Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 159 - Jay Larson

Episode Date: June 13, 2023

Jay Larson joins the table and he brought his own bread...sort of. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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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, don't you know. Hey, it's also a show. Welcome everybody to another edition of Breaking Bread with Tom Papa.

I am Tom Papa. Our guest today is Jay Larson, very funny comedian who has a special called Call Me Bruce that is out on YouTube right now. He's very funny. We've been in each other's orbit for a long time. It was great to finally sit down and talk with him. His stories are amazing. He's very funny. You're going to love this interview with Jay Larson.

Today's podcast is brought to you by two sponsors. The first one is, oh, wow, we've never heard. had a book sponsor before. We're all in this together, so make some room. The new book by Tom Poppa. What a coincidence. That's amazing. Yes, my new book is out. It's been out now for one week. Count it. One week. Thank you all for taking pictures and sending posts of you with the book. It's very exciting that it's out. I've been traveling all around. I think I was in the air more than I was on the ground last week, going to Chicago and New York, in L.A. and Austin, all these. places talking about the book signing books for people it's been a great time a lot of fun i'm so

happy that it's out i'm very proud of it and you can get one for father's day that's always a good thing because you know if your father like kind of likes you and then you give him this book then he really likes you and then he makes you the main person in his will and then cut out your siblings They're probably not going to get them the book. So get them the book. Wherever books are sold, we're all in this together, so make some room. Local booksellers, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, wherever you get that stuff. Our other sponsor today, oh, is the good people at nuts.com.

I love nuts.com. I have a drawer in my kitchen that is in the island where I do all of the cooking, and it's there. and you slide that open, and there are right now, there are nuts, there are dried apricots, and this is kind of insane, chocolate-covered gummy bears. Those things are deadly. So whether you're somewhere on the go or need a quick snack to grab on the way out or someone who spends time at home and needs stocked snack drawer, just like I said,

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We're recording today. And today is June 12th, which is my comedy birthday. June 12th, 1993, was the first day. day that I stepped on stage at the New York Comedy Club in New York City. I went on and then the great Greg Giroldo went on. We're the only two comics to go up. And our friend Gary was the host. And I came in.

I met Greg Giroldo. We hit it off. We were pals. And there was five people in the audience, maybe six, four were my friends. And I did my first spot. And that means, dear listeners, that it's 30 years of stand-up comedy, which means, Joey, I've been a comedian longer than I've not been a comedian on this planet. How insane is that?

I hear a dog. Yeah, close that door. You just lean over and do it. We're casual. I don't know why there's a dog. We're in our main bread headquarters. I have a sense that there's some other podcasts down the hall, and they look like, I don't know what the podcast possibly could be,

but they look a little L.A., I would say, a little maybe fashion forward, maybe gossip, maybe some hot Hollywood gossip. You get that vibe? Yeah. Do you know what they are? Don't say if you do. You do? Am I accurate in that assessment? Yeah. Close? Yeah. Why are you saying it like that?

I don't really know who they are. I've just looked them up once. You didn't? Yeah. And you know, you forgot? Yeah. Interesting. Well, I'll tell you what they haven't been doing. Comedy for 30 years. So thank you all for listening. This is a very special day for me. And it just, you know, have lots of comedy. 30 years is kind of profound and nutty. And I don't know what to think about it. Other than the coolest thing, I think, is that I've got no other options now. I can't switch now.

I guess I could downshift. I could just go bake bread and just open a small bake shop in some strange place. I was thinking I could do that in the Jersey Shore, but then Hurricane Sandy hit. I was like, I don't know if that's a good long-term plan. And then I looked up global warming and they said upstate New York, you're safe from all of the stuff. And then we found out last week that that wasn't true because Canada was on fire and choking out New York. And so I think I'm just going to stick at the comedy. Keep moving.

I'm never really in one place. Like I said, I was in the air more than I was on the ground last week. So today is going to be a great show. I made a huge meal last night. Side note. I have 11 people in my house right now because of my daughter's graduation. And they all came in from all different places.

So last night I cooked, I made a huge meal. What was on the meal? I'll tell you, Joey. It was meatballs. I made meatballs. I used the Reos recipe. Baked rigatoni. Garlic bread, broccoli, and sauce from scratch.

It was really good. The only bummer was I didn't make a Chiambella, but I had just gotten back off the road after this insane week. But I was very happy to have the whole family there. Went through maybe four bottles of wine. This is all to say, if my doctor's listening, I'm coming from my physical, first one since the pandemic next week. So if I'm a little heavier, you know why.

I've got too many Italians in my house right now. So I'm going to be a little on the chubby side. Just go with it. Okay, we've got a great show for you today. Jay Larson, let's get to the interview. Enjoy. Welcome, Jay. Thank you.

So good to see you. You too, ready. We've been trying to put this together for, I think, a year and a half. Yeah, two years. Two years. For real? No. No.

It seems close. It seems like it. Well, I can't, you know. Well, because first it went through extra people, then suggestions. It felt like dating in grade school. It's like, I hear Jay likes you. Where was your grade school? Mine was in New Jersey.

Oh, okay. And start off at Eastbrook. And then I moved to Dorchester and then graduated up to Woodcliff school. Mm-hmm. And then went up to the big high school. How about you? Mine was a Robin Hood Elementary. All the way through.

Stoneham Mass. No, and then middle school and then high school. Where I grew up, you just went to. Middle school. That was the name? It's called the middle school. That's it. Like everyone from the elementary went to the middle school and then you went to the high school.

There was no name. Oh. It was Stoneham High School. Stoneham Middle School. Stone them. Stone them. From the days when they used to do that? Do what?

Stone people? Yeah. Well, they still do. They keep it. in my town. You're news from my town, Nancy Kerrigan. Nancy Kerrigan. That seems stonomish.

Yeah. She's very stonomish. I baked you this bread. It's so beautiful and crunchy that it's actually breaking through the paper. No. Yeah. I saw you this morning on social. Is this what you were making?

That was your bread. Holy shit. That was your bread. Should we compare it to the bread that? I made that last, like shaped it last night. That's when I recorded that. which was a mistake, by the way, Joey, when I said that my book comes out a week from today.

Oh, God, that smells bad. Should we compare it to the bread that I made you? Yeah, so you rolled in with bread as well. The first person ever to come with bread. Yeah, that's for you, Big Daddy. I'm going to eat the hell out of that. All right, so you're going to have to give me pointers because I make this bread.

You do. But for some reason, the last couple times I've made it, it doesn't rise. How long have you been making it? years? Ten years. Oh, wow. But it doesn't rise, but it's still delicious. So it's, it's a bread bag.

You ever seen a bread bag? Yeah, I have those bread bags. Well, not that exact one. But I made two of these, and I tried one, and it was really delicious. Is it a cookie? It looks, doesn't it? It looks like a chocolate chip. It looks like a giant.

It's a bit of, it's facacia-ish. Yeah. It should be faccia. Is that what you're going for? No. It's a, it's, it's a, um, it's. pan Pecasha in a pan

Yeah It looks like because they do make Faccia in like a Iron skillet Oh do they Yeah It comes out round But 10 times it's fluffy

You know what someone said to me They're like Dude that's that's pretty bold Making bread to go to like a master And I'm like yeah But that's the whole point Because I thought it would come out better Smells good

Rosemary olive oil That olive oil by the way is my friends olive oil from grease. They harvest it and make it themselves. Beautiful. What's going on with my yeast? What went on? Well, I put the yeast with some sugar in the water to get it activated.

Is it old? No, I just went to the store and bought it. And it activated? I mean, maybe the water was too warm. Eh, how long did it? Six minutes? How long did you let it rise once you mixed it? An hour.

