Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 123 - Rory Scovel

Episode Date: September 20, 2022

The always creative Rory Scovel keeps things fresh on the latest Breaking Bread. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hey, don't you know? Hey, it's also a show. Hey! Hey, everybody, welcome to another edition of Breaking Bread with Tom Papa. I'm Tom Papa. How you doing? You doing okay? You're doing all right? I feel like you're doing good. I'm worried about you. You look like you lost weight. That's good. Good on you. We've got a great show for you today. We've got Rory Scoval on the program. one of the most creative comedians working today, I would say. I think he's, not only is he a good friend and very fun to talk to, and you're going to enjoy this conversation, I'm sure.

But just go check out all of his stuff, especially on YouTube, where he's just a bit of a risk taker. He's creative. He's always thinking outside the box to use that cliche, and generates real results from it. Really funny, talented, talented guy. And I think you're going to really enjoy this. I had a event last night where I had to run back

in order to bake his bread and I pulled it off. So even more than I'm excited that Rory's here. I'm excited that I achieved a shortened bread run. I'd like to thank the good people at Thrive Market for sponsoring today's program. Shop everything from healthy pantry essentials and sustainable meat and seafood to non-toxic cleaning and beauty products.

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includes 14 unique mattresses, including a collection of luxury models, a mattress for big and tall sleepers and even a mattress made just for kids. Helix is offering up to $200 off all mattresses and two free pillows for our listeners. Go to helix sleep.com slash Papa P-A-P-A with Helix. Better Sleep starts now. Also, go to tompapa.com because I am touring all over the place and I'm shooting my special, my Netflix special on October 1st at the Wilbur Theater in Boston. First show is sold out. There may be some availability of the 945. If you can come and be a part of it, I encourage you. It's going to be a great time. Also doing a run in California. I'm going to San Luis, Abispo, Monterey, and Chico, and then a run in Texas, going to Houston and San Antonio,

and one other city all over the place. Count Basie Theater, the Albany and the Egg in Albany. That's going to be a good one. And the Count Basie Theater, the same weekend, bunch of shows running to the end of the year. And here we are, fall, kind of. Unofficial end of summer. Peeking into fall.

We're getting there, for sure. I haven't been cooking that much. I did a great event last night with Chris Beyond. who's been on this program from Bianco Pizzeria. And he's part of a chef's table on Netflix right now. So they had a big event. And he's got a new place downtown and I got to sit there. And, you know, I've been trying to dial it in because I'm going to be shooting this special.

I don't want to be too chubsy. I think I had 10 slices of pizza last night. It's just too good. But if you're throwing out pizza with pistachios on it and sausage and fennel and just straight up margarita, I mean, come on, I'm just a man. He is a real artist, Chris Bianco. We got to have him back on proper. We did it during the pandemic, I think, is the first time he was on this program.

And his connection, I remember not being that great. He's such an artist. He's such a cool guy. and such a great inspiring conversationalist too. Just one of these guys who when you leave, you're like, I should be enjoying my life as much as he is. Just gratitude, love, just enjoying people, enjoying what he's made, and just inspiring.

And that's why his pizza's great. And it's also why people want to come and see him all the time. It was really cool. So I had gotten my sourdough starter going before I left for the event during the day. And I thought I was going to be home a lot earlier. And I wasn't. I got home in like 9.30 and I knew we had Rory Scoval on the program. I had to bring him bread.

I just, I didn't want to show up with the store bought anything. And I rolled in, started mixing the dough immediately. And maybe inspired by Bianco, I was just like he would do it. and did an overnight dough where I created the dough and folded it and went to bed around 11 and after folding it, kneading it almost twice, and just left it on the counter overnight, woke up this morning at 8 o'clock, it was coming over the lid of the container, shaped it, put it in the refrigerator for two hours, knocked it out, shaped it, brought it out of the baskets, threw it into the Dutch ovens,

and Rory has an amazing bread. So you can do it. Time is the thing that always messes up baking, but I got in under the wire. So Rory is, he should be grateful. He should be really grateful. He'll know. When he eats it, he'll know the extra work went into it.

All right. Now let's get into it. It's a great conversation with my good friend, Rory Scoval. One, he's kind of muscular, but it's like dad bod muscular. And then the other one is like ripped, like a cut. dude. Yeah. And he said the workout for the guy in both of these photos is exactly the same. Really? He goes, just the guy over here that's cut and ripped, I was eating properly. He goes, he goes, you can work, you can work out all the time. And he goes, and this is fine. Yeah.

And I even said, I was like, well, I'd be happy to have that dad bod. Yeah. Because he still looks great. Yeah. But I was like, oh yeah, it's, you could do the workout forever. It's, you've got to make the dietary change. Yeah. And not just like, I'm on a diet because, My goal is five pounds. It's like, it's like that change of, oh, I'm not on a diet. This is actually just my, this is how I live. This is how I live now. Right.

And I mean, that's fucking so hard. Now, what do you think is the, uh, the wiggle room in that? Because I'm all for it. I'm all for eating really properly and dialing in. But there will be something throughout the week where there's going to be some reason to celebrate. Of course. Of course. There's going to be.

But also the nature of our business, too, when you're like doing a spot, it sometimes just feels good to have a beer or a glass of wine or a cocktail. If someone's like, hey, Tom, you have like 30 more minutes. Yeah. And then someone's like, do you want anything to drink? You're like, well, yeah. I don't need to look at my, I'm fine on my notes. So what else am I doing?

I'm going to be chatting with friends. And what do you do in that setting? You usually have a drink in your hand. Right. Yeah. I don't know what, I don't know. I went four months off meat, booze, sugar, and coffee. I did this once.

And it was the most amazing, intensely deep sleep I have ever had. Wow. Probably since being a teenager, we're sleeping was so effortless, and you just passed out and you felt great, you know. Do the list again. Meat, meat, booze, sugar, and coffee. And coffee. Okay, so three of those four, really mess with your sleep. Yeah.

And the meat, actually, if you eat the wrong kind of meat or late. I'm not going to meet or late, and then your body's trying to, your stomach's having to work. Yeah, and your meat sweats. Yeah. But yeah, the coffee, the sugar and the alcohol, it really is a huge difference. It's sleeping just with the booze, just like one or two glasses. Yeah. I'm trying to do the little old Italian lady method.

Which I've seen, you know, especially doing this podcast, I've seen these older Italian women. And they all seem to have the same philosophy. They all, none of them look great. Yeah. But their philosophy is two fingers, two fingers of wine a day. Oh, yeah, okay. At least two fingers of wine a day. At least.

Well, that's, yeah. I mean, you're not, you're not going to do less than two fingers. Yeah. And I'm like, that's cool. Show me three. You should do three fingers. I think three fingers. Yeah.

Four fingers. look pretty healthy. Yeah. Three fingers twice. All right. Give me this much. Give me one of those giant glasses that breaks when you look at it. Yeah.

That was another thing. We were talking before we started about socializing in cocktail parties and stuff. And I really am not that great at it. Yeah. And then I realized when I was driving home, I also didn't have a drink. Yeah. Didn't have a single cocktail. I was just drinking water because we were.

doing a radio show. Yeah. I don't know if it was good. I think it was good because I don't smell like booze when I'm rolling up on people. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it also makes rolling up on people a lot more difficult because you're actually sober and judging your performance. Well, a couple questions.

Have you ever been a big drinker where you went through a period in your life where it's like, oh, I'm going, I'm going too much too often? Not beyond college. Yeah. I think I'm in a similar boat. Yeah. It would have to be a very special. occasion where I went a little too deep.

Yeah. Because I don't really prefer it. And it doesn't bode well for me for stand up either. I can't. People that are like, I have to have a few drinks before I go up, I'm like, oh, I, you know, for better or for worse, that has always slowed my brain down so much that I have learned through horrific sets that, oh, I can't do, I can't do it. I can't do one drink before I perform.

Yeah. I really can't. Oh, you can't even do one. No, because I'm aware that I'm, you did it. I'm a little off. I'm a little, this, I'm a little manufactured now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm a little not myself.

