Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 131 - Neal Brennan

Episode Date: November 15, 2022

Neal Brennan invites us to his gigantic, messy family table. Check out his new standup special Blocks on Netflix. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hey, everybody, this is a special announcement before our show begins. Very unusual, I know, but important. because we have big news here at Breaking Bread. My Netflix special, they just announced that my new Netflix special called What a Day is going to premiere on December 13th of this year. Very exciting. We just did it in October and got it all together and they want to put it right on the air.

So December 13th, What a Day will be premiering on the Netflix. tell your friends and family. Very excited for you all to see it and worked really hard on it. I think it's very funny. The people laughed, so that's always a good sign. And the title, What a Day. I usually, if I walk into the kitchen in the morning, it's what I always say to my family is,

what a day, what a day, what a day. And it can be kind of optimistic. and then by six o'clock at night when everybody drags their ass back home it could be wow what a day or it could be who what a day uh that's up for interpretation and i like that about life that it's either way what a day so what a day premiering on december 13 thank you for allowing me to interrupt my own podcast to give you that news and now on with the show it's time for Breaking Bread with Papa. Hey!

Don't you know? Hey! It's how we go. Hey, it's time for Breaking Bread with Papa. Hey! Don't you know. Hey! It's also a show.

Hey! Hey, everybody, welcome to another edition of Breaking Bread with Tom Papa. I am Tom Papa. Here to break bread with you and the great comedian, Neil Brennan, a good friend of mine, and he's got a new special. on Netflix just started streaming. It's called Blocks. It's hilarious. He's smart. He's funny. And he will be our guest today. Very excited to spend some time and welcome him back to our little table here. And I got him some special bread from tartine because I've been on the road like a crazy person.

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Go to helixleep.com slash Papa, P-A-P-A, don't forget to put Papa in there. And with Helix, you will get $200 off all mattress orders and two free pillows. With Helix, Better Sleep starts now. Also, tompapa.com, because we just released. least new tour dates for 20, 23. I always love when we have tour dates into the new year because it means we're still going, which is very exciting. We've got huge shows coming up in Chicago. We've got them in Denver. We've got them in Michigan. We've got them in New York at Town Hall. Very exciting. lots of big shows all around the country, all new material, very exciting stuff.

We also have my new Netflix special that is coming out in December. I think I can give you the date. I don't know if I can give them the date. I'm not sure, Aaron, if I can give them the date yet. Let's just say it'll be a good Christmas present. I probably would think it would be a good time to sit and watch. some of my new stand-up special. I'll see if I can let you all.

I'll let you know. It's coming. So that's going to come out. So when I come out in the new year, it will be all a bunch of new jokes, maybe a couple classics, but mostly new stuff for the new year. Go to tompapa.com.

Oh, the Kennedy Center. Yeah, that's another good one. A lot of great things. Charlottesville, a bunch of dates. Go to tompapa.com. all of that up. This is a bit of a red alert. Let's see by the time this comes out.

It's be next week. Today, today, the 15th, Thanksgiving, right around the corner. I had a panicky moment since we spoke last, and I didn't realize that there was an avian flu. I know, this is a tough planet to live on. There's always something going on. But I think it's like 3% of the turkey. got hit with it. So I was like, well, you know, they always say, I said to my daughter, we got to

order a turkey shortage. She said, it seems like there's always a turkey shortage. And I was like, you're right. Maybe that rumor is always started by the turkey people to get you all excited so you order your turkey for Thanksgiving early. But then, lo and behold, I looked it up and yeah, there is a bit of a shortage. And I went to Whole Foods website where I've gotten my turkeys the last several years and they do a great job. You can order in advance the size you want, the different kinds you want. Two out of the three that I normally get sold out. Sold out. And this was a week ago. I try not to get frozen. I try and get fresh and just cuts down on the time and you know you need multiple days to defrost a frozen turkey. I think the taste is ultimately better. So I jumped on

it. I was able to get one, not even the one that I really, really wanted. I think it'll be fine. It's turkey. But be warned. Get your act together. Don't be caught because there is an issue this year. And then move on to all the rest of it. I can't give you any real big baking excursions and adventures and tips right now. I will after this week. This week is a big week. I'm going to going to do wait, wait, don't tell me. I'm going to wrap up some shows in New York and New Jersey. And I think I've been home five days in October. Yeah, I literally just came from the airport to do this show and I leave again tomorrow morning. So it's been a huge, joyful run. But I have not been around. The only thing I'm doing is sliding into the house, kissing my wife and children,

feeding my sourdough starter so it doesn't die, put it back in the refrigerator. But I have not been around. The only refrigerator. My baking is pshu in the toilet. So that's why I bought our good friend Neil Brennan, a bread from Tartine, which is right near where I do my radio show. In L.A., they have a spot. And this is, you know, Tartine is the people who started the whole bread revolution in the U.S. over the last 10 years. It's an amazing bread. And I, this is like, you can see hints of what I was going for and what I do go for. And just to see this bread, I'm grateful I can give it to Neil and he'll enjoy it. As a vegan, he can eat this bread.

But I'm a little sad that I wasn't able to bake it for him myself. Next time. Next time. All right. So get your act together, get your Thanksgiving stuff. Whatever you do, like I said, start looking at your equipment, your roasting pans, your gravy boats, your utensils. That's another thing. I found out that we are low on forks and you got to get your act together.

You don't want to be running around last minute. And pies, not really my department. I don't handle the pies, but I beg for the pies. And I think that's a more fun role, actually, of just go around and tell my wife and my guests and my daughters the pies that I want this year and really pressure them to get to work. And then I'll work on that big giant crazy turkey. So go go order it, get your act together, or just get the people in your life that feed you, get their act together. And we're only a couple weeks away. All right. So that's it for now.

Let's welcome our good friend Neil Brennan to the program. Oh, my God, we started already. Oh, we were just talking movies, guys. That's not what this podcast is. But if the shoe fits, you know what I mean? Welcome back to Breaking Bread About Movies with Neil Brennan. I'm sorry about not baking your bread. I really am.

It's okay. Well, I was worried because I don't. Is it hard to get people in L.A. to eat bread? No, you know, it's kind of like this closet thing where people say no, but they do. But then they go to their car and nibble it. It's like, remember David Tell's joke about going to a sex shop and he's like, and I get two pairs of edible underwear. I'm going to eat one on the way home. God damn he's the best.

He's so goddamn fine. Do you know Tartin? It sounds familiar. Tartin started in San Francisco. He's booking the comic store. He books the punchline. And he started the bread revolution in America of this artist and using real ingredients to make real wholesome bread. This is probably 12 years ago.

And started. this little bakery and just making this real artisan bread with no extra additives to it. And he would only sell it like at four in the afternoon. So people would line up all day and just wait for this bread. Because he wouldn't, it wouldn't be done till four? Yeah, because the schedule. It's like a lot. It's like a lot. Because he was a musician.

No, because it takes, it's a process. So either if he had it by the morning, that means you're working all through the night. So got it. So these guys are like the legend. And their book went crazy. And that's where I kind of first learned one of the first books. So anyway, do you mind where a radio show is where we hung out the other day? Yeah.

Tartime Bakery is right next to it. They're L.A. version. Oh, great. So I mean, I've brought you a bread of them. Great. You can smell it. Yep. All vegan.

It's a little sour. It's got a little sour to it. It's a, this is a side note. Yes. But. And it's very dirty. Okay. I don't want to say who said it, but somebody said that a lot of men's penises smell and taste like sourdough bread.

So. Whitney. Sarah Silverman. I know she was being specific about specific two guys that we don't need to get any deeper into it. I was thinking that the other night. I was writing about uncles and how, you know, because we're coming up to Thanksgiving. And I was like, you know what? How about an essay in defense of uncles?

Great. Of how great, you know, uncles are the best. Who's going to give you cash? Who's going to teach you to smoke when you're 10? Yeah. Uncles. And, you know, they're like the punching bag for this stuff. I'm like, dirty jokes.

What about dirty jokes? Your dad's not telling them. I mean, maybe you're, you'll catch an errant dad. Every once in a while, but it's mostly, it's more likely your dad will tell your cousin as an uncle. Right. And then your cousin will tell and go, I heard it from your dad. I'm like, my fucking dead. My dad told you that joke.

But is there even, like when I was a kid, I got the dirty joke book. I think volumes one. Truly tasteless jokes. Yeah. Yeah. And it was like a Bible. I was just like, we couldn't believe it. We were just laughing.

There were still jokes in there that. that I thought stunk. I remember thinking there where I was like, that's awful. There's a lot. It's like not even a good joke. Right. Some corny. But some great.

And like Leno, he like is remembers every joke. You know, like, yeah, he can remember street jokes. I haven't heard a street joke in forever of someone just coming up going, hey. Yeah. You want to let me tell you this joke and it's like a dirty joke. Like when's the last time someone told you a dirty joke? Somebody had like a, somebody texted me. something the other day and I was just like, what?

And they're like, you got to say. I was like, I'm not doing it. It's already broken. The system's already broken. What he was giving it to you is like something you should try? No, I was texting with a friend of mine and she was like, you like have a? And I was like, what? She's like, say what's hava? And I go, what's happened?

She goes, have a nice day. I was like, why? This woman's a professional comedy writer too. It was sad. But is it the kind of thing like, you know, like Red Fox albums were. like this like underground like you didn't hear it other places are we just in an era now where like why would a dirty joke's not going to break through well now people brand themselves as that like i'm the comedian that they don't want you to i'm the uncle of comma i mean you know

like we know 10 people that are basically the uncles of like they don't let me tell you something kid the stream yeah like they don't want this is like no you didn't you don't draw um uh uh yeah so uncles i just gave my niece my niece just got married uh-huh and i gave her a nice uncle check oh yeah the old the old uh that's under uh you could add that to the yeah generous yeah always single uncle oh god come on that that's a key too yeah yeah i realized that i just like i said it's just been noodling around you don't have any brother and sister or do you have a sister younger sisters got it yeah uh but and for a long time they had children and i did not So I was the uncle with no kids.

Having no kids is important because then you get with kids and you're like the greatest joy was taking my eight to 10 year old nephews to my house for sleepovers. Cynthia and I were together but we weren't married yet when we had no kids and you just bring them into a supermarket and say whatever you want. Yeah. What? You don't like you wouldn't know how to begin to parent. Once you have a kid, you're like,

oh, I should have create rules and boundaries. If they eat a bag of Cheetos at midnight, they're going to throw up and I'm going to have to clean it. Do they throw up? Yeah, it gets close. Yeah, it's close enough. They need to talk. But it all doesn't compare to the joy when they're just like holding arms full of stuff their moms won't let them buy. Yeah.

