Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - Everybody Loves Raymond Creator, Phil Rosenthal, on Happiness, Travel, and Fear

Episode Date: March 17, 2026

Andy sits down with Phil Rosenthal, the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond and host of Somebody Feed Phil, for a deep, funny, and surprisingly real conversation about life, travel, and finding joy. Topics include: Overcoming fear of the unknown Why travel is the ultimate life hack, loneliness, success, and building a meaningful life Hollywood, rejection, and reinventing your career Why most people are better than their governments Phil shares stories from around the world and breaks down how to stay positive without ignoring reality. #everybodylovesraymond#WorldSavingPodcast  #Travel #Happiness #MindsetShift #LifeAdvice #SomebodyFeedPhil #AndyFrasco 

And we're live. I've been here since 1130. And it's 4.30 p.m. Nick has been here for five hours just to do a 10-minute opening for Phil Rosenball. I got a lot of clips on. Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast. I'm Andy Frasco. How's our heads?

How's our minds? How's our fucking clips doing? Really good, actually. I'm going to post one right now while you bring this up. I'm just kidding. Wow. It's a big day in Frasco business. I don't know why I said that.

Sounds so corny. You know when you're just so tired? Yeah. That like nothing helps. Yeah, it's like all the time. God, that sounds like depression. I'm an insomnia. That sounds like sadness.

No. I just like I, I've been sleeping at 9.30, so I've been like trying to like get back to Denver time and Denver party little party vibes. Yeah. And it's not working. You tied it on last night? I hung out with Devin Alman and heard about the Alman brothers, learned about the Alman brothers. He never came over today.

He didn't. He's probably a sound check by now. Are you going to go to his show tonight? I want to go to the hockey game. Oh, yeah, the hockey game. You want to do that? No. What do you want to do?

I'm going to prep for tomorrow. Are you sad? You got sad vibes. I'm just tired. I'm tired, too. Did you not go to, what? I went to Ophilius last night. Yeah, but like, what times do you go to bed?

It was a hard to go to bed? One, 130. What time do you wake up? Nine. You are an insomnia. Yeah. I wake up all the time in the middle of the night. It's hard for me to...

I don't hit REM very often. No. I got to be completely... And don't come in my DMs, give me sleep tips, guys. So sick of that. People always do that. I'm like, okay, thanks. I had to get a physical.

Yeah? That's good. The doctor said I'm 20 pounds overweight. 20 pounds overweight? Yeah. Do I look it? No, that's weird. I don't know.

Doctors are bullshit. but um Jesus Nick What a fucking Well it's like You should have called him fat I'm fine Got a clean dick

I got to clean blood And get clean everything Clean dick and then blood Dick then blood Anyway we have Phil Rosenthal On the show Everybody loves Ray Everyone he created everyone loves Raymond

God he's probably so rich He probably is Dude sick how money is insane Do you think so? yes it was like the biggest sitcom on yeah because he's saying he's saying he doesn't do everyone feed Phil or feed Phil feed his show yeah yes

someone feed Phil what on Netflix he says that doesn't make a lot of money he doesn't need it he's he doesn't need it he's money those syndicated sitcoms make but he does it for love I would love to have a travel show like that just eat and hang out and talk to people he's like his show's just as big as Bourdain it's a lot of work though

you're traveling all the time you know travels where you get paid for the travels what they say. He was interviewing me while he was on the treadmill. He was interviewing you? He was interviewing you? I was interviewing him.

This I'm so tired. It's like I can't get into REM sleep unless I sleep by myself. What if he had a medical event while he was on the treadmill that would have been a good clip. What? Nothing.

Never mind. So fucking stupid. What else is going on, Nick? How's, uh, how's Julie doing? Oh, man. She's doing fine. I don't want to talk too. much because we have a live podcast we got to do. Yeah, we're getting ready for

nothing really. I mean, everything's just the same pretty much. Yeah. It's chugging along. Um, waiting for it all. You are killing it. Nick has taken over the YouTube. It's going great. It's fucking crushing. I'm doing great. I'm so good at it. I can't believe how big it's getting. It's getting bigger. We're at 4,500 subs. I can't believe that. 4,500 subs. We had zero in October, beginning of October. What's your philosophy? Just keep going. Every day. Don't get yelled at by Andy. I haven't yelled at you.

