Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 124 - Patton Oswalt

Episode Date: September 27, 2022

Patton Oswalt has a new Netflix special, We All Scream, and his reward is a special treat from Tommy Biscotti. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hey, it's our goal Hey It's time for breaking bread with Papa Hey Don't you know Hey It's also a show Hey

Hey Hey everybody Welcome to another edition of Breaking Bread with Tom Papa I'm Tom Papa Oh wow That's convenient

Very exciting show for you today We've got Patton Oswald On the program Yes You love Patton I love Patton Everybody loves Patton. He's got a new special out on Netflix called We All Scream.

Super funny, super great. Really excited for you to listen to this conversation. He's so good. You know Patton from a whole bunch of places. We'll go through it all in just one minute. Today's show is brought to you by, oh, this is convenient too, tompapa.com. Wow. Very excited for actually this week, Saturday.

this is exciting. Okay, so Saturday I will be a guest on Wait, Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, that is always very exciting. And then, by the power of magical audio magic, I will be recording my new Netflix special at the Wilbur Theater on Saturday night. If you're in that area, or you know somebody who is, there's a few tickets for the 945, the early, the early one is sold out. There's a few tickets for the last show. Either way, I'm just saying it because it's cool and I'm excited for it. And if you have seen me out on tour, you saw bits and pieces of it as we were putting it together and now we get to actually record the thing and get it out there, which is very exciting. So come and see me there. Also go to tompapa.com. We've got a lot of great shows

coming up. We're coming to the Egg in Albany. We've got Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey. Very exciting. Oh, they'll come to pop a Halloween show at the Village Underground will be on October 11th. October 11th at the Village Underground. We're going to have Dave Hill, Mike Yard, Keith Robinson, Morgan James. It's going to be a great show. Always love the Halloween show. It's always the most, I think, between that and the Christmas, it's pretty, I think, The Halloween one is the most fun. So that'll be on Tuesday, 7.30, at the Village Underground on October 11th. Very exciting.

I hope you're doing well. It definitely feels like fall. I was thinking I just did this great run of shows in California this week. And I was thinking on my way home, you know, I've really got to talk to my agent about hitting my favorite places at the favorite time of year. Because right now, I'm going to have a good. swing. We kind of accomplished it with the shows that I mentioned coming to New England and New Jersey, New York. But I feel like this year we're kind of missing that fall into winter. Wisconsin, Minnesota, cinnamon buns, just bakery to bakery to bakery in between your shows. Such a great

part of the country for this time of year. Definitely next year we'll have to put it in. But knowing the way I book my stuff, it'll probably be there in the summer. But yeah, last time I was going through Wisconsin doing shows around this time of year, it literally felt like we were just on a bakery run. It was just little small bakeries just with their own twist of their home baked goods. Just like, here you go. We know you're you're out there doing your best. How about you pull over and get a little fatter. Winter's coming. It really felt like it was like playing the Candyland game or something. But an amazing, amazing part of the country. And this is an amazing time of year. I can literally feel we have people making Thanksgiving plans already saying that they're going to come in and see us.

And I am starting to just look at all the equipment. This is not too early to be thinking, do I have a gravy bowl? Do I have my roasting pan? Where did I store that last year? Where is the grate that goes inside the roasting pan? That was my big panic last year. It's not a bad time to start looking at your tools of what you've got coming up. And this is really, look, I bake all year round.

I bake in the middle of the summer and crank that oven up to 500 degrees. but now it's like socially acceptable. I was thinking when I had that show on Food Network, we did this thing. We went through Philadelphia and we went to the market there and hung out with a Mennonite baker who did these cinnamon rolls and he taught me this very simple way to make them.

And I was like, oh, that's, this is a good time to kind of like sabotage your family who's trying to be healthy or whatever restrictions, diet restrictions they have. This is a good time to start testing them and just have them walk into the kitchen in the morning and just see a pile of cinnamon rolls or a big plate of scones, blueberry scones. This is the time to do it. So if you are into making this stuff, get on it. If you're not, go buy it.

but this is a time to cut loose and you now have permission. We are rolling into October, so here we come. September and your little skinny ways, you're behind us. It's fat time, baby. So Patton Oswald, how great is Patten Oswald? You know Patton Oswald as a voice, as an actor, as a comedian, Emmy Award-winning comedian, Grammy award-winning comedian, super prolific, super prolific. super cool. And I do say that. He's super cool. We actually talk about it a little bit in our conversation

today. He has a very good, he has his finger on the pulses, they say, of really worthwhile stuff. And it's funny because when we talk, he talks about as a young kid having his little band of friends who just loved comedy and we're digesting it and everybody just kind of finding their way in music and film and and comedy and just all you know when you start really looking at it closely and discerning what's good and what's bad in the arts uh you start to get a real sense of uh of quality and then as he emerges into a comedian and becomes a comic uh you bring that that same kind of uh rough analysis on yourself and on your own work and then he is he is he's truly that way. He is an artist. Patten cranks out a lot of material, a lot of specials. He's always

funny. He's always engaging. He's always surprising. As a comedian, when you watch another comic and they surprise you with the turn of phrase or just the direction that they're going in the middle of their set, there's nothing more gratifying than that. And I've known Patton for a long time. And you have too. He's the voice on the Goldbergs, Ratatatoui, of course. How cool is that, just to be the voice of that to the end of time? He's always appearing in things. He's always working. I remember backstage at UCB, the theater here in L.A., and we were waiting to go on.

I didn't really know him that well. Of course, I knew of him, but we really hadn't crossed paths because he was L.A., I was New York. And before the show, he had just gotten a copy of Playboy magazine because he had written an article and he had appeared in it. I remember thinking, man, that is, that is cool. And now looking back, excuse me, it's really cool because it shows someone who's writing. Excuse me, he's writing all the time, always writing, always creating. And you'll see him pop up in the New York Times book review or in magazines. He's just always appearing because he's very prolific and he's always, always, always creating. And that, in any art, that is how you stay relevant, is always, always creating. So it was

really great in this, uh, in this little podcast today to sit down with him and really spend some time. And, you know, there's, it's kind of like with one of those moments when you, uh, are in high school and you're like, you see like the kids like, you have your crew and it's all, it's all good. But then you see another crew and you're like, man, I'd like to poke over there too. And bad part about high schools, you only have four years to do it. And then if you don't, the best you get is someone signing your yearbook, we should have hung out, man. We should have hung out. The good thing about being a grown up is eventually if you wait and you meander and you find your way and you don't go away, you will actually sit down and hang out with the people who you admire.

And that is what we have today with Patton Oswald. Again, his Netflix special is called We All Scream. It just came out on Netflix. It's super funny. Watch it. Watch all of his specials. But definitely give this one some love. You'll definitely enjoy it.

All right. There it is. The great intro for the great Pat and Oswald. Enjoy. I will do a sound check and then just hang out in the theater. Me too. helps my head. A hundred percent.

Like, oh, okay, I'm a performer. This is my job. And it gives me a better attitude. That's so weird. I'm doing the same. Are we rolling, Aaron? It's so weird because I literally was just explaining this to someone else. I was in an interview.

And I'm like, I used to like last second get there. Just go up on stage two and get out. Now I'm like, this is going to be shows at eight. There's going to be a sound check at five. Yeah, I'll come. I would rather be. And I think it's an appreciation after the pandemic. I would rather be at show business.

Yes. Than sitting in my room doing what? Like just hiding in the days in. I like getting there early too. Yeah, exactly. I'm always, I'm like, give me whatever the cheapest hotel is. Right. Because it's just a flop to me.

I don't care. I'm like, yeah, get me there early. I'll do my sound check. I'll walk around the room, get a feel for the room. Yeah. You feel more like, I don't want to say a rock star, but you feel like, oh, I'm a professional performer. I'm here early. Right out my set.

I know. Play the, um, and be, like the, I have a list that I made of music that I want. Yeah, me too. And that plays and that gets me in a good mood. I'm like, okay, good. Yeah. I'm excited to be here. This is great.

Yeah, it's show business. It's like, we should cherish this. This is like, you should dream about like doing stuff like this. Yeah. One's the show seven. Can you pick me up at 645? Because the opener still got to go on. Like, I don't want to be that guy.

I know. That kind of attitude. And you can feel that on stage, the guy that just got there. Yeah. A minute before the show and just is. literally timing when they're going to get out of there. Yeah, 100%. That show day is, that's what I'm doing that day.

It's the best. Yeah. Congratulations on your special. Thank you. We all scream. I just watched it this morning. Really? Yeah, it's so good.

Thanks, man. It really is so good. Yeah, it was, I don't know if you experienced this. I was talking to someone else about this. I was actually really nervous because this one is really, really silly and fun. And I was so happy. just to be on stage again and the audience was so happy to be out. Yeah.

That two months before I taped the special, I'd stop and go, oh, wait, is this material actually funny? Or have I just been happy to be on stage and the audience has been happy? And then they're going to watch it and go, what are they doing? And then so I really went over the material again, okay, good, these are all jokes. Yeah. I'm not just giddy to be out again after the. Yeah, no, I went through that same thing.

But there's so many interesting things that you do. It's really, like you're saying like it's all. all, it's, it is light and fun and fun and like you play with the audience at a certain point. Yeah. It's like there is, you're loose. You're totally loose. But you're also sneaky. Like you also, you really are. You are you also weave in some really profound kind of weighty things that we're just kind of like, you know, you, but you don't put them in there and club us over the head with it. Right. It's really well crafted that way. I feel like, we don't have a choice anymore.