It doesn't loosen you up in a certain way. It doesn't like kind of tickle the spine a little bit. You just, uh, yeah, I think so on my way up there. When they want I'm up there, I'm like, why do that for it? When I'm being too loud or something, I'm like, well. Wait, what is your one drink? You're a pint of whiskey. Oh, that's the problem.

You know what? You know what? You have a thing that you cart and your water around with. What happened to canteens? Can I show that to camera? Like, why? Why do you happen? Walking your shot.

What happened to like, you know, cowboys would have a little canteen on them. Yeah. Or those squishy ones that made out of like a cow. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Why do those go? Why do you think? Yeah, where'd those go? Also, how did they come to conclude that would be the way to, like, who was like,

put your water in a cow's stomach? Yeah, like, well... Why did they know that that would be? Because they're like, you know, because they all cut open cows. I guess, I guess why not try everything? Since no one's tried anything. At a certain point in history, you would just try everything. Yeah, they're like, the liver didn't work.

It was too squishy. Just kind of... Yeah, you know they... It drains right out. But this is pretty good. The heart. Too many ways in and out. You couldn't seal it all up.

But the stomach was top and bottom. You steal that bottom? Yeah. Heart's good for a family trip. Yeah. Yeah, but I really was wondering about that. I was watching people in the airport. You know, there's the stations now where you can fill up your water.

And everyone's there holding these big bottles. Yeah. With all the rest of this stuff. Yeah. The cowboy rolled up. He would have had it around him. Yeah. Just like filled it up and hands free.

I'm not going to lie. And someone is going to steal this. But the old school canteen like that. Yeah. I think that would make a comeback in a hip kind of wet. Oh, yeah. Totally. Yeah.

You might be on to something. I know. I don't know why. Popas pouches. Popas. There you go. Someone just sent me a picture of Papa's Pizza, and it literally is the way that I sign my name. Is this theft?

Oh, you know what? This is the next step in your career of, like, of joke theft where someone's like, we've now stolen his signature and a pizza idea. Yeah, exactly. Oh, I like that. I know. Do your pee like that? I do my pee like that.

I think if you got a. You know. who sent that to me? I do my R's like that. You know who sent that to me? Who? Greg Malins.

Oh, okay. You know Greg. Yeah, I do. You guys did a show together. That's right. Upside, downside. Ground, ground side. Upstairs.

Groundside, upstairs. Upstairs down for the ground side. It wasn't on that long, but it was fun. It's so badly I remember it too. Groundside, uptown. Rich folks, blue collar down here. With blue collar here, white, caller here. Upstairs canceled.

Two seasons, barely. I'm starting to realize you can have a pretty good career just doing two seasons of everything. You can. Yeah. I mean, the true, I mean that, the, I wonder if the multicam

is, I think there's a generation of comics now that there is no interest in a multi-cam sitcom and it's strictly from the place of they're not they're just not perceived as cool anymore

but what I know from experience is that they are the greatest job you could possibly ever have in the world of acting if you are a stand-up comic you would be like oh you don't even have to act really

you just got to get them laughing which is what we're already trained to do. Especially if you're not writing on it. Oh, my God. If you're not writing on it and you complain, you are the worst person. If you're like these hours are killing me. What hours? 9 to 12.

9 to 12. Have you ever heard of most jobs? See you. I'd work on page 3 if I were you. If you write on it, you're there until midnight. You're there till midnight. Yeah. There's no vacate.

There's no hiatus. Right. And none of that. But if you're just an actor, Oh, that's what I had. That is sweet. Sweet. And I was like, oh, I get it now.

Because I also was like, oh, maybe multi-cams aren't a thing anymore. And then when I got on one, I was like, oh, we should bring these back. Oh, you just, you park there every time. And you go in there and they give you food. They provide a buffet of food. Oh, it's pretty sweet. A live audience. Now, but the other side of it is, like my daughters who are now 17 and 20, they grew up on all of the,

all of like the Nickelodeon multi-cams. Yeah. Like all of those, that's so Raven and all those kind of shows. So they kind of have an affinity for that format. And the Disney Jr. Yeah, all that stuff.

Yeah. So I don't know, but I don't know where you put it. You know, it's really hard because Netflix, because network TV is dying. Right, yeah. Like they may not even program on NBC from 10 to 11.

I wonder, I wonder what the, what the future. holds if these streaming services start selling ad space almost go Does it go back? You wonder because going back means

I mean right now our system at our house you know we have Apple TV so we have all the streaming services through that. Yeah. And my daughter when she wants to watch something she's seven when she wants to watch something it's like oh okay and she's like I want to watch

this show right and then as soon as that episode ends she's like can I watch another one and then my wife and I are always juggling well how many are we, you know, what are we agreeing on and which days are we agreeing on it? Like this, we've got to limit the TV exposure. Yeah. And it's difficult

specifically because of streaming. Yeah. Whereas I told my wife, I was like, if it gets bad, bad, and there's clearly an addiction to it, I think we just get rid of the Apple TV and we just go to cable. And then we just tell her, you can watch TV as long as you want. Because like our generation, you're going to walk away. Yeah.

Because you're going to go, oh, I don't have control of what I can see. Yeah. And also, as soon as it's over, I don't get episode two. Right. I get a whole other show I'm not interested in. You wait till next week. You wait till next week to get to watch the thing. And then you go, oh, that'll break the cycle.

Yeah. I mean, my daughter has watched everything Scooby-Doo possible, all series that have ever been created. She's watched an entire series of shows. And I don't know that I had ever done that until Breaking Bad. Yeah. I don't know. There's no show. What was,

what did you watch growing up? Whatever I would have named if they would have been like, oh, so you saw all of it. Like, that's absurd. Right. You were like, no, I had a life. I had things I had to do. Yeah. I could, how could I possibly watch all of it?

Yeah, I watched a handful of them. Yeah. Some things are going to fall on a Tuesday at 8 o'clock. Some other events are going to fall. I can't always be there. But it's so, it's insane to me to think. Like my daughter has watched every episode of things. And there's so many cartoon.

There's so many options. Yeah. Wait till she gets an iPad or a computer, which the school is going to say that she needs. Yeah, yeah. And then my daughter would just emerge and like through conversation, we had no idea she was doing it. And she'd be like, oh, yeah, I saw the office. What do you mean the office? Like all of the office.

Yeah. when like in her room on the down low when we thought she was doing homework or sleeping oh god just cranking through everything all of friends how intense i know i know and you know but you know that terrifies me yeah the whole thing is pretty terrifying but for us as the creators or the actors that want those cush jobs yeah it seems like multi-camp has a real hard time living on streaming. Yeah. It seems like up against other stuff like that.

Yeah. What's the one that works? I think doesn't Fluffy have one? Oh yeah. I don't know what's called. I feel like on Netflix. But yeah, I think that I think it's like,

I know it's coming back or it came back. Yeah. But I don't know like the success rate of it. Yeah, I don't know. And also, you know, there there isn't the, you know, there isn't that, lure of get to 100 episodes and then you are making money the rest of your life. Yeah. You don't even have to think about. You're in syndication. You could be on streaming and go 400 episodes.

You've been paid up front and that's it. You were paid and that was you're done. You're done and that's it. Yeah. Yeah. It's uh it's also not you know, fluffy being the example, but it, they're also not driven by standups the way they once were. It's no longer. Yeah. that you do a set, you get noticed. What show would you make? Right. Which I hadn't been doing, I started stand up in 2004. So that wasn't, that's never been a part.

I just know that was the 80s and 90s, more of the 90s, I guess, maybe late 80s. Yeah. That was on my mind for sure when I'm starting. Yeah, because that's, it was like, oh, the JFL and the, you're new face or you're discovered. And then, and then, and then now you're, you're, you're, you're representing. presented. You have an agent and all these things. And then you move on to the tonight show. And then you get called to the couch. And then it's like, well, now, that path is, to think of that now is almost so comical. Like, that is almost, you would write that in a spoof. And no one would believe that that was ever real. That that was the path. Yeah. Or a path. Yeah. Right. Exactly. No, the idea like, yeah, well, it's also very, it's also so fractured. that even if you were to get to the ultimate and have the show. Yeah.

