Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 158 - Mike Vecchione
Episode Date: June 6, 2023What are you, an idiot? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...
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It's time for breaking bread.
Don't you know?
Hey, go.
It's our goal.
It's time for Breaking Bread with Papa.
Hey, don't you know?
Hey, it's also a show.
Hey, everybody, welcome to another edition of Breaking Bread with Tom Papa.
I am Tom Papa.
Coming to you from New York City, where I have been very good.
I haven't been drinking or eating a lot, and I've got to get out of here because this city is going to win.
If I don't leave within...
I have a big show tomorrow night, and I know at the end of it, my friend's going to be like,
martinis, wings, let's do it. I'll be like, okay.
So as long as I can hold the beast back, as long as I can, I can not feel bad about tomorrow.
Why am I talking to myself through you?
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Today we've got the great Mike Vecchio on the program.
He's a hilarious comedian.
I love him so much.
I've always admired his joke writing.
He's just a treat, a real funny treat.
He's going to be great on the podcast as well, as he always is.
He was just on my radio show recently.
He's got a new special on YouTube called The Attractives.
Very funny.
Look it up.
You will not be disappointed.
It's really a good one.
Mike is great, and I'm going to enjoy.
having him on today because, you know, he's Italian also. So any kind of food issues, family issues,
it's going to be very relatable to our host today. He's great. I love Mike Vecione. So let's jump
right in. And I'm not even going to talk to you about food today because I'm trying to pretend
it doesn't exist while I'm in New York City. I'm only so strong.
Have you ever fallen as an adult?
Wow, this is good volume on this.
Thanks.
Shocking.
Only the best.
Have I ever fallen as an adult?
Yeah.
I don't think so.
I slipped on the ice when I was in college.
That counts.
Yeah.
Slip and just full slip where it was like up in the air, like a cartoon,
and then on your back and people laughing and then immediate concern.
But they laugh first and I'll blame them.
Isn't it amazing how fast you go down when you slip on the ice?
It's great.
There's no like.
Oh, I think I'm falling.
You just like, oh, I fell.
That happened to me in Fargo, North Dakota last year.
Oh, my God.
Because my agent hates me.
So he sent me there in February.
And just shuffling to the show, just by myself with my little backpack.
Wow.
No opening act.
And just that whole city is ice.
The sidewalks are ice.
The road is ice.
It's just a block of ice.
Well, no.
And no one.
clears it because there's no population, right?
Right.
So you're on your own.
You're on your own until you fall.
There's no one around until you fall.
Right. And like, oof, I think my rib might be broke.
And then you hear someone go, you okay, Tom, we're on our way to the show.
Out of a pickup truck.
That's great.
That's great.
I feel like everybody should have a life alert there.
Everybody.
There's no people around.
You need people around.
I almost fell yesterday.
Here.
Well, there's a lot of places you could fall here.
These in New York, it's like stairs and the...
This was a pothole in the middle of the crosswalk.
And I'm just shrugging along and just one of those, like you hit a curb and keep going.
And thankfully, I didn't...
Are you a guy who falls and then immediately looks for lawsuits?
It's like middle of the road.
It's like, my lawyer.
Call my lawyer.
It's funny you say that when I first moved to New York.
I was walking across in the Upper East Side.
I was walking across like 79th or something.
And this guy in front of me goes down.
It's like a middle-aged white guy.
Right.
And he's like, oh, my leg, my leg.
And I'm Tommy New guy.
So I go running over like, are you okay?
And I'm trying to help him.
And he's like, ugh.
He's like a jellyfish.
I can't get him on his feet.
And a cop comes up and goes, no, no, no, no.
He does this every day.
He falls.
Right.
He tries to get hit by cars.
And then he tries to sue people.
I was like, what?
No.
And I looked at him and he kind of gave me this sheepish look like he had gotten busted.
And I was like, oh, that's why people don't help people in New York.
Yeah.
Because you think you're just being scammed the whole time.
And that was your intro into improv?
That was, yeah.
Then the two of us, we toured together for a short,
while.
That guy sounds like your opener.
Somebody found an opener.
That started the time in Skippy show.
We had a good run, did a lot of colleges.
I'm surprised the cop was around to say that.
Now the cops are just either not around or on their phones.
Yeah, I know.
You want to talk about no cops.
You spend time in L.A.
Those glasses being a big shot.
No, I plan to.
Now that I have the glasses, I plan to go and network with people.
you can drive.
I'm not talking out of school here,
and I'm not advising you do this,
but if you wanted to,
you could drive 120 miles an hour
on any street in Los Angeles.
No one's going to pull you over.
That's pretty great.
There's literally no,
as someone that grew up, you know,
trying not to get busted
and buying a radar detector
and mounting it in my car with suction cups,
Like, I've been looking out for the fuzz my whole life.
And now, as a 50-year-old man, I realize there's no cops anymore.
No.
You could just do whatever you want.
I think that's it.
And they're just making everything legal so that there is no, you know.
Yeah.
Pushing the speed limit, 70, make it faster.
Yeah.
If you're not busting a young, if you're not out on the beat looking for a young Mike Vecione with some weed in his pocket, what are you doing?
Like, what else?
no one's shooting people up in the suburbs.
Right.
You know what I mean?
I know.
I know.
There's no need for cops anymore.
I think it's a policeless society that we're looking.
Just legalize everything and then you don't need them.
I think that's the direction we're going.
This is that part of the wire where in that guy, do you ever see the wire?
Love the wire.
When they, in Baltimore and the guy's just like, this is going to be the free zone.
Oh, I love that.
The free zone.
Bunny.
Bunny goes to the free zone.
He gets just wildly fired for it.
Dude, you're fired immediately for that.
He's like, I am trying something.
You do what you want to do.
We're not going to police it.
Just see how that goes.
I like that.
Should we do that with a borough?
Staten Island?
Yeah.
It doesn't count.
Put everybody in...
Queens.
Everything illegal in one borough.
But then really tighten up.
You know, I had that idea.
I had this idea for like a, you know, the CVS is in the drugstore is getting shoplifted.
Yeah.
You have a drugstore and everything's more expensive and locked up and all that.
stuff. It's annoying. So what you do
is you have a drugstore and you go, okay,
everything is like at a reduced cost.
But if you're caught trying to steal something,
there's armed guards who
will just shoot first. So
it's like, do you want to go in and get
low prices and a deal and then risk
it? Or do you want to go to the other store and just
pay more and then have it like it is now?
And no one will shoot. No one will shoot.
So it's just,
I think that there should be more options. And we won't
shoot to kill. We're like going to, we're just going to mess
you up. Shoot to maim.
We're going to, yeah, kneecaps.
Shoot you in the leg.
Knees, shin, a nice shin bone.
Oh, man.
Nice bullet to the shin bone.
It's more painful.
That's more painful, but then you're down, then you have the option to let go of the item.
Is that happening here in New York as much as it is in California?
The shoplifting?
Yeah.
Yeah, I see it.
It is.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's bad.
Everything is locked up now.
Deodorant.
It's like, I didn't know this was an item that was, can you make drugs out of speedstick?
I don't know.
I don't even know.