And you're just like, and you're just pulling out really like $20. But it's all the money in the world. Totally. Yeah. Yeah, you're like Hugh Hafner basically. Yeah. So when you write that check to your knees, it's like, here you go. Here you go.

And in some ways, it's the thing that you can't relate to, which is I'm taking this thing off the thing going back here. I might be not. You're the first to do that. Pretty cool. Yeah, I like that. I can't use a regular mic. You really can't. Well, you don't have any.

you don't have any brothers and sisters because in some ways I feel like I'm the youngest right so I'm paying back the what my brother and sisters in a good way like my brother and sisters gave me like so much access to the world that I now feel obligated to give them back like my brother worked for at Wrigley field and the Chicago Stadium so my brother Tommy so I went to I've been to a hundred Cubs game, like 150, like didn't pay for tickets, just walked in. My brother worked in the press box. I would just go to the press box. How old were you?

Ten. Ten through 13. Jeez. Yeah. You lived in Chicago? Yeah. I didn't know that. Yeah, well met.

And then Kevin, so Kevin got me into, so that's Tommy, the one who worked at rugby, and the Chicago Stadium. So I used to go to Bulls games. before Michael Jordan was on the team. Whoa. And then when he was on the team, and I saw a thing that feels like world historic now, which is a white woman mistaking Michael Jordan for somebody else.

It was like, it was, and he got like his feeler. I mean, it was probably used to it, but someone goes, are you Orlando Woolridge? And he was like, Orlando, like the fuck? But, uh, wow. And then so I, that's who I cut the check. actually the other day, one of his daughters. Oh, right. Okay. That's good.

And then my, my, and then Kevin got me in a comedy. So he doesn't, his kids aren't old enough to pay back, but. Right. How old are his kids now? They're probably like 12. Almost, yeah, like I think around 10ish. Right, right. It's so funny because when, whenever I tell people that I really love Kevin and people like, even before, like, he got angrier like recently, but when he was just like the, regular angry Kevin. I was always like, you just don't take him seriously.

He's just Kevin. And it's like, you know, he's not, and I always bring up when he came to my parents beach house in like little boaty water shoes and had shorts and was like eating corn on the cob with my mom. Yeah. And I'm like, that's Kevin. A regular guy. Yeah, he's just a regular guy.

Yeah. And his wife was hilarious. They're great people. Yeah. Then he got a little angry and started yelling at everybody. but how's he doing now? I haven't seen him in a bit. I, well.

Good? Still the same. Yeah. So funny. Yeah. When I, I have this very vivid memory. When did you start doing Santa? 93.

Okay. So he was already one of the, it was like him and a tell. Yeah. You know, those guys were like, and Louis, like, they were already like. And Marin and juniors. Yeah. Yeah. And Boston comedy.

And Sarah. And Sarah. Yeah. And, my God. And Juana. And what he'd keep going on. Yeah, yeah. And, but I remember vividly, like, showing at the Boston Comedy Club trying to get on that Monday night show, just like, which was like packed with kids just there to see comedy.

Was he the MC then? No. He had been the MC, I think. He wasn't the MC. I just was like there waiting to see if I'll get picked to go on at like midnight or whatever. Coming in from New Jersey, just starting out. No joke. Just like terrible.

Like, what is this place? Yeah. And seeing Kevin Brennan. walk through. It was a rainy Monday night and he just walked through from like in front of the stage to the bathroom in the middle of the show and he was wearing like a overcoat like a trench coat and he just kind of had that like kind of like quiet wise ass attitude and he just walked to the back. I was like oh I'm not ready for this. That's so funny though. It was like I remember seeing I went to the improv because Kevin worked the door with a tell in 90 in sorry 80. 87. Oh my God. So you were a baby.

Yeah. I was 13, 14. So I got, I've known a tell. I got, in high school, I was, I got, I was elected senator in student government. And I was, I was freshman in high school and a tell kept making the joke, the senator's been shot. So, so I remember going to the comp, the improv sitting there watching Brian Reeves. and crush in a way I still haven't seen top. Yeah.

Like just crushing. And then, and then Dennis Miller and Robin Williams came in. Oh my God. And it was just like, and Dennis Miller had a trench coat on. People used to wear a trench coat. Yeah, they did.

Yeah, Columbine really fucking ruined that. Yeah. Kinnison had a trench coat. Yeah. And so yeah, those moments of like, those like, oh man, that guy, like you can't believe it.

Can't believe it. And there's something about seeing those guys in a club setting that is just, there's a potency. Like when I saw Jerry come back and he came on to my sister's like charity show at Gotham. And I'd been with him like in theaters and stuff. But just watching him come in just do a 15 minute set in a comedy club, you know, and I must have seen it before. But there was something about this night watching him just, you know, because normally he'd be in the clubs at that time. trying stuff out, working stuff out. And he showed up like, let me give him a proper set for 15 minutes. Yeah, it's funny when he goes like, you know what, I'll give you, I'll give you a real,

you want to see me throw the ball? Yeah, right, exactly. Like I saw Sarah once at Largo and I always use this example because she's so brave about new material. Yeah. And her at Largo, she was like, everyone was killing before her and then she goes up and she's trying out her stuff. And she stopped in the middle. And it was like, you know, she's working it out. And then stopped in the middle and said, just so you know, I could kill right now. Yeah. I could, but let's get through this. Let's do this. Yeah. And it's true. Like, it says to watch him just unleash that one night, it was like those low ceilings, those, that small space, like you're saying with Reilly. It's like there's a potency to killing in that environment that's just more powerful than you'll see anywhere else.

You forget the killing thing, because I used to bug Chappelle about killing. Like, because Dave would have like really bad set, like, like bad sets where he'd be like kind of bummed. Uh-huh. And it was like, well, we'd just kill. Right. It was before I did Sam. So I was like, just fucking crush. And it was like, yeah, it's not the point.

And I never knew what I was kind of like, just kill. Yeah. And now I know, he would, he had a different ethos, which is like just. don't say don't do anything prepared which feels like that's like I couldn't do that now I'll do sets where I'm like yeah just trying new shit yeah and then like I was Friday or Saturday I was at the store and I had like I have good new jokes and I have like new new jokes yeah and the good new jokes were doing great and then I did like two two three day old as old as his bread like jokes and they didn't do well.

And I was like, just saying, I literally was like, I'm not worried about like, I could. I got a thing coming on Netflix Tuesday. I can do. And don't act like you like me tonight if you watch it. But yeah, there is that, that. It's hard. There's value to both.

Oh, completely. 100%. And, you know, there's nothing wrong with when you're getting it tight and getting to enjoy that and have fun and do it. But you also are there to work. And also there's years when you, even though you know I'm allowed to kind of, but you're kind of newer than the classes before you where you can't night after night just be dying as you're finding the new material. Because the wait staff is telling the manager and the booker and you don't get to work. So there's a fine line of when you get to the point of when you're allowed to.

Well, it's funny where even at the comedy store, I'm like, comedy store is so popular that I'm like, I need, I used to work out during the week at the comedy store. Yeah. But now that's taken away. So I'm like, I need a shittier room now. I need like a shitty. I need to go like the level like all of comedies rising. Like all boats rise and whatever. Yeah.

But it's like, yeah, I need to not. I need to be in like the swamp. I know. I can't be just in like a nice marina all the time. I need to fucking, like, stammer and fuck up. Well, the OR is better for that than the main room for sure. Yeah, but it's still not, if it's sold out, I don't want to bomb. Yeah, and everyone's going up before you.

It also depends what the mood of all your friends are, what everyone's doing. If everybody's getting up and like trying stuff out or like, you know, working. Right, but at the store you can't really, but how often does it happen like, guys, we all agree to not do well, right? No, it really, yeah, it's just a matter of like, You know, if you come in, like, Europe and Alley's up and everyone's working on stuff, then you're like, okay, I have some room.

But if you go up and everyone's throwing fastballs. Yeah. We're going to throw fastballs? All right. Fine. All right, fine. Oh, stupid arm. Everybody sleeps on a mattress.

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all mattress orders and two free pillows for our listeners. Look, it's hibernation time, right? This is time to do it. Pull the trigger on this now and just have all these wonderful, long, deep winter sleeps. Go to helixleep.com slash papa p-a-pa. With Heelix sleep, Felix, Better Sleep Starts Now. So your special comes out. Yeah, it'll be, it comes out. I don't, we're shooting this Monday and I don't know when this is. Yeah, so it's, it's, it comes out tomorrow.

Great. And, um, it's so good. Thank you very much. It's so funny. Thank you again. And we got to talk a little bit about it on the Netflix radio show. Mm-hmm. And when I left. Another, a competitor, a competitor's radio show.

I'm competing against myself. Yeah, yeah. When we left, we had a great conversation. It was really fun. But when I left, I really, as I was driving and just thinking over the next couple of days, I really wanted to make sure that I complimented you from the start of how many great lines there were. There were so many great lines in it. I would like to interrupt you right now by saying, you've already complimented me very thoroughly.

So, like, I don't, I didn't come. I'm, I literally, I was driving away going like, I'm so happy you watched it. Like, do you know what I mean? Like, I'm so happy you watched it. And then you went back and watched the beginning of it. Yeah. And like, I'm so, so just right there, I'm already like, you owe me nothing. Okay.

That's more than most people. Yeah. Well, I, but that's good. But I only did it out of joy. It was really, it's so funny. Yeah. It's a great special. Everyone has to watch it.

but really that was the one little thing it was like we didn't you know I could talk about comedy forever as this podcast is proven but there were so many really good lines thank you really good lines well that's the good I mean it's like the capitalist I'm like I'm gonna be able to really clip this for Instagram

and TikTok like it's so dumb that like I make like an hour long emotional presentational thing and then I'm like, yeah, but I can clip it. I know. I mean, again, it's like it's albums versus singles or whatever, but. Yeah, but you know, it's interesting. This is just where we're at culturally.

Like, I watched, did you see Bono on Colbert? I have a hard time with Bono. Okay, some people do. I just have, I find him so blustery that I, I, I, like he's a, he, It's too much. He insists upon Bono. Right. He insists upon himself.

