Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 122: Piff the Magic Dragon

Episode Date: April 27, 2021

Where in the world is Andrew Frasco this week? All signs point to... day drinking in Charleston with his good buddy Chad Cocuzza! Wasn't there something he was supposed to be doing instead? Probably not important. What *is* important however, is our guest this week on the Interview Hour. The Superintendent of the Supernatural & guy with really cool costume: Piff the Magic Dragon! Chad falls into a vortex after a night on the town. Do the boys need help? Almost definitely! This is EP 122. Follow us on Instagram @worldsavingpodcast For more information on Andy Frasco, the band and/or the blog, go to: AndyFrasco.com Check out Andy's new album, "Keep On Keepin' On" on iTunes Spotify  Sprinkle some magic into your life: piffthemagicdragon.com Produced by Andy Frasco Joe Angelhow Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Shawn Eckels Andee 'Beats' Avila Chad Cocuzza

Frasco, it's Eccles, road to Red Rock, brother! Can't believe it, man. Let's get back in the gym, man. Getting in shape for this thing. This gig is so fucking important, man. All right, dude, stop, man. Yo, Frasco, Andy Beats. Man, Red Rocks.

I can't freaking wait, dude. So stoked. I'm getting healthy. I'm in the gym every day. I'm practicing my drums every day. This show's gonna be fucking epic, bro. I stoked. I'm getting healthy. I'm in the gym every day. I'm practicing my drums every day. This show's gonna be fucking epic, bro. I hope you're doing the same.

Call me back. Peace. Now, a message from the UN. And he put on his Birkenstocks as he boarded a plane Touched out in the land of the golf carts White people drinking all day The rest of the band is back in the gym Trying to take the Red Rocks show seriously Frasco would rather travel to that city

Where he's a minor celebrity Day drinking in Charleston Day drinking because there is no tour Day drinking in Charleston Where he's mildly famous You know he can't sit still Well he's drinking in Charleston A couple people wear his t-shirts

He sold last tour Day drinking in Charleston He's drinking all day With Jack Kukusa for sure And we're back. Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast. I'm Andy Frasco. How's everyone doing? How's your heads?

Are you focused on what you should be focusing on? And letting all that fucking bullshit just fucking leave You know, we gotta stop I'm saying this to myself I'm on vacation in Charleston I'm so happy I'm just having a great time We rented a golf cart and stuff

And just got my mind off some shit and I'm happier. You know, it's like we could stress about all the crazy things that are going on in our head and our lives, our busyness. I mean, it's normal, but every now and then you got to take a break from that shit. Go out there. If you want to binge drink like I've been doing, fuck. Drink like a motherfucker out here. Me and Chad, we've really been having a good time out here. But just get your mind off it. I mean, however way you're going to do it. I do it. I drink sometimes. I'm not a sad drinker. I'm a social drinker. So hanging out with friends, drinking, getting my mind off it is okay for me. Some people can't control that or get into other shit.

And that's fine too. Just find ways to make you feel calm. If it's meditation, if it's maybe make some love. If you haven't made love with your wife or girlfriend in a while, or boyfriend or whatever, go get that shit. Get it. Get your mind off of the bad things so we could focus on the real things we need to do in life. You know, it's so funny. I was looking at pictures.

Some of my, one of my first bandmates sent me photos of our first ever tour. And I was, I was a junior in high school, 16. And it was a summer. And my mom let me go on this tour and I booked this tour for this band. We were emo. So like I didn't know how to book a tour yet. So I just cold called every country bar, every Confederate bar, fucking biker bar. I called everyone.

And I got a stream of maybe 20 shows or something but i called so many fucking venues and lied and told them yeah we're country band or yeah we fucking we ride with the hell's angels i was 16 it's just like whatever i could do to figure out a way to get on the road because when everyone even when i was a kid, I was always wanted to, I just thought I was dreaming about being in a moving object. If it was a plane or if it was a van, I just always thought that was going to be my destiny, even at a younger age.

I don't know, I never sit still. Sorry, you're hearing all that. I'm doing laundry, actually. It's an easy day today. But going back to it, it was like, you know, when I had no expectations. Nobody showed up to the fucking shows. It wasn't even about that. We had no expectations.

And looking back now and seeing those photos, I'm like, yeah, those were the best times of my life. Lost my virginity on that tour. This girl in Houston, she, oh, she's like, I always wanted to have sex with a Jewish boy. And I was like, let's go. And we had sex in the back for a pickup truck. And it was really awkward, but it was awesome. And then we got in the van and we moved on. And it was like the first idea of tour life and um playing for no one and then going making fucking 50 and going back into the van or that we had this like 88 tomahawk chief fucking bus that one of our friends dad let us borrow and you know saying fuck what are we gonna do you know but we're laughing and just making through it was it was no expectation you know saying fuck what are you gonna do you know but we're laughing and just making

through it was it was no expectation you know i look at that now like going tours i'm like oh fuck no one's showing up for 10 days in a row i'd be stressing the fuck out because i put expectations on it let's not put expectations on the things we love you know and i think we'll be happier anything in life we put put any expectations into something, we start overthinking it, and then we don't enjoy it as much as we used to. So we got Piff the Magic Dragon, this comedian. He actually opened, comedian, but he's really a magician. He's a badass magician.

And he opened for fucking Mumford and Sons, big arena tours. And then he was on, uh, America's Got Talent. And, uh, dude, this fucking machine is rattling. I'm like, dude, I can feel the house shaking. Um, but, um, it's so funny. I'm a little stoned. So I'm just watching this thing. I've also been taking mushrooms like 10 days straight. It's been fun. But getting back to what I was saying, expectations, if you take that out of your brain, I know it's fucking hard. We expect things out of love. We expect things out of our relationships. We expect things out of life. But if we try, at least a little bit, just to take those expectations out, I really think we could be happier.

What's that saying? Expectations will kill a man. And it's so true. I remember we were on that first tour, I was 16. We were getting into bars, we were getting all fucked up. We went to New Orleans, We played someplace in New Orleans and they knew we were fucking young and they still fuck. There was no one at the show. I guess they felt bad or something. They got us so fucked up. I was, I was, I was trying to take a piss and I threw up in a urinal and I had a black eye and bleeding and I'm like, I smashed my head on a New Orleans urinal and

laughing just having so much fun and then I get back to because we parked the van or the bus at the Harrah's Hotel because it was like free parking and you know I'd never been that drunk before I was 16 years old and I threw up all over the van and

you know and I had to pay for the cleaner to come to the fucking van before we left the ride because those guys are like we're not fucking leaving till you pick up the throw up and then they kick me out of the van naked and i'm naked in the parking lot and i just fell asleep they gave me a pillow and i fell asleep right next to the van you know not thinking like oh yeah it could be kind of dangerous or I could go to jail or fucking, you know, being an alcohol, you know, on whatever they minor on alcohol or whatever. And I get out back in the van, I'm like, dude, these are the best times of my life. I look at that, you know, and it basically shine the platform onto, you know, I'm going to do this for the rest of my life.

Maybe not black out and, you know, smash myself in a urinal, but just do this. Try it out, you know, because we need to stop thinking that we can't chase happiness anymore. I was talking to Piff about this. He's like, heaven and hell, who knows if there's going to be an afterlife, you know? No one knows. So we might as well make this the best time we can. Because if we don't, then we're going to regret it. You know, I talk about this, you know, a lot.

