Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Brian Posehn: The Big Bang Theory Spinoff

Episode Date: October 6, 2026

Brian Posehn joins Tom Papa to talk about nearly 40 years in stand-up, his lifelong love of metal and Rush, and the call that brought him into a new HBO Max show from the Big Bang Theory universe. They also get into Star Wars, The Mandalorian, Deadpool, creator-owned comics, and the joy of building a career around everything that made Brian Posehn a smart, weird kid.Brian plays Bert in Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, the Big Bang Theory spinoff, streaming now on HBO Max.Brian's stand-up tour is on the road now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Can I ask you something personal? Sure. Why do you hate Star Wars? I don't anymore. And then I got to be on the Mandalorian, so now I love it. No, that was just... That was just your rant for a while? Yeah.

Well, I did. It was real. It came from a real place. Yeah. From the... Disappointed more by... I turned when he did the special edition. It's breaking bread.

Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. Yeah, it's been a beat. Yeah. I know. When's the last time we saw each other? I don't even know. I don't get out much.

Yeah, I don't see people except for like festivals. That's when you see other comics. Yeah, I know. Because other than your feature act, you know. Remember when we'd see each other all the time? Yeah, at a club, yeah. Yeah. When's the last time you did a club in town?

I haven't worked out. Well, I just did Jonah Ray's new spot. It's called like Sketchpad or something like that. How was that? That was really fun. Yeah. That's the kind of thing. I'm more comfortable, you know, trying out new bits than going to the store or even the improv.

The improv was always my club in the old days, but I don't really feel comfortable going there to try out new stuff on a Tuesday. Right. Just in front of tourists. Yeah. Why? Because you're so, you know your people. Yeah, I just know what's going to work for my show. So it doesn't even matter.

I don't need to eat it anymore. You know what I mean? It's true. It's true. Comics always say you've got to have some bad sets. But yeah, but if you get those out of the way, yeah, in a 30-year career. Yeah, yeah.

It's going to be 40 in one year. Is it really? Yeah. I was a child when I started. Wow. Yeah. 40. Where did you start?

Sacramento. Oh. Great place to start. Yeah, everybody, so many great comedians came out of Sacramento. So many. me and me and, um, hmm. But like,

good guys came up there. Like, I saw Kinler in the early days. Oh, really? And so that was like a cool thing of like seeing, can we curse? A real guy, yeah. Yeah, but somebody who didn't give a shit. Yeah.

Not only a real comic, but like, he didn't care what went over or not. Yeah. And that was, that's infectious. I know. And then it took like working with Greg Proops when I got to San Francisco to really see, like, he kind of hate that.

his crowd sometimes, you know? Yeah. So I was like, I'm open to not doing the other thing, you know? Right. Did you ever get that muscle of I don't give a shit to that extent? Not to that extent, but I mean, yeah, I think I did in the 90s where, like, guys like myself and Patton kind of just started changing what we talked about. Right.

And felt like, I think the people that like us are going to know exactly what I'm. why I'm mad at Star Wars. Right. You know, because other people and, you know, brick wall, that old thing, they're not going to know why I'm pissed off at Star Wars. They're just going to see what the nerd is mad. Yeah.

You know, but if you're doing the right clubs, they'll understand your pain. Yeah, there's a lot of those years in the beginning where you're just, you're playing in front of everybody because that was kind of the only option. Right, right, right. But you guys really carved time, you carved out. audiences that it became like like-minded people were showing up. Definitely like the class ahead of me. Yeah. Like the seniors. Who was that Mark? Gene Garfalo and Mark and David Cross. I always felt like I was a freshman or a junior next to them. Yeah. Yeah. And so they were kind of figuring out what

alternative was and I just was like along for the ride really. Got it. I always called myself like the Fredo of the alternative scene. that any day, Beth Lapidus or somebody would tell Janine and David to take me out on Lake Tahoe. And that was predominantly out here, right? Yeah, yeah. You never did that. I did some. When I'd go to New York, I would do those rooms.

Right. Because I knew Sarah and she was living there. And then Janine actually moved out at one point. So I would do Luna, you know. Right, yeah. Those rooms. And it was like always the comedy. Central people were kind of responsible for booking those rooms, too.

Oh, they were? Or there was, I can't remember the dude's name, but there was a face that always came up. And it was kind of like, the New York alternative, you know. Yeah. In UCB in the early days, when I would go to New York, I would wind up there doing sets. Right. And did you ever poke around at the clubs or that, oh, but that was so healthy at the time where. I knew those guys and I love those guys, like Patrice.

and Greg Gerardo in that class, and they accepted me, like, because I would go on, like, Colin's show and be funny and, you know, be like not what they thought a West Coast comic was gonna be like, because I wrote jokes. You mean on tough crowd? Well, yeah, on tough crowd. Doing that kind of thing really helped me with those guys,

like Rich Voss and those guys that would have been, like, maybe gatekeepers about, you know, against, you know, a Cali liberal guns. who thinks he's funny. So that helped that I, you know, I was still a joke guy. I mean, yeah. Yeah, I told real stories, but I've always, I love writing. And I've always been, that's like what drew me to comedy was writing jokes.

Yeah. Did you, how old were you when you started? 20. In 20. So were you in college? Yeah, yeah. And kind of hating what I was, hey, I was going to be a journalist. I wanted to be a rock journalist, actually.

Oh, yeah? And I didn't like the work. I did some stuff for the college paper, and I felt really empty about it. I felt fake, and I did an interview with a band that went so poorly. I interviewed Fishbone. Oh, wow. I remember Fishbone. Yeah.

They're still kicking around. They're great. But they were trying to be funny, and that's not what I was trying to do. I was trying to do a serious music article. Yeah. And then I went to my journalism teacher, but also my, you know, he was running the school paper. And he goes, that's going to happen. That's journalism.