Yeah. There is a great, I don't know who was inducting who. I think it was probably Bono talking about Springsteen at the Rock Roll Hall of Fame. And I think it's Bono talking about Bruce. And it's very funny because he's talking about the obvious God complex that they both have. Right. like when you we only i know how full of yourself you are yeah because i am equally as full the hilarious thing about spring scene is how much plastic surgery he's had and no one notices

i know it's fucking and we just keep saying how he looks hilarious it's like he's so spray tanned and botoxed up i know and hair like the whole from top to bottom he's like madam two so's at this point where you wheel him in and uh did you watch his did you get you go to his Broadway thing? No. I'm not like the biggest fan. That's one of those guys that like my brother and sister were all into.

Yeah. But it was a good show. It was a good show because it talked about. Oh, so you watched it. Yeah, but it wasn't the same as being there, I'm sure. Well, you get the idea. It's funny hearing someone talk about their own myth and their own myth making. I know, because that really struck me because he's like, I didn't really grow up that way.

I'm not really that, you know, blue collar. And then some of it like was true, but he was like pretty much saying, you know, I didn't, I made a lot of this shit up. Yeah. And that was kind of the nail in the coffin for dice when he came out on Arsenio. Yeah. That was like, what? Yeah. You're letting, wait, that's, it was like, oh.

Well, he was pleat. It seemed like he was pleading for forgiveness because he was getting so much like. Right. And he's like, I'm just a regular guy. Yeah. And it was like, no, no, keep being the wrestling guy. It's a character. Yeah.

Just be the be wrestling because it's more fun. But like you said, like maybe the myth is too great. Like, he, you, you, Springsteak could tell people that's not who I am and they go. Yeah, but are you going to, what are you going to play Born a Run? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, like, seriously. You were, you had like a girl and you would.

Yeah. Yeah. It's like they, they like the character. So. But back to the Colbert. thing. Whether or not you like Bono, I'll be able to make this very deep point. Great. No, they have this big show at the Sullivan Theater, and it's just, you know, all these people,

millions of dollars a show to put on this whole thing. And he interviews him. The interview is so short. Like it's, you know, three minutes. They did hits. Yeah, like, they just did like three minutes and then commercial for 10 minutes and then three minutes, you know, question and answer another break then they finally get to the song he's going to sing with or without you he's got a new book so it's like yeah and i saw on instagram and i was like really trying to get through i was on the road and i was like trying to hang in there and i didn't even i didn't even get to see the song i was just like i'm going to sleep and i woke the next morning it was on instagram just the song here's bono singing from his his hit from his book and they did the thing and it was so great this three minute you got the

good part you got the good part All of this. Yeah. Well, that's what albums used to be. Yeah. Meaning you spend $14 on an album and you, and then it's, you just want like one and like a half of the songs. Right. But you had to pay for the full thing.

Yeah. So I'm not even, I'm not lamenting it in that like, uh, if it's, if people like the, whatever, it's like, it's got good single or whatever by that paradigm. ideally it has good. Right. Well, and there is the other thing. It's like your special is the special. Yeah.

But there are great lines that would be fun just to see like a clip of it. That's okay too. You're looking at something else. You want to see someone do a dance and then I say da-da-da-da-da-da. And you get fucking a dog throws up out the car window. When you hit Instagram the little search button and it shows you like all the things that you kind of like already. Yeah. what is in yours i could take it out hold on let me look it's it's as good a question as yeah as i've

heard because i was talking about because i don't know if it's exactly what i like or what it what it uh what it thinks you like yeah it's a lot of like i've never i don't know it it'll have some of your search all right i see bobby lee bobby lee yeah i see it's bobby lee and nicky glazer so that's me stand by that i see aaron paul legally changed his last name and the name of his son. I see Brian Austin Green. I see Sarah on this is one of those eavesdropping things because this is stuff that I've talked about. I talked about Aaron Paul yesterday. Uh-huh. I talked about. Oh, so it heard you. Stevie Wonder and Frank Sinatra yesterday. Stevie Wonder and Frank Ocean yesterday. Interesting. So it heard you.

Sarah just came up. I don't know if Sarah, if this is new Sarah. Sarah Silverman. Uh-huh. So it's like not wrong. Yeah. Mine's a lot of babies. Mine's a lot of kids doing funny things. Really?

Yeah, because I had a one of my, I don't know what you call it, when they take your stand-up and they, people just lip-sink it. Yeah. I had a thing about making people. I made my own people and that really caught on. Great. So I've liked a lot of those things. Great. Oh, yeah, yeah.

I'm just filled with babies. Well, that's the thing you got to, I want to have a burner algorithm. Uh-huh. Like, for like, like, I'm not into this, but like, I need to like it, but don't, I wish there was like, this is not, don't quote me. Right. Exactly. Instagram, but I do like this. There's been times when I, like, checked out a comedian that I don't like.

Yeah. And then it starts feeding you that comedian. You're like, no, no, you, I was hate watching it. Right. Exactly. You misunderstand. Yeah. I'm not into it.

Because this is literally all stuff I've talked. talked about in the last day kind of apropos. Wow, that's weird. Of like not like Anthony Bourdain I talked about the other day. I talked about Heidi Klum's Halloween costume. I talked about maybe I just talk about cultural stuff. I get Bill and Nate on there a lot. Um, who's Bill and Nate? Uh, Burr and Burr and Burr. Oh, got it. Um, Jordan Peterson. Yep. I, I'm not getting any Jordan Peterson right now, but I'm in the past. I have. Yeah. Talk about a tempest and a teacup, as they say. still don't know why people get upset about him. I don't either. Like I'm still like I'm still waiting for like what the issue is. I know he's like be better be responsible

try and live a good life. Try you're a pig pull yourself out of your life. Be kind of people take responsibility for your work and your actions and your family. Yeah. Booh. Yeah. You're a piece of shit. I help you go into another coma. Yeah. Yeah. I I have no idea. You and I would probably fall in the same category of like where we're both friends with Joe Rogan. We're both going on the show sometimes. And it's just like, mm-hmm. Yeah.

It's, it's, I'm not obsessed with like what's happening to our culture, but like, I think about it a lot. Yeah. And I knew Joe for, you know, 15 years before he, before the internet, 10 years before the internet. 10 years before the internet and 15 years before he hit a podcast. And when I knew Joe in the 90s, I never thought about his politics once ever. Never, ever, ever, ever. It just didn't even occur to me. Yeah, exactly.

It wasn't even a thing you'd consider. And if he was like conservative, I'd be like, all right. Yeah, whatever. Yeah, like, okay. There are conservative people. Right. And I believe that they came. I mean, my thing with that is like, clearly there must be some volumin.

validity to their point of view if straight up half the people feel that way. Right. Roughly. Like, I can't just throw it away entirely. Like, I don't feel that way. Everyone's nuts if I don't feel that way. Yeah. It doesn't really hold up.

Yeah. It's just not like an adult point of view. Right. So, so it is odd to see people go like, why do you do that show? I'm like, I've been, or people that don't know I know them. Right. Bring them up. Well, what's funny is if anybody ever says,

like, why do you do that show? I guarantee you they don't. They don't listen to that show. I promise you they don't. It's the same with Jordan. It's like, you don't listen. You've been told a couple things. Yeah.

And you don't get. And then they tell you what the problem is. They go, Jordan Peterson thinks that lobsters are dominant. And you're like, oh, yeah. Oh, fuck this guy. You're right. Fuck them. I want to flip this table for some reason.

Like, just as like, it's someone, you should, I should be allowed, one table flip per episode. Yeah. And Joe is like the back stuff for the or the, yeah, or the, uh, or yeah, the back stuff, which I think that's it. I disagreed with. Yeah.

I disagreed with it. Right. You know who else I disagree with? My mom. So didn't cancel her. Look, have I put my mom on ice a couple of times? I'm Iris. Of course I have, Tom.

But I'm not gonna, I can't throw. no friends people that have just been fucking nice to me and not nice uh for show or not no show is nice why would you why would you turn on your friend yes for people you don't even know well a and the other thing is like if you and i talk about this in my new netflix special blocks called blocks on netflix um that the the it's thankless being liberal because there's no amount That's enough. And also if Joe will be loyal to me.

These liberals don't give a fuck. They don't, it's one strike. It's a quarter of a strike you're out. So like, I mean. Yeah, the great thing about that joke is, is you're building up that there's no, it's impossible to be liberal enough to satisfy liberals.

A liberal. Yeah. Like you could do all these things. and they're like always waiting for you. Yeah, there's the thing. But you did say this. Yeah, you said you were, you didn't, you missed Jen, you dead name. I saw you with a water bottle.

Yeah. Plastic water bottle. Yeah. It's like, okay, now, so what do we do now? It's like, all right. And then I go, well, did you, recycling doesn't work. Yeah. Well, I still think we need to do.

Okay. Who wants to be around? That's the other thing that liberals don't understand us. Yeah. tribal identity and belonging is in terms of like hierarchy of needs is so high for human beings so fucking high and they they have no awareness of that whatsoever it's a club it's you know that thing of like uh people hold their nose and vote yeah it feels like democratic uh leaders hold their nose and uh and govern like they don't like the people

there you think AOC would like me? Fuck no. Fuck no. She wouldn't like me. So. Yeah. It's a very, it's a weird thing because it's like when you have something that starts off in what appears to be kindness of let's let's be nicer to people in general.

Let's be nicer to those fortunate or less fortunate than us is great. And then when it gets put into this practice, it all of a sudden becomes. mean. Well, that's the gamification and the, of just social media and the whole, like, just teams formed. Yeah. Like, they just formed. Right. And if, like, guys like you and I who, I say things in the special that are not, like, liberal doctrine.

Mm-hmm. Like, I talk about guns in a way that I could get a lot of trouble for. Yeah. Do you think you will? Do you think? I don't know. There's a lot of things that if they want to get me, they can. Right.

They want to get me. I don't think they. I just talk about guns statistics. Yeah. That are very surprising. Yes. That is it's around 30,000 gun deaths a year and it's two-thirds suicides. Right.

Nobody knows that. Right. It's 40,000 and two-thirds. So it's around 13,000 murders a year. Two-thirds of all gun deaths. Two-thirds of all gun deaths are suicide. Now, if you're really liberal, you're in favor of suicide. I don't even get into all that.

Like, well, you're afraid of like abortion and right to like old people to euthanize themselves. What about what about everybody? What about that whole midsection between birth or inception and conception and euthanation and euthanasia? What about those people? So if they, whatever, that's like a whole level. That's a whole nother level. But, but yeah, like, I don't. You could do it, but not with a gun.

Yeah, exactly, exactly. Bridge, we like, we're pro bridges. We love ropes. Yeah. The, and then they could get me on like, well, there's a lot of gun injury. It's like, I, yeah, yeah. Right. But there's also when people say, yeah.