I know. I yelled at you a couple weeks ago. You were yelling at other people, though, really. I was yelling at everyone. It was weird, because I was doing someone else's job, and you were kind of yelling at them through me. I was like, I was like in the middle of when I fired Sean, so it was just like, fucking, yeah, yeah, it was fucking tough.

I thought he quit. He quit. Yeah, he quit. Got to go. Hey, guys, so, um, anyway, um, love yourself. And, uh, be you. And be grateful to be you. We do the Avalanche play tonight.

Fucking Minnesota Wild. They're pretty good. Dude, it's one and two. Yeah. It's going to be a fun game. Do you think we'll get the live pod done in time? Yeah. You can be late.

I can be late. What time do those games when we start at? 7.30? 7.30? I don't know. 730. Fuck, I forgot. Oh, we have so much shit to do.

And then tomorrow we have three interviews. Three interviews. Hopefully maybe they'll cancel. Should we tell them who we're interviewing? No, because what if it? Because he already canceled one or you like had to reschedule once, so I don't want to do that. We'd have Gogobobordello, though. coming into the studio.

They're going to be in studio. Yeah, yeah. Neil's pissing his pants over it. Ooh, little poppy. He loves Google Bordello. Yeah, that's the only time will actually show up early. This fucking guy doesn't even show up anymore.

Yeah. He's like, I want to work really hard on the podcast. And then I haven't seen him since. Well, he's been in Hawaii, and then he's probably in Japan. How does this guy have money? I don't know. We've talked about this before,

and I still haven't figured it out. I don't understand it. Since then. He's ordering double-strong alcohol drinks. He's going to nice restaurants. Where's that at? You hung out with him? You hang out with him?

I hang out with him. I like hanging out with Neil. He's fucking funny as hell. He's good to hang out with, yeah. He's really good. He's a good boy. Anyway, one of these weeks, you'll see Neil and talk to Neil.

I haven't seen him in like two months, actually, no I think about it. Really? I can't remember the last time I ran into him. He's been on tour. He sidebarred me. He's like, hey, man, sorry about the Sean thing. I'm here for you.

That's like really nice. Trying to get Sean's gig on guitar? He's going to have a rotop back. rode a pad some guitar licks he plays guitar oh he does i think so all these berkeley school guys are like you know i'll play five instruments he sat in with the special ones on guitar really you play a bunch of instruments right how was that dutch uh johnny show that's fun it was like electronic music with beats oh cool all right that's all we're talking about okay yeah because we got to do a live pod yep goodbye enjoy phil rosenthal bye hey phil how you doing buddy i'm all right i'm on the elliptical like

all the Hollywood big shots. We take our calls on the move. Yeah, so like, what's it? I want to know, like, what is like the perfect day in your, in your existence of what do you describe a perfect day? Okay, so I get up in the morning. I say hi to the wife. I say I'm grateful for everything that I have.

I say it's going to be a great day. It already is a great day because I woke up and I have my wife. of 36 years next to me and my dog Murray at the foot of my bed. And then, you know, I do like everybody else, I go in the other room. I get my phone. I see what people have done today or are doing to us today. I worry a little. I laugh a little.

I show stuff to my wife. And then I get up. and at 745, I take my re-usually on a walk into town, which is a good half-hour walk. And it's Larchmont Village. Larchmont, have you been to Larchmont Boulevard? I haven't, no. It's a very sweet, almost Mayberry type of Main Street, USA. And I go to my favorite little coffee shunk, and I meet friends that I've accumulated over the years.

and we sit on the porch outside, kind of like a paradise that you're sitting in right now, without the terrorism. Without the cartel, yeah. Yes. And we have coffee for, you know, 45 minutes, sometimes an hour. People bring treats. And we formed this beautiful little community. And then I go and stop in on the diner that we opened, on the diner that we opened, on the same block.

And that is paradise for me because it's just a very nice version of a diner. How do you find that sanctuary when you're on the road working on doing your show? You know, the show is such a wonderful thing.

