Then you
00:39:08 --> 00:39:09 have some people that are like, I had to ruin
00:39:09 --> 00:39:12 the scene. I'm like, eh, whatever. I don't have
00:39:12 --> 00:39:14 an opinion because I'm not from here. Sure. So
00:39:14 --> 00:39:17 it's just like, I look at it as I go, it's created
00:39:17 --> 00:39:23 more opportunity for stage time besides the side
00:39:23 --> 00:39:25 skill, tell me. You know what I mean? Yeah. Oh,
00:39:25 --> 00:39:27 I'm sorry. No, no, go ahead, go ahead. I was
00:39:27 --> 00:39:29 going to ask, what prompted you to even start
00:39:29 --> 00:39:33 to begin with? To sound insanely corny, I've
00:39:33 --> 00:39:36 always wanted to do it. No, like as a like as
00:39:36 --> 00:39:42 a kid like I was very like drawn to Like a lot
00:39:42 --> 00:39:44 of like just anything funny like comedy movies
00:39:44 --> 00:39:46 and stuff. My dad was my dad's a big movie guy
00:39:46 --> 00:39:49 So like growing up he would just show me the
00:39:49 --> 00:39:52 stuff He grew up on like what I like a lot of
00:39:52 --> 00:39:55 like old like Eddie Murphy movies like Jim Carrey
00:39:55 --> 00:39:57 movies Like like Jim Carrey is like a personal
00:39:57 --> 00:40:00 like I love that guy so much and just hearing
00:40:00 --> 00:40:03 like his story him starting out Doing comedy
00:40:03 --> 00:40:06 is like young as he did kind of like sparked
00:40:06 --> 00:40:07 something in me going like, okay Well, I can
00:40:07 --> 00:40:10 do the same thing. I can start very young and
00:40:10 --> 00:40:14 I did like oh, yeah, like I was like, all right
00:40:14 --> 00:40:15 Well like in high school like I was like, okay
00:40:15 --> 00:40:18 I want to do stand -up and it's like was kind
00:40:18 --> 00:40:20 of embarrassing to tell tell somebody at the
00:40:20 --> 00:40:23 time Say like as a freshman high school that
00:40:23 --> 00:40:25 was like 2011 for me and telling somebody in
00:40:25 --> 00:40:27 2011 that you want to stand up is like Like what
00:40:27 --> 00:40:31 the fuck like you like really? Yeah, like that's
00:40:31 --> 00:40:33 what I wanna do. But I did like the closest thing
00:40:33 --> 00:40:35 I could at that time was like I did theater,
00:40:35 --> 00:40:36 like all throughout high school. Sure, yeah.
00:40:37 --> 00:40:39 So I was like, I'm not the biggest like theater
00:40:39 --> 00:40:42 nerd ever, but it's like, all right, this is
00:40:42 --> 00:40:46 stage time for me. I get to be on stage and I
00:40:46 --> 00:40:49 get to do something. And that kind of like satiated
00:40:49 --> 00:40:51 me for a little bit. And then I was like, all
00:40:51 --> 00:40:53 right, well, once I become of age, like as an
00:40:53 --> 00:40:56 adult, I'll be able to go do standup. And I remember,
00:40:56 --> 00:40:59 like, yeah, I started when I was, like, just
00:40:59 --> 00:41:02 about to turn 19. Like, at a really little, tiny,
00:41:02 --> 00:41:05 like, variety open mic in, like, my hometown
00:41:05 --> 00:41:08 in Los Banos. Oh, wow. I got off, like, of my
00:41:08 --> 00:41:11 shift at Target. I was still in my red shirt.
00:41:12 --> 00:41:14 Yeah, dude. It's really fucking hilarious, dude,
00:41:14 --> 00:41:17 because the open mic was taking place at a women's
00:41:17 --> 00:41:20 gym. Nice like a like a curves or you know it
00:41:20 --> 00:41:23 but it was like a like a local gym like downtown
00:41:23 --> 00:41:27 somewhere and downtown Los Banos No, yeah, it's
00:41:27 --> 00:41:29 like I was like, alright, let's go try this out
00:41:29 --> 00:41:33 and like I did it and like, you know people chuckled
00:41:33 --> 00:41:38 This is heroin And like it was like very like
00:41:38 --> 00:41:42 off and on Until like I decided to go live with
00:41:42 --> 00:41:45 my mom who lives in the East Bay area And I was
00:41:45 --> 00:41:48 like I was doing shitty like labor plumbing work
00:41:48 --> 00:41:51 at the time and I was like, all right Well, there's
00:41:51 --> 00:41:54 a BART station There so I can just take the train
00:41:54 --> 00:41:56 into San Francisco and just go find an open mic
00:41:56 --> 00:41:58 So like that's what I would do. Like I was like
00:41:58 --> 00:42:01 I was 19. I would get I would get on this fucking
00:42:01 --> 00:42:03 train, and it would take like 30 minutes to get
00:42:03 --> 00:42:06 into the city. I'd go, I'd walk around, I'd find
00:42:06 --> 00:42:09 an open mic. Shout out to, it doesn't exist anymore,
00:42:09 --> 00:42:12 but the Brainwash was an open mic that happened
00:42:12 --> 00:42:15 in San Francisco every single night. And it was
00:42:15 --> 00:42:20 a cafe, like a coffee shop, and it was also a
00:42:20 --> 00:42:24 laundry mat. Oh, beautiful. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:42:24 --> 00:42:27 That's amazing. It was so sick. It was like...
00:42:27 --> 00:42:30 It was like the open mic there like it was the
00:42:30 --> 00:42:33 everyone hung out there everyone went there like
00:42:33 --> 00:42:34 Thursdays were the days that were advertised
00:42:34 --> 00:42:37 so like I thought they only happened Thursdays
00:42:37 --> 00:42:39 So like when I did go there was like 40 comedians
00:42:39 --> 00:42:43 trying to sign up. Oh, and I was like, whoa Everybody
00:42:43 --> 00:42:45 does stand up here. Well, like you know, I was
00:42:45 --> 00:42:49 like, yeah, I was a kid still, you know Yeah,
00:42:49 --> 00:42:51 I I remember doing like when I did the open mic
00:42:51 --> 00:42:54 there I like, you know people laugh and I was
00:42:54 --> 00:42:57 like, oh shit Oh shit, oh shit, this is real.
00:42:57 --> 00:42:59 This is real. Like this can be like a thing that
00:42:59 --> 00:43:06 I could do. Wow. Yeah. And I remember like the
00:43:06 --> 00:43:07 host of the show, his name's Tony Sparks, he's
00:43:07 --> 00:43:11 still very active in San Francisco. He's the,
00:43:11 --> 00:43:13 honestly, that guy's the reason I'm still doing
00:43:13 --> 00:43:15 stand -up to this day. He's like a wizard, he's
00:43:15 --> 00:43:18 like an old wise wizard. Oh yeah. And I just
00:43:18 --> 00:43:21 remember like before the open mic happened, he
00:43:21 --> 00:43:24 was like, oh, like I do... Like I do comedy classes,
00:43:24 --> 00:43:26 you know, if you guys ever need pointers, come
00:43:26 --> 00:43:28 to me, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, all
00:43:28 --> 00:43:31 right, yeah, yeah. And I just, I had, was not,
00:43:31 --> 00:43:33 you know, I was still super fresh. I did my set
00:43:33 --> 00:43:34 and I remember walking up to him like, I'm like,
00:43:34 --> 00:43:39 hey, Mr. Tony Sparks, sir, do you have like any
00:43:39 --> 00:43:40 more openings for like your comedy class? He's
00:43:40 --> 00:43:43 like, don't do it. No way. Yeah, he's like, don't
00:43:43 --> 00:43:45 fucking do it. He's like, dude, listen to me,
00:43:45 --> 00:43:47 okay, I know. He's like, don't do a comedy class.
00:43:48 --> 00:43:51 It's how I make money. He said something to me
00:43:51 --> 00:43:53 that stuck with me forever, because he's like,
00:43:53 --> 00:43:55 you've been on stage before, right? I was like,
00:43:55 --> 00:43:58 yeah, I did theater. And he goes, good. You already
00:43:58 --> 00:44:00 know more than most people that are just starting.