Like, every part of what we do is going to have to be wady just because of what's going on on the planet. I think that subconsciously, we all feel like something's about to shift. So no matter how, even a show like, I think you should leave or like there, yes, it's very silly. It's very surreal. But then there are some deeper truths going on that he believes that you can't club people over the head with it anymore.

Because reality's clubbing us over the head. Right. So be their relief. Right. Right, right. And maybe give them away like, here's how you can deal with it in a silly way. Yeah. Rather than me reminding you how, like, we know, idiot.

You don't need to tell us. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like even the way you, you know, you touch on the vaccine. Yep. You touch on, you touch on towards the end. There was another part.

Oh, you just didn't. Oh, it was so great. The presidents, like what 2016 was, that was the boom. rumors like angry tantrum? Yeah, I mean, you hit on that. Well, it was, what I was saying was 2016 wasn't unique. Everyone was like, this is a crucible point. America has regular crucible moments where history is hinging.

And we usually make a bad decision, but America is, has been designed so that it can take these blows and then re-correct itself. Right. Which is kind of cool. And it was pretty, it was pretty interesting because the, that moment when the greatest generation was, you say this is, look, they're dying off. Yeah. And this, whatever generation is, it's their last run.

And they're like, hey, I was here. I'm relevant. I mattered. Here's Ronald Reagan. Here's that actor with the chimpanzee. And we're going to put him on the thing. And it really struck me like, because I, you know, of course, aware of and thought about it.

But I didn't think of it in terms of celebrity. That was another unstoppable, charismatic celebrity. He wasn't as dangerous and off the wall as the last one. But it was that thing of like, this is kind of the representative of this group. Right. Here have at it. I also think it was for comedians what was so fascinating about Trump was whether you like him or not, there is a dark pull to what he does.

He has a dark form of charisma. And a lot of comedians who we work on winning the audience over to our side, and to see someone go up who's all negatives, but in a weird way, pulls people in even further, is so frustrating but weirdly fascinating for us as performers to go, how do you go up with absolute open contempt for everything and people love you even more? That's amazing.

What do you think he was? How do you pull that off? I think he was really tapped into, there are a lot of people right now who are just to, justifiably angry, I think, in a lot of stuff, and they can't find the way to articulate it, either because we've taken all the money out of the educational system, so we've robbed people of their words to express how angry they are. And so, and by the way, I've experienced it too. There are those days where you're like, I just fucking, ugh, like, what do you, what do you

made with me? I can't, it's just every, and he went up and was that for those people. And for a lot of people that was very, I mean, again, I think it's very, I think it's very naive just to go, well, he's, you know, he's an idiot or whatever. Well, he's clearly not because he still fills a stadium full of people who hang on his every word. There is a rhythm and a music there that is clearly connecting with people. You know what it feels like? People who didn't like Trump, it must have felt like these old stadium rockers when hip hop started coming along. and in their ears, it's like, it's just people talking over music. It's like, no, they're actually connecting with something that you don't understand.

Right, exactly. In a very weird way. Yeah, 100%. So there's something like, I think that always needs to be observed and looked at. Yeah. Rather than dismiss, look, if it's something that big, you can't dismiss it. No, you can't. You have to deal with it and confront it head on, but you can't just go, well, it's just silly and it'll go away.

Well, clearly it ain't going to go away. Well, do you think, though, that he was unique in his? His charisma, like, it seems to me that he had a thing that was, like, when he said it himself, you know, like, if I were to shoot someone on Fifth Avenue, you know, like, he seemed uniquely, there was another level. You know what he reminds me of? It's that it's this, anyone else that was going to try to, because I know, you know, in the future, someone is going to try to run the Trump playbook, and they're going to turf out so hard,

because you have to be as, purely psychotic and narcissistic as he is. Yeah. Which still is belief in himself. A hundred percent. He absolutely does not have a shred of doubt in what he's saying. No. And that also that absolute confidence in, when he said I can shoot a guy on Fifth Avenue, what he's saying is, no matter what I do, if I do something that could harm me, I can turn to my people and go, you didn't just see that.

And they would go, okay. Yeah. Because that's how confident he is. I know. I will tell you you didn't see it and you'll buy it. Exactly. Holy shit. Yeah, it's beyond, I think, of him even believing it.

It's, if I just say, even with the election, it was, I'm just, he's a guy that never is going to say, no, I'm never going to say I lost. No. I'm going to will this into existence, which is what his whole career was. He literally could be the greatest positive thinking guru of all time. Like, he literally. You're right. It's like he used all the tools of positive thinking, but for, negative things.

Or just for him. Brilliantly just for him. Exactly. It was almost like he was one of those hypnotists, but he only hypnotized himself. Right. But it worked perfectly because everyone bought it. A hundred percent. It's a powerful, powerful tool.

I remember you've ever talked to Jeff Ross because Jeff Ross kind of knows him before he was president? Oh yeah. He did some gigs. And you do gigs with him. And he's like, one on one, he's a very personable, you know, magnetic guy. Like you can't. There's something. There's a for.

to him. Oh, for sure. You know, when you see it on a national stage, it looks rotten and scary. Yeah. To someone like us, but to other people, it's like, no, he's connecting with things. So again, I don't, again, I do like one quick thing about Trump in the whole special, because at this point, I don't see, I don't know what the point of comedians analyzing Trump at this point. There's no, it's been analyzed. We all know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, exactly. It's definitely, you really don't spend any time like really miring, which is, which is so refreshing. And really, I literally, I really think we're close in the way that there is always going to be a little optimism in there. Yes. There's not, you're not going to, you're not nihilistic. You're not,

you're not giving up. There's definitely, but it's not naive, which is so great. It's not put your head in the sand or just be happy. It's real. And what you address the things, you mentioned the little things, but it's also, you give me a little bit of hope, which I really appreciate. Again, I've watched you're doing great so many times, and that whole run that you do about, you know, no, yeah, you are getting older and you are getting better, and it's great. You're doing, like, you're doing so much better than anyone else before you has done in history. Right. You don't know how lucky you are right now.

Yeah. There's just that, it's like, oh yeah, that's right. Wait a minute. You can go buy a chocolate chip cooking. Do you understand, like, the miracle world we live in right now? Why are you so upset? So, yeah, that was kind of... And again, you're embracing that everything's falling apart.

Yeah. Personally and cosmically. Yeah. So why not enjoy yourself a little bit about it? Yeah, but yeah. And you expected what? Yeah. You expected that what else was the...

How are we going to get out of this? Yeah. Another really great thing that you do, and we'll talk about other stuff too. But let me just get a little... Oh, don't stop. Hang on. Sorry. is the

I guess I don't give it away at all the barn with the with the pubs The barn full of clown pubs Barn full of clown pubs That's going to be a track title on the album And I put the vinyl out

So won't like That's not the punchline of the thing It just says that's how it starts Barn full of clown pubs But it's really impressive because As a comedian Right You're like okay

He's You're coming into the subject and you're like, you mentioned something, and you're like, wait, let me go back, because I know you're thinking it, let me go back and just say, yeah, I said barn full of clown pubes, which is great, and you expect a comedian to kind of address what we just drove past and we just saw something. Wait, what, did you see that? Yeah, yeah. It's our job. But you spend so much time and take so many off ramps on it. It was really elegant. It was really a cool thing to watch. Yeah, I'm a big believer in that the Tim Conway, uh,

philosophy of one time it's funny, three times it's not funny, but 19 times it's hilarious. Like, wow, he's really going to do it this many times. So I was like, how can I explore this as deep as I can't? And also, like, it's that thing, and you've done this too, where if you're having fun up there, then they're having fun. And I have a lot of fun doing that. Yeah, yeah. You can tell that. I'm just like, oh, my God, I'm like, I can't even believe how long I'm going on for. It's just so stupid. I love it. You're like, no, but wait, but wait. And you're like, What, yeah, what patent comedy? It's the Todd Glass School of comedy of like, oh, he's really going to hammer this.

Wow, you know? Yeah, it was really, really good. Your writing is so good. It's still like the thing I really, I think, I was trying to figure out, what is it that I really like the most is surprising, you're surprising writer. Like you come up with images that nobody else does, which is really, you know, whenever I'm reading or anything, if someone gives you a phrase. and you haven't seen someone piece that together before, you're like, oh, I'm going to read this whole thing. Yeah, I remember I wrote on the first Borat movie

at the very beginning of it when Todd Phillips was director, and then they changed directors, and I had to go back to King of Queens, but we were in the writer's room one day, and one of his writers is this guy, Ant, a British guy. And I was there when Aunt came up with, when Borat was talking about how his wife is getting older, and he described her virgines is like the sleeve,

of a wizard and it's like the whole room like we wanted to like get up and carry him around the room we were so happy like we knew oh my god not only did he just think up that i got to be here and witness that fall out of somebody's skull yeah i love that i mean that was my first love when i started doing stand-up is even before going on stage sitting around with comedians yeah and watching them bounce ideas off each other yeah there's nothing like i know i'm upstream where it's being created. I'm not getting it, I'm not working in office and getting it when it's finally broadcast, but I'm watching it get formed. Right. Exactly. I'm at the factory. This is awesome. It's really good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Really good. So, um, I normally, I try and bake bread for my guests.

Oh. And, um, I got in last night from, uh, from New York at midnight. So I, not an excuse. So I didn't have time to bake it. But have you had lodge bread? No, what's that? These guys are maize balls. They're in L.A. And, This is their... Holy shit. Yeah, you'll bring this home with you. Look at that meteorite. That is their olive loaf, which is just bonkers.

