Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 17 - Mark Flanagan

Episode Date: September 1, 2020

Mark Flanagan, aka “Flanny” is the founder/owner of The Largo Theater. I trade a loaf of sourdough for amazing stories about Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and how he created one of the best places for comedy and music on the planet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Hey! sourdough. Hey, it's time for Breaking Bread with Papa. Hey, don't you know, it's also a show. Hey! Hey, everybody, welcome to another edition of Breaking Bread with Tom Papa. This week, we sit down with Mark Flanagan, aka Flanny, the owner and operator of Largo in Los Angeles. Largo is one of the most beloved places to perform comedy or music in the world. I was lucky enough to start performing there, I don't know, probably eight years ago or something,

and it'd been going on much longer before that. It is such a great venue. It just has this great creative atmosphere, and it cultivates free. which is what all the performers need and the audience knows that they're going to get that from the performers and that's why this place has been successful since the 90s. It all comes from Flannie. It all comes from this owner who is just this great guy who has such a love for life and such a love for entertaining and a love of good things. And that all comes out. Whenever I travel around and perform, the places where the owner is involved have something special about them. It's the same with all of the

bakeries and stuff that I talk about. Any place where the owner is directly involved and they have their heart and soul in it, it makes the difference. It makes the difference between those clubs that are just opened up in a mall and nobody cares and nobody checks. And those places like Largo that are actually, actually become a magical destination. And I'm not exaggerating when I say that. Flannie is also a very good friend of mine. He took me in. We became fast friends as soon as I showed up there.

And I love baking bread for him because he loves eating it. And you could just tell from looking at the schedule of who, performs there. It's kind of like, it's like the artistic world signing off. Everyone from Zach Alfanakis, Sarah Silverman, and Jod Appetow and all these great podcasts and John Brian and Fleetwood Mac and Randy Newman. And the list goes on and on and on and on. And Larry David and Jeff Garland, it's just great. And I can't be happier to be a part of it. And I can't be happier to introduce you to Flanny. You're going to get the essence of the place just from this interview, and you're going to,

as he tells you the story of his beginnings in Belfast, coming over to the U.S. and creating this great place. It is real honor to share it with you. I would break open some wine and share that with you as well. We'll do that next week because wine access. just sent me a whole bunch of new wine, and I'm so excited. I will share all that with you on next week's episode. Oh, but they send some good bottles this week. Oh, Flannie doesn't really drink. So with him, it's all about the bread. Enjoy breaking bread with Tom Papa and Flanny.

Oh, I love it. Look at our hats. Look at our hats. Men without cares. now this not this hat is not planned for the for the podcast no this is I showed up you yeah you tell it well you've got a mirror door and I showed up and I was like is he ever going to answer the door and you were staring with your hat on from the inside and it's not a mirror door it's just a pin of glass I went look at us but these hats these are our pineapple weird hats yeah which we bought within days of each within days of each other within days of each other. You in Maui. I'm in Maui and you sent me a photograph, the phone, texted me a photograph of just, of course, the time special, the top of the head with the hat

and glasses. Maybe no glasses. And I had just come out of a place where when I go to Maui, I don't bring any clothes. I bring a purse or I'm wearing what I'm wearing. You don't pack? No. And then I go to two days in. I bring two purses from shorts. That's it. Okay. And then I go to the local mall and they always have a sale and I'll go into like, you know, O'Neill Sports and I'll just buy the rash guard or t-shirt. And this was in the front window and I was like, well, there's, and I just, and I was on my way home in the rental car and got your message. I went, no. It's so hilarious. And you know what? And that's probably four years ago. Yeah, at least. Yeah. And it is holding on. It, yeah. I wear it nonstop. I'm. I wear it nonstop. I'm.

we were just saying that you can throw this on, you don't have to have it on, you have it on sideways, it just feels good. It's just, and it just, it says. You know what I like about it? It's so stupid that it shows that who's ever wearing it, for some reason, has a weird amount of confidence. Here's the crazy thing about this hat. I didn't even notice they were pineapples.

I didn't need it. Well, I knew they were pineapples. Right. You didn't know they were pineapples? No, I kind of looked and went, oh, those are, that's a fruity hat. That looks ridiculous. one of my best friends, Neil Finn, is in a band called Crowded House, and he has a song called Pineapple Head, which I've always loved.

And at that time, my eight-year-old daughter looked at that and she went, oh, pineapple head. I went, we should listen to that. And she goes, well, yeah, with that hat on. What I didn't realize is that it has like a little face on the pineapples. I have never even noticed. It has a little, it has a little, like, devil face in the pineapple. This is so great.

I love that the heads are beating. Well, thanks for. doing this. This is amazing. Yeah. Not only do you run one of the best places for music and comedy in the world,

but also, you were one of the early people to appreciate my bread. I've been feeding you bread for quite some time. Yes. I'm going to use your camera just to do an action shot.

Yeah. Oh, boy. Look at that. Come on. It's so beautiful. And you know, and I have to say, feeding you the red and your appreciation for it. Oh my God. Kept me, got me excited to keep going,

because you got something with the very, very early loads. But also, I had to refrain from, I'm not a big texty kind of like, from sending you 20 minute photographs of, have you tried it with raspberry jam and Kerry Gold Butter? Like, and by the way, now it's got to the point when I bring this home, I might have to hide it a bit because there's four going at it.

Like raccoons. An 11-year-old boy who just eats everything. He'll just cut that in half and go, oh, yeah. You want butter on it? No. Well, this is going to be your last one for a bit because I've got to travel. But also, you know what I thought of, that last time you came over with the bread, you pulled off in the Tesla.

Yeah. And I remembered that my favorite bread, apart from this, is in Belfast when we were kids, there was a bakery called the Ormo Bakery. Ormo. Ormo. Ormo. Okay. And it was on a street, which we lived off, called the Ormo Road. But the Ormo Road was O-R-M-E-A-U.

And the guy that ran the place was like, Ormo. And they were like, how do you spell that? And it's just an ORMO. But he started the company in 1875, right? And his name is Robert Wilson. And they called him Stony. Stony Wilson. And he came up with wheat germ before everybody.

Like he was like, this is healthy bread. Right. Vitamine, tons of vitamin E, tons of vitamin B. And for years in Belfast, it lasted like 150 years. But the crazy thing is, when you pulled off in the Tesla, I remember being in school. Yeah. And things were like in the 70s in Belfast.

It was grim. bombs like crazy right and there used to be these vans that would drive around and just say ormo on the side of it and it wouldn't say ormo bakery it would say ormo and there were electric vehicles really all in the 70s and you wouldn't hear anything you just see it going by and you're like oh this the bread wow so they were delivering they were delivered with electric vehicles because after the war they needed all the oil for the war the gas and stuff like so they were like well let's charge up a few batteries and see if we can't do this wow and they pulled it off I'll send you a photograph of the vans.

That would be so cool. It is incredible. But it was like a pure square. And when I saw Elon Musk's pickup truck, it even more reminded me of it because this was like somebody went, okay, we got a battery. What do we need? You need four sides and a roof, pal, don't get fancy. Right, right.

And it's just a box. We would just quietly go down your street. The milkman, you would hear him coming three blocks away, you know. Yeah. And they would deliver this bread and it was in parchment paper. And it was like this. It was like a country low? And you could have it sliced or not sliced.

Uh-huh. and we would fight for the heel, like just like. And there would be two shifts. And so there was a shop near us that we stopped getting it delivered, but there was a shop near us that you would go at 8 o'clock, and that was the second shift. So they would deliver at 4 in the morning. Right.

All of those would just go. Like people would get there. Yeah. You know, and then we would get it 8. And at the apartment. You mean right to your house? No, yeah, into your house. But we stopped getting deliveries because we figured out that the second batch was even fresher.

Oh. And you would, it was in the paper, like, you would hurt your hat, like it was hot. Oh my God. And by the time you get home, it's still warm. Oh. And your mom would just put your hand and I go, right? And you're like, yep. Did you ever go to the shop?

Did you ever see what the shop was? I passed it all the time. I never went in. Yeah. You know, just like kind of like, and it's not there anymore. I think it's, it's some other place, but it's a historical building. Like, he started in 1875. That's amazing.

And three generations of this family did it. What's amazing about it, I was just reading this, this book right here, living bread. Oh, I have a book for you too, by the way. Daniel Leder. And he's just, you know, one of these artisan breadbakers who's like kind of like spearheaded the movement. Like he's really into it and going around. And this bread, this book, Living Bread, really gets into the wheat, like the ancient grains

from all these different areas. And they're trying to regrow it and stuff. Oh. And it's like what they're trying to do, I guarantee you there's somebody in Belfast right now trying to find the wheat that they used to use at the beginning of that bakery. Yeah. And he used to give to hospitals, I believe, like in City Hospital in Belfast, which is one of the busiest hospitals in the world in the 60s and 70s because of the bombings.

Like, you know. Right. Belfast is about the size of West Hollywood. I mean, it's not a big, it's not like L.A. Oh, really? It's, you know, a million people spread out. Oh, I always pictured it much bigger. No.

Oh, Dublin's only like a million and a half people, and that's the biggest cities. Right. In the north of the city. But in 1972, there was 2,600 bombs detonated in Belfast. In one year. One year. So it was like every 20 minutes. You know, it's the size of West Hollywood?

My mom would be like, you know what we could do with that bread? As soon as there was a rattle. You're like, wait, what? She was the ultimate Trump. Like, look over there. Oh, right. Yeah. I would hope, be like, oh, yeah.

Let's draw ducks. What? Flanny, was that? Were you like? Like, his kids, were you a little shell-shocked by it? Were you nervous? Yeah. But it was funny because I was listening to Mike from, I don't know if he was the last guest,

Open Mike Eagle? Oh, Mike Eagle. He says hello, by the way. Oh, good. He said just sweetheart. I told him that you would listen to it. And he was psyched. And he was like, oh, my God, I haven't seen him in a while.

You know, he's one of these, we'll talk about this in a second. But what is going to say about him listening to him talking to you and talking about, like, living in Chicago with his grandparents and the high rise and his grandfather was the janitor and all this sort of stuff. Yeah. I'm listening to that and I was like he and I and people like us are built for this the pandemic.

Right. Because we have the third eye. We've been through it. We know we can get through it. Yeah. And you live every day as that day. Right. You know.

That is your attitude. I mean, that's what's so contagious about you. Yeah. Is that, I mean, you know, we became friends when I first showed up at Largo. And but then we became fast friends and we meet all the time for coffee and do all this stuff. And it's just,

I just know, because I live that way. too. Right. Very rarely. I may be, maybe two or three times that we've ever gotten together

and you were like, I've got troubles. You're always like, yep, I got this, I'm dealing with it. Right. It's okay.