An hour? Yeah. You're about 12 hours short. To wait. The recipe says you just leave it for an hour. No. Hmm. Have you made it before?

Yeah. Made it for years. And with one hour of pricing time? Yeah. No. Well. You mean, so when you mix it with all the ingredients. The thing about facacia.

This isn't a faucia. What is it? It's supposed to just be a rosemary. bread like a little loaf. Oh. So it's even worse than it's a thought. That's what I'm saying. Yes, but listen to me.

It's the thought. You know what I mean? It's totally the thought. Joey, I don't think anyone else has even tried to bring us bread from their own home, let alone a store. That's what I'm talking about. This is really very meaningful. I mean, do you dare try it?

When I went to, I'm gaming it for courage. It literally looks. You look like when. of my kids when I'm like, you're just going to try a new food. I just want you to take one bite and you're just like, my son just goes, no thank you, dad. No thank you. That's really clever.

Yeah. My door's like, what's that? That's sea salt. My neighbors brought me from France when I watched their dog when they went to Paris. That's real. And the rosemary's from my garden. It's so funny because it looks like a cookie. It literally does.

It literally does. She just made cookies. it looks exactly just a little bit. So you do the savory and she does the sweet? Yeah, pretty much. Okay. Pretty much. Yeah, I'm not, she does sweet better than I do.

She's been busy. She hasn't been doing it. I've gotten her to bake more by starting to infiltrate on her territory. Because, you know, wives, as much as they adore you, also get a little sick of all the attention you get for your different pursuits, whether they're valuable for the family or not, which I get, you know, What do you think? This guy is so great.

And so I get a lot of, you know, notoriety from the bread. Yeah. And then I started doing bagels. Then I kind of poked into pretzels. And then did a chiambella, which is getting into sweet. It's like this Italian breakfast ring, lemon breakfast ring. Oh, yeah. I know what you're talking about. Not too sweet, but.

You kind of pull off of it? Yeah, it's great. And then, uh, and then. And then, you know, I know my daughter who bakes also been vegan, so there's no cookies being cranked out. So I made cookies a couple weeks ago. What kind? Just like the sad little boy whose parents wouldn't give him cookies. He was left for his own devices to make them on his own.

Yeah. And I made them. And they were pretty good. They were just chocolate chip cookies off of New York Times. And they were a little, little dense. You have you on the chocolate chips? But I knew I had my wife on the hook, and I knew this plan was going to work

because she criticized them right off the bat. No. And I didn't have any real pride attached. I didn't care if they came out. No, you didn't care. I just wanted to poke the bear and get her back in the kitchen. I came back last weekend, a whole array of chocolate chip goods and some of you with walnuts.

You did it. I did it. You know what I made on Singo de Mayo? I made churros. Oh, straight up. Really? Boom. Knocked them out.

They were. Yeah. I mean, not as good as this. Deep fried? Yeah, deep fried. Cinnamon and sugar. Let's take that bread out for a second. To what?

Compare them? Yeah, just to, I think. Is that, look, I mean, that's, I just want to see. It seems a little spiteful. No. It seems. We might be surprised. I don't know what it's good, what we're going to, what the result's going to be.

What do you mean, taste test? No, what looks. Yeah. I don't know. Can anyone see that? I mean, let's look at the density. Oh. I mean, come on.

It's not terrible. You're going to be surprised. You're going to be surprised. This is like when I went to Burke Kreisers and he made casadillas. They were slightly thicker than this. That looks like a... Not cassidias, tortillas. That's good taste.

Have you ever been to Casablanca in Venice? No. They do these amazing tortillas and they're super soft and chewy. They do like a salsa verde, but with like chunks of cheese in it and onions instead of like a salsa. Wow. Anyway. That would be perfect on this. Yeah.

Either way, again. Look, if you have salt, olive oil, and rosemary. You can't go wrong. You can't go wrong. This is just a device to deliver those sweet little gems. Mm-hmm. You know, you just can't call it bread. Well, you could.

You could. Unleven. Yeah. Mata. Yeah. A little bit. All right, you can put that back in the back. Okay.

So, thank you, though. It is the gesture. Yeah. We've only had a couple people that brought things. Kathleen Madigan, don't hide it and disgust. Kathleen Madigan came and she brought her own redneck style of, like, a biscuit mix in the packet and a cornbread mix. in the packet and I think she gave me some booze or something and like a t-shirt for her podcast that was nice um we also had um someone else brought donuts a love a good donut yeah a nice donut

did you grow up here you grew up back east so did you get here i got here in 2000 2000 oh it's around when i came but my grandfather was a baker so i grew up on his donut which were the greatest. His honey-dipped donut was the best. Really? Yeah, which was like his glazed, you know? Yeah. Yeah.

So he had a bake shop? He had two bakeries, yeah. Two bakeries? Yeah. Whoa. So, like, we'd grow up and, like, you'd run in the bakery, go in the front, run around the back. He had the giant table. And we'd go to the coffee can with the M&M.

So, like, we'd just run around there to get to that. Oh, my God. Yeah. What a dream. And then, this is a story I wanted to tell you. I was opening for Swartson back east. and at the time he had a deal at Sony and he was like

going to write a show about a kid and that inherits a bakery from his grandmother and he and his best friend take over the bakery and I was like oh my grandfather used to own a bakery in Wakefield let's just go by so we went to the bakery it was like the third bakery since my grandfathers had been like

at least 14 years 15 years since my grandfather owned it we walked in it was like all decrepit and I was like hey guys and like hey I'm like listen my grandfather used to own this bakery I was wondering if we might be of like look around and they were like what what was your grandfather's bakery and i go the holiday bakery and the guy goes we've been waiting for you and goes over and between like a freezer and the wall pulled out the original sign no to my grandfather's bakery yeah so i brought it back here

and then i built a light box for it and i have it in my garage now that's amazing pretty cool yeah that's really cool holiday bakery it had fallen apart but time you walk yeah at that time it was a gluten-free bakery uh like the first of its kind and just didn't catch John, now it's like a pet grooming place. Oh, that's too bad. I know. Do you remember how old were you when he stopped? He stopped when I was like eight, maybe younger, yeah.

Oh, okay. Yeah. He should have kept it going. He could have been the hero for a longer time. I mean, it would have been amazing, but he had to sell it. My dad, he was separated from our family, and my dad wasn't going to continue with it anymore. He just wanted to be an antique dealer.

He didn't give a shit about baking. And so he had nowhere to go with it. it, so he had to sell them both. It's a lot of work. Oh, yeah. It's a ton of work. Those people work hard. Yeah.

And then years later, the other bakery he had was in Essex, Massachusetts, and there's like a very famous clam spot belly clams called Woodmans in Essex, Massachusetts. Like, everyone goes to Woodman's. So I'm up there with my family one time, like eight years ago? No. Yeah, maybe seven years ago. And we're in the parking lot, and I see these two guys shucking corn, like, into, like, like a trash barrel. And I say to my wife at the time, I go, I got to go over there.

So I go, guys, we just shucking corn out here in the, in the parking lot? And they're like, yeah. And I go, can I get a pick? And they're like, sure. And they were like, you don't want to help out? I go, nah. And they go, what's your name? And I go, I'm Jay. And this guy introduced, you know, like how gentlemen introduced first and last name. And I'm just like Jay. And they're like so and so and so and so. And then like Frank Woodman. And I go, oh, is this your spot? He goes, yeah, it was my grandfather's spot and I'm like oh my grandfather used to have a bakery down the down the road and he goes my grandfather had a tiny shack down the road and I'm like oh great to meet you guys and then the other guy goes your grandfather he worked on the atom bomb didn't he and I was like yeah how'd you know and he goes

we know things around here too and I was just like oh my god I left because my grandfather was a physicist at Harvard like studying right went worked at Los Alamos on the atom bomb came back and was like I'm not doing that whoa And his, like, grandfather was a baker, and he just, like, opened a bakery. Really? Yeah. Holy cow. So he worked on that.