00:44:00 --> 00:44:03 You know how to present yourself on stage. You
00:44:03 --> 00:44:04 know how to talk. You know how to enunciate.
00:44:04 --> 00:44:06 You know all these things. These are skills you
00:44:06 --> 00:44:10 already have. Oh, nice. Don't do this. Don't
00:44:10 --> 00:44:13 do a comedy class. Right. OK. I was like, oh,
00:44:13 --> 00:44:15 shit. I was like, OK. And like, you know, that
00:44:15 --> 00:44:19 gave me a lot of confidence to keep doing it,
00:44:19 --> 00:44:21 you know, and to kind of keep pursuing that.
00:44:22 --> 00:44:24 So like the San Francisco scene is very near
00:44:24 --> 00:44:26 and dear to my heart because it was like, it's
00:44:26 --> 00:44:29 where I like to say it's where I really, really
00:44:29 --> 00:44:32 started doing it. Oh, nice. And like this, it's
00:44:32 --> 00:44:34 where I, you know, met, you know, a lot of my,
00:44:34 --> 00:44:36 you know, close friends and it's where I've met
00:44:36 --> 00:44:38 people that I still talk to to this day. And,
00:44:38 --> 00:44:39 you know, just that whole scene in general is
00:44:39 --> 00:44:43 very welcoming to new people. And I remember
00:44:43 --> 00:44:46 doing their 18th anniversary show, like the Brainwash's
00:44:46 --> 00:44:48 18th anniversary show, and it's like, it was
00:44:48 --> 00:44:51 such a big community event. And I got invited
00:44:51 --> 00:44:53 to do a spot on that showcase, and I thought,
00:44:53 --> 00:44:56 I was like, I was so not ready to do it. Oh,
00:44:56 --> 00:44:57 really? I was like, can you do 10 minutes? I
00:44:57 --> 00:45:00 said, fucking yeah, I can do 10 minutes. Right.
00:45:00 --> 00:45:05 Like maybe a year in, maybe. Oh, really? I was
00:45:05 --> 00:45:07 like, more like, realistically, like eight months
00:45:07 --> 00:45:10 into comedy, and I was doing like three to five
00:45:10 --> 00:45:12 minute spots all the time. And Tony liked me
00:45:12 --> 00:45:16 so much. He was like, he was like, hey, like,
00:45:16 --> 00:45:19 come to the spot. Come do it. I was like, OK.
00:45:20 --> 00:45:23 How'd it go? Yeah. Bad. Bad. Bad. Oh, my God.
00:45:23 --> 00:45:25 What did you do? Like, what kind of how are your
00:45:25 --> 00:45:27 jokes? I can't even remember, dude. I'm not even
00:45:27 --> 00:45:29 going to lie. Like, my set is is so different
00:45:29 --> 00:45:34 than what it used to be. Sure. Like, I just remember,
00:45:34 --> 00:45:35 like, I was like super stoked that it was going
00:45:35 --> 00:45:38 to happen and I was just surrounded by fucking
00:45:38 --> 00:45:42 killers like. Just guys that have been doing
00:45:42 --> 00:45:45 it forever. Yeah guys that are probably working
00:45:45 --> 00:45:49 and like I invited my parents I thought oh I
00:45:49 --> 00:45:51 was like you gotta come to San Francisco and
00:45:51 --> 00:45:54 watch me do this and Like I remember like on
00:45:54 --> 00:45:56 the on the flyer was like comedians and special
00:45:56 --> 00:45:58 guests I was like, I wonder who the special guests
00:45:58 --> 00:45:59 are gonna be and like my parents are sitting
00:45:59 --> 00:46:02 like in the front My mom and my stepdad are right
00:46:02 --> 00:46:05 there in front. Yeah, I'm just bombing my fucking
00:46:05 --> 00:46:10 dick off and I was just like, okay I just ate
00:46:10 --> 00:46:12 it for like 10 minutes and then right after like
00:46:12 --> 00:46:14 that's when like the special guest came out and
00:46:14 --> 00:46:17 they were like themed burlesque dancers. Wait,
00:46:18 --> 00:46:20 what? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Was it like a burlesque
00:46:20 --> 00:46:24 show too or something? I turned into one. So
00:46:24 --> 00:46:26 like one lady dressed up as like a big joint.
00:46:26 --> 00:46:28 She was like a big joint. She dressed up like
00:46:28 --> 00:46:31 a big joint? Yeah, she had like a table and she
00:46:31 --> 00:46:34 was like hitting different pieces. and like holding
00:46:34 --> 00:46:36 it all in at the end of her dance, she like blew
00:46:36 --> 00:46:38 it all into the crowd. And my parents are sitting
00:46:38 --> 00:46:42 fucking front row. And they're like, oh. And
00:46:42 --> 00:46:45 then the second lady came up and she was a clown
00:46:45 --> 00:46:49 and her entire outfit was balloon animals, like
00:46:49 --> 00:46:52 those balloons. And her name was Snatch Adams
00:46:52 --> 00:46:55 and was like popping balloons as she was dancing.
00:46:56 --> 00:46:58 And then like, I remember like the quiet car
00:46:58 --> 00:47:02 ride home. You were like. You know, the burlesque
00:47:02 --> 00:47:03 dancers were actually funnier than I was. It
00:47:03 --> 00:47:06 was actually not bad. Those were pretty good,
00:47:06 --> 00:47:07 actually. And like that's when they were like,
00:47:07 --> 00:47:09 okay, that's what you, yeah, for sure. That's
00:47:09 --> 00:47:11 what you want to do. Yeah, for sure. Awesome.
00:47:12 --> 00:47:14 Do they still like, are they supportive of you
00:47:14 --> 00:47:16 now? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like I, you know, I feel
00:47:16 --> 00:47:19 like any parent when you tell them you want to
00:47:19 --> 00:47:23 do art for a career or you want to do something
00:47:23 --> 00:47:27 that's not normal, it's like, uh, my mom is supportive.
00:47:28 --> 00:47:32 Like she really is, but it's very like, I don't
00:47:32 --> 00:47:35 get it, you know? Like, she understands now.
00:47:35 --> 00:47:37 Like, she didn't really like that I was doing
00:47:37 --> 00:47:39 it back then, but I was like, I wanna be a comedian.
00:47:39 --> 00:47:41 She was like, oh, great. You're like, oh, that
00:47:41 --> 00:47:45 is a good joke. Like, that's a great, wow, wow.
00:47:45 --> 00:47:49 Okay, for like a living, okay. You know how much
00:47:49 --> 00:47:51 that's gonna suck, right? I was like, yeah, no,
00:47:51 --> 00:47:53 it's fine, I got this. Yeah, but if you were
00:47:53 --> 00:47:55 in theater, I feel like that would be, it would
00:47:55 --> 00:47:57 almost be like a normal thing if you're like
00:47:57 --> 00:48:00 a theater kid and you're just funny, you know?
00:48:00 --> 00:48:01 Because people used to tell me all the time,
00:48:01 --> 00:48:03 like, You know, I was in theater for a while,
00:48:03 --> 00:48:05 too. Yeah, yeah. I kept hearing, you know, oh,
00:48:06 --> 00:48:07 you should try stand up. You should try stand
00:48:07 --> 00:48:10 up. Exactly. You know, but then I very quickly
00:48:10 --> 00:48:12 learned that that is a whole different fucking.
00:48:12 --> 00:48:15 Oh, yeah. You know, it's it's it's it's way different.
00:48:15 --> 00:48:18 Like, I don't think I'd even I mean, I feel like
00:48:18 --> 00:48:21 I could go back and do theater. No problem. But
00:48:21 --> 00:48:23 like going in to stand up for the first time
00:48:23 --> 00:48:24 and be like, OK, it's like a big play. You're
00:48:24 --> 00:48:26 like, it's not a big play. No, it's fucking not.
00:48:26 --> 00:48:30 It's not a big play. Oh, my God. No, it's not.
