Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 211 - Daniel Thrasher

Episode Date: June 4, 2024

Daniel Thrasher breaks down his experience starting in YouTube, the Internet's place in comedy today and wasting his question with James Gandolfini. Catch him in "Dinner with the Parents" now on Prime/Freevee! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you to our sponsor Wild Grain! Any combination of breads, pastas and pastries shipped to you, plus $30 off the first box and free croissants when you go to https://www/wildgrain.com/papa. About Daniel: Daniel Cole Thrasher is an American internet personality, comedian, actor, and musician. He primarily uploads piano-based comedy sketches to his self-titled YouTube channel. As of May 2024, his main YouTube channel has accumulated more than 1.2 billion views with more than 4.9 million subscribers. 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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effortless. Simply press, brew and explore. Nispresso, what else? Keep exploring at nespresso.com. But I was like, you know, to be honest, I'm here to steal. Is what I said. with Papa Hey Don't you know Hey

It's also a show Hey We'd like to thank the good people at wildgrain.com for sponsoring today's program I love wild grain They're the first ever Bake from Frozen subscription box

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You can get $30 off the first box plus free quassons in every box when you go to wildgrain.com slash papa to start your subscription. You heard me. That's free croissants in every box and $30 off your first box when you go to wildgrain.com slash papa. That's wildgrain.com slash papa p-a-pa or just use the promo code Papa at checkout. Well, thanks for doing this. It's very cool to meet you. Yeah, very cool meeting you. Thanks for having me on. Yeah. You have so much out there.

You've built up a single empire. Wow. And it's really comedically so impressive to me because I always have these, I always have these thoughts. When I was young, like in high school, for some reason, every Sunday night I would sit in front of this little mirror and I would do, like, comedy bits. And I had, like, a little camera that I could kind of, like,

just film myself. Or I had, like, these little, like, popsicle sticks that I would do like voices on and stuff. Nice. At that age, like when you're emerging comedically and you're into stuff and you're just making stuff and there's no judgment, it's just so freeing.

Yeah. We didn't even have an idea of like putting it any place. It seems like you got to live at a time where you were doing the same thing where you could put stuff out there to the world. Yeah. What was the first inkling of like, let me share my little madness with people? Yeah.

That's really interesting. I've always had this theory that, like, if Robin Williams were young while YouTube was a thing. Yeah. He absolutely would have had a YouTube channel or TikTok, you know. 100%. You know, when Jim Carrey was young or like these guys who love doing bits in the mirror and things like, it was like, of course. You know, it's just another, it's a different kind of stage, I think. For sure.

But for me, when I was, you know, like 11 or 12, this new kid showed up to my middle school. It was Jonathan Van Heardin. He's from South Africa. and he was the first kid I've ever met who owned a video camera and I was like what? Like I used to sincerely look at

magazines that would come to my house you know there's little Best Buy ads that would come to house and I'd look at these video cameras like they were porn to me I'd be like oh man this one's got like three CCD like before HD was even a thing and like this one records on like mini tapes

and I'd just geek out and then my friend Jonathan had the Sony Handycam like little, you know, and you'd record on a tape. If you didn't like it, you'd rewind it and record over it again. Yeah, exactly. And this was in middle school. And for fun, we had the same English class together. We became best friends, like, immediately.

We both had the same kind of funny bone. We'd look at each other and go, you know, like, that was our thing. And then we would do video projects for English class that made no sense whatsoever. So, like, there's a book called Star-Bour. girl by Jerry Spinelli about this like really cool girl who comes over and to this school and like this boy falls in love with her whatever and then she cheerleads for both teams and then she slaps somebody and she leaves. I don't know. Some crazy story and we did a video project on it that made no sense. I mean these you know we're like we're like throwing things at each other and screaming like

middle school kids do and but when we played that video project for English class, the classwees We're like, whoa, you know, this is pre- YouTube, right? So we're all, you know, we're all just cheesing, smiling, looking at the TV like, yeah, that's us on the big old TV. And like, everybody in the classroom was like, can we be in the next one? And it's like, yeah, okay. So, like, suddenly we became the talk of the town

at Dunedin Middle School in Florida, where, you know, all these, you know, kids were like, can we be in your next English project? And then, because we knew how to edit. Or he knew how to edit. And I knew how to stand over his shoulder and go, that's good. Yeah, yeah. But then, you know, I think on MySpace at the time, like, was a repository for video content.

And then I finally figured out how to create a YouTube channel in, like, January of 2007. And I was 13 at that time. So I'm 31 now, yeah. So you were just like, you just, it just happens. You just start making it. There's a little bit of a reception. It's like, just getting a laugh. And you're like, okay, I'm going to go get more.

of this. Yeah, that's a bug. Yeah. Yeah. The, the, the, the first time I ever, like, got a laugh from people at all, I was in kindergarten, and I go, and I go, or I think first grade, and I go on stage, I'm a vegetable, right? I'm a green bean. My best friend at the time, Austin was a tomato. Uh-huh. My line was, we were in a garden, obviously. Of course. As a green bean is. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, whenever I go to a restaurant, I'm like, are these freshly picked? Are these green beans prepared? So I'm staying there in my little wardrobe. And my line is, oh, no, the gardener's really upset.

Now what are we going to do? The way he looked before he left, we may end up a stew. Okay, that's the line. Which, if you really think about it, it should have been a stew. Anyway, you're going to be a stew. And so that was supposed to be what I said. But instead, I forgot everything. And I kind of had a little freak out.

And, like, imagining it from the perspective of the parents, You see these kids come up, they hit center stage, they deliver a line, and then they leave. But I go on, I'm like, and I start giggling with my friend Austin. And then I just, as fast as I go, say the line, I just say the line as fast as I can. And I like sprint off stage.

And they were all laughing. And after the show, people would come up to me and be like, that was my favorite part. And I was like, thanks, man. So I've been seeking that high ever since, I guess. Yeah, yeah. It's so crazy. I had a thing in second grade where I took a banana heel and just walked to the front of it.