It's like everything is just locked up behind a case now, and now you've got to hit the
button and you're going to wait for the person to come.
God. They have to awkwardly,
you know. It's everything.
Please.
Now, if you were mayor.
Yeah. Uh-oh. You don't want to make me mayor.
You don't? You know what? I started a campaign last night, and I might as well
just say it on this podcast, because I'm going to talk it into reality.
Manifest?
Manifest destiny. I love that.
I haven't made a vision board. My knee actually hurts from the near fall.
The first thing you're going to do is to sue the city.
First thing, I'm going to...
Get yourself a huge settlement and then leave office.
And then go back to L.A.
I've started last night a new campaign.
This mayor here in New York is obviously not very popular.
He's just going around getting photo shoots to make himself look good.
Right.
He thought he was going to be that bridge between the cops and the civvies.
and he's not doing that.
Apparently he's not doing anything.
Right.
It's time for a change.
Someone that knows the city.
Someone that knows everybody in this city.
Somebody who will save this city.
That's great.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I introduced to you,
Mayor Colin Quinn.
That's great.
Quinn for the win.
That's a great one.
Is the slogan.
That's a great one.
Quinn for the win.
And I,
I,
I,
adopted him last night.
I saw him at the cellar.
I wrote Quinn for the win on the table.
And I have to say,
he's not totally adverse
to the idea. A serious
run for it? A serious run.
He would be great.
Who knows?
You could tell Colin
this one four block
section of the Bronx
and he'll tell you
what ethnicity is living there,
what they eat, what they do for fun.
and why they don't like the people in the next in the next four section that's great you know what I mean
right he'd have to punch up every speech he would be like this is not punched up enough
I should have stopped like at Rachel's wedding you guys were the best at Rachel's wedding it was
so that was my favorite performance that you guys you were great um Colin was so funny
I mean just so organically funny I know yeah but um I think that's a great idea but then he would
bring, obviously, you thought of this idea and you want to be a deputy mayor or something.
You want a spot for yourself, city planner?
Just let me park someplace where I'm not.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
I was thinking about that because once this gets, once this gets launches, I'm going to get
pushed aside by the politicos.
I don't know who they are.
Keith Robinson.
I mean, friends with Hillary Clinton or something.
All the operatives are going to come in and they're going to push.
They'll be like, I literally saw the meeting where they come.
come in and there's a lot of hustle bustle and I
say something like, yeah, yeah, you'll get us a coffee
and I'm out. I'm okay with being out.
I can't participate.
But doesn't Colin have to promise you something before
you go in? Isn't that one?
And doesn't, you know, he doesn't want the old,
he doesn't want people who are career politicians
in there. I think a good
backseller table
administration is what's called for.
So Colin brings you in it. Keith is the police
you're the city planner
you know
Norton is something
you know
fire department
emergency services
Voss is the New Jersey
faction
yeah he deals with the bridges and tunnels
Transportation Secretary
Rich Voss
Do you know how many times
Rich Voss has sat in his car
exposing himself
going across the tunnel
through the tunnel
yeah
No, I really think, all kidding aside, he would be great.
He'd be great.
He definitely would win.
And I said to him, look, even if you don't win, you think Trump wanted to win?
Trump never wanted to win.
That's so great.
He won by mistake.
Yeah.
He just wanted the publicity.
I think that's great.
I think Colin, it'll help Colin either way.
He's done.
He loses.
He can go tour the country.
Yes.
I love it.
What role do you want?
I would be a lower level.
You're getting in early.
I'm getting in early, but I'm not, I came into comedy too late.
You guys were already established as a, I know it wasn't your mainstay, but like,
tough crowd was a thing.
You guys were all on that.
When I came in, our goal was to be at that table and be on those shows.
So I would have a lower level, maybe give me an alderman.
I don't even know those guys do.
Yeah, I don't know.
You know what I mean?
I don't know if that's a thing in government or if that's in the third.
Alderman or some kind of a council person.
I would have to be lower level.
I'm not going to get one of those.
Look, we need, look,
cream of the crop.
It's all very nice of what you're saying
and coming in and seeing those guys
and wanting to be at the table.
Yeah.
They're a bit of a wreck right now.
We've got guys stroking out,
guys who can't see.
They have a handle now to get on the stage.
Keith isn't the only one using that.
You think I'm going to get up there
with my knee tomorrow?
We need your blood.
I didn't realize that's what that was for.
Yeah.
That's pretty great.
Yeah, they put.
that in as a little
they say it's for Keith but it's really for
Colin.
I mean
Keith just has the obvious
disability. The rest of us have
disabilities also
that need to be attended to.
Right, exactly. How's your
special been received? Been received well
very, very well, and
it just re-aired on 800-pound
Gorillas page. So it's
got over a million. Nice.
And now we're going to see the real test
is to see, and I appreciate everybody watching it and sharing it.
Yeah.
And I appreciate.
What's it called again?
I'm going to say it in the intro, but.
The attractives.
The attractives.
Yeah.
I appreciate Nate giving me a platform and the exposure in order to do it.
That's hugely important now.
So funny.
Yeah.
You are so funny.
And I know I said this on the radio show.
Yeah.
But you are so damn funny.
And it's just like one of those things of like, you're not going to deny Mike Fechione.
He's going to keep telling great jokes and America will become aware of the B-Man, as we call you.
Two runs on Last Comic Standing will not stop.
I will come back.
I will come back with a cooking show.
I will come back with a cooking show.
I will come back with a spin class.
You will not stop.
I will do something.
Relentless.
I will come and just keep coming.
Now, it's been great.
And now I'm going to go on the road.
and for the first time since it aired and see where the tickets are.
Obviously, that's where the...
Yeah, yeah.
See if we can get people out.
I'm having a big push on social media to try to get people and I'm trying to win it over with...
You know, I come on podcast, but I'm trying to win it with clips.
You know, I figure if people see a clip and I'm like, all right, this guy, let me give this guy.
Let me at least look up with this, what else this guy has.
Are you a part of the new clip movement where you come to the comedy seller and make sure...
that half of your set is crowd work
so you can post it?
I understand those guys who do that and I'm
not against it. I would do it but
that's not what I've been doing.
What I've been doing is taking clips from the past
and taking clips from the special and just pushing
those. Right. I could see it being
tempting when you're watching these guys
do it. Because it, I mean, we're just kind
of creatures of what works.
So it's like you see those clips for some reason
to the general, they see that
and it gets a lot of views
and people go, oh, I guess this is the way
forward. Right. I think the goal for all of us is just to get people to come to the show and then
see the real goods. Yes. But it's so competitive now, you know, you have to do whatever you have
to do to get people to buy a ticket. Yeah, 100%. You just have to be funny. I mean, whatever way
you can do it. Right. But you have to, you definitely have to put it out there because it's very,
it's valuable. Right. There's no like, you know, everyone can do the Tonight Show once in a while and
whatever, but the access to the audience is social media.
I mean, they can just, you can, it's literally in your control, and they like it.
They like seeing these stand-up clips.
You know, doesn't have clips like that?
Who?
Bands.
Rock and roll bands.
Well, aren't the songs, the clips?