It's become this calling card to the world. So I guess I'm a little like an ambassador of goodwill. And wherever I go, I find that people know the show. That's the power of Netflix, right? Right, right.

They come up to me. And so a community is wherever I find it. And sometimes when I don't know anybody, I'll be at the coffee shop and I'll strike up a conversation because the show also made me a little braver in that way that I could say hi to people and they usually wouldn't try to kill me. Yeah, right? And like, that's how I'm like kind of asking, like, how do you find, how do you find the good in some of these like really high poverty towns that you're going to or this? How do you find the soul and how to find optimism for these people that some people are just kind of going through a hard time? Because you're Mr. Optimism like like me.

That's a fantastic, a fantastic question. And it's what kept me from going to a place like Mumbai for seven years of doing the show. I didn't know how do I do my feel-good happy show in a place with such dire poverty. And then it hit me. And maybe I'm not too fast, but it hit me after six seasons. Listen, we go and we try to help someplace wherever we go. We try to do some charitable moment because there are real heroes in the world who are doing wonderful things. and they're a giant part of visiting a place. You find out, you get ideas, ideas you can bring home with you, you know,

of just how to be a human being. And you realize how much good there is in the world. And that's what keeps me optimistic. It's not that I'm kind of manufacturing a polyana-ish attitude in my brain. I'm seeing greatness in the world. I'm seeing beauty in the world. I've seen amazing people in the world doing things. So I thought you go to Mumbai, you still have a good time.

You still are happy. There's a lot of gorgeous culture, locations, cultural things, food, especially, you know, where the Indian food is really good. India. Yeah, right? So it's spectacular. And then, yes, you're confronted with poverty. And so what happens is you try to help. You're not going to fix everything.

But as a tourist, which is all I am, really, I can do my little share. And maybe I can do a little more because I'm broadcasting it to the world. The things that can be fixed and the things where there are heroes who help. Why it takes seven years for you to feel in your heart that you were a hero? I'm not a hero. I'm still not a hero. I'm just pointing out.

I'm just pointing out the goodness of other people and participating a bit, which is all anybody needs to do. Yeah. No, it's like you're such a good person. Maybe I did that question wrong. It's more of why to take seven years for you to finally say, I could do this in Mumbai? I was afraid. I was afraid that I didn't realize that the take. on it. And the take is simply, you do the show, you show all the great places to eat,

you show the beautiful culture, you show the amazing people, and then you leave the place a tiny bit better than you found. And you have every right to enjoy your life, even if there is terrible in the world, just try to take a portion of your great life and spread it around a bit. Yeah, I totally agree. Why do you think people are afraid of travel then? Our biggest fear is the unknown. Yeah. We don't know what's going to happen.

Listen, if I don't spend the money on travel, I will have that money in case it rains, you know, and if something happens, they don't realize what they're missing. That's really it. We all have a fear of the unknown. So I always say, just try it because the worst thing that happens is you don't like it. it. But now you're not afraid anymore because the unknown becomes known. Totally. And you realize you have nothing to be afraid of. So why are people waiting until retirement and waiting until they're old and can't walk and can't move to actually travel? I've always so, so, so weird about

that. I know I tell everybody, don't wait. Go while your legs still work. Go while you still have breath in your lungs to get you up the hill to see the beautiful view. You're never going to be as young as you are right now. No matter how old you are, you're only getting older. So go while everything still works. I tell people, pretty soon it's going to be called somebody push Phil. Someone will push Phil. And will you still do the show if you need to be pushed?

Yes. I want to do it until I drop dead. Of course. Right. This would be a very good moment for me to drop dead. it for you. Oh, man. No, it's like, have you ever, like, you know, I'm dealing with this thing right now where

the cartels forcing me to stay at home? Have you ever had to deal with, like, a government overtake while you're traveling in these countries? I don't have to travel to have a government overtake my country, do I? Tell them, tell them, Phil. I get to experience it right here. How about those? I met a woman yesterday.