Yeah. I have pictures, Polaroids. Polaroids of the atom bomb. No. Not the explosion, but, like, it. Yeah. Like, two men holding it, like, this giant metal sphere, then, like, the little octagon's being put around it. You know, like a Weber grill.

Yeah, a little bit. Like a little smoker. Yeah. But like when you're seeing the ads for Oppenheimer right now, like that's, my grandfather worked under Oppenheimer when he was there. Jeez. Like they'd open his mail when he'd get mail and all that stuff. Oh my God.

Crazy. Were you close to him when you were older or did he pass? He passed when I was like a 10. 10 or 11, yeah. So he closed the bakery and died. Yeah, pretty much. Jeez. Pretty close there.

Pretty close. Yeah. Did he get sick from Adambaum stuff? He died of cancer, skin cancer, yeah. But he would also like, I'm guessing that's where he got it, yeah. Yeah, probably. Seems like a safe bet.

He's measuring. Well, he had a house on the beach. Right. You know, and he'd be out there. Yeah, but still, that's pretty, man, it'd be so interesting to hear from what he was thinking, what after it happened. I mean, obviously, if he ends up in a bake shop,

he had to have been somewhat shaken. Yeah, they had one story. He got this paperweight that they gave to, like, were like 11 main scientists at Los Alamos, and they made these paperweights for the first atomic testing with like a little plaque and then like a piece of petrified ground. Right. And one of the scientists, they just gave it to the head guys, gave it to my grandfather and said, you'll want this more than I'll ever want it. Whoa. And so my cousin has that. And I always wanted to go on like, what's that show on History Channel with pawn stars. I always wanted to go

in there with the paperweight and have, or like with the photos. And I'm like, well, how's this authentic and I go look at that and then drop the paperweight drop the bomb they would love yeah drop the bomb baby wow that's intense I know that is really intense and then to think he's like in the bake shop

making cookies after that making cookies listening to like he would listen to like who was that guy that we did Lake Winna Lake Wobagon Garrison Keeler Garrison Keeler he would listen to Garrison Keeler on the radio and like was super into that kind of like lifestyle.

Right. Just slow it down. Yep. Get smaller. That dude, you remember, do you ever have a paper route? Yeah. So my brother and sister had one. And when I was in sixth grade, they were both in the high school and the marching band.

So on Thanksgiving Day, they had to do the marching band. And I had to do their paper route. And on Thanksgiving, all the circulars would come out, right? Right. Heavy. Yeah. And it was so I go out to do their paper route and I open the circulars, then I forget something inside. and I go in, I come back out, and the wind had just blown them all over the place.

And I was so dejected and, like, crying, and my grandfather showed up because he was leaving the bakery. And he just got out of his car and just started dying, laughing. And I was like, shut up. And then he's like, get in, I'll drive you. I think I'm at my meet. I was in, like, fifth grade or fourth grade. I can't remember. So he drove you at the root.

Yeah, he drove me. That's cool. That's great. Do you like cashews? Gummy bear? Maybe olives? Hmm. What about popcorn?

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in between as you're doing your day. It just gives it a little more. Look, that's one of the things we say here. Just be thoughtful about what you're doing. We love going off the rails. We love eating, drinking, celebrating life. This is a way to plan it out and know that you have the right stuff in tow.

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I have it in different locations. In one of my specials, I think, and you're doing great I was talking about. The bagel shop at the beach. That's like my, that's my escape plan. When it all goes south. I'm still pursuing it. Bagel shop at the beach. Easy hours, like early, but then you're done it like two.

When the bagels are done, you're done. Everyone loves them because they're kick-ass. I've thought of a bread shop here. Whenever it's like some business craps out, it has any kind of parking, you're like, right in there. That's where it could go. I had another fantasy of this old antique. shop was closing down the old old building and I was like in there you could have a small bread

bakery coffee and just books oh yeah and just let people hang all throughout it I wanted to have a restaurant in an antique store I wanted an antique store or take a restaurant fill the whole thing with antiques and everything is for sale so you could be sitting there with your family eating yeah and I could say hey I really like that table and they're like yeah take it and you could buy it and like move them to another table take the table out and then replenish it. It's a great idea. There's a limit to how small you can go, though,

because people are going to steal from you. Over there? In your antique restaurant. Well, people are going to steal anyway, right? Yeah. What do you think they're stealing? Cutlery? They're probably taking the cutlery,

or you'll probably have, like, in an antique thing, you'll probably have maybe some cute salt and pepper shakers, Mickey and Minnie, maybe some Winnie the Poos, maybe some turn of the century stuff. Yeah, my mother had, blue glass salt and pepper shakers that were in silver, like a silver case, you know,

with the silver top. That's what my father did. He was an antique dealer when he left. Oh, he was? Yeah. Wow. So he probably stole all that stuff. Yeah, maybe.

Yeah. Well, he would put ads in the paper and then go empty people's garages for free. Ah, really? Yeah, because he had an eye. Like, he knew what everything was. Wow. I wrote a pilot about a couple that took over an antique store and got close with a couple people,

but we didn't get it sold. Really? Yeah. Something Old, Something New. That was a great title. Get out of my face, Tom. Well, you got to hang on to it. Come to Papa was a TV show.

It was a pilot into a show and got canceled. And then it became a podcast. And now it's a live radio show that I do. No way. I'm still hanging on to it. That's amazing. Yeah. Where's the live radio show?

I do it mostly at the Comedy Cellar in New York. Yeah. I did it here there in Largo for years. Oh, that's amazing. It's like it was inspired by Garrison Keel. I bet. And Lake Wobagon. And then, because I always liked that idea and I thought, but it would tilt it more towards music.

I was like, what if it has music but tilts more towards comedy. So I created that show. And then, I know this isn't about me, but Prairie Home Companion, he retired and Chris Steeley took over. And they hired me to do the spoken word for it. So I got closer to Garrison. Yeah. And then one time he came into my show, because Erica Rhodes is related to him. Yeah, I know.

And she was opening for me and he came to my show in New York and sent me a note about how great the show was. That's great. I was like, I walked, I floated around Manhattan on that Sunday afternoon. Have you done, what is it, live to live from here? And then that became live from here. Yeah. When Garrison got in trouble from these accusations, which, in my opinion, weren't all that valid, they sent him through the ringer.

He got caught up in some people's ill intent. But during the Me Too time. Yeah, for sure. It was the day of Matt Lauer. Oh, really? Yeah. And they, I don't know exactly what happened, but. They changed the name.

They killed Prairie Home Companion. Kept the show intact, it changed the name, but then there's no, everyone wants to come see that brand. Yeah, I know. You know. I did that one in Portland.

Was that live from here or live to talk? Yeah, it was so fun. I love it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't know you did it. Yeah, I love that. I just love that, I don't know,

there's something so old school about that, that medium. Yeah, it's great. And come to Papa, definitely has that. Yeah. But it's a lot of work. It's like you have to really dial in.

Like when I was doing live from here, I was just like in the shadow of Garrison, just trying to figure out how he did it. And he, you know, I had to write these monologues called Out in America for every week. Oh, man. So it was like five minutes, four minutes of stand-up,

essentially, like an essay, but stand-up. So I had to really, I had to write it early in the week and then keep writing it all week long because I couldn't try it anywhere. I just had to go up on radio, on the actual radio and do it.