00:48:30 --> 00:48:32 You want to feel how long five minutes is? Yeah,
00:48:32 --> 00:48:37 go up there. Yeah. Yeah. I want to say like five
00:48:37 --> 00:48:39 minutes or four and a half or something like
00:48:39 --> 00:48:43 last night. And I'm like three years in, I'm
00:48:43 --> 00:48:45 still sitting here in my head, I was still fishing.
00:48:46 --> 00:48:51 I still have a lot of challenges, a ton of learning
00:48:51 --> 00:48:53 to do. What has been some things that you've
00:48:53 --> 00:48:57 been trying to overcome? I know like the the
00:48:57 --> 00:49:00 biggest thing for me like when I cuz like it's
00:49:00 --> 00:49:01 kind of weird to say but like I've been doing
00:49:01 --> 00:49:04 this like ten years now Mm -hmm. And like the
00:49:04 --> 00:49:08 biggest thing for me was finding my voice To
00:49:08 --> 00:49:11 find your cadence, you know, yeah, that's like
00:49:11 --> 00:49:13 the that was the biggest thing for me is like,
00:49:14 --> 00:49:16 okay Like how do I want to present? How do I
00:49:16 --> 00:49:19 want to talk on stage? I know that's like Duh,
00:49:19 --> 00:49:21 like yeah, you got to talk. It's like it's I
00:49:21 --> 00:49:23 feel like it's so much more than that Like, you
00:49:23 --> 00:49:25 want to, like, how am I going to deliver what
00:49:25 --> 00:49:27 I've written down? Like, and that was the biggest
00:49:27 --> 00:49:29 challenge for me for the longest time. I feel
00:49:29 --> 00:49:31 like I haven't really hit, I didn't really hit
00:49:31 --> 00:49:33 that stride until I moved to Hawaii, actually.
00:49:34 --> 00:49:37 Like, you know, outside of comedy, like, I feel
00:49:37 --> 00:49:38 like I'm a different person. Like, you know,
00:49:38 --> 00:49:41 I'm a very, like, when I'm not being serious
00:49:41 --> 00:49:43 or whatever, like, I'm a very, just like, I'm
00:49:43 --> 00:49:45 an energetic person. Like, I'm a fun person.
00:49:45 --> 00:49:48 And I'm like, okay, I can do that on stage. No.
00:49:48 --> 00:49:52 No. Yeah, that's exactly it. I feel that. You're
00:49:52 --> 00:49:54 like, OK, like I'm a fun, goofy guy. Like, you
00:49:54 --> 00:49:55 know, I mean, like I am goofy, like on stage
00:49:55 --> 00:49:57 and stuff. But it's like, I don't know. It's
00:49:57 --> 00:49:59 like you kind of have to try and find like that
00:49:59 --> 00:50:01 balance. And like, I was very much like, I'm
00:50:01 --> 00:50:03 going to talk really fast. I'm just really fun.
00:50:03 --> 00:50:04 It's going to be this. It's going to be that.
00:50:04 --> 00:50:06 And I was like, no, that's this. That's not working.
00:50:06 --> 00:50:08 No, it's not. Yes, I work. No one can hear what
00:50:08 --> 00:50:10 the fuck you're saying. Yeah. So it's like I
00:50:10 --> 00:50:13 remember when I moved to Hawaii, I was like,
00:50:13 --> 00:50:14 all right, let's try and switch things up a bit.
00:50:14 --> 00:50:17 Let's try and, you know, do that. And I feel
00:50:17 --> 00:50:19 like I do like. Like those three years I spent
00:50:19 --> 00:50:22 in Hawaii really I think shaped me as a comedian
00:50:22 --> 00:50:25 in those three years because it's like I really
00:50:25 --> 00:50:28 was like in it. Like I was more in it than I
00:50:28 --> 00:50:31 was living in California because like I did live
00:50:31 --> 00:50:33 kind of far away from the city. So it was always
00:50:33 --> 00:50:37 kind of a mission to get to stand up. You know,
00:50:37 --> 00:50:39 it's like is it worth the hour and a half car
00:50:39 --> 00:50:41 ride? Is it worth the fucking train ticket? Is
00:50:41 --> 00:50:44 it worth this? Like so it was very off and on.
00:50:44 --> 00:50:45 You know what I mean? So it's just like when
00:50:45 --> 00:50:48 I finally like really dove into it and was really
00:50:48 --> 00:50:51 around people that, I guess, gave me that constructive
00:50:51 --> 00:50:54 criticism that I really needed. They were like,
00:50:54 --> 00:50:56 hey, this is good, but you need to say it like
00:50:56 --> 00:50:58 this. Or hey, you should try it this way. And
00:50:58 --> 00:51:00 I didn't really get that until I moved to a more
00:51:00 --> 00:51:03 tight -knit comedy community, which was really
00:51:03 --> 00:51:04 cool, because we would always bounce ideas off
00:51:04 --> 00:51:07 of each other. You see, that's wonderful. I wish
00:51:07 --> 00:51:09 that we had... Here, you know like yeah, and
00:51:09 --> 00:51:12 that's one thing I miss I miss that so much Yeah,
00:51:12 --> 00:51:14 I really wish that we had something like that
00:51:14 --> 00:51:15 here like I know I know that there's like a few
00:51:15 --> 00:51:18 like writers rooms and things like that But yeah,
00:51:18 --> 00:51:19 the ones that I've seen and the ones that I've
00:51:19 --> 00:51:21 like kind of been to yeah I've always just been
00:51:21 --> 00:51:24 like well, okay like this kind of isn't what
00:51:24 --> 00:51:26 I'm looking for Like I'm kind of looking for
00:51:26 --> 00:51:28 like you to look at my shit and be like, okay
00:51:28 --> 00:51:31 This is like, you know, like, yeah, this is what
00:51:31 --> 00:51:33 you know, this is why it's failing or like this
00:51:33 --> 00:51:36 is you know, hey, this is why it's working. Exactly.
00:51:36 --> 00:51:40 It's because with it being so oversaturated here,
00:51:40 --> 00:51:42 and it's kind of funny, I just had this conversation
00:51:42 --> 00:51:45 last night. Yeah. But with it being so oversaturated
00:51:45 --> 00:51:48 here, it's almost like it doesn't, you know,
00:51:48 --> 00:51:50 everybody's magicians and they all know the tricks.
00:51:51 --> 00:51:54 Exactly. And so like, they're entertained, but
00:51:54 --> 00:51:56 they're not like giving you the feedback of laughter.
00:51:57 --> 00:51:58 You know, they're like, oh, that was a good joke,
00:51:58 --> 00:52:00 respect. But they're not like, you know, ha ha
00:52:00 --> 00:52:04 ha. So you don't know. I kind of hate that. I
00:52:04 --> 00:52:08 don't know. I still love watching comedy. Yeah,
00:52:08 --> 00:52:11 same. And I still laugh at my friends' jokes.
00:52:12 --> 00:52:14 I don't know. I still think, you know, some of
00:52:14 --> 00:52:16 my friends are hilarious, right? And it's like,
00:52:16 --> 00:52:18 I love going to a comedy show and I love watching
00:52:18 --> 00:52:21 and I still laugh. You know what I mean? And
00:52:21 --> 00:52:23 that's one thing that I feel like some comedians
00:52:23 --> 00:52:27 need to just do more. Yeah. You know? I'm gonna
00:52:27 --> 00:52:30 be real. I love comedy so much, but honestly,
00:52:30 --> 00:52:32 When someone's like, I take comedy seriously.
00:52:32 --> 00:52:35 That's an oxymoron, big dog. We're fucking clowns,
00:52:35 --> 00:52:37 guy. Like, let's be so, let's be so for it. We're
00:52:37 --> 00:52:39 fucking clowns. The whole time. And once you
00:52:39 --> 00:52:43 figure out that you're just a clown, that's okay.
00:52:43 --> 00:52:46 That's fine. So it's like, just laugh at a joke.