Because I've been thinking about this a lot. I don't want to be old and regret that I didn't try something. That's why I'm still on this fucking path since I was 16. Living in a van, trying anything I can to keep playing the next gig, keep entertaining the next crowd, or do a podcast or an interview, whatever it is. I'm kind of ranting here, but I guess what I'm trying to say is don't forget what you used to love and even, and don't forget to chase things that you

love. You know, I, I think about that a little bit more with going with relationships, you know, I didn't never chase the girls that I really wanted to be with to a full extent because I was I was afraid of happiness, you know, or maybe I was getting my happiness from the road. But whatever it was, you could have multiple happinesses. That's what I'm learning. Like I'm in Charleston, not playing music, just having a good time, catching, like I've always wanted to rent a golf cart. I was like, so I rented a golf cart for two weeks and we're, you know, driving around the city. I got sunglasses on. I'm like, that stuff makes me happy too. And you know, you forget

that sometimes when you're working so much, you forget who you are. So don't forget who you are. Even if you're working a shitty job or a fucking job that you're just doing it because you need to survive. I get it. You know? I played the fucking confederate bars. Being a lead singer Jewish band. You know, it's like whatever you gotta do. Who cares?

Let's try to find happiness where we can. Let's try to be the people we're supposed to be. Because, you know, thinking about it, 16, playing for no one in fucking Houston, having sex in a pickup truck, coming to May 27th where I'm headlining Red Rocks with Keller Williams. Your dreams aren't going to happen right when you want them to. Be fucking boring. If you thought about something that just popped up, like, oh, tight, I could do that again,

oh, tight. Fucking fight for it. Fight for your dreams. Fight for whatever little thing you got in you that makes you happy. Because at the end of the day, that's all we have. We're not going to be towing, you know, your casket can't tow a trailer with all your things in it. You don't need it.

We're going to be remembered by the things we did and how we approached what makes us happy and if we go find it and go attack it. So go grab that happiness and go get it. Because, you know, I can't even think about it. Like headline of Red Rocks at 16. Well, I had those ideas, but now seeing them in fruition, I'm like, damn, if I didn't give up and this is happening. So don't give up.

Whatever you got to do. And go see us play at May 27th, Red Rocks. We're almost there. I mean, we're three, four sold out. Every show is sold out. The Red Rocks, let us be a sellout too. If you want to fly to Denver, come on. Come hang out with us for the weekend.

It's Memorial Day. Flights to Denver are cheap as fuck get out there, come on and see us at the Red Rocks with we're co-headlining with Keller Williams my buddy, and my favorite songwriter of all time, John Craig's opening and my favorite comedian of all time

Kyle Ayers it's like my ultimate dream show and we're gonna give it all we can, We got fucking lights and shit. And we're doing the crazy shit. So come on out, Dad. What else is going on? Shit show.

Final season. Final episode of the shit show, too. Damn. Fucking. It's been a long run. Ten weeks with me. Thank you for going on the journey with me of learning how to make a talk show. It's crazy.

This is another weird dream I've always wanted to have and seen happen. Wanted to be like a Letterman and a Conan, you know. Now seeing, you know, it took 17 years for me to finally achieve a goal of that. And, you know, so don't give up on your dreams, whatever it is. But episode nine, Open Mike Eagle, awesome rapper. We got Larkin Poe. We're playing a game with Larkin Poe.

The Floozies made a fucking sketch, which is, I didn't realize how fucking funny the Floozies were. I got to get them on the podcast. Those brothers are fucking hilarious. And then Bootsy Collins gives me some uncle-y advice. We got Elle King

as the interview. And then Eric Krasnow is actually in the band with me. It's a big fucking show. Eric Krasnow is in the house band and we play one of his songs and he plays with us. It was awesome. And then our musical guest is Nathaniel Reitliff. What a way to end

a season one of the shit show. I'm stoked on it. My laundry's done. I'm going to close out this episode too. And then we got June dates. I'm in New Orleans, I found out. June 3rd, 4th, and 5th for Hogs for a Cause. We're raising money, I think for brain cancer there. So come on out if you're in the New Orleans area. And then the shows in June are pretty much sold out, but I will announce them just in case you get the last second tickets. June 15th, Wichita Falls, Texas. That just got announced. We haven't played there in a while, so that's going to fucking pack out quick. Oklahoma City is pretty much sold out That just got announced. We haven't played there in a while, so that's going to fucking pack out quick. Oklahoma City is pretty much sold out. Thank you, guys.

I haven't played in Oklahoma City in like five or six years. And then Kansas City on the 17th is pretty much sold out. I'm not sure about Cedar Rapids, but that show on the 18th, that show normally goes really quick. Omaha, not a lot of people. Come on, Omaha. Let's go.

Come on out. If you're near Omaha, Nebraska, come on out. Then we're in Chicago, 22nd. That show's doing pretty good. It's a big venue, but I don't know. We'll see. We sold a lot of tickets there. There's a bunch of tickets for that one.

Aurora, Illinois, June 22nd. Then St. Louis is pretty much sold out. I'm pumped up for that one. That's going to be badass. 23rd, Indianapolis. This is the first big show we're having in Indianapolis. Last one, you know, they're

doing the socially distanced things, but now they put us in a bigger venue, so it's still socially distanced, but we need to sell a lot of tickets. So come on to that. Home of Nick Gerlach, our boy. Shout out to Nick. What up, Nick? And then 25th and 26th, Columbus, Ohio, is sold out.

So, sorry if you didn't get tickets to that. All right, guys. Enjoy Piff the Magic Dragon. This guy's fucking great. He's really smart. And he's got a show in Vegas. He opened for Mumford & Sons for a bit. He's got a show in Vegas at the Flamingo.

And it's killing, selling out. And he was on America's Got Talent. He lost, but he was very remembered for his fucking, he cannonballed his, he put his dog like in a cannonball. Fucking nuts. This guy's nuts. You're going to like the interview because he's a magician. And, you know, it's interesting to me,

and it's very parallel with the music industry, and it's very parallel with comedians. And hear his story. It's very nice., and it's very parallel with the music industry, and it's very parallel with comedians. And hear his story. It's very nice. All right, guys. Enjoy your Tuesday, and maybe I'll get Chad Kakuza up here to close the show with me, talk about his first tour. Chad?

Yeah, baby? We're going to get you on the show at the end of the show. Yeah. All right. I'll catch you on the tail end. I love y'all. All right. Next up on the interview hour, we have Piff, the magic dragon. This guy's a comedian. He's a magician. He's a badass magician.

You know, he's got a gig. He's got a full residency at the Flamingo. We talked about that. Play him. Hey, Chris, play some like magic music or something um if that's a thing give me something spooky or some magician style stuff um but he's great he has a he wears a dragon outfit if you know him from america's got talent i think he lost like he came in fifth place or sixth place but um it got him a fucking show on vegas and it's selling out and it's it's popping and he went on tour with mumford and sons did arena tours and stuff so talking to him was talking about uh being a magician at those arena tours is fucking hard for a rock band and i get it bro that's that's hard i was shout out to kyle for fucking doing it um and we talked about how to approach a crowd

and it's that when no one's there to see magic and you're just there to see them all for the sons. Okay, guys. Enjoy Piff the Magic Dragon. Piff! Hello. It's me, Piff the Magic Dragon. What are you doing?