The songs are kind of the clips, and some people blow up on the TikToks, but it's not made for
short social media the way the comics are.
Whenever I go to these theaters and perform,
it's all comics and podcasts and stuff.
Is your main draw, I know you've had stuff hit for years,
so is your main draw now from the podcast,
from Breaking Bread?
No, it's a mix.
It's a big, fat mix.
I have people that come from NPR,
because I'm on there all the time.
I have people that come from my radio show
with fortune. I have people that come from
this, from Breaking Bread.
I have people that
come from the Netflix specials.
That's awesome. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Those are huge.
And then
and then people come up and say that
the social media, they
see the clips of
the stand-up. That part of it is
I could not tell you how big, but I know
just anecdotally,
these are middle-aged people coming up
and saying, like watching you on
Instagram. Arguably the hardest people
to get because I don't know how on social
they're on it, but I don't know how on it
they're on, they're not on like 13 year olds are on it.
They're not, no, 23 year olds are on it.
So it's hard to get that audience
because they're hungry, but it's like
are those people watching TV now?
I don't know. I don't know if anybody's drawing
from a TV show anymore. Here's the
yeah, I know, no kidding. Are they?
So is it, are they savvy
enough to be on podcasts? Are they
on Instagram?
Where are you drawing these people
from? Mikey, this is why we
got to be on all of it because you don't know.
They're all in all those places.
I have people rolling in for different reasons.
I'll tell you what the middle-aged people don't do.
They don't go running to social media after your show to tweet about it and talk about it.
They're done.
Now they're dealing with their family and the kids and the dog.
We had a good time.
What do you want from me?
That's their life.
Right.
they'll come there'll be a thousand people standing ovation never hear from them again and then you come rolling through town a year and a half later they're all there that's unreal that's great that's the big uh yeah test of that they're all back right exactly i mean that's unreal i have to do this after every show and after every performance i try to remember it even in the city i just i'll push my social media now i'm doing the special i'm like please watch the special and share it with everyone you know because it's youtube so that's the benefit of youtube but i
I mean, it's almost like you have to have an advertisement for yourself afterwards because they'll enjoy you and then go at any of these club shows.
They'll enjoy you and then go, just forget about who you.
They'll be like, I had a great time.
But it's like they're not going to remember you specifically.
They'll be like, oh, that Italian guy, that top looking guy was funny.
But they won't follow up.
It's like, no, no, here's what it is.
Here's my information.
Take it down.
Everybody, you know, I do that.
And when I'm open for me sometimes on the road, like I'll stop and do a small advertisement for myself.
I know.
You have to.
do. And it's hard because you're very much like myself where you're so into the act.
Right. And concentrating so hard on doing a good show with your jokes, a bunch of which are new.
Right. And you're really working and you care so much about it. Right. To stop and start selling seems so, I guarantee you, I don't even have to ask the question.
I know you'll go back to the green room and be like,
I didn't tell them about the thing.
Right.
Because it's not the way you operate.
No, it's not.
I do care about the act and all that stuff,
but I'm realizing you will not win doing that.
Like, you will not win by forgetting it.
Like, you have to remember it,
and you have to change and adapt and figure it out.
100%.
I mean, like, there's no.
And the reality is they like you.
Right.
They like hearing that.
I remember when early on,
I was not into merchant of any kind.
And this wasn't even sending people social media
because it didn't exist yet.
And it was just a matter of like selling CDs
after the show or whatever.
And I was like, I just have a hard time with it.
And an older comic told me,
I went to see Paul McCartney the other night.
And at the end of, and throughout the show,
he was
plugging his new album
he was like you know
and this is available
you'll be available
the hallway
and Paul McCartney
that's hilarious
like three times during the set
selling to the people
that's so great
because I stopped
I was doing the thing
like I don't know
I'm a guy who focuses on his act
I'm one of those guys
but then I realized
it's like oh that's not the game anymore
Like you're living in the past.
That's not the game.
You have to go out and you have to compete and you have to like bring it.
And that's the way I look at it now.
It's like I would be, I'd have some fear about going on podcast.
I don't want to talk about this.
I want to stay in my wheel.
It's like, no, no, no, no, no.
You got to go on.
You got to be funny.
You got to make it happen.
That's what it is.
And you got to, there's no reason that your act should be being overlooked because you're not loud enough.
You know what I mean?
You're going to be the humble guy who's going to sit in the corner and you're going to be poor.
And no one's going to look at your act because you're not going and you're not, and you're being limited by a fear of this is not who I am or whatever.
It's like, it's never the answer.
Yeah.
You got to go hard.
Yeah.
Do it in your own way.
You don't have to step outside yourself and like do anything that you don't want to do.
But you've got to go after it.
A hundred percent.
Otherwise, you know, these people who are good at, no disrespect to them, but the people who are good at marketing are going to win.
They are not people who are good at comedy.
Right.
Exactly.
Exactly.
That being said, what kind of new T-shirt ideas are you thinking up?
I saw one in the airport that was a great one.
It said, relax, I'm a realtor.
That's a great one.
That's a good one.
I love that one.
I saw another one this one just over a heavyset woman just walking, barely can walk.
And her shirt just said, nope, not today.
I love that one.
That's a great merch one.
Nope, not today.
She ain't having it.
She ain't having it, Tom.
I have a bunch of nieces and nephews.
And every Christmas, I give them all the same gift.
One year it was all.
Keychains?
Yeah, Keychains.
Yeah, Keychains.
One time it was all bucket hats.
It's great.
This year, it was inappropriate T-shirts.
So they could all open them at Christmas.
That's really great.
And my favorite that I gave some of my nephew, Russell, was,
I stop for tits and tacos.
That's a great one.
That's a great one.
The other one I gave to like the sweetest nephew was Milt Patrol.
That's great.
That's a great one.
I want to do that.
I want to have,
I want to,
because people always look at me as fatherly in some regard.
Right.
Because I talk about my family and I'm of that age.
Yeah.
And I'm like,
Why not lean into it and just have the dumb t-shirt section of my website?
That's great.
Right?
You want dumb, goofy shirts?
I love them.
I'll make them for you.
When you wake up in the morning and you open your eyes, barring any major tragedies going on or heavy stuff, are you a guy that wakes up and is like, this is going to be a great day?
Or do you wake up and think, oh, shit, what do I have to do today?
No, I have a series of routines I have in place that I do right out of bed.
First of all, I have to pee.
I'm 50, so I have to pee three to four times a night.
So I have to pee and then a challenge of going back to sleep and then waking up and then back to sleep.
And then, you know, it's like...
When does this start?
It's like raising a baby.
But you're just, it's your prostate.
Are you out, do you have a water cutoff?
You know what? I was under the impression that you could drink as much water as possible.
But now...
Well, that's what they tell you. You say to stay hydrated.
Stay hydrated. But, yeah, I've been drinking less and less, so I have to do it.
I'm also due fasting sometimes in keto, so it's like that also doesn't help because everything just runs right through you then.
But I'll get up and I do affirmations out of bed. I'll just listen to them.
You do?
Yeah.
As soon as you wake up?
As soon as I wake up, yeah.