I was just like, well, nothing's really happening right now. So I just walked to the front of the class. And there was a song called Rhinestone Cowboy. Okay. And that was popular at the time. And I just got up there and I shook my little hips and I changed the words to Rhinstone Banana. Like a rhinestone banana. And I did a little bit.

And the teacher was like at her desk like grading stuff. I'm just looking at me, like, what are you doing? And the kids, like, went nuts. Wow. And I'm just there with my little banana. It's just like this, there's something so silly about, like, no one else in the class is going to roll up and do that. No one else in the class is going to be the green bean and like, yeah. Just, there's something great.

There's something wrong with us that's great. Yeah. That's beautiful. That's really beautiful. You know? Because that's early. That's really early. For you to be like looking through like dreaming about cameras and.

Yeah. I mean, yeah, even to this day, I'm kind of like a, you know, tech nerd. I think that's, I think the difference between people who are funny and successful and people who are funny and not as successful is that I think the successful ones might be a little bit geekier in some special things, you know? Right. if it's like, you know, being able to capture it is like the premise, like, or being really good at marketing or like, you know, I think. Yeah, that's true. Yeah.

It's almost like an autistic, on the spectrum. Like a hyperfixation, special skill kind of thing. You got to have, you got to have something else. You got one little extra something else. Yeah, that falls into the writing of it or the marketing of it or the, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's a really good point. You know.

So at what point do you. start getting like you talk about the little the little rush of okay i've got a laugh when you start the youtube channel then the rush is what was the first video and what were the numbers that you were like holy cow there's like there's a bunch of people seeing this now yeah i um when i was 19 years old i've been playing piano since i was seven and and a lot of people still come up to me they're like you're the piano guy, right? Which is really funny. But I, that was my niche back then.

But I, when I was 19, I was in college and my dad had just dropped off this keyboard that I had in my, in my, you know, dad's house in Florida. He dropped it up up to Savannah College ofart design. That's where I went to school in Savannah, Georgia. And, yeah, I'm going there next week. Are you really? I'm really excited. Such a good town. And so I had this keyboard.

and he dropped it off. And I was playing it in my room. I was playing it like three hours a day. And I had this chord progression that was really common. I know that now. But it was like a chord progression in G major. And I was like, oh, this sounds great. And it's really elegant, beautiful, and lush.

And then one day I realized it's the exact same chord progression to the office theme song. And so I made a video called How I accidentally wrote the Office theme song. And nothing happened for five years, nothing happened. Really? Yeah. Are you putting out stuff at this time, like, regularly? Sparingly, you know, I had like 500 subscribers, and I'd be like, update for you guys.

I'm in college. I'm a film major. Like, you know, I'm trying to pursue my art, you know, blah, blah, blah. And like, thanks for supporting me. And back at the, back at that time, my YouTube channel was named Muffin Man 3,000. That's a different thing. Now it's just my human name, which is good. But, you know.

I like Muffin Man. Thank you. You think he'll come back? I had an Afro, is what it was. So my head shape was that of a muffin or a mushroom tip, but I didn't want to say a mushroom tip. The wig? No, it was natural.

The real thing? Yeah, yeah. I wasn't rocking a wig at 20, I guess, or when I was like 14 or anything. But anyway, but yeah, so I had this chord progression, and it went viral like five years after I uploaded the video because the algorithm changed, and it went from click-through ratio being the most important thing

to average view percentage. I mean, you know what all this is. No, I don't. Okay. That's why you're here. Cool. So, yeah, so click-through ratio, meaning, like, out of 100 people, what percentage of them click on the title and thumbnail?

Like, it's like a billboard serving as an advertisement for your video, right? Right. And then, you know, back in the day, it used to be, like, boobs and thumbnails. And, like, if the click-through ratio was really high, then the video would get a lot of views because it doesn't really matter. As long as they're clicking on it, that's good, right? Right. But then it changed to, you know, if people finish the video,

if they finish the percent, like 100 percent of the video, then that means it was probably a good video. And they started serving that out more. So it took five years for that video to boost. Whoa. Suddenly it gets like a million views. It's posted on Reddit, all this stuff. And then now it's like 20-something million.

Wow. Which, you know, at the time was like, geez. Five years later, it's got to be like, holy cow. It's weird. Yeah. And so suddenly... Were you aware that the algorithm had changed or you just... No, not at the time.

You back researched it after it was successful. I think that. Yeah. At the time, I was just like, whoa, you know, wow, people really want me to play piano. But at the time, I was like, I want to make sketch comedy because I think I'm funny, you know. And the great news is I was not nearly as funny as I thought I was. And so I had been kind of in the dark workshopping sketches with my friends and stuff. And then suddenly this other video goes viral.

And so I learned that, okay, a lot of people want me to play piano, but I want to do sketch comedy. What would happen if I did sketch comedy about playing the piano? Right. So I did this combo thing. And I was like kind of the first person to that space where I was doing sketches around an instrument, showcasing my ability, but also poking fun at it. Right. And then it's a huge, huge audience for like every musician wants to be funny.

You know, they want to be the person cracking jokes at the piano and stuff. Right, right. So this massive influx of people showed up. And then, you know, over the past five years, I've been kind of switching from that to more general broad sketches and stuff. Right. There's that great video just in that ilk of, that you do of, you're playing both characters and you're on the keyboard.

You start ripping apart. You're like, you came up with this song. You're like, slow that down. Yeah, yeah. I think that's piano, man. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It really is such a great video.

Thank you. I appreciate that, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, when you accidentally write songs that already exist. Yeah, because you don't really see it coming. Like, once you get the hook, you're trying to figure it out, but it's still pretty deceptive. Those were fun.

Those were really fun videos to make. I haven't made one in a while. I should again. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just more current stuff.

Yeah. There's a lot of fun stuff out there, you know. What's that? There's a lot of fun stuff out there, a lot of fun music. Yeah. So when you start getting, so when it becomes a thing, like, I'm, gaining success at this. This is like getting 20 million views off of this office thing and then we're starting to feed it. From that point till now, what year was that? That was 20?