Yeah. You know, not any, every interview goes well. And I was like, I don't want to do this. Like, this is too hard. And I didn't want to be a DJ either. At that point, that had been, like, I wanted to be around music because I was such a music fan. Right. Yeah. And you were more, you were all metal at that age?

Not all metal. I mean, that's, that's your rep now. Yeah. But I was always just a music guy. I worked at four record stores. Oh, really? I just like good music. Oh, that's great. Just, I, you know, I kind of leaned into the metal thing for my stage persona, but, you know, I'm pretty well versed and like. All of it. Everything. Yeah. Fishbone was my first mosh pit. Oh, nice. They played at the limelight. in New York. And I went with my friend, a little Dave. And that was the first.

I didn't really understand like what was happening. We're just going to crowd and everybody's going to throw in elbows in each other's faces and stomping around. And it was so far from like what I would think would be fun.

And it was so much fun. Yeah, absolutely. It was so cathartic. Just to let it all out. It was just insane. Yeah, I could see you. I could do a movie of Young You as a,

music journalist. Well, yeah, and I would have leaned more towards metal at that time, definitely, because that's what I was really into. And the metal was changing in the 80s. And I was along for the ride. Like, I loved that it was getting faster and more aggressive. Right. It was going from like glam.

Every year, it was getting kind of heavier. Right. Well, glam was still happening as a parallel, but in San Francisco, the Bay Area, where I was, that's where the Metallica scene was bubbling and all the, all the, this next generation, the band's younger than them that were starting out like Death Angel, and I was into that kind of stuff. Yeah. Once in a while, I'm on a plane, and I'm listening to jazz, and I'm thinking, you know, I need to wake up,

and I need to throw on some metal and just rip my head off quietly in my AirPods as we're landing. And I put on new metal on Spotify, just because I'm out of it. it and don't know like what's up and uh it's all it's all uh death metal adjacent right the the lyrics and stuff yeah a lot of it now that's kind of the way it went and then yeah there's a lot of european influences like yeah the big power metal influences too right um now it's kind of uh i think kids are going hardcore which i like like what uh well turn style uh not what i would call what i would call straight up hardcore, but hardcore, you know, leaning. And then there's a lot of younger bands that are blowing up lately.

Oh, really? This band End It. I like this band Drain. Yeah. Because I always liked that stuff, too. I liked, for being a California guy, I liked a lot of New York music. I like sick of it all in leeway, a bunch of, like, not so much hardcore, but like crossover.

You know, understand the difference. It's more metal leaning. What do you mean? Well, so it's combining, like, hardcore and punk sensibilities with metal guitar players. And, like, that's where breakdowns kind of came into punk music is more from the metal side, really. Yeah, I think that might be good. Like, DRI is like a big example. That's probably the biggest crossover band.

Right. Suicidal tendencies was punk and metal at the same time, too. And when you started leaning into it and then it became more of the same. stage, did you listen to that exclusively, or do you throw on a little, um, Barry Manolo once in a while? Not so much that. What's a chill for me? I mean, I was just listening to Credence on the way here. Oh, nice.

Yeah, I mean, I like to break it up. And my son's 17 now, and it was always important to me. I didn't want to be a metal dad. I didn't want to be that guy putting up videos of my kid rocking out to Pantera, too. He didn't need that, you know? Yeah. So instead we played, you know, Ramones and ACDC and Fleetwood Mac and Journey. Yeah.

Because my wife is a music lover too, so I don't get the only say in the car. Right. So we kind of raised him on that, and now he's his own guy, you know, which is what I wanted. Yeah, and what is he into? Everything. Everything. Yeah. He likes a soundtrack.

He wants to be a director, so he's really into soundtrack music. Oh, very cool. Tarantino is his guy. and, you know, Scorsese. Can I ask you an old man question? Uh, sure. Was music better when you were coming up than it is now? I don't know about better, but, I mean, it's, I definitely feel more, you know, connected

to what you would call nostalgia music, you know? Yeah, yeah. There's not a ton of bands that have come out in the last couple of years that I've gone, this is for me. Yeah. You know, with Turnstile, I feel like I'm the 50-10-year-old. that likes this band, and that's weird, you know? They're kind of not for me, some of the stuff that I listen to.

Yeah, yeah. So I like it still, but I'm not going to connect to it like I did with Rush or Iron Main or Metallica even. Right, yeah. Yeah. I know it is old man thinking, but I truly think that, like, when you listen to all, like, the stuff you were just rattling off of, like, ACDC and, like, all that. Like the lyrics, there seemed to be more of the complete package of like, you know, credence and I mean, those.

Yeah. There was a, there was, and it might be because I'm just completely out of the scene, but it seemed like there was more artistry going on. I think so. I mean, every once in a while, there will be a band that comes through that, you know, like Dave Grohl's touting is, you know, saving rock and roll. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, and Tom Morello and guys that I actually, you know, loved. Like, you know, and valued their opinions. But when they, I always just shake my head and go, yeah, we'll see. We'll see if we hear from them in six months. Yeah, yeah. The band that a couple years ago, I can't even pull their name right now, but they said that they didn't listen to Led Zeppelin, but that's all they sounded like was like.

Yeah. The guy with the little hobbit feet. of man that we can't remember. Yeah, it was like a girl's name, right? Wasn't it? Loud in Wainwright? No. I'm sorry. I poisoned the well by saying.

They were completely doing Zeppelin. Yeah, yeah. But anyway, bands like that come out every couple of years. Yeah. And people say they're going to save it. And, you know, rock and roll's back. I know. Yes.

Ah, Greta Van Fleet. Yeah. What happened to them? How's their third record? Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? I know, I know. Yeah.