00:52:47 --> 00:52:50 Be like, be in that moment. Laugh and enjoy what
00:52:50 --> 00:52:51 you're doing or enjoy what your friends are doing
00:52:51 --> 00:52:53 and not be like. I'm gonna sit here and be really
00:52:53 --> 00:52:56 critical or over. Mm, you messed up that punch
00:52:56 --> 00:52:58 line, I think. Mm, or this or that. It's like
00:52:58 --> 00:53:00 fucking chill out. Or just be active listeners,
00:53:00 --> 00:53:03 you know? Yeah, and I feel like your friends
00:53:03 --> 00:53:07 would love you more for it, and you would honestly
00:53:07 --> 00:53:10 love your friends for it too, if you made them
00:53:10 --> 00:53:13 laugh, you know what I mean? I'm not saying fake
00:53:13 --> 00:53:16 a laugh, but really be involved in your friend's
00:53:16 --> 00:53:19 set or a colleague's set, and yeah, if it's funny,
00:53:19 --> 00:53:21 fucking laugh at it. I just feel like so many...
00:53:22 --> 00:53:24 Comics or like even like open mics with just
00:53:24 --> 00:53:27 comics in it. Just don't know they don't and
00:53:27 --> 00:53:31 I'm tired of like the I see this you like Yeah,
00:53:31 --> 00:53:34 exactly. This isn't a fucking coffee shop in
00:53:34 --> 00:53:35 Seattle where they're just like that's so sick.
00:53:36 --> 00:53:39 That was awesome. Yeah, that rips It's like fucking
00:53:39 --> 00:53:40 laugh at it. God damn it. What are we doing?
00:53:41 --> 00:53:43 I'm designing a shirt. I've said it on here like
00:53:43 --> 00:53:45 several times, but I'm designing it right now.
00:53:45 --> 00:53:47 It's going to be like an only bomb shirt, just
00:53:47 --> 00:53:49 a shameless plug. Yeah, there we go. But it's
00:53:49 --> 00:53:51 going to be like, it's going to say no one laughs
00:53:51 --> 00:53:54 in Austin. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, and it's just
00:53:54 --> 00:53:56 like, you know, as an open mic 'er, you know,
00:53:57 --> 00:53:58 or like, you know, as just somebody who does
00:53:58 --> 00:54:00 party here, I think you'll understand. I think
00:54:00 --> 00:54:02 you'll get it. Yeah. And like, and so that's,
00:54:02 --> 00:54:04 that's just something that I'm kind of like,
00:54:04 --> 00:54:06 I've always wanted to do because I was just like,
00:54:06 --> 00:54:08 I started getting frustrated, you know, I would
00:54:08 --> 00:54:10 go out and I was like, man, and there was sometimes
00:54:10 --> 00:54:13 it just wasn't fun. And then oddly enough, when
00:54:13 --> 00:54:14 I would get in front of like an actual crowd
00:54:14 --> 00:54:18 and do, you know, I was like, whoa, what's that
00:54:18 --> 00:54:21 sound coming from your mouth? Whoa, like I've
00:54:21 --> 00:54:23 never heard that before. Exactly. And that's
00:54:23 --> 00:54:25 the thing. It's like, it's like, dude, what the
00:54:25 --> 00:54:27 fuck? It's like the whole point of this is reaction.
00:54:27 --> 00:54:29 Like, that's why we do it, you know? And it's
00:54:29 --> 00:54:31 like when no one's laughing and they go, they
00:54:31 --> 00:54:33 walk up to you and go, that was awesome. Fuck
00:54:33 --> 00:54:34 you. What the fuck? Laugh at. What are we talking
00:54:34 --> 00:54:35 about? You're like, what do you mean, dude? What
00:54:35 --> 00:54:37 do you mean? That was awesome. How was it? You
00:54:37 --> 00:54:41 were staring at me. I was like, even deers don't
00:54:41 --> 00:54:45 stare that hard. Oh, that was good. That was
00:54:45 --> 00:54:46 a good joke. I like that joke. Yeah, I was like,
00:54:46 --> 00:54:49 you drooled. I mean, nowadays I feel like I'm
00:54:49 --> 00:54:52 a little lucky because of the friends that I've
00:54:52 --> 00:54:55 made here. We do laugh at each other. Wonderful.
00:54:55 --> 00:54:58 Which is so awesome. Because I work over at the
00:54:58 --> 00:55:01 Vulcan. I was gonna ask you about that. I didn't
00:55:01 --> 00:55:05 know if you wanted to get into it. I've been
00:55:05 --> 00:55:10 working there since November. Nice. And all the
00:55:10 --> 00:55:11 door guys there, we're all comics, you know?
00:55:12 --> 00:55:16 We sometimes get to do a staff show over there.
00:55:16 --> 00:55:18 Another Shamus Plug Best of Vulcan will happen
00:55:18 --> 00:55:19 sometimes. Just keep an eye out for it. It's
00:55:19 --> 00:55:23 a free show. So it's all the guys that work there,
00:55:23 --> 00:55:26 plus whoever else we get to bark for us and stuff.
00:55:26 --> 00:55:29 but we all laugh at each other. That's great.
00:55:29 --> 00:55:32 And it's so great. And I'm glad that I have that
00:55:32 --> 00:55:35 group of friends there because it feels like
00:55:35 --> 00:55:39 I'm back in Hawaii where I used to be where everyone's
00:55:39 --> 00:55:41 kind of like, we sit and we talk about it. We
00:55:41 --> 00:55:43 collaborate a little bit on it and we talk about
00:55:43 --> 00:55:45 this joke or that joke. Oh, that was cool. You
00:55:45 --> 00:55:48 know what I mean? Yeah. So I feel like I finally,
00:55:48 --> 00:55:51 after living here for a little bit, I've found
00:55:51 --> 00:55:53 that group of friends or that group of comics
00:55:53 --> 00:55:57 that are actually like, they run, we run bits
00:55:57 --> 00:55:59 by each other. We like, hey, we've seen each
00:55:59 --> 00:56:01 other do stand up enough to where we're like,
00:56:01 --> 00:56:03 oh, hey, like this works here, that works there.
00:56:03 --> 00:56:06 And I'm like, like I finally, I'm finally there.
00:56:06 --> 00:56:08 You know what I mean? Yeah. It's a great, great
00:56:08 --> 00:56:10 community. Just like, you know, like when you
00:56:10 --> 00:56:11 find that, when you find like that little like
00:56:11 --> 00:56:13 tightening sort of group, it's a great community,
00:56:13 --> 00:56:15 you know? Well, what are some like, like kind
00:56:15 --> 00:56:18 of like either lessons or just like observations
00:56:18 --> 00:56:20 that you made from watching like professional
00:56:20 --> 00:56:22 comedians versus like the newer ones or even
00:56:22 --> 00:56:28 yourself? Man. I get to see, yeah, because working
00:56:28 --> 00:56:32 there, I get to see a lot of it. And I honestly,
00:56:32 --> 00:56:35 I don't know if this is me being bitter, but
00:56:35 --> 00:56:38 when a comedian comes to Vulcan and they sell
00:56:38 --> 00:56:41 a lot of tickets, the people are there for him,
00:56:41 --> 00:56:44 they can breathe funny. And the whole fucking
00:56:44 --> 00:56:48 room erupts. You know what I mean? Like a motherfucker.
00:56:49 --> 00:56:51 The cynical part in my brain goes, this is so
00:56:51 --> 00:56:56 fucking easy. You can't make a room of 300 people
00:56:56 --> 00:56:58 who are here to see you laugh, get a different
00:56:58 --> 00:57:01 job. So in my head, I'm like, mother fucker.