Thank you for waiting. I was just breaking into my casino. Yeah. Vegas. You have a residency out at the Flamingo. What's that like? Oh, my God. It's like, you know, when I do shows, I just want to do the perfect show. I'm always on a quest for the perfect show.

perfect show i'm always i'm always on a quest for the perfect show and so what's really helpful about that quest is being in the same place and doing that show you know 250 times a year that really helps it doesn't mean you get any well it means you get closer but i start a long way from the destination many performers they start closer to the perfect show than i do i don't i start in another universe so it takes me a long time to even get close to um to the perfect show therefore i need i need a head start what uh what's the perfect show to you uh oh it's where every single, you know, I'm a genuine mythical creature, obviously. Magic dragon. I do magic and I do dragon. No, I do magic and jokes, right?

Yeah. So basically, every magic trick has got to work and every single thing I say has got to be funny. Every seven seconds, it's got to be like, laugh, laugh, laugh. Oh, God, what just happened? Laugh, laugh, laugh. Oh, God, what just happened? Oh, God, laugh. Oh, God, what just happened? Laugh, laugh, laugh. Oh, God, what just happened?

Oh, God, laugh. Oh, am I laughing? All right, you know. Is there pressure having a residency in Vegas? Like, are you worried about draw? Are you worried about any of that stuff? Yeah, this whole job is pressure, isn't it? Yeah.

Wherever you are, wherever you are, it's just nonstop crushing pressure. And the more successful you get, you get rewarded by more pressure it's so fucking true dude i've been on the road now i'm what 13 years doing about you know 200 plus shows a year and i wish i sometimes i think about that you know the perfect show because like i'm in the jam scene where um you have to have a different show every fucking night you know this idea of perfection through uh repetition i think is the best way for perfection do you agree well you and i are in the same boat slightly i think you're more you're in a bigger boat that has um uh that

has uh much less guidance than mine. Mine at least has a GPS system and a destination because when I do magic tricks, right, I know that I'm going to borrow somebody's Apple Watch and it's going to end up inside a 10-pound Jell-O inside a jar of peanut butter that's sealed, blah, blah, blah. I know all that stuff. I'm just not sure how I'm going to get there with the person on stage with me.

So it's like improv, except with a very clear structure and beats. But that's what keeps it interesting, because I also have a bit of my show where I do stand-up, and I change that every few months. I have different bits of stand-up. where I do stand-up and I like change that every few months I have different bits of stand-up and I often find myself thinking about you know what I'm going to eat after the show I often forget what I'm in the middle of saying I often realize the audience is now just staring at me as I'm sort of waffling on making absolutely no sense um but when I've got an audience member up

any moment they could ruin my life any moment moment they could, like, throw the dog off stage, which happened one time, by the way. Some little kid threw my—I got a chihuahua in the show. He's a dragon too, right? Well, no, he's a dog in a dragon outfit. It's pretty ridiculous. No, this eight-year-old kid, right? He was on stage. And I was talking to him.

I turned around and I looked back. And my dog, he's 13, you know. And he was like flying into the audience. And this woman stood up out of her seat and she caught him over her head. She caught him, whipped him back, sat him on his lap. And there was just this unholy silence in the room. She caught him, whipped him back, sat him on his lap. And there was just this unholy silence in the room. What did you do to the kid?

Well, first of all, I said to the lady, did you just catch my dog out of the air? And she said, yes, yes, I did. And I said, okay. and she said yes yes i did and uh i said okay and i said to the kid did you just throw the dog into the air and you know we've actually moved theaters now we're in the bigger theater we're in the big main theater now at the flamingo but in time we're at a small smaller theater and the stage was like four feet off the ground so the dog started from 10 feet in the air. And he was going up, you know. So I said to the kid, did you just throw my dog?

And the kid said, yeah. And I was like, oh, my God, this is like every child psychopath you read about. What an asshole kid. And the audience, they they were gonna tear him apart and i was like the only way out of this for anyone is for me to pretend that the kid made a mistake that he didn't understand what i said or whatever and he thought that i said can you throw my dog oh that's good that's a good counter because obviously i would say that yeah i would just get a child on stage and say hey

would you take this dog and could you just throw it into the audience but i thought i thought you know what nobody nobody's nobody's winning here so i said oh guys he just misunderstood me didn't you and then i look at him and i'm like if you don't say yes i will punch you in the face right now and then i would throw your corpse into the audience. Tell your mom she's a bitch. His mom! The whole family just sat there like, oh, look, little Jimmy's on stage. Oh, that's good, isn't it? He's having fun.

He just threw a dog in the audience. He loves throwing dogs. That's fucking nuts. So I got him off stage, and then he left, and he just like ran. You know, they sat through the show, because we carried on the show,

and then at the end, they just ran. They just ran for the... We had security coming in. They knew some shit was going to go down. But they just ran. They snuck past security. And months later, he wrote me on Instagram to apologize. And I guess I didn't reply quick enough.

And he started trolling me. How old is this kid? How does he know how to troll? He's an eight-year-old kid. It's their job. It's their occupation. When shit goes down like that, in your head,

are you like everything is going under, like kind of the world's ending, or do you feel good in situations like that? It always depends what the situation is. There's definitely that survival mode that kicks in, which it did that night. But there have been other nights when I'm like, you know, I opened for Mumford & Sons.

Yeah. Or... How many dates? I think 20. And that was in 2012? So that was right when they were starting to pop. Well, they were huge in the UK. Oh, okay.

So yeah, to America. It was an arena tour in the UK. So here's the thing. I opened for them. This is why it was madness. I opened for them in these theaters, 3,000-seat theaters. Great.

I'm a theater actor. I'm like, come up. I've come up. You know, I came up through the clubs. Then I started doing my act in theaters. And that's where I'm very comfortable. So I'm having a lovely time. And the band and the management and everyone is going,

wow, this is so great. Hey, why don't you come and do the arenas? Now, as we know, the theaters are full of the people who can get the tickets first yeah and the arenas are full of the people who can get the tickets first and their friends who are like oh yeah i guess that sounds like fun oh i like that one song they do and then it turns out they didn't even do that song did they feed you the wolves you feel like oh my god it wasn't that i mean it was like look they they paid my tax bill got me out of a sticky hole they won't be forever grateful for that but i i went out the first night right and it was in newcastle now have you ever played the uk yeah yeah have you played Newcastle? I have. What room you play?

The, what, the arena. What's the, it always changes its name. Yeah. Whatever the big arena is there, you know? Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We played the shitty fucking. The Jaffa Cake Arena. Yeah.

The Cheese Fries Arena. The, yeah. It's fucking insane. So, like, what's that like? I mean, I've talked to comedians who've done big arena tours, and it's like herding cats because only the first, like... No, that's offensive to cats everywhere. There is a pack of cats right now, stray cats,

in different zip codes going, believe me, it would be easier to get us together for a reunion than it would to do that gig. So, you know when you have A and a B stage, right? Yeah. Now, here's the idea, and this is going to sound like a good idea to you, but it isn't.

Here's the idea. Doors open. A stage. First band. B stage. Piff the Magic Dragon. Well, we reset the A stage. Good idea.

Yeah. All right? And A stage. Second band. B stage. Piff the Magic Dragon. A stage we reset the A stage. Good idea. All right? And A stage, second band. B stage, Piff the Magic Dragon. A stage, Mumford & Sons. Oh, so you just had your own stage? Well, day one I did.