Led Zeppelin put out like a record every six months when they came up. No. Because that was like a thing that bands in the 70s did. And, you know, and they built on it. And, you know, we were just like rocking out to it as children. But then when you look back now and you see what Jimmy Page was doing and how he was cultivating that musical knowledge. And I mean, this was a genius at work.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And, you know, like when you hear like Van Morrison or any of these kind of, it just seems there was a depth to it of artistry that, you know, that maybe it's popping up into other places and other forms, but I don't know. Well, I feel like there's bands that other people get into, like, I know Muse maybe 20 years ago, you know, but even, I don't even know that they're like, what are they doing now?

Are they... Is it partly because you can't... It's almost like someone getting fame too early from the internet or something. Like bands back then, you know, they had to win over all the records, the radio stations, they had to tour. It took like...

There was like a league that you had to kind of get good at. Or like similar to comedy. You know, like you had to like grind it out for a long time. So by the time people knew, knew about you, you had, you know, years of really honing your craft. Yeah, exactly. And now that, that system doesn't really exist. If you're a young band, you're looking to do it, you know.

And there's so many different styles now and, you know, I don't know. Yeah. I mean, because human beings are, you know, amazing. And there's got to be young people that are, like, wanting to put shit out, right? Can't you figure it out? I think, you know, turnstiles, bands like that, the fact that there are bands like that gives me some hope that they'll break, because kids are really into them.

And I was watching, you know, a live show that they did in Baltimore. And it was free, and it was in the park. Yeah, nice. And these kids, it was just last year. And, like, it actually moved Grandpa. Like, I was watching it going, oh, man, And those kids are having so much fun. And that's what I loved about music is going to live shows.

And like you were saying, the pit at Fishbone. And I went to so many shows like that. I can draw on those sense memories of, you know. Do you try and get to live music now? I do. I do a lot. You do? I saw Rush twice.

Oh, you did? This last tour in July. Yeah. A friend asked me to go. I couldn't go. Live music is so great. Yeah. Yeah.

If you were ever into them. That new drummer's supposed to be really good. She's amazing, but then also, she rubbed off on them, and there's this passion that they have renewed. They're having so much fun, and they're doing tributes to Neil every show. Oh, that's great. And it's just really, like, the first night,

I couldn't even describe what I felt. I was, like, I teared up a couple of times, but it was also, like, really emotional. I had thought that they were never going to play again, and they're my all-time favorite band. Oh, yeah? Like above everybody. Oh, really?

Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. They just met more to a smart, weird kid in the 70s. They felt like they were for us. Yeah. They were the, you know, Pink Floyd was the smart stoner kid that read a lot. And then there was the weird kid that liked Rush. Yeah.

No, it was sophisticated music. Right. But moving. When I heard Tom Sawyer for the first time, my head explode. Right. Right. It still does. You know, and seeing her,

Anna can hit those parts that everybody knows, you know, everybody's a rush fan, knows those fills, you know. Yeah. Are they going to be out? Are they going to be out for a while? They're out like until the new year, I think. Yeah. They're out, you know, they're hitting every state pretty much.

I think I'm going to go again in San Jose, because some friends from my high school are going to go to that show. Oh, San Jose. Yeah, and then I'm definitely circling around Seattle, seeing them in November in Seattle. Oh, that'd be nice. Because that's a city I like to go to. Yeah, I know. That's why one of the things I want to do more is travel for music.

That's such a great thing when you fly it. I've done it just recently. This band, you might not know, Triumph. They were a big arena band in the late 70s, early 80s out of Canada, and they were a three. piece like Rush. And I loved them. And they just did these big anthems. And they were torn, but they weren't coming out here. So I just flew. I was like, I told my wife, I go, I'm going to go to, I was circling it for a couple weeks. I was like, I think I'm going to go to San Antonio. And then I worked it out. And just flew to San Antonio for the day, got a hotel room, and went and saw the band

by myself. Oh, that's great. I bought a single ticket in the front row. No, that's awesome. And just went and stood in the front row. And it was so fun. That's so great. I recommend it. Yeah. I had never done that by myself.

I had gone to shows in L.A. by myself. Yeah, yeah. I went to Alice Cooper a couple of years ago where I just decided I wanted to go. Uh-huh. Because my wife and I, last time we saw Tom Petty, he passed away the weekend. That weekend? You saw the final show at the bowl. Whoa.

And we said to each. other that any of the aging rock stars that we like next time they're coming you got to go right you never know if it's going to be their last show and so cooper was playing there and i i just went hey you know it was like sunday afternoon and they were playing in three hours and i said can i you don't want to go and she goes no way i'm like i'm going so i just went you know had a good seat that day too that was the first time i I had gone by myself to like a big show. That's really great. And it was fun.

You just not have to make plans with anybody and just roll in? I want to go. I still have not seen, you know, I know people that love baseball so they'll go to like every baseball stadium around the country. I love life shows. So I want to go to see Red Rocks still. I've never gone to see a band at Red Rocks. I loved you too.

At the same time I liked, you know, Metallica and Motley Crew. Right. So, I'm such a weird, you know, no one else did. No one else like those three bands in 1980. Or if they did, they kept it real quiet. Yeah, they did. They didn't tell anybody. I also like the Smiths and Depeche Mode, so I'll go deep.

But, yeah, so I've always wanted to see somebody at Red Rocks. Yeah. I think in the next year or two. Oh, that's a great idea. Yeah, just flying in and just, because you're a grown-up now. Yeah. You have money. You can go do that.

Like when you're a kid, you're just trying to scrape and cry like me. So when you're banging around and you're like, and this, it's journalism isn't working out, were you funny with your friends? Yeah, that was kind of what inspired me to do it was the fact that I did make these other guys and girls that I worked with laugh. Right. And I would make things up and I would write little, I did little cartoons, but I was always a terrible artist, but the jokes were funny. And I would do that. Like a place I worked at, I made like a whole, it was a McDonald's.