It's not like your audience increases that much. Right. From all your podcasts and live performing and all the stuff that you do. Yeah. It's like it's all, you're not playing to 70 million people eventually. Yeah. With anything unless you go from being a standup to hosting the Super Bowl. Hosting the Super Bowl or somehow becoming an incredibly huge A-list movie star.

Right. And when you, if you were to break down, in the world of stand-up comedy, if you were to break it down, what would it be? Like, Robin Williams and Jim Carrey? Like, who ever got those numbers who started, you know, in our boat of telling jokes on a microphone? Right. It's really interesting because that path in the 80s and 90s, it was kind of like, you sort of saw a means to an end. You were like, well, I get on stage and I tell jokes because there's this thing that might happen. Right. And now it's interesting. I feel like stand-up is now in this other vein of,

well, why are you doing it now knowing that that isn't the path? I think it's had people cause them to step back and really decide if they love the art of live performance. Right. With a crowd through comical spoken word, which is the most boring way to describe what we do. But you know what I mean? Like it really makes you go, well, if the odds that, no one's going to see this to cast me in something or give me a show. Yeah. Do I love being up here for 60 minutes? Right.

Because I actually enjoy this engagement and this response and that. And it's, it seems like a lot of people do. I think so. I think a lot of people do. It's also engineering. I think a lot of people don't ever hit the road in the traditional way that you not only had to, but wanted to. Yeah. Yeah.

No, I know. I was talking to someone. somebody and I was like they're pretty successful and I was like you never really went on the road and they're like no because then I had this show and then this other thing and yeah and uh I was like oh man that's such a strange it's a strange thing for stand-up also in that uh you don't necessarily have to be a stand-up to be known as a comedian right you know what I mean like yes young people who just have a like a following on YouTube doing something. Yeah. Like really, and they kind of peripherally do stand up in L.A. or whatever. Right.

But like that part of like, this is where I feel like standup is becoming like jazz in a way. Yeah. Like the real, the people that really love it as an art and like keep doing it and then, you know, have healthy audiences now, I can see it eventually pairing down to.

Yeah. Oh, he like, he plays like the trumpet. Yeah. Like they're going to, we're going to be, there'll be like a handful of comics that do like performing arts centers and yeah and the Lincoln Center. Yeah.

Yes. I think there's, uh, I mean, it's, that's so interesting because they even talking about anyone that like sort of does something comical on, uh, YouTube or now like TikTok. Yeah. They are, and nothing against them, but they're in some ways thrust into the world of going like, well, now you're going to do this comedy festival. Right. And it's like live.

and a lot of them can handle that, but it's also so interesting to me that, you know, the path, and I think you're in the same boat, the number of times you got on stage to learn how to get on stage and do the job that is getting on stage is, if you looked back and counted it, you would probably be blown away

how many times you did it before an official thing kind of came along to go, oh, now you're going to make, Right. You're going to be on a real show. It's not just a spot. Yeah. You're doing like a thing.

And like it nowadays you're almost, oh, if you're funny, well, we'll go and throw you to the wolves now. Yeah. And see if you survive. And a lot of times I think that can be that can be kind of shitty for someone who might really learn how to do it. Because you don't have anything to come back with the next time around. I think it's kind of that world of like popping too soon.

Yeah. And I understand that anyone could, whenever I think of. this or have this conversation with people about popping too soon. And I would say in the, the, I don't come from the place of everyone needs to pay their dues. Right. I come from the place of what everyone does need to learn how to play the game so that they know how to play the game and not, but not only that, learn how to sustain the career of the game because if they're thrown to the wolves too soon, I'm actually defending them. Right. They're done to the wolves too soon. You might go, oh, I thought, well, I guess he's funny on TikTok, but I thought he sucked at the stand-up show. And it's

like, that might be because he's never had the space. Right. what that is. It's so funny. I have I have Seinfeld's voice in my head right now because whenever we would like TikTok. I feel like his head that just lives in your head. His voice is always there. He kind of does. And I remember we were talking about improv. Yeah. And this is very similar to TikTok than what you're describing of those people that have these moments and like

people that do improv have these brilliant moments. And I remember Jerry going, where's your business? Where's your business? business. You take a couple things from the audience you do with their life. Where are you touring? Where's the corporate gigs? Where's the tonight shows? Where's the sold out theaters? Yeah. And that's the same thing. It's like standup does have this kind of blue collar within show business existence. Yeah. Where if you do really develop that craft. Yeah. And have this relationship with this audience, you can go forever. Yeah. So I was sleeping on a lame mattress for a long time. and the people from Helix came along and asked how long have you been sleeping on your mattress?

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Thank you, Thrive Market. But I also think that, you know, to that point of like where is your business, I think that is so such a, that's almost what we're talking about, that traditional kind of. Yeah. Yeah, but you do the five.

You get the five. and then you showcase the five, but also you got in your back pocket the 20. And then you know that you can do the 45. And then you try to get the corporate. Like there, I would love the check that comes with corporate. But it would have to be so high for me to work hard

to be a guy that gets to do a corporate. And I know that my act doesn't fit into those things. And the only reason anyone would ever hire me for some of the things that, you know, he would have described fictually in your head. is, I would have to just be huge. But I think, kind of circling back, for me personally, somebody who has been doing it a long time and has, like,

I feel like I have paid my dues and I have gone on the road and I've done the mics and I've gotten the peaks and valleys. I think I've learned that I don't know that I'm, I could sit here and go, 150 seats is so fun to me. Yeah. Because I like the jazz. I like the bass. I like the intimacy.

I like being able to feel everybody. I can see that I am not a guy who has played arenas or like these massive theaters. So I couldn't tell you what that would be like. But I do know that for what I do and how I do it, that I love those spaces. Yeah. And I'd rather there's a this part of it. And this is all new. I'm only saying this because this is new thoughts for me in that constant sitting down going,

why am I doing this and what am I trying to get to? Right, right. And going, oh, the thing that I enjoy, I should just enjoy it. And I should quit going, yeah, but if I work really hard, then I can maybe play 500-seat theaters and then a thousand seat theaters and all these other things. If those things happen, great. Right. But I think in the timeline of my life and my career, I have to just go, well, what do I like

and maybe just keep doing that? Right. trying to assume that anyone has set the standard of what our careers are supposed to be like. Yeah, you know what I mean? No, 100%. There's that thing where you get caught up very easily and, well, what's next? Well, what, how do I keep building this? How do I keep building this?

Yeah. I remember I was talking with Maria Bamford once. And it was right at the beginning of like Kevin Hart, like, starting to like do arenas. Yeah. And he was kind of the first of our generation of like starting to all of a sudden. And that was like, you know, six guys that are like going out there and doing all those crazy numbers. And I was like, wow, I can't believe he's like playing.

Do you see the size of the place? Yeah. And she goes, and she looked horrified. Yeah. And she goes, that's like running a corporation. Yeah. Like to be that big, you're running a corporation. Yeah.

She goes, I like running a small shop. I know. I like running a small coffee shop. Yeah. I know the people they come in. it's comfortable. Yeah. And it really was like, oh, yeah, you don't, we don't all have to be on the same path.

Yeah. And if you're not achieving what Kevin was doing, then you're just, you should be unhappy. Yeah. You shouldn't be unhappy. You should be enjoying it. I look at it like music too. I look at it like, you know, if someone's like, well, the Rolling Stones are still doing and they're playing, you know, in L.A., the football stadium.

It's like how insane they're doing two nights and they're both sold out. And then someone would be like, yeah, but you know, I saw this other band, you know, at the Trubador. And for my money, I think the Trubador band is a better band. And then I think with stand-up, I think we do get caught up in, and I think an audience's perspective a little bit, if they're not too savvy in what stand-up is, I think a lot of times they go, well, if you're doing arenas, that means you're a good comic. And if you're not doing arenas, that means you're a bad comic. And both can be true and false. Yeah, right. But I think they see it as sort of like,

oh, no, it's very black and white. It's this or that. Whereas, you know, and no knock to Kevin Hart. But I would, if someone said, we can go see Kevin Hart at Madison's Garden, or you can go sit next to Maria Bamford's parents and watch her shoot a special in their living room, I would go watch Maria Bamford's show and I would just go, well, this is art. and subjective. And for me, I think, I think it's almost harder what she's doing in this living room in front of her parents

that I think this is a crazier act to see and witness than this other one. You know what I mean? Yeah. And it's, you know, it really plays into the way that you work. Like, you're, you're not someone who repeats themselves over ad nauseum. Yeah. I mean, you're, you're, I bring you up on this podcast all the time because I tell you. too.

