Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 205 - Neal Brennan Returns

Episode Date: April 30, 2024

Neal Brennan thanks drugs for his latest special.    About Neal: Neal Brennan is a director, writer, actor, and comedian known for co-creating and co-writing the Comedy Central series Chappelle's Show with Dave Chappelle. Chappelle and Brennan wrote and produced virtually every sketch themselves. In the second season, Brennan was allowed to officially direct, and helmed such sketches as “Charlie Murphy/Rick James,” “The Racial Draft,” “Charlie Murphy/Prince,” and the “John Mayer Sketch.” Brennan received three Emmy nominations for Chappelle’s Show; one for directing “Rick James,” the other two for writing and producing. Chappelle’s Show is the number one selling television show DVD of all time, selling nearly nine million units. Ask your parents what DVDs are. About Tom: Tom Papa, a celebrated stand-up comedian with over 20 years in the industry, has made significant strides in film, television, radio, podcasts, and live performances. Notably, he's a regular on "The Joe Rogan Experience" and various late-night TV shows. Papa's literary skills are evident in his books “We’re All In This Together” and "You’re Doing Great!: And Other Reasons To Stay Alive," a collection of essays, and "Your Dad Stole My Rake: And Other Family Dilemmas," a comedic look at family life. His latest stand-up specials are “Tom Papa: What A Day!” and "Tom Papa: You’re Doing Great!" on Netflix. Beyond comedy, Papa's engagements extend to hosting "What A Joke With Papa And Fortune" on SiriusXM and appearing on NPR's "Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me." His love for baking led to hosting the Food Network series "Baked." As an actor, he's worked with notable figures like Rob Zombie and Steven Soderbergh and has appeared in several films and TV shows, including the HBO film "Behind the Candelabra." Additionally, Papa has contributed as a writer to projects like "Bee Movie" and various TV series. Residing in Los Angeles with his family, Papa continues to balance his professional life with personal interests like baking. Get in touch with or go see Tom live on stage! Radio, Podcasts and more: https://linktr.ee/tompapa/ Website - http://tompapa.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tompapa Twitter - https://www.twitter.com/tompapa Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/comediantompapa #TomPapa #breakingbreadwithTomPapa Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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nothing else is Reese's. It's time for breaking bread with Papa. Hey, don't you know? Hey, it's also a show. I really wanted to do, because we've worked so hard on developing our set and everything. I baked you this bread, by the way. Thank you very much.

I want to have Joey. You actually bake that last time I was store bought. That looks, that's a good looking. That's, as a guy who directs commercials, that's a good looking. That's a good looking love. That's what they call the pack shot. It's hard to shoot. It's hard to shoot food.

Yeah, it is hard to shoot. There's specialty. There's like people. I did a jack in the box or Carl's Jr. one time. and the main burger guy in L.A. wasn't available. And the backup burger guy wasn't available. So we had to use the third string burger guy. And then they ended up just photoshopping a burger where the burger.

It was so awful. Yeah. But it's like there's not. Yeah. It's like a very. It's like anything. It's a way bigger pain in the ass than you would ever believe. A hundred percent.

I remember just my mother had a small advertising agency and just still photos of food. It's like you can't, you just have to get something that looks like the food, but much better. It's not really the food by the time you're shooting it. The food has ever looked. It's the food's wedding day. Right. That's what you're going for. This is my day.

This is my day. I'm steaming. Well, what I'm moist and glistening. I'll never look like this again. Well, I was on the road Wednesday through today. So I pre-baked it before I left knowing that I was going to see you. And then came home, took it out of the freezer, put it in for 200. Frozen.

Now you're good to go. Frozen. Great. Yeah. Fantastic. So you're in good shape. But I think because we have all this stuff going on, Joey should be in like a little vest. You know, like Dangerfields or like one of those old, or like,

Because of the production design, the checkerboard. Yeah. Having like espresso, Joey. Statt. When your wife is here, do you ever almost hit her? A lot of these. Yeah, a lot of the, hey. Hey.

Hey. You know how I am. You don't want to know. Don't ask. Don't ask. I don't want to have to tell you. Yeah. Fuck.

Mar-a-on. Your special is great. I just want to mention that right off thing. He said it off the top too, guys. Yeah, it's so good. Thank you. It's really good. Thank you so much.

I really like the title. Thank you. Crazy good is a, is, it's got multiple meanings. It's really strong. Rich, it's at least a double entendre. Yes. I caught a, the nice thing about having a special out is you'll catch nice. You'll get, it's like you'll get texts from people you haven't heard from.

Yeah. And not like. in a bad way. People you like, but you just, but my buddy, Ezra, directed the OJ made in America documentary,

one of the greatest piece of art. Man, I was watching that again. Yeah. Oh man, it's so good. It's, it's almost unbearable.

How good. It's almost unbearable to experience. Yeah, it is. So he's on the home page because OJ died. We love you,

Juice. Hang in there, Juice. We love you, Juice. Juice. Chop God's head off. And anyway, so I sent him a still of OJ. Made America, like the main thing on, and then

crazy good. And I sent it to him. And I was like, look, I like that we're together. And he wrote back, yes, but this weekend on Netflix, you're the real killer. Nice. And I didn't even catch it. And I was like, wait a minute. That's a double entendre.

And it's reminiscent of one of the jokes from the special. Athletes being insane? The rape. Oh, yes. Yes. I would have done this. Yeah, but that joke always. Yeah.

Yes, I have a rape joke. It is, it is really good. And it's your most just straight ahead joke attack. It really is. Oh, yeah. Like your other ones, you know, the mics and blocks. Oh, the special overall is a joke attack. Yeah.

It's just, it's the most, you're always have great. jokes, which we talked about last time on blocks. It was like, it was, but it was in a context of something bigger. And this was just, I'm walking out and I'm going straight at you. And it was really, really strong. The jokes are so good. Thank you. And you do such a good job. I was saying a Joe earlier that you're, you're such a smart comic. It's really fun to check in with someone who's very current. You know, you're taking all these topics that are on every everybody's mind and just interpreting them in a very funny, smart way. Yeah.

It's a great, it's a great thing that not a lot of people can do. Well, I think the, as a viewer, it's like, you don't want people to get to stuff too late. Mm-hmm. You know, like, what? Yeah. The Kardashians. Right. Yeah.

And then it's also, you have to get, you have to get to stuff at the, it's like Bitcoin. Mm-hmm. When I wrote the joke, it was. plunging. Right. And I had a part of that. Part of it, and then you just, and then it goes up and you're like, I just have to be neutral. And, but you, it's when to, if you're too far ahead, then people are like, I don't know what

Bitcoin is. Yeah. But it feels very, it felt very today. Great. It wasn't like you were taking, I mean, you know this, but our listeners don't. You weren't taking things like directly from, you know, today's headlines. There are stories that have some shows. I mean, Israel and, in, uh, yeah.

Anti-Semitism and Islam and all that. Yeah. In fact, it's this morning. But attacking the Catholics is always ever green. I mean, that'll never. That never gets old. Just like their favorite altar boys. Hey.

Never gets old. Yeah, so I appreciate it. Yeah, really good. I worked. I don't, I guess I worked hard, but it was more like I got a nice batch. Yeah, right. I just got a nice batch and you always get those batches in. Yeah, that was.

And some batches are like, this one's a little better than the like. It's, I like all my batches. Mm-hmm. But this one is a little, this one's a little extra good. Yeah. It was, uh, it's nice to see it trending on Netflix. It was nice. And when I went to go, yeah, look it up.