And sometimes I'll do them while I'm...
I'm going to sleep.
Oh, I wanted to do this for years.
Yeah, yeah.
And then I had every time my apps update, it erases.
So I have to either do them again or listen.
I'd listen to one online.
Extreme confidence.
It's called extreme confidence affirmations.
Like you are, it has music in the background.
It's like you are a champion.
No, it says I am.
Because that's the whole thing.
I am a champion.
I am a winner.
I am successful.
You have to say it back?
You could say it back or you could just,
I just listen to it and doze off.
And then when I wake up in the morning, I put it on.
It's 20 minutes.
I don't do the whole 20, but I'll listen to it for a while.
Right.
But the important thing is to have the feeling of it, feel the feeling of it.
And you can't take it as a joke.
Like I did, I recorded my own, and I did my own for a while.
How long have you been doing this?
A couple of years.
Does it work?
It really does.
It changes your outlook on the day.
Man.
Something I'll do with my girl at night is we just started doing it recently,
past couple months.
It's helping the relationship.
You live together?
We live together.
Katie Hannigan, very funny.
Right.
Median also.
We lay in bed at night and I'll do, she'll do three things that she's grateful for me and that happened during the day.
I love that you did this.
I'm grateful that you did this.
Wow.
I'm grateful that we did it.
And I do three back to her.
Wow.
Yeah.
Before bed.
Set the tone before bed.
And then wake up, I do in affirmations because she can't sleep with any noise.
Mm-hmm.
So I do the headphones.
and affirmations fall asleep,
wake up, affirmations again.
Now I do a breathing practice.
I've been doing three rounds.
I was doing five.
Wimhoff, the Wimhoff breathing,
the Tumel breathing,
35 deep breaths, and then a breath hold.
Yeah, it's great.
Really great.
Hold for six.
Yeah.
Hold for 15.
15 seconds.
And then back into the breathing.
And it starts the day that way.
It's great.
a great way to, and I do that before coffee.
You do it all. Right.
The affirmations and the breathing is before coffee,
and then I'll get coffee and, like, read, like, books on my thing.
I'll read, and then look at my notes or listen to a tape from the night before.
Wow.
This is so great.
I've been thinking about the affirmation thing at night for years, because whatever I watch
within, like, an hour of going to bed, and we don't get to see that much.
But if whatever goes into my head, some show, a movie, something like on social media,
when I get up to pee or if I'm just tossing, that is always present.
I'm hearing the voice of that show, of that actor.
It's like it's all right there.
And I've said for years, if feeding your brain like that is having that effect,
What if you just put positive shit in it?
Yeah.
And that's as far as I got.
But I'm a big,
I'm a big subliminal guy in the mind is amazing.
And we run on these programs.
You know, we just run on it.
We think it's reality,
but you're just basically running on a series of programs.
So if that's true,
and the program,
obviously, it started when you were 0 to 7 years old
is when you're formed.
Your subconscious is formed.
And you can change it, you know,
and that's the,
the way you change it.
You change it in that sleep state right before bed and first thing in the morning.
You can change that state.
And you can really, I could feel it.
You could change your mindset.
And they're so, you know, I was, we're Italian-American.
And it's like, we have the cultures can be somewhat negative at times to say the leases.
You know, so.
Who the hell you think you are?
Yeah, what do you think this is?
What do you think you are?
This never works out.
You know, it's like that kind of a-
Don't act like a moron.
Yeah, basically.
What are you an idiot?
So it's a lot of that.
But you can,
you don't have to live that way.
You can like reprogram your mind.
You can reprogram your mind.
You can.
You know,
that's what I've been.
And I always wanted that when I competed in sports.
I never,
I always trained really hard.
I always worked with,
I was tough, you know,
wasn't the most athletically gifted guy.
But competition wise,
I wish I would have had that like,
I'm going to go out there
and just like take it to...
I didn't have that competition mindset.
But it's weird because in stand-up comedy,
you almost get a second chance at it.
Because when you go on stage,
it's like you have to have a mentality.
It's like, all right, I'm gonna...
You can't be tight.
You have to be loose but engaging
and just be like, all right,
I'm gonna take this over.
You ever have that word?
Somebody's murdering right in front of you.
And it's like, okay, now I got to go on.
And it's intimidating.
And it's like, all right, I just have to go over there.
I just have to go up
and get them in my rhythm.
and then I'll take them where I want to take them.
Right.
But if you don't have that mindset,
if you're overwhelmed by the fact
that the person in front of you is murdering,
then you will shrink in that moment.
You're saying it's not good to go on stage thinking,
oh, geez.
Oh, no.
I hope a pipe bursts or something
and something we have to evact,
maybe I'll pull a fire alarm.
Oh, no.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Mike Pekione.
Oh, boy.
Or if you have that thing, I mean, you have your own crowd now who's coming to see you,
so I'm sure you don't encounter this anymore.
But when they don't, I'm sure you had this in the past, when they don't know you, and it's not going well,
and you're up there for another 45 minutes.
It's like, oh, let me just, instead of panicking, I'll sit in the pocket and try to pull them in.
I'll try to pull them into me.
Because who cares?
It's already going bad.
Right.
So instead of like, you know, a rookie mistake is to insult them.
A rookie mistake is being like, you guys.
don't get it. Another rookie mistake is pandering
to them and just giving the show over.
It's like if you could just stay in the pocket
and pull them and pull them and pull them.
Even if it isn't that
great externally, you come away
with some kind of a win. Yeah.
Man, oh man.
Yeah, when you were talking about it,
the first thing I thought of was,
does he live alone? How's he
listening to this stuff and saying these things
if there's someone else there? Yeah. I'll say it
right in front of Rob, I'll do. Right, hey, you're looking at a champion
right now. Championship
level, champion level, championship level.
The way I've thought about it too is that every time you come into the bathroom, like of my office, if there's a headline, like a negative headline on a magazine or something, like that has impact.
Right.
And I was like, wouldn't that, shouldn't there just be a note that says you're a winner?
That's on the mirror, you know?
So every time you walk in, you just kind of see.
That's great.
Yeah.
I like that.
For a while, I had a like a funny.
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Wow, so did you feel like there was a,
that it's had like,
like, how long did you do it before you started to feel like
this is having an effect on it?
Like a few, it was like a month.
I was like, oh, I started,
doing that meditation thing where it's like in the breathing practice,
I'll do meditation and follow the breath during.
And I'll keep tinkering with it.
Like now I'm doing the affirmations with the breathing practice
and letting it go.
I'm like mixing it up a little bit.
Oh, interesting.
So it's like I'll try different things and see what effect it has.
But I walk around and start you start noticing like your thoughts,
like how negative you could be sometimes or how fixated I'll get on something that is negative
and just be like in this business.
There's a ton of stuff.
It's like, why am I not getting booked there?
Why am I not getting on that?
Why am I not, Bubba?
And it's like, you stop and you're like,
oh, this is a program that's running.
Let me see if I can flip this in the moment.
How can I get out?
How can I crawl out of feeling this way without being inauthentic?
You want to be authentic.
You don't want to be authentically out of it.
How do I get out of it?