Yeah. There are a ton of gun injuries. Yeah. How many guns have you seen in your life? Live. Live. Not on a cop. Um, not that many.

I've seen one in 2000, live in St. Thomas Virgin Islands in a gypsy guy. Like, like just a guy with a gun. Right. No, I've seen more than that. When you travel, like when you, no? No. Where would I've seen? I don't know.

Like, where are you going? Gang meetings and stuff. Oh, okay. Like in Columbia. No, but like down south, like there'll be people or. I don't know, Illinois. I guess, yeah, I don't, I don't do that many southern shows. But Texas, I guess I do.

Maybe at like a rest stop or gas station or whatever. Yeah, yeah. But it's not even remarkable. I was in Florida this weekend and there was a billboard, you know, they have those like repeat billboards on a two hour trip. Yeah. It was machine gun America. It was just like a girl with big boobs holding a machine gun.

And it was just about come to this. It's a store. Store. Great. Great. Machine gun America. Yeah, fantastic. But the other thing about guns, and I'm not even being overly contrarian here, guns make people feel safe that would not feel safe.

Like, I'm not talking about, like, big, big, good old boys. I'm talking about, like, women who live by themselves. And, like, the way people go, religions cause more war than anything. It's also prevented a lot of people punching people in the face. It's like a good governor in general. I'm not for them. I'm just saying like I'm not, I don't, I guess I'm saying in a lot of these things, I don't know. No, exactly. That's what's cool about your special is that it's, you don't just say, I'm, I'm, you start the whole thing off saying, could I look more liberal?

Yeah. I be more, I'm one of my favorite lines. I'm a vegan. I'm bone thin. Yes, bone thin. I'm bone thin would make me laugh out loud. And just everything about you just says. I don't eat meat, I don't drink.

I'm like, I could not be more this way. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going, that I am not going to entertain logic at time. Yeah. Like, I don't. There's going to be real facts that I can't just because I look like this team. I can't say that all these things are true. Yeah.

Like I don't necessarily. Like I don't, it was funny. There was a article about a woman did a show in New York. and about abortion, a stand-up show. And a critic wrote something about abortion, this is a year ago, and he was like, I've seen straight male, white male comedians

be seemingly pro-abortion. And it was Bill Burr, George Carlin, and most recently Neil Brennan. I was like, are you trying to slam me with Bill Burr and George Carlin? Like, you're going to have to, go a different route than lumping me with two of the greatest ever. But I don't know when life begins.

I don't know. I don't know if it is or it is. I don't know if it's good or bad. I don't know. I'm happy. It's legal and I'm going to vote for it. And it's a tragedy that it got overturned and it's going to be it will make the country worse. Yeah.

You're using laws from the 1860s? Yes. it will make the country absolutely worse. But I don't know when life begins. Well, that's kind of, I was trying to work out this joke and it's, I just decided this morning actually, like, you can't really do it because, first of all, it's not funny, but also because everyone thinks that they do know things. But the thing was, why would I ask anybody their political bent?

Like, if you want friends, don't ask them that. Like, there was a time when you didn't talk about politics. Right. Because really what it comes down to. is how much do your friends really know about anything? No. If they're good friends, not much. And if they're really smart, they probably have two issues that they know a lot about.

And then the rest, they're just as dumb as everybody else. So like, why would you use base your friendship with people on their knowledge of the issues when it's hard enough just to parallel park? Yeah. Or decide where to eat or just be nice to each other or have decent energy to be around. Yeah. We're just like what to eat tonight or like what my girlfriend is or my kids are doing. It's just like, well, they said don't talk about religion. They said don't talk about religion or politics.

What they didn't say was don't yell about religion or politics. I think we found the loophole. You can yell about them. I was in the lounge this morning at the airport and the woman came in behind the bar and she turns the TV on. And it was the midterm elections are coming up. And she just hit the thing to the weather. channel and it was like a tornado's coming and it was just like oh you've felt everyone just just a tornado just a tornado that's funny that could be a good joke yeah yeah yeah

where it really is like oh thank god it's just natural disasters yeah uh but that's the i got off i i brought instagram back onto my phone because i had to post something i have to post shit it for like the next couple days yeah but i took it off my phone oh yeah because i was in Hawaii and I was like obsessing about comments on a video that I'd posted on Instagram like checking it and refreshing. Yeah. Yeah. No, it wasn't even mine.

It was one of yours. It was one of years and I said some really mean. I wanted people like it. And I was like, hey man, this is a really bad use of your actual life of just sitting in paradise. Yeah. worrying about people making fun of your looks on a video. Yeah.

And I took it off my phone and now I go on between 1145 and 12 at night, 1145, like and midnight. Uh-huh. So half the time I don't even want to. Right. And when I, it's just better, dude. I know it's like I'm that guy now. Like, yeah, I'm like another thing I've quit or like a zealot about.

But it's like, it's, it is better. It's just better. You're different. We are different people. Yeah. Dealing with different things since these devices hit our lives. Yeah. 100%.

I haven't, like this whole thing with Twitter, with Elon and trying to be here. I just, without a big declaration, just stop going on Twitter. Yeah. Like I'll have my assistant post my dates once in a while. I haven't seen a Twitter feed or the at thing or the comments about you in six years. It's, and it's not like, it's not like, it's not like. something's missing. It's not even like I even have an inkling of what am I missing out on. No, it's like sugar or whatever. Once you stop, once you get it out of your system,

your body doesn't want it. If you get it in your system, your body's like, hey, can we get some more? More, more. But if you get it out, your body doesn't naturally crave it. I, and I notice the difference when I wake up and I don't have it to go on. Yeah. I'm the first 10 minutes my day or better. Right. Because I don't look at it like I'm, like this umbilical cord or something. It's even, it's instinctual. You don't even have to, when you're in the loop of it, you don't even have to think.

Let me check it. You literally, you find yourself checking it. Yes. Before you even remember what's, you're, that you're conscious. It's just that's boom, boom, boom, turn it on, hit the Instagram into, yeah. I also am finding that I just want to do something with my phone. Yeah. Which is sad.

Like, I just want to go on Google. I just want to, I want to fuck with it. Yeah, I know. I want to feel the juice, whatever the juice is. You ever scroll through the news, like, whatever news source you use? Alex Jones. And you go through it, and it's like you didn't, it's, I found myself, I didn't get angry enough. I don't stop until something pisses me off.

Right, which used to be you'd pick up the paper. and flip and it was just boring or not i'm either right it or i'm not right and now it's like what yeah it's either huh or what yeah yeah if you don't get to the what yeah if you don't get to the what you feel like you didn't get the drug yeah you didn't yeah you didn't work so yeah i i it's worse how do you deal with it with your kids well that chip is sailed they're 20 and 17 and they kind of had to... They identify ships? Go ahead.

I had to be. Yeah, notification jokes guys. Come on. It's 2022. They had to kind of navigate it themselves. I knew they were going to be better at navigating it than we were. How come? Because they were...

Native to it? They were, yeah, native to it. And it wasn't, they still wrestle with it the same way we do. Like, my daughter for... There was a time when, like, I could tell when she had just been in her room on her phone. She would just come into the kitchen like, you know? Yeah. And, and I would just bring it up, you know, and I would say it as my example, like, I didn't touch my phone and I felt so much better to that. Yeah. And I would see, and just like all of us, like she would shut it down, go off

Instagram, do whatever, but then come back to it, you know, and then shut it down and be cool and then like come back to it and there's still there's still I guess the short answer is I couldn't control it I couldn't control theirs I could I just had to advise them one of my favorite lines about parenting you may not even remember but you said um now I mean it's seven years ago or eight years ago you said now the my job is to make rules and her job is to secretly get around them yeah we're just like oh yeah all right That makes like that's a that's a level of parenting that I as a non-parent. I was like, oh, all right.

Yeah. Because that's what you did, right? I mean. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that in ways that were like stupid. What do you mean?

I used to smoke in my parents house. In my room. And I would the way like the heat or like the whatever, it all just, it creates, you open a window. Oh, it like creates a natural funnel, right? Right. So, or a natural jet stream. Yeah. So I would just lean.

How old do you? 14, 15, 16, 17? Moved at 17. I don't know. The picture of you, 14, just like get in the pack? Pack a day. Pack a day? Pack a day till out from 14 to 24.

Oh, my God. And then I quit cold turkey. So when they, if, did they find out? They, well, not like a little bit. You're one of 30 children, right? Yeah, yeah, one of 30. I grew up in a foster home. The, I grew up in, in, I'm the youngest of the tent.

So a lot of people moved out. My parents had more of like a lazy fare attitude, meaning like, ah, they're going to be what they're going to be. Right. And I was the baby. So I was like a little bit exalted. The baby. The young, yes, the youngest of the tent. So they'd already been parents for 20 years?

My oldest brother was 16 when I, was born. Okay. Yeah. So yeah. By the time you're a kid. Yeah. So yeah, by the time that they're exhausted. By the time I'm 16, they've been parents for 30 years, which I've never thought of before. It's kind of fascinating. Yeah. And they were like, you know, they were, they were on death duty. They were just like, ah. And they also knew where to put their energy. What was what was crucial? What wasn't? Yeah. Which I don't even know what they would, if you ask them what they would say, what's crucial to put your energy into. I would say guilt on my mother's part.

But so I used to smoke out the window. I used to watch Arsenio and then Letterman, which on the East Coast, it's 1.30 in the morning. By the time I go to sleep. And then I got to get up at like seven for school. It was insane. How big of a house is this? it's two stories and

four bedrooms and where is it in Villanova Pennsylvania just my mom just sold it like a month ago yeah she did yeah so it's a big deal so the

so yeah so I would and then I would watch that every night in like on a stolen TV what do you mean like my brother Danny bought a TV like we weren't a lot to watch TV right but again loophole which is

I'm not a lot to watch your TV my brother Danny bought a TV at a rummage sale and it's like fucking it's like Hogan's hero it's like fucking life in the gulag yeah yeah and we just like flip it around into a fish tank yeah yeah absolutely put out your cigarette

didn't they smell it on you didn't they smell cigarettes on you again the stents of cigarettes looking back is so awful and It permeates everything. But my mom's level denial was just like, maybe he smoked one. Right.

Or maybe he was around smokers because people smoked in the 80s. Yeah, that's true. Like I had a teacher. I had a teacher. It sounds like the bad news bears. I was on the golf team in high school because I was a caddy and I golfed. Right. And I smoked on the bus for our high school.