00:57:01 --> 00:57:03 But obviously, I knew they had to work to get
00:57:03 --> 00:57:07 to that point. And it's still, I look at it as
00:57:07 --> 00:57:09 when they sell them any tickets, they come and
00:57:09 --> 00:57:11 they do their, and it's kind of crazy to see
00:57:11 --> 00:57:14 them work because it is very professional. You
00:57:14 --> 00:57:18 know what I mean? It's like seeing how effortless
00:57:18 --> 00:57:22 it is for them To just get through like a 30
00:57:22 --> 00:57:25 minute set is like kind of like it's enamoring
00:57:25 --> 00:57:28 really I'm just like holy shit. This is real
00:57:28 --> 00:57:30 like this is this motherfuckers a this guy's
00:57:30 --> 00:57:34 bad. This guy's badass. Yeah, you know Like it's
00:57:34 --> 00:57:36 just I don't know like I want to get to that
00:57:36 --> 00:57:38 point I want to get to where it just kind of
00:57:38 --> 00:57:40 flows out of me like water, you know And that's
00:57:40 --> 00:57:42 the one thing I do notice is like it just comes
00:57:42 --> 00:57:45 out of these these professionals so easily and
00:57:45 --> 00:57:48 it's like okay cool like I'm Like, you know,
00:57:48 --> 00:57:50 you think you're there until you realize there's
00:57:50 --> 00:57:53 more levels to this shit than you realize, you
00:57:53 --> 00:57:56 know? It's like, watching someone who does big
00:57:56 --> 00:57:58 rooms like this constantly, who does 30 minutes
00:57:58 --> 00:58:00 constantly, who does an hour constantly, it's
00:58:00 --> 00:58:02 like, oh shit, like, I have some fucking work
00:58:02 --> 00:58:04 to do. But it does kind of motivate me in a way
00:58:04 --> 00:58:07 to be like, all right, well, now I gotta write
00:58:07 --> 00:58:09 better, or now I gotta flow things better, or
00:58:09 --> 00:58:11 I gotta stop going, uh, and fucking, uh, you
00:58:11 --> 00:58:14 know what I mean? And you catch that about yourself,
00:58:14 --> 00:58:16 and I think it's really eye -opening. Seeing
00:58:16 --> 00:58:19 and also too. It's like Meeting somebody that
00:58:19 --> 00:58:22 you've seen on TV is really cool. But then you're
00:58:22 --> 00:58:24 like, oh, there's just a dude. There's just a
00:58:24 --> 00:58:26 dude Just a fucking dude. Yeah. Yeah, like I
00:58:26 --> 00:58:30 almost I did Shane Gillis at the creek and uh,
00:58:30 --> 00:58:32 yeah, and he was cool with it, you know, and
00:58:32 --> 00:58:35 uh, you know, but I was like, man I'm like, that's
00:58:35 --> 00:58:37 just it's just everybody is just so like normal.
00:58:37 --> 00:58:39 Yeah, like, you know, they're normal -looking
00:58:39 --> 00:58:42 Yeah, exactly energies and stuff like that. Like
00:58:42 --> 00:58:45 you just it's uh, it's kind of crazy man, but
00:58:45 --> 00:58:46 Yeah, dude, like it was kind of like the reason
00:58:46 --> 00:58:48 why I wanted to ask you about that was because
00:58:48 --> 00:58:49 I was like a sort of like we share the same thing
00:58:49 --> 00:58:52 because I work there Yeah, you know and so I
00:58:52 --> 00:58:56 was like I noticed just being around the community.
00:58:56 --> 00:58:58 It's like you just you get you do get in tight
00:58:58 --> 00:59:00 with them Oh, yeah, you know, oh, yeah, and I
00:59:00 --> 00:59:03 love all the comedians man And I know you're
00:59:03 --> 00:59:04 probably you're obviously gonna be seeing the
00:59:04 --> 00:59:07 same ones that I do and you know There's there's
00:59:07 --> 00:59:09 some of them that's like yeah, you're born to
00:59:09 --> 00:59:11 be a comedian And then some of them just like
00:59:11 --> 00:59:13 yep. I remember when I was there. Yeah, exactly
00:59:13 --> 00:59:17 Yeah, you know, but like what kind of like lessons
00:59:17 --> 00:59:19 have you kind of learned like within yourself
00:59:19 --> 00:59:23 as far as comedy goes? Um, it's definitely like,
00:59:23 --> 00:59:26 uh... I've... For me, it's like, uh, I think
00:59:26 --> 00:59:29 it's confidence. Like, I learned a lot, like,
00:59:29 --> 00:59:31 uh, like, and then just, like, a lot of humility,
00:59:31 --> 00:59:35 too, you know? Yeah, dude, yeah. It's such a
00:59:35 --> 00:59:38 individual art. It's really easy to kind of get
00:59:38 --> 00:59:40 lost in your own shit. Mm -hmm. You know, and
00:59:40 --> 00:59:43 I feel like a lot of some comics get it way into
00:59:43 --> 00:59:46 their own shit or up their own ass. And it's
00:59:46 --> 00:59:48 like, yes, you can, in a way. You know, there's,
00:59:48 --> 00:59:50 you can be like, yeah, I'm funny. but also like,
00:59:51 --> 00:59:52 you can't be like, oh, I'm funnier than everybody.
00:59:53 --> 00:59:56 I don't know, it's like, it's a weird, we're
00:59:56 --> 00:59:57 like in a weird gray area. It's like we have
00:59:57 --> 00:59:59 community, but it's also like, I still need to
00:59:59 --> 01:00:02 take care of my own shit. I don't know, it's
01:00:02 --> 01:00:05 gotten me, I guess to be a little bit more social,
01:00:06 --> 01:00:08 like I'm a very social person outside of comedy,
01:00:08 --> 01:00:12 but like during comedy, I'm not. Yeah. You know?
01:00:12 --> 01:00:16 Oh, I feel that. You know? And it's like... Yeah,
01:00:16 --> 01:00:19 absolutely confidence for me. The main thing,
01:00:19 --> 01:00:22 finding my voice is a big thing too. It's just
01:00:22 --> 01:00:25 like, I'm not, I don't know, I do it just because
01:00:25 --> 01:00:29 I like to. It's definitely given me that confidence
01:00:29 --> 01:00:30 to where it's like, okay, this isn't something
01:00:30 --> 01:00:34 everybody does, but I can still do it anyway.
01:00:35 --> 01:00:38 It's kind of freeing, I guess, to be like, this
01:00:38 --> 01:00:40 is what I like to do. This is what I'm going
01:00:40 --> 01:00:43 to do and going to pursue. You know, you have
01:00:43 --> 01:00:45 people trying to give you that advice, being
01:00:45 --> 01:00:47 like, oh, like, well, you know, it might not
01:00:47 --> 01:00:50 work. And I go, OK, like, so who cares? I don't
01:00:50 --> 01:00:53 care. Yeah. Yeah. Being a comic, how do you handle
01:00:53 --> 01:00:55 when people go like, oh, dude, you know, you
01:00:55 --> 01:00:58 should put that in your show. That was hilarious.
01:00:58 --> 01:01:01 You should go say that on stage. That was good.
01:01:01 --> 01:01:04 Oh, my god. I hate it. I really do hate it. I
01:01:04 --> 01:01:06 go like, uh. Dude, it's kind of like people were
01:01:06 --> 01:01:08 like being like, when they hear I'm in the Navy,
01:01:08 --> 01:01:09 and they're like, oh, thank you for your service.
01:01:10 --> 01:01:14 I was like, dude, I did paperwork, bro. Yeah,
01:01:14 --> 01:01:16 right. Thank you for your service. You're like,
01:01:16 --> 01:01:19 I signed documents, guy, I don't know. Paycheck
01:01:19 --> 01:01:23 to paycheck, bro. I think the one, like put it
01:01:23 --> 01:01:25 in your set or whatever, like that one's like,
01:01:25 --> 01:01:29 the one that gets me is like, again, I like to
01:01:29 --> 01:01:32 laugh. I'm a giggly guy, so when someone goes,
01:01:32 --> 01:01:34 oh, I made the comic laugh, maybe I should start
01:01:34 --> 01:01:37 comedy. That's good. Shut the fuck up, dude.
01:01:38 --> 01:01:41 Shut up. Dude, like, they go on the stage one
01:01:41 --> 01:01:43 fucking time and get off. Go, go, do it. And
01:01:43 --> 01:01:46 I go, go ahead. Go ahead. Go. Yeah, you'll do
01:01:46 --> 01:01:48 fine. You're gonna do great. Yeah. Hold on, made
01:01:48 --> 01:01:50 the comedian laugh? It's like, I'm still a person,
01:01:50 --> 01:01:53 you weirdo. Like, I'm not a fucking... That actually
01:01:53 --> 01:01:55 wasn't funny, because I know everything there
01:01:55 --> 01:01:58 is to know about being funny. Brother, you can
01:01:58 --> 01:02:00 fart weird. I'm gonna laugh at it, so what the
01:02:00 --> 01:02:02 fuck are you talking about? You know what I mean?