I was like, I was, for some reason, I was expecting it to be in my preview because of the radio show. I get to see stuff earlier. And I was like, oh, no, this is easy to find. It's number two. on Netflix. Yeah, it's unbelievable. I mean, it is like, yeah. I don't.

It feels like a real success. Yeah, it does. Yeah, it feels like, oh. And then like, it's very pop. So I'm like, oh, great. Yeah. Yeah. Great.

It's the most success I've ever had as a comedian. Really? For four days. I mean, three mics was successful, but it's like boutique. Uh-huh. This is like... Off Broadway. Yeah, this is like, you know, more mainstream.

Right, right. Really good. Yeah, it's hard to... It's hard to... Yeah, let me ask you this. Uh-huh. Let me ask you this. I feel like, personally, as your friend,

it was a little bit of a sneak attack this special. You were very quick. You last one was 22. It was November 2020. And for this one to come out early 2024, Yeah. You probably shot at end of 23. November, yeah.

That's pretty, that's fast. It was, well, what happened was I don't want to make you or anybody else feel insecure. Thank you. I had blocks before COVID. Then COVID happened. Oh. And then I had all this material, did it. And so I had two or three years of.

Of the other. Ormancy, so to speak. Right. Of like, this is, I, I, I, I. And blocks was set up in such a specific way That I couldn't really Like there's a whole sports thing in this one Right

I was like why don't you put it in blocks? I'm like because I don't have a mitt Right Yeah I don't have a baseball I can put You know what I mean? Yeah Yeah But

Okay Yeah So I don't Because it came up Came up quick I know but I don't I'm not doing that again by the way Like I'm not doing

I have the thought on the way over here Like I'm not trying to be bowing Right getting merch out the door that doesn't have screws. Right. Yeah. Well, I think being that this one is so successful

and it's going to resonate for a while, you can't take your time. Well, or people have no attention to man and you have to strike when the air is hot. I'm either blowing it or not. Yeah. Well, you're going to have to go on tour pretty quickly. I'm not going to rush it.

Yeah. So I don't know what to, look, I don't know what to tell you. Yeah. Like, I'll, go when I feel like it, I have stuff that's good enough. Like, yeah. Which is, which is, uh, a, a bad marketing decision, but like,

no. Yeah. Was just throwing planes out the door because they said they would. I know. So I'm, I'm, I understand that I am squandering, uh, attention and momentum. But then, but I think a pause. Jeselnick also, yeah, waits three years between. Yeah.

And you just go. And then they either you, I'm relying on people to trust it'll be good. Right. You know? Yeah, exactly. Which is not. You shouldn't trust people, but. No.

But you also just have to do it on your own time. Yeah. It's just your own thing. There's no rule. There's no like following it, you know. And I also don't think many of the people that were doing specials back to back to back to back. I didn't think they were all great. No, exactly.

And it's like, well, and in fact, one of the people who was doing a lot of back to back specials said, like, I did too many. Really? Yeah. Um, so who's that? Uh, he's a punt. I want to bleep it. Right. Bleep it, Joe.

Yeah. Joe bleep it. Joe bleep it and blur it. What was the, hold on the phrase, because this could have been easily have been the title of your special psychopaths and drug addicts. It was probably the third runner up. It was. The problem with psychopaths and drug addicts is it's a little clinical.

you know what I mean it's a little bit like is this a like is he still on that right yeah this emo mental health thing so it was like yeah you would like

just you know so I but I thought of it they wouldn't know it was about yeah they wouldn't know it's about it's such a great run though because it really is it really is so true all these great people

all of the ones who have done the most in society all what did you think they were going to be like it's so dumb. Like, why would you think that, I mean, I, like Louis being a pun, it's like, so you, so Louis C.K. Yeah. The most non-linear thinker, one of the most non-linear incredible thinkers alive. Yeah. You thought he was going to be linear about sex? What, what? Why would you think, you're talking about Louis CK. The guy who asked Donald Rumsfeld live on Opie and Anthony, are you a lizard,

person asked him point blank and people were like you know he's got some kinks you're kidding me i remember when louis wow i remember when the woody allen stuff first started to break i was like a young comic in new york and john stewart was on stage just doing the sets and he was like you people are shocked have you seen his movies yeah of the giant tit chasing him across central park yeah which one the the the pedophilia one yeah Right. Manhattan is a pedophilia romance. He's dating him.

Right. She's 15 or 14. Yes. So what do? And I don't, I wasn't alive when it came out, but I don't, I don't understand how people were like, yes. And then I saw it and I was like, well, this, I, I wasn't outraged. I just thought that's what people were like. Well, yeah.

I mean, they're all like sophisticated. It's such a nice thing because you're, the way you did it, it's sports people, it's comedians, it's entertainers. And it's just, and the list just keeps on going. And you could have kept, you could have. I could have kept going for the longest. Yeah. Endlessly. Somebody.

I should have Slash from Guns and Roses, another biography I read. Slash used, this is alcohol, but slash used to be such a bad alcoholic that he would, when he was falling asleep at night, he would prepare two giant screwdrivers, vodka and orange juice, and put them. under his bed. He'd wake up in the middle of the night, refuel, and go back to bed. Oh my God.

This is verbatim from his biography. So like, I don't, does that, is that the only way you can do guitar solos like that? I don't know, guys. It might, what if it is? What are we going to do? Yeah.

What are we going to do? It's like, I just saw a similar story about the Van Halen brothers. Eddie Van Halen got mouth, tongue cancer. I mean, he was. really he was a very very bad alcohol yeah yeah these guys were just so do you feel like we have to do more like should we should you and i be more reckless yeah like we're doing very good at bed we're we're both very good at yeah being very human and always being a little self-aware like should we let it rip a little bit just for maybe i mean put a time limit on it yeah yeah i mean that's the

thing i had an idea of originally when the louis stuff came out that there should be like anti-woke zones that you can go to. And it's like Miramax movies and Woody Allen movies and Bill Cosby live on stage. Uh-huh. Like you can go for like Bachelorette parties. Oh, really? And I would like to be more. Yeah, I feel like in some ways I blew it by when I could have been crazy.

Because I would always see like, uh, different people when we were coming up like they were drunk or whatever and like people would have to get them to their shows. Yeah.

You know what I mean? Yeah. And the reason I wasn't is because I had to get myself to the shows. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't,

I don't like having people around. I know. That's my issue. Is that it is. I don't need handlers. Now, having said that, I would argue that these are my my best batch of jokes

and I wouldn't have gotten there without DMT and ayahuasca. So like that's my version of psychopathic and drug addict. It's like I'm not a drug addict, but I'm a drug user. How many times have you done them? I called Ia because I have such a casual relationship when I say it so much. I thought you're going to say. I know, I have done it.

Between 15 and 20 times. What? Yeah. I thought that was a one-off. Like you'd do it once in a warehouse. If you're a weak, it's a one-off. How funny do you want your special? Yeah.

15 to 20. And then DMT. 15 to 20. Yeah. DMT, I did once, but it felt like a million times. So like, and that was the one that broke me. And then I kind of re, I've recongealed. But, but yeah, like that.

When blocks came out, was that when you did DMT? I had done DMT while I was performing blocks, but I had to stay in the blocks. Right. I was, I was kind of not even feeling that way anymore, but I was, so this was like, ah, this is DMT, Neil. The first and second special thanks, and the special is Iowaska and DMT. The what? I am in crazy good, special thanks. Right.