Yes, it is. And then I think, is this the other one? Is this the regular one? There's also a country loaf. Yeah, and this is the country loaf. Now, these things will, they'll last for like a week in your home. A week, or can I slice them up and freeze them? You can.

And they last forever? Yep, you can do that. Oh, my God. This is one of my... favorite in Los Angeles. Are we gonna, you give them to your gas and they take them home or do you eat them on the pasta? You're gonna take them home.

You're gonna take them home. Holy moly. But because I was so excited that you were coming. They have that, I'm sorry, I love when the crust gets the tiniest bit burnt. Mm-hmm. That's a key. Yeah. That is a key.

Yeah, just the smell is amazing. So, yeah, so I wanted you to have these. This is Lodge Bread. They're in Culver City and I think Woodland Hills. They're really great. guys. They've actually been on the podcast talking about baking the bread. Really? Yeah. I love that you're into bread.

Yeah. So, but what I did, though, for you this morning was I baked you Biscotti. You made me Biscati. I made you your own Biscuit. Look, you feel it. It's still warm. Because I literally... It is warm. Literally, the timing of it was get it into... Get it out of the oven, get in the car, and be here by the exact time we're going to start. So... Like Ted Lassel, you're making your... Oh, my God. That's so adorable. Yeah, so that's Biscotti for you. I had to make you something.

It wasn't enough to just turn you on to my favorite bread. This is insane. Thank you so much. You are welcome. So right now is currently Lodge your favorite bread? One of them, yeah, definitely. Now, when you go to different cities, like Seattle is a crazy farmer's market restaurant city.

Is there a favorite bread up there? I don't know of, I don't have one there. In Portland, and Ken's bread, Ken Forkish. His bread is just a maze balls. That's in Portland. Yeah. And yeah, he's amazing.

And his bread book is like my Bible. Oh, it is? Yeah. You should, you know, there's a movie to be made someday or a documentary. You should make it. You know, the big, there was a huge thing in the 70s when Staggs Leap, a California wine, which at the time were like, oh, yeah, wines from California, ticks. And then went over to France, and it won this huge, and it was a big, everything changed after

that. Right. And then there was the woman, Nancy Silverton, I believe, in Campaniel and now runs Moza. Yeah. There was a year, I think in the 80s or 90s, her sourdough bread won up in San Francisco, and it was equally this huge scandal because a non-San Francisco bread had never won. And it's out of nowhere, some L.A. restaurant, how dare they? and it was this huge.

It was all about like bread. She's amazing. She's amazing. It really is. Yeah. She's insane. And then that was La Brea. And now that's like a line you'll find it like in supermarket.

Exactly. I used to go to La Brea Bakery. I'd get a bag at and then I'd get that pumpkin seed oil. It was so oil and it was really dark and it just tasted. Paton, I don't know the answer to this question. Where did you grow up? Grew up in Northern Virginia. The suburbs of Northern Virginia.

Northern Virginia. So very, very, when I see like the suburbs, what suburbs to me means there's no local culture. It is all kind of, because people go, you're from Virginia. You don't have an accent. I can't because I'm in Northern Virginia is that sweet spot. Northern Virginia and Southern Maryland, no accents. All right.

You go south to where I was growing up, all of a sudden, you're talking like this, down in South Boston, down in Norton, you know, Charlottesville, all that place. Right. If you go north of any, if you go north of southern. in Maryland. Yeah. Then all of a sudden, people's talking like this and it's like, oh, you're in

a little bit of an air hon. And then all of a sudden they got that accent. So I was in the sweet bottom of no accent. Oh, interesting. Yeah. So just the suburbs. Like the most. So I think Spielberg's movies landed on me so hard.

Yeah. Because I'm like, that's my world. Right. That's absolutely where I'm living right now. Bicycles, cul-de-sacs. And also half-built houses that you would then, do war games in and do I think every new development

should like build start two houses and then stop so that kids can just run around and play in them that's a great time to wait just spend the time that really is it really was amazing tournament all these really cool you know how many did you have like a crew have my little crew of a little

and it was we were my crew was the comedian's clique I was I wasn't the class clown I was in a click of class clown People that we were all obsessed with comedy. Oh, really? It was me and five.

And I just got together with them all. Come closer to the mic just in case. I just got back together with them all. You did? Yeah, and here's a new tune from Seals and Crawford. Right before the pandemic, we got back together in Chesapeake, Virginia, me and my four guys. In an abandoned house? We should have found an abandoned house.

It would have been perfect. It was this really nice house down on the, on the Chesapeake Bay. It was beautiful. Wow. It was like guys in their 50s eating crabs and drinking wine and going, remember when you used to,

like, it was like I was trying to convince them all that I was a werewolf because I was really into monsters. And then another one was like, it was just all that, you know, your crazy memories.

Yeah, that's amazing. How many, how many guys? Adam, Sean, Eric, Bruce, David, me. Nice. So yeah. That's a good crew. Yeah, and then David couldn't make that one. So that was the other one.

And we were all guys that were like any new album that came out, memorized it, we could recite it, whatever good bit was on SNL that weekend, we would recite that. And we, you know, we went through the bad years of SNL, and then suddenly Eddie Murphy came along. Right. It was amazing again. Yeah.

Quoting things. Yeah. We discovered SCTV, which was on afterward. We felt like we're getting away. Like, what is this? Yeah, exactly. It seemed so like underground and weird. And like so low budget.

Like, I think I could shoot. that, but it was so brilliant and funny, you know. Yeah. So we were all, but I was the only one that decided to make it a vocation, but if you had gone back to see me in middle school and high school, I wouldn't have stood out as, well, that guy's going to be a professional comedian. Oh, no? Like, oh, that's a bunch of nerds that are all into comedy.

Ah. You can recite Monty Python bits. Right. You can recite everything. Cheech and Chong, we can recite all that stuff. Is that, I mean, is that how it started with you? Oh, 100%. The same.

Absorbing. This exact same. story at the exact same time in New Jersey. Oh, wow. Yeah. And we, I remember what was, suburbs or did you have access to a city? It was suburbs, but we were like only 30 minutes from New York. So you could get into a city. We could. I mean, we couldn't, but I could, people took us there. Yeah. If somebody took me there, but unfortunately, all my, the older people I knew that had cars were like, we're going to do whippets in Eric Murdo's garage. And we've got the, have you heard of this band called The Doors? Yes. Yes. Yes. It's.

By, please, can we... There's a whole punk scene happening in D.C. that I can't get to. It was nuts. I remember we saw, it was VCRs, and we got a tape of Love Bites with George Hamilton. Love at first bite. Love at first bite.

With George Hamilton. So good. And there was this one scene when he turns into a bat, and he's like going through the city and he like goes through an apartment and they're like in a I guess like a Puerto Rican family thinks he's a chicken get a chicken get the pot, it's a chicken

and we watch that scene like a thousand times crying on the ground and that was what we did we just go to someone's basement and we watch those things over and over and over

yes I had a friend of mine on the block Adam Miles that was from my crew his parents got the first VCR, the top loading, no rewind, no pause, probably cost seven grand, looked like it ran on steam. And then we had, there was that early company magnetic video who at the time, that's a weird history too, where they were like, can we put your, they would go to the studios, the studios were like, yeah, no one's going to buy these. Like they didn't see that it was going to become this. So there was that first initial mash, Texas chainsaw massacre. And so we'd just be

watching all these movies. Yeah. Like my access to stuff like Eraserhead and Pink Flamingos and Texas Chainsmite was because of my friend's VCR. Right. And go to his house and watch things. Right. You know?

Who was the coolest of the crew? Like that, who was the one that, uh, that was the tastemaker? Because you became the tastemaker in our comedy world. Yeah. Well, it was, it was weird. Um, Adam was kind of the tastemaker only because he had, he had the cool parents. Uh-huh. Um, which meant that his parents would,

smoke weed in front of him. Although, and I've talked about this too, my friends with the cool parents that would let you do whatever you wanted, it's because their parents were also kind of irresponsible and scary. I had the boring parents that were also dependable. So I could depend on them, like the house is okay, but then my friends, they're like, hey, we're all going to take hula dancing lessons, man, and then they would forget to pay the bills. Like, so you had that weird push-pull, and then they were all getting divorced all.

While my friends' parents were getting divorced, mine stuck together. Right. So there was that weird, like, a lot of my friends whose parents got divorced, they rebelled by being married and being very steady and they're raising their kids. And because I had the steady Eddie parents, I was like, I'm going to go don't dick jokes to drunks. Oh, that's interesting. Because the world makes sense.

Right. Yeah, yeah. So there was that weird. So, yeah, and it shifted. Adam was the tastemaker as far as getting access to movies and stuff like that. Scott was the tastemaker Scott and Sean were the tastemakers as far as like music was concerned

My friend Bruce was the taste maker For like books and like you know Like Stephen King Well wait do you read Peter Straub It was always He always won up you And then I forgot who got us Into Dungeons and Dragons

But it was like Everyone played a different role In terms of like What new nerd thing would we open up Right right That is cool I like during your special When a guy he yelled

Something about a DC Comics and you're like, slow your role. I deal with the nerd stuff. Right. Right. Back off. Yeah, I start talking to the crowd because, again, I was so excited. It wasn't, it's not like I'm going into the crowd and going, you look like this. No, it was very uniting.

I'm just so happy that people came out. I can't believe it. That's the way I've been on the road. It's like, this is like the most fun that you're having is like, who are you people? What are you doing here? What's going on? What's going on in the front row? Let's get a core sample of the area. So what we do here? Yeah.