Because as we know, when you do an arena show, it's not filled with 20,000 people the doors open no no it's filled with maybe i don't know 500 and they're all they're all the the other the other stage yeah they're on the other side of the arena so the arena yeah not the room of the arena so the eye their eyes are just at stage a the whole time like how did How did you get them to pay attention? By the way, I don't think they even used cameras. I don't think we had cameras. Then it was just a lone dragon in the middle of nothing,

on a platform with a microphone, shouting at people on the other side of an arena and being like hey turn around it's piff the mighty dragon over here that was my first set right for 15 minutes just shouting at people who uh who uh know, on the other side of the country. Oh, my God. My second set, there were a few more people milling around me. Now, you know, I went out. Now I just stayed there, right? So as people would pass by my B stage, I would say,

oh, no, wait, wait, come over here. I'm going to do something in a minute. Like a street performer, I would like gathering a crowd on my B stage. I love her. The Sons Arena Show. Oh, my God. Like a street performer, I would like gathering a crowd on my B stage. I love her son's arena show. Oh, my God. So then the third time, now the arena's full. So now I'm like, this is it.

I'm in my element. I'm going to crush. They put the camera on so that the audience can see me, and I'm doing my funniest stuff. Now, at the time, I used to do this joke where my dog was supposed to do something and he didn't do it. So I broke his leg, right? I've got this time, very cute little chihuahua who, um, is, he has complete deadpan. Um, he's a, he's a comic genius. And whenever he lifts up his legs, his legs are all limp.

So I pick up one of his legs and I have a thing in my hand that makes a noise exactly the same as if you break someone's bones. So I break his leg and it's so ridiculous that everyone would laugh. However, on this occasion,

all that was happening was now they can see me and now they can hear me. They're like, what is going on? What is that noise? So it takes a lot. It takes a long time for people to work out where this is coming from. Who is that annoying, stupid dragon? Oh, there he is. Look at him. He's over on the B stage. Oh, my God. How long has he been there? Days, it looks like. Days. He's so hungry and unkempt and sad looking.

Oh, look, he's got a little chihuahua. Oh, what's that? The chihuahua got something wrong. Well, you know, you can't expect a chihuahua to do magic. Oh, God, he just broke his leg. That's what happened. So the whole audience, 20,000 people, was like, boo! Fuck you, Piff the Mighty Dragon. dragon boo and i'm like oh my god

first day so i'm like ladies and gentlemen mom for the sons right it's and here's the thing here's the thing i used to in when we did the theaters remember when everyone loved me and everyone thought it was a to in when we did the theaters remember when everyone loved me and everyone thought it was a great idea when we did the theaters i used to do a bit in the middle of the show when they would say uh let's gentleman we're gonna bring out fifth and mighty dragon and i've come out and i'll be eating something hilariously and then we would all sing a song together and then the dog would like play the banjo and whatever and uh they said that night hey hey guys hey please welcome back to the stage piff the medic dragon boom fuck your dragon bottles of piss just like but i mean it's newcastle no way

they're throwing shit at you oh yeah oh yeah so i have I've had comedians open for me a bunch I like having a comedian open You just kind of have to set the tone Like I had to go out on stage and say Listen, my crowd's around You need to shut the fuck up And listen and you know Be a good comedy

It's hard when you don't do that It just feels like some random dude Is walking on stage. I bet with you with a fucking dragon outfit on. I think that's what we did day two. Winston. Winston went out there. And what happened?

And then I moved everything to the front stage, right? I was only on the front stage. And it was the weirdest thing. The gigs were either the greatest gig of my life or the worst gig of my life, and I did the same thing every night. I knew it was videotaped. I was watching the tapes going,

what am I doing differently? And it was either the greatest or the worst, and I did another 10 shows like that and so i have like five of the best memories of doing shows ever and five of the worst memories of doing shows ever so what's your mind state when you say all right this is a 50 50 chance do you not give a fuck or do you stress out dig deep you're like you know that's like when it's like i don't know sometimes this thing is like a fight and you just gotta like get out there and you just gotta do it and you you're not gonna win

them all you're just not gonna win them all so do you think that's you could put that with any type of live art right i think you can you know but there are so many levels to that because because because as long as i do what i wanted what i wanted to because as long as i do what i want to do what i wanted to do as long as i achieve what i wanted to do i'm like my job's done if people hate it that's their job that's their job to decide what they what they want to like or not but what i hate is two things either i mess up which i do all the time you know or i'm ill prepared or whatever it is or the audience don't get to see what i was doing because of some reason you know a technical problem what about when like a reviewer shits on you do you get offended no not i mean not anymore it's frustrating

because you know you know as well as i do that it has real world consequences. Yeah. It's like money for us, and money for us is the fuel that keeps this all going. So it's got to be hard when you get a shitty review in Vegas. I don't know if you have or not, but maybe one fucking guy, and you're doing a residency. What's hard is TripAdvisor. Yeah? Really? I've basically become a takeout restaurant. I'm like, oh, so now I get to compete with my local McDonald's. Oh, my God.

That must be so fucked up. What was the worst review? Oh, you know, it's like a less funny version of cancer. Oh, my fucking God. People are mean. So, did you... But you must have people that you just don't get. When you see these shows, and they're popular,

and you just don't get it, right? Because I have those people. I have those shows. I have those comedians, singers, whatever. I just look at it and I go, I don't get this. Yeah. And so, if I then pay money well hang on if i like somehow end up at that show and somebody tells me this is going to be really good and then i

don't get it it is like i mean i can imagine it's annoying yeah oh i would probably you know be in the same position except no except i'm i would i just i've got other things to do other than write yelp reviews yeah i mean there's this amazing have you seen that south park where they like rip on yelp oh yeah yeah and he's like you know doing all these like fine fine and crafted reviews of like the applebees and then he goes you know how exquisite everything was but the parking was terrible so three stars I mean that's it we get that all the time and when we reopened

at the Flamingo you know we have all these weird mad COVID regulations because we've been doing shows since November end of October were they packed I say yeah were they packed or how many like was it half capacity socially distanced packed.

You know, they were sold out. And people just get furious because none of the rules make sense. Yeah. And none of the rules really, some of the rules definitely help stop the spread. And some of the rules don't. And you're just like, everyone's just like enraged all the time. And you're like i agree buddy but please don't destroy my yelp yeah i need my help is it hard i need my trip advisor i need my editor's choice on trip advisor i know man it's gotta be hard is it hard to make people laugh during the quarantine oh no it was easy no we need it yeah everyone needs

you know but like when they get away like how what do you do to like get people back to being comfortable in that type of setting you uh i spend a long time roasting the settings yeah you know i spend a long time roasting the rules because it's just bullshit it's like it's like when this started like, hey, time to lock down, guys. I'm in. I'm in the house. You know, nobody gets in or out. And then they're like, okay, great.

Now, listen, to keep everyone safe, we've got to close everything down. If you need the essentials, the Target will be open at full capacity. The Walmart will be open at full capacity. The Walmart will be open at full capacity. Dunkin' Donuts is available. You can only lick the outside of the building in pairs, preferably with strangers. And it's just like, okay, okay, you know what? Fuck you guys.