It's a little burst of sunshine in your day. Yeah. Well, sometimes the troubles would be, if it's a really big trouble, the only troubles that really would affect me is the health of the family or friends.

Sick, right? Yeah. So the rest is like, if it's the landlord at Largo, which has been a constant, fucking drag. Yeah.

Or anything like, that or, you know, I know that I'm going to get through it, but it's just, I need a second to, like I was listening to Jim Carrey talking the other day, and he was like, he's the perfect example of an extrovert, which is like he loves to be around people talking. Right. He loves to shut down and be by himself. And I'm the same. Right.

Like, I just sit at home. When you're home, you flip the switch. You know what I really do? I did it yesterday. I'll sit in the beach while the kids are in the water and I'm watching them. And I use as an excuse to say, I'll watch you. You know, like a lot of dads are just, you look around there all sleeping on the beach. or looking at their phone.

I just look out at the beach and I figure out a whole bunch of things about the next few weeks or like, and it just comes to me and I'll just sit there and I just stare at the, you know, and then something, everything goes out of focus

and I just start to clearly think about things. Now, did you have to, were you kind of this way as a kid? Yeah. You were. Yeah. So when bombs are going off and you're getting a little,

you know, there's a little shell shockness of living in this crazy time, uh, you were, you kind of showed up as a little, resilient, optimistic little being to begin with. My mother was a little bit of a, she was a nurse.

She was in the deep of this stuff. Oh, really? So she was seeing the people that were affected? Yeah, she would be at city hospital and an ambulance would pull up and they'd be like, we're going to be right back with the arm. We know where the arm is. So just keep them alive. Oh, my God.

And she would tell us story. The great thing about her was she passed away 20 years ago, way too young. But she would tell us stuff. And I'm doing the same thing with the kids. It's just like, hey, see this stuff? I'm not hiding. They're 11 and 13. I've never hidden stuff from.

Right. And like from the get-go, we always talk about sex or about anything. If they go, well, what? I'll just tell them. Yeah, yeah. You know, because they're going to find it. But my mom did that. But what she was, she and I had this kind of memory thing that was just, she says, oh, you've got the curse, which is like, I remember everything.

Really? Yeah. Like, I mean, even reading your book, I can remember pages. Really? Yeah. Like, beaded blue necklace for Emily. Uh-huh. You know?

Or the MRI, the bed, the first apartment was since. Cynthia. I remember all this shit. Wow. Being at your sister's house in New Jersey and, you know. It's crazy. I don't even remember that. No, I know, but I can do that. I can do it with Leonard Cohen. Right. And it's why when I'm reading, I always have a few books of poetry around because I'll pick them up and they're short and I'll just be like, it's soothing to just go. Oh, completely. I know. I know. You know, I've been reading a lot of poetry lately also. I leave it just, I do it in between books. That's what I do. Yeah. I'll have like a book of

Seamus Heaney's poetry right there, and then I'll be reading, it's funny, I got into this thing in the last few weeks. You know, people are saying that they've run out of things to watch. I'm not Netflix and all this stuff. I love it, whatever. Yeah. I don't have all the hours. I can't sit and watch these things. And so I will specifically find something like Karen Kilgariff recommended on the spectrum. Oh yeah, yeah, the dating show with the autistic kids. And if that had been two seasons, I wouldn't have watched it. Right. And I spent four years working with autistic kids. Yeah, yeah. And I looked at it and she's, you know, she was like, the share a cup of tea. and it was five episodes and it's perfect.

Perfect. And it's uplifting. Yeah. At the same time I was watching that, I was reading Neville Schutz book on the beach. Have you ever read this? No. It became a movie.

It was in the 50s. And it's about the, about after the Second World War, there's some countries, it's fictional, start to really go at it. So the Netherlands gets into a nuclear war with something, just like small countries.

Yeah. And then the aftermath of it, this nuclear waste starts to drift towards Australia and people are dying from the toxins of your waste right yeah and so all these people at the end of the book they all like take a pill they're all suicidal they see a wind coming over the thing and they're all like yeah I'm going to get out before that hits me wow right and so but I'm reading that and then I'll pick up a little bit of poetry yeah and then so and then zig back that's my thing yeah yeah you know I I always have a record going on in the background yeah have you I let it

sit you know when it sticks at the end it doesn't get up I'll just let us sit there for a minute I do too. Isn't that a nice moment? Just a... Yeah. I know it's not good for the needle, but I just be like... Yeah. I know. There's no rush. Larry David told Garland once at Largo that he cannot read and listen to music at the same time.

He's not a big music person to start with. Right. Any music or music with lyrics? No noise. No noise. That's tough. Yeah. Because I remember as a kid, I wasn't as good of a reader. Right. But I could have anything on. I could have Led Zeppelin going. My trouble is with your book, too.

Yeah. the book, both is that I'll read it in one go. Right. And remember everything. It's so great. And people could quiz me on stuff. Oh, they're like, could you remember lines?

Like, if you were an actor, would you be able to memorize all the lines? Yes, but I find it desperately boring. Paul, I've been in a couple of things that Paul Thomas Anderson put me in, luckily. Like, I mean, you know, and if any of them had lines, I just wouldn't do it.

Oh, really? The repetition in a certain way like that. Like, I mean, the idea for me of people doing eight shows a week on Broadway. Oh, God. I just, yeah, you couldn't do it. So when you watch comedians come through... But this is why I love Largo. Right.

Is because I encourage everyone, do something new. Yeah. You don't have to do anything. Just do whatever you want to do. It's funny, because we've never talked about that. But I know if I go up and I'm just kind of like not feeling or whatever and just spit out whatever I've done before, I always feel like you're a little disappointed. No. No, it's not that.

So here's what I love is you'll come in and you'll do like three things that are brand new that I love. Right. be on like with Mullaney or whatever show it is. Yeah. And then I'll say, hey, come back on Friday. And these people will have never seen you. Yeah. And you go up at that set and I'm just, and I just look in their faces and I'm just loving it.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But what's, I don't know how, how do you, maybe it comes from you. Because it is one of those places. The audience comes to expect that the act is going to be a little experimental. Right.

The, all the other acts feel like they have to show up and they shouldn't be wasting this time. they should be working. Right. And like coming up with new stuff. Like it is, it's a very, it's a weird combination of really refined stuff, but also experimental stuff.

Well, and did you have that in your mind or did that just happen? So like I said, John Mullaney, John Mullaney said to me years ago, he goes, I want to do a show, but I want to do something different. I said,

this is the place to do it. And the reason it is is because there's no recording. Right. So you can try shit and if you fall on your face. Yeah. But I generally feel like, as soon as you walked on,

stage, I went, yeah, this guy. I have a really clear sense since I was a kid of knowing what I'm going to like. Right. And Karen Kilgariff and I had coffee the day, and she was asking me about some, and I said, a mutual friend that we were talking about, I said, he has that thing of like, he gravitates towards the things he likes. And if he likes them or that person, you're in. Right.

And if he doesn't like, he just, he won't go, you know, and I'm pretty much the same. Yeah. So people will come through and they will kill the audience. That'd be just fantastic. And it's not something personal, but I was just like, yeah, I got that. Yeah. But I'm into the people that are like, but it wasn't always the way at Largo, because I've had Largo for over, you know, two Largoes.

There was one on Fairfax. And it was only when I moved to the Laszienega and put up the red curtain, and the lights and put everything up. Funny enough, Zach was the first. We were in the old Largo, and I said, hey, I want to show you something. He goes, okay. So we get in my car and we drive, it was so funny because I said, it's the new Largo and he goes, what are you talking about?

and most people were very encouraging and he was too well how but wait how getting rid of this one are you yeah I was just going to say how long was the first Largo around because I missed the first LARGOs 13 years 13 years almost 14 years wow wow and um and so he was like oh no you're going to change the place on me 14 years because this one is almost 13 years wow 27 years Conan and I were talking about similar timeline from him oh really for his career yeah and it was funny because I woke up this morning and there's an old Gary, not an old Gary Shandling, there's a joke that Gary Shandling told right before he died, which was when, and it was not long after Robin Williams died.

And they were the same age, you know, and it was just, right, every part of it was tragic. Yeah, that one hurt. And it did. And he was on stage and he said, it was the last time I think he performed and he goes, you know, it's terrible to lose a friend. And that guy was a gem. And he said, the only upside is when you hear Wolf Bits or go, 64, so young. I think pretty much the only time they say 64 is young well I woke up this morning they were talking about Kamala Harris

and she's my age she's so young like I mean she's really young oh nice I'm a rookie again so when you brought Zach over to the new spot so Zach and I

but the funny thing about it was we drove down there was an so the old Largo was between on Fairfax Avenue between Rosewood and Oakwood these are the cross streets right I always feel like it's a New York thing because it's actual cross-dress.

Yeah, yeah. We get in the car, and I just went the whole side street down Oakwood and stopped at last year and again. I said, see this theater? I said, I just took the rent over, and he goes, what are you talking about? And I said, you'll see.

And he was like, you don't want to give up that old spot. And I was like, and so we walk in, and it was totally disheveled. Like, there was paint dripped off. Like, there was no curtains, no nothing on the stage. Right. A lot of the seats were actually broken, like not, there was no seat there.

Wow. I mean, it's an all, it's a historic building. Yeah. And I walked in, in. And it also had been a place for rent. So people would come in, do their thing, make it beautiful, and then tear it apart. Oh, okay. Right. Just the space. Yeah. And ironically, the last thing that was in there was a two-week run and they cut it short and they

ran out of money. And I think they had one guy just come in and like rip things off walls. And it looked awful. Wow. Wow. But so I didn't really want to show Zach the worst version of it. Yeah. But we sat there and I said, I'm going to do this. And he goes, hold on a second. He goes, Even like this, it's fantastic. Wow. And it was so encouraging. You could feel it. But what I was going to say is then when he was going to say is then when he was, he was He saw, then he came back on opening night or even before we opened. And I showed him the curtain and the piano and the rug and everything. Yeah.

And he was like, I have to up my game. I can't be fucking around. He's always joking. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But the thing is, that translated. There's honesty to them. Like Paul F. Tompkins and everybody, they were like, oh, I better dress it. Maybe I should, yeah.

It's a theater. It's a theater. Yeah. I know. It changes the audience and it changes the act. Yeah. But people didn't, it didn't appreciate any sort of like ideas of experimenting or, you know what I mean? People would do.

Right. No, but that's a good answer to that question. Yeah. Because it, yeah, people still want to experiment, but it was a little more important in a way. To answer to it too, it's me encouraging. Yeah. But it's also me looking for signs and going, you know, to do that. Right.