And I made this thing like a one page like newspaper making fun of all the people that worked there. And then I printed it up and then left it anonymously. And people are like, what the hell is this? Making fun of the managers and stuff. And everybody that found out I did that was like, dude, that's insane. That's great. There was all these like inside jokes that I had done.

And that was kind of the thing where I was like, I could actually use that creative thing. Right. Yeah. Because they didn't want to do anything else. You know, I didn't like regular jobs, you know, obviously. Yeah. Once I learned as a kid that there was a, you could be funny for a living. Yeah.

And it knocked all of those other options. Where did you hear that first? I can tell you where I heard it. I heard it because I, one summer, two days. in a row. I was in my friends, two different friends, homes, and I listened to Steve Martin's let's get small with the older brothers. And then my other friend's dad gave him class clown, George Carlin. And just those two days, looking at the jacket of these grown men being funny and everyone, and I was like, oh, shit. Then it just, it just kind of clicked. Like, oh, these

are, these guys are like my dad's age. Right. And this is, they're, they're. They're, job. I don't have to get in a suit and go do something? Yeah. I couldn't believe it. For me, it was Steve Martin and Robin Williams and they both had recorded records in San Francisco. And I was like, that's there. Like that's right over there. My mom drives me there to see movies. Yeah. Like those guys, and that made it like feel real. Real. Yeah. Like that they're in San Francisco in front of drunk people, you know? And I like could pick And then I had a teacher in high school. High school was not fun for me. And I had no encouragement really outside of one or two English teachers that were like,

you're kind of good at this. Like, you know, I never was told you're gifted, but I was told, hey, you, the stuff you do in creative writing is very creative. And I was kind of, I had one teacher who kind of let me do whatever. And kids were like, you curse. And I was like, Miss Lale said I could. I asked her. I was not the kid that wasn't going to ask.

I asked if I could put curse words. And she's like, if they fit, yes, I'll let you. And then when I read it out in class, people were like, he's seeing the F-bomb in class. It's great. And she was really cool. And she also said that she had sold bits to Carol Burnett. Whoa.

And so I heard that. And I was like, oh, my God. Access. Like that, it stuck with me. There's a root. Yeah. Yeah. of like, even if I don't do this, I could write and sell to somebody else.

Yeah. And that's kept with me for a while. And then as I wrote more, you know. You just need the path. Yeah. You just need to know a clear path. Like, how do I? Yeah, because my counselor, he had no.

And my algebra teacher used to have, he was a former 49er. So that tells you. He was a badass. So he played one. They didn't wear helmets. Oh, God. And I said that one's in class. Oh, no.

You should have worn helmets. And he hated me. Did you have a crew in high school? Did you have friends? No, no. I had a couple metal kids. Metal kids and then journalism, you know, because I was on the school paper. And it was kind of, there was a crossover.

So we all liked the band UFO. There were three of us and Rush and all that stuff. Right. Yeah. Not really. You weren't like ostracized. Not, well, early, yes. And then I kind of turned it around.

And the craziest thing is my senior year, I wound up actually being, you know, not popular, but I played music at school. I was the DJ at lunchtime. So that got me to like a level I had never, you know, of acceptance. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so kids would come up and request stuff. They knew I was the guy. That's cool.

Yeah. That's really cool. That was actually fun. Man. That was through a friend who was the most popular kid. And so once I was friends with him, he would, like, you know, I didn't. He endorsed you. Yeah.

There was a little bit of, like, leave posse alone. Right. Yeah. Maybe he'll let you know about a party. That's really cool. I mean, you really, from painting the picture of you in high school to your career now, 40 years later, you really like I don't

there's like you completely for a nerdy kid with all these different passions and stuff you cultivated a whole career a successful career that is the like ultimate design of that kid's brain

yeah right I did yeah well and I'm in this new show on CBS yeah which is like HBO Max from the big bang universe you're in you're doing signings in comic book shops. Yeah, and I've been in horror movies.

It's really crazy how it kind of worked out. But it really comes from not being able to not do anything. I can't sit around. And so with stand-up, there's a lot of sitting around. And I can't. I got to read. I got to write. I got to be doing something.

If I'm home, I'm always working on something else. And so that brought up why I write comic books and why I got into that world. Right. But I don't, I don't, everything else kind of just fell into place. Yeah. I never said, I'm going to be the metal horror nerd guy. No, it was just you. You're just Brian.

But it also came from like what I was saying earlier is when I, in the 90s, when I figured out that I could do that on stage and bring that persona up. Right. Were you trying something else at first? I just wrote jokes. Yeah. And they were kind of, I would write things that weren't. about me and I thought they were funny. Like my first couple bits weren't really related to my life

or, you know, they were just jokes. Yeah, yeah. And then I, I saw other people like Janine and David and, you know, being more real on stage or doing what made them laugh. Right. And that kind of inspired me. And, you know, I know Patton, too, you know, to kind of do what we wanted. How'd you and Patent me? in a comedy competition in San Francisco. Oh, yeah? And then, yeah, because we just, we were kind of forced together to drive to these gigs. Because if you do, did you ever do the San Francisco competition in the old days? Uh-uh.

So like one or two days were actually in San Francisco. The rest were all over the Bay Area. So you had to drive everywhere. Yeah. And at that point, you know, we. We were all struggling. And so the idea of finding two or three other people to drive to these things, you know, you would do that. And so we were kind of thrown into this.

I can't even remember the guy's name, but there's a Christian comic. And it was straight out of a movie where he hated us by day two. Oh, no. Because we're talking about serial killers and all these horror movies. And we're just hitting it off. We're like, we're all into the same stuff. And I were just like into Hong Kong movies. he's Jackie Chan.