Because now you're just crushing businesses while allowing... You know, they had all these big shopping malls open here. I'm surprised they didn't have the casinos open. Those are big businesses. They eventually did have them open, but not the bars and the restaurants and the shows inside. So you just have people running around,

licking the slot machines. And they're going crazy because there's nothing to do. You know, whereas actually you take them out, you stick them in a showroom for an hour and a half, at least they're probably safer there than they are anywhere else what was Vegas going through? that's gotta be

in a city that strives on tourism it gotta have fucked up the local economy yes I believe that to put it mildly it was like that moment that somebody threw my dog but without the moment that somebody caught my dog oh my god it was bad i mean it was and is and and will be bad you know it's going to take a long time to rebuild so how did you go how'd you get through it well we

i had i had this sort of you know i've like grown up thinking the worst is going to happen. Uh, are you religious? Uh, I was when I was younger. Like what? Like a vanjicle? Yes. My parents were evangel, evangelical Christians. And so I grew up thinking the apocalypse was coming. So, which does mean that I'm well prepared for, uh, any, any sniff of it. And, um, with this thing, I was in february mid-february i was like oh man they're gonna shut down the country and everyone who i everyone who i worked with or worked for me or or i knew was like they will never shut down america from us you know but

to me america's got two sides to it you've've got the freedom-loving side where you can't take anyone's guns, right? Yeah. But you've also got the HOA side. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You've got the side where you will buy a house. You will buy it. It's your house, okay? But you will let some crazy people tell you when you can take your bins out,

when you can or can't plant your your trees if your weeds are overgrown and if they don't like it they'll charge you money and you'll just give them money for that and i'm like okay how did you how do you keep these two thoughts in your head how are you like you'll never take my guns but you will take my plants i don't understand how that works you grew up, where'd you grow up, England? England What have you learned about Americans Through this pandemic Versus the people you know in England

You know like I mean the gun thing is a weird thing to the English Because it's a bit like It's like everyone over here has like These tortoises that they carry around You know And you're like Why have you got a tortoise?

And you're just like You never know, I might need it You know, I might need a tortoise And you're like why have you got a tortoise and you're just like you never know i might need it you know i might need a tortoise and you're like what well what did i mean what did you need it before i don't know have you used it does this come useful i've never had to use it no i just carry it for self-defense and you're like okay um because you know, the English, we're a melancholy people. Yeah, yeah. We don't want guns near us at all times because we may use them on ourselves. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, fuck. I didn't even think about that. Yeah. You guys are sad as fuck out there. You know, like the idea that you're going to suddenly wake up in the middle of the night, remember where the the weapon is go and get it and then like you know take out some righteous anger yeah uh is it's it's it's a it's a it's a difficult plan to execute that well it's the same kind of thing though but like

at least you guys are honest with your melancholy you know americans hide it with all this bullshit and you know not think about it you know it's like you guys like own your melancholy. Americans hide it with all this bullshit and not think about it. You guys own your melancholy. Yeah, we're out there with it. This is my... The reason I had to become a dragon was because my face was too grumpy. Really?

This is just my regular face. I'm very happy right now. And I look like I've got resting bitch face. I'm in a really good mood it is halftime at the andy fresco interview hour all right guys this is chad kakuza um we are currently in folly beach and um andy's making me drink way more than i usually do when i'm at home or anything. I mean, I'm just kind of an occasional drinker. But anyway, he's in the bathroom right now,

and I'm hiding in the closet on his podcast machine, just letting you guys know what's really going on. So, like, last night I didn't really want to go out. We had a percentage, like, whether it was going to be 50-50 or 70-30 or whatever. And, like, I was going to go home and stuff, and I started leaving. He kicked my leg out from under me, and I fell on glass and cut my hand open.

So I just wanted you guys to know, I mean, he needs help. I need help. I'm really stranded here, guys. Help me out. Who are you talking to? Who are you talking to? No, no, I wasn't talking to anybody, Andy. I want to talk about you growing up.

Like, being a magician for a really religious, I mean, were you doing magic shows for these guys? Like, was it? Yeah, I was doing gospel magic, spreading the word of the Lord through silk handkerchief magic tricks. So how were you? It's like kind of that same thing of going to the rock concert.

Well, I guess you're, you're playing to your audience there at the church. I would do it. Yeah. I mean, I would like, I would like,

cause at the time I was, I was, um, you know, I was a believer in it. So therefore I would spend a lot of time working out why the red handkerchief represented the blood of Christ and the white handkerchief represented the Holy Spirit. And the green handkerchief, that was more difficult.

That represented envy, maybe jealousy. And the blue handkerchief, I mean, it's just like, do we need all these handkerchiefs, guys? And if we do, by the way, God is all-knowing. And maybe you could have written some more appropriate Bible stories about Jesus' handkerchiefs guys and if we do by the way god is all knowing and maybe you could have written some more appropriate bible stories about yeah jesus handkerchief magic what's the craziest thing you really believe now that you're older you're like why did i believe wow i mean the crazy thing is is the heaven and hell thing that's the crazy thing but here's the thing it's like in there so deep like in because it was like you know i mean all my brain is forming as i was

growing up in that so it's it's right in there it's not coming out so therefore at the back of my mind i'm like but what if you know what if i get hit by that bus and then it's like, all right, ding, ding, ding. Turns out it's heaven or hell. And I'm like, come on, come on. You could have just, you could have made it a lot clearer. Yeah. I mean, is it the idea that heaven and hell to keep you in the religion? I mean, I'm sure it is and it's also but also like

the idea of eternity is just ludicrous because it's like what this never stops it never stops it just carries on it never stops this is never going to stop in it you know that's a mad that's a mad spiral to go down but the craziest thing is is that deep down there's a little bit of me that goes but what if it's right because there's no real way you know like there's always like yeah hey listen god wants you to believe so he's just going to pretend to not exist yeah you know there's no real argument to that yeah yeah but he doesn't exist aha mission accomplished hold on so why did you always think you were going to go to hell? Are you at guilt? Oh, no, no, no. Heaven's just as bad. Oh.

Yeah. Consciousness is the problem. So maybe you like melancholy. Just being in the middle. I don't like it. I believe I'm just wired that way. So who else was sad? Did you deal with mental illness in your family?

Yeah, all of them. What was going on? On my dad's side. What was going on with them? I think it's just... This is something that I don't think... I don't want to dramatize anymore because it's not...

The other day i went jogging and i'm gonna show you but not the audience because this is audio but look i like right i don't know what i did i went jogging once no i'm not even for that far by the way three miles and i and i did something to my plantar facetious or whatever it's called that that muscle that ruins your life yeah so i did that right there's no drama there like um you know i'm running i hurt my foot go to the doctors doctor puts you in the cast bang whereas this like depression is just like in england and i mean everywhere probably it's like it's got a real stigma to it so my family my my dad's side of the family and therefore

you know um my all of my family now um we definitely have to watch our mental health very carefully and take care of it but only in the same way that um that uh what's the last, I don't know. Like, I guess if you have diabetes, you have to watch, you know,

but maybe even, maybe even like less dramatic than that. I'm just trying to say like, what about weight? Same thing. Like weight. If you get a little overweight. Exactly.

Exactly. So, yeah, I mean, I absolutely have to watch that stuff and be careful, but, um, but generally, generally pretty, I mean, I absolutely have to watch that stuff and be careful. But generally, generally pretty happy little dragon.

Is it a lonely life doing this? I mean, you know that it is, right? But like on your side, you're by yourself. I have a band. Oh, I have a whole team. Oh, you have a whole team. So tell me, what's the hardest part about it? The pressure. The pressure. part about it? The pressure.