Iwaska, DMT. Oh, right. I have no, make no bones about it. So, like, I am living proof that, I guess, drugs, you can't get there without drugs. I hate to say it. But in my experience, it got me, it got me an ability I didn't have prior. You never smoked weed? No, I don't like weed.

Right. Although I haven't done it since, you know, I haven't smoked weed. Yeah. When you were a child. Yeah. So no drugs up until that point, really. I would smoke weed. I tried smoking weed six years ago, and I was just like, I hate this.

Yeah. But I know people that do weed therapeutically, like on a, like eye mask, shake. Oh, really? Yeah. So I feel like that part of weed might work for me, but, but I feel whatever it's supposed to do, I think I've gotten there via other. Yeah, that's why I was asking. Yeah. Yeah.

You smoke weed early on. Like, that kind of kicks door. is open initially. Yeah. But it doesn't... It didn't do it for me. Yeah. Yeah.

But who knows? I, uh, is it... I mean, that's a lot of times. Uh-huh. Is it the, as potent? Or do you feel like you've gotten to the end of it? No, it's very potent. You want to keep doing it.

Well, it's, uh, it's like a, it's a spiritual experience. So it is, I... You, I meet, I connect with what I understand as a God central creation force. Right. So it's. Each time. Yeah. And you remember it.

And like when you go into a new one, you do it again. Are you like, oh, I'm back here? Yeah. Are you conscious of that? Or what's happened to me is I kind of have it with me all the time now. Right. Like I don't need to do it as often. Yeah.

I do because it's helpful, but it gets into the groundwater. Right. So then you kind of have it all the time. Right. And then what's happened with ayahuasca is it, because I've done it, it turns other drugs into ayahuasca. Meaning if I do mushrooms. Good coffee. Yeah, I mean, mushrooms becomes ayahuasca.

Same experience. Right. Very similar. Yeah. Like a slightly different tone, but same. Yeah. And BMA. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. It becomes. So it's just like a spiritual god thing. When I was younger and did mushrooms and LSD and that it was very similar. Like it was that all of a sudden these are no longer just the woods around your house. This is now this life force that is creeping through the windows and the air and your eyebrows and your soul. You are it. You're experiencing it.

I wonder how different it is. It might not be different. But that sounds similar to what I experienced. Yeah. I mean, so if you can get there, I never got there. I would just get in like, whoa. I was just caught up in like the, there was no, I didn't know that you could.

I guess you could get there without knowing. I just didn't. It was always in a part in sort of a social setting. Right. So doing it, doing these things. Do you have to cry? a lot? Do you cry every time? No. No. I cry. I mean, there are been times where I like really cried. And there have been times, like Theo cried, talked about it. He cried so much. He didn't understand how he had liquids left.

But I, I've cried sometimes, other times not. Other times kind of fun. I've written bits on it. It's not, you know what I mean? Like you're there. It's like a double conscious. So you can just do it at home now? You don't have to... Well, you can't. I have a friend who did. There are people that do it at home. I like the communal 25 people.

Right. Really? Because you just said that you don't like having people around. And for me, like, that part of is the... Tripping balls doesn't bother me. It's the doing it well these other folks around the... Here's the good news. Yeah.

They got their hands full. they don't give them they're not giving them you they're trying not to puke or they're trying to puke or they're they're trying to just hold on to sanity right or they're dealing with a sexual assault from 40 years like they're just dealing they don't care right what you're going through like best of luck and there are people that there that will help you but like yeah it's anyone who's like I don't want to get recognized I'm like no one's going to care yeah No one cares. About what you're...

Who cares? Right. And there's people there that are there to help. Yes. Guardians. Guardians. Yeah. Right.

Did you ever have a bad trip on it? Yeah. Many. Many. Thanks for asking. Yeah. Incredible trips. And then I had another one where I was thrust into outer space and the universe

died and I was by myself in outer space. Oh, geez. And I breathed loudly as a beacon. just in case they sent to look for me. I don't even know what the logic of this was. Wow. I breathe loud. I went, hmm.

It's called samati breathing. And I was doing it with Ian Edwards. Uh-huh. And I didn't, I was like, hey, how long was I breathing like that before? And he goes,

three hours. It's like, wow. Is that how long it lasts? It lasts six or six. Well, if you drink more, it'll be like seven,

eight hours. Wow. They're second cup and third cup, whatever. Right, right. Yeah. So, but three hours of breathing like that. Yeah. I don't remember.

I didn't expect. I was losing my mind. I didn't know what was happening. Wow. So, but. Could you crack? I cracked from 5MEO DMT, which is a toad excretion or secretion or excretion, whatever. Someone gave that to me.

Five MEO? Yeah, the little flakes of the toad stuff. Yeah. Where is it? Do you have it? I threw it in the garbage. Yeah. Because I was alone.

Yeah, that's not a thing. Like a budget hotel in Phoenix. Yeah. Now, we figured that's where you were. Yeah. It was like, Erica Rose was with me on the road. This is fairly recently. This was like a couple years ago.

Yeah. And she was just like, I don't think this is the time or place to do this by yourself in the days in. It's also like, it's way too profound for that. Yeah. You got to give it some respect. So that broke me. It did break you. Yes.

Which I've talked about a lot. Yeah. On other podcasts, so I won't bore you. But it was, it took me about a year and a half to recover fully. Yeah. Wow. I'm, yeah. So it broke me in November of 2021 and I recovered March of 20.

23. Geez. All right. Like full recovery. We're not doing that one, Joe. Yeah. We don't have that kind of time. Yeah, but although maybe.

No, think about it. You got to have an open mind, man. Are you cool or not, man? I'm microdosing now. Not currently, but in general. Yeah. How do you like it? I like it a lot.

Great. You forget about it. Totally forget about it. And you're like, oh. You're just like, oh. I wasn't perturbed at all today. Right. It's exactly it.

Yeah. And then you're like, why was that? Yeah. Oh. Oh. Very similar, but, though, to the same feeling I get at the end of the day if I've worked out. And, like, if I work out at the end of the day, I'm like, oh, I wasn't really bothered. It was like, oh, yeah, because I worked out.

Do you, uh, how often are you working out? Uh, like three times a week. Great. Yeah. You got a help? You got anybody helping you? No, I'm a Peloton. Okay.

Or running, but mostly Peloton. This is good as that. If you guys want to buy a Peloton, I'm looking to get rid of mine. Are you really? Of course I am. Couldn't do it? I didn't mind. I just don't think bicycling is hard enough.

Uh-huh. As like a, or it just feels like a one zone exercise. It just feels kind of like. That's because you're not with Matt Wilper's going in the power zone exercise. Oh, that's, is that my,

that must be my mistake. It gets really hard. Yeah, I believe it. Also, I'm on a four-year streak with the pellet of doing it at least once a week. That's great. It kind of hooked me.

Did you lose weight, gained definition? Did you, my legs are bigger? Yeah. My legs are stronger. I lost weight. And I just really, the thing that really kicked it in was I started it before the pandemic. And then during the pandemic, it kept me sane. Yeah. It was like a more of a mental like during those times. Yeah. And yeah, just for overall health. Yeah. Like I'm not, there's no pandemic. I'm nothing's changed. Yeah. And you're also, you know, very skinny and you don't have, you don't, you don't, I get fat. I would get fat. You would? Yeah. I don't think so. I think it's a lot. I think it's a. I don't think it's a. I'm. I don't think it's a. I. I don't think it's. I. I don't think it's. I. I don't think so. I. I don't think it. I. I don't think it. I. I. I impossible for you to be fat. They're fat Brennan's. Is there really? Is there fat photos of you? No, but there are fat other members of my family. Right, right. But yeah, I could get there if I, if I didn't pay attention. Did you go to church when you're a kid?