But your comedian instinct, you know, tells you what's going to, it really helped, like, get a real ear for what's going to work and what's not going to work. But for better or worse. Yeah, yeah. So the Garrison had done that for 30 years,

almost every week writing the Lake Welligan. Plus he was writing all of the scripts and all this other stuff and books. The guy was a giant. Yeah. Still a giant. But it really was like

a real lesson in what it takes. Like I couldn't during that time because I was working on my books and stand up. There was, I didn't see one movie. I didn't see one thing on a plane. Anytime I was sitting in a chair, this laptop open.

Yeah. Just right. Just right. Just right. Yeah. But it's valuable because, you know, as you know, it's where everything comes. I know. I just don't have that discipline.

I'm like a binge writer. Like I binge write. So like I sold a show and I was waiting for the deal to go through. And I was at the, I was at the San Diego Laugh Factory. And I locked myself in a room and I wrote the script in a day. And I was like done in a day. But I can't write every day. I'm just horrible at it.

And I know that some people can, but like I've sold two shows, written them both. And I swear I never once was like writing every day. I just write in heaps. Yeah. You know. Well, a real cool solve I had. Mm-hmm. Oh, please.

Was just go sit in, where were you right? Yeah. Pick that whatever that place is. And just, you just have to go show up. This great Israeli writer. I show up, Tom. Amos, not Amos, maybe he was, said that writing is your shopkeeper.

Yeah. Just go sit at the desk. Don't beat yourself up. So what? If nothing happens and you just sit there and you end up doing whatever, that's what happened today. Yeah, I know.

I wrote today. I had the script that's been due. I wrote it, and then they want a different version. So I've been waiting and waiting. And I sat there at my desk. and no lie. There were times where I was just staring out the middle for 20 minutes being like, how does this scene work, how does it work?

And then I would go, Jesus Christ. And then I would sit and I would just like, just get it. It literally would be like, and then I was like, oh, there it is. There it is. And finally got it all together. Yeah. Yeah. So that's it.

It's the beating up, it's the beating yourself up during the process. That's the thing that I had to get over. Yeah. Once I got over that and realized, it's no beating ourselves up. it's all going to be garbage and then we'll go back and fix it. I'm better at draft. The book thing, man, forget it, the book thing. Yeah, I like it.

Yeah, I bet. It's a cool, I always like the idea of like, I've wanted to do zines. You know what a zine is? I've been wanting to do those where I just take one topic. I take one item, one thing, and then do a zine on it with interviews, yeah. Recipes, you know, my bread recipe clearly should be in there. People would really thrive off that.

Absolutely. And- Showing people that bread is not always what you think it is. Or what it needs to be. And if some snooty, judgmental guy that you bring bread, you know what I mean? If he still eats it, he shows he's a good guy. Exactly what I was going to say, yeah. But I love that meaning.

I just love the idea of written word versus, like, experience word. You know, like stand-up, movies, scripts, TV. Yeah. Yeah, because how long have you been stand-up? 20-20. 2001 I started 22 years 22 years yeah and then you start to it's great and you love doing it and you're very good at it

but then you it's nice to throw another pitch once in a while yeah for sure totally you can't live on that change up forever yeah yeah just to kind of like change it up a bit and and also be going for something different you know like um I heard you say I heard you say

I think I think to comedy to make people laugh which is such a real thing and some people say they want you to think or they want you to feel something or whatever

well that's all good but for comedy you want them to laugh for sure you know what I mean if you walk in there and it's Jay's comedy show and everyone's just sitting there thinking

in silence you're not going to come back no for sure You really want them to laugh. Yeah. But that statement for me was more along the lines of, like, messing with people. No, I had a tough time. I've always had a tough time accepting the business side of stand-up.

Like, literally, I only ever wanted to make people laugh. I never looked at stand-up like, oh, how am I going to make money off this? Or how am I to do this? I just wanted to, I'm like, oh, I like making people laugh. Yeah. And then there's so much more that comes with it once you get past just making people laugh. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Yeah, 100%. A little connector to. another Massachusetts comedy guy, Stephen Wright. I remember talking to Stephen Wright once, and he thought comedy was the Tonight Show. Yeah. That you write the jokes and then you go on the Tonight Show and that's it. Yeah.

And he didn't realize this touring thing and like going to catch a flight and being a strange hotel in a strange place. He was like, what is this? I know. I was just doing that this weekend. Just this weekend I was in the hotel. Like every time I go out there, it seems different. And I was in the hotel and I'm like, couldn't fall asleep.

And I had the slider open. I had this great balcony and this crazy nightmare. Crazy nightmare. Like, it didn't even scare me. It just was interesting. And then I just woke up and I'm like, God damn it. I'm like, I'm not home. I got to shut this slider.

I just want to sleep with a door open. But this is clearly giving me the nightmare. You know what I mean? And then to get back to sleep in a different time zone to wake up later and figure out where I'm going to go that day because I want to have experiences but I don't want to experience anything. You know, that whole, it's a wild world out there

on the road. It is. I know the crapshoot of whether you're going to sleep or not is such a big part of it. I had an intense dream just at the end of my sleep. My wife got up to work out or something and then I had just in like the last two hours, just one of those was like,

when you pop out and it's just so present, it's so real. I was in New York sitting outside, and someone from like the mayor's office was there, and we're talking about why the city isn't coming back and, you know, why people aren't coming back into the offices and what that's going to do to the city. And then this woman was there. She had very white skin

And she was talking about how She just know At a certain age Even though you want to flirt And you want to experience that part of your life That it's over And it's over before you want it to be over And she was just kind of like

Really intently but whimsically talking about it It was just like a deep conversation All this stuff was happening And I just popped up I was like, whew, I mean, here we are like 12 hours later, and I'm still reeling. I know. Do you think that you are,

what do you think is happening when you dream? I don't know. There's such a weird thing about it. It's like this story that your brain, I mean, I don't think it's, I think it's, I guess it's all inside your own brain. Your brain's just thinking. Do you meditate?

Mm-hmm. Do you do TM? Mm-hmm. So I do TM too. And so, like, my whole thing for TM is, what I remembered to be, at least I thought when I was taught, is like it's giving your brain a chance to just think whatever it wants to do. Yeah.

And that's like such a freedom I have every day when I meditate is to let my brain think. Yeah. So I imagine sometimes when I'm having dreams, it's, you know, I think it's some sort of connection to my brain doing its own thing. I also, which by the way, so I know you have kids older than mine, mine are nine and seven. Right. And like two years ago we're driving and my son goes, dad, what am I going to?

Oh, no, that was a different story. something came up where my son wasn't feeling good about a thought he was having or he was having these thoughts. And I just, no one ever told me this. And I didn't learn until later in life, but I was like, guys, let me tell you something right now. I'm like, your brain is separate from you. Your brain is its own thing. It has its own thoughts. It has its own ideas.

You're responsible for your actions. Your brain can think whatever it wants. That's not on you. That's not your responsibility to own whatever your brain is thinking. And they were like, okay. And it's crazy how kids, no matter how old, have the ability to just accept what you're saying. There's no filtering going on. There's no, like, voice doubting it or saying he's crazy.

They're just like, got it. And they're just like, oh, that's what it is. And it clocked. It just clocked. That's amazing. Yeah. It was cool. Yeah. So I don't know.

What do you think about dreams? I'm not sure. I feel, well, so much. Like there is the sometimes I dream things and see them the next day. So what's that? Like I'll dream very vividly of a rake with a green handle. And then for some reason I wake up and it's clear in my head that's part of what's clear. I love that.

And I'll quietly just wait for it during the day. And not all the time, but a lot of times you'll see it. It's the best. Do you find that? See, I'm not like a big coincidence. guy. Yeah. Like when

giant coincidence happened, like if I was in, if I was in New York on a subway and ran into a girl I went to high school with and someone

had mentioned her two days before and I saw her and she's like, oh my God, I just talked to so-and-so. I'd be like, totally. Yeah.