The pressure. Always under pressure. The pressure. The vice of the pressure. But if you know you're dope, why do you have pressure? You're telling me that you don't have pressure? I do, but if I stop thinking about the pressure, I think I execute

better. Do you work better with the pressure? No, but I know know you're saying when we're doing shows every night we don't have periods of being on tour and off tour yeah or uh in in a you know we're not when we don't really go into rehearsals to make the new show it's an ever-evolving thing yeah um and so so you know when you're on tour then it's a different it's a different thing and the pressure is hey let's we're going to do a great show tonight what happened with last night's show are we you know do we have the ticket sales in today do we have the publicity you know what's happening you know it's all of that stuff yeah um and then when you're living in a residency it's like you just see it all day, every day.

It's just that all day. It's just that all day, 24-7, 365 days a year. Damn, dude. That's hard work, man. It's hard, but I just love it. I just love doing the shows. Yeah. And so everything else is a price I'm happy to pay.

That's beautiful, man. So why did you decide, when did Flamingo hook up with you? Or why did you pick Vegas? Why didn't you just tour it? Magic is a weird thing. It's that it takes a long time to make this stuff. It takes like two years to make a magic trick really well. And you need to be in the same place.

I spoke a bit about it earlier. We've got this new trick with Jell-O that is now on the show and doing great. It sounds dumb, but we had to make a 10-pound Jell-O and work out how to get somebody's watch inside a sealed jar of peanut butter inside the Jell-O. So you know like the office when they had the stapler in the Jell-O? It's like that with a jar of peanut butter. Two years.

You can't be touring doing that. Hey, hey, you know, come on, let's get down to the bus. But wait, oh, I left the Jell-O in the fridge. You can't do that. Okay, so tell me how you think about magic tricks. They're like songs.

Tell me about it. They've got we've got some that are like now are the greatest hits that people want to see over and over again. We've got some that that now are the greatest hits that people want to see over and over again. We've got some that we're kind of working on

and we're kind of like trying to get it down to that three-minute, four-minute bit. And then we've got some which are just improv-y things that we can kind of like go a whole bunch of different ways during the trick to get to the end. But when I look at it, I'm like, okay, I want one upbeat magic trick, I want one slower magic trick,

I want one magic trick about this subject, one magic trick about this subject, and then we put them all together and that's the show. So it has this journey to it. So it's's an arc it's a set list like any show yeah yeah so where do you put your this the songs or the magic tricks like that everyone wants to see over and over again do you put that in the later part of the set or earlier like get it over with or what do you do early or like get it over with or what do you do uh yeah i put that um the following day in a in a parking lot in uh reno are you sick of doing the stuff you always done no that's what i was saying no i loved i for some reason i'm just it's just you know you know the

way different things connect with you and magic has always connected with me because it's like the same mechanics but a totally totally different feeling every time plus there's also that that um uh you know i'm i'm bad at all sports especially golf but i really like golf because i get to go out and sit on a you know those little carts that you can drive and um and it's it's outside in the sun and no one can get me. So I go out there. I just hit balls. I play happy golf. I have no interest whether I get it.

You know, I'll take 19 shots in a hole and go through, you know, 32 balls on the first nine. And I have no idea what the rules. So anyway, there is a thing with golf where you have the perfect swing right you hit it and it's and it's like effortless you're and it goes and the ball just travels for miles and then nine times out of ten you hit it and it's like don't don't don't don't and it like you have at the top you just like bury in the in the in the in the floor it goes up in the air it hits you on the head there's all of that stuff

but you live for the perfect swings and that's the same with the magic tricks sometimes you get these magic tricks and you get every beat of the trick correct and it's just like killer and then to be able to do a whole show full of those where every show is like the perfect shot that's like hitting the perfect round so you know it's like bowling the perfect game what do you remember the night you hit a perfect game yeah where was yeah i've only done it i don't even know the only one i really remember is um is and unfortunately it's it involves celebrities so let's just change their names. So I did this corporate gig in the UK.

It was horrible. And then I drove three hours in pouring rain and I only just learned to drive. So I almost died on this drive, right? Was the money worth it? What's that? Was the money worth it what's that was the money worth it no it was it was about 50 pounds or something holy shit it's 75 dollars so i drive i'm thinking god i'm gonna die and it's this club and it was the first time i performed for Mumford & Sons. And they were like, I'd met them in New York at this gig,

and they were like, you should come and do this show for us. And I said, yeah, sure, I'll do it. So I go, and it's in this tiny club, which is basically like every fire code violation you could ever want, which is the perfect club. Yeah, that's the best club for that type of stuff. Any time when you're all going to die together, that's when you know that you're in the right place. So the comedian before me goes on and he starts telling these jokes about Adele

and about how Adele's terrible or something like that. And he's a great comedian, but the audience just they i mean they're like adele yeah they're like they're like my funnest sons you know so so this guy is just like bombing hard hard and these jokes about adele they're pretty offensive i mean they're hilarious but they're very offensive yeah so there's like this just horrible like you really stuck up the room and then they go legend pessimistic dragon and i go on and all my music breaks you know i need i use a lot of music in the show and it all broke and i was like fuck so i just started doing my act without music and getting the audience to do like the music you know for me yeah and just something came together which again it's like

the perfect the perfect game it's never about you know you're just in the flow or whatever that is something came together and every trick was like everything every single thing i said was like hilarious people just laughing off their off their chair hilarious every joke was just a fucking miracle they said to me you got to do one more like i finished instant standing ovation from everyone in the room you got to do one more and i'm like i can't i don't have any material wait i know what i could do did one more like at the end of that bang instant standing ovation and um you know all the everyone just leapt to their feet, like just like, they like embraced me like a hero.

And I was like, oh yeah, it doesn't get better than this, does it? This is it. And I always think, you know, like it doesn't, like I love doing a show today, but I've achieved everything I've ever wanted to way before I got on TV or anything like that. Yeah. So were you packing rooms before you got on?

What was it, America's Got Talent? What were you on? Yeah. Yeah, so I moved to Vegas in 2013 to do a small part in a Vegas show, like a generic Vegas show. Did it. Loved Vegas. Wanted to stay here.

That show closed. So I went on America's Got Talent to try and get famous enough to have my to stay here. That show closed. So I went on America's Got Talent to try and get famous enough to have my own show here. Oh, so the whole plan was Vegas. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And the other plan was, there were two plans. One was, I need maximum exposure, minimum contract. I love that.

So I thought there was a guy called Terry Fato who's a ventriloquist has a poster in Vegas called the winner of America's Got Talent and I thought wouldn't it be great to have a poster that said Piff the Maddy Dragon the loser of America's Got Talent

who I went on the show to lose that's so smart obviously I had to get all the way to the finals you have to win every had to get all the way to the finals i had to you know you have to like win every round to get to the finals um but then i was going to shoot my dog out of a cannon because i knew that people were never going to vote for that so i didn't shut the dog out of the cannon next day flew home next day landed a show in vegas uh two weeks later the billboards go up piff the mighty dragon the loser of america's got talent do you believe in um you know put like intuition or not intuition but like i'm gonna do something and it's gonna

happen right i wish i did i have this thing of i'm gonna do something but it's never gonna happen well it's the worst it's like i mean you got guilt, man. Who fucked you up? Well, life. I believe everyone is messed up in some way. Yeah? Did you have a good relationship with your parents? You know, it's like, you know, all these gurus. And then it turns out that there's some horror story going on in the background.