I quit my job in 2019. So that's when I was making a living off of it, but probably two years before that is when things started really pick it up. Right. Yeah. So how much of, it seems to me that it's a it's funny like just from looking at it from the outside of you know i just went straight stand-up so it was like the traditional you know stand-up and television and that kind of thing and then when youtube started like hitting and people were really funny on tic-tok and things like that it was like oh this is a new this is a new way to deliver and it's wow that's really cool if they can hit that many people like that's exciting yeah but then it's almost like it seems to me also very daunting because it seems like a beast that needs to constantly be fed.

For sure. Is it? Yeah. Yeah, man. The first thing, well, yeah. And also, it's, I imagine in stand-up, it's more of a gradual thing. Yeah. Like, I can't imagine just you pop, like, in one day.

You've earned your stripes and things like that. And I feel like, you know, on the internet, for me anyway, like, I've been having this. I'm way better at it now, but, you know, the first thing was, like, getting used to being recognized and, like, also getting used to, uh, to, to be gross for a second, I guess, but to getting used to, like, making more money than your peers, you know, when everybody's working at, I was just working at a coffee shop and then suddenly I'm doing extremely well. Right. It's like, this is a weird psychological thing, so much so that I had to, like, sign up for therapy and be like, it's these little things of, like, it's these little things of, like, of like, oh my God, my mom is like, or my dad is sending me, you know, a hundred bucks for Christmas and they don't need to anymore. Right.

I mean, it's like that weird psychological thing. Now I'm, now I'm a big boy. I'm all grown up. Yeah, so I don't want that. I'm 26, you know, like, what do you mean? What's an accountant? Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

State taxes in California are how much? I don't want to have a company name. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, it was, it's a bit of that. I think, I think the first, the first growth, the first growth spurt is like, you know, you're making more money now. Be careful, be cautious, you know, and like, and like, don't tell people how much. And like, you know, there's some people who you can tell and some people you should not, even if it's family members. You know, like, it's just a weird thing. And then, and then the other thing of it, too, is like getting used to being recognized in public can kind of make you feel weird. And like, yeah, have you know. Have you know. noticed that when you, when you started really hitting the numbers and stuff? Yeah. What was that adjustment period for you like? It was very gradual. Yeah.

Yeah. And to the point where it's, it's still like, I still get excited about it. Like it's still, you know. But I remember, I remember being with my daughters. I've got two younger daughters, now 22 and 19. And we would be, when they were younger, we would be like at Menchies or something getting ice cream. And they'd be like, oh my God.

And I was like, what? And like we look around like, you know, it's L.A. And maybe there's someone famous. And it's like nobody but children here. And be like, that's so-and-so from YouTube. And it was like, this was like a star to them. That's funny. That's when I first clocked like, oh, this is a new paradigm in show business.

Yeah. This is only kids their age. No, that kid is cranking stuff out. Yeah. And this is just a kid like with his parents. Yeah. Yeah. But he's like, but he's like a star.

are. That's so funny. Yeah. Oh my God. I had, I had the opposite experience recently, which is, I was at a, I was at a, air one in line. You know, for those who don't know, it's like a fancy grocery store in L.A. And I, and I was in this line. And there's a girl in front of me. And she's turning to the guy next to her. And she was like, you know, whispering to him like, oh, my God, there's blah, blah, blah, blah. And I was like, I was, you know, I was kind of getting excited. I was like, man, she's, you know, she'd definitely talk about me. Like. I was like, of course, you know, here it comes. I was like, dusting off my shirt, getting ready for a selfie. She goes to pick up a bag of chips. And when she leaves the line in front of her is Justin Bieber. And I was like, what? And you know how I knew it was Justin Bieber?

He had a pink hoodie on and his chin was turned to the side a little bit. And I saw just a sliver of his nose. And that was enough. And that was enough. Yeah. It's like, I've seen this guy's face like thousands of times against my will or not against my will. And like, I can identify this man from a sliver of his nose? That's fame.

I was like, okay, that's a different. Yeah, that's pretty huge. That is a completely different level, man. It's like, good Lord. Yeah. And I'm just, I'm standing there and I'm thinking like, okay, so everybody in here, everybody who works here, everybody who sees this man has to pretend that they, that there's not this like alien specimen. Yeah. In this vicinity. Everybody's playing it cool. Yeah. She's like, whoa. Only at Airwane. Isn't that? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That is insane. That is insane. That was a good day for me in my ego. I'll tell you that.

It was like, I was like, shut up, dude. Yeah. Oh, man. I know that is. It's crazy. There was one time I was in Colorado and I was on the treadmill in the hotel. Yeah. And this girl, like, did the double take. Yeah, yeah. And it was like, oh, here it comes. And she goes, I think I know you. And I was like, I was just about to say, well, you know, I'm on TV a lot. Yeah, yeah.

And before I could say it, she goes, were you in New Jersey? I think we were in homeroom together. No. And it was. And it was like someone I pretty much, yeah. Oh, you knew them. I knew her. And it was great.

But I was so relieved that I didn't let my ego say what it wanted to say, which is like, no, I'm on TV. She would have been like, wow, you turn into an asshole. Go, whoo. Yeah. Yeah, let them do it, you know. Jeez, that's so funny. So back to it being this big, I kind of picture YouTube as the big furnace.

in home alone down in the basement. Okay. Like, this is a big beast, hulking beast, that you have to keep firing up. Has the pace, where, for the production of stuff, where are you at now? Like, how often do you feed the beast?

My, so the past, like, year or two has been huge in terms of, like, me establishing a work-life balance. And I think everybody who's working from home, since the pandemic thing happened is going to hit this brick wall pretty soon. That's my theory to where you've got to really divide the work stuff from the life stuff. But for me, currently my output schedule is like I'll try to do one thing on one or two things on TikTok a week, one YouTube short a week, one main YouTube video a week, and then one,

I think I have a Snapchat show, so like a cut down for that. on Snapchat and then it's I let my producer handle it yeah I was going to say do you have a team now I do have a team I had a pretty big team I had a team of six at one point and then I slimed it down to now I think four you know full time health insured the whole thing I'm very grateful that I have them as my support system but yeah I think I think just being better at delegating things because in the beginning you probably did it all yourself. Oh yeah. You were editing. You were doing the whole thing.