Yeah, well, other than what you pay me, I think I would probably do it without the money. I sponsored this podcast. It's Roy Scoville Presents for a reason. But it's really inspiring because you go out there and you're like, you know, you did those shows where, and you recorded them where you just weren't going to do an act. You were going to be as pure as you could possibly in your mind of getting up on stage and just with nothing. Yeah.

And not nothing from last night or not nothing that kind of worked. in those other nothing moments. Yeah. You're just going to go and do it. And it's really inspiring. It pushed me to... Because you do it. A little bit.

Yeah, yeah. A little bit in the beginning when I'm like finding it. Yeah. And then it starts to... Solidify. ...solidify into something. I think that's the, you know, for the hour that I do... Now, you know, if I'm going to go do a club...

Yeah. I'm going to the DC improv on next week. Or actually, I don't know when this drops. So... I might have already been there. And it was great. What's the date? September 16, 17, 18.

I think you were just there. I was, and it was so fun, you guys. What did you do? It's so many jokes. But when I do like a club, you know, that act, that hour that I really rely on came from those improvise. A heavy part of it came from those six shows. I did in Atlanta. That really became my act.

And it was, you know, something I was going to shoot before COVID happened. And then, you know, now it's still there and I'm still building on. It's still finding other things to improvise that I then fit into the world of those jokes. So when you were at the DC improv, do you still give yourself? Just recently. Yeah, just last week. You can still give yourself time during the set to be that loose? Yeah, I try to be as loose as possible the whole time with the back pocket being the

act. And then I go in and out of it. This is make me feel better. There's also times where going up and just right into the act start to finish, I sort of did that in Minneapolis in early August. I went up and the hour has only recently really come together thematically where I'm like, oh, I don't know that this is the order, but they all fall into a bigger story. And I, I'm not going to lie. It's all about monkeys.

But I'm not even going to lie, as someone who has been doing it almost 20 years, I've never really crafted an hour that I would say thematically was kind of one thing. It's always been like all these tracks and very sloppy. I look back and I feel very immature about that style of putting an hour together, despite the fact I think they were good. For me, this feels like, ironically, they're all sex jokes. So there's a strange irony that while I think what I'm talking about might seem immature, it's the most mature hour that I've ever constructed.

And there's some nights where because I like it so much, I want to do it A to Z and go, that was it. Well, it becomes a different thing. But on like a five-show weekend, I'm not going to lie, when I get to the Friday Late Show, if I've come off Thursday, Thursday I've probably run the act. Friday early, I've probably run the act. But Friday Late Show, I now kind of want to smoke a joint before the show,

and I want to be like, I'm going to go as long as I can without having to get to the act. Yeah. And if I get to minute 25 of a 50 minute act, the following 25, I'm just going to play what I think are the greatest hits of the hour ago. Yeah, there's weak stuff in there. That's fine. But I'll just chop that out so that they think, oh, wow. And then the second half, it was bam, bam, bam, bam, bam.

And it's just because I've chopped the other stuff out, which is honestly what I should be doing as a professional comic anyway. Well, it's not necessarily because it's just different. things that you're doing. It's like, you know, I'm really, I'm really kind of opposed to the, that we all have to do the same thing back to like, you know, we all have to go through these. Yeah. Mile markers. Also, the, the, just the term of, I'm working on my hour. I got my hour. You're giving me hour. What are you doing? You put your hour together. You're shooting your hour, the hour. Yeah, yeah. I'm just like, how about your special or how about your act? I just

really want to break out of that. Yeah. Just like out of all those terms or just saying the hour. The hour. The hour. Yeah. It makes us feel. I think this is the title of your next special. Tom Bob for the hour. Not an hour.

Slightly under an hour and it's 58 minutes. You come in at a sharp 58. Don't call it an hour. I know it's a little bit of a pet peeve, but it's also that I just don't like that we're all marching to the same. Well, to that point, I feel that way too. And I think it's why I even decided to do. do those six shows in Atlanta of just going up and wanted to improvise the shows was because

I just got tired of this. And I'm very tired of it now is the crafting, you know, the 60 minutes, can I say that? And crafting the hour, because you are thinking, well, I'm going to, I'm going to do an album or I'm going to do a special. Or I'm going to do whatever. And I wanted to get away from thinking about those things, I understand the point of them and I understand that they do come with a paycheck that can be good or bad. I've had it where the paycheck is actually nothing.

Or even more than the paycheck, it's a, it's a guarantee for the longevity of your stand-up version of your career. Yeah. Now more people see you and want to come out and you can go tour. And this means to an end of it,

but I think I just, I hate the idea that it pulls us out of, you know, hey, what about this crowd right now. And I've been even trying to think about that with like just spots. Like even going up and someone being like, yeah, so, you know, everyone's just kind of doing 10. Yeah. And instead of being like, oh, well, what should I work on?

Right. I think I'm so over that term too of like, yes. I'm working on something. Why not? Why not? Do you say that you're working on something because you want the other comics in the green room to know? Hey, guys, just in case. Uh-huh.

This could fail. Right. I, why, why, why are we as artists not so supportive of each other to push each other, you know, to fail in a way in terms of, in learning? Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah, no, go out there and fuck it up. Go out there and try it.

Go out there and do whatever. And instead of looking like, well, don't fuck up the crowd for me. I'm next. Like, I hate that. Yeah. It's like, well, let everybody try whatever they're going to do. Yeah. And go out and go, well, I'm not working on something.

I'm going to go out and be funny for 10 minutes. for these people. And if by any chance they decide to follow me on any of the social media, specifically just to find out where I'll be performing next, then that to me is the gold medal of the Olympics. Yeah. Like that makes me so happy to feel like, yeah, these shows are special and it is this moment as opposed to, hey, you guys paid. And you're going to see a lot of comics tonight. but you are all just a urine trough for us because what we're trying to get to is the Super Bowl of what our job is. So you're going to throw stuff at you.

You don't really count. You don't count. I'm just working the shit out on you. This is not the show. But there is an element to that that the audience does like. They do like being the trough sometimes. Some do. And those are my favorite audiences.

Yeah, really. There is that. And like if I'm at the original room in the comedy store, I'd want to see that. Yes. I'd want to see the Rory that I know and I've watched this special. Yeah. And then watch him fuck around and be real. Just be in that moment.

That's like, that's a cool thing. I mean, that's, a lot of the shows now that are like in process. You know what I mean? That's such a thing now where it's like, I'm working on the hour. To me it's like, don't even call it that. I know. Go up and let people. Like, because here's why I think we call it that.

I think it's ego. I think it's ego. Because if you said, I am really trying to put this thing together. But I need the crowd to know it's in process so that they don't sit there going, well, Tom's really lost this stuff. Or the other comics don't go. It's really the other comics. Does Tom think this is good?

Because it's not. I would rather be like, why not call it your special taping? And let the audience go, but there's no cameras here. And now we're having fun. Right. And when it's not solid, the crowd. You go, and there will be people in the crowd that go, oh, I think he's actually working on his act. And you go, you need to tell people to come because you get it.

You are who I want at these things. Is it self-imposed? I guess it's part of it is like I, with all this talk, I'm recording a special October 1st. Yeah. So I went from. Which is like tomorrow. Going out and doing the shows in the pandemic and like knowing and remarking this is a freedom that we've never had and it would be so nice to be able hang on to being this loose.

Yeah. But then as a date starts narrowing in, it's got to start tightening up. And now I'm like hammering. But I think that's great too. And it's great. And there is a, there is an art to that. There is an art to putting together this thing that you're proud of that you're going to put down.

Yeah. But then you start to look forward to and this is what I hope I can hang on to. I hate when you do it. And then everybody starts panicking. Well, now I got to work on my. new hour. Yeah, I know. Or how about you just go back to just being you?