And they wouldn't be like, this isn't crazy to you? And I'd be like, no, it's exactly where we're supposed to be. Mm-hmm. So when you say that, I believe,

and I was saying this to a friend today, I'm like, yo, I know stuff, my friends going through a tough time. I go, I know it's a tough time, what's supposed to be happening and that's just it. The more you accept what's happening, knowing that you just roll with it and stop trying to think that you have control over it is, I think, where the win happens, right?

Yeah. Yeah. But what is that? What is that it's supposed to happen? What is that? I used to have this philosophy that you wrote your life before you ever became a human. And then the key was to just allow yourself to just be and let it life find you. that's what I said to my son one day.

He goes, what's going to happen in my life? And I go, the only thing you have to worry about is be kind, be honest, work hard, have fun. And I go, if you do those four things, your life will just unfold in front of you instead of you trying to figure everything out. Yeah, yeah. And he and my, that's the same thing. They go, okay. Right. I was like, got it.

Okay. Now let me tell you about Santa Claus. Got it. Sorry to let you down. Got it. So there's the seeing stuff. Yeah. And I bring that one up first because there is also the brain just downloading and working

stuff out. And some of that stuff was on my mind. Part of that dream also, I was somewhere, and there was a portable peloton that didn't have the bike, but it had the other part to it in some weird way. And I was with Whitney Cummings, and we were talking about using that. And I'm going to be seeing her this weekend. So, and I was just on the Peloton. And so there's stuff that your brain is just working through,

just those thoughts, those TM thoughts. So there's just that. And then there's at times when it's your emotions are at play, influencing it as well, where I'll have like a recurring dream of like water, rising kind of a thing like that happens sometimes when in different forms but when I'm under a lot of pressure for deadlines or that kind of a thing I'll get like those symbolically seem accurate you know like you can kind of see those so I feel like your brain is doing a lot of stuff yeah wild yeah so I don't know

maybe it's I mean it is doing all of those things but is there a commonality that's outside of our brain that we're tapping. Like, is there something in our subconscious? Well, there's a collective conscious for sure. Yeah. I mean, I don't want to get too heavy, but I used to have this, I had this vision once of a like sphere of little spheres

ripping around, almost looking like an atom. You know what I mean? And all these little things, energy sources. And then when you become, when a baby is formed or a baby's born, each one just goes inside and like takes on like, you know, this thing. And then you live, when you die, that goes back to the collective conscience.

And it's just all, so we're like, we're all, I don't know. So what was this? This was a thought or a dream? It was a vision, I would say. A vision. I think you put yourself in a weird category when you tell me, be like, yeah, I have visions. Every now and then I have a vision. No.

No? Just a vision. Yeah. While meditating or just Ralph's? I don't know. I was buying bread. Yeah, I can't remember when that happened. I can still see it, and I try to ride it into a thing, yeah.

Yeah, but I don't know exactly what it means or anything like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I mean, there's something, I believe there's something to all of that. I always tend to face with anything, and if you're giving me the alternative of this is somewhat mystical and magical, or this is, we're going to stop analyzing it and just put it as coincidence and stick it in the metal file cabinet and close it. I'll definitely tend towards the mystical and magical.

Sure. Because I just feel that that's kind of something that's real and present. Yeah. You know? Yeah, I like that. You were delayed coming. So, because I lived nearby, I had an extra hour. And I'd just come all the way from Malibu.

I mean, was at a busy day. And I was like, oh. my wife was there and I was like I should be talking to her but I'm going to go take 20 I call it taking 20 because it doesn't make there's no like emotional emphasis on meditating when you say I'm meditating or it's a different thing so I just go I'm taking 20 and then so I went and took 20 and it's like the day's just starting yeah that's rad yeah isn't it amazing it's just like I miss my afternoon meditation all the time you do do? Yeah. That's the one I always hit. I hit the morning one like crazy. The real thing,

and I noticed this because I just corrected it, the two is so much more valuable than the one. I know. That's what everyone, I know. It's insanely more, it's insanely more rewarding. Like, just that level of walking around without things bothering you. I've got it down to this micro level of this micro level of just opening up an app and being frustrated that I have to put something else in where like I hinting the wrong button or I'm spelling something wrong or like any little technical or the coffee makers not work like any of those little interruptions those little frictions yeah those were bothering me and without thinking about it I just went back to doing two and within a couple days I'm like oh no brainer of course all that little shit that's not aggravating

anymore yeah I got to get back on it I mean the mornings is when I'm like this morning I'm laying there set my alarm for 615 woke up my son heard it came in lay down to my bed and I'm just laying there with him and then I just get up they see me meditate all time which I think is the greatest thing in the world like they're like and the other day my son's taking a shower and I'm like yo are you almost done in there and like I peeked open in the curtain and he's sitting there crisscrossed apples I was under the water like this and I was like bro it's like the fantastic mr. fox oh I didn't see that I mean I love Wes Anderson and that's the only one I haven't seen it.

No. Oh, with those kids at that age. I want you, but they're smoking in it, right? It doesn't matter. Oh, they got to see it. It's so good. That's when my kids saw it at that age. Okay, don't.

And they just, to this day. All right, done. Oh, it's so good. Yeah. I love. And there's a little guy and he's meditating. Oh, really? I got to check it out.

It's really, really good. Yeah. Yeah. He's got a new movie out. Yeah, I saw that. That's, like, loaded. That cast is insane. Oh, really?

Oh, my God. It's like 14 characters, and they're all, like, Tom Hanks level. Scarlett Johansson, you're just like, how does an actor get work in this town? When you're just like, yeah, let me put everyone in this movie. It's ridiculous. Yeah, it's crazy. So what's going on stand-up-wise? I was, you had something come out recently.

I put a special out, self-produced it called Sounds Like Bruce. Sounds like Bruce. It's just... Yeah. came out like a little over a month ago. Nice. Such a funny story. Oh, thank you.

Yeah. It's so fun. Yeah. I love that story. Yeah. That's like, so you had told it before the special. Yeah.

I did it on, I did it at the laugh at you one day. Okay. And I told them, hey, don't like, you know, like they used to like just record your sets and put them live.

And I was like, hey, don't put that up because I'm, I want to use it somewhere. Yeah. And, and then like, I'm like driving around one day

and someone hits me up. They're like, yo and I'm like what and they're like that sounds like that wrong number joke is like blowing up and I go what and they go it's on laugh factor so I call the laugh actor I'm like hey I didn't I didn't want that story up and they go are you sure and I'm like yeah and they're like well it's been up for 25 minutes it's got 100,000 views and I was like all right leave it and then yeah why not really yeah and then I did it on Conan and it blew up like went to number one on Reddit like in one day I didn't even know what it was my friend called me he's like

dude, you're number seven on Reddit. And I'm like, what's that mean? He goes, you're number four now. And then, and so I'd had it for so long. And then both those clips went viral. And then people would claim that I was stealing it because one, I'm clean-shaven and no glasses. One I have glasses and a beard. And so I was just like, stealing from each other.

That's so great. And then, like, so I did it on Conan. I don't get paid off of anyone's YouTube. Sure. And then on Conan's Facebook, it's got 186 million views, which is that's. For real? It's like over $200,000. Whoa.

You know what I mean? I'm not getting paid any of that. And I'm like, I'd like to own the video. Yeah. So I'm like, let me put on my special so I can have it and it can be mine. Yeah. Like just to give you a slight example, and this isn't a brag at all because I have 15,000 followers on TikTok. I'm not very active.

But the hashtag Jay Larsson on TikTok is 57 million. Whoa. Because it's been covered so much. Wow. And put out there. And it's just this wild. number and I'm like, I would like to see some sort of return on this joke. Yeah.