If they talk about something backstage. And it'll be ultimately, it'll be like a Nick Kroll show. Uh-huh. And he's fantastic. And it'll be somebody who's a guest on the show. You know, I have this idea for a show, but, you know. And you can tell they don't even want to say it because it might be a bit deaf. And I'd be like, yeah, no, we're going to do that.

Yeah, yeah. I have an idea for Mike for a show that it was just like, but he has no idea that I have an idea for this. At the right time, I'll hit him up and go, here's, you know. Right, right, right. And he's such a lovely guy. But, um, so that's, so when you, when you were a kid and you were, like, where did you, where were you getting all of this music and, like, what was hitting you at the time? Irish people, it's like, you know, it sounds romantic for me to say, and I'm sure if some of my, if Irish friends were watching this, it would be like, come on. he's been away for too long.

But literally every Irish person that I know is an amazing singer. Yeah. Can read poetry. Can retain poetry. And have a certain dignity about, they're definitely a literary thing, you know. Yeah. And because in the 80s when Thatcher, like she was the president of England, that was like devastating time.

That was Reagan here, but like in a really oppressive time. Oppressive time for all of Britain and Ireland as a result because we rely on, Ireland relies on Britain for trade. stuff like this year. So it was devastating. There were strikes all the time. Right. It was really bad. So unemployment was the highest it had ever been. So what would people do? They'd either go to Australia or America. There was the two choices because England had no jobs. Previously they would go to London. They would go to Liverpool, the nearest port. Yeah. When I was graduating from college in the mid-80s or from high school, I mean in the mid-80s, the only thing you do was go to college. Right. Because there's no jobs. Right. So that the most educated now, like there's people my age that have,

double degrees. They just went, oh, I guess should it, four more years? Yeah, fuck it. They're paying me. Yeah. You know, so the government would pay you to go to college. Oh my God, that's so perfect. So it's a really in general, an educated bunch. Yeah. Now, and there's such a poetry. And there's a completely different,

big difference between the north of Ireland and the south of Ireland. Yeah. And the north of Ireland, it's six counties, it's small. It's unaffected by tourism because of all the bombings and stuff like that. But they have a sense of humor that is just... Just killer. And because it's everything

It's like they get life They're just like we could be gone in a second What's it like now? Like is there some of the old people The old guard that still resents Yes Well so what's happening is Like for years

It was just this homeostasis of like It's the same it's ever going to be And people give up They were just like Oh fuck you know Yeah And it was a fight that couldn't be won Right I mean

It could be one It could be one I mean the truth of the truth of it is So America and everywhere in the world got the story that the Irish people just, they're fighters. Right. The British came in and, for example, Belfast, where I'm from, that's where they built the Titanic. It was the shipbuilding capital of Europe.

Wow. It was also Northern Ireland, was the linen capital of Europe. And the Brits took all the money from that. The locals never saw any of it. They just worked, you know, and they never wanted to give that up. And so in the 1916, when there was a rising in Ireland, they agreed to take the north of Ireland and that they would eventually leave. There was a policy in place that they would leave 1966 or whatever it was.

And they never left because it was too good. And at that point, they had appointed so many people from England to have great jobs in Northern Ireland that there was a lot of English Protestants that were living there. And then, but the national, like Catholic is the predominant religion. Right. So they made it about Catholics against Protestants. It was always about Irish people going, your time is up. Right. Get the fuck out of here and they wouldn't go.

Yeah, but they did this propaganda thing. The Brits did this propaganda thing, like Churchill, all of them, like from the get-go there. Those people can't be happy. They just can't be happy. Look at what we give them. We give them shipbuilding. No, you took the shipbuilding. Oh, of course, of course.

So in a nutshell, it's just, it's a national thing. So it could be, it could be east of the Brits just went, you know what, you're right. It's your country. Yeah. Like in the 90s, they were fighting Falkland Islands in Argentina. Right. You know, it's in them still. Yeah, they still always want a peace.

Yeah, and so it's like colonialism, I think it's mostly gone, but Ireland right now is like, everywhere it's dealing with the pandemic. And my mother's side of the family have the oldest family-ar-operated bar in Belfast. Really? It's called Laveries. And it's five-story. It's unbelievable. Beautiful.

Great people. But for the first time since like, I think they opened 1918. Yeah. This is the first time it's been closed for more than a few consecutive nights. And it's been closed since March. Wow. Wow. And they reopened recently just to do, they were allowed to open on a Friday and Saturday for six hours.

And that's it. And these people are just going with it. Yeah. If you would have told them like, we're going to close that bar for a month a bit. Right, right, right. Because it's the national pastime, is drinking and chatting at a bar, you know.

Right. Oh, my God. I know that's why they're all the great storytellers. Yeah. So, but when you were, when you were. So there's what's going on politically is Brexit is still looming. Mm-hmm. And so what makes a difference with,

so Ireland essentially at some point they're going to give up. It's almost like the old white guard like Trump and Pence and all these fucking things. Yeah. It's a matter of time before the dark skins. are equally taken care of. And so it's the same thing in Ireland that they're holding on to dear life,

but with Brexit, they have to bid up the border again on north and south of Ireland because Northern Ireland is part of Britain. And Britain wants out of, but the south of Ireland's like, oh, no, no, no, we're part of the EU. Oh, geez.

We're putting our money with them. Right. So if a border goes up, all hell's going to break out. You know, it's going to be... Yeah, it's going to bring up all the old... All the old shit will come up again. Oh, man.

So when you were a kid and your mom and you're hearing all these bombs and your mom's trying to distract you by, hey, look at the bread. She must have been worried that you're going to get to a certain age and be dragged into this. The only time that you would be,

that we were uncomfortable was, so my mom, in order to keep the, she would work night shifts at the hospital, so she would be with us during the day, like get us to school, do the whole thing. I don't know when she ever slept.

Yeah. The worst times when the two of them would go out for drinks with friends. Uh-huh. And you'd hear bombs. You're like, they're not coming back. Oh, God. You'd hold your breath until you hear the front door open.

Right. You know, and then when you'd hear them laugh, you'd be like, oh. Oh, yeah. And my, I bet my sister, my two sisters and my brother don't remember that as much. I do. Yeah. I remember actually resenting my cousin as a babysitter when she'd come in. I'd be like, this is risky.

It's almost like the virus. Yeah, it's got very similar, isn't it? Like, you're really going to go out? I'd be rude to her. Like, you know, yeah, not put me to bed. I, we're good. At seven. We have an understanding, you know.

And it was that thing. But, I mean, listen, you get over all. I mean, there's certain parts of the stays. with you in your body, like everything. Sure. You're just like, uh, and so,

but it, it gives me that daily attitude of like, yeah, I can get through shit. Yeah. We went through all that, you know. Yeah.

So what was the music? I'm, because you're so, but you're such a, we, we share a love of jazz. Yeah. Um, but at that age,

you know, jazz isn't in your head. Well, so my, my mother wouldn't have love. Yeah, there would have been, um, yeah.

Like, you were talking about hello dolly with, uh, dude with the cane. Yeah, you know, Louis Armstrong. So I would watch anything with Louis Armstrong. Even if it was hokey, I didn't give a shit.

No, who cares? You just want to see his face. And I always wanted to be a black man. Like, I mean, I just like Marvin Gay. You know, Sydney Poitier, the most beautiful. I'd be like, look at these. I always felt jibbed. Sitting there with your little pale skin.

Yeah, the pink skin and the fucking and the girl say, you know, you've got lovely eyes. Yeah, go fuck yourself. But the thing is that the music came, my parents had, they would have parties on a Saturday night, and they would have records and they play the records. And it would be. Simon Garfunkel's greatest hits and it would be Neil Diamond's greatest hits and they'd all stop and sing

some, some blue and you'd hear it all and we'd be upstairs laughing at them and they're drunk as fuck but they would also have like the Beach Boys greatest hits not pet sounds but Beach Boys' greatest hits and you'd listen to a few of these and they'd be like

and then fucking good vibrations or God only knows would come on and you're like oh yeah and that's the testament to the Irish people too even when drunk they'd be singing along like I'm talking by goo and then God only knows it come on and they'd all just say be quiet. Right.

And they wouldn't skip it, they'd listen to it. And then it's like... And then back to... La la la la, la, you know. So those songs were there. And was that... And was that planting little seeds about America in your head?

Always. You were like... Always ready to go to America. Always wanted to go. Really? On New Year's Day, and I still have a fixation on it, in New Year's day, every year...

We only had three TV channels, BBC One, BBC 2, and then the Irish channel. BBC 1, every New Year's day when everyone was hung over like, fuck, they would show the great escape with Steve McQueen. Oh, God. Every year. So great.

And I would sit down and there would be some candy left over from, you know. Yeah. I would sit down and watch. It's like three hours long, you know. Yeah. Yeah. And every time, it wasn't actually Steve McQueen that did the jump where he, you know, but he doesn't escape ultimately.

Yeah. But he doesn't also, he doesn't die. But I would just be looking about like, there's a way. I can get out of here. Fucking way. Digging tunnels. Honestly, like I was just like, obsessed. You were seeing that as.

Yeah. Even the other day, Conan was. A metaphor for getting out of him. Yeah. Conan O'Brien was. shooting the thing at Largo and it was outside and he looked across and you know like Cynthia your wife I call Sin yeah they've changed after 30 years live nude girls has changed to sin S Y NNN that club across from Largo oh really yeah it's where like the go-go's video they go by

girls girls girls girls yeah and they changed it to sin and so Conan and I're wearing them up for him to do a shot and I looked across and he goes have you ever been in that place I went no but Charlie Bronson style, I'm digging a tunnel. And he totally got it. You know, he was like, create escape. I get it. That's awesome. So, yeah, yeah. So when you were, when you're, so you did have all these songs and it's so cool, it was all vinyl too. And then now back to vinyl.

Not even cassettes. Like I remember we didn't have a cassette player until I was, we'd moved out of Belfast and I was like, what the fuck's that thing? A box, you know. Yeah. So just all completely around you. Now do you, and you're going to school, were you a good student? I was Photographic memory So I didn't have to work at all I would look at a geography teacher

And I would hear him go Now this is important I'd be like Polka dot tie Got it And then it would come up The question I would remember Is polka dot tie

And then I would just remember Him saying things And I would just Oh polka dot tie Association Really Yeah Or check jacket

Or something Look at his hair Oh okay right Remember that hair No way Yeah And then so I Did that just come to you

It was always there There's two things that are always there and one of them is the curse that my mother said that is the memory. Yeah. And then the other thing is just, I think is I'm really, I can spot somebody. I don't judge somebody on the first thing, but I get an essence of somebody pretty fast. Right. Right.