The high school, like the high school team. The teacher was like, yeah, I didn't smoke. In a van. It wasn't even a bus. It was a 12 passenger van. And I'm smoking a cigarette. Like a dirt bag. And like that right there.

Drinking constantly. Drink, getting drunk every night. Every night. I'm sorry, every weekend. Every weekend. Yeah. We got, I got caught, I got busted drinking before school in the school parking lot.

Like I was part of a cartel. Right. We all got, and we drank it my house first and then, because my parents went away on a Thursday. And then they all literally my parents pull out the driveway and my friends pull in. Insane. We got busted for that, like insane. And it was kind of like, I got a DUI.

I mean, not a D.U.I. I mean, not a D.U.I. Underage drinking by the cops. It was a real. It was an active. It was a very active childhood. So you weren't in sports. I was, I played golf and caddied. Right.

And did you keep your grades together? Mike, I was like 100th out of 300. Right. Like not, I shouldn't have gotten into NYU. I think like I made a funny student film. Right. So they let me in. Right.

I dropped out after a year, though. And I wonder if NYU considers that a victory for them. Like, should they have let me in? Right. I'm like a talented guy. I bet that story happens a lot at every year. I'm sure, yeah. Right.

Woody Allen, for one. Right. Oliver Stone, I think maybe got... Oliver Stone, Spike Lee, went to NYU. I think they graduated. Right. I think Oliver Stone got kicked out. Can we go back to the house for a minute?

Yeah. First of all, where's Danny? Danny's two years older than me. So when we moved to Philly, he was there. I moved in eighth grade, so it was eighth and ninth, and then Danny went to Fordham. Okay. In New York.

He was a cool guy. Yeah. He used to work at the strip. Yep. And what was his girlfriend's name? Yeah, blonde. Yeah, I just saw her. Did you really?

Yeah. What's she doing? She's, I don't know, she married the guy who runs the baked potato, owns the baked potato. Is that here or there? You know the jazz club here? Oh, great. Like over by Warner Brothers, like around there. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yes, Pam. She was in the devil's advocate movie, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That movie's great. Yeah. And she was so cool and Danny was so cool. Like it was like the two, they were very cool.

Yeah. They had like New York together. Yeah. Kind of a thing. All right. So if we can just go back into this big old house. Was dinner time of, we're all eating at six or was it just chaos? Well, it was.

There was, when we live in Chicago, that was like, like eight is enough. Uh-huh. Like for real. like probably one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, at least seven kids. Uh-huh. Plus my parents. Around the table? Yeah.

Like, everybody go, like get this stuff and get the potatoes and you get the, you eat the plates up. Your turn for the plates? Yeah, do the, I don't know. Who was cooking? My mom. Your mom was doing all the cooking. Yeah, she didn't have a job. Right.

She's a deadbeat. So, yeah, she would cook. And I guess we had to do the dishes. Yeah. One of us had to do the dishes. So big meal, everyone's sitting around the table. Yeah. Mom and dad with all this madness.

Like, not even, I mean, yeah, they were weird. I have some of the rules in the show. You do? Oh, yeah, yeah. On the thing of my mom, if you left your clothes in the laundry room, she'll throw them out. She would confiscate them. I mean, it was so insane.

I have to say when you said that, though, she would, yeah, like, if you left you, if you didn't take care of the laundry, she would be like, F it. I'm, and just take them. Like, confiscate, they were gone. And then you would not, they were, they were disappeared. They, they, they, and then my sister, Anne one year for Christmas got a key chain, a candle and a box of her old clothes back. Swear, that's a verbatim story. And one of Anne's friends that year got a BMW.

And Anne got her, her old sweater. As a parent, though, I totally understand it. That's funny. Because you just, your kids do things that bring up this irrational anger in you that's totally petulant. It's weird that dumb. You call it petulant because it's parenting. It's petulant parent. But it is.

It is. Because you literally catch yourself. And then when you look back, you're like, well, why did I do that? And also think of the age of the kids. That's what always catches me is they were fine. And I was treated with like you're 20 that you can access. Yeah. I've, I've talked about it before where I ordered rooms.

We took them to this nice hotel and we ordered room service for breakfast, which my wife always likes doing. We couldn't. We could not order juice. Yeah. I mean, I'm not, this is not, I'm not even, we could not order juice at restaurants. Right. We were not getting juice.

It was outrageous. You would drink juice before. You know, like you had a breakfast. You want to drink juice at eight and then your pancakes come at 9, 10 in a different location. You're pre-gaming. You know, you're pre-gaming. The alcohol is expensive at the bar.

And we ordered this big room service and it came and kids don't like things that are different. And this pancake had probably had a piece of cilantro on it and these eggs, you know, were made different than mom has been making them for five years. And they both refused to eat. And I was like, just like through the silverware down like, oh, really? This is how we're going to live now. We're just going to go to places in order a $200 breakfast and not eat it. Is that what you're about? Is that how you live? This is what you're like. You made it. You basically made an attack ad live? I made an attack ad live. My daughter doesn't like the food. I get her.

I look back, Neil. They were five, six years old. Did they cry? Did they? No, they were just like big eyes. Like, I guess we, I'm sorry, Dad. And, you know, like. Did they then eat it? No, they didn't eat it. You know, it was a standoff.

They won. Do they always win? Oh, yeah, most of the time. Did you win standoffs growing up? Do you remember? Not a one. No. Because if you did beat them, they would hit you.

Yeah. Yep, they had the, the, the ace in the hole. Violence. a adult body that was willing to be violent against children. Take their giant hand and whack you with it. And then they win. With prejudice. And they win.

And you feel bad about it until you're 50. No, I couldn't get close to. One time, my daughter was being mean to my wife, again, very young. And I grabbed her by her arm and we marched down the hallway. And I made her sit and time out. and just that slightly aggressive like ushering her down

crushed me we both woke up like with the flu the next morning like you and your wife me and my daughter just total stress induced colds like it was so against our nature

our relationship the way we've been doing things but she just like was so disrespectful to my wife in that one moment and I just did your wife here's an interesting thing Yeah.

Did your wife appreciate it? Yeah, I loved it. You've never got more wife's wife pussy, believe it, in your entire life. Yeah, there is something to, your wife is so under the gun and dealing with it all the time that if you step in and. Well, that's, again, that's like a weird. You don't do that to your mother. Yeah, like that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a decision. Yeah.

Yeah. It's like, and it hurts. Because even when you said they hit us, we feel bad until we're 50. Right. Did they feel bad? Because it's like one of those things we're like, and they feel bad until they die. I would argue that generation didn't even feel bad. No.

The only time they feel bad is when they hear me talk about it on podcasts or in my act. Yeah. And they're like, what? Yeah. The only thing they felt bad about was foreigners. They didn't like them. They were also. We have time to be thoughtful about this.

We've got two kids. We were older. We weren't panic-stricken about how we're going to make a living. You know, they were kids. They were 20 figuring out what the hell's. How many? And no idea. Yeah.

You know, it was, you know, it was different. So when you sat around in the big table and the eight is enough section of it, you could not get a phone call. Was it like joyful? Like, was it fun being around? Like, it seems to. me like you're living in Annie or like or eight is enough and it seems like it was it was fun in like uh in like uh gallows kind of way i mean there's very funny people around this table professional

comedians yeah and dann and like by the way Tommy was also funny right still is funny and and and Peter one time said at thanksgiving this is like the kind of Thanksgiving we had. He once, I was in high school and he said, Kevin, you're not even the funniest one in the family. Nealist. Oh, no. We're just like, what kind of fucking, what kind of fucking family is this?

Yeah. I mean, that's got to be. These are killers around this table. Well, yeah. So, so. But it's also real. But there's also a violent monster there. Right.

So. Name dad. Name dad. Yeah. So. it's like you couldn't you couldn't get a phone call if the phone rang between seven and eight yeah and it was for you I think you were grounded from the phone for a week if someone called from the outside so you had to make it clear to everyone you knew you cannot call

between seven and eight and this was by the way I've never questioned it. Like, no, you tell everyone. Right. Not to call between, I mean, that speaks to how little people would call. Yeah, that's true. But what a great way to bust your friend's balls. It's like, let's call Neil. His dad's going to beat the shit out of him. Yeah, like crazy. Yeah. You couldn't laugh hard. Yeah. You couldn't laugh hard. I swear to God, you couldn't get the giggles. Wow. You could get ejected if you got the giggles. It was just stuff that was just my dad being at. Like, just like, it's not. There's no reason for this. God, I mean.

Or being petulant. Pettulant was like he would drink. He said he would drink. His like, pillar of who he wanted to be was James Cagney. Literally who he drank to be. He wanted to be.

He said out loud. Yes. This is the guy. Yeah. I'm going to punch you in the face. Yeah. You got a problem? Yeah.

You got a problem. Yes. Public enemy number one. Star of public enemy number. one, star of the original scar face, I could go on and on. Yeah. That was his idol. Solved every conversation with a punch of the end.

Yeah, I know how to do. Yeah. I'll give you a smack. I'll give you a smack right in the kiss. So that was who he like longed to be. Yeah. So. Whoa.

What was his job? He was a tax attorney. She went to night school and like got a law degree and then became a tax attorney and was a tax attorney for like Sarah Lee. And. And like big, successful. Commodore computers. Wow.

News Corp. Yeah. In the before they bought Fox or maybe when they bought Fox, like for Rupert. Wow. For like a year. Right. But yeah, like he was a credible member of. And people listen to him everywhere.

And now he's at a table where. We also listen to him. Well, yeah, because he did get fired for being an asshole though. He did? He got fired from Sarah Lee. Yeah. Really? Because he said some smart shit.

about the CEO and it bit him in the ass. Really? Yeah. Wow. So. On a scale of one to ten, being ten as close as you could be to your father, where, where are you on one to ten? Well, he died.

Yeah, before he died. How old were you when he died, though? I think it was eight or ten years ago. Yeah. So you were a grown up. Yeah. When you were a kid. my relationship with my dad was very

he was violent to everybody a little bit toward me but not that much toward me because I think he recognized there was like I was like the leader of the opposition like you know how like officers in different armies will like smoke cigars together like in World War II like they or not anymore like I don't know in the movies yeah they like get the officers club or whatever like sometimes Maybe I'm making that up.

But, but, like, they respect other. He had a respect for me. Yeah. That because I was also the baby, so it was like, Neil, Neil, Neil. Uh-huh. And then I was a, I was a little precocious. Right. He got a kick out of that.