Well, you're getting return now because watching it on YouTube, I think there were four ads during it. During just that joke? Just that joke. Oh, I got to go in there. I don't know. I got to correct that. I don't know how, I don't know.

And it was two ads per pop. Oh, wow. You could skip out of it, but it was, yeah. Yeah. So, which is good. It's good and bad. You want people to enjoy this, you know, like you'd like, I would love to make some money back because I paid for it. Yeah.

But at the same time, not at the point where people aren't enjoying it. I need to get in there. Yeah. Well, thanks for that note. That's amazing. That's, um, it's a weird thing. I mean, that's kind of the whole thing with stand-up is always, is the value that you get out of all those people seeing it is greater than any dollar amount that you see from, but those actually at that number, that becomes real money.

Yeah, that's real money. But I get it, you know. But does that make you, does that make you, or it just shows that, you know, like I have a couple of jokes in my new set that are really fun. I'm really enjoying.

And there's a real part of me that's like, why not just put them up? I know. Like, why, do I really want to save this for another year and a half. Yeah. You know, but then there is the thing in a year and a half for the next special, say, you know, you want that joke to be in there.

But, you know, if the numbers, I guess the way to do it maybe is put it up. If it blows up, mission accomplished people see your stand up. If it's mediocre, take it down, throw it back in the special. Yeah, you could do that. I mean, no one's going to know. No one's going to know. Unless people, no one's thought. Yeah, unless, I mean, it can't do that poorly.

But I'm the same, you know what I mean? It could. I had, I just worked all new material in Cincinnati and I had like, I'm talking, never been done before. Solid 25 minutes that I just did. And two jokes were like crushing every time. And I'm like, oh, man, should I just put this joke out? It's not going to get any better. It's just like a set up punchline.

Yeah. And then I'm like, or do I hold it? I don't really know. But I hear you on that. at front. Yeah, because I mean, that's what people have built their careers, had a big bump in their career just from doing crowdwork and posting it on social media. Yeah. And it's like, does it all have to be crowdwork? No. You know, you're going to always come up with new jokes when you're angry writing sessions. Staring out the window blindly. Yeah, of course. It is an interesting time.

Like, you know, I love crowdwork. There should be some combination of it. I think crowdwork is one of the most beautiful aspects of stand-up that gets lost in specials. Yeah. Because crowd work, like the idea of going to live stand-up is this thing that happens and it only happens at that show that you're at and you're in the middle of it. And if you can find a way to do it, that's not generic and can tie into what you want to talk about. Yeah.

It's the greatest thing that can happen. It's the greatest. I do have to say I get a little frustrated when it's all anyone wants to talk about after the show. Is crowd work or why you didn't do it? Oh, yeah. That thing with Gary, the plumber with the weird dog.

Oh my God. You're like, well, yeah, I know. What about the 55 minutes of insightful comedy that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, Gary, and he had that dog,

who knew? I know. There is a little bit of that. Yeah. You know? Well, you put so much work and effort and time into it.

Yeah. But it's not the magic trick that that other part is. Yeah. I mean, but that's kind of like what the magic trick of comedy is, is to make it seem like, right? Of course. That it's all going off the top of your head.

So maybe that's a lesson in trying to make all the rest of it seem. Yeah. Well, that's what I always, yeah. Well, that's what keeps it alive for me. You know what I mean? It's like, oh, how does this feel like I'm doing it for the first time and how is this, you know, that's the other thing is like, We're just manipulators at the end of the day.

We're just manipulating people for a living. That's what we do. We're trying to manipulate the way you see things, what you're going to bite into, and then we're going to pull the string at the right time. We know how you're going to react. We know where we're going to look, how we're going to look, how we're going to stand.

There's something rad about doing that live on the cuff. You know what I mean? Yeah. In the moment. Yeah. It's like, you know, if you're a lawyer and you're working a case and you're like on trial and you're going down this road with who's the person that's testifying.

With the defendant? Yeah, whoever it is that's on the stand. Yeah. And it doesn't go the way you want. And then you just have to keep talking to wind them back to something to then get them. Right, right, right. That's why we all loved a few good men. You know what I mean?

He went for it. Right. Nine and seven are such good ages. Yeah. It is really prime time. We have a lot of fun together. Yeah, a lot of fun. In my act, my kids were nine and six for a long time

because it was such a perfect thing. What were your kids into at nine and six? Two girls, right? Two girls. Yeah. Just having fun, being themselves, going to school, running around their pajamas. That's awesome.

Sleepovers, playing in the pool. All that. It was just, you know, such an innocent time. Such a fun, but they're fun. Like, you could also sit in a diner with them and have conversations. Yeah. That's just the best.

Yeah. Like really talk about stuff, you know, like... Sure. That part was just like that emergence of the people. Yeah. Wrapped in that cute package still. Yeah. Is pretty great.

We have great conversations. Yeah. I just built them a tree house. I always... And you know what I'm finding is so much of my fatherhood is doing things that I wish had been there for me when I was a kid. And they like it and everything, but I made this rad tree house. Really? Like, you know, falling water?

that Frank Lloyd Wright home? I'm not trying to, I'm not saying I, but I built it in the vein of falling water. You did? Yeah. And I'll show you a pick. Yeah. And like now, like the first time they went in, my daughter was like, are you going to put a dumb waiter in?

I'm like, yeah, the dumb waiter's coming. Okay. It's going to get there. I just don't have it. Does it leak like Frank Lloyd Wright Holmes? No. No. I mean, I don't know.

It's legendary for his leaking. It hasn't rained yet. You just did this? Yeah. Whoa. Like a week and a half ago. Wow. Nice job

Thanks And so you like You know You take like Holy cow You take I put rock climbing holds On the tree to get up to like

Each level you know And we put in a dumb waiter I'm going to build a roof Wow And I got a slide order That's gonna like come out of the tree On the other side And go into like the bushes

So you can't see it So it's rad Yeah it's cool Yeah roof would be good Yeah just to hide Well I got to build a wall To protect the neighbors Because it's like kind of invasive

and we were up there and the neighbors like right there and I go, hey man, I'm just going to ask you one time and he goes, what? And I go, if this is too much, tell me and I'll build a wall and he goes, yeah, if you could, and I'm like, done.

Because I want them to enjoy it. You know, they love my kids, but I wanted to like, you know. Where's the wall going to go? Like on one side of it? On the back, like I'm just going to go up and then over to connect the two of them and then my son asked me to put in a bookshelf

he's like a crazy reader. Oh, yeah. I'll put that in. I'm going to make a little area for my daughter to paint. She, like, takes her painting supplies up there and paints. Oh, my God. So I want to, like, build it.

So, like, I'm going to put a little tabletop in so, like, they can sit and look out across the neighborhood, just eating up there. Oh, it's the best. The dumb waiters in. Have their lunch. Now, what do you mean? Your dad wouldn't do this for you? He wasn't there. My dad left when I was really young.

He did? Yeah. So, like, he left. They split when I was two. And then by the time I was, like, nine. We just didn't see him anymore. Yeah. So, like, there was none of that going on.

Right. I never spent a night in a home with him. Wow. Yeah. So that I can remember. Like they divorced when I was two, so there must have been nights, but never, like he never had any custody. We never slept. Wow, never saw him.

No. We'd see him very rarely, like at the bakery or go work in the antique store with him. Right. Go bowling once in a while. Right. McDonald's. What do you? Candlepin.

Did you have candlepin bowling when you were a kid? No. Just Massachusetts. It's like Massachusetts, Connecticut. Right. Two states. Now that you are a dad. Yeah.