Yeah. It's like Jeff Tweety's wife, Susie. Yeah. I love her. And she just had a birthday. And she, we were at a Wilco gig years ago at the Palladium and there was a drunk guy. And she didn't know me that well. Yeah.

And I've been watching this guy. He was starting to make his birthday. way over it. And it was up in the balcony where it was like friends. And I was there with Garland, who was friends with them? I wasn't even friends with those guys at that point. Yeah. And I was watching this guy for a good 20 minutes. And I was like, and then Tweedy's doing like, you and I, and he's getting a bit loud. And I'm like, ooh. And I clocked him from the get-go. And he comes over and he stands in front of Susie. And she's sitting trying to watch the show. Right. And he starts dancing. And then he's starting to fall and the drink is spilling the

Oh, God. And Garland's looking at him. And Garland looks around to look at the stage. And I was like, I'm going to have to take this guy out. out. I'm going to take him out. And then Susie just goes, excuse me, you're in my way. And he goes, yeah, I paid a ticket. She goes, that's my husband. I want to see him. And the guy immediately went, like, he went to grab her. What? And I just, I'm, by the way, never been in fights. Yeah. But I just cut him out from under. I just got right in the back of his leg. He went down and had my foot on his neck before anything. But again, I'm completely, I don't drink. So, I mean, I'll drink a glass of wine, but I'm not a drinker. No, you're not. But I was onto this guy for 30 minutes beforehand. just eyeball and he just felt his energy. I think I would be a good negotiator because I could get in there and go, okay, this guy's not going to go the distance. But this guy you could talk to, you know. Yeah.

So anyway, it turns out it was the manager's, the manager was a woman. It was her husband or our boyfriend. Right. And then he was like, I'm going to get you kicked out. And I'm like, now with my foot on your neck, you're not, you know. And then they came and they picked him up like and carried him like a stretcher out of there. Just like a piece of me. And Susie just looked at me and I'm like, oh.

My hero. Oh, yeah. Now you're in with Tweedy for the rest of your life. Tweedy doesn't like it too much, but... Did you get to see shows when you were a kid before you? No. What age did you leave? So I left when I was like 12.

When you were 12? Yes, but never left. So when we were 12, a couple terrible things happened. One of my mom's favorite uncles was killed by a bomb. Oh, God. And it took, there was a couple years before this. Yeah. But she was like, I'm out.

I can't. I can't do this anymore. We didn't have money to go to America. but she was like, we're going to go to the south of Ireland. It's safer. But she also didn't want to leave her parents. She was very close to her parents and her family and her four sisters and she was three sisters and a brother and she was like, we're all family, we're not, you know.

And there was a little bit of a pack. They're all still there, by the way. None of them have ever left. Yet my mother, when we moved all four of my siblings or all three of my siblings and I live in America. We moved right after like college, high school, boom, gone. Gone. And it was just that that's where we're gone.

I have hundreds of cousins that never left. It was never a notion. They were never like, oh. They weren't dreaming it the way you were. And they travel all over the world. But I was from the get-go, but it was music was the number one thing. And I would hear things like, you know, very, very, I remember being very young when I heard Marvin Gaye and I was like, it really hit me. Yeah.

Like, you know, he was singing that, this, this magic moment. It was not even one of his own songs. And then when what's going on came out, I was like, yeah. I mean, I was, you know, when I got it, it was much. after. But anyway, so music was a big thing. But we, so ironically, my mother was like, well, where should we move to? So we moved to the west coast of Ireland, which is a beautiful place, but they were skirt shittless of us. They were like, ooh. It was like, these guys might have the virus, you know, don't go close. Oh, really? And then there was another element of them were like,

oh, they fucking quit, you know. So there was a little bit of, and then we got into this house and we looked out the back. And so being in Northern Ireland, you're British. But you're also, you're very much Irish, especially if you're a Catholic, you're, you just, my passport's Irish. That's the Irish, right.

We went out and there's a beautiful mountain in Sligo called Ben Bulbin, and William Butler Yates is buried at the base of this. Oh, wow. And I looked at it, and I was like, oh, that's Ben Bulbin Mountain, that's Yates. Like, this is, and they're like,

that's his country. Yates country is Sligo. And I looked out, and somebody had painted in 20 feet high so that we could see it was miles away, Brits out. Brits out. They didn't want us.

Right. So it took a couple years of that. But that had to be weird because you're feeling so... Patriotic. You're feeling Irish. Yeah, we're back in Ireland. Yeah. But yet you have to carry the Brits part of it.

The only good thing about it was... Which is the part that you're rebelling against. Yeah. When we went to school, people did not fuck with me. Like, there was like, you know, the bully thing never happened in my life. Right. Because they were like, who knows what he's seen. And I had in my eyes.

And I carry myself not in an arrogant way, but there's a thing about me that I don't think... I don't think I'll fuck with him. But so that worked to the advantage. But that was the only thing. So you didn't have to fight. They wouldn't talk to you. Wow. What a confusing.

You see girls stirring at you and they'd be like, never go near you. You know. Right. So what happened was, and that's why I said that we never really left, every odd weekend we'd be back in Belfast. Because we're like, it's rough down there. Right. It's rough. But it was safer.

It was safer. I mean, socially it was a thing, but it was no bombs. Right. And it's not that far away. Like it was less than the distance from here to San Francisco, you know. Right. Right. You know, it's probably the distance from here to Santa Barbara.

So what was the first live show you ever saw? The very first one was like here's the thing is there was a lot of from a kid, so from the age of 13 I worked in bars and there was always bands so I saw a lot of different but they were all local people like

who would be there would be a country night and there'd be a guy up there who looks like really freckley in glasses and say here's a song now by Hank William Sr. And then phonetically I tried so hard

my dear to show like sounded exactly exactly like the record, right? Right, glass, lash into it, you know, and that was my first,

those were the first cakes. Right, but like I saw. Oh, but that's cool, but it's, yeah, the first,

the first major, major show that I went to. There was a festival that I went to that had, a lot of people that I love. And there were big festivals started in the 70s, like, you know,

it was like, oh, you know, but when I was 16, I went to see Dylan and London, which was, people were like, it was like, you and I going,

we're going to Mars. Right. Like in your book, But we're going to Mars. They were like, how are you going to do that? And I'm like, I'm doing it. Yeah. And Dylan, Neil Young, none of these people would play in Ireland because Belfast, the bombs,

it would get cancelled. There would be bomb threats. Not even Dublin? They wouldn't go. No, they'd play. But there wasn't enough money for them to go to just one place. So now when people play in Ireland, they play Dublin, Belfast, Gawley and Cork. Right.

So there's four cities. Right. But in the American press, it just everything about Ireland was negative. It was like another 12 bombs this week. Right. And so touring companies were just like, we're not risking it. I don't think they could even get insurance to the good Ireland. Jeez.

So Bob Dylan did five nights in 1981 at this place called the Earl's Court Theater. And I took a bus, a boat, a train, another bus to get to this thing. And I slept at no money. I slept out all night. By yourself? Yeah. All by yourself. I did this twice.

The second time I had a little bit more money, stayed in a bed and breakfast was Prince at Wembley in 1986. And it was the last of the Prince and the Revolution. Wow. I was like, I have to see this. Yeah. I have to see it. I saw Miles Davis the same year. He didn't come to Ireland either.

I was like, I got to go to see them. Same thing with Dazia, Gillespie. He lived longer, but. So was Dylan on your, I mean, obviously, he was, he was already had his closet to you. I was 15. I was 15. Yeah. And I loved John Lennon.

Like, I was just like, and by the way, until I met like John Bryan, I didn't really care about the Beatles. Right. I was like, yeah, I like John Lennon. Yeah. I like some George Harrison. Yeah. McCartney, I could take it or leave it.

Right. Now when I listen to the combination of the four of them, I go, oh, yeah, absolutely. But Dylan was the guy. Dylan was it? And here's the thing with Dylan. So 81 was that slow train? 801 was shot of love. Shot of love.

And he was coming out of the religious thing. So there was saved, slow train coming. Right. And then shot of love came out. And it was, it has that song. By the way, so this is talk about it. This is all my education, by the way, is through music. Yeah.

I think. Yeah. Like Tom Waits. Like, I didn't know. I'd be walking down by. Vine Street and I'd be like, oh, heart attack and Vine. Right. You know, or hubca, I never knew what a hubcap was.

You know, yeah. And so through songs that you'd be like, and Dylan especially, like the references, you'd read all the books like the, you know, whoever it was. But he, so he played, he sat down at a white piano and I was right in front, 18,000 people. I was in the leaning over the front. How did you get a ticket back then in 81? You applied for tickets? You had to apply for tickets.

Oh, really? It was like a lottery thing. And I got one. And I was like, oh. And my friend Tiernan and his brother got one too. And they went. but they went a different night. Uh-huh.

And, Oh, you must have been so excited. He comes out, and the album shot of love, which is not one of his big albums, hadn't come out in America, or hadn't come out in Europe,

I mean, but he was still doing the tour. And he sits down at a white piano, and I'd never seen him play piano. Yeah. And he did Lenny Bruce's dead. Wow. And I was like,

I don't know who Lenny Bruce is, but I got to check him out. Right. And then he sang every grain of sand, and I was like, this is about the best song I've ever heard. Beautiful song. One after another.

In the summertime. All the state of it. Wallace stayed at the piano the whole time? No. No. Every grain of sand, I think, and Lenny Bruce's dead were two piano pieces. The rest, he was electric or acoustic. Right, right.

You know, but... God. And he, like, talk about power, but here's the thing. It was within a year of John Lennon being killed. Oh, yeah. And what I think about now is, like, people were like, in the press in England, they were like, Dylan looks old. He's gotten fat.

He was wearing a bulletproof jacket because there was a death threat out on him, too. She had a leather... Right, so it looked like Santa. And that's why... they didn't come near Ireland because it was like, oh, maniacs are killing John Lennon in New York. We can't take chance. And I remember my friend Brian and I in Ireland just sitting there going,

what would we do if they killed Bob? And that was when we were 15. Isn't that crazy that? I never thought about the other artists thinking, the ramifications of Lennon being, like for us, it was just like, oh my God, you know, in your own little teenage head. But like the thing of like, you know,

it was like MLK or JFK. It was just like, oh, I cry. You know what? It's funny because I recently said, I still haven't gotten over it. Yeah. December, I remember. Right, Christmas. Yeah, we were shopping for a Christmas tree and came home and I heard it on my little radio. Yeah, and the weird thing about it for me was, like, if he'd have been killed after he did the plastic on a record, which is mother, you know, all those songs, you'd be like, oh, what a waste.

Yeah. This was him having retired for five years, getting back into music and being so optimistic, like, starting over. Yeah. You know, reflecting on watching the wheels go around and round. And it was like he was at peace in his life. Yeah. And he had a kid and he was baking bread. Yeah.