Yeah. But then we also knew, you know, Japanese horror later. And, you know, we had these, you know, and we also knew stuff about, stuff about Henry Lee Lucas that you probably shouldn't know, you know, and like all these killers. Yeah. And this guy was like, what is wrong with you guys? It's so funny to picture the two of you because your brains are both very busy and don't forget anything. No, no, no, no, we're both that kind of weird. Yeah, yeah.

And this poor Christian comic is... And he was driving and we're, you know, Patton's in the back seat and I'm in the passenger seat going, yeah, yeah, what about this? Richard Ramirez's his eyes, man, he looks like he's the devil. And Patton's like, I read this book, Hunting Humans. I was like, hunting humans. Yeah, what's that? Oh, my God. Yeah, so...

And then we want to move it in together and met... blink a patch around the same time and we've all been friends forever. Yeah. What was the special that you did with Zach and Maria? Oh, comedians a comedy. Comedians a comedy. Yeah. God, that was groundbreaking.

That was like a really cool. That was like the, that was like one of the first one for our generation of a little off the mainstream. Right. But coming into the mainstream media. Right. But calling ourselves that, that was. a slight thing of like, hey, we're not as niche as you think.

We're just comedians. Like, we weren't saying we're the alternative comics or, you know, it was real important to us that we, you know, because I helped come up with that with Patton and Dave Rath. Oh, yeah. He's still our manager. He's managed both of us since the early 90s. I didn't realize he. Yeah, and Gene Graff, we're still here.

Yeah, we're still both all three with him. Wow, that's great. Yeah. That's really great. Well, he was the first. guy that like he really loved it grab yeah he loved it and he got it yeah like was like hey you can move to LA and you can do this right he was came to me and both of us in San Francisco and was already working for MTV and that's how I got like my first writing job was MTV through Dave

and moved and kind of sublet my place in San Francisco thinking I was going to go back there yeah and then I stayed here yeah well where did where did comedians a comedy Air. Was that Comedy Central? That was Comedy Central. Yeah, but we did a movie for Netflix first, where it was the West Coast tour, and then the show was all over. It was Midwest and East Coast. Right. And then we shot it in like three weeks, but became like six episodes or ten episodes, something like that. Right. On Netflix? No, that was on Comedy Central. On Comedy Central. For Netflix, we shot a movie. Oh, I see. And that was in the early days. when it was still Netflix was CD or DVDs would show up in your house.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, a little envelope. Yeah, no, that was. We were like the first movie they financed. For real? Yeah. Really? Been a little thing in Austin, and I remember, like, there's pictures of all of us, me and him and Zach standing in front of Netflix, you know, flag or whatever.

That's crazy. Yeah. No one knew what Netflix was. That's so nuts. Now they won't air. my specials, but that's the whole other thing. When's the last special you did? It's been a couple years now.

I kind of don't even know why you do them anymore. I have a new hour, but Dave keeps going, we should record it. And I'm like, for who? I'm like, okay. Yeah. But hopefully maybe with the new show, there will be some renewed interest in a guy who's been kicking around a long time. God. So how does this happen?

Because, I mean, getting anything on network television at any point was really like a bull's eye. And now that bull's eye has gotten so small. So tiny. Nobody has shows anymore. And you end up with this Chuck Lorry show. That's crazy. I know, man. Did you have to audition for it?

He just took you from your... Is it the same character from Big Mac? It's based on a character. It's four characters from the original show. And we were all like, Kevin did a lot of them, but the other three of us had only done, Lauren did eight. I did like 15 or 16. Right. And then John Ross Bowie did maybe 20.

And Kevin Sussman, I think, did like closer to 100. He did a lot. Okay. He was like a regular recurring guy. Yeah. But yeah, he just wanted to have Chuck's idea. And he had apparently pitched it when. they went off the air six years ago or whenever it was saying here's the spin-off i want to do

and they were like nope really and it took like somebody else coming into power at warner brothers and they were like do you have any ideas or other spin-off and he goes well this and they bought it a minute so they would they would say no to chuck lorry they had yes that's so crazy yeah everybody can get a no i keep hearing of big names that don't have shows this year that tried. Really? Yeah. This has been a bad couple of years, so it's not lost on me, how lucky we are. So lucky.

And we're shooting in L.A. Like, we got to shoot at Universal and Warner Brothers. Oh, what a dream. It was great. What a dream. We shot stuff, you know, right by the Jaws Ride, and we shot stuff at Warner Brothers. We're, you know, right by friends and right by, uh, um, back to the future and all that stuff. So great.

Oh, that's awesome. Yeah, one of my first jobs was at that lot and a show that went away. We did one year. The Warner Brothers lot? Yeah. That's the best lot. It was a W.B. show and it was called the Army show. Uh-huh.

It was like Mary Lynn Ricegob, Toby Hust, you know, Toby. He's a character guy. He's working a lot now as he's aged in. Yeah. I feel lucky, too, that I'm like a charactery guy that can still work. Yeah. Oh, God. Imagine.

Yeah. And then now this is the best job I've ever had. So, like, it's so great. It's the biggest break. It's the most I've had to do in a show outside of Sarah Silverman. Right. But still, I was, I wasn't the star. Sarah was the star and I was, yeah, but I was, you know, over here.

And the pictures were all her. Right. And then me and Steve Agee here, you know, so this is different. Like, with the promo photos, it's all four of us together. and it's like incredible. God, that's so great. It's the actor's dream, man. It's such a dream.

It's such a dream. Aren't you so grateful that you weren't a hot young thing? Like imagine if like you had like long hair and muscles and that and you were really cute and that you built your career on that? You know what I mean? Well, no, I know exactly what you're talking about.

It's like you've only gotten better with age. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's so great. No, you never think of things. things like that. But like, you know, because I never was, I was never a new face. And I was just one of those guys that everybody knew already. Like, I went to Montreal and I was, had been doing standup 15, 20 years already. So I wasn't a new face. And I never, I never went through that. I never had that, like, that buzz. And there was part of me that it's like, way, I never had the new face buzz.