What do you think? Who was that guy? You know, I connected with him way later in life. And I just was like, yeah, he just didn't have the, either he didn't have the, I just don't think his life turned the way he wanted it to. I think he wanted to be a dad. I think he wanted to have a family. I think he and my mom had like a really stressed relationship. So eventually I just got to the point where I'm like, oh, I felt bad.

I'm like, oh, I feel bad that he missed out on all this. Like, I think he would have enjoyed us. We were like really cool kids. My sisters are cool, my brother's cool. Yeah. So I just kind of like looked at it from that point. Like I talked to him like, was he young? They were really young.

Yeah. They had my sister the oldest when they were like 20 and 21. And they were divorced at 27. Right. With four kids. Whoa. And then like I'm divorced. So I look at it and I'm like, I have 50% custody,

but he didn't have any custody and then was paying child support and paying all that. And I'm just like, man, that must, felt like trying to like climb a mountain just to be able to afford to exist. Yeah. And then at some point, the resentment must grow huge towards the kids, having to see my mom, whatever it was. Right, yeah. So I just was like, what's the point?

Like, I talk to my kids about my dad. I'm like, I call him Normie to them. Oh, yeah, Normie. Right. And I just don't talk negative. I just share, like, highlights of what I knew about him, but they know the whole story. Right, yeah. Because, you know, what can you do?

God. It's such a strange thing I used to think that When kids are involved Like it's going to supersede Everything like whatever aggravation you have Yeah but you got kids or like someone's in Drinking or drugs or

Whatever their thing is Whatever their trouble Is But if you got kids it'll be like that'll be the thing that will Right the ship But sometimes the life's Problems are so big. You don't even see those faces.

You really, like, there's got to be a part, but it's so big. Yeah. That, you know, you've seen it all the time where it's just like, that was just too much. You know, it's not that thing. Yeah. But, like, you're with your kids and you're creating those tree houses and stuff. Like, the idea of, like, I know we don't know each other that well. I know for a fact if comedy got rough and it meant.

to take care of your kids, you had to go work for a guy in a bakery. Oh, yeah. Making your flatbreads. Yeah, I would never. Yeah, totally. Totally. I would do anything for them.

I mean, they're like, they're, and I think, like, I think people just misunderstand the idea of, like, what parents really need to do. All you really need to do is just be around. It's it. Be, let them be seen and heard. Like, we're going to Yosemite camping this weekend. Yeah, yeah.

We're going to leave tomorrow afternoon. And my daughter has this little. cultural dance ceremony at Friday, and she's going to miss it. And I was podcasting before, and she came in, and she's like, to pick up a bag, she's with her mom, and she came in and she goes, Dad, you know, I'm going to miss the cultural dance. I go, I know, buddy. She's like, yeah, I'm kind of bummed about it.

And I go, I know, can we talk about it later? And she's like, yeah, so I texted her mom. And I'm like, just let River know that we, if we do the dance, we can't go camping. And she goes, no, she knows that. She goes, she's stoked to camp. She wants, my kids love camping. That's good. And she goes, I think she just.

wants you to hear the fact that she's going to miss it. Yeah. And I was like, okay, cool. And then I'm like, this is what I always think when it comes to my kids. I'm like, all right, well, what can I do for her so that she knows that I recognize it? Yeah. So you know what I did? I haven't done it yet, but I'm going to do is I'm going to email her teacher and say,

can you tell me the song and give it to me so then I can get the song. And then when we go camping, I'm going to bring it. And then we're like, show me your dance. And we'll do the dance in Yosemite to the music. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, we were going to get cats and I can't get cats because of my, my, my, lease. And I had to break the news to them.

And she was so upset. And I just was like, so listen, what I think we should start doing is every two weeks, we'll go to the cat cafe. Let's just go to the cat cafe and hang with cats. Yeah. And she just immediately was like, oh, you get me. Yeah. You get that I'm upset and you're finding a way for me to still have a loving and

caring, like an experience that I want to have. And they're going to always accept the bad news. A hundred percent. They just want you to recognize their feelings. Yeah. You don't even have to go as far as fixing it. No, they don't want to fix. Even if you didn't go to the cat cafe,

even if you just were like, I know. Totally. It sucks. And just like that part, which I kind of, like my kids are now on the way out. And I could have been better of the house to go to college. And I could have, I didn't really learn it until,

until recently. They just want you to when they're like, oh, that teacher. is the worst and she just does all this stuff and they're saying something that sounds like totally rational and it seems like maybe you didn't do the work or whatever they don't want to hear challenges and peppers and defending the teacher they just want you to go what uh oh she sounds like the worst why would she do that seriously why would she and that connection all that just that matching their emotional thing just like you said like they want to be heard yeah and then once you do

that, then you can open up the door for the other stuff if you wanted to, you know. For a long, most of the time, I would be like, just, you know, she's probably going through something, just do the work. Do you sure you weren't rolling your eye? Just go in there and I was trying to like fix it. Yeah. It's not really what they're after. Yeah. And you know that's not what they're after when they just kind of walk out the room. Yeah, good point. Yeah, totally. And you just slowly go to the other room. Yeah. Yosemite is one of my favorite places on the planet. Oh, really? I've never been.

What? Yeah. Oof. I'm pretty stoked. Man. And you love camping. Yeah, we did, you know, we do like Leo Corrio. We do, oh hi.

We've done Boulton, Joshua Tree. It's our first time in Yosemite. That's good. I'm pretty excited about it. Yeah. It's like Joshua Tree, just massive to the sky. I can't wait. So I call my friend.

I'm like, because I was in Cincinnati. and then I had this writing deadline. I've been kind of overwhelmed and we were going to leave tomorrow morning like at 6 a.m. Yeah. And I was like, no, I need more time so we're going to leave it too

so I can get the day to like, you know, I have to buy the food and pack the car and all that. And I was like debating, canceling the whole thing. And my boy was like, I go, is this like you look around and you can like picture dinosaurs?

He goes, yes. It's prehistoric. You're going to look at it and you're not going to believe the stuff you see. It's breathtaking. Yeah. So I'm like, all right,

I'm not canceling. And then he goes, also the camp. the camping season there is like June to October. It's like so short and those sites are so hard to get. Oh, yeah. All right, done. Oh, my God.

I went through there first time in college with a buddy of mine and we just got backpacks. I had no idea what we were doing. Oh, wild. Just got a back country pass for a week. No way. Yeah. And there's like he had like an army duffel bag.

Yeah. That he was carrying his stuff in. Like totally unprepared. There's a picture of us. We stopped at the store to get some food. Yeah. to bring up to the site, which is like five miles through the woods up a mountain. And I'm carrying a brown bag filled with groceries.

He's carrying his double bag. And I got this bad backpack that's just like killing my shoulders. But that was our first time ever, like learning how to do any of it. Yeah. The place, even at its smallest, it's the most grand thing you've ever seen. I love it. The pine cones are amazing. The air is amazing.

Okay, great. I mean, it's just, you're going to be blown away. I love that. Oh, it's going to be so good. How many nights? We'll be there three nights. Perfect. Yeah.

I mean, my kid, like, it's crazy when you get kids out and they can't, like, especially now with technology, you just get them out there and they're like, they just wake up and they leave the tent and they just go. Yeah. It doesn't matter where they go. Yeah. We were on a, we were hiking JT and we were on this hike and there was this, like, college kids hiking.

And I talk to everybody is my thing. Yeah. talking, you know. And then my son's, my son's talking to, and he's throwing like, he's not like trying to make jokes. He's just saying things that are funny. And they laughed a couple times and I noticed it. I'm like, oh, that's cool.

That's, like, he's funny. Yeah. And then we keep walking. There's this cave and, like, all the college kids go towards the cave. And my son goes, hey, I'm going to go, I'm going to go to the cave. And I go, yeah, go for it. I'll meet you over here. So I wait in about 10 minutes.