Or go back to being you or take the time or I think I hate that too where it's like, oh, you got to get up all the time. Like, my philosophy of what we do is just, I don't, I'm not in that same boat of me. Like, we'll get up every time. Any kind of stage time. Get up. Always got to do that. I get too bored with myself to where I don't enjoy it.

And I go, well, if I'm not enjoying it, I don't need the free drink ticket. Yeah. I'll buy beer at the grocery store. Yeah. Or skip this Tuesday and stay with my kids. Yeah, if it's not feeling good and fun, then I don't really want to do it. But I mean, I think, and also when I say people labeling their things in progress, look, I will go out and do fully improvised shows and I am terrified to not tell the audience.

Like, I, it's improvised. So I'm in the same vein of ego getting in the way. Sure. To me, the ultimate is to go out and improvise a show and you have not labeled it that way. And to me do it at a club where the stakes are higher. Right. Five shows. And you've got to do it five hours.

total and no one knows and it could be fucking garbage and you're not allowed to say you're making it all up. You have to walk that tightrope. I think that's tough too because then somebody in Tempe, Arizona is waiting for you to come in and they leave like, oh, they're probably not going to come see you next time. I know. I know. So then you've got to start thinking, what is the kind of music that I want to, that I want to play and what is the thing I want to get really good at, I think for you after you shoot the special. Yeah. I think it's, you might find yourself, especially the writer that you are and the performer that you are.

You might find yourself with a new arsenal very quickly. If you go for the first month, I'm only improvising half hour spots at a venue that I'm going to get. I'm doing half hour spots and I'm improvising all of them because at the end of a month, I'm not joking. The way that you are, I bet you walk out of the going, I think I might have. have two hours of stuff to work on. I really think you would. I mean, in six shows in Atlanta, yeah. That is a huge chunk of my whole thing. Right. And that was six shows in Atlanta. And I wasn't really looking for it. I was just like trying to get the balls in the air. It was so funny. What was it

called again? Uh, I don't even remember. I don't know. Live without fear. Live without fear. It's kind of both because of the documentary element. Right. And it's on people can see it on YouTube. Yeah. It's so good. Nobody, I tried to sell it. It's so good. Nobody. Nobody wanted it. Nobody went for it. They're like, what is it, a special or a documentary? And I go, who cares? Who cares as long as someone presses play?

Yeah. Who cares what it is? It's just, it's comedy. It's an experiment. It's, uh, you know. It's experiment, but it's, it's remarkably funny. Like, I mean, not remarkably, but you would think like even your best friends would be like, you know, eating shit for a lot of it, but it's really funny.

I went into it thinking originally it wasn't going to be something we shot. Yeah. I booked it before any. I booked it because I just wanted to try it. Yeah, yeah. And so I was thinking, we'll charge five bucks, and I'll probably bomb six nights in a row, but I want the torture of it.

Because I want to see what it makes me become. Yes. Because I do know that I am funny, and I know something will happen. That's the huge thing to remind yourself. My guess going into it, if someone's at all six shows are 100%, what percentage would I think would be funny

of the six total shows? I honestly would have guessed 30%. I would have said, I think 30% will be funny. And then I think 70% it's going to be a combination of bombing pretty sadly or doing stuff that's maybe like hacky just to keep in the moment in the moment to do something. Surviving. Yeah. And I was completely wrong because all six shows in their own way were not only unique, but they were good shows.

I mean, when I got to Saturday, I was firing jokes because I was. was no longer scared that I wouldn't be able to think of anything. Yes. So I had shed my fear that nothing will happen and I had fully embraced that you just have to keep talking and you will, you'll just say something. Yeah. And the light bulb will go off. Do you have moments just in your life like when you're just hanging around and you're

thinking, oh, maybe I should post something or I know you have another thing with that? But where you just feel like I got nothing to say. Yes. And that's... When you're on stage or what? No, off stage. Because that's like on stage I could see like the comic in you just panicking and like we're going to make something happen.

Yeah. And I, but I also can just walk around during my day sometimes. Yeah. With nary a thought. Yeah. Yeah. Like if you were to hear my brain, it would just be a hum. Yeah.

Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. Sometimes you're just like... I think the only way that I, I'm actually. curious to know because I am such a fan of your writing. I'm such a fan of how you take however you wrote it and where it ends up. And so I'm so curious because my writing is I am almost talking in my head as though I'm already on stage just talking. And then because you're in your head and there's clearly

no fear, I'm just rambling as though I am on stage and then I'll go, oh, that's funny. And then I'll like write that down. Uh-huh. But I'm so curious for you, are you like setting out to go, all right, this is, this is the hour that I sit down and I try to write it out or like, what is more your, like, how are you spotting these targets? Uh, it's more, it's more in, um, it's more in just traveling along in life. Yeah.

You know what I mean? And going, oh, that and then that, the quick jot. Yeah, and the quick jot. And then bringing it up without working. on it bringing it up and seeing how much of the jotting down are you putting down are you putting down so little that there is a chance tomorrow you don't remember what that no was yeah and don't you hate yourself every time that happens you're like why have I not matured to just write a paragraph to just like try and get it out yeah and even then you look at it and it's like oh why do I write a whole paragraph

about this that was terrible I feel like stand-ups are the most like like I know I know that this is not true yeah because I am a stand-up I feel like we are the most mentally fucked up version of all of the mediums of art as artists. Because people would also even argue that what we do isn't even art. And we would go, well, they might be right. That's how fucked up we are. We almost agree with them. Yeah.

The one thing that it's been banging around my head a little bit is it is weird that we have to go for this single response. Yeah. All the time. Yeah. Like, you know. And I know you've got, you do other things. things. So you can kind of like, you know, if you're acting, you can do, you're trying to scare them

or make them sad or whatever, or not even try just being and they respond to that. It is kind of there, but you know, you also don't want to get into that, you know, Sullivan's Travels kind of thing of like, I'm bigger than comedy. I got to do, I got to say something more. Yes. Yes. There's nothing worse than that guy. Yeah. You know, but it is kind of a funny thing. And I think that's what kind of in our head discounts it as art sometimes is that you're always banging for that same just a laugh just a giggle just a laugh yeah yeah i think that's what maybe we have uh the the the carlins of the world carlin just inspired so many people to go say something bigger or like the bill hicks yeah there's so many others where it's like i'm gonna really make a big i'm i'm guilty of it too where i'm so inspired to be like i want to i want to

change the world and say the thing that really blows people's mind but then you are like, but if I don't get a laugh at the end of it, I still have failed. Right. Even though I don't even think that's true, I think it's true, even though I don't think it's true.

Like that's the inner. Like next battle. I'm like, oh, sorry, I was just trying to say that I think religion is a construct. Okay, let me get off. You guys have been great, your next comic coming up. Oh, man.

Your bread turned out great, by the way. Did it? Yeah. What happens? I just take this with me? Yeah, that'll go home. Because I brought you, I was real, I remember this morning that I actually delivered bread to you during the pandemic at your home. You did.

You did. Which was really cool. This feels real good. It's really good. And it was at a time when we weren't entering homes yet. We weren't entering homes. You stood on the porch. You gave me coffee. We sat outside.

And, uh, your wife came out. I think you, I think you had just taken your daughter to college or you were about. Yeah. I can't remember. Is that right? You are right. I think I was about to. I think you're about to.

Was I crying? Yeah. But I've never known you to not cry in social settings. What is this? Can I have one of these? Yeah, these are also brought you. These are my favorite Italian cookies. I mean candies.

Soft almond honey nugget. Torone. They're so good. And yeah, you're going to like. this a lot. Oh, that feels good. Yeah, these are good. Now, is that a Ferrari? Yeah. The Ferrari. Is that a Ferrari? The, uh, what Italian, uh, Delhi are you going to? Right here? Yeah, there's that one, the Monte Carlo Pinocchio, which is the best in the area, for sure. Uh, oh yeah. What's that? Marzipan? It's got a little, what is Marzap? See, down here, what do you got? I got a vanilla.

Do you see that right down there, that little thing, ma'bubb? Oh, that's that's, that's, So good. The Italians do almonds and desserts. They get it. Yeah. I mean, gelato. Mm-hmm. Do you travel this summer?