You don't want to just be like Rayman going in the face of adversity.
I'm the best.
I'm the best.
I'm the best without having anything behind it.
Yeah, right.
But the thing is, like, you want to feel, like, the thing that makes it, I think makes it track is if you feel it.
Like, you have to work on, you know, letting it happen and feeling it.
I want to feel good.
Right.
I want to feel success.
So that's what I, I practice feeling it.
Right.
And this may sound goofy to a lot of people.
No, I love it.
Sorry if it does.
I don't care about that.
It's like, it's like, I just want to feel good every day.
and that's why you know eat right workout all that stuff is to feel good every day feel at your optimal
right every day you're going to be tired sometimes you can have to bite down sometimes but you don't want to
have that every you don't want to have that every day you want to feel good every day and then you're
more creative you know yeah you can turn out like great material and since you started that did
did you notice that you started changing other things in your life like how you eat or how you
what you put in you right that's another big thing i stopped drinking you did i'm like
pandemic because I was just on the porch getting hammered.
I was like, what exactly am I doing?
You start examining that.
It's like, I'm just having a drink.
Everybody has a drink.
Yeah.
You want to be like everybody?
Like, what are you doing?
Yeah.
What's the real reason for it?
It's like, oh, social situations.
Everybody, you know, it's anxiety in social situations.
I don't know I'm excited.
Do I?
It's like, well, what's the difference if you have just club soda in your glass versus alcohol?
What's the difference?
Yeah.
It's like there is none.
Right.
Exactly.
And then just try.
try it for a couple weeks and see if like the mental clarity and weight loss, all that stuff.
Yeah.
All that stuff matters.
I've been doing that recently, actually.
And I've just been like just kind of dialing it in.
And I have a physical coming up event like in a couple weeks.
Right.
I just want to kind of like lie to my doctor about how good I am.
So I'm trying to get in shape for it.
It's great.
But I was like, you know what?
The drinking like, I'm at an age where one drink.
I wake up differently in the morning than no drink.
Yes.
And last night I was here.
I was walking around and before I came by the cellar.
And I'm just passing on a beautiful Sunday night,
just drinking wine with their friends,
just all out and all the things.
And I was like, I passed the white horse.
And I was like, I would just go in there.
And I'm like, no, we're not drinking.
tonight. We're not drinking tonight. And I hadn't since for like a week. But I had to tell myself,
no, it's not. One is a difference. One is a difference. Right. Just don't. And as I'm talking through
it, maybe like having to say, like shows like where you're at beforehand. And then I came in. I met
Colin. I started his mayorial campaign. And I just had bottled water. Right. And I went back to my
hotel. And I'm like, oh, not having one drink. I roll back into this hotel like looking at my notes,
getting ready for our podcast, just reading. Yeah. Just like one drink, there's a difference.
You're rolling in there like, where's the salt and vinegar potato chips? Yeah, yeah. I was going to lay down.
I'll get to that tomorrow. It is a difference. Well, they say the bad habits have friends, cousins. So it's like you do.
you one and then it introduces
the rest of the family to you.
I've never heard that. Yeah, that's the thing.
That's one thing. And conversely,
the good habits have the same thing where it's like
you're looking at your notes. Right. Other positive
things. Yeah. That's the goal of it.
But I also... I never heard that. Say that again.
Bad habits. Have cousins.
Yeah. That's so true.
I like also,
this is another thing, besides noticing your thoughts,
is being able to boss your mind.
Like you know what the right thing to do is,
but your mind has that thing.
Like, let's not do that today, man.
Let's not work out today.
You're tired.
Give yourself a break and being able to boss your mind and go,
nah, we're doing it.
Right.
We're doing it.
And then afterwards, you always feel good.
You always feel good that you overcame yourself.
I just went to a wedding this weekend and where I was born.
My own thing, Youngstown, my cousin's wedding.
And went off the rails eating, you know, at the wedding and everything.
So we flew back yesterday morning and then I just, I was like, okay, you went hard and you ate and, you know, it was a wedding.
I'll give you that.
And then that Sunday, it's like, I'm going to fast now because of it.
So I fasted all day and had my first meal this morning at noon.
Right.
So it's like.
You feel good.
I feel good.
But I like the fact that like I think that it's a win every time you can overcome your own mind.
Yes.
Your own mind is going to be like, we're hungry now.
You should probably eat something.
It's like, shut up.
Yeah.
Shut up.
we're not eating anything, so just shut up.
And then if you tell your mind to shut up enough,
then it's like, all right, well, he's not,
he's not going to eat.
So we'll just, you know, just keep quiet, I guess.
I have a thing where I say to my mind,
I see what you're doing.
I see what you're doing.
That's great.
It's like, yeah, is whatever, like, even yesterday,
like, I'm like, I could just roll in there
and get a thing of wings and a beer.
Right.
That's not carb.
That's just, I could do that.
And I'm, and I, you literally just, oh, it's being just self-aware.
Yeah.
And I'll think to myself, I see what you're doing.
No, we're not.
It's like having a bad friend.
It's great.
Your own mind is like having that shitty friend.
Like, come on, dude.
Your mind always wants to take you to the most comfortable place.
Let's do it.
Yeah.
I do cold showers also.
I do freezing showers.
And I always have that thing where it's like, come on, man, you can, you don't have to do, you
don't have to do it.
Why do you do that?
I think it's like, there's all kinds of benefits.
I'm going to be the bad friend.
Why do you do.
You're in my mind.
It's so nice and warm.
So nice and warm.
No, but really, why do you do that?
I think there's all kinds of, like, benefits from it.
Yeah.
It's part of that breathing practice where you get in and hit you.
How long?
I just do it until I'm done.
I do it.
I take an actual shower.
A regular shower.
All cold?
All cold.
Beginning and hot shower.
No cozy warm.
No cozy warm.
No break.
Just cold water.
We're in here.
Cold because you'll adjust to it.
Before the flight early in the morning, got to get out of here.
Early pickup.
Yeah.
cold. Never a hot one anymore. And now it's like I was in Arizona or something and there was no cold.
And a hot one, I'll tell you to truth, a hot one felt uncomfortable. Really?
Yeah. After so many cold ones. You know what I've been doing? I've been brushing my teeth with warmer water.
I like it.
I really great. Not quite the same thing, but no, I like that. That cold one, it hits you. It's hard.
It's harder in the winter. But it hits you. And then I just found out my cousin,
in Ohio, he's just graduating high school this year.
He does that cold plunge.
Oh, yeah.
First thing in the morning,
he gets in and does it.
And it's really good for,
it's another thing that makes you.
I think it really, besides the other medical benefits,
I think it really just makes your mind stronger.
Because once you overcome that, it's like, all right,
I have that under my belt.
Like, you know, you're ready for the day.
You're ready to, you know, it's about getting some wins under your belt.
You get that win under your belt.
You're like, all right, let's go.
What's up?
But does cold water clean you off as much as, like, if you wouldn't do dishes with cold water?
I bet you're dirty.
I'm probably dirty.
But I run, I make sure, because my girl was doing this thing where she was like sniffing me.
She's like, how long do you stay at?
I go, I make sure I stay in and clean myself.