Was your mom a good cook? Who was cooking for you? My mom and dad were equally good cooks. It would just depend. My mom would really, was really good at like stews and like making chicken and tacos. My dad was really good at chili and barbecuing. Ooh, nice. So I always had that like equal, you know, you're good at this, you're good at this.

And they would both do that. So yeah. Yeah. That's good. How about you? Were your grandparents around? grandparents were around. It's weird.

We had my dad's parents, the Oswaltz, where all these ex-army people would live out in the desert, swam, hiked, road bikes, and would drop dead when they were 50. Like, they were so healthy and they would die. Then my mom's family were the most sedentary, the run folas. God bless them. They're so self-abusing, the worst diet drinking, and they just lived forever, forever.

And it was like, my mom would always joke like, well, that's because she was talking about her parents' ailments, constant ailments. And like, that's the Rolfo the curse. I'm like, well, I think that Rundfola curse is life. I think you're cursed to live this miserable, long life of ill health, whereas the Oswalds are super healthy, and then they just drop.

They don't experience the bedridden time, so they just drop. It's crazy. Are your parents still around? Still around? Yeah. Yeah, dad's still around. They still live in Herndon. Oh, nice.

Your folks still around? Yeah. In New Jersey? Yeah, like northern New Jersey. They just dipped over into the New York side of it. How did they feel when you started doing stand-up? They know it was coming or it was like, wait, you're what? They knew it was coming, but they wanted me to get a degree.

I had to finish college. Yeah, me too. Okay, did you go through this? Sophomary year of college was when I, between freshman and sophomore year of college, that summer, started doing. stand-up. Oh, yeah? And it clicked instantly for me.

I'm like, I know this is what I'm going to do. And by the time sophomore year ended, I was getting booked regularly. Right. So the last two years of college, we're still fun, but it felt like, I don't need to be here anymore. I know what I want to do. Yeah. There's people here that they don't know what the hell they want to do. They should stay, but I should get out there.

Yeah. Did you have, were you doing it during college? Yeah, I started, I didn't do stand up until I, I would record my, I had a job where I was a security guard at the suburban house that was unfurban house that was unfurbing. finished in the development. My job, my job was to sit in my car in the middle of the night and just sit there. And there was no action. No one was coming to rob anything or do anything. But I would have to sit in there. And I started recording myself on a recorder, like doing stand-up in there. Because I always wanted to be a stand-up, but I was like, I'm in school. Right.

But when, so I didn't do stand-up until I got right out of college. But while I was in college, I just went to the drama department. Smart. And I just started doing plays and taking all their classes. And that was... Got comfortable on stage. Oh, 100%. And that was just like, that's where I lived all through school.

You have that thing that a lot of comedians have the really, really good ones. And some of them don't, unfortunately, which is you don't mind going for a while without a laugh. You have that confidence of like, I'm going to talk for that. We know we're getting somewhere. And you can tell when a comment. is needy and thinks like every second there better be laughter up there's noise. It's like, no. Actually, if you keep it silent for a while, then it's an explosion with something funny.

A hundred percent, but it's so funny that you say that because as I was watching you this morning, I was like, why can't I be like Patton and enjoy some space before you get to the thing? Oh, you have. Oh, come on. I swear to God. In my mind, it's, yeah, it's loud and fast. I disagree.

You have moments where you're just like, again, you have this great thing too where a lot of comedians have the, here's this thing that's crazy. And then I've got to tell you what's crazy about it. And you, and this I think really connects you with the audiences. You don't mind being overwhelmed to the point of I don't have anything to say about this. I'm just putting this out to you just so that I can know that I'm not going crazy. You all see this too, right? That's all I, like, being overwhelmed is a very real human thing. and I think a lot of comedians don't like being in that position.

And you have that thing where you're like, and I don't know what to say. I mean, it's too big, which is a very real thing as you get older. Like, I'm just absolutely overwhelmed. What the fuck am I supposed to say about this? They don't eat bread. You sound like you're at the end of like a horror movie.

You're telling everyone, they don't eat bread. You understand what we're dealing with. Get out of here. I did have a thing, though. It was kind of a shift because it, was acting for four years and then and then got up to New York and started going to do stand-up where I could tell that people on the scene were like, oh, there's an actor that showed up

and is trying to do stand-up. Like there was that, which I totally got. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You know, because you just, you had confidence and could stand up there with nothing, but you didn't know how to be a comedian yet. Right. You know what I mean? That was, that there was, that's a, that's a difference. Yeah, I remember when I was doing, I hosted a weekly open mic when I was in college at the local comedy club in Williamsburg, which was the best, that's the best training for a young comedian. I have to go up every Wednesday no matter what. Yeah. Even if I go up and eat it, the guy's like, oh, you're just hosting.

I'll see you next week. They don't give a show. So you're like, oh, so you get over the fear of failing because you're like, you wake up the next morning. The world's still running. They're going to see me, they're going to give me my $5 next week. You know what I mean? And you would see that. I remember that very distinctly you would see comedians whose writing was incredible and like,

oh, but you don't know how to deliver it yet. Right. But you have the goods. And then other people who are just the stagecraft is amazing. Right. But they're not saying anything. Yeah, exactly. What the fuck?

What are you doing? Yeah. Yeah. It's very, when you first started like that with just when you were saying like, the world keeps moving. Do you remember the times when you were like, you had to show that? you woke up and knew you had a show that night where the whole day was just ruined. Yes. Oh, that would be every day. I mean, for the first year and a half, every day, if I had a show

night, and the only nights I could get on stage at the time, because I was also had to work during the day and work as a party DJ, work Tuesdays and Wednesdays. That was it at Garvins downtown. Right, right. There was a place called the Comedy Cafe, but you had to get past there. And I was like, well, instead of wasting time, I was like, you got to hang out for a while. Right. Well, I'd rather go to a place where I know I can get up rather than waste these precious nights hanging

to then get a set. That doesn't make sense to me. So I just went with the shirt thing. And then later on, when I was able to not DJ, and I could drive it to Baltimore, I'd do the Comedy Factory outlet on a Thursday open mic. Right. But yeah, those show days, it was all,

it's all I would think of. Yeah. I would go over. I remember I was talking really early on in my career about, you got to get ready and I get my, and this older community was like, you have to get to a point where going on stage

takes up none of your thoughts. Right. And he described, he was talking to Jerry Seinfeld off stage as they're introducing Jerry. And Terry's talking about like baseball or something. And literally mid-sentence, they're like, Jerry Seinfeldon,

he goes, I'll be right back. And then just walks up, yeah, destroys, comes back and then continues the conversation. Oh, that's right. Like, like, great. People that are who are like professional welders or professional chefs,

You can't be thinking. Like, there's stuff you've got to be doing secondhand. But that... I hadn't gotten there yet. There's no, I was going to say, there's no way to cheat it. That's the thing. You can't cheat it. It's over and over and over again.

And you're like, I don't need to think about that. Yeah. Someone was talking to, there's this great writer named Alan Moore, did Watchmen and, you know, Swamp thing. He's a great... Yeah. But they say, and you don't even outline your stuff anymore. And he's like, well, I've been writing for 35 years.

If I still have to outline something, I'm in trouble. Right. Like, I shouldn't have... When you're starting, absolutely should outline your stuff. You don't need to do that. I've been doing this so long. Yeah.

I kind of know how it's going to come out. Right. Like they're talking to Stephen King, like, you don't keep an idea's notebook. He goes, kind of don't need to. I know which ideas are going to work. And once I get the idea, boom, it's out. Because I've been doing it nonstop since I was 18.

Right. Exactly. I don't need to think about this shit anymore. Yeah. You know? I do have to remind myself once in a while that I'm funny. You know what I mean? Well, I think every, I, that's the, I've gone through this too.

I remember this, and I tell a lot of young comedians this, you're going to hit the, and this will happen over and over again. You will hit moments where you're like, have I just stopped being funny? Right. Because you're always trying to write new stuff. And once you get to stuff that you know is going to work, then the fun and the excitement's gone. Right.

And you will lose a little bit of the energy in delivering it, and then it won't work as well. And you can't. And I panicked that way. And I remember this very distinctly, from January of 1994, to May of 1994, I got into my own head. And I remember distinctly why I did it

because I went up, I was at Swanee's, the Comedy Underground, in Seattle, and Thursday through Sunday, some of the best shows of my life, of my young career at that time. And literally driving back down to San Francisco going, I think I might be the next one. I think it's coming together.

And so then I started thinking every one of my sets matters. Right. This is like, like my art took over my life. And I was so in my head and people could see that I was in my head that then I just started eating it every to the point where people would even other comedians would go, how are you going to torpedo it tonight, Patton? Because it just became this thing. Why do you think what was happening? I was inside my own head.

Yeah. I had just broken through in terms of material. But I hadn't broken through in terms of a new level of comfort. I was still comfortable on stage, but I wasn't comfortable enough to go to, to, to stop and go, I'm actually in some, folks, I've lost it for a second and make that funny. Right. You just hung on to. Because I was all about everything has got to work and I can't show any hesitation.

And when people see that neediness, it ain't funny anymore. Yeah. And so for four, those five months, I was really freaking out. Like, I don't think I got to quit. I think that's it. And then finally, I started acknowledging it on stage. Like I would do a bit and it would eat it and go, I'm sorry, that bit was actually really good,

but I just delivered it like I'm begging you for like a pint of blood, like I'm dying, and that's not fun. You don't want to see that from a guy, and they would kind of laugh at it, and then that's how, once I acknowledge how uncomfortable I was. And then I thought, wow, so that's taken care of. But then about five or six years later, I went to another version of it.