Yeah. When you're on IA, does any of that, did any of that show up? No, it's, it's the only, you know, my belief is that, that, this is actual church. Like this is what they said church was supposed to be. Right. Church is like a dry rehearsal. It's like a dry walkthrough. Right. Like,

and then we're going to drink a thing. And then we'll all get some, you know, little disc, bread disc and it's got, ah. You kind of feel it right. Yeah,

like right. So this, but it is, it is like, oh, this is. Okay. Right.

I mean, they're pretending it was. Or striving for. Yeah. But Jesus didn't show up. No. And there's, I mean, my, my interpretation. And you know what's interesting is that there are people that are like, did you meet God?

Like they don't want me to have been an atheist and then been like, oh, okay. Something about it threatens. I'm like, I'm not, it's not denominational. I don't care. And also like, I'm not saying you should. I'm not saying don't be gay or don't whatever the thing. Don't eat meat in a certain order. Other people.

Yeah. It's just other people. So no, my belief now is that religions are like regional, like there are hamburgers. And then there's five guys and in and out and McDonald's and Burger King. And that's basically what religions are. Right. The regional franchises for a god. There's regional.

A way to go say that a god. And like, Islam's like, we'll take Middle East and, you know. Yeah. You get it. You get it. Did it seep in, has it seeped in to the way you live? Do you treat people differently? Do you have different sense of patience in the world?

Do you have less pride? is there any of that? There is a longer explanation. It set, it kind of reset my brain. Not to like clean slate, but it made me, the things that I was aware of,

it made me less misogynistic, just automatic, like reflexively. My first reflex, as you guys know, was misogyny and stuff that doesn't even make sense. Like I'm somehow turned Israel and Gaza into misogying. I'm kidding. The,

maybe less misogynistic and then long story short I started taking MDMA therapeutically right every three months or so I'll take MDMA and that has

one of the times I was able to really like forgive my enemies or not my enemies like the people constructed yeah right and the next day

I was like why was I able to do that and I believe the reason I was able to do that on MDMA was because I had serotonin dopamine and oxytocin flowing and like kind loving chemicals right normally most of my life I've had cortisol and adrenaline so I realize like oh what I consider a personality is just the chemicals I had on hand so I kind of like train myself so to speak to just like not listen to those negative

chemicals and it's by sort of cutting them off at the past and being like, no, I'm not, that's that's not even true. I don't even believe that. Right. Because it was misinterpreting my life. I was the victim and I was, and it just everything was out to get me. And meanwhile, like, my life's incredible. Yeah.

But I just couldn't see it because of the chemicals. So I've like slowly weeded those chemicals out. and DMT is how not DMT MDMA and I have done I think it's just gave me a more it's kind of reset the chemistry a little bit yeah and now yeah yeah what were you going to say no go ahead

now the so now I'm more interested in gratitude which is the corneous shit on earth but I was doing a gratitude journal checklist whatever you want to call it. And I was talking to Rayne Wilson on my podcast and he was saying, we were talking about Islam praying five times a day, Muslim pray five times a day. And I was saying that's about the right amount. Because you're going to, you forget. The Catholic version of that

Joker, the Christian version is there's churches on every corner. Yeah. Because it takes a block for church to wear off. You're like, ah, you come out and I'm like, you know what? I'm going to be a good person. Then I'm a halfway down there. Like, fuck everybody. Right? And they're like, No, no, no. Church.

I'm a good person. Back up the steps. Yeah. So, so, uh, so I've started doing the checklist three or four times a day. Right. Which set, and it's on my phone. Yeah. 10 to 6 and 10.

Oh, nice. And I just, it did it. And I go and it takes 45 seconds. It's really pretty fast. And it's, it's, it makes the negative thoughts, the outliers. It makes the negative thoughts like, what do you? Why are you talking like that? Yeah.

Like it's like an asshole. It sounds like the asshole it is. Yeah. And you're like, why are you, why are you talking like that? I mean, such an important part of it is just to be conscious of that. Like once you realize up, I used to say, up, look what my brain's doing. Yeah. He's, look what he's up to now.

Yeah. And it's like it starts chirping. But it is very interesting that all the things you're listing of like, those are the things that religions are trying to crack. It's all the same behaviors. and insecurities and spitefulness. And it's like all of the religions, like you said, the hard, the, the, the, the, the challenge for religions and the necessity of religions is that people are not, our default settings. Yeah.

Are like, not great. No. Um, and so if you can crack it a little bit, exactly. Which, and they try to crack it with, with, uh, punishment. I mean, ultimately, Buddhism does. And Buddhism's the other one's like, just your thoughts are bad. Try to separate the, try to increase the distance between your thoughts and your impulses. Right.

You know what I mean? Or your impulses and your actions. Right. Just give yourself three extra seconds if you can. Yeah. And but what was lucky for me is like, I don't, I've heard about Buddhism and be like, ah. Yeah. Fuck that.

Nah. I got shit I got to do. You know, Buddhism may going to write these jokes and all that shit. And then I was kind of. of like given it. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Yeah.

Chemically given it. Right. And I don't even think like and I worked with, no, like I was given it. So I say all this stuff not, uh, we're not implying that if you aren't doing this, you're weak or if you're, but I will say that the checklist thing is really easy. And it takes so little time. And it is laughably better. Yeah.

It's like so much. better. It's what, yeah, you know, and the Muslims are facing that direction and getting on their knees all these times a day. Then Catholics are just remember going through the rosary. Yeah. And, you know, whatever, whatever helps you create order that can help you get through the day. Yes. Or just remembering the basic idea of it. Yeah. Like, hey, the, the base. basic premise of this is that you're a spirit in a body and not just this body like this is literal. Everything is literal and everything is a competition and about status and all the stuff that you

you know it's funny though. I was talking about this with Sarah. It's nice to like learn these lessons and ultimately get there. I don't know how effective our careers would have been if we learned it at 18. I know. Well, that's what I'm, I always say like, I don't want to be like the drug addict who's like, don't do drugs, kids. They were incredible. But don't you do them. They're also very bad. And it's like we all got high for a long time on status and accomplishments and all that stuff. And it, you need a little thrust. You need to work hard. You need to like to. It needs to be like the psychopaths and drug addicts thing. Like, yeah. It's not. It's not. coming from a good place. No one moves out here to when people were mad at Ellen. I'm like, no one moved out to L.A. to be kind.

I know. I'm going to L.A. to be kind, everybody. You'll see. I'm going to be at the top of kindness mountain. And it's going to be me and Gandhi, virulent racist. And a lot of your, a lot of the analysis of people that become successful is, when did you meet them? Like, if you met some, some successful people that we know,

early on those the people that met them early on were like oh my what an asshole yeah and then if you met them after success kind of hit and stuff you're like great guy oh that's the that's the that's talking to Chappelle about that is always the worst because it'll be like that guy he's a nice guy I'm like was he nice to you what did he find a way to be nice to one of the most talented people on earth wow what a what a mench this guy is yeah um yeah and also I It's just the separate. What's interesting is the, this special is more popular than my other ones. And it's hard not to get invested in that, the economy of that.