Yeah. editing, sound design, you name it. I was lighting, you know, setting up shots, playing both characters and stuff. You know, and now I do still play both characters, but at least somebody else is holding the camera. God damn it. You know, it's like, you know. It's so funny. Yeah, it's tough.

But the big thing right now is, you know, when is this episode coming out? I don't know. I don't know. Let me give you a date. Stand by. Okay, I'm standing. I'm sitting, actually. June 4th.

June 4th, cool. So the viewers will know whether or not at this point, probably will know whether or not season two of dinner with the parents comes out. Yeah. Which is a show I'm on Amazon Freebie. But I find out like May 30. I don't even know if I'm allowed to say this, but we're going to find out. I'm going to know whether or not there's a season two on May 31st.

Okay. And so. Oh, they give you a date to tell you. That's nice. I think it's like the option thing. Oh, right, right. that'll run out. Yeah.

So, because the strike pushed it back and all that. But I'll figure out whether or not there's a season two. Yeah, I was thinking that when I was, I was checking out the show, which is very funny. Thank you.

But I was thinking, like, you have such success, just creating your own stuff. What was the temptation or what creatively led you to doing, like, a more traditional piece? I went to high school for

performing arts. I went there for musical theater and then I went to, and I was in Florida, and then I went to college for performing arts. I got my BFA in acting. And, you know, I, because of that, I had like a showcase and I got signed in L.A. traditionally. So I've been traditionally auditioning for since I was 21. And so I guess for 10 years now. Wow. And, you know, just every time I would not book something because I would always get really close to booking the thing. It's like between me and the other guy and it would always go to the other guy. I'm sure you can relate. A lot of people can relate.

And so I would just go home and I'd take my like creative frustrations and be like, I'll show you what I can do. You know, and I'd put it on camera and I'd put it out there. I'd write my own stuff. There's 10 million views. Yeah. Like, well, later, yes. Later.

You know, it's so funny. It's like the tide's turn when you don't need it as much. You know, it's so interesting. And so. But, you know, I get a call that there's an audition for this thing. I put myself on tape for it. They call me back. It seems like really cool guys over the Zoom call.

Like, they knew I had COVID at the time. And so it was a remote callback. And they were all wearing virtual masks. They were all wearing, like, digital masks that you could put over yourself. And I thought it was so funny and sweet. And it just immediately felt like a family. Like everybody was laughing and joking and stuff. Yeah.

And then they called me back later. to audition it for the brother instead of the other character. And I did. And I was lucky enough to get it. And that was through entirely traditional means. They didn't find me from YouTube. Oh, really? They didn't even know I was like that big of, you know, quote unquote, big of a deal.

Yeah. And, you know, I'm sure some executive was like, oh, yeah, let's do that. Yeah. Right. Have you seen his numbers? Yeah. I mean, I'm sure it helped, but it didn't. It wasn't a consideration during the initial idea.

Yeah, that's cool. Isn't that funny? Yeah, it's weird, man. It's funny that there's, you have that actor thing, you grow up with the idea of acting, like that traditional thing. It's like, you don't really need it financially or exposure-wise, but it's still kind of cool to do. Yeah. You know, to come in and you're, and it's got to be also a big shift for you because, like you said, like all that stuff of like, at least now you have someone holding the camera. like to walk in and have like a whole script done and everybody working on stuff and you're done for the day, you're done for the day.

That's so weird. Yeah. And not having a say in the editing room is like just makes me curl. You know, it's like, I like what they did. Don't give you wrong. I love what they did. And it's a great show and please watch it on Amazon Freebie. But it's dinner with the parents.

But it's, yeah, it's just so strange going from having 100% creative control being like the CEO of, a company, I guess 50 million views a month. And then going over to something, like being flown out to London, living there for four months, and, like, driven an hour there and an hour back every day. I wake up at 5 a.m. And I, like, get home at 8. Like, you know, that's crazy, man. Yeah.

But it is good that I'm able to sort of shut off my brain to go, not my problem. Yeah, right, exactly. Like, I'm just sitting here eating crafty, like, you know. I'm the talent. Yeah. I'm not part of the rest of this. But I, one of the, uh, one of the, uh, one of the executives over there

kind of pulled me aside and asked a similar question. I was like, what, what motivated you to want to do this show? It's like, I know you got your own thing going on. What was it that drew you? I wasn't in trouble or anything, okay? I was very professional.

But I was like, you know, to be honest, I'm here to steal, is what I said. And I was like, I'm looking around. I'm seeing the Titan tubes. I'm seeing the lights you have. I'm seeing that you're all shooting on Sony, Venice twos. I'm seeing that you shoot on the 6K sensor,

not the AK sensor. I see that you're, you know, it's like, I like the fact that you have a little, you have a little butt scooter that you sit on with wheels on the bottom of it and you just scoot around on a little seat, you know, and you can film it with a shoulder, like, you have shoulder pads that you like buckle to your chest? That's interesting. Like, I don't do, you know. Yeah. And I'm like, I'm there to steal, man. I'm there to like, look at everything. And okay, so that's how you make it look so good. You diffuse the lights and you shine it with these big old things. You got these like R.E. You know, I'm really just sitting down there so that I'm texting people.

at home in L.A. while I'm in London, I'm like, they have this brand of this, and they use this, and they use a mat box and black promis filter. And so I'm just geeking out over all the gear and stuff. Yeah. And, uh, and how they're shooting it. And I'm asking questions to the DP. I'm being very annoying. I'm sure. But no, this is great. Yeah. You know, and, and, uh, as I was, as I was doing that, he's like, he's like, okay. I don't know if he liked that answer or not, but I was like, I was like, but also the show is great. I love the show. You know, like, also it's son of a bitch. You know, it's a very, it's, the scripts, I, this is true.