And also it happens when there's always new people coming up. It's either new people coming up or people that you know that you're a fan of, of, but in your head you have them placed at a certain level, but then they suddenly evolve. Yeah. And you're like, whoa. And then you start thinking in terms of, are people thinking that I'm not as funny? And you have to keep trying yourself, no one's thinking about you. No.

That's a huge key. No one is keeping a chalk thing of like, you know, this week, I'm sorry, I got to put Burr ahead of Oswald. I mean, you're like, no one gives a fuck. They just want to come to a show and be happy when your friends are doing well because It means comedy's doing well. Yep. A hundred percent. People are excited about what you're doing.

Yeah. Especially in the early part, the isolation, not realizing no one else is thinking about you. So why are you thinking about everybody else? Yes. That was like. They're not thinking of you. There was a run when I first got past at the comedy seller. And she put me on after a tell for like a month straight.

And it got so in my head because I'm watching him and I'm like, well, I'm not that. And then I would go up there and try and be that. And Tom Papa is not Dave Attell. And the audience knew it. I knew it. I was just. And the only thing that got me out of it was staying upstairs until he came up the stairs. Like, because then you knew like, okay, he's done and the, and the emcees up.

And now I can go down without seeing Dave. And it had to like shed. Just, this is just put on blinders. Just be on your own. Be alone. Yeah. That was, that was tough to. I had to go through that with a lot of people that I knew coming up that I thought were so amazing.

I still think are amazing. But then you evolve to another level where you can actually watch someone who isn't you, who is brilliant. And it doesn't affect you anymore. No, it doesn't. And like you are like when I follow like Todd Glass to me is like a force of nature. He really is. And he used to be like, I remember at the Largo like following him. Well, very quickly they learned the Largo just put him on last.

No one, don't put, that's just unfair to everyone. He should close the goddamn, yeah, I think even when he would open up for like Sarah Silverman on the road, Sarah would go, I'm going to do my 45 and then you can go on at the end. Fuck this. I'm still going to pay you, but you're not, I'm not fucking going on after you. Because he literally like does seismic damage, but. He really does.

But I had him, he wanted to do one of my patent, I was wanting friend show. And then I was kind of going, I was, I was in my mind, I'm like, I'm going to ask him to go on after me. fuck this. I don't want to. But then I'm like, no, let's just watch. And I watch him and I actually enjoyed him and then went on stage still laughing about some shit he was doing.

And then went into my own stuff and it felt like so liberating. That's a big deal. To not be in that head. That's a big. People don't understand like what that mental gymnastics of that. What that entails. I have, I have seen, I've had to follow people that. And you could see in my, like in my face.

Like I would rather watch 10 more minutes of him than. miss what I'm about to do. I'm really sorry that I'm up here. Like you, you feel the apology coming out. Yeah. It was just, oh my God. But that's the other, back to what you're saying before, like, if you acknowledge it, then you're okay. If you acknowledge, if you don't and you desperately try, they, they see you struggling. Right. Just fucking acknowledge it all the time. Yeah. There's that, um, I'm sorry, you're bringing up a tell at the seller. I've seen until go up. I've been in there.

There's like eight people in the room. And he makes that, and he's not getting laughs, but then he makes this meta thing where because the laughs start coming, that's what becomes what's hilarious. And then it just destroys you. He's the only comedian that,

I remember I watched, I was watching him at the punchline in San Francisco. Brian Pussain and I went up for a wedding. We got there a date early and went, oh, it tells the punchline, good. And we went and saw him. And I had to go back in the kitchen. and not hear a chunk of his act because I thought I was going to throw up.

Like it was too much laughter. And I don't know if he, I remember it was like to the point where even the crowd wasn't laughing and what because he was like, fucking Jesus Christ. And then I saw him like a year later and he had worked in like a lull where he just talked to the crowd a bit and like it was almost like he instinctively went, I'm giving him too much. I got to let him get their breath back. Right. Like I thought I was going to throw up.

It was too much. It was like, remember like you get too high and you're like, oh, fuck. this is shit, man. I should have stopped. That's how he is on stage. I know. He came up on when I was doing the radio show. And I just had that moment where he was just on and like was just started devouring me and the people and everything.

He just like being on stage while it was happening. Like I see why Jeff Ross was like, this is we've got to do this. Like you can literally feel it. Oh. You can literally feel. Yeah. It's like watching Nolan. Ryan throw a fastball.

It's just like there's, he's changing the energy in the room. Yeah, it is one of those things. Like I have these, sometimes in the morning when I get up and I got to write and I need to get my creative juices going. Like, you know, you do like stretches, poses, you get the body moving. Yeah. But there's mental and visual things I'll watch. And the three that I will watch on YouTube, I'll watch clip things of Gayleseyers running.

Uh-huh. There's something about, it looks supernatural what he's doing. Wow. It just, I'll also watch Greg Gerard. Aldo doing roast, those collection of all his best rose jokes. Yeah.

Or I'll listen to um, uh, road work, uh, David tells road work when he starts talking to the crowd because I don't even listen to the jokes anymore. It just the rhythm of it.

Really? Absolute comfort and confidence. It is such a like morning pick me up for, well, for comedians like, oh, okay. Yeah,

yeah. And I really, there are times when I have to stop because I'll catch myself kind of doing that thing with the way that he'll like, yeah, and I'm like, I'm fucking don't want to do that. Because that's a towel.

I can't, you know. I know. Really, really, really, I mean. His cadence is so powerful. Oh, my God. Yeah. That was the thing. Like, when I was there at the cell, I was like, I'm up here, like, doing a corny version of what he, of what he just did.

Yeah. I understand being out of the room with someone like him who has such a strong voice. Yeah. They're like, when you're early. Yeah. Even if I try not to, I will end up using those inflections. Yeah. You get really self-confidence.

And then you start seeing people on the scene doing them. Like, people start. doing Louis, people were doing Mitch Headberg, you know. Got Mitch, Zach, Sarah Silverman. Yeah. Doing the cutesy and then saying something horrifying. Right. You know?

And she was really the only person who could pull that off. I know. I know. Yeah. You saw a lot of people kind of burned their careers to the ground going, what a fucking racist. I'm doing what she was doing. Yeah, but you can't, you can't do that.

Don't do what she's doing. You can't pull it off. When you're not, when you don't have other things pulling your time, which you you work an incredible amount when you're always acting and flying someplace. I know. You have all these other things. When you have those moments when you don't, is there a daily ritual to your work that you, like what's the happy spot for your ritual?

The happy spot for my ritual is around 10 a.m. to noon is I just, as much as I would love to be one of those people that can get up really early. Yeah. That's coming up. In the morning, I'm just a terrible morning person and I've got to get, nothing works right in the morning. everything so I've got to like hydrate, eat, just get everything stretched out. And then for some reason, 10 a.m. to noon if I get that time.

And I've been like today, because I had a breakfast with a friend at 9 a.m. If I'm running around like doing voiceover stuff and I get there early and I'll get, and I'll go, is there a conference room I can go sit in? And then I'll put in earbuds and just try to write jokes or try to write anything. Like is there an idea? let's see where this goes. Right. And I've really gotten over the idea of got to finish it today.

Right. You can just mess around. Yeah, yeah. You know? No, 100%. If I can get those two hours, that's all I need. Now, when you have those, the dusting off of the monster that is you waking up, can you allow things to come in?

Can you look at your phone? Can you look at the news? Or do you try and keep that out? I do have, well, in the morning, I do have, little, I do a game called Framed, which is a movie guessing game. A game called Lookdel and then Wordle, Bam, Bam, bam, bam. Oh, really? And Hurdle.

I go right through those four. And I do my duolingo because you got to do stuff in a language. What language? I go back between Italian and French. Nice. Both Italian and French. Bravissimo. Yeah, yeah.

Grazie. And then I just, then I try, I don't judge anything that I'm looking at in terms of scrolling or looking at it like a magazine article or whatever. I'm like, this time, it doesn't matter. You can waste it, but you're just, you're eating, you're fueling up. But then at 10, I try to make it that here, I got music, do not disturb on the phone. Yeah. So I block it out for two hours and I just write.

Right, right. And I don't judge what it's going to be. You have to also, because I used to be like, you got to write from nine to this is a job and you got to get those hours in. Well, that's silly. Yeah. And a lot of times my two hours of writing is an hour of just sitting there. getting to the deep thoughts, but nothing happens.

Right. And then at the, maybe you'll get 15 minutes in, but that's worth it. And I've had to, I've been with people. Luckily, my wife understands this. I've dated people who didn't understand this where I'm like, I need to go write for two hours. And they're like, okay. Yeah. And they'll come in after half an hour and go, I thought you said you were writing.

I'm like, I am. Yeah. This is part of it. Do not come in and start going. What are you doing? Let's see what you've done. You know what I literally. What the fuck are you doing?

You know what I literally type sometimes, a lot of times, if anyone else is in the house. whose interruption is the biggest killer. Oh. And they don't understand that you're sitting there is still writing. It's absolutely writing. I literally write. If I hear people coming up the stairs or coming close to the office, I start typing. And I literally type out, this is the noise that we make to make it seem like we're writing.

This is the noise what we make it sound like we're writing. Because they hear, ta, tut, tut, tut, da, da, da, he's busy. But if you're just sitting there looking out the window, they think, oh, I can get in there now. It's the fucking shining. But luckily, you know, I'm very, very open with my wife about, like, if you run into friction, you go, I need this from you to function. Yeah. Rather than sit there and be resentful, like, one will be spoken on your skin. Why don't you tell them?