It's hard not like, I take Instagram off my phone and I'm like, let me just look. Yeah. And then I go and then I'm like, well, I am a baker and I would like to see if the cookies are selling. Right. But meanwhile, like, I can see they're selling if I go on Netflix. I can see how well they're selling. Yeah. But I'm like, yeah, but what are the individual tastes?

Well, that's the, I always say, you know, everyone always goes through this of, oh, I don't read comments. And it's like, I think it is pretty toxic to read comments. Unless I get an inkling that they're going to be pretty favorable. Yeah. Yeah. You start feeling the momentum. Well, you know, I know. The problem is, you're like, and I've been telling myself, Neil, you're opening the window.

and asking for a vampire to come in. It's literally what I'm doing. I'm like, dude, you're open, you're asking for vampire. I did catch a great, uh, negative comment. Some of them are so,

it's so funny, I can't stand it. Yeah, and the guy said, I'm assuming he was black. He, and he was referencing Woody from Toy Story.

Uh-huh. He wrote, It's very simply why he stand like Woody. And if you watch Crazy Good, I stand like Woody. And I have, I actually know why. And it's, but the fact that he, he nailed it. Because I was like, why am I standing like this? Why do you stand like Woody?

One of my many modalities that I tried, a thing called rolfing. Uh-huh. Where they kind of rearrange like your hips and your, and I like relearned. my walk like two or three years ago, like a different, and I don't think it's any different, but like I know the mechanics of how you're supposed to walk. Right. But it makes you kind of mince, what we used to call mincing.

It makes you, so I'm minced. So like my right foot is up and like in a little pirouette. And then I looked at my Instagram and the opening shot of all of the things is me like mincing. that's why he's why he stand like woody and that kids is the story of why he stand like woody our business is definitely a everything that you learn spiritually whether through religion or ia or what have you all those valuable lessons of how to be healthy and live your life what we do is really not it really is not good for it no and i don't the analysis the self-aware the how do I look?

The, is this okay for people? It's just approval. It's just approval. It's just soliciting approval. Yeah. It's just a bad. It's a recipe for some real. Yeah.

I mean, it can be, at this point, I'm just embarrassed. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I do. I'm just embarrassed. Like, this is so undignified that I'm like, bruh. Well, whenever I open Instagram, I go,

what does anyone have to say about me? Literally anyone. Well, to push back a little bit is the cool thing is the saving grace is if you do find your way and you do have a little less pride involved, you can justify what we do by the craft. And you wrote great jokes. And it's nice that people see that and you're giving them new thoughts. Yeah. You got better at the craft.

You did something to the level that you're always aspiring to. You did it on this one, right? Like you got another step in your thing. That I think you can structure and be okay. It's not, I'm doing this, which you see a lot of specials, I'm doing this so I can be. Yeah, well, a lot of specials is you get a bunch of fans and then you serve them garbage. Right.

But you don't, they don't think, they, they act like it's, It's not garbage and you act like it's not garbage. Gary Shanling was on Letterman 25 years ago. I remember watching it. And Shandling does a joke. It's getting an applause break. And he leans over to Letterman and goes, notice the older we get,

the worst the jokes get, but the bigger the responses. Whoa. And I heard it. I was like, Neil, make a note of that. Because it is, I told somebody, I was like, it's an abuse of power. Yeah.

It's just an abuse of power. Right. I said it to Mullaney, and he was like, I think about it all the time. Yeah. Like, just an abusive power. Melani, don't be abusive. Yeah. Like, you can get away with it.

They don't have a standard after a certain point. No, which is why it's, I mean, at a certain point, you can't do this. But, like, I have, like, a nice big following I can tour on. Yeah. But not everybody knows me. So it's very healthy to walk into the comedy seller or the comedy store at 10 o'clock. And who? Yeah.

And, all right. What do you got? Yeah. You can't get away with it. It's also funny seeing some of the waitresses at the store last time. We're like, I watch her special. And I go, yeah, it's, it's, she's like, I hadn't seen it all together. I go, yeah, it's better all to, an hour straight not having to follow Bert.

Isn't it? Like when people are there for me, it's like, oh, this is in full, like, you're watching at the comedy. You're watching like a fucking wounded bird half the time. Struggling and sweating. the person in front of me. But it makes it better. It definitely helps. It definitely helps.

That's how. That's how it unfortunate. I mean, that's the good and bad news about comedy is it's so hard. Yeah. It doesn't, even the thing I'm talking about abusing power. Yeah.

You're not going to get a huge laugh. Right. You know, from a media or no matter how famous you are. How hard was your decision to you add a couple things in the special that break out. of the stand-up for a bit.

The, it just, I do a commercial and my thing with all of this stuff now is we're competing with everything. So if I can add, if I can just cut to the commercial that I, and I just use stock footage and I sync it up and I do it correctly. Yeah. And I'm basically doing voiceover. Yeah. I don't, I mean, I don't care if you don't like it.

Do you know what I mean? Like, I don't, it's just, people have a lot of. a lot of options. Right. So if you can frame it to look like TikTok for 13 seconds. Yeah. No one's complaint. Oh, no.

I would, you know what I mean? Like, yeah. So just make it more dynamic. Right. I don't know if it was, well,

it's weirdly based on, uh, Chris Rock walks paces so much. Yeah. Because Eddie Murphy told him, if you don't move on stage, the audience, doesn't have to look at you because they know where you are.

So that's why Eddie walks. That's why Chris walks. I don't know who told Eddie. Because if you're just sitting there, if you're just standing on stage, if I'm in the audience, I'm like, I don't have to worry about where you are. Yeah, right, right. So those guys, Chris especially is like predatory with the walk. Yeah, yeah. Eddie's more just like set up like I got some busy stuff to tell you.

Yeah, yeah. So that's with this. Like, I move a little bit. I mince, of course, because of my new, my new rebooted walk. Man, what a waste of time. And wearing a weight around my, it was so dumb, you can't believe it. And yeah, like, so I'm just like, yeah, let's cut to a commercial. I don't need to, it's like, I don't, I'm not precious about it.

I would do graphics. I don't care. Right, right, right. Like, yeah. I, there was a Comedy Central, this is probably 12 years. ago, they did a clip of mine and added animation. And then I remember Michael Cheggone like, is the whole special like this? And I was like, no, kind of insulted.

And then I was kind of like, but it could be. Right. Like it wouldn't be. No one has complained. Yeah. So like I don't, I don't know if it's proof that it works, but I would say that it's definitely not, it hasn't made it a worse experience for people. No, it's a fun little pop out.

Yeah. I actually, I actually, there's not one in the. last half. Very, very end. At the very, very end? At the callback at the end. Oh, right, right. I don't want to spoil the end. There's like for three seconds.

Yeah, yeah. Right. Oh, right. It comes back up. Right. But yeah, but you went that whole distance with it. I was going to do graphics of the sports group, but I'm like, people know who they are. I like the set. The set was very cool. Yeah, that was expensive. Yeah, I thought so. And I pay for it.

Yeah. And I'm still paying for it just like. I think I'm going to pay, I think I'm going to pay for music instead of that. I didn't pay for music. I know. I could have cleared Kendrick Lamar's song. He was nice enough to clear it for me. Uh-huh.

50 grand. Yeah. Wouldn't have been worth it. But what's the backdrop? Uh, it's not cheap. No. But I, it was one of the things it had been ordered before I saw how much it was going to be. Right.