He, like, he couldn't, he, he just knew, he was like a little respectful. Right. But he knew, he knew I didn't like him. Uh-huh. and he knew I didn't approve of him. Like, I was like, I, just so you know, like, you, I know all this is fucked up. Right. Oh, really?

Yeah, like, it was a weird thing where he knew, like, I'd be there going like, he'd be, like, throwing plates at dinner. I'd just be like in high school. I did, I was between cigarettes. Like, he'd be yelling and carrying on and throwing shit and it was just like. Right. It was just, but it creates a bad, it's a bad environment. them to grow up in. Because you think, I mean, it's just chaos and you worry about being killed because you're tiny.

Yeah. You know? It's a force. Yeah. That is the one thing that I was really aware of was the power that you have as a parent. Like, you don't even realize. You think you're just a lump getting, you know, just happen to have kids. But I was very, very aware.

Like, you are as powerful as a being this kid knows. And you're twice their size. Yeah. So they're, they, you're, and you're a psychological pillar. Mm-hmm. Huge. I mean, like, you couldn't build a bigger other than a God. Right.

No. It's your parents and then a God. A hundred percent. Was your mom benevolent? She tried. It was with her. it was like she wasn't having the best time either. Yeah.

You know? Right. But her sense of denial was pretty strong. So she could, she would like, like my dad would hit me or somebody or I get sent up to my room. And then like after a few hours my mom would come up. And I'd the whole time be like, where the fuck are these people? Right. Like who the fuck would just see someone get ejected on some bullshit?

Yeah. It was never like, yeah, I deserve to go. Like, I fouled out. You know what? Yep. Pick up. Thank you. No, it was pure his temper.

Yeah. Purely his, not temp, yes, his temper and his wanting to be a bully. Right. Literally wanting to be a bully. Right. So, so I, like, I'd be victim somebody else. I only remember my, my victim. I mean, I remember other people's, but.

Yeah. But I'm, from my point of view, just being alone in my room going like, right. Where is everybody? Yeah. And looking back, they didn't want to make themselves a target. Whereas everybody is, as,

where I didn't anyone come to my rescue? Yeah, if my mom sides with me, my dad's gonna, right, make her pay for that. Right. He didn't hit her.

You're McCauley Cawkin up in the attic. Like, what the F did I do? Yeah. Everybody lost the shit on me. Yeah, yeah. I clearly was not wrong. No.

And like, so, but again, if she sides with me. Yeah. it's she then she like he'll take it out on her right so it was like it was so the right yeah but before my dad got home or when he was away it was it was like uh-huh it was fun Kevin Tom like playing Wiffleball and basketball and hockey and with these guys yeah yeah like the first part of my childhood and then we moved Philadelphia from Chicago and Kevin stayed in Chicago a bunch of people Tommy

stayed and then and then and then And basically it was me and a few of my sisters. Oh, okay. So it was like, and my mom. Right. How old were they that they stayed in Chicago? Well, that's the thing. My parents were so harsh that we moved from Philadelphia to Chicago in 78.

Okay. And they left Joey, Sheila, and Kevin in Philadelphia. Right. Like, go to school or whatever you're going to do. Go to college. Right. But Kevin, I remember there was like a week between when my parents moved and when college started. Uh-huh.

So he was kind of homeless for a week. Like just, but my parents are, and Kevin's 18, Sheila's 19. Yeah. Like they were old for us. Yeah. But they're not old. They're not. But they're probably older than 18 year old now because everyone's older than an 18 old now.

Yeah. Because they're, you were able to, you were doing things on your own from a young age. A 18 year old in America in the late 70s was older than an 18 year old now in Ukraine. Right. Like it was just a different life. Yeah. And about equal to a 30 year old now in America. Like it's just a different life.

So like, but it's still like a harsh thing to do to your kids. Like they were like shedding them. Right. And then when we move from Chicago back to Philly, they shed Tommy, Mary. They shed like in groups, Peter. stayed for college. Yeah, and tame. I know it's so weird,

but that's kind of what they were doing. Like, it's like, you're like, uh, no, you're fine. We did this. Yeah, like you're, no,

no, it's on you now. I think I may have said this on the Netflix, but the, you know, when you make it special and they're like, there's a limo outside waiting for you.

Like, I'm going to the Emmys. Like, you're going to the airport. Like, you just get to travel more. Mm-hmm. And you just get, it just makes you, it's wearying. Yeah. It just makes you weary. And I'm not complaining about it.

It's just, it's, no, it definitely. There's a component to it that's like physically hard on the body. Oh, 100%. There's a thing in the Quran about like taking care of travelers. Oh, really? Because it's so hard. The time zones, the changing. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I was telling Paul, Paul Morrissey was opening for me this weekend. and we did a gig and then the next day had to drive like two and a half hours three hours to

Orlando for the rest of the weekend and after the show having one drink with my cousin at a bar and my

fucked up the whole weekend fucked up the whole weekend you don't even need to tell me I know what happened I should have you have to and you had one drink one drink yeah but then you got to bed late

and then I sat there in a bar and talked really loudly for an extra two hours hour and a half after the show after i did all that and after the traveling goes i'm like that no you don't do that yeah you don't do you you can do it but you're going to pay you're going to be maintaining and trying to get back to there was a show this tour that i did in i did uh it was i it was in dallas and it wasn't it just wasn't great and i was like why wasn't that show great. Like I was suck. And then I remembered because you did two, you traveled, did two, you flew from LAX to Austin. Yeah. You did two shows. Then you drove from Austin to Dallas and did a show. Yes. It's like how good did you think it was going to be? Well, you've got to treat yourself like a

professional athlete. Yeah. You've got to eat the right things. You've got to hydrate. You've got to sleep. You got to meditate. You got to do all of those things. Anything that's extracurricular around that. Yeah. And the driving thing is just insane. I'd rather drive than fly. Not me. Not any one. I can't flying, even if I, I can't stay awake on a plane. I cannot do it. Literally like, I'm like Mr. T. Right. Isn't that better? It is better. But even when I get there, I'm still fucked up. Like my body does not like it. No, you're a mess. I just flew back today and tomorrow I fly to Phoenix, do a show at four in the afternoon and fly back that night. Flying back that night is, one of the small hidden gems of our life.

Oh, when I saw like, wait, they want me on stage at four? I think I can get home. I don't even have to get on the last flight. I can get on like a seven. That's right. I did a show in Atlanta and flew back to L.A. that night. Really? It was the best.

Heavenly. It was heaven on earth. Because you literally like, wait, you sleep in L. Lane, you're like, when was I Atlanta? Right. Tonight I was in Atlanta. But I knocked it out. Yeah. Crazy.

George Wallace came. It was arguably a perfect day. It is amazing. So yeah. So the way we grew up. It's funny because you have all those, you had all those great jokes about your dad and that generation. Mm-hmm. And I would.

would like you to do bits about what a pillar you are for kids. Meaning, it's an interesting take. Like, it's a thing I've thought about before, but I don't even know if there's a joke there, but where you're like, not like you resent your parents. It's funny how shallow our parents were just by nature. Do you know what I mean? Like, it would never occur to them. Like, I'm a huge figure in this person's life and I should probably use it responsibly.

We benefit from the, from the luxurious time that we are adults. When they were kids, when they were 20 in 1967, having their first kid, there was like a Dr. Spock book. Yep. There was like, think about the culture, how much we're all talking about what it means to be a parent, what it means to raise a child. and what it is to make artisan to make artisan bread

and like really think about the meals that we're all having kids were like gypsies back then kids were gypsies your mom wasn't thinking like oh maybe I'm gonna get into cooking it was I've got to feed this hoard three times a day wash this shit out

and your dad's like driving in a car with no safety hope it's good for them that does not read anything no airbags no nothing I mean yeah it was a insane time when you look at all of the elements of what they were doing while they were raising these kids it was bat-shit crazy but i would argue that you're i mean it's not like you and cynthia were not busy or not it's a i don't there's not there's not there's not there's not

there were more hours in the day that i mean or there were more hours than the day because there was less distraction there was less like there was you know they didn't have fun they you know I mean, like, there are, I could argue against what you're, I know what you're saying, but I could also say like, but there was a, there was a, the expectations were so low. There'd never been good parents before. No. And there had never been, it, their parents before them, you know, coming over on boats. Yeah. And figuring stuff out. And before that, illiterate farmers. Right. Straight up. And kids are employees at best. Exactly. And for us to have the time and just the wherewithal, the. The. intelligence to like really sit and think what is this going to mean for my child when they grow up

what is sending Neil away from the table what is my throwing a plate how's that going to impact everybody let's think about this yeah no it was throw the plate get some scotch get to bed yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah back to sarah lee james kagney love you jimmy yeah that's a guy that gets shit done yeah you know was the food good Yeah, my mom's very good cook. Really? And she did a thing that I, like, did notice until I was older, which is she would put the plates in the oven. She would.

To heat them. Like, that's restaurant caliber. It's more than restaurant. It's like, that's like very, I've never been to, I haven't been to too many restaurants that I was aware that heated the plate up. Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah. So.

What was your favorite that she made? She would make, well, for my, on your birthday, you'd get to pick. And I would, Tommy, I would get beef. stroganoff. Oh. And it was delicious. With the noodles? Yeah, you have butter noodles.

Back when I ate butter and beef. That's right. And beef. Yep. So, so yeah, that was great. Yeah, she was just a good cook. And then my dad was like kind of, it's a funny thing where my dad was like more of a gourmet cook. So he would cook on the weekends for them, just those two.

Oh. And it was like a thing. Really? Yeah, I don't know if it was like a romantic thing and then they, I don't know what the deal was. But he got like Bon Appetit Magazine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, like literally Bon Appetitin magazine. And he had like some good pots and pans.

Right. Wow. Wow. Wow. And I don't know if he had like a rotation of things he made. Is that funny? Because like that act of reading a recipe, thinking about what I'm going to make on Saturday for us. that's not um that isn't monster behavior i know right yeah it's complicated isn't it

it sure is i mean that's the thing it's like that you know that that that saying like we contain multitudes it's Walt Whitman yeah but the setup is like we're fucking hypocrites it's not about like the one remnant of it's like we can't make we can't mold fucking hey what are you gonna do I'm totally contradicting in a hypocrite of hypocrisy. We're like walking, steeping in hypocrisy. Yeah.

And yeah, that is a thing. I thanked my dad for putting me in a good socioeconomic position to do any, I mean, and not even like I went to film school for a year and I paid for some of it. and whatever.