Yeah, tell them. Most people will go, oh, absolutely, go do what you got to do, you know. Luckily, she's an actress, so she understands the idea of getting somewhere, even if it's weird. Yeah. She goes, if you walk by my office and I'm just bouncing a ball against the wall, you know what I'm doing? I'm writing. Right. That's writing.

Yeah. It doesn't look like it, but trust me, something's happening. Did you ever hear the Amos Oz quote? He's the Israeli writer. He says that a writer's job, as a writer, you're really a shopkeeper. And it's your job to open up the shop every day. And some days it'll be busy. Some day there will be no customers, whatever.

But that's not, you just have to be there. That's a fucking great way to think about it. I hang on that every day. It's your job to open up the shop. It's just your job to open up the shop. and go and sit behind the register. I, well, I just, I'm reading a book right now that comes out next year by Joe R. Lansdale, who's another, he's a machine, and he just loves to write.

And he had a, and it's a book about a writer. It's, like, a horror science fiction book. But at one point, he's trying to get some writing in. And he's like, I used to, I used to think I've got to sit here and so that the muse visits me. And it took me years to go, no, you're the muse. you sitting down is the muse arriving. So don't think it's something outside of yourself. You're the muse.

You're putting on a bit. The paper is waiting for you. That's great. That is great. The shopkeeper's great too. Yeah. And the first half an hour of opening up the shop is just doing what seemingly are mindless things.

Yeah. That's all crucial. And some days, those glorious days, you open the shop and all of a sudden and people are just showing up. And you're busy. And you've got, oh my God, there's a lot happening. And that wouldn't have happened if you didn't show up and unlock the door. Yeah, I was really lucky that I got to be friends with this amazing writer named Harlan Ellison, who passed away a few years ago.

He'd written like more than a thousand short stories. Oh, my God. Like 18. He just wrote everything. He was this amazing writer. And he said, the trick isn't becoming, or anyone can become a writer. The trick is staying. a writer.

Yeah. That's nearly impossible. And that same thing to me applies to comedy. Yeah. It's very easy to become a comedian. Right. Staying a comedian almost never happens. It's rare.

It's very rare. Yeah, yeah. Those guys that write that much, you ever see like Mark Twain's autobiography? No. It's like two or three volumes that are like dictionary size. Jesus. But he just never stopped writing.

And I just saw it at a bookmarked. market back east over the weekend, Bernard Shaw's letters, another dictionary. Just the letters. Just the letters that he wrote. Not his plays, none of them. Just the letters that he wrote people. These guys were just writing, like, it's hard to get through the Mark Twain autobiography because it's, you don't even understand what he's, he's talking about like some local politician, you know, had an issue with this thing and it was just like, but just nonstop production. I sometimes I wish that, that, like, how can I put this? I remember I was talking, this is going to sound really weird, I was talking to Kevin and Bean about all their bits that they did on their show, which a lot of them are goofy, a lot of them are disposable, whatever. However, by accident, they did create a weird shadow history of contemporary L.A. in whatever bit they were doing talking about local stuff.

Right. It would be so interesting if someone compiled like a CD box set with like a book of notations of this bit, this was going on there, and that's what they're making fun of. Right. And if you want to know what people, everyday people were thinking of it, this it actually kind of nails it. I know it seems disposable at the time. It's local. Yeah. It's of its time.

But that's why like... Yeah, the further you get away, the more valuable. But that's where like historians are so happy when they find like troughs of like gossip magazines. Right. Because like, but that's what everyone was actually thinking. Yeah. You know, that's very valuable. Super valuable.

Yeah. Yes, there are the big important history. That's great. Yeah. But when you can find out what people are like, you know, we're, you know, we're, you know, making fun of or the jokes he were doing, perfect. That is the thing with comedy also. It really, I mean, I love it.

Like, we both grew up on it and digest it, and I can appreciate, like, Jack Benny now, like watching old things. But it is really so in the moment. Like, even our greats, Carlin seems to be the only one that sticks around. Because he was talking about such cosmic things. that will always be there.

But even his earlier stuff, he had very specific things he talked about, Muhammad Ali, something like that. But he was already so wise to the world that as he grew older, it just got more and more. But again, sometimes the specific stuff, it also makes you go,

oh, well, that's, like, there's an old Woody Allen bit where he's talking about, yeah, I'm getting into writing, I'm going to do a nonfiction version of the Warren report, which you realize, oh, and this is like right after the assassination,

you're like, oh, even then, people were like going, well, that was bullshit. Right, yeah. So whether or not you believe in that stuff, you're like, that was the mood of the country. Right. And that just got captured on tape. Yeah. That's a historical document. Yeah.

But at the same time, and this gets into like cancel culture and all this stuff, you have to know going into comedy that you have signed up to do something that is ephemeral. That most of it is going to be washed away. Yeah. And you can't get angry at that. No. And you see a lot of comedians. I'm not going to name them. They're older ones who are always, whenever you see someone go,

comedy stop being funny and they name me a year. Yeah. When you were 23 years old. Right. When you were young and vital. And no, comedy has only gotten better. Yeah. It has not gotten worse.

No. It's gotten so much better than it ever was. Yep. These people that are like, it's the early days of like, cream. You can say that. Cream magazine is great. Yeah. Gotten even better.

Yeah. It's gotten even better. We've moved forward. We've moved forward. You just, you couldn't do a lot of course. Carl and stuff today. Yeah, exactly, because he would do even better stuff. Right. He would do even more like, that's what's great about it. And you can't like, I'm, I'm not one of these comedians that's excited about, that's angry when a young comedian comes up with a point of view that I either don't

agree with or I never saw before because it means the field in which I'm working is still vital. Right, exactly. Yeah. And it's this ongoing conversation. And that young, that young, that young new perspective is going to push anyone else that's in the game and the audience at the same time. Because is there anything, could you can't imagine anything more nightmarish than being the funniest comedian and the last funniest comedian to do comedy? And now you're like, that's it. Right. I thought people would then, I wanted to see people go beyond me and surprise me all the time. Right, exactly.

I want to be excited by that shit. I don't want to be the funny as, last time it was funny was him. Well, that's horrible. You have such a great, you have such a great bit in, in your. your new special of and it just relates because I always have serious X-I'm on in the car the 70s, 80s, 90s. Oh yeah. And you and I and I do listen to the 40s. So do I. I love listening to the 40s but it's not on it's not number four on the thing anymore and you're like why and I really I've thought like what why they move the 40s why they move the 50s yeah because

their audience is dying. And channels four, five and six. That's prime real estate. Yeah. It's a pit bull. Give him that. Give him the contemporary stuff. I get it. Yeah.

And 70s, 80s, 90s, we'll go marching up the fucking dial. Yeah. You matter for a while and it's great. Some people get to matter longer. Yeah. I remember talking to Colin Hay from men at work. He told me this great story where he goes, I hate when people say Beatlemania. He goes, there was never Beatlemania.

There was the British invasion. So for the first year, it wasn't. Beatlemania. It was anything British. So if there was one year where Beatles, Dave Clark Five, Freddie and the Dreamers, they were all the same. Yeah. That we are no one new. And then suddenly it took a year for all the other bands to go, oh, it's going to be the Beatles, keep doing laps. I just had the one laugh. But I just, fine. Just wanted to make sure you guys are going to keep, okay, got it. You know, and those bands are fine. But it's just like, you, you have to remember at the time it wasn't the Beatles. Right, right. It was the British invasion. And then

everyone realized, oh, no, it's the fucking Beatles. I just wrote an interview with Jan Werner. Yeah, Jan, yeah. And in The Times, and, you know, he created Rolling Stone. And, you know, nothing could be more important in the moment than when that magazine hit and what it did. And like the Big Bang, it lasted for decades. But he's like, Rock's dead. Yeah.

Rock's dead. He goes, it's kind of sad, but it's kind of inevitable. But just hearing, like, the Rolling Stone creator. say, no, that's, that's over now, guys. Yeah. And you're right. He had, his was this, the Big Bang. And then there were these supernovas that, like cream and crawdaddy and magazines like that that burst really huge.

And then when it's spin, enemy, which I guess enemy is still around. Yeah. Sniff and glue. All these magazines that really captured that specific time. Right. And then they burned out with the genre they were covering. Yeah. And they were, it's very vital.

But again, you have to. embrace your own disintegration as part of, because we're all, and not to get all mystical, but basically, we are all living in a slow motion explosion. The particles that make up you, that make up this microphone, they make up this table, are in super slow motion, still exploding outward. In this second, it's taken the form of a table. Right. It's not going to stay this way. It'll keep going. We are just these weird slow motion explosions. Our brains are slowly coming, apart of our bones. Try to do the best you can in this moment.

Yeah. And then just know that some stuff will last and some stuff won't and you don't know for what will and that's what makes it fun. Yeah. Yeah. There were probably better playwrights than Shakespeare in his time, but for some fucking reason, he made it. Yeah.

There you go. Is there any part of you, because you create so much, is there any part of you that that has an eye on or has any inkling of maybe this will last? Maybe if I, will any of this be? Or do you just create for now? Yeah, you create for it. That is not up to you.