Like, I'd never laughed so hard reading scripts of anything. John Beckerman, the showrunner, is a brilliant guy. He was headwriter, or he was a writer of David Letterman for 20 years. Right. You know, and he came from, came from there. And Tristan Shapiro, you know, directed the pilot to Kimmy Schmidt, directed more episodes of community than any other director. And, like, you have these comedic, you know, minds behind the show.

And then you got Carol Kane, Michaela Watkins. Dan Beckett-All, Henry Hall, John Glazer playing the neighbor. All these amazing people involved. It's just so much fun doing that show. How much of the equipment did you implement? Well, I at the very least knew how to use my equipment a lot better. So the first thing I did when I got home was get this big white sheet, like a sheer sheet to use as a diffuser. And I would blast this really bright light behind it.

So it acted as a massive soft box. And then I also learned about negative. fill, which is like these big black things that you put up to kind of add shape to your face, you know? Oh, man. And so I'm really, I'm really loving it. I'm really in that space now where I'm just trying to be more particular about how things look.

I mean, one thing about filming a TV show is like, I'm sure you know, is continuity and like the art department will come in and they'll make sure everything's all set up and look good. And like, are you wearing the right color shirt to pop out from the background? Yeah. All these little things. You realize why it's all these people in a production. And it does make a huge difference to have a big crew where everybody's focused on that. You know, the internet's a weird space where it's straddling the super weird line right now.

I know. Where it's like, you know what I found out is that YouTube is the number one streaming platform period on TVs. Yeah, that's what I've heard too. Smart TVs. Yeah. Which is so odd. It's now on television. Yeah. Well, it's outperforming, you know, YouTube, the app on smart TVs is outperforming Netflix, Hulu, you know, HBO, all that stuff.

And it's just so odd and interesting. It's so odd. Yeah. Yeah, we were just talking about that. Like, we're just having fun here and, like, we're throwing, you know, the stuff together and bring you bread and we're hanging some pictures up and it's fun. And then we slowly, as you start accumulating cameras and. stuff and you're just like, we're making our own TV show. Yes. You know what it is? And then you walk through some place like a gym or something and your

friend is doing a podcast. Exactly. It's on the screen. Exactly. Just like the ABC News would be. Yeah. So it's, it's, what's that, what's that term called where every animal turns into a crab eventually? Like carcification or something like that or crust of, I don't know. But, but yeah, it's that idea that, you know, everybody evolved. into the same thing eventually. It's like TV's reinvented again. I know. It's like coming back.

And then I was in an Airbnb the other day. And they had a Samsung TV. And I'd never really just gone through that. It's like you could go on all the apps. But just what's built in on the Samsung is just streaming everything. Yeah. Every single television show with ads. They're all based.

It's all ad based. And it's like, so wait. So we went down this hole. we're getting away from ads. We're going to start streaming subscription and now we're back to streaming stuff and putting ads on it. It's so odd.

And it all kind of even goes way back to radio. Like the beginning model is the thing. Podcasting is no different than people doing those radio shows. Yeah. And instead of Helix mattress, they were talking about cigarettes. And Oval Tined. Yeah.

It really is amazing. Like it just became just easier to do. Like we don't need, but the thing you're just, talking about, which is interesting, like, the fill and all that stuff and making it, like, there's a real art to all of that stuff that, I don't know if it matters. Right. That it has to be that great.

Yeah. But it, there is a skill and there are people with real jobs that did that stuff for years. Yes. But now it's like, you know, all right. So I'm walking through the airport and there's my friend's podcast at the bar at the thing. It's weird. It's like, it reminds me of religion where it's like, you know, there's this umbrella of Christianity. And then you have like Catholicism or Presbyterianism.

It's like all these different branches of like you've got entertainment industry, which used to just be maybe radio TV and movies. Yeah. And then you've got this internet thing, which is now kind of also doing radio TV and movies in its own way. Yeah. And there's like little sketches that are like three minutes. And then there's like these cinematic masterpieces that are like 20 to 40. power. It's just very, you know,

this whole do it yourself kind of thing. Yeah. It's very, uh, it should, it is a little overwhelming to, to some, but,

but it should feel empowering to everybody. A hundred percent. You know. Yeah. I know. I mean, what's so cool to watch too in your videos is, like,

you have, it, the more sophisticated they are, it's like, and I don't know, you could tell me, I don't know what the answer would be, but if you do something really rudimentary,

and it's just you get an idea and you're playing two characters in your apartment and it's cut together really quickly, does that have any disadvantage against, like your Lynn Manuel? Oh, yeah. Ordering pizza. Or that one, that video where you're not,

where it starts as like a spelling bee, and then you're singing, you're singing all these, you're singing this, pretty amazing song with no real words. You can't stop watching it. But the production level of that stuff

is really, you know, other actors and stuff and it's really pumped up. Is there an advantage to being that heavy production value as opposed to you in your apartment by yourself? So that big production value video, it's called how rap sounds to non-English speakers.

And it's, what on streaming platforms is called Igawala. And that was the concept I came up with while I was in London. And while I was stealing while I was learning all that stuff. And I realized I was like, I want to just, when I get back home, man, I'm going to go nuts. I'm going to go all out. Yeah. And so that's what I did.

The first thing I did when I got home was put that piece together. Uh-huh. We hired like dancers and like a true DP. And it was my red raptor camera that we used to shoot the thing. Uh-huh. so that was like a really exciting flex of everything that I learned on set and I directed the whole thing which is really exciting to see and and you know I stole that from you know the guy who voices Bob's Berger's who's what's that man's name uh Benjamin John Benjamin I think so yeah the lead of that yeah he he he did it's John Benjamin yeah he did a jazz album where he doesn't know how to play piano. Like 13 tracks and he hired a real band behind it.

And so he just did like he just slapped his hands on the keys for 13 straight tracks. And I was like, I'm going to do that for rap. And so that was where the concept came from. But yeah, I mean, there is a big difference in that versus something a lot lower effort. And also the platform that it goes to, if it's on TikTok, it's supposed to feel more like you just picked up your phone and did it sometimes. But if it's on YouTube, like we were talking about.