Does Florida count? Yeah. Then yeah. Went to South Carolina. Florida was in Vegas. With the family? With the family. Nice.

Did a big family summer trip. Played in a member guest golf tournament. You did. In Greenville, South Carolina. And it was so incredibly fun to do. Was it really? Yeah. That is so good.

Is that good? Your golf game is on point right now. I got new Callaway clubs. I played this morning. What did you do with your old new clubs? My old new clubs are still in the garage. My wife is like, don't you get rid of these? I'm like, you don't get it.

You just don't get it. And you never will. And I just, you know. Why do I stay with you? Why are we together? You don't understand. ban me. I hit a drive this morning

322 yards. Whoa. And yeah, I bogeied the hole. That's not the point. That's not the point. The point is how I looked when everyone was looking. I looked so cool. And I wasn't in the fairway.

I said to my buddy, I go, I go, dude, this drive was 32 yards. And he goes, in the fairway? And he's standing. I'm like, no, it's over here. He goes, right. I'm like blocked out by a tree. I don't have a job.

out of the green. How often are you playing? I try to play once a week. No, that's good. If I can. What is this one? That's really good. What is orange? Lemon is my favorite. Is it? Should I try to go lemon? I'm going to have one more. I think you... I'm going to start buying these. This is your box. Oh, I get to have this. Yeah, you're going to take that home.

My daughter is going to lose her mind. No joke. Have vanilla one. She's going to be like, that's the great. We're getting that every week. Give her that toast. Put Nutella on it and she'll really love you. I'm just going to give it to her and let her try it at school. So she comes home and goes, what was in? So she's in first grade? Second grade.

Second grade. Oh, God, that's such a fun age. My end table, I don't know, maybe you draw this out of me. Maybe if I was dropping my daughter, the same daughter that I was dropping off at college. I opened up my end table next to my bed. And, you know, it's just filled with nonsense. It's just like the silliest. shit in there. And there was a little photo book, a little flippy photo book. I was like,

ah, not before you go to sleep. I was like, ah, just do it, knowing damn well what's in it. And we took a shot of her every, every, every, I think it was every month. Oh, every month for a year, the first year. It starts as like this gelatinous thing. No, and then like sitting there and like holding herself up and like, Oh my God. So expressive. Can you cry so easily now? So easily.

Before having kids. Yeah. Could you cry? Like, were you like an expressively emotional person? No. No, I keep it close to the vest. Yeah. Same.

Yeah. But with once the, yeah, once kids entered your life, it's like commercials, especially like so you have a daughter. Yeah. Anything with a father and a daughter. Forget it. Forget it. And it's for pale-ass shoes.

Yeah, right, exactly. They didn't have the ones you wanted. Oh, Sappy. Yeah. You went back in the rain. By the way, I might have just written an amazing commercial. You did. I was thinking it's a series.

It's a movie. That's actually probably a trilogy. It's a multi-cam. We could sell that tomorrow. This is happening. I wonder what like, what in our brains switches where like now we're, like, now we just...

Yeah. Because I think women have that. Not all women. I think we all are products of our youth and... Yeah. Tramas and whatever. But for the most part, and this is why I think women are genuinely smarter.

And I always say that and I always have to then go, and I'm not pandering. Right. There are dumb women who I think are awful. That exists, just as I think of that have meant. Yeah. But I just think on a whole... We're allowed to generalize.

Yeah. I think on a whole, women... Yeah. are just like, the thing I feel so bad for women is that I also agree that they should be in charge of almost all things. And I'm like, I'm on your side about this. You are smarter. But I don't know how we get you over the fish. I know it's going to take.

And does my, I know there's an irony that's going to take a lot of men. Right. I know the irony of that. And does it feel bad that I'm offering you help? Yes. And I, and if you tell me not to, I'll be like, whatever you say? you're smarter right but yeah i think women like especially in the world of like being in touch with their emotions and learning what those are and how to like they've been keyed in how to understand them

and like wanting to understand them yeah so much sooner than than us and i mean you me and you specifically who are idiots well especially in terms of children yeah i mean you know i knew without a doubt just watching your wife go through on pregnancy childbirth and then knowing how to be a mom and that yeah And you're like, oh, this is, idiots. I feel it too. Like, I would die for this person. Right. But I'm also ginning it up some of the times.

Like, there's another level that, I mean, it's part of her. I mean, it's part of her. I can not imagine what that must be like to look at a living object. Yeah. And know that it grew inside of your body and just, I mean, that's why, like, if my daughter is, like, says something shitty to me. Which happens. We give her the space.

And that's our fault by being parents who listen and care. But if she says something to shoot me, I'm like, all right. But if she were to have grown inside my body and said something she cheated to me, I would be like, you motherfucker, you grew in my body. I was your home. I was right. This is your shell was my human carcass. and you're turning on me.

And you're turning on me. I made you. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's a whole different level. And they know how to be moms. Yeah.

It's just natural. Your joke. And I tell it to you all the time, but getting your wife getting in the car and she's crying and you're like, I don't even know who she's talking about. I have told that joke to, I've probably told that joke to more people like off stage to friends. friends, me, like, have you ever heard Tom Papa's joke?

I like, tell them the joke. I've probably said that to do well. It does well every time. Nice. I've told that to so many people, probably more times than I've told certain jokes of my own act on stage. I like that. I've told it to be like, oh, yeah, that's really fun.

I'm like, yeah, I got it. I remember it was at that school fundraiser with the scholars, and that joke had me. Oh, right. I said it to my wife in the car. She was like, Tori, I was just at the show. I heard him tell it. I heard it from the source. It's so great. Thank you. That makes me very happy because I really, I respect you

comedically more than most. Oh, that's all I care about. And that's why I give you the money for this podcast. That's why I front the money. I actually paid for these. He bought these free. I go, hey, pick me up some Toronis. I'm sorry. I got the wrong color green. It's fine. I also had, when I go to that place, they also have the newspaper in Italian. They have a newspaper that's published here in like Burbank. Yeah. All in Italian. There's a little English, but mostly Italian.

And businesses from around here advertise. And I get it all the time just to see if I know anymore. Like I'm always kind of like poking and stuff. And I literally didn't bring it in because I was like, if I bring this in, Roy's going to see it. And that's all we're going to talk about it. There's no chance that I am letting that slide in any way. I literally had it in my hand.

I'm like, no, he won't behave. This is not coming inside. I mean, the Italian delis are so overwhelming too because you walk in. If you were going to make pasta and you walk into an Italian deli, you will go, okay, I'm going to crush it because everything I need at the highest level is here. It's here now. And then you're also, you're not even just going, I'm going to make amazing spaghetti tonight. You're like, you know what? We are going to start with brichetta.

We are. And I'm going to serve it with tomatoes and mozzarella. I'm going to do it all. I'm going to get some balsamic vinegar. Right. But at an Italian deli, you walk in and it's so, you didn't even know that many pastas existed. I know. I walk out of that place and I'm always, the only time I'm disappointed with like today, when I'm walking out of there without a box. Yeah. I buy so much. I can't stop buying stuff. I know, because it's too enticing. Yeah. And you just keep buying. You're like, maybe this pasta's good. Maybe this one's good.

But, you know, as a kid, I always thought it was like just spaghetti and then manacotti and lasagna. I thought those were the options of noodles you could get. I didn't know there was so much. What are you doing now? I was thinking this too about when my kids were little was, I was like, what do we cook? Like, we cook so much now. And I've gotten so much better at cooking. But when they were little, there were whole years where we didn't really, you couldn't try anything. Because like if there was a, if she saw like a flake of pepper, what, why is this on here? Why is this on here? And you, and you can't, when I was a kid, you could always do the like, there's starving kids in the world. Right.

And I came from that. So when my daughter would have a moment of like, what is this? I would go, there are starving. And my wife would be like, ahem. And I'd be like, it's pepper. That's what's on it. It's pepper. Just eat it.

Why is she going a hem? I think she's just like, we're not going to compare. I think there are so many different versions of eating disorders and eating trauma. I think my wife is like, we're not. not going to create the, well, you didn't eat it, but you need to eat it because this person doesn't have it. And when she explains it to me, I'm like, oh, yeah. Right. And then I'm like, how do you know that? And she's like, because I'm just thinking logically as a person. I'm like, that's the difference. I do not have that built into my head. All I have is how I was raised.