She flew to my show in Vancouver, who came from Minneapolis. And I said, God bless you. You're doing, you know, I know what you're putting up with. She started to weep because it's so hard. We don't even know. The news doesn't even cover half of what these people are going through. To see your neighbors taken away, to see them violently killed. It's a horrible, immoral, disgusting thing that's happening.

and we can't just I'm Mr. you know I don't get into politics but how is this political this is a question of humanity yeah this is a question of being a human being exactly when does it take what

it's like I mean we're travelers I'm a musician I do 250 shows a year Phil I'm out there in the world moving and grooving and like I worry about the perception of how people perceive American people just because of how the government is running America. And I was asking you the same question.

Do you get these weird perceptions when you're traveling that, oh, he's just an American? Or they're like, you're Phil, the fuck. You're our guy. You're our best friend. Like, how do you? So just like I get to be, I get to be Phil. You get to be you.

And what I found in the world is, because I've been through other, let's call them, regimes that were popular around the world, right? We've been in the country where other things have happened. The world is connected in a very beautiful way. Believe it or not, the Internet is the thread that binds us. I'll be in Vietnam and someone will get an alert on their phone the same moment I get an alert on my phone of news. oh my god he did what right right right and so they react not politically but as human beings to the outrage of it to the to the to the unbelievable inhumanity of it and we are bound there are

more let me give you a little hope while you're sitting there waiting for the cartel to go away most people are sweet and nice like you most people are kind and generous like you most people are kind and want to live in peace with their neighbors, even in the Middle East where I'd been. I did a show in Israel before the recent troubles over the last couple years. But I went to a town called Akko, and I was told, you know, Jews and Arabs both live in this town. And I go, really, that must be rough, huh? They say, you have to see.

So I go, I'm a little nervous, and I think, you know, it's going to be high noon and they're going to meet in the town square and there's going to be trouble. You know what happens? They meet in the town square and they have lunch like they do every day. Exactly. And the mosque is next to the synagogue and they celebrate each other's festivals and holidays and Russia Shana and Ramadan. It doesn't matter. They want to live in peace. Most of the world wants to live in peace.

And I'll say something else that to generality, most people are so much better than their governments. Right. So why are we so fascinated with fear? We can't help it. It's our ancient brains. We're programmed to have fear for self-preservation. But at a certain point, as evolved creatures, we have to let our sense of reason overtake the sense of fear. Exactly. And our sense of humanity and brotherhood and sisterhood, we have to, you know, there's strength when we come together. I'm counting on all of us getting together and throwing the bums out. Right. But it goes past that. It goes like existentially. Fear is stopping us from actually following our dreams too. Absolutely, which is why I'm Mr. Advocate for travel. Yeah. I mean, that's the thing.

like when did we stop believing in dreams? I don't know that we did. I think there's plenty of dreamers less, and I think there's more of us than them. The people who stop believing in dreams are the few people who still think this regime is worth something. You love your bands, don't you?

You really love your bands. If you really want to love your bands and you really love your bands, I want to support them the real way, head to volume.com and subscribe. Volume.com! Yes, this is the best live stream company in the business. Get your bands paid.

You can subscribe for five bucks a month. The shows are super quality. They have great cameras, great audio, backstage footage, extra live streams. You want to get closer to the artist too? Where you get to meet us. Like, I'm doing Monday morning motivations where we could all have coffee together and talk about how we're going to achieve and attack the week.

So this is how you could support your favorite artists. head over to volume.com and let's get personal. I have an iron stomach as well. When did the moment that you become having an iron stomach? Have you ever gotten super food poisoned out there? One time. What happened? One time, I've traveled the world and to one place I got food poisoning,

San Francisco. Not Mumbai, not Vietnam, not Thailand, not Thailand, not Hong Kong. San Francisco. Yeah. Never in Mexico, never. Never. What about water? Drink of water different places.

It's fine. Bottle water to be safe. But I listen, I do that in American cities too. Yeah, I mean, I'm not drinking, I'm not drinking Tucson tap water. I don't know what's in it. I don't. Yeah. Listen, if I brush my teeth and I rinse my mouth, it's fine from the tap, right?

But when I'm drinking water, when I'm bottled water, in most places. Any cities you haven't been to that you want to go to? Oh yeah, so many. There's countries I haven't been to. You won't believe it. I haven't been to Greece in my life. Never?