Yeah. But, but, but then I've also been kicking around for 40 years next year. So. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I had the same thing. I never did new faces. And then they asked me to host new faces. You apparently don't need to. Right, exactly. Yeah, it was so important at the time, though.

And when your friends got it, you were like, God damn it. Yeah, and at the time. Yeah, yeah. Truth be told, like, you'd go do new faces and walk away with $200,000 deal. Yeah. You know, they were passing them out at that time. Like, it was a quick ride. I knew I was never going to be one of those guys, though.

Yeah. I just felt like, because I didn't have the Ray Romano or the, you know, Jerry, that kind of act. Yeah. You know, and so I never thought like, you know, there's other comics that would get jealous of that kind of thing. But I never got jealous because I was, you know, people get success. And I was like, well, I don't want to do exactly what they're doing anyway. Right. You know what I mean?

Yeah, absolutely. And then when I do get a little pang of that, I'll tell myself, like, idiot. Like, look what he's really doing. You would never do that in a million years. Yeah, you'd be so unhappy. Yeah, you'd want to kill yourself. Yes. So how did you have this one come about?

I mean, you didn't even have to, he didn't, he just called you and said, I'm doing this show. Chuck Lurie showed up on my phone. Like, seriously. Yeah, and I showed my wife and she goes, well, pick it up, like idiot, you know, like answer it. You're just like, he's calling. Look, look, look. And he goes, you know, and we had heard rumblings. Kevin and Kevin Sussman and I kept talking about it, that there had been, we knew that he wanted to do something with us.

Right. You know, and so we kind of hoped that he would eventually. So then we talked to each other right away. And we started a thread chain, you know, a text chain with Lauren Lapkis and myself and Kevin. and then when we found out John was added. Wait, so what, taking you back to Chuck, though. So he just says, like, I want to do a spinoff. He didn't have the name yet, but he said that it was like a multiverse show,

but I still couldn't get, like, how that was going to work. And then it took seeing the first couple scripts where I finally went, oh, wow, okay. Yeah. This is crazy, and this is not like what the other show was. So we're basically, you know, it was a traditional sitcom, but we're doing little mini movies instead. It's all shot on sets and a lot of action and stuff I wasn't quite prepared to do. But for season two, I'll get a trainer.

I love that moment, though, and you hang up the phone with Chuck Lurie and just turned to your wife and you're like, I think I'm doing a show. Yeah. Jeez. And then we waited for a while. It took a while. And then there was, it almost went away. Oh, yeah. And, you know, things are so screwy now with the big companies anyway.

Yeah. Chuck's been joking that we're now owned by Chipotle and, you know, and that it's Warner Brothers, but Chipotle Warner Brothers. And, you know, who knows what's going to happen in the next couple of years, which is not a good feeling to feel, but I'm trying not to think about that stuff because we're just making funny stuff. Yeah. And the show, we worked at three different directors.

We shot 10 episodes in four months. Nice. And then there was all this post because it is a lot of, a lot of, you know, CG and all that. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. So it just started airing two weeks ago at Comic-Con. Oh, really?

And that we went and did the big, big, you know, showed it in front of a live audience or in front of an audience there, 6,000 people and they went nuts for it. Oh, that's great. life-changing. My son was in the room, and he was like, that's the coolest thing I've ever seen you do, and I was like, right on, because that is the coolest thing I've done.

That's the coolest. Good for you. That's amazing. I mean, you've been to Comic-Con before. Like, you've gone every year. Like, that's my thing. Yeah, yeah. What characters are you, do the people come up,

want you to sign more than anything? Well, there I do comics, and I wrote Deadpool for a while, So he's a big one. He's had a lot of fame with the Ryan Reynolds movies. But he was always... Oh, you wrote on the comic? Yeah, I wrote the comic for three and a half years, so it did 45 issues of it.

Whoa, I didn't know that. I know. No one does, except for if you're in that world. Yeah. And then in that world, the work I did is, like, held up because we wrote some good stories. Yeah. So, yeah, it's super cool. Oh, that's really cool.

And then I've done books on my own. I wrote a book last year called... grommets, which is about skateboarding in the 80s, which I dabbled in and was terrible at. Oh, really? I loved it. Yeah. The early skate scene? Not the first one, the 70s.

There's more mid-80s, the Palperalta years, the Bones Brigade years. I was working at a skateboard shop in Sacramento, actually, and it was into that culture and that culture and heavy metal and punk was pretty related, especially back then. Right, right. And you couldn't skate? I could, but I fell a lot. Right. Not as coordinated as I wanted to be. But I had fun.

So I wrote a book about that, and then I wrote a sci-fi book last year called Rifters, too. Oh, man. Good for you. Yeah, like I said, I just... Always creating. Yeah. And I did a metal album a couple years ago with my friends. I remember that. Yeah. What was the metal one? It was called Grandpa, Mets.

That's right. I think he came on my radio show with that. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was good music. Thanks. Yeah. Are you still a band? No, no. I just was talking with Scott Ian about writing some more stuff, though. Yeah. So we might, he's got a new Anthrax record coming, and then I've got this show, obviously. But next time I have downtime, that's something I'll probably, you know. Can I ask you something personal? Sure. Why do you hate Star Wars? I don't anymore. And then I got to be on the Mandalorian, so now I love it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that was just... That was just your rant for a while. Yeah. Well, I did.

It was real. It came from a real place. Yeah. From the... Disappointed more by... I turned when he did the special editions. Uh-huh. Because I was like, you don't need to fuck with those movies.

Right. You know, I found it kind of insulting. Yeah. When somebody screws with your... childhood so much. And, you know, it's like, sure, you directed it, but you gave it to us. Yeah, it's ours now. And, and, yeah. And, you know, so I get that anger. I, you know, I tapped into it. Yeah. But it came from being actually annoyed by those. Yeah. And then that, those prequels, I didn't, but then the new ones weren't so great either. So my, uh, I like certain things.