So then you have to act like you're cool with it. Like, yeah. I had to act like, rubbing my toe didn't hurt. I was like, nah, that's a regular amount of money for me to spend on a set.

What the fuck? I'm still wintzy. So, so yeah, but then Burr was like, no, I like that shows the audience you're like,

you're not just throwing it up there. Because it looked good. The blue velvet curtain, it's just getting a little tired. Yeah, it looks really, 40 years. I did a theater in Pekipsy,

New York last weekend. And the first act, who was the first act, there was Mark Twain. Mark Twain, who was like, you ever see the Ken Burns documentary on? Of course. So great.

Lost a bunch of his money, inventing an early, uh, tell, uh, printing press. Printing press. And,

um, I saw his first typewriter. He was involved with the first typewriter too. Yeah, I think it might have been that. And he lost a bunch of money and, uh, uh,

who, who wrote, um, uh, death of the salesman. What's his face? Miller. Arthur Miller. Arthur Miller does a quote about like,

yeah, writers aren't good with money. It's kind of proven my point. We're not going to be good at everything. You're going to be good at money. Yeah. You're going to be good at comedy and you're going to be an idiot. I know about everything else. Everything else.

You're going to be a fucking idiot. Even Mark Twain, especially Mark Twain. Especially Mark Twain. Yeah, he's the first comedian. He literally was the first stand-up. Yeah. Because he was, A, bipolar. Yep.

And B-once I heard he was bipolar a couple years and I was like, of course he's bipolar. But, like, no one can write like that normally. You can't have, like, you know, 150-year-old bangers. He's got bangers. It was so great. It was very cool. I have to, you know, just. holding him in such high regard and then like you're actually on the stage in the same

spot as him was very cool one time i went to go see there's an up not utica not emery there's a place where he has a he had a writing cottage you know that octagonal thing yeah that his sister-in-law built for him just get him out of the house and uh they have that on a campus in upstate new york i'm i'm I'm spacing on the university. So anyway, I was on the road and I'm like, I looked it up online. I'm like, I think I'm within striking distance. I can go see this.

I was like, I better get there early. People are really going to want to see this writing space. If you know, I know people. In the winter, I got there. Oh, yeah. Not only was I the only one there. I had to like get security to open up the gift shop for me. Yeah.

That's where I saw the typewriter. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. He lost 100 grand or something on it back then. Nobody cared. I was there. I was like, I was shocked that there wasn't a line like down the end of campus. Val Kilmer, the actor, did a Mark Twain like live show.

Oh, yeah. And it was like real and he'd wear heavy makeup. And if you're wondering how funny Dave Chappelle is, Chappelle had the idea of, and this is, I don't know, eight years ago, that him and Val would go to a Lakers game, sit on the court, Val would dress as Mark Twain, and Dave would dress as Jim from Huckleberry Finn. It's so insanely funny.

It's so insanely funny. So great. That's Mark Twain. Yeah. First guy out on tour. Yep. Had to do it. Dickens toured too.

Did he? Yeah. Dickens was like a rock star. I went to his house when I was in London. I did it. Again, two other people. Have you ever been to the Randolph Hearst? The Hearst Castle?

Yeah. I like that one a lot. That's really. That really worked way better than I thought it would. I don't even know why. I was like, well, it's because you get to be inside a madman's dream. And what's weird is now seeing Chris Hardwick just like making an omelette in the other room. All right. Hold on. Let me do the math on that. I didn't realize that he was married. Hardwick married into the hearse. Right?

Yes. But I was like, wait. That was a joke. Wasn't a joke? No, that Chris Hardwick in a robe. Don't cut that. Absolutely over my dead body. Or put it behind the Patreon. One or the other, you decide. Are you, you're recording and you let me out of directing it? Yes. Thank you again. That was so funny. That was very funny.

Tom called me and asked me if I would direct his, his, I don't think I'm telling any secrets. His new Netflix special. Yeah. And I was like, who am I going to get to direct? I begged him to on to ask me. Because I did, it's not. We had a conversation back and forth within 15 minutes, we went from. hey, I'm, you, would you ever consider, like, doing, yeah, maybe.

No, probably not. Let's pretend you never asked me so we can just go out with our relationship. I don't want to have this. I don't want to, I don't like rejecting people. Yeah. People that I like, especially. And now, here's the, but it wasn't a rejection. Right.

It was just like, I'm not like, you suck. I'm not going to direct it. No, because I don't think they should record you. It was, I just didn't want to. To direct, you have to go to the city beforehand, weeks before. From then two weeks from when we spoke, you would have had to get on a plane and go to Washington, D.C. to check out the venue. And there are directors who don't blink at that.

Yeah. They just do that. Yeah. And I do that sometimes also for better money. The Netflix directing fee is bad. Yeah. And the HBO directing fee is good, which is why I am directing some. somebody's HBO hour.

And I'll tell you how much afterward. Right. Around the same as my backdrop. Oh, really? It's backdrop money. I didn't even put it together. Backdrop money. Yeah.

And the residuals are good on HBO. Why are the rates different? Because it's cable. It's cable. It's television. Right. It's cable television. So you, you get, you get like, it's shocking.

Right. Are you worried about the cicadas? What about them? You haven't heard? Is this, is that a, is that a euphemism? Is that a racial euphemism? I don't know. Could be.

They're coming out. They're coming over the border. They're going to emerge. And this is the first time in the century. They're all coming at the same time. But it happened before. Yeah, like a hundred years ago. I remember, how was your eclipse?

I was on a plane. And I thought, oh, I'm going to see more than everybody. And that it's not. It didn't even get darker. There was nothing happening. It was, I was close to it landing in L.A. It was also like, it was the exact experience of a person who just travels a bunch.

That's how it felt. It was like I was in the day before I was in New York. And then I was in Austin and it was light out and then it was dark out. And then it was light out. And I was like, I wasn't like, what's going on? I was just, I don't know. I never know where I am if I'm traveling too much.

I know. I don't know where, I don't know what time it is. Did I ever tell you this one? One time I was, you know, I do kind of love that moment when you don't know where you are. Yeah.

You know, when you wake up and your eyes are closed, but you, and just that beat of, wait a minute, where am I? And I had my eyes closed. Did I murder someone?

Yeah, I had my eyes closed. I was like, where am I? Oh, wait. Oh, I know I got to get to airport. Damn. And I opened my eyes and I was on the plane.

Wow. That's a good one. You were on the flight that you thought you had to get for. Yes. I was already reclined and had fallen asleep and woke up and didn't know where it was, but I remembered, oh, shit, I do I get to LAX and I was already. That's happened to me where I, if I travel too much, I'll wake up and have no idea where I am.

Yeah. Like, no, I, like, I wouldn't know the first, I wouldn't even know how to figure out where I am. It's the best.

Yeah. I kind of like it. No, it is. There is something. I like it's like your kink. Yeah. Like,

oh, it's really good. Doesn't it, does it turn you on at all? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I've been,

and now I'm here for a week. And then I got to go. And then I got to scout. Yeah. I'm going to scout for the other guy. Right. And. And I got to go to New York, yeah, for a day.

Is he as funny as me? I don't know. I mean, there's no way to answer. It's a tie. It's a tie? Yeah. Hmm. I don't believe it.

Well, don't you think I'm a little funnier? Than whoever we're doing? From, than an anonymous. We don't know who they are, but right? A little bit. Yeah, you can tell that a ton. But he can't say it because he is going to actually work with them. Look, don't blow this.