Never. Whoa. Dude, that's where I go to Santerini every year. It's like my favorite spot. So I know Santerini is kind of the touristy place and that to experience Greece, you want to get out from Santerini and hit the other islands that aren't as popular.

But I'm, I'm sure Santerini's gorgeous. I see the white buildings and the blue water is spectacular. Yeah, for me, I'm a single man, so it's not like I don't have a honeymoon. I'm not like trying to make love with my woman out there. I'm just out there to hang out with the locals and go hang out with the bar tenders. Well, I'm just trying to make love with my woman after 30-60. Yeah, that's another question.

How do you keep a relationship healthy when you're on the road so much? That is what keeps it healthy. That's what I try to convince my girl. And she's like, I don't know. I don't think there's a couple on earth who won't admit that a little away time makes it a little better. Yeah. If you're together 24-7 in this kind of fairy tale romantic love fallacy, I think everyone needs a break from anything.

It doesn't mean I don't love. person. But when you go away, I even say this to people going on their vacation together. You're never thrown together more in life than when you travel with someone, right? Right. You're on the plane together.

You're in the hotel together. You're sightseeing together. You're eating every meal together. What if take a day where you say, you're going to the museum, I'm going for a walk this way. I'll meet you at lunch. Right.

And people are afraid of separation. Why are people afraid of separation? You have, but then, you have something to talk about at lunch. What did you do? What did you do? Oh my God, take me there. Let's go to it. Now it's exciting.

So that's like a microcosm to me of life. Yeah, exactly. You have to have your own life so that you can bring that life to the relationship. Totally. When, when is the moment you felt the most lonely in your life? Before I met my wife, honestly.

Really? What were you going through? loneliness, depression, maybe there is nobody for me. Is it a true, it's a nice to have something? Were you a workaholic? No, because I couldn't get that either. Oh, really? It was hard.

I bet, man. Listen, I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theater. I don't have to tell you when you move into New York City, the whole world was open to you with that degree. Yeah, totally. So I was a guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I worked selling farm and implement cleaner on the phone. I was a bartender.

I had all these odd jobs. But you know what? I have to say this. Maybe it's just my nature. It was always happy in a way because we have in this country still the freedom to pursue happiness. That's one thing I love about America. Yes, that in and of itself. That's the most beautiful phrase in the declaration.

When did we forget that? When did we forget the pursuit of happiness? When money took over. It's not all about money. Right. Right? I know. It's sad.

Look, I've made a dream job for myself, right? Right. I do not make money from this at all. I do not. If you knew what I got, you would be very surprised. I've seen these Netflix deals. I know,

I know how much you're working. It ain't that much, doggy. But I get to live that life. And so I've been so lucky in my life because I made my money before this. Yeah. Still, between everybody loves Raymond and somebody, Phil was 10 years. I don't want I wanted to ask you, like, you know, you're an actor at heart.

When you had to feel like you had to, like, go into creating the other side of it, do you feel like you're defeating yourself? No, I was just as happy. At first, because it was a talent I didn't know I had. And it was almost like, oh, wait a minute, I can hit a baseball. Oh, yeah, that's good. I like that. So I enjoyed that just as much.

I never thought while Raymond was on, I should be in the, I was never thinking that. People saying, why didn't you put yourself and everybody loves Raymond? I say, because I cared about that. You never got jealous of Ray Lamato? Ray Romano? Yeah, you ever get jealous of him? Like, this motherfucker's taking all the fame.

Never. He deserved it. And so did the rest of the cast. You did too. And I got on the... I was well rewarded. We got awards. We had fun times.

It was the happiest place on earth was to be in that writer's room with my buddies that I'm still friends with. This year we're celebrating 30 years since we premiered. Dude. That's where I first met you. I was actually the house band for your documentary during Sundance. What? You're right.

Yeah, man. I was the band for that. You guys did your premiere at Sundance. You mean Austin Film Festival, right? No, Sundance. Was I at Sundance? I thought it was Sundance. Your documentary about everyone loves Raymond.

Everybody loves Raymond went to Russia. That's how I met you. That was everybody loves Raymond. Yeah, the Russian documentary. Exporting Raymond. Yeah. That premiered at the Austin Film Festival. Yes.