01:02:02 --> 01:02:06 I don't know. Just say the word, queef. It'll
01:02:06 --> 01:02:11 get me. It's like, yeah, I want to write jokes
01:02:11 --> 01:02:13 for a living, but someone can just be like, doo
01:02:13 --> 01:02:15 -doo fart. I go, that's pretty good. I like that.
01:02:15 --> 01:02:18 That's funny. That was awesome that that's fucking
01:02:18 --> 01:02:20 that that rules dude. It's so true, man Sometimes
01:02:20 --> 01:02:22 I just laugh at like some stupid shit myself,
01:02:22 --> 01:02:24 dude. Yeah, you're like I want to write jokes
01:02:24 --> 01:02:27 motherfucker Yeah, yeah, and dude sometimes I
01:02:27 --> 01:02:29 do like I'll just sit and I'll write down and
01:02:29 --> 01:02:30 be like hey This is something's funny and then
01:02:30 --> 01:02:33 I love going back and reading and I was like
01:02:33 --> 01:02:36 what the fuck was I thinking that's so stupid
01:02:36 --> 01:02:38 Yeah, I've been trying to write a bidet joke
01:02:38 --> 01:02:41 for like the longest time Because we have a bidet.
01:02:42 --> 01:02:43 Yeah, you know, and I'm just like every time
01:02:43 --> 01:02:45 like I'll just crank that fucker up. I'm like
01:02:46 --> 01:02:49 I know. How do I talk about this experience effectively?
01:02:51 --> 01:02:54 You know? Oh, yeah, man. Yeah. I was sitting
01:02:54 --> 01:02:56 there like, oh, well, all right, you know. I
01:02:56 --> 01:02:57 could talk about this. I could talk about this.
01:02:57 --> 01:02:58 Yeah. And then you go back in your reading, maybe
01:02:58 --> 01:03:00 I shouldn't. Maybe I shouldn't. Yeah. It's like,
01:03:00 --> 01:03:03 you know, it's the next tier up from Toilet Huber.
01:03:03 --> 01:03:07 It's bidet humor. Yeah, right? Yeah, exactly,
01:03:07 --> 01:03:10 dude. I even tried some bidet jokes, dude. They
01:03:10 --> 01:03:13 have never done well. They're hilarious for me,
01:03:13 --> 01:03:15 but they never do well. Ever. You know what?
01:03:16 --> 01:03:17 That's another lesson I learned, I think, doing
01:03:17 --> 01:03:20 standup is killing your babies. Killing your
01:03:20 --> 01:03:24 babies. Yes. It's a term that I've used that,
01:03:24 --> 01:03:28 like, when you write a joke that you love so
01:03:28 --> 01:03:31 much. It's your baby. Yeah, you love that joke.
01:03:32 --> 01:03:35 Yeah, but you try to make it work You try and
01:03:35 --> 01:03:37 do it because you think it's so fucking funny.
01:03:37 --> 01:03:41 It just doesn't it just Every I feel like every
01:03:41 --> 01:03:43 comic has that joke that they they always probably
01:03:43 --> 01:03:46 have forever But like they they say it they they
01:03:46 --> 01:03:48 try and do it wait, then maybe it doesn't land
01:03:48 --> 01:03:51 and never lands But then they just got our just
01:03:51 --> 01:03:52 shelve it or kill it and like I was like I feel
01:03:52 --> 01:03:55 like that's a big lesson for me was like I may
01:03:55 --> 01:03:56 think something's really really really funny,
01:03:56 --> 01:03:59 right? Other people might not think it's funny.
01:04:00 --> 01:04:02 Yeah. So sometimes you gotta just, you gotta
01:04:02 --> 01:04:03 kill your babies, man. You just gotta let it
01:04:03 --> 01:04:05 go. You gotta let it go. Dude, I know, I had
01:04:05 --> 01:04:08 this one about a ferris wheel, right? And I tried
01:04:08 --> 01:04:10 so fucking hard to make this thing work, dude.
01:04:10 --> 01:04:13 And it just like, it just wouldn't. Like just,
01:04:14 --> 01:04:16 it just fucking won't. And one person, dude,
01:04:16 --> 01:04:17 it wasn't even a comic, one person was like,
01:04:18 --> 01:04:20 you should change that to carousel. And I was
01:04:20 --> 01:04:22 like, maybe I should change it to merry -go -round.
01:04:22 --> 01:04:24 Go fuck yourself. Yeah. Like, I wanted it to
01:04:24 --> 01:04:27 be a fucking... It's a Ferris wheel joke. It's
01:04:27 --> 01:04:28 a Ferris wheel, you prick. And he's like, what
01:04:28 --> 01:04:32 goes around comes around. I was like, that's
01:04:32 --> 01:04:34 better than my joke. You know? Oh, that's always
01:04:34 --> 01:04:36 so funny. Yeah, what about you? Have you had...
01:04:36 --> 01:04:38 I don't know. I normally don't be like, hey,
01:04:38 --> 01:04:41 you know, do the trick for me, but like, but
01:04:41 --> 01:04:43 do you have any jokes that you don't do on stage
01:04:43 --> 01:04:45 that you're, you know, like... Because of that
01:04:45 --> 01:04:47 you're like I do I love this joke, but it just
01:04:47 --> 01:04:49 never works Well, I mean like the ones I've killed
01:04:49 --> 01:04:52 I like legit killed and I just don't I don't
01:04:52 --> 01:04:55 They they're gone forever. Yeah. Um, there was
01:04:55 --> 01:04:59 one That I told it's a really it's fucked up.
01:04:59 --> 01:05:02 It's just fucked up not like really a fan like
01:05:02 --> 01:05:06 not super offensive, but like Like, I've gotten
01:05:06 --> 01:05:09 more of like a, ooh, I don't know that. It's
01:05:09 --> 01:05:11 not like crazy, but it's like, I'm, cause I'm
01:05:11 --> 01:05:13 from a small town and now I live like in a big
01:05:13 --> 01:05:15 city, right? So it's like, you know, I'm from
01:05:15 --> 01:05:17 a town with a lot of cows. And then now we live
01:05:17 --> 01:05:18 somewhere where there's like a lot of like homeless
01:05:18 --> 01:05:20 people. And I was just like, well, do you think,
01:05:21 --> 01:05:22 you know how like kids in the country go cow
01:05:22 --> 01:05:26 chipping? Do you think? You think kids in the
01:05:26 --> 01:05:27 city go, like, Fenton tipping? Like, do you think
01:05:27 --> 01:05:32 they... It's really horrible. It's so bad. But,
01:05:32 --> 01:05:34 like, I was like, this could be funny. And it
01:05:34 --> 01:05:36 just wasn't. It was just never funny. People
01:05:36 --> 01:05:38 were like, dude, that's a problem. Like, that's
01:05:38 --> 01:05:40 fucked up. You shouldn't do that. And I go, I'm
01:05:40 --> 01:05:43 not saying you should. It's just, you know...
01:05:43 --> 01:05:44 Yeah. And I've tried to make that joke work.
01:05:44 --> 01:05:47 And it's just, like, it's not... It's so, like,
01:05:47 --> 01:05:49 I guess, out of left field of what I usually
01:05:49 --> 01:05:52 say. Yeah. You know, I'm not, like, a really
01:05:52 --> 01:05:55 super edgy comedian. Same, yeah. So it's like,
01:05:55 --> 01:05:57 when I say something a little bit more like,
01:05:57 --> 01:06:01 oh god, they're like, oh what the fuck? I was
01:06:01 --> 01:06:02 like, what are you talking about? You don't push
01:06:02 --> 01:06:07 over tweakers? You know kids, they push cows,
01:06:07 --> 01:06:09 like you push, you know, you don't push over
01:06:09 --> 01:06:11 tweakers? Yeah, that's like, it just doesn't
01:06:11 --> 01:06:14 work. It just doesn't fit, I guess, my style.