I'm getting backdrop. Come on, I got to get this money back for the backdrop. Shut your mouth. I'm going to get it back. So that and then are you, yeah. I mean, do you get caught up in the, I was talking in the past couple weeks about things, about the meaning around this.

And the meaning that you've come to is like the practice of it. Yeah. that like that's where the yeah this is our this is my craft this is what i'm this is what i'm here to do write and create funny things yeah and entertain people and hopefully make their life a little better and uh give them an hour of a break and yeah get as good as that as i possibly can and it's satisfying for me and it makes other people happy and it you know puts my kids through school and I forget how little people laugh. Like genuinely.

Oh my God. Because it is like the way we may make them laugh is probably better than some. There's something about like structuring a thing. So it's a bit of like a mystery surprise. Yeah. I mean, that's a huge. Like when they come out of those shows,

you know, they're not going to laugh like that again until they see. I mean, I've always said like someone else going to a movie or something. Yeah. Maybe two laughs. Stand up. People are like,

stand up so pop, you can believe it. I'm like, have been this popular the whole time. Right. Yeah. You and I both remember being at the seller or the Boston Comedy Club and it's like Chappelle, Geraldo, I mean, John Stewart, just people doing Gaffigan. Yeah. Atel. Louis. Just Sarah. Yeah. Topo. Barry. Nick Apollo. Just people doing 15 jobs. Yeah. I know. And it's like, I would just go like, this is so good. I know.

These shows are so good and no one cared. Yeah. And I was like, why does no one care? Yeah. This is, I thought I was losing my mind a little more. I'm like, this is so good. The delivery systems were so bad. Yeah.

And I guess it seemed sweaty or pushy. Right. Which it still can feel. Like every once in a while on Instagram, you'll see like a poster. Yeah. Of like the wacky night coming up and there's the, yeah. This one and that one and this guy. Matt girl and you're like, oh.

Yeah. That's sort of, it looks like a talent show. Yeah. Yeah. It really can take. By the way, it looks like a talent show in the Philippines. Like there's a lot of stars and graphics and pinks. Wacky typeface.

Is there any other way we could do this? Yeah, you're absolutely right. So it does get, yeah. It can be embarrassing, but at its worst. but that's all it's sifting it out yeah but yeah you'll you maybe go to the Filipino talent show what else worries you so you're not worried about the cicadas no anything else bothering you worry no I'm more I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm I feel very internally peaceful I am peaceful that's the way you should say everything I mean they're not they're not

It's not unrelated. So I do feel it's nice to be competent at something. And you'll, and I was explaining to my girlfriend yesterday. Because like Netflix told me the amount of popular, the special is. Uh-huh. And I, you'll, you were there. I looked at my girlfriend. I go, what a fucking relief.

Yeah. Like, what a relief that it wasn't a waste of time. Yeah. Like, thank you. Yeah. Thank you, Central Creation Force. Like it seemed like it might have been. It's like the time we were at the factory 15 years ago,

it's like this didn't go good for me. Like I didn't really know how to do it. So figuring out how to do it, figuring out how to do it at a high level. And it wasn't always a foregone conclusion. So it's just nice to have done it and not even care about like, I hope so and so I don't care. I've also just gotten a lot of dispassion for the haters. Mm-hmm.

Because it's all imaginary anyway. It's all sci-fi. And I don't care if I just don't care. Yeah. I don't care. Yeah. You don't like it. All right.

Yeah, it's not for you. It's popular. I don't care. It's good and popular. I don't know what I don't care. Yeah. So I'm less worried. about I have less standing worry.

Yeah. But I mean, isn't that back to what we're saying of like you got, the way you're describing this, you're taking pride in having grown and gotten good at this thing. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, and that is very. You're not going to totally get out of it because we are in a thing where you want

a lot of people to see it. And if you have one. Yeah, it's like now it's a bit of a, you know, put out a movie or something book like, you know, and it doesn't hit like another one hit. Yeah. You're like, oh, well, why? Yeah. But by the time you're gathering that in, you're already making the next thing.

Yes. You're already crafting and putting together another bunch of stuff. Yeah. It's about like the wood chopping Zen part of it. Yeah. Just like chop wood. Yeah. Like that's the Zen saying. It's like, what should I do when I get? They're like, what should I do before enlightenment? Carry water chop wood. What about after I get in alignment? Carry wood. Then they switch it. They carry water chop wood. Like that's.

The, just shut the fuck up. Right. Get to work. Just fucking keep going. We need wood, motherfucker. Yeah, exactly. And again, this is not in light. It's, this is ideally how my mental state. And then it fluctuates throughout the day.

Oh, yeah. But like, ideally. You have to constantly, you have to constantly, do we have the knife? You could tear it, but we'll tear it. We have that big serrated knife, don't we? I just, I need. food. You could also eat these cookies.

Are you, uh, is this your vegan day? I know your vegan. Uh, my sugar day. Actually, we moved it up to yesterday. Oh, you're good? Yeah. Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm. You know, have butter, Julie.

I know. It'll be hard. Mm-hmm. There you go, big guy. Thanks, big guy. Mm-mm-mm-mm. Um, it was oatmeal cookies pretty good. Uh-huh.

But it probably has butter in it. Yeah, it's all right. I assume Sunday would be your... It is my cheat day. Your cheat day. I go down to vegetarian. Vegetarian from vegan. Yeah.

Joe's vegan. Hey, Joe, we should hang out. Help me in. The, um, let me chew. That's hard. It's good bread, though. We can clean it up. Sourdough?

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Good, right? Mm-hmm. What is the cigarette? thing. I love, I don't smoke. In the movie, misery?

But I love this. I love holding it. You never smoked? No. Did Cynthia smoke? Mm-mm. No, we're not smokers. But I do love the act of this

and carrying it and making points. Yeah. I love it. Pretty cool. I can't quit. Pretty cool. No, you can't quit now.

That's really. I don't know how people do it. A lot of people counting on you. I don't know how people do it. Hey, what happened to your daughters? They're good. One's graduating from college. She's a woman now.

And going to be, um... Bring her up. I'll be the judge of that. You got a job for it? What is she trying to? I actually don't have any job. Just going into the arts. What, does she get a plan?

Mm. Go to New York. and see what happens. Yeah, which I wholeheartedly. That's where you build your community. Do you think there's a difference between when you went and when she would go now? Yeah, it's always changing. I mean, you know, she's a really great writer.

And it's no joke. Like, AI is shrinking writing writers rooms drastically. It's a lot of, like, established writers that aren't writing. so I think that's going to change it but there'll be new production stuff for her yeah maybe

she wants to start in theater is AI writing theater no and they're not producing and you know live performance and she'll find her way no no but I'm just wondering about AI

I think there's a lot of AI and it's going to keep increasing I think there's a lot of I mean look it wrote some of your act and your special Yeah. It's going to... 80%.

You know, and it's going to get better and it's going to keep... You know, you can just see there. Soon we wanted to podcast. They'll do it for us. Oh, that would be so great. Oh, can you fucking imagine? There's parts of your job. I'm like, they better not come for stand-up.

Then I'm like, if you could please come for podcasting. It would mean the AI, if you're listening, and we know you're listening. You're always listening. Please make a... so we don't have to keep doing this. Keep going on my podcast. We're begging you. I'm begging you.

I like your podcast. Thank you. I like, yeah, it's fun to do. It's fun to do and it's also fun when it's a mutual friend and you're talking. It's like, well,

you'll hear things you might not hear otherwise. Yeah. Because it's invasive. Suttly. But, yeah, but it's like people are game, which is nice.