It's like that weird fine line between how produced you want to be. I think it all depends on how you gift wrap it and present it to people. If it's presented as something that should look high effort, then it needs to be high effort. But if it's presented as something that's kind of like a relatable thing in your house, you know, you can tell you that. So it's like a weird balance that I'm still trying to find, I think. That's really interesting. So before I was heading out on the road to come here to New York City to record to record my podcast. and do a bunch of shows, and when I come to poppas and all the rest of it,

I got a delivery of some frozen salmon, and I was like, where I'm going to put this, and I open up my freezer. And you know where it's not going? It's not going on the wild grain shelf in the freezer. The good people at wildgrain.com sent me this cranberry loaf. They sent me a sourdough loaf. These crescent rolls, a whole little thing of crescent rolls.

amazing. Look, you know that I love to bake. You know that's what I do night and day. And I've said it before, wildgrained.com. It's a love-hate relationship because I love their products and I love what they've pulled off. And there's a little part of me that thinks, why didn't I think of that? Because I could have been popular too. But it is amazing. The quality is really great. And I'm not BSing you. I'm telling you as a bread snob, I can tell you. tell you, without a doubt, this is a great company and great product. And the cool thing is you have it, it's just frozen, and then you keep it in your freezer. And then when you want bread for an event or for a meal or just for yourself, or if you're hosting people, and, you know,

baking bread, the way I do is a three-day process, or you just pop it in the oven in 20 minutes. You've got this fresh baked bread. It fills the house with the smell, and it's really great quality. It can't be beat. It really is amazing. They've also got breads, in addition, of breads. They've also got pastries. They've got pastas. I've never had the pastas. I haven't used the pastas yet. But they're a great company and everything they do is really fantastic. For limited time, you can get $30 off your first box plus free croissants in every box when you go to wildgrain.com slash Papa to start your subscription. That's right. Free quassants in every box and $30 off your first box when you go to wildgrain.com slash Papa. That's wildgrain.com

or just go and use the promo code at checkout. Just put in Papa and they'll give you the same deal. Wildgrain.com. They did it. Now you should eat it. So what do you think of our set here? I love your set. I love this set.

I love that you have James Gandalfini back here because I have a horrible story about that about my only interaction with him. When I say horrible story, it's not to his, to his nests of it all, it's to me being an idiot in college. Can I tell you the story? Yes, please.

Okay, so. This is our first, can I just put a button on this or hang a ribbon on it or call it shine a light on it? This is our first set-related story. Really? Yeah. People of here, you know, they talk about the bread or whatever, but this is the first one actually taking the, uh, thank you.

This is your director's eye. Thank you so much. I really, I appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you for being here. You know what? Do you want to hang out later? 100%.

Okay, good. So, so, so I'm at, I'm, okay, so I'm at SCAD, Savannah called Jordan Design. And I'm there doing like film festival, okay? They have this really cool film festival where all these like famous people come in. They'll do a question and answer period with the acting department and all this stuff. And at the time I was a freshman, I believe. And at the time, I was going to be a film major. I was like, I don't want to act anymore.

I want to tell stories, you know? And so I was told by somebody that in the acting building, James Gandalfini is giving a little Q&A. And I'm like, oh, cool, let me go up there. Let me check it out. And so I'm wearing flip-flops and a sweater. And I, everybody in there is like beautifully dressed, you know? And so I stand up and I go to the back, you know, and I'm like, oh, God,

I'm wearing glasses and all this stuff. And so right before James Gandalfini comes in, the moderator, his phone goes off. And his phone is buzzing. It's ringing. And he looks around and he goes, oh, who can, somebody, somebody turned this off. And there's a kid behind him. And he's like, I got it. He takes his phone, runs away, comes back, the phone is off.

I'm like, okay, problem solved. And so James Gandalfini comes in. There's a, there's a Q&A. I mean, sorry, they're talking for like, you know, 30 minutes talking about acting and like, James has given this great advice of like, of like, he's like, you know, whenever he looks out of a window, he always pictures something going on out there. So his eyes are a little interesting, you know, in the sopranos and stuff. He's like, you know, you could picture like maybe somebody's changing or like someone's walking their dog and you hope they don't pee on your yard or whatever, right?

He's given a little, little like, have something inside your mind as an actor. I'm like, that's great. Yeah. What great information. And at the end of it, there's a little Q&A. And so people are raising their hands and they're asking questions. And this kid that was behind the moderator who took his phone before, who this moderator clearly trusts, who took his phone before,

had his hand raised. And he's sitting directly, directly behind the moderator. And the whole time the moderator's looking over here and the moderator's looking over there. And he's calling on everybody, but the kid right behind him. And I'm like, oh, clearly he can't see this. person behind him wanting to ask a question. So I raise my hand. And I'm at a college where people pay for this.

And this is not my major at the time. And I don't know anybody in the room. Just roaming in and flip flops. Yeah, I'm just roaming in and flip flops. That's right. Talking to freaking Tony Soprano. And I raised my hand and they call on me. And James Ganoffino, he looks at me.

And he nods. And I'm like, I'm sorry. It's just this guy's at his hand is. to raise for so long. I don't think you could see him. He's right behind you. I just want to pass my question over this guy. And what I didn't know was that this guy had a reputation.

Oh, no. Of perhaps maybe not asking the best questions. Oh, no. And the college was purposefully not calling on this guy. And I was like, what? And so I don't remember what the question was, but I just remember, I just remember, I just remember the way that the moderator looked at me and the way everybody in that room looked at me like I was the biggest dumbass on planet earth because I frankly I was you know

yeah um anyway let's we like and at the end of it everybody gets up and they walk away and like you know and uh one of my friends comes over to me he like oh hey Daniel how's it going he he clasped my head he leans over and he whispers in my ear he goes they purposely didn't pick him and then he's like he's like he should probably you know be careful and so he he goes away i go out to the hallway and i see james gendalfini walking he's approaching right yeah and he and he's got this like nice gold Rolex and he's very tall he's surprisingly tall and he walks over and he pats me on the back and he goes nice going bud and he walks and i was like oh no the best and and and and what's

the craziest like uppercut to my jaw was I think he I think he died like two months later so I had I had the chance to ask this man anything I wanted and I'm gonna give it to

I'm gonna give it to Crazy Joe over there it was all alley and no oop you know what I'm saying it was like I passed the ball and just what a mess and if that person is listening right now sorry that's just what I was told I, you know, whatever. But, dude, what a mess.