01:06:15 --> 01:06:18 Cause a lot of my stuff is very like, what if
01:06:18 --> 01:06:21 this happened? Or like, it's very like, it could,
01:06:21 --> 01:06:23 like. they could be skits, you know what I mean?
01:06:23 --> 01:06:25 They could be sketches, you know? Have you ever
01:06:25 --> 01:06:27 thought about doing that? Like, making them sketches?
01:06:27 --> 01:06:30 Yeah, but I have such like a... I don't know,
01:06:30 --> 01:06:33 like a block when it comes to that kind of thing.
01:06:34 --> 01:06:36 Like, I think that kind of ties into, like, my...
01:06:36 --> 01:06:40 Like, I hate... Like, I hate having to be a social
01:06:40 --> 01:06:43 media comedian. I know what you mean. Yeah. You
01:06:43 --> 01:06:45 know what I mean? And it's, like, so fucking
01:06:45 --> 01:06:48 crucial now. Because, like, I started... forever
01:06:48 --> 01:06:51 ago. Sure. You know what I mean? Like... Back
01:06:51 --> 01:06:53 in, like, 2016, like, yeah, people would post
01:06:53 --> 01:06:55 stand -up clips, but it wasn't as prevalent as
01:06:55 --> 01:06:58 it is now, you know? It's not as, like... It
01:06:58 --> 01:07:00 wasn't a need. You know what I mean? So it's
01:07:00 --> 01:07:02 like, if I'm funny, I'll get shows. If I'm funny,
01:07:02 --> 01:07:05 I'll do this. If I'm funny, I can go get that.
01:07:05 --> 01:07:08 But, you know, realistically, it's like, okay,
01:07:08 --> 01:07:10 has your clip gotten a million views? We can
01:07:10 --> 01:07:12 book you. Has your... You have a certain amount
01:07:12 --> 01:07:14 of followers, we'll book you, you know? Yeah.
01:07:14 --> 01:07:17 Because it's all about asses and seats. But it's
01:07:17 --> 01:07:20 like, I have... It's so hard for me to be consistent...
01:07:20 --> 01:07:23 in that, you know, and it's like, I've made like
01:07:23 --> 01:07:26 skits like on like TikTok or Instagram and like
01:07:26 --> 01:07:28 they've done well, but it's just like, you know,
01:07:28 --> 01:07:29 it'll like be like, I'm like, okay, like I just
01:07:29 --> 01:07:31 don't think a whole lot about it, you know, and
01:07:31 --> 01:07:34 it's like, I've had, like I've had, I've written
01:07:34 --> 01:07:36 down jokes that I've told on stage and just told
01:07:36 --> 01:07:37 them to the camera sometimes and they've done
01:07:37 --> 01:07:39 okay, but it's like, I don't know, it's just,
01:07:40 --> 01:07:42 it's like, it's like eating my vegetables, like
01:07:42 --> 01:07:45 I, knowing like that I have to like post on social
01:07:45 --> 01:07:48 media. Dude, I've made a few clips and. on an
01:07:48 --> 01:07:51 only bombs thing. Yeah, I've tried. I've made
01:07:51 --> 01:07:54 a few like sketches and shit and I'll go watch
01:07:54 --> 01:07:56 them and I think they're funny. But at the same
01:07:56 --> 01:07:58 time, I'm kind of like this. I don't know. It's
01:07:58 --> 01:08:01 just not my thing, man. Yeah, no, I get it. There's
01:08:01 --> 01:08:02 nothing more demoralizing, I think, than putting
01:08:02 --> 01:08:05 in like work into a sketch that you think is
01:08:05 --> 01:08:07 really funny. And then like you look at like
01:08:07 --> 01:08:09 your Instagram real view is like three hundred
01:08:09 --> 01:08:12 views and like four likes. You're like, fuck
01:08:12 --> 01:08:14 guys. Yeah. Yeah. You're like, you know, oh,
01:08:14 --> 01:08:16 why did that not get a million? Like maybe they
01:08:16 --> 01:08:19 didn't. Maybe I should stop. Maybe I should quit
01:08:19 --> 01:08:21 forever. Maybe I should not do this anymore.
01:08:22 --> 01:08:25 Yeah. I used to do this one, like, because the
01:08:25 --> 01:08:27 whole tray -on -stage thing. Yeah, yeah. Like,
01:08:27 --> 01:08:29 I had, like, a series of them, like, you know,
01:08:29 --> 01:08:31 like, tray at work, trade, you know, blah, blah.
01:08:31 --> 01:08:33 Oh, that's cool. I don't know why I just did
01:08:33 --> 01:08:35 it, and so I would just do, like, stupid things,
01:08:35 --> 01:08:37 but the thing is, is that I'm so, like, I'm fucking
01:08:37 --> 01:08:40 crazy, dude, and I'm sporadic, so all of my...
01:08:40 --> 01:08:42 All of my videos were just weird, just random
01:08:42 --> 01:08:45 fart noises, explosions. And then I would go
01:08:45 --> 01:08:47 back and watch it, and I'd be like, oh my god,
01:08:47 --> 01:08:49 that's hilarious. And then I'm just like, okay,
01:08:49 --> 01:08:51 those 30 people might have thought it was funny.
01:08:52 --> 01:08:53 And then I was like, oh no, that's 30 views,
01:08:53 --> 01:08:58 not likes. Yeah, dude. It was so fucking bad,
01:08:58 --> 01:09:00 dude. It's weird. It's also weird just seeing
01:09:00 --> 01:09:04 how the different, I guess, apps respond to different.
01:09:05 --> 01:09:10 stuff tiktok hates me dude oh my god dude tiktok
01:09:10 --> 01:09:14 hates me they're like no fuck you tiktok hates
01:09:14 --> 01:09:17 my stand -up oh yeah yeah they don't mind my
01:09:17 --> 01:09:20 skits like my sketch if i make a sketch or something
01:09:20 --> 01:09:23 on on tiktok they like it oh yeah no shit they
01:09:23 --> 01:09:26 hate my stand -up clips oh my god that's right
01:09:26 --> 01:09:29 now that you're saying that Cause I'm like, dude,
01:09:29 --> 01:09:32 my TikTok, I have the tray on stage where I posted
01:09:32 --> 01:09:35 the skits and they did all right. But the only
01:09:35 --> 01:09:39 bombs TikTok, like I think I got like 12 or 15
01:09:39 --> 01:09:42 followers. They hate me, dude. It's so weird.
01:09:42 --> 01:09:45 It's so weird. Like what, cause I feel like they
01:09:45 --> 01:09:46 like stick you like in a box depending on like
01:09:46 --> 01:09:50 what pops off. I've had things like pop off like
01:09:50 --> 01:09:55 on TikTok. Yes, let's talk about it. So like,
01:09:55 --> 01:09:58 okay, so this was like two years ago, before
01:09:58 --> 01:10:01 I moved here, I was like in the middle, yeah,
01:10:01 --> 01:10:02 I was like in the middle of growing my hair out
01:10:02 --> 01:10:05 still. Yeah. So it was like in that beabory stage.
01:10:05 --> 01:10:06 Oh yeah, you're looking like a little mushroom
01:10:06 --> 01:10:08 yourself. Yeah, a little bit, yeah, exactly.
01:10:09 --> 01:10:13 And I was like kind of stoned and I like, you
01:10:13 --> 01:10:14 know how you can like stitch videos on TikTok?
01:10:15 --> 01:10:18 Yeah. And like, so there was like a video, it
01:10:18 --> 01:10:21 was stupid, it was the stupidest thing. It's
01:10:21 --> 01:10:25 a frog, like a little blobby frog, and it was
01:10:25 --> 01:10:28 scratching its eye, but it looked like it was
01:10:28 --> 01:10:32 waving. So I stitched the video of me waving
01:10:32 --> 01:10:37 back at it. So it's like, and I'm like, hey.
01:10:38 --> 01:10:40 I wasn't thinking anything of it. Nine million
01:10:40 --> 01:10:44 views and a million likes later. No. No way.