Yeah. And so, yeah, so I hope. I mean, as much as I'm making fun of it, look, hey, I, we, we, we, we, we bust balls. Hey, I, look at this, look at this tablecloth. What do you think? Come on. You're not going to get your balls, buzz a little bit? Yeah, let's go.

But, yeah, it's fun. And I get to talk to people in a way I wouldn't normally talk to them. Right. Which is kind of all you want. I know, exactly. Yeah, which is making me think I haven't hit you with anything really hard. I guess the religion. So I think was pretty good.

Yeah. What's that? Do you ever see that? Backdrop. You ever see the David Frost, Nixon? I saw the movie. Yeah, yeah. I saw the play.

Well, I saw the play. Did they make a movie? I only see theater. You're just like my daughter. And Nixon comes in, they're going to be jousting, unlike Tucker, Carlson, and Putin. And Nixon starts off.

They're getting their mics on, and they're getting ready to do the interview. Nixon leans in, did you fornicate last night? Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Nixon's one of the great lunatics. God. A real crazy person.

When you look at him just physically, there's no one that kind of looks like him. No one's ever looked like that. He looks like people look when you're on trumps. Yeah. Like it was like cartoon. And like, bro. Yeah.

Yeah. Coolish. Yeah. And was able to get elected. Able to get elected. because it wasn't all it wasn't all sewn up yet. Yep.

Oh, that was a funny line in your thing of, when you were talking about Rogan and then about... Yeah, the most consequential political figures of 2024. Yeah. If you would ask me 20 years ago, who would be the most consequential political figures of 2024? I would not have said,

the host of The Apprentice and the host of Fear Factor. Didn't see it coming. And by the way, I sent all the people I mentioned, In the special, I sent the clips to them. I would have cut it out if he was, if Joe was upset. Uh-huh. But like, he was like, he just wrote back like, funny.

Mm-hmm. Because it's fun. It's, yeah. It's like, you know you are and you shouldn't be. Yeah, right. Yeah. That's where he is. Yeah.

You know, didn't see it coming. And, uh, it's all, it's all a must-see TV promo. Did you have to cut anyone out? Could you mention a lot? of people. No, there was no, but I mean, I made, I just made shirt. Yeah. But either they mentioned it publicly.

Yeah. Or if they hadn't, I just. You didn't ask for the permission on the Louis joke. I didn't, but yeah. That joke writes itself. That's just, yeah, that was so good. That joke, I didn't ask for permission, but no, it's, neither did he. Yeah.

Come on, guys. Come on. I got it. A lot of DMP, guys. It jokes like that just occurred to me. Is Montreal Comedy Festival coming back? Have you heard it isn't? Oh, I know it's shuttered this year.

I didn't know. Are they not doing it this year? Yeah, you didn't hear that? No. Yeah, first year. They're not doing it. They declared bankruptcy and they canceled the festival. Oh, man, I didn't know that at all.

I didn't, is that recent? Must be. Like a month ago. Yeah. Oh, it sucks. I know. It sucks. That's a real bummer.

I know. It's such an enchanted time. It really is great. I'm very upset by it. That sucks. I hope it comes back. I do too. Have you spoken to Bruce?

A little, but just in the beginning of it. Yeah. When it was like, yeah, they'll work it out kind of thing. All right. It's time to check back in with them. Let's check. Let's go to live over at Bruce. Yeah, we should do that.

Bruce, are you on the air? We should do that. You know, Neil's showing more clips on his podcast. Yeah. So. FYI deal with it. Are you guys not showing clips? No, we don't show nothing.

You got to keep them under a certain length. Oh, really? Fair use, yeah. And mute them. If comics are on, Brian Regan came on and I just made him do bits because I was like, I don't feel like clearing these bits.

And then he was, and he was like, so, and I was like, I own the bit now. And he was like, what? You do? It was like great.

He was full. Full-fledged Brian Reagan. Wait, so I don't own anything anymore? It's fucking hilarious. He's so funny. Oh, he's so good. It's unbelievable. We just did this thing together and he's just so fit.

Oh, yeah. How was that thing? It was really good. Great. Yeah, it came out great. Now they're going to go try and set it up somewhere. But just being on set with him and his brother. Yeah.

The two of them. I haven't seen Dennis in 25 years. Oh, my God. They're just, you know, they're just as funny. Yeah. as a human being can get. And then the two of them together, it's like, how did this happen? Yeah.

Yeah, he's amazing. Yeah, both of them just so good. So we can do the rest of your day. My lady got a babysitter. How long you had a lady? Almost a year. Oh. Yeah.

I feel like the lady. Or a year plus. I feel like your lady is the same way you did your special where it's just, you know, you really knows about it. And then all of a sudden it's a big deal. Number two. The, no, yeah, she's great. She's a therapist, British.

Wow. Ali Wong had the greatest joke when I told her that I was dating a therapist. She's like, as a cheap Asian person, that's my dream. Free therapy? She's so funny. Does she analyze you? No, she does a thing called, uh, gentle inquiry. I don't know if the word's gentle, but it's a positive inquiry.

She just asks questions. And it's great. She's not. Do you ever feel like she's switched into just into mode? Yeah, but I don't mind it. Yeah. I'm like, yeah, I'll take a little something. Right.

It's like you do bits that are probably better than most husbands. Right. You know, and so he's like, hey, what's happening? Why are you being like this? So, yeah. So, yeah, the, the, so that's, I, she's, and she's got a kid, so I've been, I spent time with, with him today. Oh, nice. He's three and a half, so he's an incredible age.

Wow, that's amazing. And I understand all the parenthood stuff and like the, what it is and what it feels, what it does to you. No, it's not my kid, so I'm sure it's like duller than it would be, but, um, oh, you mean he's having an effect on you. Yeah. Yeah. But it's dull. No, I'm kidding. Everyone relaxed.

No, but it's like really, I didn't have any younger brothers or sisters. So even that's kind of good. Right. And my niece and nephews were just around a little bit, but not in a way. I was not old enough to see it, you know? Yeah, yeah. So I had the thing where I was in New York for six day or on the road for six days. And I got back and he was bigger.

Yeah. In a way that you can't really prove. But I was like, he's big. And you're like, yeah. And they, all the new, so whatever, all the boring, but it is. Oh, look at you. Yeah. That's cool.

That's good. Not bad. I like that for you. Thank you. So things are going great. So you got a big Netflix thing and you got your eye ahead all straight. Now you got a nice loaf of bread. I mean, you can't tell me nothing.

I can't wait for it to all fall apart. I mean, it's inevitable. Well, this is really fun. Yeah. Great to say, but. Yes. So great to see you. And I got nothing else to say.

I've enjoyed every time I've seen you for 20 years. Yeah, likewise. And you're a good director. You're a great director and a comic mind. What would you do with our set? What's it missing? We're going to need some more stuff on the walls. I would do more with the walls.

I'd go full. I'd cover it. Cover it. Cover it. Oh, with tons of stuff. With everything. Right. With all pictures.

Okay. And, uh. And the Joey and the vest for thing, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right? Yeah. You need someone to order around. Yeah.

Yeah, like, be disrespectful. Right. You know, et cetera, et cetera. Yeah. All right. I want you tomorrow to toast that. What do I do? Take a slice and then put it in the toaster.

Oh, yeah, fine. With some butter. Fine. Done. You're the best. You are.