I like Mandelorian and I like, uh, I liked Andor. I liked Andor a lot. Yeah. Because Rogue One was, yeah, my favorite standalone movie. That was. Yeah, that's what my niece said. My assignment is to watch Andor, and then Rogue One, and then I'll know the truth. They're both great. Yeah. Is there, and you were in Mandel.

What'd you play in Mandalorian? In the first episode, just introduction to his character. but I'm like just a periphery. I'm a landspeeder driver, and there's a big, I forget the monster, the creature that, it doesn't kill me. It doesn't. You didn't get eaten. Yeah.

It's implied, but you never see it. So I'm always like, above a fat, I might still come back. Nice. If I see John Favreau, tell him to see what, what's going out with that landspeeter drive? driver. He seemed to have more stories to tell. What kind of films do your son want to make?

Is it off of your inspiration? No, he's his own guy. I like David Lynch, but he loves David Lynch. And he's really, the first thing he did was right around when Lynch passed, and he did like a little homage or tribute to it. Oh, yeah. And the thing he's doing now is more,

Tarantino leaning, he did a crime thing that, and my wife and I helped him shoot it and produce it. Oh, nice. Oh, that's great. Well, he's still, you know, he's a sophomore or going to be a junior, but so who knows. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The school he's going to, there is a film program and he's locked in for all four years. And, you know, we're going to NYU to look at him going there next year. That'd be crazy.

Oh, that'd be really cool. Yeah. That'd be really cool. Did you like going to Comic-Con? Was that like, did you feel like, it seems to me it'd be like, it's almost like the, the, what you were doing in high school, you were like isolated like by yourself. And the culture kind of expanded. And it's like, if you were that high school kid, you know, 10 years ago, you would have felt everyone's like me. You know what I mean?

Yeah, I might not. have gotten into it. Yeah. Right. It would have been to mainstream. Maybe. Yeah. Yeah.

Right? No, it's way. I never thought of that. But, uh, you know, for me, that's part of it. But then also I'm, I'm, uh, I'm, uh, I'm a Pokemon there. Like I, I walk through and everybody has to collect me. Right.

So, uh, yeah. Take a lot of pictures. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I'm also heading shoulders above everybody. Yeah.

That head floating over there. Yeah. So, yeah, it's a whole other thing. Yeah. But it's part of the deal. Yeah, yeah. No, that's cool. Have you met anybody?

Did you get to meet anybody that you admired at those? This one? Or any of them? Oh, I ran into somebody who hadn't seen in a while that he was in the whitest kid you know, Zach Krieger. Yeah, yeah. And now he's got like a crazy film career. And he's directing horror movies, which I love.

So he did Barbarian and Weapons. Weapons, right. And he's doing the new Resident Evil. So I ran into him just doing the panels backstage. You knew him? Yeah, years ago. We did... Because he was sketch, right?

Yeah, but he also did a sitcom with Anthony Anderson. And I did that when I just did a ton of walk-ons. He's a cool career. Yeah, man. Right? Because he was like comedy. Yeah. And now he's like really like trippy horror.

Like quality. Yeah. I loved weapons. I know. I loved Barbarian too. Really good. Did you see Barbarian with Justin Long? Oh, when the Airbnb?

Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that took turns you didn't see coming. Right, right. And that was one of those movies where I was like, I got to watch everything this guy does. Exactly. You know.

Yeah. Oh, and weapons didn't disappoint. Weapons is so good. Oh, man. When that guy comes and attacks her at the gas station? Yeah. Just the way the whole story was told, too. It was so smart to do it like Tarantino of, you know, kind of, or Rochaman or just breaking it up, breaking up the narrative.

Right, exactly. Yeah, each character doing their thing, their story of that day for those couple of days. Yeah, it was so smart. Yeah. It's interesting, isn't it? The comedy horror thing is such a... It's having such a moment. Yeah.

I still want to do one. That's, you know. To make one? Yeah. Yeah, I'd love to direct something or write something. Yeah. You know, I've directed a little bit. I've done music videos and stuff and some sketches, but I'd love to do that eventually.

Are you writing one? I am writing a horror comic now, and I'm with the idea of owning it. What I love about writing comic books is then it's IP. Right. You know, then. Yeah. And studios are more likely to spend money on IP than they are an original idea that comes across. That's not how you make movies anymore, you know what I mean?

Like, you don't. You know, it's buying an idea. You don't sell a $140 million horror movie or whatever, you know, some big budget thing by just writing a draft. You know, it's not Shane Black anymore. You know what I mean? Like, that doesn't exist. No, they want to know that people already like it. Yeah.

Yeah. So I feel like it hasn't paid off yet. Yeah, but I've been writing a few comics that that's the idea. Then I own it. And if you do it with Image Comics, it is creator-owned. So it's not like if you're selling to Marvel or DC, then they own it. And also with DC, then Warner Brothers or Chipotle owns it. Right.

Yeah, yeah. Are you can get stuff made at Image? Like you pretty much know. I have. So, yeah, I have a foot. there. So I have this new idea and I'm just kind of, I had a movie fallout in September. So I'm like, oh, now I just told my wife like, well, I'm going to write. Yeah, yeah. A movie you were going to be in?

Yeah. Well, it's hopefully pushed to October or November. Right, yeah. Again, with financing, like the money wasn't fluid yet and all that shit. How competitive is the comic world, like to break out? It's not. Is it? it's not because you can't really make money doing it. And I think you have to love it. You just, you know.

Yeah. You have to have passion to write it. But you know you'll get it made. Yeah. Then I have something to show. Right. And is it competitive to get an audience for it? Well, definitely.