Yeah, my parents are great. My parents are very, very supportive and so did they say do magic like what what how young were you when you started this dream um i was about 13 14 i started juggling and that was uh pretty difficult and then i and then i turned and then i found magic and i was like hey this is great because when you mess up you can just change the ending and nobody knows can you get like pussy or dick get being a magician young in your life yes not well i mean not as a 13 or 14 year old no but when you start when you start getting good at it um then it's it's it's frightening i mean even when you're wearing a dragon outfit it's frightening yeah but thank god

i've um i've been with uh jay my girlfriend who's in the show as well actually for like six six six years now oh god that is uh that is a that is a shit show being single tell me okay tell me about that six years now so that was you're in Vegas for the first couple years being single. Yes. So what was it like? It was a nightmare. Tell me about it. It's just like, you know, at the end of the day, not all of us,

but I just want to meet someone and have a great relationship, have a partnership, have a team. Me and you, we're going to do it. And that's not the case when you're living in Vegas and passing, you know, passing each other like trains that um uh have these horrific crashes hold on explain that explain that so are you hooking it's like you can't hook up with locals but you also for loneliness sakes if you hook up with the tourists and they just and you fall for one and they bail i mean it's like anything kind of lose-lose. You've got work colleagues. You've got strangers that you meet. You've got people who are local and various combinations.

But I met some very nice people, and I also was very grateful when I didn't have to meet those nice people anymore. I feel that. That's why I stay on the road. I never had a girlfriend. Right. The road life is like madness. Would you ever do it again or do you like the residency life? No, we actually spent five years doing five days a week in Vegas and two days on the road. How was that? Every week.

Every week. How was that? We did 400 shows a year. What the – you are a psychopath. I love you. This is – I believe psychopath is correct. Yeah, it was just like – I mean, I had no idea where I was for about four years.

Did that burn you out? Oh, yeah. What was the worst part about it? It's just the kind of constant exhaustion, really. I love doing, again, I really love doing the shows, and I will do anything to do the shows, but that was a little too far. So what were you doing? You're doing four nights or five nights in Vegas.

How many shows a day? Normally one, sometimes two, and then we would go get a red eye somewhere. So we might land, if it's a club, we'll land Thursday morning, do morning press, get off the plane, do press, do one show Thursday, two Friday, three Saturday, one Sunday, or we'd fly back Sunday and do a show in Vegas.

And various combinations of that. So sometimes we would do Friday, Saturday at a club. And then over the last couple of years, we just did theater. So we were doing Friday, Saturday theater shows. Is this all you know? It's all I want to know. Yeah. Yeah.

So what about like, do you know yourself? Or are you just like suppressed and you work all day? No, I think I, well, I spent, so I was like,

I was ill in my early 20s. So I didn't know myself growing up until I was like 22, 23. What kind of illness? I had pancreatitis. Oh, fuck. What kind of illness? I had pancreatitis, which is a chronic pancreatitis. And you get that from drinking a lot. But I actually got it from a birth defect in my pancreas,

which meant that people didn't really give me a lot of sympathy because they thought I drunk myself to it. Which, by the way way even if i had i you would still deserve sympathy hell yeah that's painful yeah so i cried parenthesis for four years i was on morphine i had an open prescription on morphine which i guess would be like oxycodone now or whatever um and and a whole bunch of other things. So I had to like, wean myself off all of that stuff over a period of, you know, those four years. I had a big operation, which was like, a bit touch and go as to whether I was going to get through it, but I did get through it.

So by the time I got to 26, 27, I kind of just about figured out, got over things. And then so from 26, 27 to about 31, then I did get to like spend some time myself and figure out who I was. And then when I came over here and did America's Got Talent, then it's been like this great journey. So, um, and this isn't forever. This is for, you know, I mean, how old can you be in a dragon outfit? I mean, you never know. I think it's a scary thing is it's going to be one of those because people never know, you know, the person who's doing it, they never know when it's, when it's over.

You know, it's always the outside people who are going, going god isn't it sad that he's still doing that so fuck him so we'll see whether a 75 year old guy in a dragon outfit is still as hilarious as it is but it may well be because it's um it's just got funnier and funnier and the stuff we're doing today is the best things is the best material i've ever done so what about the end like you talk about always doomsday do you always think about when it's when this is gonna end versus just oh yeah every day every day i wake up like that oh god it must be stressful man yeah but you know it's like i just do i do what I can to alleviate it and then just try and get through the rest of it. That's beautiful, man.

That is beautiful. Thanks for being on the show, Piff. You're the man. Hey, thanks for having me. It's so nice. It's refreshing to talk to someone who's grinding just as hard, but it's the same.

I mean, I think there's so many parallels with musicians, comedians, magicians, the whole nine. I mean, we're on the road being vulnerable and being picked apart by Yelp comments and travel advisor. I mean, you got to have a tough fucking skin to do this thing. Yeah, you got to, Taylor says it. One of the nice things that I found was I got adopted by Penn and Taylor basically.

They've been real friends and mentors to me. And Taylor says, the job is like you're walking across a baseball field and someone just smashes you in the face with a baseball bat and your job is to keep walking. And it's just like, oof. What did they teach you about the industry? They've been in Vegas for so long. What did they teach you about keeping a show around?

I mean, you have to work on it. Everything, you have to change. You have to evolve. You have to grow. You have to reinvent yourself. And they're the masters of it. I just saw their new show last night, and it's stunning. Like, oh, God.

So who were your idols growing up? It was people like Penn and Teller and a couple of English magicians like Jerry Sadowitz. And then a lot of comedians. But yeah, I mean, like, you must have this, like, people that you grew up idolizing and somehow years later you get to just hang out with yeah it's just like what are they what do you expect them to be or or is it like don't meet your idols i've had there are some there are some people who are douchebags but not you know hardly any is it competitive are people really like supporting each other's shows i'm a dragon no what you're gonna compete with the dragon how in how insecure do you have to be to be worried about piff the magic dragon

well keep rocking buddy i appreciate your time i know you're a busy guy um i'll leave with this i'm gonna come to vegas and watch the gig we got it we got it i love it yeah we'll have dinner together as well i would would love that, brother. One last question, I'll let you go. What do you want to be remembered by, Piff the Magic Dragon? Oh, this is bullshit. My friend said to me,

he was an actor, and he said, well, yeah, I moved away from theater to film because I wanted to have something that would leave a legacy. And I'm like, buddy, 10 years after you're dead, 10 years after you're dead, 20 years after you're dead, the dust will be blown away. Maybe if you really make a mark, you've got 100 or 200 years on it.

But it's like, I'm happy to be blown away in the sands of time. I'm not into this eternal shit. So being present is the most important thing to you yeah i want to i want to give people the gift of giving people a night when they can laugh like a deep belly laugh and make all their troubles will lift for like 75 minutes if i can do that that is a gift that is uh that is unbelievably valuable in this day and age. And also having a room with people together, laughing at the same things where we are now, that's, that's necessary. Yeah. Especially, you know, taking a year off of, you know, taking for granted, um, you know, companionship. I mean, that's important. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thanks for being on the show, Piff.

Your show's at Flamingo. You moved up to the big stage. Let's fucking go, big guy. Let's get this shit. Big stage, exactly. Yeah, Thursday through Monday, 7pm. So, what was the gap between small stage

and big stage? How many more tickets do you have to sell? Well, it depends because it's socially distanced. But my old theater could only ever seat 200 and the new one seats 800 maximum. What about when it goes back to normal? We were sold out for two years in a small room. Let's fucking go.