Then I played that show. Amazing. It was crazy. But that's when I first got to know you and like how to how you explored your career and how you still brought optimism through the new. And it's hard to promote happiness through the unknown. And you said you've always been that way. And like, I'm the same way. Yes.

Trying to find happiness through the darkness. Have you ever had a point in? Like, how did you just still believe in yourself when you're going through your depression, going through your loneliness before you affect your wife? Did you always knew that you're going to get through this? No. No. You don't know until that, but I do know.

No. I do know that no one's waiting for you. I tell this to young people. They're not waiting. You think you're graduating from college and everybody's waiting to give you the job you always wanted. No, you have to make it yourself. The way I broke into writing was because none of us struggling for years and years. I mean, six, seven years of nothing.

we got reached a point maybe call it desperation where we wrote something for ourselves to be in and don't you know that was the ticket and at the same time a friend of mine said you want to write a screenplay with me he was already a writer and he thought I was funny you want to write a screenplay with me yes and we sold it and so sometimes the world presents you

with what you're supposed to be. Fucking nuts, dude. Yes. But here I was going down this road and the road right next to me. So you just have to basically open your eyes. Yes. Try different things. If you're a kid, you know, take that job.

So the power is being. Yes. Be open to stuff. Say yes to things. So Phil, is the power of, the power is being present. Yeah. be open to taking jobs that maybe you weren't good. You think I wouldn't like this.

My daughter, very good example. My daughter is a beautiful, talented, smart, kind of a superstar. She grew up in today's world. She's 28 now. She thought maybe when she was a teenager, I'll be an influencer, or I'll be a writer like you,

or I'll be an actress, whatever. You know what she does now? She runs the diner with her husband. What? And she's never been happier. That's amazing. And she's a superstar in that diner. And that's going to bring her many other opportunities.

So you never know where the golden door is going to be. Quick break from the interview. I want to talk about our lovely sponsor. Gardenista. Gardenista is the freshest most delicious, ready-to-serve cocktail. and it's unlike anything you ever tasted. It really isn't. It's really nice, actually.

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Very easy. It's very easy. You get depressed. Yeah. And why are people afraid about being depressed? Well, sometimes that sadness or that angst or that agita, that's the motivating force. And I don't want to be depressed, but I keep plugging. I guess that's in my nature.

I will not stop. If something means enough to me, I will not stop. And I think most people are like this. Now, let's say you have a dream and you pursue it for years and then you give up. All that means is you're not a failure. It just means something else in your life became the priority, right? Right. But I'm saying that if something really is a priority to you,

as long as it's a priority, you won't stop until it happens. That's just my experience. That's just what I have found. Do you see that trade in most successful people? I think I do. Do you? Yeah, I do. I do.

I mean, there are people who are the lucky, they got hit with the lucky stick. but, you know, and some people's journey is easier than others, certainly. But listen, never underestimate luck. You have to be, you have to work hard, but then you also, how many people do we know work hard and it never happens? I know. You got to be a little lucky, too. But you can set yourself up for luck. Yes, that's right.

You got to set yourself up to be lucky. Exactly. Have you ever taken psychedelics before, Phil? No, why are you offering me? I am. I was always wondering if anyone's like, you know, you got you went into like a country and they're like, hey, Phil, you should take this acid or hey, Phil, you should take this hashis. Yeah, you know why I haven't done that? Because I'm not stupid. Take something. Hey, what about I? Try this psychedelic that you've never done before in the fall. in place where you don't know what the hell it is. If I was to do that tiny bit of mushroom I hear you're supposed to do,

it would be under the strictest doctor supervision with experts in a hospital. Are you paranoid? No, not more than everyone else. Or just like the idea of like losing control, that type of thing. I don't like the feeling of being drunk or... even. I don't like the feeling. I would be lying if I said I never tried pot or alcohol. I have such a tiny sliver of the zone of where it's feel good because one inch out of that zone.