Like, there's that. Like, there's that thing, but also just anything was possible. Right. There was nothing. And the other thing, being the youngest, I got to see,

I had a brother that was like a caddy on the PGA tour. Then he was a golf, the sales rep for titleist. I had a sister that was like in finance. I had a brother-in-law that ran arenas. I had my brother, it's like all these people with like varying opportunities and,

decisions in life that I that I'm like and it's directly directly result of my dad I now he did it for himself like I don't think he did it to show his kid like he did it for his own insecurities and all that stuff but but it is like a but also providing yeah he was providing yeah he one time I remember him saying like when I was he could feel me going like and he was like you know I remember in grade school I read that all a parent has to do is provide food, shelter, and clothing for their kid. Uh-huh. That was his defense.

He was saying it as well. Yeah, he was saying it to me like, hey, I don't know what the fuck you want. And it's a bit like, the government can do that, dude. Like, what do you? Raise your standards a little bit. It's a joke I did in three mics where it's like, for our parents, we did our best. So it's like, so you were getting drunk hitting your kids going, this is me and my best. what do you want for me?

No, like I have food shelter clothing. What do you want? I did it. Yeah. And what's funny is do you think your kids, do you think your kids love you more than your sisters love your dad? Oh, that's a little. Yeah, it's a big question. I mean, I guess you don't want to answer for your sisters.

But like the, I will say that I know the guys I know that have kids. Yeah. comics too so it's it's extra surprised to me fucking love it yeah love their kids and love the connection they have with their kids and their kids are the best friends they've ever had in some cases right uh i have a new joke where i say i don't like when parent when you hear your friends say that uh their best friend is their dad i don't like it when kids say the best friends or dad? I do like when parents say the breast friends.

Do you know what I mean? Yeah. But when the kids say like my dad is my best friend, they're like, you got to get better at making friends. Yeah, like you got to fucking smoke weed, bro. You got to do something. No, I mean, yes, love it a hot, like not even a second thought. But back to your question, I'd be interested.

It's one of these things you don't want to ask. It'll come out eventually. What are dads, like to ask Mike? daughters, what are dad's hangups? What am I not aware of that they'll be like, that's dad? I would argue that they're fairly innocuous. I hope so. I don't think there's, I think I'm pretty perfect.

I don't, you know what I mean? Yeah. But, but, you know, like my daughter surprised me once when she, we were all like around the table with a bunch of other people and talking about like strict dads or whatever. And she goes, oh, I'm terrified of my dad. I was like, what of me? Like, how?

Like when? But back to that thing of you being this powerful thing that you're not aware of. Right. Like my saying, did you do your work today? Because I heard you didn't do it yesterday. Even not even that baritone of a sexy voice. Did you do your work today? Because I heard you didn't do it yesterday.

On a certain day, her translation is, my dad just yelled at me. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. So it'd be interesting. I mean, there's got to be stuff. But the other thing is like, you know, a lot of the, most of life is getting yelled at. Whether, if that's yelling, a lot of life's getting yelled at.

Yeah. Whether it's whatever. Like I had to do a work thing. I had a friend at my house and I, and I had to do a work. I was like, I just had to do this phone call real quick. And I was like, and I hang up and I go, what do you think of that? And she's like, you're very direct. and it was it was like yeah yeah yeah i don't like i don't i don't i'm not but that's kind of a gift

from your family that's of course of being able to knowing people don't like it like people are scared of me Dave you say that all the time you have no idea how scared of you people are really yeah and i'd be like i'm fucking walking around schlubby right and it's all that that thing yeah that thing yeah that that's that thing yeah that thing that thing that you say in your special about your last dying thing is going to be is the nurse mad at me yeah yeah yeah like that's my that's my point of yeah right like i think everyone's mad at me so if you grow up in an environment where you where people are just yelling and being really direct yeah it doesn't bother you it doesn't bother me i this is the thing no one saw it but one time

this is how different the world you speak one time rosy o'Donnell was on uh billow Riley's show. And it was when O'Reilly first got popular. Bill O'Reilly was a huge broadcaster who had a sex scandal five years ago. And the, and has now, like, didn't exist.

Yeah. Crazy. And she's, he goes like, Rosie, why don't think people like me? And she goes, Bill,

because I'm from Long Island. I'm from an Irish Catholic family. I'm used to screaming all the time. Uh-huh. For most people, This is very abrasive. And I don't even think I'm, yeah. I've had women and guys say, stop yelling.

I'm like, I'm not yelling. I'm literally not yelling. I'm not mad. I'm just like projecting. You know, I'm like, I don't know. I'm like a little agitated, but I'm not mad. I'm not. I'm just like in the middle of the thing.

Yeah. What's interesting. Now you say it. Because your specials are very introspective. and you're always searching and there's a thing at the end of this special where you're showing actually

you break out of the special and actually show the work that you're trying to get done medically about, you know, depression. Depression stuff, yeah. I don't, it's like almost like the you I see walking around

and hanging out talking at the shows or whatever. I don't see you. that balled up. I don't see you as that. Yeah, I don't see I don't see I don't see you as a guy like when I see Gary Goldman like when Gary and I hang out I know he's working on stuff. Yeah. I can feel the emotion. Yeah. I can feel the searching the struggle at times. Yeah. And you know, there's people like that. I don't, I see you as a guy who's got it together. So it almost surprises me how searching you are in this special. Yeah. Well, yeah, it's all true. That's true. That's

why I cut to it because it's, you wouldn't believe. No. You wouldn't believe I went to China to get my fucking head zapped. You wouldn't believe it. No. Like, why would he do that? Yeah, he's, but it's Neil Brennan. Yeah.

That's what I mean. A buddy of mine was like, he's African dude. He's like, I just think of like, Neil Brennan's just out there winning. And I'm like, right? But so. So you are very successful. Like, you do all these different things. Yeah.

technically. So yeah. Like yeah technically but it doesn't feel like it. If that makes sense. Like it doesn't, it doesn't register or something. It like doesn't and I'm just aware of the time. I'm aware of the I guess the low status moments or the low, uh, the low opportunity moments or the like whatever that the stuff that I'm not getting. Is it always the professional stuff or is it just, there's a quiet. Well, there's the professional stuff. I guess it's, there is, there's the end, the last 10 minutes of this professional stuff. Um, uh, it's more like, why. I know marriage is really hard.

Like I know, I can see it. I, it's not something I'm envious of in, in, in most cases. Um, you know, and Cynthia, of course, present company excluded, but I'm saying the, I know that I'm missing out on things. Uh-huh. And I wonder why I'm missing out on.

Like, I don't, I think I'm like supposed to miss out on it. Mm-hmm. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. And I, the thing about my life that I, that I do struggle with sometimes is like, why? What am I supposed to make of this? Mm-hmm.

Like, why am I, even the professional stuff, the personal stuff. the friendships and the or the relationship that like why did I fall in love with her and not her and why is that is it my own am I busted in some way that I'm going to fall in love with an unavailable person that time but not like yeah or she's in love of me but I'm not in love with her just all these like near misses and I hear you talk about how much you love having kids and a bunch of people talk comedians and I'm like I don't think that's going to happen for me yeah

And I wonder, I guess I just wonder, like, that's the part that makes me feel isolated. And, and, like, I don't like drinking. Like, all the things I don't. And I did, and even, because I was expressing to a therapist of like, I don't eat meat, I don't drink, I don't smoke weed. I don't drink. All my friends are like the funniest people in the world. So most civilians are just not that. And they're also and all of our friends are interesting genuinely also.

So it's just a lot of these things that I'm kind of just like it's all right. Now it's this many people. Now it's this many. Now it's like who are the people for you? Uh-huh. And it's such a, it's such a like tiny band that I'm like, all right, now how do I find them? If it's a woman. Right.

All right. Now how do I find her? Right. And then when I do find her, how do I calibrate our. relationship because I have because of the way I was brought up and fairly loveless and violent all that stuff it's not like natural let me go get that yeah it's just not a natural it is let me go get that is like ego shit like that's easy but no I mean go get that like family stuff yes it's not like you come like let me replicate what I grew up with yes so build that for

myself that's the stuff that makes me feel uh uh I isolated. And even the weird professional stuff is if I like I could ask you a question which is it's not for sympathy. It's just for who are my peers? Who are your peers? Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of interesting question.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Dave and Chris. I think we can all agree that Dave and Chris are not my peers. Yeah. But you were. They are but like they are. We are working with them in a way.

Yeah. Yeah. But. though. I mean, I guess I would though. I guess I would consider Dave your peer. Right, but not, there's, people are love telling me like, no.

And I don't think they're wrong. It's just, I'm just in an odd position in 10 different categories. Uh-huh. Professionally being one of them. Like, I started after this show and the did it end and it's like maybe I'm racist. Well, your stand-up thing was

different trajectory or timeline than you're producing. Yes. And writing. Yeah. So like you, but you were always in the comedy world. I was always around. But you were like there is that comedian thing where you right.

Like when I said your brother was the senior. Yeah. Him and Atel were juniors when I got there. Yeah. It's like, well, then we yeah, what class were you? I mean, me and Dave are in a class, but like. You were in a class, but he was doing standup and you were doing this other thing. Yeah.

So it's like you and Geraldo are in the same class. Right. Like so you know what I mean? Like you have you and you and Gaffigan. you and Gerald, like you, those guys. And not like it. But that's just because it's, you're, that you're using stand up as the metric.

Yeah. But I've been in, the other thing is like, I've been in comedy since I was 18. Right. So it's like, I don't, I didn't,

like I left college. Yeah. And you also look like a little kid. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I've got like little. And you're not burdened by family and marriage.

Yeah. That makes you seem younger to. Yeah. And, and then like the, yeah. So there's all these weird. Yeah.

I have to say that putting it all down on paper, it sounds like it spells out happiness. Which is really, honestly, is why when you look from the outside, it's like, oh, I didn't know he was carrying this. But I don't see family as encumbered. Like I don't, I see these as like, I see the things that I don't have. Me. Sure. Me, alcohol. Like just the thing like the, the, the, there's a bigger group. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. So I just, my. thing is like feeling isolated right and feeling alienated and like and some of its choice and like why am i making that choice right so yeah but i would like if family's good and everybody's promoting it then why don't you feel bad for me do you know what you mean?

like if there's all these things that are like great and there people love it and what yeah they're so it's a bit of it's i guess i see i guess from the outside and the inside I see you could easily decide which path you're going down and I can show you rewards on both. Right. I can show you a total reward system that comes from having a wife and children and I can show, I can totally see the blissful existence of not having any of that. Like it is very much. One, I would argue one is more connected.