01:10:45 --> 01:10:48 I swear to God. My god, dude, I'm gonna put that
01:10:48 --> 01:10:50 in this yeah, I know you can't I'll send it to
01:10:50 --> 01:10:55 you stupid the dumbest I was so fucking pissed
01:10:55 --> 01:10:58 right and then like, you know Every Instagram
01:10:58 --> 01:11:00 meme page is ripping it for like a month and
01:11:00 --> 01:11:02 like I have my friends sending it to me to do
01:11:02 --> 01:11:06 what the fuck that's you Yeah, man. Yeah, you
01:11:06 --> 01:11:08 know, it's really fucking crazy. I legitimately
01:11:08 --> 01:11:11 think that I've seen that I legitimately think
01:11:12 --> 01:11:14 That I've seen that, too. Because I was like,
01:11:14 --> 01:11:16 wait a minute. Because now that I've thought
01:11:16 --> 01:11:17 about it, I was like, wait a minute. Yeah, I
01:11:17 --> 01:11:20 do think I remember that ablerious little wave.
01:11:20 --> 01:11:24 So dumb. I remember I made it, and then I went
01:11:24 --> 01:11:27 to sleep right after, and I woke up in my just
01:11:27 --> 01:11:31 notification city. Dude. And I was like, holy
01:11:31 --> 01:11:33 fuck. That's the most I've ever blown up on anything.
01:11:33 --> 01:11:35 I think I had a tweet blow up on Twitter one
01:11:35 --> 01:11:38 time back when it was still called Twitter. But
01:11:38 --> 01:11:43 from there, I was like, OK. Okay, I guess we're
01:11:43 --> 01:11:46 in it now. Okay. Well, I've done its change now.
01:11:46 --> 01:11:49 Okay, so I'm super famous now I'm the frog wave
01:11:49 --> 01:11:54 guy that I Do stand -up also by the way a rivet?
01:11:55 --> 01:11:56 No for all and I'd be like I'll post like a stand
01:11:56 --> 01:11:59 -up clip. I'm like Right you started going out
01:11:59 --> 01:12:01 on stage. You're like and it's like a hunt But
01:12:01 --> 01:12:02 I'll pose like a stand -up clip was like a hundred
01:12:02 --> 01:12:04 views ago. How was that? We're touching nine
01:12:04 --> 01:12:07 milli. What the fuck is this about right? But
01:12:07 --> 01:12:08 it's just one of those things where I guess it
01:12:08 --> 01:12:10 just caught the algorithm and it was harmless
01:12:10 --> 01:12:12 enough that people thought it was funny or thought
01:12:12 --> 01:12:15 it was cute or whatever. It's so weird how that
01:12:15 --> 01:12:16 works. I don't get it. I don't get it either.
01:12:16 --> 01:12:18 I don't get it. Dude, there's like a science
01:12:18 --> 01:12:20 behind it that I just can't get, dude. No, neither
01:12:20 --> 01:12:21 do I. And I know some people that can hit that
01:12:21 --> 01:12:24 constantly. Yeah. And they're just like, boom,
01:12:24 --> 01:12:26 boom, boom, boom. Every time I have some friends
01:12:26 --> 01:12:27 like that, I'm just like, how the fuck do you
01:12:27 --> 01:12:31 do that? Yeah, I'm like... I just can't. It is
01:12:31 --> 01:12:33 just what they put out, you know? Yeah. And people
01:12:33 --> 01:12:35 are like, you got to post three or four times
01:12:35 --> 01:12:39 a day. And I go... That sounds exhausting. It
01:12:39 --> 01:12:42 is, I do one clip a day and it's like, it's fucking
01:12:42 --> 01:12:44 exhausting. Yeah, and that's the thing I noticed
01:12:44 --> 01:12:46 about you, I was like, dude, he's really consistent,
01:12:46 --> 01:12:50 that's rad. And it's like one a day. Yeah. God,
01:12:50 --> 01:12:52 when I was doing it, we were doing that too,
01:12:52 --> 01:12:53 we were doing like one a day. Yeah, it's just
01:12:53 --> 01:12:56 one a day. This sucks. Yeah, because it's all
01:12:56 --> 01:12:57 like, it's just piecing it together and then
01:12:57 --> 01:13:02 trying to appease the algorithm gods. You know,
01:13:02 --> 01:13:04 my content, I know it's gonna be like a slow
01:13:04 --> 01:13:08 growth. You know, like, and, but I, I wasn't
01:13:08 --> 01:13:11 surprised. I mean, I wasn't like, um, like, prepared
01:13:11 --> 01:13:15 for like when Jamie Lee's clip went to a million.
01:13:15 --> 01:13:17 I was like, cause I did the same thing. Like
01:13:17 --> 01:13:19 I woke up and then she'd, she'd wrote me and
01:13:19 --> 01:13:21 she was like, Whoa, you see what's going on with
01:13:21 --> 01:13:24 it? And I was like, no. And I looked and I was
01:13:24 --> 01:13:26 like, Whoa. And then it just kept going and going
01:13:26 --> 01:13:29 and going. And then I was like, man, that's incredible.
01:13:29 --> 01:13:31 You know, so I couldn't imagine like that times
01:13:31 --> 01:13:36 like nine, like that's insane. Like the first
01:13:36 --> 01:13:38 one, the first million, I was like, man, this
01:13:38 --> 01:13:40 is amazing. Like this is great. It feels great.
01:13:40 --> 01:13:42 So I couldn't imagine all of a sudden like nine
01:13:42 --> 01:13:45 million. It was like in the course of like two
01:13:45 --> 01:13:47 days. It was just like boom, boom, boom, boom,
01:13:47 --> 01:13:49 boom, boom. And like, yeah, I remember like my
01:13:49 --> 01:13:51 comedian friends back in Hawaii were like sending
01:13:51 --> 01:13:53 me like my own meme, I guess, that happened.
01:13:54 --> 01:13:55 And they were just like, they go, this is your
01:13:55 --> 01:13:57 legacy now, by the way. I'm like, fuck you, man.
01:13:58 --> 01:14:00 Me and a frog, baby. That's just me, I guess.
01:14:00 --> 01:14:02 Shit. That's it. Well, dude, we're gonna wrap
01:14:02 --> 01:14:05 it up. I'm sorry. I don't mean to, because this
01:14:05 --> 01:14:06 is one of those wonderful conversations that
01:14:06 --> 01:14:08 I'm like, I don't want to wrap up. No, that's
01:14:08 --> 01:14:12 fine. Yeah, of course. I literally have said
01:14:12 --> 01:14:13 this so many times on this show. I'm like, I
01:14:13 --> 01:14:15 have to fucking get better memory or bigger memory
01:14:15 --> 01:14:17 cards. Yeah, yeah, no, you're chilling. Because
01:14:17 --> 01:14:20 I was like, oh, fuck. Oh, fuck. Yeah, no, no,
01:14:20 --> 01:14:23 no. But before we wrap it up, man, this is your
01:14:23 --> 01:14:24 camera. Is there anything you want to put out?
01:14:26 --> 01:14:31 Shit, no, you can follow me on Instagram at that
01:14:31 --> 01:14:34 funny dude AJ. You can follow me on TikTok at
01:14:34 --> 01:14:38 AJNist209. You can come see me at Vulcan. I work
01:14:38 --> 01:14:40 there almost every night. I'm your friendly neighborhood
01:14:40 --> 01:14:43 door guy. Come on by and come see me, but yeah,
01:14:43 --> 01:14:45 man. Hell yeah, dude. Man, thank you so much
01:14:45 --> 01:14:47 for coming on, dude. Of course, thanks for having
01:14:47 --> 01:14:48 me. That was awesome. That was a lot of fun.
01:14:48 --> 01:14:49 So much fun, dude. Fuck yeah. Thank you. I love
01:14:49 --> 01:14:54 that, dude. I love that. That's it. Alright,
01:14:54 --> 01:14:56 well cool. Thank you guys so much and tune in
01:14:56 --> 01:14:58 next week. All that good stuff. Oh, that's it.
01:14:58 --> 01:15:00 That's a wrap. Adios. Boom.