That's what he was doing. Yeah. He learned how to make bread. Oh, really? Yeah. I didn't know that part. He called it the house husband period. That period when Sean was born.

He just gave up everything. Right. And he spent all his time with Sean for five years, baking bread, cooking for him. Jeez, Louise. And then so, but those songs like resonated when it came on the radio like starting over, people were like, oh, he's lost his bite. And I'm like, I think this is pretty great. Right. Exactly.

You know. This is going to hold. up. Oh my God, it's such a funny thing to picture you at the Dylan show being completely blown away and then knowing you have no place to sleep. You've got to go right back home. Here's the funny thing is I bought the ticket. And I remember the ticket being like 16 pounds, which was not at like $1,600. Like at that point, it was a big ticket. I bought this, I bought the one way on the bus, one way on the train. And I remember my dad sent to me, you're coming back, right? Why are you buying It's actually just as cheap to do a round trip.

I said, it's not. I looked into it. It's like 12 pounds more to do a round trip. I'm just going to have the ticket and just jump on. They're like, oh, are you Woody Guthrie? Is this the dust bowl? Is that what you're doing?

Oh, Bo Flanny? Yeah. And so here's the crazy thing is, I got on the train and I had my ticket. Yeah. No, you could get on the train and then they would come around to check your ticket.

So the train would be, so the train wasn't taken off and I was like, oh, fuck it. Here comes the guy. Yeah. Conductor's coming down. Tickets. Tickets. All right, tickets.

and he looked at me and goes, you don't have a ticket to you and I went, no, I do have a ticket and I let me just find it. And he was like, come on mate, don't waste my time. And I was like, you know, listen, you know what?

I buy a mistake, bought it one way, but I need to get back to Ireland. He goes, off the train, mate. Don't give me shit. Just get off the train. And I just got off the train. And I stood there and I had no money.

No money whatsoever. And I walked out, it was Houston station and I walked outside and I just looked around and there was a church across the street. And I went, I'm going to pull a number on this. Like,

I wasn't trying to be a scammer or whatever, but I went over and I knocked on the door of the rectory next to it, and this guy comes out. And this happened to me yesterday, by the way, a similar thing. The guy comes out and I said, hey, father, I'm a Catholic from Ireland. And I came here the whole way to see Bob Dylan, and I haven't got a ticket to get back.

Is there any way you could help me out? And he goes, well, when's the next train? I said, it's probably tomorrow. And he goes, come in. He fed me, put me up in this cot. Like, you know, couldn't have been nicer. Whoa. All he wanted to talk about, how was the show?

Really? So he would have been in his 20s, you know, and I was 15, but he, like, or maybe I was just 16. Yeah. But anyway, and it was just this thing, and I will never, like, I'm first, I'm never being religious, but, you know, the Catholic Church in Ireland is a lot to answer for. Yeah. But there's a lot of good eggs. Right. You know.

Oh, that's so sweet. And yesterday there was a, um, the day before yesterday. So I had a nail in my tire in my car and, uh, I was like, I should, I don't want to take it out in case the thing deflates. So I'll bring it to the station. Yeah. So I went down to the garage in the corner and I just said, hey, there's a nail in this. and they were like, ah, all right. And there was something weird.

Like, they weren't the friendliest people. Yeah. These Armenian guys. And I'd been there before and they were okay. Yeah. So the guy done, he goes, okay, come back in 20 minutes. And I was like, all right, what do I do for 20 minutes? You know?

So I went over to the coffee shop, that coffee fixed thing and I stood on the corner because it was like trying to distance from everyone. Right. Exactly. Yeah. And I look and I see that he's done. And he's moving the car back and forward. He looks done. Uh-huh.

So it's after 10 minutes. I went, fuck, I'm just going to walk over there. So I went and grabbed the guy in orange, an orange juice, you know, and I went over it because I know him. I've seen him on the street and I was like, hey, I got your orange juice. He goes, oh, thank you so much. It's great. Very good. Get out of here fast.

Your car's fine. And I went, oh. And he was getting, pushing me into the car like, you're good, you're good. And I'm like, okay, bye, how much do I? And he goes, no, no, you know, you did a beautiful job. Just leave. And I was like, this is the opposite of when I pulled in. Yeah.

I pulled in. He was like, you know, so I get home, get out of the car, close the door, and the whole side of my car is scraped. And when he was moving it, he fucking scraped it. And there was no other way that this happened. Because I only went there. And I looked at it and I was like, fuck. So the next day, a friend of mine says to me, this is all this week. My friend Chris, who I play tennis with, says, there's a guy on Barham and he's really nice.

At least he'll give you a good price. Right. And I went great. So what else have we got to do these days? So I drove over there. He was off at a funeral. And the guy that was working there was like, I'll take photographs and I'll get him to give you an estimate.

So an hour later, Harry calls me. And he goes, I'm going to bring your car and can you bring it tomorrow? I said, sure. And he goes, okay, very nice. He says, excuse me, I'm dealing with my 14 year old nephew died and I'm dealing with that right now, but I will take care of your car. I said, oh man, I can come anytime. I'm so sorry.

He couldn't have been nicer. And I said, just, I hate to ask you while we're on the phone, but I'll pay you cash. How much is it? And he goes, I won't charge you for this. What? I'm like, oh, no, it's damage. I mean, by the way, this is not just like a script.

Yeah. This was... Dug in. Dug in. Yeah. Paint gone. Ugh. And it's a newish car.

And I was like, oh, you know, but anyway. So I... He says, bring it in tomorrow. So I bring it in tomorrow. I said to my wife, I gotta give these guys something. But I can tell they don't want any money. So pulled in, the guy was like, okay, this guy here, he's going to match your paint. He's been doing high-end cars since the 70s.

And he's got the old DuPont paint. And I said, hey, guys, whatever you can do is great. I appreciate anything, you know? Yeah. So they call me up. I get back the next morning. And they... They have detailed my car.

Like, we go to the beach, I'll be like, there's not a grain of sand in the fucking place. The thing looks brand new. The job they did was brand new. Oh, my God. And I tried to give the guy money. He was like, no, no, no, no. Harry doesn't want to take any money for this. I'm like, hey, do you think I'm somebody else?

Yeah, right. Exactly. You know, I know this. You know, and he says, no, the two guys worked around the clock to get this done for you. And I was like, that doesn't happen. Yeah. So I get home and I text Harry and says, I know you're dealing with a lot right now. This really means a lot to me.

He goes, I give the guy 300 cash. I just said, hey, the painter guy said, thank you so much. Yeah. He put it on the, they wouldn't, I don't know what's going on, really. Yeah. But then I just went, it's goodness. It's just somebody being. Just being nice.

And so it turns out they're Armenian. Uh-huh. And when the guy said, what happened to your car? And I said, I pulled it in to get a nail out in the station. He goes, what station? And I just told him the station. I didn't say. Yeah.

And he goes, hmm. And so the guy texts me and he goes, you were due a good turn. Like, you know. And I said, well, I've got a couple of old cars. I'll bring them by there. And he goes, all good. It was like the priest when I was 15 It was just like

Yeah, intervening And it was, you know, I don't believe in any Religious stuff for me But it was just a thing of like Some of my sister or somebody No, my daughter asked me, what do you think There's an afterlife or you know And I'm like, who knows?

We'll find out. You know, but I'm not saying there is there isn't But I don't believe there is. I mean, when our body's done, we're done. Right. But there's been a lot of things in my life that happened that are just like, oh, okay, something's pushed me over that way a bit.

Right, exactly. I didn't have to go over there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And also, by the way, Largo was that. Yeah, I was going to say. I wasn't, I never done music business before or comedy or any of it. Yeah. And I came out here to teach in L.A. from Boston.

And a friend of mine's like, hey, my brother's open in a bar and you know a bit about music, right? And I was like, yeah. And he goes, can you just give him a few pieces of advice? Yeah. And I walked in when it was on Fairfax, and he was buying this place called Cafe Largo. And it was an Italian, French Italian restaurant with a little stage in the corner. And I said, hey, man, I don't know about it. food but you know you could you could make it a better stage than the one that's in there yeah

and um so we went back on a night there was music and it was grantley buffalo which is grantley phillips uh-huh and it was still like to me one of the most memorable shows i've ever seen and it was raining outside i'd just gotten here uh-huh it was raining outside and i was like look at these fucking guys they were playing like there was 20 000 people really there's like 13 people in the place, including wife and family and stuff. And I just stood there in the partner at the time. I didn't know it was going to be a partner. He said to me, listen, if you book, I'll make your 25% partner. I can't give you money right now. And I was like, sure. And that's when I decided, I'll stay here a while. So I did a sabbatical. I was like, I'm going to take time out, you know.

Oh, you were expected to go back to Boston at the time? Yeah. And I was like, this is, yeah, but it was one of those things. I'm supposed to do this for a record. So how did you start booking? How, like you didn't know people? Easiest thing in the world. So there was a record store that I went to in Boston on Kenmore Square. And when I left, the guy was like, hey, there's a friend of mine called Keith lives in L.A. He lives in Venice. You should stay with him. And I'm like, stay with him. What do you mean? He goes, you should stay there for a while. You'd like it. Oh, okay. And so I came out, but there was a few guys that I knew in Boston that were musicians

that had moved out here. And ironically, there's a small, like everywhere, there's a small batch of people. So John Bryan, Amy Mann, a bunch of other band called the Cave Dogs, Mark River. There's all these people are part of this Boston scene. Oh, okay. And so they were out here. And so a friend of mine, Bill Murphy said to me, you know, there's this guy John Brown. He can play any instrument. And I'm like, that's great, but does anyone know him?

Yeah. Because that's what you need. Yeah. And he goes, nobody's mixing the Emmy Man's first solo record right now. Out here. He's out here. He's not living here. Right.

So then it was that. And then, so by chance, I went to a place, do you know where Genghis Cohen is up the street? No. It's a Chinese restaurant with a little stage in it. There's a separate room. And somebody says, you know, who's playing there? It's Colin Hay.

And I'm like, I don't know what, what's Colin? hey. And they were like, from men at work and I was like, I was never into pop music in the 80s. I'm sorry. I don't, I don't, I mean, I know down under. Yeah. And they were like, you got to see this guy. Yeah. And so I went in. I thought he was going to be this kind of like, probably drunk. Australian party here. Yeah. Party. He's just gone solo. They kicked him out of the band. Yeah. I walk in and he's like as Scottish as you get. And he's playing six and 12 string guitar and just blew, still does, but blew my head off. God. I said, hey man, I've got a better place for you to play. Right. Then this is, this is just when you. This is just when you. started. Column was the first, like, there was a few things booked, like the eels were booked. He was called E at the time. There was a few things booked, but Colin was the first one that I went, you know. Yeah. And would you want to do a monthly?