Yes, for sure. I got out of, well, yes. Once it's more, when I did go into it, wasn't the plan for what, having that, going the family route, you're less concerned with yourself. Yeah. And if you are concerned with yourself and you think, well, maybe if I was, had all that other stuff,

but I don't want that stuff, so I'm going to stay here with myself. I could see that. Well, that's the thing like, It is sort of one of the secret points of the show, which is, uh, I saw a quote and I can't find it anywhere. I saw it on like a art exhibit in New York, like on a street where you just walk in and you see. But it was like the purpose of a person's life is to give birth to themselves. Uh-huh. And like.

Yeah. But, but at the same time, it just gets lonely and it feels it. you feel a lot of times like looking through a window at a thing that you don't have. Now, the truth of it may be that there's people on the other side of the window looking at a thing that they don't have. And I also say the thing about like, I've never been lonely or in a relationship I didn't want to be in. Right, yeah. It's a great line. Like, we contain multitudes.

Yeah. And I don't, I don't, I don't, there is a, like I say, As much as people go like there's a lot of you can be anything now. You can be. It's just ones get gets a lot more cultural approval and a lot more like us. We. Right. The situation I'm in.

Yeah. It's like you can be anything in America. You got to work 20 hours a day. Yeah. But you technically, you can be anything you want. You can choose any, any identity you want. Yeah. But some are going to be.

some being a heterosexual person a heterosexual woman is better than being a transgender like in terms of the culture you're just going to get way more approval as a heterosexual woman in her 20s than you are as a transgender woman in her 40s like they just you just will so like it's not all I guess I'm I'm looking to make

the choices I want to make or the choices that get made circumstantially and I want total approval right all the time which in and itself is fucking so childish

yeah and like there's a part of me that could watch that whole special but just shut the fuck up but which is why I show myself doing all the shit because I'm like I'm not

yeah no I mean as as as a as an outsider who uh would be giving you approval. When I watched the whole special,

first comedically, it's just great. It's just, I'm laughing the whole time. It's just like really fun. And then, and then seeing, oh, like, he's searching deeper than most. He's searching deeper than premises. Yeah. And at the end, I want, you, like, want to say,

you're good. Yeah. You're good. From the outside. Yeah. know, you know, as your friend, like, comedically and fitting in in the comedy world and all that stuff, like, you did it. Yeah.

You did it. And now it's the rest of your life that you keep secret that you can, which is cool because you're, you are diving in. You're not just kind of accepting being lonely or wherever your head's at. Yeah, like I want to not be. Yeah, I'm going to work on this. I'm going to figure it out. I want to not feel

shitty. Right. Every day. Yeah. Is it every day? Well, pretty much. Well, it's a longer explanation.

It is better. The thing I talked about with the DMT, which is horrifying in a way I can't even really discuss. It like shattered me. and I'm maybe better. Oh, yeah. Long term. Yeah, everybody goes through this thing.

I don't have to get into it, but everybody goes through these DMT, ayahuasca, toad-licking things, and get wiped out and then the next day, re-born. Mine wasn't the next day. Right. It was more destruction. It was five months.

of not being myself. Right. All right. This is good because I was waffling on whether I was going to do it or not. I do ayahuasca. I can connect you to that, and that's amazing. DMT is different. DMT is you smoke.

I heard the ayahuasca actually mentions you at the end of the ceremony because you've sent so many people there. It's, I know what you're saying. I have a crazy ayahuasca story that's not the one. Basically, I have a circle that I send that I recommend people to. And it's like at one point, there were nine people that I'd sent in the circle.

And they played a clip of me from the breakfast club at the end of the ceremony. This is a crazy ayahuasca story. On Reddit, all strangers. Somebody said, the question was on the Reddit thread of Iowaska, what's the craziest thing

ayahuasca ever told you? And some guy said she, Ayahuasca presents as a woman, she told us to watch Neil Brennan's Netflix special. I DM the guy. I go,

what are you talking about? Were you fan? And he just wrote back, did she, did this happen to you two? she told three of us. What? Again, this is, that's the, that's, that's, that's, no, the old one, the old likes, yeah.

I hope she does press for this one. Yeah, we got to get her back out there. Yeah, but, uh, but yeah, I mean, just, I was insane. Yeah. But I highly recommend, but the DMT was, I thought it was too severe and I was absolutely right. Right. And I like, like, really fucking was. Yeah.

Yeah. Like to, and that's why I'm like, what am I doing? Right. Where I'll just like risk my, well, take these massive risks. Yeah. That are an illustration of the problem. Like, that's the end of the show. It's like, like, I, you got to fucking chill. Yeah.

Because it's this reckless, it is like this sadistic, Catholic. There was a, I want to tell you the story. Like, I'm away here, I was like, I want to tell you. Tommy Tiernan, you know, Tommy Tianan is. Irish comedian, great Irish comedian. Yeah, great. And we had dinner in Montreal this year, and they were saying, hey, Tommy, what are you doing this next month? And he's like, oh, I actually have the month off.

I'm not touring. And somebody goes, what are you going to do? And he goes, well, next week, I'm going to volunteer for a week. And someone goes, where? And he goes, Mogadishu. It's a fucking war-torn. Yeah. And he said it.

I go, Irish people are so crazy that we can't do anything like mildly. Right. It's got to be all. It's all like, well, if I'm going to volunteer, I'm either a piece of shit. Yeah. Or not. Right. And if I volunteer in like 12 hours a day locally, I'm a piece of shit.

Right. If I go to Mogadishu, now I'm getting somewhere near where I need to be. Right. And I was taking that approach to like all of it. Yeah. shocking my face, electrocuting myself during shows, taking,

smoking a thing I knew was too risky. Like all of these things, uh, that add up to like self abuse. Yeah. That flagellation. Yeah. Like for,

for, for some sort of transcendence. And it's like, dude, you gotta just choose a different. You gotta be fucking a little kind to yourself. A little kind of yourself. Right.

And I hope. Yeah. I hope that's relatable. Yeah. Like a relationship with yourself. Yeah. Because there was that thing of like, yeah, just you got to give yourself a break. Yeah, because I'm no different.

Yes. Like if you see me and you go like, you're good, dude. Yeah, you're right. But what are you doing this for? Like, well, all right. Here's a mirror. Yeah. Why are you getting yourself up?

Yeah. And there are plenty of people that are like, why don't? But I'm not friends of those people. Yeah, so that's the The goal is just to try to be The weirdly like DMT in the long term I think has been positive But yeah, that's a long way to go

It was It was so crazy We should I think we have to wrap up But I don't know how long this podcast is Yeah, we should But it was so crazy at one point I thought

I think I'm going to have to kill myself but not from depression from like disorientation for like two days like I would I don't know but I think I was like

we'll call it pre-psychotic I was so disoriented like my consciousness I had the thought like am I in God's imagination but shit like right no i mean that's that is that it was the fear yeah it's the fear yeah um and the crazy thing is it happened a week after i did it no yeah and it was like so now i'm just in new york doing my show doing the show that's airing and like walking down the steps in the theater going like what is

any of this what are i doing what it what is this experience what is it what's an experience like Yeah. Levels of like 35 trillion foot view. Oh, God. That, but again, that's not ayahuasca. Right. That's DMT. So because people get confused all the time.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Iwasca is amazing. Right, right. Because there's that thing, you know, these are powerful drugs. Yes. You know, there's that guy the comedy seller, remember Crazy Mike who would come in and spin all the lights and stuff. And that was one too many bad acid.

Is that, do we know that for a fact? Yeah. Okay. He was like a hippie down there and, yeah. You know, if you have certain. If you're predisposed. Yeah. It can jump in.

You don't come back. Yeah, no, I've had that. Yeah. I mean, I thought, I knew I was getting a little better every. I knew I was like getting, but it was like half a percent of day. Wow. So it's just like, but this is going to be a while. Oh, God.

It happened in November. I remember in March, I was like, I can't look at this sunset. Really? I couldn't watch Apple screen saver. Apple should be screen savers. Jeez. Because of like the nature. Uh-huh.

I was aware of like a million years was not a long time. Oh, geez. It was fucking. For someone trying to just kind of like get a little more happiness in your life, you don't need to be thinking about those stuff. I know. And but I can't explain it. But like, once I got through that, in a weird way, like, I've kind of gotten the thing that I'm asking for at the end of the show. Yeah, right.

So it's... Right. Yeah. It's too complicated to, like, lay all that out. Sure, of course. Maybe I can do it in the new one, but like... Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, it did seem like at the end of the special, like, you know, just from what you presented, like, I might be pretty okay right now. You, yourself or me? You? I think energetically I'm okay. I think like if you watch him, you watch the guy,

you watch me doing the gym. You watch, some of the DMT still kicks up. When you watch him, you're like, this guy seems together. Yeah. But I get less together,

like toward the end of the show. Yeah. But you also, yeah but I'm still making a thing and presenting it to the world right there's like like layers but I still like Bruce Springsteen is born to run but he's still right yeah he's still going he's still mixed the album and everything yeah um so well just as a final note um as much as we're exploring and going into all that part of it the special is just straight up funny thank you buddy thank you yeah well that's yeah that's yeah which is like

really the cool. Well, what's funny is I almost don't think that that's a selling point anymore. Yeah, right. You know what I mean? Like, a lot of people are funny. Yeah, I know. But if you can, if you're funny and you can add like a layer of a little something. Yeah, a little something. Yeah, you can, that's more interesting to people. Like with three mics, people like the metal mic, one of the comedy. Right. Yeah. They just do because it's like there's a lot of Netflix streaming. Yeah. Something different. Press conference. Right. Yeah. But if you can throw in like, Like, my dad was mean. What?

You gotta watch this. This guy's dad was mean. Well, this was great. Yeah, I'm glad. Thank you so much. Yes, of course. Let me know how you like the bread. Yeah, I will.

We want to review. Even though I didn't make it. Tartine sounds like a guy that your girlfriend's fucking. It's really true. And you know you have no. Things have gotten serious with Tartine. I knew it. I knew that guy was bad news.

The damn accent. All right, cool, buddy. We got it, Aaron. There you have it. The very funny, the very talented Neil Brennan. Go to Netflix right now. Look up Blocks. Neil Brennan.

It's a great special. It's so smart. It's packed with so many great jokes, so many great lines, and is a great show just to watch. So thank you to Neil for being here. Thank you to Tartin for this beautiful bread that we could give to Neil. Thank you all of you for listening.

And we'll see you next time. Thank you.