I'm like, uh, I just, uh, I hope this goes away soon. this feeling of being woozy. Do you like being woozy? I don't. I don't like being woozy, but I also, I like, I also,

I know, like I talk about my fight with depression and eating that little bit of mushrooms helped me, did it, help me get through that. So I was like, I was wondering if you did,

if you experimented even in like the 60s, not the 60s or the 70s, you know. I didn't really. But, uh, listen, if I ever found myself in,

that position again, which I don't think I will at this age, you know, certain things come with age too. You learn to let go of a lot of stuff. A little meditation once in a while of just turning this phone off and sitting quiet for 20 minutes, that never hurt anybody. Right, right. And if you make it a practice, you can actually feel pretty good. And when you realize that you're just letting it go, let go, let it go.

The world is going to be what it is. It doesn't have to mean you have to be that way. Right. It's all about how we take it in, right? I totally agree. I mean, that's why traveling is the most humbling thing where it's like you're not in control and you just got to go with it.

It's like the same thing. I always think about like you travel to all these different time zones. How do you have the energy to go and put a smile on your face to film after like having a jet lag. Because I'm really excited to be there. I'm really excited to make the show. I'm really excited to be with my friend. I'm really excited to eat that amazing food

that I know we're going to have. That's why you're the best, Phil. This is why you're the goat. And like everyone knows it. I really do. You are one of the, you are more than just, you are teaching people that you could live life happy

if you just let go of the bullshit. There's so much happy stuff to be happy about. There's so much joy in life. I know I sound Pollyanna-ish. I'm not discarding or dismissing the terribleness, but there's much more greatness than terrible. I agree. I agree.

The news should take up 5% of your day. of what you think about. Right? 95% of life is pretty fantastic. And especially if you have friends and family and beautiful things to look where you're sitting right now.

You would never know that there's something bad around the corner coming to get you. Yeah, right? Yeah, nothing's going on. There's no fires. So it's pretty gorgeous, Andy. Well, that's the thing about life, right? Is that?

Yeah. Yeah. That's the thing about life. We've got to stop being a fearful of our neighbor. And this is like what we brought back in the first part of this thing. Instead of being fearful of life and being fearful to wake up, we should enjoy and live and feel and get to know everyone and start being human again with the people. Even if they don't have the same language or if they don't have the same color of skin,

we need to bring back humanity. We, we, you know, if you have a little money in your pocket, you're better off than most people in the world. And a lot of those people who have not even a tenth of what you have, how come they're happier than you? Yeah, exactly. Explain. Right? Because the values are other things. They have learned to appreciate a walk in the park.

playing with their friends, eating with their friends and family. Yeah. Right. Community. Right. That's the real wealth. Right. Right.

We forget that when we're chasing the, when we're in the rat race. The phone promotes the rat race. In other words, you look at the phone and you look at Instagrams and you go, wow, that guy's life that he has it all. A lot of that's for show, and it's not real. And the moment they don't get the likes that they thought they were going to get, they're mad or they're sad. That's stupid. I know.

Isn't it? It is. And I think that's the thing. It's the same thing with 24-hour news is the same thing of watching other people's life for 24 hours a day on these social media. I think it's the same downfall. You're going to be depressed because you're going to be comparing yourself. Right? Yeah.

What was that great Esops fable? The dog has a bone and he goes to the river and he sees another dog in the reflection with a bone. And he goes, wow, that dog's bone looks bigger than mine. And he opens his mouth to get that dog's bone. And what happens? He drops his bone in the river and it's gone. I know. That's it.

How many thousands of years ago is that lesson? Why is it in our human nature to just be jealous of everyone else? Yes, stop looking at everyone else and worry about you and try, hey, I tell my kids when they're sad, go help somebody. Right. Get out of yourself. Help somebody. Guess what that does. It makes you feel better.

I know. And people forget that when they're trying to like take, they're just trying to take as much as they can and not worry about other people. And like, this is what makes me sad about it. It's like when you live in isolation, you feel like you need to be. isolated. And that's not the case. We need to be together. We create our own reality. It's really that simple. You create the world you want to live in. And that's why it goes from the micro level to the macro level. You create the world you want to live in. You're right. You're right. I'm like, yeah, I'm like, I had an existential crisis. I was torn too much.