Right. And I need to pass on that generational trauma as far as I can. I need my grandkids to feel affected by my face. Yeah, right. Envy is petulant and small-minded as you can about it. You're talking about my daughter growing as a person and moving past this. Then she can't have my last name. Right. Because that DNA matters. I just wanted to eat this now.

I got it. I yelled at my daughter once. Like both of them, we were at a fancy hotel. We ordered breakfast for room service. This is like young, young? Yeah, young. And in my mind, I didn't see them as young, young. But now, like, looking at the pictures of when this incident happened, I'm like, what was wrong with me?

They were so small. Yeah. But we order this room service in a fancy restaurant, which is a lot of money. You know, every time you, and, you know, and they come and they send it all up. Even for like a kid's burger, they're like, 30 bucks. He's like, these pancakes are weird. Oh. And I remember like, oh, I guess this is just how we live.

My father never got me room service. And if we did, we damn sure would have eaten. it. You know, we're just going to complain about this? And I made, just like this purely instinctual, emotional shittiness. Yeah. Just came pouring out of me. Oh, I can relate.

Sadly, I can relate to this. And now I look at the pictures. I'm like, they were right. They were two and five. They were two and five. They didn't eat cumin on their pancakes. They didn't need specialty potatoes. I've looked back at videos of my daughter and been like,

and I've just been like, oh my God, she's so adorable and little there. And when was that? And then when I remember back when it was, then I will go, oh, yeah, that's right. I think I remember yelling at her for something. And I really believed I was correct. And I think I thought she was an adult.

But now that I see this, I realize I'm a monster. I'm a horrible monster who has no choice but to mess her up in some way. But the other side of it, now that you say that, is that they were, they do seem older because they are, like, whenever you say, like, if you talk to children, like, they're adults. Yes. And, like, kids, you'll remember. Yeah. Because they kind of are. Yeah. Like, there's a, you know, there's a reason kind of greatness does happen when kids are like 10 or 11 sometimes. Yeah. It's like, there you are. They're not all there. But there's enough there for you to think we're equals. I remember asking my daughter for advice. Like, yeah. Should I go do this thing? She'd be like, I don't know.

And really like leaning in like, you're the only one I can ask. Yeah. I need to know what you think. You know, it's so interesting because I open up so much more to my daughter now about stuff like that. Because we, you know, she's an only child. And I think even through, through no effort, we truly treat her like she's the third one in our group. Sure. Yeah.

And it isn't because we're actively trying to do that. It's just because there isn't a second kid there to make you think, oh, kids. Oh, kids. And because. And she, you know, I think her language and speaking, she's had that since a very young age. And so I'm so used to her personality now that I don't see her as like seven. No. I really see her and sense her intellect and everything as so much older.

Totally. But the thing I think about all the time is it's so funny how we treat kids or how we look at kids. We don't look at them as, you know, like when you first turn on your brand new, iPad. It is also a child. But the moment you turn it on and you start using it, you understand that it starts, there is a AI learning aspect to all of these apps that we use and all of these things. Children are so similar in the sense where we're like, well, kids are dumb.

And it's like because they've literally, because that kid's been here for four years. Right. So like when kids do say a funny thing or their thing in like logic, is very like, hippie longstocking. You're almost like, it's so funny that we think that's funny because we're like,

they don't get it. But you're like, why would they get it? It's like they have a small brain that is growing and absorbing information. And instead of it, we're like, well,

one day you'll be an adult and it'll be smarter. It's like, well, no, actually, if you just start packing the information and education

into the child, you might be blown away how smart they are very quickly. And also, had you, Had you been treated that way, you might be like, oh, yeah, I would have been really smart. Like, everybody in my life who, as a teenager, who I thought was a smart person, I saw the way their parents talk to them and what they talked to them about.

And I was like, oh, that's what it is. That didn't incur to me at the time. Yeah, no. But that's what it is. They didn't just go, we're a kid and you're dumb and we can just fib to you. Right. We can lie to you about stuff because you're just a kid. Instead, parents live under their kid and then like, oh, no, well, really lying to them.

really have great consequences down the road. Yeah. It is really a cool thing when you can see that they're noticing that you're asking them something beyond what you normally do. Yes. They kind of clock it. You mean like with the advice thing? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You're like, what do you think? Do you think I should do this? Oh. Oh. Oh. Respect. Yeah. Respect.

Right. Exactly. You know respect here. Speaking of which, you have to go get your child. That's right. Oh, yeah. Well, actually, my wife is. probably going to do it. We're okay. I think we're okay. Yeah. All right. I mean, we're going to wrap up

anyway, but I want to know if we have to just pull the rip cord or not. I love you so much Tarone. I'm going to have to try the orange. I can't. Yeah, do it. I'm going to eat one more because you're taking the box. Can I ask you if I, like, had I sat here and not waited for you to open that box? And I just opened it. And I genuinely kept going until they were gone, regardless of how many you ate. Right. Would you go, oh, we're is a trash can of a man. No. Or would you respect it? Would you be like, oh, he just decided to eat all of them

and he didn't give a shit? I was like, I'd be like, I'd bring it back to me a little bit. I'd be like, I knew we'd like this. I knew we'd like this. Totally nailed it. There was a whole deli full of things that I could have given him. And I got him, I got him the one.

Mm, it's so good. Also good, but I got to say vanilla for the win. Oh, yeah, vanilla for the win? I don't feel. What's this one? This one is vanilla. What are we even eating?

Joy. Love. I started making a biscotti, too. How do you do that? It's pretty easy. You put a whole bunch of stuff in a bowl and mush it up. Then you roll it into a log and bake it. Don't even have to be like, and then it comes out.

You're describing most baking. Yeah, cut it up and bake it. again. It's pretty easy. It's a double bake. Double bake. But you have to cut it. Yeah, you slice it and then put it flat. So you're almost getting like a bread

that's like this and you just slice it this way. You get the long. It's like a log. Yeah. The first bake is a log. You just mush it into this, which is, you know, any baking that's not super precise I can do. Which is like, I think it's more fun. Yeah. And then that's why I like the bread.

It's, yeah. There's room. And then you slice it and then put those little, like, You get in the store, you put that face up. Yeah. And then bake it again. Are you doing biscotti with coffee in the morning? Yeah. If it's around, yeah.

Is it sweet? Is the biscotti really sweet? Mm-mm. No. Like, what is biscotti? It's flour. Yeah. Vanilla.

Eggs. There's eggs. See, I bake. Whatever. butter whatever Heinz Duncan Heinz tells me to have do you cook at all no no you know what I do make I don't know if we've ever talked about this I do make a nine hour Bolognaisei really that is very good really I haven't made it in a long time so I maybe have lost my touch nine hours nine hours I think the third time I ever attempted this I was this was the first time I was like oh I'm gonna make it all day Saturday

to eat on Sunday because I want that overnight going and I hadn't tried that yet so this was the third time I had started like 10 a.m. Friends came over, we hung out I've got it on this everything is in there

it's on the lowest like simmer now and it's maybe like 10 p.m. So it's been like in 12 hours and I'm going to go turn it off and like put it away and then get it out tomorrow but before I put it away my buddy's leaving and he goes

I can smell this in the house. You've talked about the whole day. You said this is the, you know, whatever. You've been making this. I have to try it. And I got him a spoon and he ate a bite and he stood there for a second. And he goes, I'm not lying when I say that at a restaurant, I would pay $35 for that. And I was just like, God, that's the, that is such a great compliment.

Because I know what you mean. Right. Like $35 means this has to be good. Yeah. And if you're saying you would be willing to. come back and have this again. And then I really start experimenting. And I got to say, that was probably the best ever made it.

But what do you have? I became obsessed with it. What meats are in it? I do a pork, a pork sausage that's, you know, nicely ground up. Right. And I do, I do a hot sausage, but like so minimal. Uh-huh. Because too far is too far.