And I'll purposely run it all over and I'll stay in there until I'm done till I'm clean.
And I'm aware of the fact that I want to get out of it.
Yeah.
So it's like, yeah, there's that aspect.
This is how powerful suggestion is.
Like, I'm hesitating right now making more jokes because I know even my little flippant
jokes are going like you'll be in the shower tomorrow, hear my voice going,
why aren't you just warm and cozy for just a minute, right?
Yeah.
It really will have that impact.
You're poisoning me right now.
Yeah, this is so great.
Is this a segment where you poison the mind of the guest?
It is so cool.
But what's your, do you have a moment?
morning routine that's similar? Do you pop up
and get right to work? Because
you have a family, so it's like different.
I don't have that, yeah.
The idea when you said we get
into bed and say these things to each other,
we get into bed and it's
holy shit,
I know, see you the morning.
That's really something.
But do you read your children,
I don't know how old your kids are, but you
They're older now. Okay, but did you read
them a story before bed? Or do you, you know?
Oh, yeah, but their bed thing was pretty much done.
My wife has so many more activities at night.
Getting the animals, doing the thing.
Life is just nonstop chores.
Right.
When you're in the house with a family of any age.
Right.
If you don't do it and it's not getting done.
Yeah.
By you, I mean, my wife and I, like, there's dishes, there's someone threw up.
There's somebody.
It's nonstop.
until like you punch the clock and hit the bed.
You know what I mean?
Wow.
There's very little like hangout time.
Yeah.
And especially just my wife has been working as a teacher.
And like, yeah, the time is very limited.
Maybe when the kids split and the corporation, like we've done that job,
which is going to happen next year.
It'll be different.
we can whisper sweet affirmations.
But yeah, the idea of doing that while in the throes of like the main function of raising the thing.
I mean, it's just constant problem solving.
Yeah, constant.
Just solutions.
But I have little things in my end table that I read that are affirmation adjacent.
Right.
You know, I forget what the name of it is.
I'm like the wisdom of man or something like that.
and it has my
Anne had given it to me a long time ago
it's this tiny little book but you just read it
it's about the power of the mind
and yeah and yeah those things
and stuff on my phone just to read them
without even listening just having that be like the last
thing you're seeing before you're knocking out
I think it has it is powerful
it all matters yeah I think it does
I wonder if we could fine tune them a little bit more
like be really specific
with them
yeah well there's an app that i was telling you i was doing that affirmation of my i would record them
and just listen to them on the way to sleep on the way app but i'm kind of liking the ones that are
just on the internet now that are just because there's so many of them that you could just listen
to them to music on the way to sleep and you wake up right feeling good feeling uh you know but like
if you get more specific like do you live in an apartment building apartment yeah yeah so if you
could be like i i'm i will rule this building yeah i like that i will rule this building i will rule this
building by the end of the month.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You know what I mean?
Like really dial it in.
I'm doing the extreme, the extreme confidence ones.
And it's like, you are, it starts off, you know, you are a champion.
You are, I am a champion.
I am a champion.
At the end, it's like, I am a god.
I'm like, is this a Hitler?
What is the, is this, do I have the right, have to check it to make sure?
Now go defeat those.
Something white supremacy at the end of it?
What?
Now go by a torch.
I will buy a teaky torch.
But I like fighting.
If we get into argument, we'll do it with that information.
I'm taking the adversity that you're giving me right now
and I'm transmuting it into victory.
That's really what's happening with you right now.
What you're throwing at me?
Affirmation fight.
There is something to the power of that.
When you do become more aware of your thoughts,
right.
you are more aware of when you're in situations.
So if you are in a fight...
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's a huge one.
That's a huge one.
You're in it.
You're in a relationship.
It's just like being aware, it's like,
oh, I'm not going to let my emotion take over.
And I, you know, I'm in therapy and all that.
I talk to that.
I speak about that with,
because we're all products of where we can't,
the way you were raised, you know, you see...
What are you an idiot?
You see what your parents do?
And it's like, oh, I'm not, you know,
you just subconsciously.
take that on. He's like, no, no, no, no. That's not the way to solve the problem. You got to be in
the moment and be like, oh, you could, you know, it's a hokey thing to say, but you can, you can
take it over, but you can do it in a loving, you could take it over with love, basically. Right.
You know what I mean? You don't have to, like, I always, I always had a thing where everybody has
their different things in, and in TV shows or whatever, where a guy is just like, or if I see it in life,
Like a guy who's just a beat down guy, his wife just beats him down.
Yeah.
There's something visceral in me that doesn't, I don't like that at all.
And that's like a big fear of mine.
Yeah.
So when I'm in a dispute, it's like, oh, no, no, no, you don't have to like, it's not one thing or another.
You don't have to yell your way out of it to make sure that you're not that guy where you don't have to back.
You can make your point.
You could do it in a loving way.
And you could make the other person feel loved at the same time.
Right.
You know what I mean? It doesn't have to be a, you can do it in a powerful way without like losing your power.
You could take it over in a loving way, you know.
As long as I win in the end.
It's about victory.
As long as I defeat her.
That's one of the affirmations. It's all about victory. You will win at all costs.
What is this again? What is this?
Yeah, you start putting your wife's name in the affirmations.
You will defeat Cynthia.
Cynthia is no match for you.
Sinthia goes down.
Oh, man.
That's a great one, though.
Has it...
But that really is what it...
I mean, I'm sure it's got to be tenfold with a family.
But just in my experience, it teaches you that.
It's like, oh, you can do that.
And in life, you could do that, too.
If somebody, like, you don't have to respond.
if somebody does something to you,
you don't have to respond
with anger,
or that's our go-to,
you know, now you get hurt, you know?
Well, you can do it,
you can do it differently.
There's a different way.
Yeah, yeah.
What's interesting about it is
like your act is very,
you say a lot in your act
without saying anything.
Like you have a very,
you have a way of drawing people
into you by
I mean you have great jokes
but you also have the very like
calm confident way
it's almost like
but you've had that for a long time
longer than you have this
self-improvement
thing going on
right so it's kind of interesting
as an outsider to be like
you did possess that
yes like your essence is that
well I think that you know
I don't know how you look at it but
because you have great jokes you're great comment
And watching, like, my point at the beginning was when we came in and we would watch all of you guys,
you guys were like, for the, we were the comics, you know, trying to get into the clubs.
And you guys were already there having TV shows and on the road.
So we would look at you and be like, oh, that's what I want to be.
Right.
So, but I found, I found that if the joke is strong, you know, you can still perform it,
but you don't have to, you don't have, it doesn't have to be an over.
Yeah.
You can do whatever you want with it at that point.
Whatever works better however you want to perform it.
But the point is that it's there.
It's already there.
And then you can play with it.
You know, like there's, I don't know if you do this,
but some guys will go in and just like with notes or whatever
and just kind of do the jokes with nothing on them just to see what they get.
Yeah.
Away from their own crowd.
Just to see the validity of what it is.
And then they'll put all of that other stuff, performance,
on top of it once they know it works.
It's there.
But they're not going to put all that energy into it.
Yeah.
They're just trying to find, they're just trying to find the joke.