I bought this place in Mexico and I was like, you know, I needed to find real again. because all I was was chasing fame, and I was chasing this rat race of what managers wanted me to do to make the whole thing make money for their 20%. And just like I felt like I was doing things for everyone else to make money, and I forgot the real reason why we're doing art is to connect. 100% in the preach, that's 100% right. I learned something.

When I came out here as a writer, and I got an agent, I said, oh, my God, I got an agent. the agent's going to work for me and it's going to be great. And then it took me about two weeks to realize the agent works for the agency. Yeah, we're working for the management. And worse than that, the agency expects you to work for the agency. I know, that's the sad part. It's like you wanted this dream of having all these people work for you.

And then you end up working for them. You only win when your interests aligns. with theirs. Right. I agree. So otherwise, you have to make the deal yourself. You have to meet the people yourself. You get your job.

They don't get you the job. You're right. They negotiate. You're the one. They negotiate for themselves. I know. That's the sad part about this music industry. When did we become fucking puppets and rats for their thing?

There's an expression we used to have of, when we would be taken advantage of because we loved what we did, right? Right. I don't want to use the word artist. So I'll say, in my case, it's writing. In your case, it's music. You get taken advantage of them. We used to call that punished for caring.

Yeah. They take advantage of your love of the thing. I know. And then they make you feel bad because you're not taking gigs. I turn stuff down. I turn, if it's, let's say, it's too far, and I can't, it's going to be such a hardship to get to for the one date to play when I'm doing all these dates over here.

Right. What, it's just another 11 hours to that? I'm like, what do you mean? I'm an old man. I'm not sitting on a plane for 11 hours to do one night in this other place. That's crazy. I don't know. It's insane.

But it's not them on the plane. They're just collecting the money from that gig. Yeah, they're out here. They're just saying yes because they know you'll do it. So the power of saying no is, I think, even more powerful. And I've learned that. I took, I used to con 60 shows this year. And I felt that was the most powerful and freeing thing I ever done.

So I could actually enjoy looking at this beautiful ocean. Yes. You don't want to work. I've been told, hey, you know, you're, you, You should, if you want to make your YouTube following more robust, you should be posting three videos a day. So would you mind whenever you're out to film? I'm like, I'm not turning my life into a reality show.

I don't mind filming once in a while. It's fun with the phone. But can you imagine how many friends I'd have if every time we meet, I have to turn the camera on and film our coffee? That's stupid. Yeah. And it ruins the mystery of getting to know someone. But also cool.

You feel like it. Who cares? Exactly. I don't want to live to feed a beast. That's crazy. You're right. You're right. This has been therapy.

Live your life. You are the fucking man. You're right. Thank you. Phil. Thank you so much for being on the show. You're the man. My absolute pleasure.

Thank you. You're the best. Thank you for everything. to you. Likewise, this is a refreshing. Thank you, sir. I got one last question for you and then I'll let you go. Sure.

When it's all said and done, what do you want to be remembered by? That maybe somebody laughed or went somewhere because they saw the show. Yeah. Or that they just, they knew that they made me happy. Yeah. Thank God. Thank God you exist when we exist, Bill. Thanks. Addie and Seller, keep finding a good fight.

I'll be ruining you on from far. And me, you, Andy. Good luck. Thanks, buddy. Have a good one. Okay. Later, buddy. Bye.

Bye. Hey, everybody, it's Nick. You just listened to another great episode, hopefully featuring me of the World Saving Podcast with Andy Frasco. Also produced by him. He wanted us to say his name twice. It's also produced by Joel Angel Howe and Jack Gold, and it's edited by the very attractive Brian Rout.

Please help us save the world by subscribing and rating this show on volume.com, YouTube, Apple, Spotify, or whatever drek of a streaming service you're using besides those. Also, follow us on Instagram at World Saving Podcast, so you don't miss any of our amazing reels that we spend hours editing. For tour dates, merch, and whatever crazy special event Andy thinks of next, check out Andy Frasco.com. There's a lot of penis t-shirts on there.

special thanks to this week's guests, our talent booker Mara Davis, and most importantly you, for spending an entire hour listening to us talk. Be your best, and we'll see you next week for another great episode.