So that's my story with James Gandoffino, so whenever I see him or hear about... Good first story for our set. Yeah, thank you. Good first story for our set. God. You know, I've been... The thing about him is that he,

I ran into him a couple of times. He was at a show that I was doing, a fundraiser in New York, and he was also in a small Italian restaurant with his family. He just looked, he was Tony Soprano everywhere he went. He just, I saw him,

with my kids in the village, eating in this Italian restaurant. And what else would you want to see than a long table of family? And the guy at the end is Tony Soprano with his napkin tucked in, just hovered over, eating. God, that's intense. It's just the best. That's amazing.

And he grew up in Parkridge, New Jersey, where I grew up. No way, really. And then I moved a town over. My wife went through high school there. And I don't know, five years behind him or something. We had the opportunity to go over and say, Rick Ridge. But he was so Tony

Soprano eating with his stuff. Yeah, you're like, oh, that's listen. Well, eventually, but the same thing is like, eventually we'll run into him and talk to him. Yeah, yeah. As you approach a little mandolin plays in the distance and you're just scared. It's like, what's going on?

I'm going to tell you a story about our set. Oh, good. This is Joey related. Okay. But you see over there in the hat. Oh, is that Poverati? Yes. Wow.

That's Pavarotti. So we're here going to hang stuff up. And I said, oh, we should hang this one up. And Joey said, I could see the confusion in his eyes. And I said, do you know who that is? He's like, no. I was like, you don't know who, you don't know Pavarotti? He goes, what was he in?

What was he in? Did you think he was like Ron Jeremy or something? I don't know. Is that what it is? What did you think? He was an actor? Aren't they all actors pretty much, but him in here? Well, do you know who this is?

Oh. I feel like I should. I feel like I should know who that is. You don't know either? Who is that? That's Dean Martin. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That one, yeah, you should know. He looks very familiar, yeah. Yeah. You know, that's a more a. When the moon hits your eye like a big, Dean Martin, part of the rap back with that guy, Frank Sinatra. Oh, I've heard of him. Now, this guy, we put up, this one up, that's Jack Klugman from the odd couple with

Tony Randall, and Quincy fame. And my wife had a, when she was a kid, teenage or whatever, had a crush on Quincy. That's cool. And when she told me that, I was like, I think I can marry her. Wow. Because Klugman. Yeah.

I'm not that far from Klugman. There you go. I mean, I'd be that far from Poverati or Brad Pitt. But if you're, if the girl you're dating and saying, this is my heart drop. That's pretty cool. Like, I'm going to get married to her.

Yeah, my standards are low enough. Yeah. It's like, oh, green light. Let's go. Yeah, man. Poverrat. I don't know who Poverati is, man. He's so good, man.

There's a great documentary on Poverati. I would kill to see that. Where is it? Yeah. streaming somewhere. It might be the Netflix. Look it up. It's a good one.

Okay. You'll like it, especially as a musician. Yeah. Who was your piano teacher when you were a kid? I had a piano teacher named Kate when I was a kid. I only took like two or three years of piano lessons. I was never good at homework. It's enough, though.

Yeah, it was enough. After that, I just did a lot of playing by ear and stuff. I've been playing since I was seven. But, you know, I knew enough to, like, kind of be able to sight read a little bit. and you know, but, and I knew enough theory to pluck out whatever I was hearing, and that's, that's all you need. And then I just took over from there, yeah. But she was really good.

There's a guy I feel so bad that I, I went on tour a couple of years ago. And right before then, I was like, you know what I'm going to do is I'm going to, I'm going to take some real piano lessons with like a real, real good one. Yeah, it's going to up my game. Yeah, and I took piano lessons with this jazz pianist named Tamir Hendelman. And like, in the jazz, world, this guy's a monster, okay? He's a behemoth. Yeah. It's like this insane jazz pianist. Um, and, you know, I get lucky enough to get lessons with him, which is hard. Yeah, how'd you get to him?

Because my, uh, my creative producer at the time, Scott Roberts, he, he was a jazz pianist from Harvard. And he was like, hey, you know, you taught at this jazz camp that I went to, blah, blah, blah. My boss, Daniel Thrasher, like, he's a YouTube guy. He plays piano. Would love to hook you up with him, yada, yeah. And so I was able to connect through that way. One time, he was a lot of you. One time, an ex-girlfriend of mine tried to hook me up with another, like, really great piano teacher. When he found out that I was a YouTuber, he was like, no. He was like, no. And I get it.

I get it. I can't even be mad at that. Yeah. It's kind of an old way of thinking, though, isn't it? A little, yeah. Especially now, but the new jazz pianist teacher, Tamir Hendelman, I worked with them for, God, maybe like two, three months every week, and then we pulled back to every two weeks. And then I realized I was just so busy.

I couldn't dedicate my time to doing the things that he wanted to do. And I was like, oh, man, you know, I'm not, I'm wasting both of our potential right now. I gotta let you go, you know. Yeah. Was he, were the things he was showing you. They were amazing. Yeah. And they were relatively at my level, pretty simple stuff.

Just this idea of like in the music world, you know, play the two, you know, a little two five one chord progression, blah, blah, blah, blah. And like, he was telling it to me in really interesting ways and having me download these resources and stuff. And I was like, this is great, man. I'm so excited. I really got to talk to my CPA today. Like, I really got to have a meeting with my, my producer about content for next week. And, you know, like the weekend would come up. And I, yeah, I don't know, man. But that's why, you got to separate that work from life a little bit.