I started doing that, like, six years ago.
I just kept leaving the mic in the mic stand.
I was like, I'm going up, grabbing this and hamming it up.
And I know I've got jokes, but let me test them.
Right.
If I don't do anything, does this kill just as much?
Right.
How much of it is me hamming it up and selling it?
it and how much of it is purely in the act.
Right.
And I haven't taken it out since.
That's great.
I haven't taken it.
Even in like,
but that's a new,
that's a new challenge where the guy who's like selling out theaters now,
you know,
it's like,
oh, that's where I want to be.
It's like, yeah,
but it's like,
it's great and I'm sure it's like,
it's like,
it's not without its challenges.
Right.
Like you have another set of challenges now.
Yeah.
You know?
Yeah.
No,
it's constant.
And you have to constantly remind yourself.
It's amazing to me.
in all aspects of life,
your stand-up,
your whatever, your diet,
your fitness, all of it.
How often,
because we're not here really a long time.
Right.
And the part that we're talking about
just like the prime adulthood
is even shorter.
How often you have to remind yourself
and relearn all of these lessons.
Yes.
Oh my God, yeah.
Non-stop.
Yeah.
Like you literally have to keep telling yourself
over and over and over again.
how to write, how to eat, how to work, how to love, how to do.
You have to constantly, you don't just, like, get all the rules in and you're good to go.
That's really true.
It's so crazy.
I couldn't say that better myself.
That's always, it's amazing how quickly we forget.
And you could just be a victim to your own desires and vices, and you're constantly going now, you know?
And that's the other thing, too.
It's like you're not supposed to be happy all the time.
Yeah.
It's okay to be lonely.
Right.
It's okay to be bored.
You know what I mean?
It's okay, you know?
Like, when I have a travel.
day now. It's like, I'm going to go to Chicago on this weekend, Friday and Saturday to do Zanis.
And I have an insanely early flight, like a 6 a.m. So it's like, I'm going to have to get up at 4.
It's like, I'm not looking forward to that, but it's like, I know that that's going to be unpleasant.
So just bite down. Right. Just bite down there and get there and get through it and everything.
And then I'll be able to sleep or whatever when I get there. But to think that that's not going to be unpleasant is, you know, you just prepare yourself.
it now and be like, all right, that's a travel day.
Yeah, it's one of these. Oh, tomorrow's four. It's one of these.
Yeah. All right. Yeah. We've done that.
Here we go. My big thing with the travel, the only thing that really I'm trying to do recently is just don't be nauseous.
Yeah. Yeah. Like getting up, like, so that means eating something, don't eat like crazy before or drink the night before.
Right. When you have those early outs. And then try not to look at your phone in the car.
try not to, if it's a bumpy thing, just a flight, just close your eyes.
It literally is fighting the nausea.
Oh, yeah.
Because that could wreck the whole day.
Right, right.
That could ruin the whole thing.
Right.
Just trying not to be nauseous during all of this mode.
I find that happens a lot too when I fly and it's like on no sleep.
Yeah.
It's like it's just immediately a headache.
As soon as you get in the sky, it's like that altitude change combined with the no sleep is like it's immediately a headache happening.
So it's like get the eye.
be proffin or have it ready.
Yeah.
So that you don't,
because there's been something like where we've landed and I'm just like,
my head is just,
I'm just head in hand.
Like people are like,
are you?
I know.
You literally feel like your eyes have been pushed out about an inch from your skull.
Yeah.
And it's like,
well,
I hope, you know,
I can sleep this off and I have two shows tonight.
Yeah.
I have to figure this out.
Right.
Exactly.
Yeah.
The guy who has,
who's responsible for this whole show feels the worst of anybody in this room.
Yeah.
And then it's all like, why did I book it like this?
Why didn't I just pay the $100 extra to go at 8 or $12?
And then it's like if it gets too late, it's like you have that choice between the 6 a.m.
flight or the 2 p.m. flight, but you're nervous about the 2 p.m. flight because if it gets delayed at all, then you're screwed.
You know, and the whole thing is not worth it.
You know, it's like you missed the entire night of shows.
Like, what?
Yeah.
When going in the night before, it's just like, I don't want to leave home for a whole other night.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's really, the travel part of it, you got to, you have to treat it like you're an athlete.
Right.
You really have to just try and hydrate, try and work out when you get there.
Yeah, but the workout the day before so that you could sleep is always a thing.
It's like, oh, if I get a workout in, maybe I'll be able to go to bed at a reasonable time, sleep, get up, and then I won't feel terrible.
Yeah.
Have four.
You ever come into a hotel room and you've just been traveling all day and you're trying to be dialed in with there's a mini bar and you just, before you.
you even give your brain a chance to think your knee deep in Pringles?
Like you don't even have a chance to fight off that, that chick guy.
I love that.
It's just right in your face.
He just shoved the good guy on the side.
The guy with the mustache, the Pringles guy.
By the time you're even thinking, is this right to do?
You're done with the sleeve.
I love that.
I'm thinking on the way over, it's like, okay, I'm going to either sleep or.
get breakfast or something, you know,
try to get a, formulate some kind of a plan together.
Yeah.
We just had that.
We were just at a wedding and was leaving.
We're staying next to the Pittsburgh airport and we get up.
And, you know, they said there's a shuttle that runs to the airport every hour.
So we get up and we rush down there.
It's like 7 p.m. or 7 a.m. on the nose.
And I go, okay, the shuttle, can we take the shuttle?
They go, just left.
Always.
It just left.
It's like, so the shuttle didn't leave at 7.
It's 6.57 a.m.
Is that what happened?
You got to sign up for it.
I'm like, how hard is that to sign up for it?
Now I'm taking an Uber.
I don't care.
Take an Uber.
It's like, I just could have taken the shuttle, but it's always like, there's always
something like, you just missed it.
It just runs every, you can wait until eight.
I'm like, I'll miss my flight then, but thank you.
The worst thing, this is my mental thing I'm trying to get a hold of is, and I can't
because I think it's justified.
Fuck the shuttles.
Every shuttle's a nightmare.
The shuttle from the rental car place.
waiting for the shuttle to get you to the rental car place.
They're just going to screw you.
You're going to just miss it or you're going to be waiting an hour.
And, oh, it just kills me.
And I try and get out and I'm like, just be nice.
It's just a shuttle.
People do this.
Yeah, but they don't travel as much as I do.
I got to go.
That's true.
I always tip the guy too, and it's like, how much more is this?
I'm tipping the guy.
How much more is this to get a car?
It's not that much more to get a car.
Right.
You know?
You know how there's always a new app that's dealing with a big problem and they become successful.
Dating, Uber, like they saw a problem, this taxi thing isn't working, we're going to exploit it.
If I had any wherewithal, I would set it up where use my app, you can drive your rental car right up to the door, dump your family off, and I will take your rental car back to the thing.
20 miles off of the airport and dump it off for you.
And fill it up with gas and all that.
Fill it up with it.
Take whatever.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's an added thing.
Yeah.
That's great.
If there's any retreat, you could retrieve your lost items through my app.
But no more you drive your whole life back to the, in stop and drag your luggage and add an extra hour.