I used to, there was a time a few years ago when I started getting like, maybe I should keep archives of myself. But I'm just like, that's for other people to do when you're dead. Right. You should be creating stuff. Other people and they will sift through and find the stuff that makes it. There's, Italo Calvino said, everything is inferno. And you have to find.

the parts that aren't inferno and try to save them. In other words, everything is burning away. There are little miraculous bits that aren't burning away, and your job is learned to recognize those and keep those out of the flames. What does that mean? Like if there is some little piece of music or some movie or some performer that is doing something in the middle of all this noise and stuff, because it's all going to burn away anyway. Give it its moment above the flames so it can maybe last. And then, you know, I mean, again, And then someone like HP Lovecraft, you know, wrote for pulp magazines that were immediately shredded when they were done. And but a couple of handful of people realized there's something there and kept it moving.

And now it's this thing that, so you don't. But at the time, he's just like, I got to make 17 bucks to pay my rent. Like that's all he was thinking of. So you don't know what will. But if you're usually when you're going for prestige or. Um, uh, posterity, uh, you won't get it. Right. Posterity, hang on.

Um, shaky cane, the great writer, Shaky Kane said, posterity and cool are traps. Uh-huh. They are traps that will, that will affect what you're trying to do. Right. You're not thinking about the thing. You're thinking about, well, how will it be received? Oh, man.

Will there be a criterion addition to this? No, just make yourself. Right. And then other people can look at it and they'll tell you if it's good or not. Cool is a killer. Cool is a modern day killer. I attributed that to Chris Rock, but I've also heard that it's been attributed to Tracy Morgan.

Yeah. Nothing destroys a comedian quicker than them trying to be cool. Right. The minute they get into their head that, oh, no, I've got to be cool. Right. And they're done being funny. Yeah.

You know, you maybe go on and do other things, but you're not going to be a comedian anymore. Yeah. I thought that actually today also watching your stuff, because you don't, there's no special outfit. Oh, fuck, no. There's no, like. That's a shirt.

That's a shirt. and a pair of pants I was wearing that week. I didn't go make a shirt. And I know people that'll, and I'm not putting them down, but I've talked to friends that's how's a new special coming? I just got these pants made. That's the first thing I'm going to close. You know you're doing material.

They're not tuning in to go, what pants is he going to wear? Oh my God, this is going to be great. Like, what the fuck are you doing? It's so funny. I just got these pants made, what? I'm sorry, were you what? This is really, when I wrote my first, memoir. It's called Zombie Spaceship Boys, and there's a chapter where I talk about working

in a ticket booth at a movie theater. And I was listening to REM's Fables of the Reconstruction. This is the summer before I left Northern Virginia for good. And that just the album, that's one those albums that just burned it something to my brain. It's a special album for me. So me too. And so I break up each little section of this chapter with lyrics from the album. And then when we read the book on tape, I have friends who know Michael Stipe and said, could you ask he would read his lyrics for the book. So he sent him the chapter and we sent him the lyrics and he laughed and was like, most of these lyrics are wrong.

He misheard them. No. And I'm like, oh fuck, oh fuck. I'll totally change me. And he went, no, no, no, no. If that's how you heard them, then that's what you needed to hear. Once I put the song out in the world, it's not mine anymore. It's whatever you needed to be.

Oh, my God. And if it helped you make the decision you made, that's even better. That's amazing. So he read the wrong. lyrics because he goes that's what the point of this is. That's so, that is the coolest story I've heard all. Yeah. Last five years.

Really, that is, because I love him so much. Right. And to hear that is just like. Well, I had, I'm not saying this as a brag, but I, I'm sure you've had someone say this to you too, but I got a DM from a friend on Twitter a month ago. And she said, look, I was, I just want to let you know, I was going through a really, really bad time about 10 years ago. and I was listening, my dad would drive me around,

and he would play your albums, and he played werewolves and lollipops, and there's a bunch of bits in there. Like, I was really having suicidal ideation, and I heard a bunch of your bits, and I think that that album saved my life. Wow. So I wrote back to her, and I said,

look, A, I'm very, very flattered that you wrote that, but what you have to understand is it has nothing to do with my album. What was happening was, you had a life force in you that was like, fuck it, this girl can't do it. I've got to keep her alive. Whatever had been playing at the moment, it would have found a way to jury rig it to save you. Wow.

It just happened to be my album. If it had been, you know, someone's music album, if it had been a book on tape, that would have your, it means there's something bigger in you that is like, no, I know this person needs to stick around. What can I do to make them stay? So it wasn't my thing. I just didn't want her thinking, you've got to look for something outside of yourself to save you.

Yeah. It's whatever. Now, your mind was doing you a favor. It was making you think there was this savior coming in to help you. Right. But what's really scary is realizing, oh, no, I can actually always help myself. It's always in here. People are afraid of owning that.

I totally agree with that. But do you think, mystically speaking, do you think there was something in your stuff that she was latching onto or that force was latching onto as opposed to other things that she was probably seeing or hearing. Well, like, because I, because I do, I do think there is a little bit of this kind of conversation back and forth. And especially with people who, for whatever reason, you know, you identified with Michael Stipe and she identified with you.

You know what I mean? You know what might have been going on? Like, was it for, was it, I hate to even say. say it, but was it for a reason? Well, Kate, you just made me think of something that I hadn't considered. What if there's an unspoken line that's being shared through Michael Stipe, who was just doing stuff, and again, that album really saved, and I was going to a bad time, but what ultimately it was, and that album must have come from him in his past, he said he had some

really bad times, and something saved him. So this undefinable something made its way through that. album to my comedy, to this girl who will do something with her life, I don't know what it'll be yet, that will then pass along to someone else. But all it is is it's this connective life force that's recognizing the same thing. Yeah, yeah. It's recognizing the same call to like, no, we're not fucking leaving this. We're going to fix this. Yeah. So there is something. There's a value to that. And you can't. I thought of it that way. You can't really control it. No, well, and if anything, think of Michael Stipe, just laughing and going, yeah, these aren't the,

lyrics, but they're what you needed to hear. Yeah. And that's what's really cool. If you can, for some reason, the greatest art is stuff that leaves it in your hands as the viewer or the listener. Yes. It's out of their hands. It's like they're giving you just enough of what they're expressing, but they're not

going to say, and this means this. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah, they just show you that. Allowing you to fill in the gaps is, which is kind of difficult to do in comedy, because it's so literal. But you can do it. There's people, especially people for me,

like Maria Bamford and Paul F. Tompkins and Brian Possein and Greg Proops and Marin. And you, that in all the silliness, the silliness is this very bright forest that in between the trunks there are truths there. and you realize no one just wants to see this thing out in the sunlight. But I'm going to build this really nice shady forest. You can then walk around and all the goofy, and then we can maybe deal with some darker stuff

by just being as goofy as we can. Yeah. I mean, in movies, in something as goofy as the producers, there is that there are these weird, deep, universal truths in the middle of all of this nonsense. Right. And that's how he got it through. Yeah.

You know? Yeah. I'm hysterical and I'm wet. Why did you do that? Why did you think that's what else? Which again, it's a very funny scene, but it's also a great way to go, don't buy this shit you see in movie. Don't hit people and throw water.

That's all, they're selling you this role that doesn't exist. Yeah, yeah. And so for him to comment on that and go, this is bullshit. That was so amazing to me. Yeah. You know? Yeah. It's that thing that, like, especially when you're young, like, when you're in college and

you're digesting all this stuff. Like when you left. Especially the big stuff for the first time. Yeah, for the first time. And especially there's that, there's that unspoken resentment of all the stuff they taught you in high school. They give you this nice, palatable thing.

Now I've got to fill in the gaps. Yeah. It's going to be kind of ugly. Right. And you're going to go, why the fuck didn't they tell me this? Right. Exactly.

But you're so empowered as someone that's going out and devouring stuff for the first time. Because, because again, the artist allowed you to knowingly or unknowingly fill in your own gaps and use your own mind and write your own stuff. It's pretty, pretty magical. I mean, again, there underneath a lot of your comedy, and it's very accessible and very fun, there is this, and it's never spoken out loud, but there's an unspoken, you better find a fun way to deal with death. It is out there. This is my, and you're saying, and you're not going, this is the way to do it. In other words, you're not selling a panacea. You're going, I found a way, you're going to find your own way. It'll be different.

Right. You can actually live in this moment and make it kind of funny. Yeah. I mean, just the way you start this whole thing is I, would you say, I broke, I broke my foot.

I broke my foot. That's your first line. I broke my foot. And it happened because this, but also because I'm 50, I turn 53. Yeah, and it's like,

yeah. And between that and the gym equipment, the trampoline during the pandemic and the serious XM. That whole thing is, and you start off by saying, like, silly fun special. But again,

you're leaking, you're leaking you're leaking you and where you're at. And that's a fun. Very, very helpful. Yeah, really, really. I mean, a lot of, again, that, I think one of the greatest bits,

how many bits ever done was when Richard Pryor talked about in his first concert film when his pet monkeys died because someone left the gas on. It was this huge German Shepherd next door that would always chase it, neighbors is German Shepherd.

And he comes out and he's crying in the front yard and the German Shepherd jumps over and he's like, why are you crying, right? He's like, my monkey died. He's like, oh man, I was going to eat them too. And then the dog goes, well, don't hang on to that shit, okay? Because that I'll eat you up,

man, it'll fuck you up, right? He goes, okay, I won't. It goes, you promise? I promise. And then the dog turns away and then he stops, he just goes, you realize I'm going to be chasing you again tomorrow. Like, even, yes, sometimes life will give you a breather, but that's his way of going,

and life will then go back to its usual shittiness. You will get breathers. Try to appreciate it. It is so fucking profound. Yeah. And he's still, he's like monkeys have died. A dog is talking to him.