He finally comes out. And then it's just me and him walk in. And like, all of our friends are down another way. and he goes, hey, dad, those college kids, they were, they were pretty cool. And I'm like, yeah, they were pretty cool. He goes, yeah, they laughed at a couple things, you know, that I'd said. I go, yeah, I noticed that. That must, that feel good when they laughed.

He goes, yeah, I go, I go, such a unique talent buddy you have to make people laugh. That's a real, that's a real cool skill to have. And he goes, yeah, I like, I like to make people laugh too, dad. And I was like, God damn. Credits roll. Yeah, totally. But just, you know, those. Denver song plays.

Those moments, you have them when you're, like, you know, out there. It's great. It's amazing. Yeah. It's so good. I made the mistake of scaring my kids about camping. And I told the story about one of my guys to do backcountry all the time. You did?

Yeah. And we were in Alaska, like, seeing a bear. Damn. A bear that came through. And I told the story. And that was it. My kids were like, all right. We're not going to do that.

Wow. I was like, come on, let's go camping. They're like, no. You know how that happened to us? We were in our tents in Ohio. at Wheeler Gorge and I was still awake and then I hear the people

at the campsite next was going, get out of here! Oh no. Get out of here and I sit up and there's the bear like 10 feet for my tent and my son's and I'm going get out of here

my son sits up and he goes what is I go look at the bear buddy and he's going hey get out of here and I had the window open in the tent and the bear just like slumbered away you know and then like we joke

because then my daughter leaned up and she's like what's going on? And we're like you just missed the bear and she to this day says, I saw the bear too. And we're like,

River, she's like, I saw it. And we're like, okay, you saw it. We saw it, just give a short version of it.

The whole thing is don't run when you're hiking. When you see a bear, just freeze, make noise, make yourself big, make sure it gets out of the way, but do not run.

And it was like six of us, and all but two of us just took off. Oh, I bet, man. And we're like, we're like in the middle of it, but this thing was so, fat in Alaska.

It was like right before they were going to hybrid. Oh, yeah. It was dusty and fat and just trying to get the last berries at the bottom of the mountain. Oh, it had no interest in us. Yeah, yeah. But close. Yeah. Really close.

Yeah, those are intense. Have you ever seen that video when viral about that guy was hiking and he came across the mountain lion, the mom? Yeah. And it came at him. Yeah. That video is just like, oh, my. God, I would lose my... It was like batting and fast.

Woo, so fast. I know. That is so scary. And then when the Revenant, man, when the Revenant did that bear scene... Oh, that... Bro. What about that documentary of the guy in the...

Was it Bear? I don't know. You never heard that one? You remember that one, Joey? What was his name? Something like... Something bear. Documentary about a guy who wanted...

wanted to like live with the bears. Oh God. Naively. And in this like part of Kodiak, I think in Alaska. And he's, it's not acting the right way. He's very like, they love me. And trying to like pull off a Jane Goodall without any of the skill. And the end of it is an audio tape of the bear chomping on his skull.

God. Yeah. It's like bear man or something like that. I don't even know if I can handle that. All as I remember, do you remember Reader's Digest? Yeah. So my nanny used to get Reader's Digest. And I remember being in her house and I always used to love.

They had every magazine had a drama in real life. Uh-huh. And I read one about a bear attack. And the guy talked about how when it clawed his back, he could hear it go down each, like, bone of his spine. Ah. This is a horrible discussion, by the way, but he knows you're on your way to Yosemite. I'm not worried at all. The way I always face it is I have a hatchet with me.

And if it ever got that close, I'd have at least like one or two shots at it, you know? Do you keep Bear Spray? No. But I mean, maybe they sell it there. You know, the place we're at, it has like a store, like, near the campsites. There's a beautiful in there. I've heard. This is, Google's so funny.

You just type in Bear, Doc, and it fills out Mentory Guy Dies. It fills in. in for you. Yeah. Treadwell, his girlfriend, Annie, were killed and almost eaten by a 28-year-old male bear. Ooh, who was later found to contain human remains. What was the name of it?

Grizzly man. Grizzly man. That doc is, yeah, it's just like, they just like being around me. They're so cute. It's like, no. The first time you see him, you're like, oh, you're getting eaten. Yeah.

You got to. I haven't heard anything. about this film, but you're not making it to the end. God. How long was he out there? Like, all during like the hungry season. But I mean, for like a year. Oh, wow.

So he survived a year. I think so. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah, it's not good. Grizzly, man. No. What can the people, how come the people keep track of you?

On social media, Jay Larson Comedy is on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube. Nice. And now you've got this special it's out. You're just going around the country amassing more material. Yeah, I mean, I'm doing some tour dates. I'm in Boston at Laugh, Boston, and out in Cape Cod in June 29th in Cape Cod, 30th in Boston, July 1st in Boston, then the 14th and 15th in Four Collins, Colorado.

Cool. And then August 1st and 2nd in San Diego, Grand Comedy Club. That sounds like a nice summer balance. Yeah, it's not bad. Yeah. I'm taking the kids for that trip to Boston. We're going for 12 days. Whoa.

I'm going to take him to, like, where I was a kid. Right. Like, all the stuff we did during some vacation with my, my elementary school best friend and his kids, and he used to come on our family vacations. And I used to go on his. He's got a house in New Hampshire now, so we're going to go up there and take the kids to, like, all the places we would go. Did you go to Cape Cod a lot? No, we were a New Hampshire family.

Okay. Yeah. Did you? A couple times. Yeah. But I remember it being, like, pretty much. magical. I mean, in college, my friends and I, 10 of us would rent a house for a week. Oh, yeah. Ten guys in a three-bedroom. It was pretty awesome. It's like beautiful out there. But I'm a

freshwater guy. Give me a lake and a river and a gorge, you know, and that's like, that's where I'm at. Ooh, I wonder if you'll jump in the water in your 70s. It's going to be cold. It's going to be freezing. Yeah. The high is 53 while we're there. Really? Low is 35. Oh. So it's going to be cold. This is going to be great, though. And I told the kids, I'm like, just so you know, it's going to be cold. Like, sweatpants, sweatshirts every day. Like, and they're like, okay. Are you going to pack some of your bread?

Yeah, of course. Everyone's going to want that bread. I think it's good. My kids ate half of them. You're leaving tomorrow. So bring that bread with you. Oh, yeah. I mean, I will.

Bring that with you. I mean, if it survives, I might do a little avocado, go cheese, lemon juice, and salt on it when I get home. Oh, nice. Good job. Yeah, that's my first. I'm going to do the same with yours. Unbelievable. I'm glad this finally worked out.

Yeah, man. Thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it. Come back many times. Cool. All right. I'll bring a new bread next time. All right.

And I'll bring alcohol. Yeah. Done. All right. Good. We got it, Joey. There you have it, kids. Jay Larson.

Right? Right. Go check out a special. They call me Bruce. Call me Bruce. He's on YouTube right now. very funny. Check it out. You're going to enjoy it. Thank you to nuts.com. Thank you to all of you for purchasing. I know you stopped the podcast and purchased. We're all in this together,

so make some room. Audio book is probably, uh, it is, I can tell from just the feedback we're getting on social media. People are enjoying the audio book, which is really weird because it's, uh, narrated by Colin Quinn. No, I'm only kidding. I, of course, ought to do it. A big thank you to Colin Quinn for last week at the 92nd Street Y. We had a great book event and Colin was the best. And a big thank you to Rain Wilson, who did the same in L.A. at the Grove. And I hear that that went great too. It's actually tonight, but by the time this airs it, it'll be over.

Thanks for listening. You guys are the best. We'll see you next time on Breaking Bread.