Yeah. Yeah. That's a whole other thing. And can you get it? And I got lucky with Grommets. Grommets people really liked. But then the other book, I put out like no one cared.

So, you know, but it didn't discourage me. I got to, you know, think of the next idea. Is image really, is it so, how much, like, it's got to be a lot smaller than like Marvel, of course. Well, absolutely, but they're the big, the biggest of the indie ones. Then there's Dark Horse and there's a few others. Right, right. Yeah, that's the one that I just, I know people there. So I feel like, and I did a book, God, almost 20, almost 20.

years ago with uh that was my first book i did there was called the last christmas so what was that about uh was santa claus after the apocalypse no fighting zombies and oh really yeah yeah we've come close to making a movie of it we sold it to sony for a while and yeah now now they make santa with guns i know every year some new santa yeah people up so right that idea is kind of stomped on but Working there. You ever go to Winnipeg? You ever play Winnipeg? Yeah, I have.

There's a bookstore up there. I forget the name of it. I don't think it's called the last bookstore, but it's something kind of like that. Anyway, it's one of those dingy, like, just the shelves are swollen with magazines and stuff. And I found, like, cases of Mad Magazines. Oh, nice. There's one whole room that's just old comics. And it's just, like, you know, whatever you can find, like, one of those places.

It's not pure comic, but it's just deep, deep. Well, that's what keeps me going on the road is finding places like that. Yeah. You know, otherwise I'm bored and out of my mind if I'm in a town for three days. Yeah. I'm doing less clubs and more rock clubs than the next year or two. Oh, that's cool. So you're in and out a little more.

But, yeah, three days at the comedy club. And so I have to, you know, I find the record store the first day. in the comic book store the second day and maybe see a movie and food and all that. What about watching food and all that? What about reading your comics on an iPad? Pro or con?

Con. I can't connect to that. Yeah, you need to hold that. No, I still, in that, yeah, comic books have gone this way where everybody grades them now and then puts them in this plastic slab and you can't read

it anymore. And I'm such a nerd that like I don't even do that. I'll buy old comics, but I have to have them. That's the whole point. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's like buying a car you can't drive. Yes. Right. Yeah. I know. I bought some old Godzilla's when I was at that place in Winnipeg. Oh, right on. And it was the same thing. It was like they were in the sleeves and stuff. I'm like, I just want to like smell it. I just want to have it on my desk. Yes. You know what I mean? It's awesome. So how many dates are you going? Are you, are you, are you, are you, are you, I mean, we're always going.

I'm kind of out till we get picked up. Yeah. Yeah, so I just, I'm booked all the way through. I think I've got stuff in March and April already. So I'm up in Seattle. I'm up, I got Montana, I got a couple. And I've also been doing more comic book signings where I just go to a convention for a whole weekend.

Oh, really? Which is fun. Is it? Yeah, and it's a different thing. I'm not performing. Yeah, no pressure. Yeah, so there's no pressure. It's not thinking about doing two sets tonight.

Yeah, you just get to go sign, and how long does that take? You know, you go all day. Really? But you get a break, and, you know, I actually like it. Yeah, meet the people. Yeah, and so I got one coming up in San Jose, GalaxyCon, and then I got one in St. Louis in, like, September. Oh, that's great.

Those are fun and it's a make about the same as I would do and stand-up for the weekend. Really? But yeah, but I'm just signing autographs. That's great. For years, I had stuff presented to me because of like doing Rob Zami movie and that kind of thing. Yeah. And so. Yeah, I got friends.

My friend, Jen Jocelyn, goes out and does those signings. But I was always kind of against just doing that. And then somebody told me, nah, you know, it's not what you think. And I did one or two of them. And they went, oh, this is actually fun. Yeah, that's what everyone says. That's what Jen said. Like, it's really enjoyable.

Like, you meet these people. It means a lot to them. Oh, for sure. Fellow actors. Yeah. Yeah. And so many of my friends do it. Tom Kenny does it.

Yeah. Steve Agee. Right. You know, and John DiMaggio and guys that I've done forever. Yeah. So, like, to connect and do one with them. I did one last year with Tom. And it was just a blast.

It's great. Man, it really is wild that you really have such a unique road, such a great career, that you could end up like 40 years in and you get this show and your kid sees you like do the coolest thing ever at Comic-Con. Yeah. It's just like, good on you. It's crazy, dude. I know.

Thank you, man. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, but you were always one of the funnier ones and you, you know, and you work really hard. And it's not, it's not, I'm not blowing smoke. It's obviously a sickness that you have. I've always admired. you too because you're you've always been you.

And that sinister, the guys that like are purely them. Right. Well, let me know who that is. I baked you this bread. Oh, really? You get to bring this bread home. And that's some cookies. So this is a thing you started.

Like, did you start during COVID breaking? No, it was before. Oh, okay. Yeah, it was before. I was writing on a TV show with a friend of mine who taught me about sourdough. And I started like a couple years before. and there's haven't stopped it's just uh and he made this fresh today yeah this literally this this this morning it came out of the oven i love a good sourdough yeah i think growing up where i grew up

sonoma oh yeah i'm going to sonoma next week where i grew up oh yeah my mom would go get french fresh french bread on the weekend really make like uh uh french toast with sourdough yeah the best that was the best it's so good yeah yeah it's become my hobby i just i can't stop doing Did you make the cookies? My wife made the cookies. She's getting into cookies. Nice. Yeah. Let me know what you think of them. I will.

They're a new venture. Right on. Yeah. I think that's going to be my comic book signing is going to be a bakery. I'm carrying that bread home. I got a bag for you. I'm not sending you to your car with it. Well, this is really great.

Thanks so much for having you again. Yeah. It was a blast. Congratulations. It's really great. Thank you. And we'll post all your links and stuff to get people to Come see on tour and all the rest of it.

Yeah, man. All right, brother. Thank you. Got to kids.