Yeah.
That's an extra hour.
Isn't that a good app?
Great.
Just leave your car.
And then somebody else.
Yeah, drop it off with us.
Yes.
We'll park it for you.
We'll return it for you.
I don't have the name for it yet.
Quinn for the win.
No, that's a great one.
And most of these apps are, I'm waiting for a health care app.
That does what?
Health care is like out of control.
It's like I have it now.
Or because I did the King of Staten Island.
I was in the movie.
So I got and the comedy seller show.
So I got SAG Aftera, and then it expired.
I didn't have the credits, but I have COBRA now I'm paying for it.
But it's just like I'll go to the doctor and I'm pretty healthy.
I work at all this stuff, you know.
I have high blood pressure.
But other than that, and I'm technically, I guess, overweight, you know, my height, which is a strange thing.
But it's like, oh, you should be at 160.
I'm like, well, that's what I wrestled in high school.
I had cut 30 pounds then.
So I don't know if that's really possible.
Well, you're obese.
I'm like, well, I didn't come here to get called names.
How about my body's built differently than everyone else on the plan?
How about my body's different proportions than who is this person we're comparing?
I know.
And how about it?
Does age make a difference?
They go, no, it doesn't make a difference at all.
So I should just be what I was when I was 18?
They go, technically, yeah, you should.
I'm like, all right.
And then it's just like, it's just unbelievable in this country.
It's like, I just think it's the HMOs.
I don't know.
but it's like they just bill you.
I mean, my doctor literally is like,
are you getting plenty of fruits and veggies?
I go, yeah.
And on the bill, like I didn't pay for it because it's insurance,
but it's like $500 nutritional counseling.
Oh my God.
Are you eating fruits and veggies?
Oh, my God.
It's like no one can explain like the surgeon general.
He has like, before COVID, it's like he would just be like,
don't smoke.
It's like, yeah, well, why is an x-ray eight grand?
Yeah.
It's like, you should not smoke.
It's like, could you answer some relevant,
why is it $8,000 to take a picture of your insides?
I was just saying this.
My friend was like, you know, I have this physical coming up,
and they're like, you know, you can go for this thing called like the Nouveau or something.
It gives a full body scan of your, like an hour long full body skin to see if there's anything wrong with you.
Heart arteries, tumors, whatever.
It's $3,000 to do it.
And I said, you know, people complain about health care in this country, but if you're,
If you're rich, it's pretty great.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
If you're really rich, you can get the great bear.
Right.
If you're not mega rich, you are suffering, passing on things, walking around thinking maybe
that's a tumor.
Right.
I don't know.
Right.
Well, the very rich and the very poor, like, if you're on Medicaid, you have everything,
like, that's fine.
But how good is that care?
It's probably not good, but it's the bare basics.
Yeah.
So, and then the very rich habit.
But like, if you're like in this middle.
class area, then it's like everything.
But I think that, like, Bill Moore asked Obama in an interview one time, it's like, because
the doctors aren't making money.
Yeah.
It's not the doctors.
The patients are paying.
So it's, I think it's these HMO, and I looked up Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Yeah.
And it's like they're worth, I'm not lying, because I'm writing a joke, I'm writing a chunk about
this, but they're worth $128 billion, or $123 billion with a B.
Oh, my God.
It's like.
I don't...
How could you...
And what Obama basically said is,
it's, they're too much of the economy.
They're too big to fail, basically.
Right.
So you can't wipe them out.
Oh, my God.
So I don't know where...
But, you know, what we'll wipe them out
is if an app comes
that just undercuts all of this
and get...
For affordable, something like a body scan, prescription drugs.
And it just wipes them out of the body.
I mean, I'm...
There's nothing I love more than an bloated type of industry
where people are just making money.
I don't mind.
I don't hate the rich, by the way.
If you built a business from scratch
or even you invented something that I think is stupid,
like face swap and you're a billionaire because of that,
more power to you.
Sure.
But if you're just squeezing and you're doing a cartel move
when you're cutting everybody else out,
you're paying massive amounts of money to cut everybody else out
so that you have a monopoly,
I love it when that person loses.
Yes.
They get destroyed and some other thing comes in
that's more efficient and helps people.
Yeah.
Well, that's why I'm right.
rental car app.
Rental car app is where it's at.
Now, if you could put a doctor in there, we can combine our ideas.
Yeah, he gives you a prostate exam.
Wow.
You take your luggage out.
Tom, we're solving some real problems here.
Oh, my God.
This was so great.
That's really great.
All right.
So, last question.
Sure.
What are you going to eat tonight?
Tonight, it's on me to go to, because I ask, my girl's a great cook, by the way.
Oh, yeah?
She takes stuff off TikTok.
She's very smart.
So she just takes stuff off TikTok and just does it.
Like she looks at it and goes,
what do you think of that?
I go, I don't know.
That looks crazy hard.
And then she just does it.
And I'm like, oh, my God, this is unreal that you made this.
Wasn't that hard.
Wasn't that bad.
High intellect people can just do stuff.
Yeah, it's amazing.
And they can do it fast, which is why they're high IQ.
Yeah.
They just move.
So it's on me to go to the store and buy like some meats or whatever and and some brown rice ingredients
And ingredients and then bring it back and she's made fun of me too because I don't even know what the vegetables are
She goes can you pick up some butternut squash leaks
I'm like I don't know when any of that is
She's sending me pictures like I'm like
Moreon like leeks
And then she we were just with my family and she mentioned to my mom and my mom doesn't know what leaks are like we didn't cook with it anything
It's an English vegetable it's like
Like, why would we know that?
Leaks, what are you an idiot?
That's not food.
Yeah, I call BS on that one.
Yeah.
Nice marinerosos maybe.
Yeah, we're very, I'm very simple people, but she makes fun of me that I don't know what
vegetables.
I don't know the vegetables are.
It's funny.
So you're going to go bring all that stuff back.
What does she make?
Do you know what the dish is?
No.
I mean, she'll make whatever I bring back, she'll face.
She'll be like, oh, it's this.
Right.
Just like process it and figure it.
it out and make it and I'm sure it'll be wonderful.
Awesome. Well, thank you so much
for doing this. Thanks for having me, buddy. I really
appreciate you having me on. Thank you.
I've been waiting to do this for a long time. Oh, we're going to
be together tomorrow night. Yes, can't wait.
I love your show. Thanks, man.
All right. We got it, Nicole.
Well, there you have it, everybody. The great
Mike Becchio. So much more inspirational
than we thought he was going to be. He's
really giving us some little tips.
I am a champion.
I am a podcast champion.
I am a champion.
I am a podcast god
go to tompapa.com
my book is available we're all on this together
so make some room
uh it is officially out now
that's exciting
officially out now man we probably should have put something
more in the intro about that
nah we'll put it in the other stuff
um go to tompapa.com
also for all of my tour dates i'm all over the place
we just launched a whole bunch of dates
for the summer
fall, winter, next spring, next summer, and next fall.
Oh, it never stops, kids.
You guys are the best. Thank you for listening.
Thank you to Mike Beki-O and thank you to the people at ORA.
We'll see you next time.