And he was like, monthly. Yeah. I'll do a monthly. Because he was waiting for the next big record to hit, you know? Yeah. So he was, so he was, men at work was done at that point, right? Well done, yeah. So he was just, he was.

That's 92 maybe, the end of 92. And they had been done since, I think maybe the 85 or something. So they were, that was a short run for men at work. work. Yeah. Like, he's such a poet. I mean, he's so... He's incredible. And I feel, he just sent me a new song. I feel like he's getting better. Honestly, like. Oh, of course. The guy like that, no, someone that, somebody like that, Leonard Cohen, same kind of thing. Yeah. Where the writing is the thing. Right. And they keep digging. Yeah. And the older you get them, the deeper you can dig. Yeah. Those guys read, read something that's a short that you want to read something. That's fun.

For your audience? For my audience? Yeah. Page 38. So this is a book that you just gave me. So this is a compilation of the latter works of Leonard Cohen, and it's his poems, short story kind of drawings, his son Adam, who's a great guy, put it together. There's Avere marked the page. Oh, yeah, because I don't see. Oh, look, you signed it. Yeah.

I signed it as well. Oh, there it is. Yeah, it's not too long. Oh, man, Leonard Cohen. Did you ever see him live? Oh, yeah. And I got to know him. You did?

Yeah, yeah, he's the fantastic guy. No. Ricky Lee Jones, who I knew really well. I know really well. has a song that perfectly sums him up, a monk with a hard on. But he was way beyond. He was just fantastic.

So his son Adam, yeah, that really does sum it up. His son Adam is the sweetest guy and he's now the, he's kind of the key to the, to the state. He was starting to be a singer-songwriter

and got signed to Columbia and was playing at Largo. And so Leonard would come and hang out with me in the back, and I was just like... Really? And then he would come by, he had an office nearby,

he would come by and we'd drink tea together. He had an office out. here? He lived here for the last half of his life. When he was doing all the monk stuff. Yeah, that was Mount Baldy. But he had a place on, well, I won't say where it is, but he had an office right up the street from Largo. Really? You would come and just have tea with Leonard Cohen? He loved Barry's tea, which is Irish. I turned him on to it. He would bring me this lap song, you know, try this. Flanny, try this lap song. He would bring me books of his and sign it to the Prince of Fairfax, my friend. Yeah. He was such a sweetheart. And then his daughter had a furniture

store around the corner, Lorca, and Adam was a singer-song, and he'd play there. Wow. And then, but that's what happened at Largo, different people. Adam was friends with Pete Yorne, Chris Dills, with, like, a lot of people within, you know, that I got to. So it happened pretty quickly, like when you, booking Colin and everything, they all start to. Yeah, Amy Mann came into time to finish the record, and John, I'm like, I'll bring her down. We're like, okay.

Right. But then in the meantime, Dr. John played, like, I had some incredible stuff. In the little spot. Yeah. 130, 130 people. Wow. Read this, sir. It's so crazy.

All right. This is, that's so funny. The poem from Leonard Cohen, oh, there's the page numbers. Kanye West is not Picasso. Topical. Kanye West is not Picasso.

I am Picasso. Kanye West is not Edison. I am Edison. I am Tesla. Jay-Z is not the Dylan of anything. I am the Dylan of anything. I am the Kanye West of Kanye West. The Kanye West.

Of the great bogus shit of bullshit culture from one boutique to another, I am Tesla. I am his coil. The coil that made electricity soft as a bed. I am the Kanye West. Kanye West thinks he is. When he shoves your ass off the stage, I am the real Kanye West. I don't get around much anymore. I never have.

I only come alive after a war and we have not yet had it. This is about six years ago maybe, you know. Jeez, Louise. The reason I brought you this book is because your book, so the thing that people, like, Leonard's music was very heavy, you know. Yeah.

Like a bird on a wire. Yeah. He was one of the funniest people. I saw him in 1985 in Dublin. Yeah. And he didn't have a record deal. Really? And he sang hallelujah.

And nobody had ever heard it. Oh, my God. And he was on a European tour because he couldn't get booked in America. at the time. Jeez. The album that that came out is, Columbia just were like,

no, we don't hear any songs on this. The first song is, Dance Me to the End of Love, which is one of the greatest songs of all time. But it's an upbeat, kind of like, you know, and, but the thing is,

a girl dragged me, it was on Valentine's Day. I have a photograph of it with a heart behind Leonard on stage. Yeah. And a girl dragged him to it, and it was one of the most educational things that I've ever seen because

it got me to not judge people. Like, I mean, with Colin, having said that, with Colin, I was like, yeah, man at work with that. But I went with an open, mind and was so rewarded from it.

Yeah. Like, by just going, okay, because everyone has levels. Leonard was one of the funniest things he would say like... You mean in his show? Oh, between songs, he'd be like, listen, there's a road. We've all taken a road, right? Who hasn't taken a road? Where does this road go? I mean, do you ever think about it? I'm being goofy, bud. Did you ever think about it? Everyone laughing. And then the song would start off and and he'd be like, there's a road. It was the first verse in the song. And you'd be like, it was so conversational.

But by 85, I mean, wasn't he, in the 70s, he was popular. Huge in the 70s, right? And then he put out an album called recent songs and people moved on from singer-songwriters and stuff. Dylan was like in 1985, Dylan was working with like Dave Stewart with when the light comes, you know, when the night comes falling from the sky.

They were all trying to get hits and stuff and be relevant because of MTV. So the, right, so the music business had shifted in these guys. Yeah, they were kind of a little left. Right, right, right. And Leonard ended up in the greatest space because his last record was one of his greatest called Thanks for the Dance, which came out after he died. Right. And it's just simple guitar.

Yeah. Him telling it, you know, it's funny, it's poignant. Yeah. But anyway, in your writing, it reminds me of Leonard because he was very optimistic in his own. He went through hell, you know, but he was very optimistic. He loved his family. He had two kids. Yeah.

And in his writing, it's reflective of yours. You're not always going for the gag. Right. But the gag is there, and that's life. Right. You have to find the gags. Yeah. You know?

Well, that is a huge complicit. Oh, I can't believe this. This is so perfect because I'm traveling tomorrow. Ironically, I give it to Colin as well. I got, you know, I bought a bunch of copies. Oh, yeah. Oh, I'm going to take this with me. I'm trying to keep the local bookstore alive and I've bought like maybe 10 copies of this. Wow, that's so great. There's another book that it was. There's another book that I was going to bring you. Yeah, yeah. Spithe Earth. There's many like, you know. My sister would give me one of those. Oh, this is so great. The longing is another one. But this is a compilation of a lot of those things. But there's another book that I was going to bring you.

And I just couldn't find it, so I ordered it for you. Are we done? No, I just want to make sure everything's still recording. This is my panic of not having a producer. There's another book called Bread Boy, The Teenage Kicks. And it's about a guy my age in Belfast growing up with like Abbas on the radio. And he's trying to figure out life and girls and stuff. And he works at a bakery.

Oh, really? And you love it. Wow, that's so great. You might find out it's called Beach. No, it's called, I don't know what I keep saying. It's called Bread Boy Teenage Kicks. Okay. And his name is Tom McCauley.

And he grew up in the Protestant side of Belfast. Right. And it's really good. And it's one of the books that I read a while ago. And I went back to look for it. And I was like, by the way, I don't know if it's,

it doesn't look the same here, but I have a stash, a corner that has, you can't get to the corner now. But I know where everything is. Right. But like I pulled out, what's in the corner?

What do you mean? All the LPs that I want to hear right now, all the books that I'm reading. Oh, really? And like, all your stuff. Yeah. Yeah.

And some of it's, very deep and then some of its goofy poems is that. Yeah, yeah. But I'm finding that I'm just like picking and reading certain parts. And then in the meantime, there's one book that I'm reading, but then there's other bits coming in and stuff. Do you find that's a recent phenomenon? Like, this is during the pandemic, right? She's reading three at the same time.

Yeah, it's like you almost have to teach yourself to be able to focus because you're so used to the scattershot information that's been coming in. Well, she said a funny thing is I turned her on this book by a writer called David Spitz, who wrote a great book called Depided Soul on Marvin Gay. Oh, yeah. It's the biography of Marvin Gay. Right. And he also wrote the lyrics of sexual healing. So they were very close. They knew each other.

And he did a good book on Aretha Franklin. But my wife and I were listening to some. She goes, I didn't know Marvin did this song. And I said, you should get his, you should read his book. So she's reading it on Kindle. Right. And it gets so heavy that she's just like, I had to read something else just to balance it up. Yeah, I know.

I know you have to do that. So when you were a kid, when you were growing up, if I could bring it back to food for a minute. Yes. Was your mom a good cook? Great cook. She was. But traditional, but the funny thing is, she'd always have surprises. So Ireland was meat and potatoes.

That's all we could really afford. But she would put a pork together and it was like. And then from a very early age, I've always been, I can eat pork, occasionally lamb chops, but beef makes me, I could fall over sleep after, if I ate one thing of meat. You're out? I don't know what, I'm just allergic, you know? Oh, really? Like I read that. Your system rejects it.

I read that, like, at the age of 45, Bono became a. allergic to red wine. And then they were like, well, no, it's the phosphates. You can have it without that or something. Right. You know, so. Yeah. And, um, but with me with red meat, I would always just be like, almost like eating turkey dinner. Yeah. I was like, well, so she would make things and she wouldn't make, everyone had to eat the dinner. Like, it wasn't like, you can have your thing. Right. Yeah. Um, but so Fridays were, we were born into a religious thing, but we weren't religious. Friday you just didn't eat meat. Right. It was fish. Yeah. So she'd get pretty juggy with fish. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And then Sundays was the ultimate dinner. And she wouldn't have work. So she would just like... For just you guys or was it cousins? It was, yeah. Every so often we would go to my grandfather's house and my grandmother was an amazing cook too. Oh yeah. And she had money. So she would have like, you'd have your lamb chops with a little mint sauce like real mint. Yeah. Like, and you would have that

mint. Yeah. And you'd eat with silver knives and fork. Like I mean, real thing. Do you still crave that stuff now? Yes. I crave a lot. My mother made for all of our birthdays would make a chocolate cake from scratch from Cadbury's chocolate. Oh. And it is one of the greatest things. Oh my God. And my sister passed the recipe onto my wife. And so every birthday that I have, she makes this Cadbury.

She does? And so does she make it the same way? The kids love it. Like anyone that ever tastes at the thing, go, okay, this is the greatest thing I've ever tasted. But you need Cabbery chocolate? You need Cabri's drinking chocolate for the base. And then for the toppings, it's like, you know what Cabri's flake is?