It's like, you're silliest shit ever. And then he hits one of the most profound things just about existence. Yeah. Holy fuck. But then again, your thing about, because life is hard and ever now and then you need a goddamn cooking.

Which it is like, yes, I need a cookie. Just give me a little. live. So like, that's true. Yeah. Oh, man.

It's the best. Well, thank you for this. This was amazing. This was so fun. So you travel to tomorrow's Friday. You go up to Seattle. I'm going to Seattle tomorrow. And I'm doing a show there.

And then walla walla, Washington. Then you stay and then you come back Sunday. Come back Sunday. So are you getting the next hour ready? I shoot October 1st. Good. Okay.

I'm sorry. I'm Jonesing. At the Wilburth Theater in Boston. In Boston. At that theater. Yeah. I had a show like book there already and then I was like and then I somehow crossed my path that Norm had shot

Norm had shot I think the Hitler one there. Yes. And that just wore my heart and I was like, what did we just shoot there? Yeah, fuck. That was the theater that Chris Rock did after the Oscars incident. Right. And I remember I texted him the next day. I'm like, what are you going to open with tonight?

He was just laughing. But I was just like, yeah, like we go through all kinds of horrible embarrassment and then you fucking go on stage the next night and you keep moving. Oh, it's the biggest lifesaver in the world, in the world. And those people are like, yeah. And also it's like, if anything, it brings you even, I mean, Chris has always been very open about his, you know, fuckups and frailties and stuff he had. Yeah.

And that, if anything, just made people go, oh, my God, I, you know, I get embarrassed by shit and you're still up here rolling, like, you just, you didn't think I could love him even more. I know. You know what I mean? I know. I know. Amazing.

I know. I sent him a message, like, too. days after like I just can't believe the poise the poise yeah that I mean because that's all instinct like he could have done he could have taken he could have gone at that five different ways a hundred different ways and they all would have made it uglier yeah you know and he that's just pure instinct in him that's just who that shows the man yeah it was but again it's also but again it's a thing without him making it a lecture without him making it a TED talk you can do this too right

Yeah, right, exactly. This hopefully will put your stuff in perspective. You can do this too. Yeah. Oh, that's so valuable. So good. So where are you going next? Well, I am just doing sets around town because my new special comes out Tuesday, September 20th.

That's, and I, and, oh, getting back to Chris Rock. Chris Rock said something to me that I've always remembered, which is when you put out a new album, when you put out a new special, if you go out and you do that hour that they've just seen, they'll be happy. and they'll never see you again. They don't need to. That's all he does. You put out an hour and they come see you live and you do a whole new hour. They're your fans for life. So I am doing now the time in little clubs, the store, the improv.

Awesome. Getting the new hour together and then I'll tour again. Where are you at with it? I have nothing. I mean, right when I finished the special, I had to go right into promoting this movie that was coming out. I went right to South by Southwest. Oh, geez. Promoted that.

Then I had a comic book that came. out. Oh, right. And then I had to start work on this massive mini-series for Apple TV, so it was just like I don't have the and right now, those are activities. Yeah. I can't do material about that. No. You guys, you know when you go to South by Southwest to promote your movie?

Oh. And they, and Magnolia picture sends you a jet, right? And you get like, no one wants to hear that fucking shit. Oh my God, you guys, I was having breakfast with Jake Jake Jalenhall. Oh, great. Right? I mean, I'm trying to... You see that. You've seen comedians that do that. You're like, what the fuck are you doing? No one cares about.

I'm on a Zoom with variety and I see the New York Times Zoom ringing and I got to wrap this thing up. You know, I mean, come on, what the fuck people, right? Like, no one wants to watch. No one wants to hear about your fucking show business. No. So I need to go and go shopping and fix shit around my house and go do shit like that and deal with my parents and actually live a life again. Yeah, yeah. Well, that's good.

So will you then, will you then book a date? So you have to hustle and get ready to go do it? Or will you wait until you have the stuff and then book the day? What I'm going to do is I'm starting. What I do is I do three nights a week in the city. Because I still got to get up really early every morning because I like to take my daughter to school. Yeah. And that means grandpa Oswald needs to leave the club at 930.

And I don't want to be the assailer than doing my set and then not staying to watch people. Like I just hate that so much. Yeah, I know. It just is so shitty. It really, you know, just as a. And I have to do it all the time. And I'm like, I, and luckily all the other comedians, turn now my age and I'm just like, I got like, I have kids, you put the fucking, go, go, go, go.

I know, but we did a thing for the Netflix festival. We did that outdoor show. And I have to say, you stayed and watched my set after your set. Yes. And it was like this weird backstage in this weird, like, area. And you stayed to watch my set. And you didn't have to do that. But I, but I, but I needed that at that point. I needed to see your new stuff. I literally, I didn't forget it. I really, it really meant something. Wow. Yeah. That really helped me because I was getting ready to the special and that was like, oh yeah, that level of ease. Right, right. That level of presence.

Okay, do that. And then also what I do is I book a Monday, Tuesday, once a month, down at the Irvine Improv where, and the crowds are great, but they're not like being at the Largo or something where they're just like, let's see some fucking jokes. Yeah, yeah. I don't, you know, and you've got to fucking, and I get to the Irvine Improv at 4 in the afternoon. Yeah. And I sit in my green room and I order like a salad or something, and I just sit there and

fucking write. And I walk around the room and I think and it's like, okay, you got to like, this is my job. Yeah, let's go to work. Let's go to show business. Let's go. Let's go to show business. So that's what I'm, and although I feel like after the new year, like you said, I will go find a date in September so that can have that cliff to my back. Right, right, exactly.

I can't do it now because it'll fuck in my head because I literally do not have a single joke. I'm completely blank. Yeah. All I have are jokes that I jettisoned from the special that ended up not. not doing, and I jettison them for a reason. Yeah. I'm not going to build off of these things and I'm like, well, that's going to fucking work.

Yeah. I have a thing where I'm going to shoot October 1st and I'm all the wall. I have dates all the way through and it's going to come out in December. Yeah, I had dates after I shot it in May. Yeah. Through June and July, to the end of July and then I was done. So you can kind of Frankenstein it. You can, like, do what you were just did that they don't know.

Once it's out. Once it's out. Once it's out. Can't do it again. Yeah. Isn't it weird too? I remember I was, I'm going to drop. a name.

Do it. When I was on King of Queens, we had Huey Lewis on as a guest star. And he was the nicest guy and was just talking. He's a big comedy fan. He was talking to Kevin and stuff. And I mentioned how it's really weird how when a comedian puts out a special album and we tour afterwards, we can't, we shouldn't do that stuff. Yeah.

If you want to survive. But if a band puts out an album, you better play that. They don't want to hear your new shit. He goes, oh my God, that's right. And then he goes, I just am now remembering. When I was a teenager, I would go to see Led Zeppelin in San Francisco. This is like in the late 60s. Go to the Fillmore.

Yeah. And they were touring on Zeppelin 3. I want to hear Black Dog. I want to hear going to California. I want to hear the shit from one and two. I want to hear an immigrant song. And I was, I distinct remember them doing Stairway to Heaven, like this new thing we're working on. And everyone got up to go get snacks and feel, oh, fuck this.

Boo. Just like went to go get, like, oh, fuck. I want to hear the new shit. Yeah, that's brutal. When we put out sports, you better fucking play sports. We want to hear that goddamn album. Absolutely. You know, like, so it's really cool.

It is cool. But he had this weird flashback of like, I think I made a beer run during Stairway to Heaven. Oh, God, I'm pretty sure I made a beer run. Because I don't want to hear your new bullshit. I want to hear the stuff that I know. You stink. Whoa. Oh, man.

Well, this is the best. Let me know, you know, Lodge, Reg. you're going to love. Let me know how you like the Biscotti. I cannot wait. And I'm doing Largo shows again soon and I'm going to rope you into one into town. I would love it. Those are my favorite shows. They're the best. I'm such a, I've told you

this before on your, I'm such a deadhead for you because I've seen earlier versions of your bits that then are different. Uh-huh. And I get to be like, there's an earlier version he did this. I thought it was a little better. Like the guy that's like, when they, when I saw him at Newport in 72, they do a Miles Davis shift in the middle. And I don't know why they didn't put that on the album.

It's a little disappointing. It's just like, that's how well I know your shit. The fucking zipline bit, there's a different version of the zipline bit than it's on the Netflix. That's right. And it was the visual of ziplining over Delaware for 10 minutes and going, is there anything else we'd see? No, you've seen it. You're not. It's like, should we go down there?

No. It's such an honor. That made me laugh so fucking hard. It's such an honor. And it's an honor. also hearing like you with your crew when you were hanging out in Virginia with all those guys that were all like had their own like the tastemaker for all the different things just to know that I'm on the radar of that crew makes me happy oh god yeah it's it's the best yeah you're the

best well thank you so much congratulations on the special sincerely it's it's not a uh it's when these things come out a lot of times it's not you're not elated you're relieved and you should be you should feel yeah good job. You can take my bread. We got it, Aaron. There you have it, kids. Patton Oswald.

I told you it was a good one. Love Patton. Very funny. Make sure you check out a special. We all scream on Netflix. As I said earlier, if you're going to be in the Boston area, see if you can come and stop by on Saturday night. October 1st.

We'll be recording my new Netflix special. And then we're heading off into the ether. Texas. We got a big run of Texas shows. We've got Albany, we've got Red Bank, New Jersey. We've got the big come-to-pop-Hawloven show on October 11th at the Village Underground. Enough with all that. You guys are the best.

Go eat something good, and we'll see you next week.