And you can't go back. You can't get it back. But it is. It's mainly that, but like the thing I enjoy the most. No beef? I do, but yeah, and then there's beef. The thing I enjoy the most is, is, this sounds so crazy. But actually cutting the onions, cutting the carrots, cutting the celery,

and just having the onions going for almost 40 minutes. The best. Then the celery for almost 20 minutes or whatever. Sofrito. Yeah, and then the carrots. And then I, there's been so many times, like the very first time I was like, I'm doing this way too long. And now I've had so much fun of being like, let's ride the lightning.

Let it go another hour and just see what that even becomes. And like that is the best. You know why that's the best? I think for me, it's because as soon as those onions hit, the house is transformed. Yes, that smell. That smell. Cooking onions on the stove top is. Does not escape the house for a good day.

It also has a nostalgia to it. It totally. Because anytime you're a grandmother's house, it doesn't matter. what was being made. Yeah. onions in a pan happened at some point. All of a sudden, little faces start popping up into the kitchen. What are you doing? What's going on? Yeah. What's going on? We're the best. It smells like Christmas. Yes. And you're like, that's what I'm making. I'm making Christmas. Here's something interesting that I noticed about our human behaviors.

You are the freewheeling fly-to-seat-your-pants guy. Yeah. I'm a little bit more of the methodical. organized write-it-out guy. And look at our candy stashes. You're all lined up. Do you know how I noticed because I almost started to grab those to then add them to my thing. But then I thought, but I didn't eat them. And so I can't. So you have a little OCD. This is, I think that's why I like to do it on stage because off stage, I'm very, everything in the house, like, I will walk in the kitchen. I'll be like, that should be, I'm that guy. And my wife's like, what are you doing? I'm like, I don't know. I don't No, but that, I think that's better. Even though no one will ever see or care, it doesn't have any effect on anything.

I think that's a better way for that way. It's organizing the universe. It's giving you a little control over uncontrollable. But then, like, getting on stage and doing stand-up, it's like, oh, this is the freedom because this is, I think because it's messy. Right. Oh, you have a messy act. I would go, yeah, but there isn't a mess to it. There'll be no evidence once I'm gone.

When I'm done, the stage will be fun. fine. And the next show can come in very quickly. But with painting, too, I'm like that with, I've started painting. Yeah, you've been painting a lot. I've been painting a lot. And so that has become a big, a big thing for me, too, of like, how to just start and make a painting and get completely out of my own way. Did you have this in you as a kid? I don't think so. Really? I don't think so. I, I, the only connection I really think about a lot is that there is something inside me that has always thought painters and the, idea of painting, I just always thought they were so fucking cool. Yeah.

Like I was always so drawn to stand up because of the beatnik culture of like Bob Dylan and like the whole, I got my guitar and I go out on the road. Like I was always like, oh, that sounds amazing. And I always love standup. I was like, we don't even need a guitar. We have even less to take. And there's something I loved about the simplicity of just our ideas and our voicing, going out and doing whatever.

And I always thought that was the coolest way to be. But I always in the back of mine, I was like, oh, you know what? But it always seems like painters are almost one step above that because they don't even need the, you know, validation of the live audience. They're almost like, oh, you need that because you're so simple. I actually just have my studio. Yeah. My paints and my cigarette. And my, yeah, and my jeans covered in splatter.

Jeans covered everywhere. And then I'm always like this in a picture. And I don't care. even about my own thing. Beautiful woman, just like that the radiator. There's a beautiful woman over by the radiator. And then you see this painting. And then someone's like, oh, yeah, they bought it for $500,000.

Did they? Yeah. And I think for some reason I just always saw that. I was like, no, that's the ultimate. I don't fucking care what life even is. Are you getting close to that when you're painting? I think, so I think because that's always been inside me, that's what drew me to always want to do it.

But I've just never been any good at it. And I think a lot of people would also go, yeah, I'm also not any good at it. But I think it's because, I think it's because we're trying to paint to satisfy something in our egos. And I think that's what gets in the way because what you and I do as our careers and as our job requires that it does have to be a certain way because we do need people to be drawn to it and like it and want to pay money to see it. And with art, I think I always stepped into painting the same way of. being like, yes, but as soon as I finish this painting, I can't wait to show people and see what they think of it. And then somehow, through enough failed attempts that I just trying to make something, something clicked where I don't know what it was, but I just was like, oh, fuck,

why do I care? Yeah. I'm not a painter. Right. So why am I setting myself up to be, and like, oh, well, I have to be a painter. Yeah, right. You could just do it. Why can't we just do it? Like, when you go do, when you meditate, you aren't going, well, because hopefully one day I'll be a monk. Right. And when you paint, it's like, well, because hopefully I'll sell this one day. It's like, why isn't, you, you wouldn't go shoot hoops because you think one day you'll be in the NBA. Right. You do it because that's the thing of doing it. You don't care if anyone sees it.

Right. Exactly. Exactly. And so I think art, we forget that. Yeah. Art isn't this thing that exists because it has to be, it has to be seen by others and purchased. Right. Sure, that's a great benefit to the fact that we can create stuff that people buy.

Yeah. But it doesn't mean everything we create has to be purchased. And I think the moment you get out of your own way, you figure out how to have the confidence to start. Right. And to quit having a map and quit thinking about. That's great. Where's this going to go? What should it look like?

So you enjoy it when you're doing it? I love it. It's like therapy for me. Yeah. But I mean, it's still hard. It's still, like, I have a lot of canvases. And I'll be like, oh, but how do I start this? Because what if I, what if I get it wrong or what if I make a wrong choice?

Yeah. And that's even after having learned the lesson and developed my own philosophy that there are no, you know, there are no bad paintings. It's just unfinished. It's just an unfinished. There isn't a wrong choice. Right, right. Yeah, that's smart. And I still will look at a blank canvas and go, I don't know how to like start it.

My best paintings are ones where I go, I just quickly do something drastic. Ah, nice. And I go there. Now we have to go off of that. Right. Decisions been made. So the only way forward is off of that thing. It's like walking out on stage with nothing.

Yes, it's why you know, says nothing and just starting to talk going, well, you have to say something. Yeah. You can't go, yeah, but I need my first joke to crush. It's like, but if you don't have one, right, you have to do something. Yeah. I tell a lot of people, go buy a bunch of paint, go by a canvas, go buy a big white acrylic vat of white acrylic paint. Paint something.

And then when you're done, paint over it. Right. That's where you go to paint. You just go sit to paint. You put on an album, you smoke a joint, you pour some wine. Yeah. And you do it just to go, hey, what were you doing in the garage? Yeah.

You could just go, well, I was kind of meditating, but I was painting while I was doing it. And just ignore the girl by the radiator. And just forget her. She's a friend. I can't have friends. You don't understand my art. She's naked. I can't have naked friends.

I'm not mature enough to have a female friend who's naked all the time. You think something's going to happen. What is wrong with you? You're a problem. You're immature. I'm so mature. My friends can be naked. You married an artist.

Yeah. No, I didn't. No, I didn't. You just keep thinking you're one. Well, this was really great. Thank you so much for coming. I loved it. Thank you.

Thank you. For having me. Send me pictures. Let me know what you did with the bread. Oh, well, we're going to eat it. Yeah. What are the options? Well, you can do lots of things.

You can throw some avocado on it. You could be a peanut butter guy. You could be a cream cheese and sardine guy. I'm going to truly show you every version of what we do with this bread. Oh, hey. I mean, my wife is going to celebrate right up again. memory of during the pandemic when I sent you the bread and you sent me back a naked picture of you with the bread in front of your junk. Do you remember that? Is that not one of the options

of what we can do? I know, I already have one of those. We got it, Aaron. All right, kids, there you go. That's Rory Scoval. I told you you'd have a good time. He really organized his candies in a very neat, kind of sociopathic way. Mine are very loose and jumbled. It looks like I had more fun. Maybe he was a little more nervous because he realized he was going to eat the whole box of candies before he gets home and shares them with his daughter. Thank you to Rory Scoville. Thank you to Thrive Market. Thank you to Helix Sleep. Go to tompapa.com. Look up all of the tour dates and keep listening. Keep sending me messages. Let me know what you're cooking. Let me know what you're baking. And we'll talk again next week. Bye.