You get that crumbly thing. Oh, yeah. And then chocolate buttons on top. It never ends. It's Cadbury's Cadbury's, Cadbury's, more Cadbury's. But it's not like a decadent, like, you know, one of those big dark chocolate cakes. It's very light. Oh, really?

With a cup of tea, Barry's tea. Oh, what a great thing that this recipe found its way to hear right. So there's a few things like that. So my mom would make, like, her version of Cocovan or her version of, like, whatever it is. And, you know, and the one thing was, I never liked onions. So she would go light on onions, you know. But then suddenly, right before the year that we were leaving Belfast, she came home one night and she's like

I'm done with fish I'm like yeah we're good we're done with fish she goes curry we're like what is curry what is curry yeah because by the way where'd she find it she got it in the supermarket

and a nurse that she worked with like hey there's this place that does curry and that nurse was more travel than my mom was she was like check this out and so she brought it in and the little things to try this my mom's like oh our kids would love this

but the thing is that I've never had fast food because when we were kids in Belfast there was no McDonald's. There was no Carl's Jr. There was none of that shit. Right. There was no sodas. Right. Oh, really? There was a thing called Fanta, which was a fizzy orange drink. Yeah. Yeah. And then there was club orange, but they weren't like Diet Coke or Coke or Dr. Pepper, any of that shit. So, so. Hitting you over the head. I still haven't gone, I've, I've, I've never had a Dr. Pepper.

Really? I don't drink Diet Coke, sodas. Don't eat burgers. For you. The meat thing put me out of the burger thing. Oh, yeah, the burger thing. But never had a hot dog. Never had a hot dog? Because I went when I was, I think 12, again in Belfast, I went to the Denny's factory who made sausages. And they showed us as a school trip from the pigs. Oh, no. Oh, look at the. Oh, no.

Oh, no. And then you'd follow it through. It was traumatic. The following year, by the way, they were like, you think it's bad in Belfast? We're going to take you on an educational trip. Guess where we went? Auschwitz, Dachau, and Belsen. Oh, my God.

Yeah. You think you got it bad? Oh, my God. People have it worse than you. And you're like, I'm not arguing. I mean, in wintertime, they brought us to Auschwitz. Oh. But this is before there was a, you know, a gift shop.

This was grim. Yeah. What was there at the time? It was just like, should we go in? I mean, it seems disrespectful. It was, you know, they brought, they brought, and Germans would bring school buses to go, we will never have this again. Holy cow.

But I think the Jewish people themselves, like, preserved the areas and stuff. And because also there was like skeletons that, I mean, there were people that hadn't been buried that are just, like, the ashes and they would find bones and stuff. It was fucking grim. I'm talking about, like, this is around the time John Lennon died. Like, this is around, like late 70s, early 80s. Yeah. Welcome to, welcome to the dark side.

Yeah. Did you do your sponsorship yet? You got your wine? No, my buddies at Wine Access that I don't think they haven't had this week. Oh. Yeah, they do every other week. But now they love you. Yeah.

They are a good company. Would you be, so I was listening to you talking about the wine. We've never drank wine together. No. But, you know, Chris Thiele, who is a mutual friend. Yeah. Is big wine guy. Oh, yeah.

Right? And he has the hookup in New York, the guy that, you know. Oh, yeah, the guy who married a girl who I went to school with. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. High school. But, you know, Chris would just like, he's a, he's the most beautiful snob about it. He knows what it is.

And if it was a blindfold test, I would trust them. Oh, 100%. I literally, every time I open up a bottle that's decent, I text him immediately. anytime I'm in a store and confused about Borolo's, he loves Borolo's he guides me through it. He's, you know, he's got that math that musician

head where he remembers like you. He remembers a lot of stuff. So like I'll like learn and be like oh, I love this wine so much and then two weeks later and forget exactly what it was and where the region was and stuff. Chris is an encyclopedia. Yeah. Oh my God. I have at home in the best way. Because when you were talking about wine

I was like, I wonder if I still have this bottle. It's moved with me every place So when I first came to L.A., I drove across the country. I wasn't sure if I was going to stay. This is before the guy says, hey, my friend is doing, my brother's doing a bar. And so I was staying down at the beach, and it was on where the numbered streets are in Venice

that goes into Marina del Rey. And I remember somebody sent to me, I'm going to get a job at the Ritz Carlton. They're opening a Ritz Carlton right here in Marina. And I was like, oh. And at that moment, I was already kind of like, this is January, 77 degrees. Yeah.

The idea of going back to Boston was terrifying. Yeah. And I was already kind of thinking, and maybe I could stay here for a few months, you know. So I said, I'll tag along with you. So I went along, and they were doing an open thing for, it hadn't opened yet. They were still finishing the construction of the Ritz Carlton there. And they're like, we need bartenders, we need bar managers.

And I said, I'll do a bartender. I'm great at bar stuff. They were like, this is high end. Like, you need to know your covasia's, your wine. You need to know the difference in brandy and covasia, you know, and I was like, I know it all. So before you know it, the following week, I'm in a tuxedo with a name. badge and doing an orientation class. And I'm like, I guess I'm here or not.

And so it didn't last long. I worked for six weeks. I quit the day before they opened to the public. Really? I had to work tuxedo, and I kept fucking around. I was not into it. And it had Flanagan, a gold name badge that said Flanagan. And one of the barbacks, his name was Hesus.

I said, let's switch. So I'd wear Jesus, right? And I'd walk around. And people are like, Jesus? And it's not Hesusus? And I'm like, whatever you is, whatever you want. And so they were like, they knew that I didn't want. So I said to the.

barback. He loved me. We just make fun of the whole thing all the time. And I said to him, I said, listen, I'm, I'm out of here. I'm not going to wait until the fucking thing opens. I just loved the six weeks that we had. But at that point, I knew that Largo was going to happen. So it all happened very fast. Oh, cool. So I said, but listen, you were great. And I'm going to give you my number. Call me anytime. This is a little guy from the Dominican Republic. And his name was Jay. I don't know if it was his real name, but maybe Jay for Jesus. I don't know. But anyway, so I'm pulling out of the parking lot. And he comes wrong. running after me. I'm like, what are you doing? And there was a security thing too, and he goes,

I got you something. You've been so nice to me. Nobody's been nice to me. I got you something. And he gave me a bag and I went, oh, man, thanks so much. And I put in the passenger seat. And I said, call me now, you know. Yeah. So I get home and at that point in Venice, I lived right where Zach Alfenacus, like right across the street from his house, people kept breaking into cars, like sleeping in them and taking shits in your car. Like, it was like, fuck off, honky, you know. And so I decided to better bring everything. And so I brought it in and it was a bottle of red wine. It was in 1953 Chateau-Lafite-Roschall

Oh my God And I still have it You still have it? Yeah And I've kept it like I looked at how to keep Yeah wine

So you keep it in the cool area And all that The temperature controlled And I've all I was thinking today Maybe we should just bust it out Like just open it And it's probably pissed

Well I don't know They hold Yeah No I mean that's You know One of the epic The other great thing About the marine

The World Warrants So the week before they opened Is this your way of asking To do the podcast again? No Now, the week before, I should do my stories. I have stories. The week before the Ritz Carlton opened, this actually happened.

It was in the LA Times. Two guys pulled up in a, and it's just a white van with overalls on. They went up to the girl behind the desk and we're like, we're here for the rug. She said, what? She goes, there was a huge Persian rug that was $75,000 gift from some Shah, one of the Shas of Iran or whatever. Oh, my God. And it was a gift to the hotel because he had bought the penthouse, right? And so it was in the lobby, we were here to clean the,

thing. Oh yeah, the paperwork's there. We're just going to. So they moved this big vase out of the way and they rolled this thing up and took off. Just robbed it. No security cameras, no nothing. Oh my God. It's brilliant. That's me. I love that shit. It is brilliant.

And I quit the following week and I'm like, I'm the rink. I'm out of here. Man, oh man. So when am I back on stage at Largo? What do you think? What's your best estimate? So here's a bit of breaking news. So Conan Conan's been doing it there

He's going to keep doing it He is Yeah And he's determined to kind of Just keep going Now here's the thing Is we don't know And yeah

No one knows If truth be told Like I was just think When I pulled up the door I was thinking When Cynthia and I When this all went on Yeah

And your daughter found out She's going to New York And we're all excited Yeah And then there was the Disney recital That's right Yeah It's pretty much the way

I thought it was going to play out I thought it would be Not this year We're going to have shows Yeah I do feel that maybe In March That's what I have

in my head. I have March in my head. And I do think before then, if the landlords are cool, we could do things with like, hey, this is safe. Yeah. You know. Yeah. But the little room that I have. Yeah. So Conan has the theater. Okay. And he's doing, so he's doing technically five days a week. Their schedule is the best. Yeah. In and out in a few hours. Oh, that's great. Nobody gets hurt. Yeah. Six people. Six people? He's having a blast. That's great. Rector shows up. Yeah. Just shut stuff from the seat and stuff. So it's really good. That's great. And they're lovely, like all of them are pros. Yeah. Total pros.

I love them. They're really great. And Conan himself is like, he's a special dude. Yeah. His producer is even better. Like Jeff Ross. Yeah. Just gets everything.

So great. Just tell us what we need to do. There's no drama. No, they've been doing it forever. Right. And so they've got insurance for the place. They're paying some of the rent and whatever. Wow.

But the little room sitting there. And I was thinking, huh. And so I talked to you about it. They do. So I just put a photograph up on Instagram of it. And we put the same curtain that's in the big stage. Yeah. Not the same.

Another curtain. And we redesigned the stage. And I'm going to do 30 minutes. sets, I'm going to do a subscription series to the Largo audience or whoever. Right. And Jackson, the Watkins family are, John Bryan, every Friday night. It's going to pre-record it, but in your email box, you'll get a Largo thing. And Mike, I'm going to get Mike to do a DJ set or do some of his songs, whatever it happens to be.

But that every Friday, because if it's between now and March, and then I want to do some political fundraiser stuff too. Right. But anyway, I'm going to give people for a chance to... For a reasonable price, every Friday night you're going to get a half hour of something from Largo. Right. And the camera, it's beautiful the way it's set up. The camera is going to be like the audience.

So I tell Sean and Sarah like play to that camera, talk to the camera. Right, right, right. Because somebody's, you know, and it's just my way of trying to figure out. That's great. Yeah, because I think by September, October, the weather changes, we're like, are we still doing this? Yeah, no, I know. And we will be still doing this. We will still be.

By all accounts, the CDC and Fauci are saying, look out for this winter. Yeah. It's going to be the worst. Yeah, I know. So the thing that we can't. Until our vaccine comes in. Would you take the Russian vaccine right now? No.