I think we can get 3, 4, 5, 600. The low tide will be 300 and then when we're busy it'll be five six 700 which would be great well congrats bro i'm proud to know you and i'm i'm gonna keep supporting you keep doing your thing bro stay in touch buddy hey buddy have a good one later that was great magician on the world saving podcast piff awesome, funny. I really enjoyed that. All right, I'll catch you on the tail end.

And we're back. Piff the Magic Dragon. Piff, dude, what an interesting character. You were fucking sleeping through the whole fucking thing again. Hey, man, I looked him up. He's an interesting guy. Chad Cuckoo's on the show, my vacation buddy. We've been on so many vacations.

We've been together a little over a week now, and it feels like it's been about three months. We're drinking a lot. We're taking the day off, Andy. We're taking the day off today. It's movie night. Yeah, we need one. Jesus.

We've got to give a chance for our brain cells to high-five each other and remember who they are. Remember last night? We're like, all right, what're not, we're going to, what's the percentage of us leaving this bar and going to watch a movie? Well, it fluctuated. I think we were like, let's just leave it at 50-50 for now. And then you're like, I don't know,

I think it's more like 70-30. That we're staying at the bar. And we're like, yeah, the chances of us are going home, keep going up. And then like, here comes three o'clock in the morning again, bud. Shit. Jesus, fuck. We do drink a lot in Charleston.

Or when we're together, we do drink a lot. Yeah, I don't drink this much when I'm chilling by myself. We were talking about this, because when we're together, there's no fucking guy to say no. No. We need to start learning how to say that ourselves andy we're getting to that age i know dude we were i thought it was bad when we were on the golf carts and those girls came and like just like they were hammered and they're like they had the bottle of vodka yeah who the hell are those people

bottle of vodka she's like Who the hell are those people? Bottle of vodka. She's like, do you mind if we just hold it here? All right, just follow us. I didn't know it was there. We just cruise off, and then those bottles are rolling out into the street. Oh, my Jesus. We are going to get arrested.

But it was fun. I love Charleston. Isn't this a great city? It's great, man. The weather's beautiful. The people are nice. We were talking about, I was talking about in the opening segment while you were sleeping, about our first tour experience, like your first ever tour. What was yours?

Wow. What was it like? Man, I got to really think back on that. Was it with Spoonfed Tribe? Yeah. Yeah. First tour of Spoonfed Tribe probably back in like 99-ish. Holy shit.

I mean, I was fresh out of high school just jumping in this bus that we converted over to what we called our tour bus. It was a 1979 International Awards school bus. 1979 International Awards school bus. You know, the first tour, I do remember we took it down to New Orleans and we just had like a couch and like some old carpet and like a beanbag or something like that. And we're like, let's go to New Orleans, dude. We don't even have any gigs, but we'll play on the streets for Mardi Gras. Let's roll.

I mean, you would do that. You'd basically just hop in the van and just do these street parties. Yeah. Yeah, man. That's kind of how we got started, man, to mardi gras jazz fest and how'd you make money were you always losing money in the beginning well i mean we would just it was like tips dude we'd have these big signs that'd be like say like you know if we were down in new orleans we'd have these signs that say balcony jams two hundred dollars obo Orleans, we'd have these signs that say, Balcony Jams, $200 OBO.

$200 our best offer. And I mean, dude, literally we would make, you know, $200 in a street performance and we'd take all the money and all the ones and change and we'd go dump it on the bar and be like, how much beer can we get for this? Yeah, basically that's what we get for this? Yeah. Damn.

Yeah. Yeah. Basically, that's what we did. We basically would just get 200 bucks. We were getting like 200, 300 bucks a night for the first seven years. Yeah. And we would just sleep at the fucking bartender's house or sleep in the fucking shitty basement of the fucking venue. Yeah.

For years. We would have like 12 people piled up on the floor of this bus just thinking we made it already. Speaking of making it, have you heard of this company called Repsy? I've been hearing you talk about it a lot. Why don't you tell me a little bit about it? I will. It's not basically an agency.

It's not a booking agency. It's a partnership. You're making a partnership with the band. So you could put your band profile on their site and they'll find you gigs. And even if you have an agent, then they don't take a fee.

Like it says, also if you don't have an agent, it's 10%. Oh, they do take a fee. It's 10%. If you do have an agent, we will handle your private and small club bar bookings for free. So if you have an agent and they give you some shows, they'll do it for free. It's not a bad deal. Yeah, and if you don't have an agent,

it's 10%. I mean, it's a win-win. Repsy is never going to force something to raise their prices or dictate how you do business. This is your band. It's a win-win situation. They're just a partner in your band. So why not sign up for Repsy? Go to Repsy.com.

There's a lot of bands that listen to this. I wouldn't bullshit you about this. It works. What is there to lose? Nothing. Go sign up for Repsy, Repsy.com, and get yourself a booking agent. And if you have a booking agent,

why not have two fucking booking agents, right? Hey, have somebody else do it for you. Another guy. That's the hardest part about being in a band is getting the shows. Yeah. Getting everybody to the shows, managing everything. Yeah. And like, you know, when we were first growing up in this thing, we booked all our own shows for years.

Yeah. You did too. Yeah. I see you hustling. Still do, cuz. You still do, cuz. I see you. Go sign up on Repsy. Get some more gigs. Yeah, I'll have to give that a whirl. Well, there you have it. Still do, cut. You still do, cut. I see you. Go sign up on Repsy.

Get some more gigs. I'll have to give that a whirl. Well, there you have it. We had a great show tonight. Great week. What are we going to do for next week? You just added your trip for another week. Yeah.

We'll be here all the way until May 2nd out here in Charleston. If you want to hang out with us, just find us on Instagram. Find Chad. He at Spoonfed517? 817. Spoonfed817. And you know where I am. Let's go out and party.

So we're not drinking tonight. No, we're chilling. We're going to make soup. And we're going to watch movies. You say that. We're going to fucking binge drink. We're going to get out right after we're done with this podcast. We're going to get in the fucking golf cart and head to this next bar.

I guess we maybe go for a little ride. You got any motivation for these people today? Yeah. Here we go. Listen up, guys. You can just chill back some days, not do any drinking. Or you can get on the golf cart and go cruise every street in Folly Beach and go to all the bars.

Not one, not two. I think there's about 20 of them. But we're going to hit them all, bud, on our day off. We'll see you next week. We'll see you next week. Save the world and spread the word. Please subscribe, rate the show, give us those crazy stars. iTunes, Spotify, wherever you're picking this shit up. Follow us on Instagram at world saving podcast for more info and updates. Fresco's blogs and tour dates you'll find at andyfresco.com.

And check our socials to see what's up next. Might be a video dance party, a showcase concert, that crazy shit show. Or whatever springs to Andy's wicked brain. a showcase concert, that crazy shit show, or whatever springs to Andy's wicked brain. And after a year of keeping clean and playing safe, the band is back on tour. We thank our brand new talent booker, Mara Davis.

We thank this week's guest, our co-host, and all the fringy frenzies that helped make this show great. Thank you all. And thank you for listening. Be your best, be safe, and we will be back next week. No animals were harmed in the making of this podcast as far as we know. Any similarity, facts, or facts are purely coincidental.