No, I wouldn't take the American vaccine right now. But, you know, but I'm not like fucking Robert Kennedy Jr. It's too early. Fucking maniacs. No, it's just too early. I do trust Fauci. I trust a lot of people. There's a lot of people in the government I do not trust.

Sure. And I really believe that I'd love to talk to Bill Burr about it because that would be a 12-hour conversation. But what's going to say is that the true numbers of what's happening, I believe that there's at least 20 million people infected. Right. Which is kind of encouraging because not that many people in comparison have gotten sick from it. It is encouraging until you hear what it. does to your body and that even people who think they're getting over it when the flu hits right and your body's got this in its system uh-huh your immune system's fucked oh really so they're saying that like

the cut the the the you know the meeting of having COVID and the flu right is going to wipe a lot of people oh really and not just old people right but like california right now it's like i read that 70 percent of the new cases are all under 40 i know and it's not because we wiped out all the old people and all these people getting tested who have it they don't even you know they feel just like we do right now and it just kind of bounces off. But I think, I think that, you know, my, my, here's my head. My head is almost like being back in Belfast. It says, okay, so we don't see an end in sight here, but how do we make it the best we can every day? Yeah. I am preparing for a thing at Largo where with Conan to keep going so he can go down the day, we can do things at nighttime. Great. Even if the

audience is diminished because people don't have money, because there's going to be a big hit from this. Sure. That we do cheaper shows and we can still try and give the landlord some money. Yeah. I feel that COVID-19's not the last COVID. Right. There's going to be another one. Right. Or if this thing mutates, that vaccine is no good. Right. You know what I mean? So I feel like we just can't give up and just go, you know. No, you got to be creative. I mean, that's the real inspiring thing to me is how aggressively everybody from schools to entertainment to travel are just getting creative and jumping on it and being like, okay, well, what do we have to do? What do we have to do to make this? But, but, you know, my, I've changed a lot even in terms of, like, so I was so spoiled at Largo that every show from the old Largo to the New York, pretty much every show sells out. Yeah. And if it doesn't, it's pretty close. Yeah. And I tell Michael the manager, he's great, you know, and he's been with us forever. I'm like, if for some reason this is half full, I'm not going into the room. Right. I can't take it when it's not full. And it's not a success or a failure thing that I booked because I book everything. Yeah. It's not like, you know, it's just shit happens and people. And a lot of the times, there was a show that we did, like, was remarkable. Like, there was, there's,

I counted 48 empty seats and it was sold out. It's like, what happened? They were like, they just didn't come. Yeah, yeah. They bought tickets. They're like, yeah, enjoy it. I'm not going. But also it was flu season, ironically enough.

This was like last November. It was the highest number of empty seats on a sold out show. And I was like, and you can't sell tickets at the door because somebody might show up late and you know, where's my seat. But I feel like now I'm kind of like when you did that show and did Saga just do it. I saw he posted something. Yeah. Just like 20 people in the audience. Yeah, let's just do it.

Let's just fucking do it. No. Especially like in that little room too. It's like, it's beautiful. It's beautiful. And as a performer, right. We've spent our whole life playing in front of five people, ten people, 20 people, and it's enough. But I think as long as people feel safe, then it'll be a better show.

Yeah. I think that if it's not safe and even if it's a little bit dodgy, I think that the comedy is not going to be that good. I think it has to be people. That's what worked when I did it the other night because it's a huge studio space with high ceilings and open garage doors. Did Todd Glass just do it? No. Todd Glass, I talked to him today. He's doing great.

And he was telling me he did a thing last night and that they had a green room. And so they're asking, it's really smart. They're asking people, give us your feedback, performers. And he was like, forget the green room. I want to pull my car up. That's my green room. And you come out and tell me when to go on stage. Right, right.

And they were like, what a great idea. But the green room's there, if you feel safe. And it goes, I'll bring my own water. I'm not touching anything. Yeah, we gave everyone their new microphone. Yeah. We had a sponsor that gave them a mic. That's perfect.

And then they could keep it so they can bring it to the next show. For years, many performers that I know because of me have always bothered on 58. Oh, really? Because I say, you go into a bar. Yeah. People are spitting into that fucking thing. I know. I can't believe it. That's why I think comedians aren't going to get it. But I'm obsessive. I like even the sound guy at Largo, I'm not obsessive, but the song got at Largo, I'll say to him, hey, could you wipe the microphones down? Yeah. I don't even wait for it. I have my own wipes and I wipe every microphone. Yeah, smart. I know. We really live like animals for a long time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that I think that it's, I find all of this, you know,

I had this romantic notion I was talking to John Bryan about when I'm 60 which is, you know, five years away, I said, I'm going to really get into classical music. I'll have more time.

Yeah. You know, I'll have more time. And this has been the great kind of thing of like, I'm too young for classical music. I'm still listening to fucking Freddie Hubbard. I want to,

I want to hear jazz. Yeah. But it has given, it's a brilliant moment in our time. Yeah. And I'm, I'm really appreciating that that it's like, hey,

no, 100%. I need to call Dan. I need to call, who's a big Tom Papa fan. Oh, yeah. Dan has the, you're doing great hat. Dan McCarroll. Dan Mcarroll.

Oh, really? Shout out to Dan and his wife, Jane. Nice. And his friend, Keith Urban, who's another fan of, dummy boy. They bought all the, all my merch. Everything. They bought the hats. Oh, really?

Dan is the greatest. He was in a band with John Bryan when I first met him. Oh, wow. And he was also the drummer from Lloyd Cole's band. And he was another guy that came out around the formative time. Yeah, yeah. And then he worked his way up through publishing, and then he was the head of Warner Brothers and he was the head of Capitol.

records. He's a great guy, but he's a big fan of yours. Oh, I love that. You're doing, you're doing great. Yeah, you are doing great. Right? Flanney, thank you so much for doing this. This is so great.

Thank you for the book. Yeah. And you'll get the other book. And enjoy the bread. What else? I'm going to give somebody a tip, music-wise, to listen to? Oh, yeah.

How about that? How about this? Because I'm going to be flying tomorrow. Yeah. So, Leonard Cohen, thanks for the dance. Okay. Yeah. Beautiful.

I feel guilty that I haven't heard it. No, but it came up just as all this went out. Yeah. I haven't heard it. And people kind of shut down for a few months. And, you know, like you're saying, you can't promote during Black Lives Matter. Well, that Leonard's thing came out, you know. Yeah.

Now everything got, yeah, rightfully pushed to the side for a bit. That's a great. Really tastefully done record. All right. That's a good one. Okay, but what about something a little, you know, I'm flying with the family. Got to keep the spirits up. Right.

Songs in the key of life. Songs in the key of life. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. And then, you know what's really fantastic is Holland Wolf. I've been listening a lot of Holland, Oh, yeah. Killing Floor.

Really? He's been talking. Yeah? Just listen to his greatest hits. Okay. And it's not just blue. I mean, it's like, I love blues, but it's like pretty great. The early stuff.

And then, and then you know what I've listened to? Oh my God. This is the hot tip. Gal Costa, she's a Brazilian singer. Uh-huh. Her 1973 album, India, was kind of controversial because the cover, it's her in a bikini. It's a woman in the bikini. You don't see it.

Right. And there's a little bit of reveal there, you know. And so it was banned in Brazil. And I just got it on vinyl and they've reissued it with the original. cover, but the record itself is just, and it's Portuguese, you're not going to understand anything. I love that. It all sounds like just a warm bath. Hey, do you ever listen to FIPP radio?

Uh-huh. Isn't that the best? You listen, by the way, it is the best. The best to me is 88.1. 88.1 here in L.A.? Yeah. Yeah, well, yeah. No, that's, yeah.

And it's had many different. Because it's, it'll throw in classical in the middle of all of this other stuff and it comes out of Paris. One of my indulgence is to take the convertible and do up. Mulholland to the site where you overlook the valley I'll come home from Largo I've even done this where I put the kids to bed they go to bed early and the wife goes to bed early

and I'll be sitting there instead of watching something on TV I'll be like you know there's that half hour until cool bear comes on I'm going to get in the car and I'll go up and listen to K K jazz really in a 64 convertible and the wind blowing even when it's cold and the sparkle of the valley and I'm like I'm in the red place ah it's the best you make me so so proud to live in L.A.

Really? I mean, whenever you'd be like, come on, we did it. We made the right decision. Because I always go back and forth, like, where should I be back in? And you just walk in and it'll be a beautiful day, like in the middle of February. You're like, we did it. Right. But also Todd Glass and I were talking today about this.

Through the pandemic, I'm hearing from people that I haven't heard from in Ireland for a long time. And now, I moved around. I went to college in Dublin and I studied and it was in hospitals, working in hospitals. And so I've been hearing people, and they'll send me forward. photographs. I'm like, I don't know who that is. That looks like my uncle. It could be my grandfather.

Yeah. I mean, Ireland has killed him, you know. I know. Here, it's like whether you're just tanned or you're doing, coloring your beard, whatever. Walk around in our cool hats. We're fine. The hats.

We're just fine. We're doing great hats. All right. Thank you so much. We'll do this again, man, because there's so much. I mean, really, we didn't even touch on the acts that have come through. And there's so much more. We'll do this again for sure.

Yeah. Yeah. I think we should do it when we should do it when we. see the end in sight. Like, you know, because I've got a few things that I'm really looking forward to planning. Yeah, no, 100%. And the end is coming. Yeah, for sure. I know it. I know it. There's too many

great minds working on this. Right, but fuck the great minds. Here's the thing is, you just look at history. Like if you read, you know, if you read anything like from the Golden Bau, you know, all these religious things from the past, there's phases. Yeah. There's phases. Like, people didn't even know. Two friends of mine didn't even know that the improv was a place called the

Ash Grove before that were Lightning Hopkins and Muddy Waters and the greatest blues guys would play Sunny Terry and Brian McGee right up until like one week it was the coolest club in America

it was the vanguard in New York and it was the Ashgrove in L.A. and it was the improv and a week later it was a comedy club called the improv.

I didn't know that either. Jackson Brown and Rai Cooter would go there and just look at Sleepy John Estes or Mississippi John Hurt and there is that thing and I don't understand it

I don't know what it is not just L.A. No L.A.'s big. But a place is a place a place has a soul. A place is whatever you put there is going to be

successful is going to be a... You and I feel that and Conan feels it and the people that we love feel that. My landlord is looking at the Cornette Theater as a parking lot.

Terrible. Really? Terrible. And I'll tell people the history of stuff and they're just like, yeah. I don't even know what that language is.

Well, they're ding bets. That's why we're friends. Yeah. You're the best planning. Thanks so much. Hang in.