Yeah, but it's hard. I mean, you're putting out so much content. Can you take breaks? I can now. You can. I can. I think, you know, I, I'm very lucky. I had a couple years ago, I had investors come in, these,

people at Mythical, which is Rhett and Link, they have a podcast. And like, yeah, they're big boys on the internet. And they came in and said, we know where you're headed. We think you're going to be a pretty big deal one day. We'd love to invest in you and help you build a team to take some of that stress off of yourself. They're really focused on longevity. Right.

Because in the internet space, like, anything longer than a year or two is crazy. Yeah. And those guys have been going for a long time. Yeah. They're the real deal. Yeah. And so, and there's no stopping them, I don't think. Who's the food guy under them that we had?

Mythical chef Josh. Josh. Yeah, he's a friend of mine. Yeah, he's a great guy. You had him on? Yeah, yeah. How was that? It was great.

Isn't he insanely intelligent? Super smart. Yeah, that guy goes. He like, yeah, he's like, I'm the broie food guy. And then you sit down with him and he's like, oh no, this guy's very smart. Crazy smart. Yeah. Yeah, we go to the same gym.

And every time I see him, I'm like, God, he's huge, too. He can really, I mean, he's just curling weights. His biceps are like bigger than my thighs. Yeah, he was in our. in our old studio. Yeah. Yeah, he was a good guy. That's awesome.

So those guys saw, so what did, they just were like, oh, no, you're going to have to think long term and. Yeah, they, you know, they're, we meet often. We meet, um, biweekly at least and weekly with my producer and, and, uh, they just kind give me feedback on my, on my analytics and data and help me strategize, like, where the future of YouTube is going, where my future is. And they, they're trying to do a 360 approach to my career to, where like, you know, they want to flush me out in all, in all categories, which is really cool to have, it feels like I have like these hella famous uncles who are like mentoring me

from above, you know, it's like, and literally from above, Rhett is six foot seven. Like, very tall. But it's been great. It's been really good in helping me figure out that work life thing. And the biggest thing that I've done recently is, is stop filming entirely out of my house. Like I got a studio space now. Right. That is an apartment in Hollywood.

And I, you know, all my film gear is there now. Right. All my lighting equipment. There's nothing in my house that I can film on except for like in the back unit, but whatever. So for years, everything was in your house. Yeah, for five years straight. You were living among your set. Yeah.

And so it'd be a thing like where I'm downstairs and like, you know, let's say my girlfriend's upstairs and she wants to go downstairs and grab a snack, but I'm filming an ad for Squarespace and I'm wearing like a cloak, you know, like there's a camera guy and she's still in her underwear or whatever. She just wants to grab like some milk from the fridge. It's like, that's not good, you know. So I've learned. I was like, this makes me uncomfortable.

I, you know, I'm 31 now. I'm thinking like, eventually I want to have kids in a, you know, a family. And I got to knock this shit off, man. I know. There is that thing. There is an appeal to that. Yeah. There is an appeal to, no, I'm putting everything in on this. Yeah. That I'm, I'm not going to have a coffee table. There's going to be actually a set in here. Yeah. And there's going to, like, there is something cool. I remember going to Burke Kreiser's house. And he was just like filming all the time in his kids. And it was just like, but you could feel like there's that energy.

and you're putting everything and every minute into it. I never see it last. Right. Like you said, like at a certain point, you're going to drive yourself crazy. You're going to hit a wall, for sure. Is there a, I was seeing, what's his name? Is it Mr. Beast?

Oh, yeah. That guy seems to be, have created a, yeah. Like, it has to get bigger every time. Jimmy is an alien. This man is an alien. It's like, yeah. Even the way I saw him in an interview,

I forget if he was on Rogan or someplace. I think he was. And he's everywhere. His mind couldn't stop. Yeah. Just even in an interview situation, he was still thinking like, oh, who's going to want to listen to that?

Like, he was picturing in the conversation where the views were going to go down. Yeah. Where interest was, like, he was constant metric of, we have to keep people hooked on. Yeah.

Like, it was like, he's like the messiah of YouTube in a way. Yeah. I mean, And every YouTuber has had this point where they're like, man, screw that, man. We could, we could do that. Yeah, give away $10,000. Sure, everybody will watch something if you're just giving away money.

And then they realize, oh, no, you cannot replicate what he's doing. Like everybody has a come to Jesus moment where they go, no, he's different. Right. And he thinks about things differently. Yeah. And it's not, the money is like his niche, I guess. But it's not, that's not how he's getting people in the videos, getting them invested. Yeah.

I think he said something. recently where he was like, he was like, if I started a brand new channel and nobody knew who I was, but I knew everything that I know right now, he said, I could get 10 million subscribers in six months. I know that for sure. And, and I was like, at the time, I was like, really? And now I'm like, no, yeah. He totally could do it. If you were broke, it doesn't matter. Like, yeah. Like, when you have that knowledge of like marketing, when you have that, like, we were talking about the spectrum kind of thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just full hog. Oh, 100%. Yeah, we're all looking at any, and he just signed a, I believe, a $100 million deal with Amazon.

Oh my God. And he's producing the biggest game show of all time on Amazon. I can't wait to see it. And he feels the pressure of it because he says, and I'm proud of him. I'm excited for him. Yeah. Because he says he feels like the pressure of like all YouTubers behind him who there's this thing where everybody on the internet kind of wants to see what it's like

and dip their toe in traditional media. And everybody in traditional media wants to see what it's like and dip their toe in the internet sites. Yes. Yes. and this is like the most amazing confluence of like I don't know if I use that word right but this amazing thing where it's both and he feels the pressure of this has to work

you know I can imagine it's got to I'm so I can't wait and it's going to be it has to be yeah there's no way there's got to be you have to have a little bit of that also of the people like oh I could do that like people see you know it happens in every you can stand up too it's like you know, somebody becomes really famous. And I was like, yeah, but what are they doing?

It's like, no, you're not doing what she's doing because she's the only one that can do it. That's right. You know what I mean? There is that thing, especially like when you're saying like the piano teacher being like, no, I'm not going to for a YouTuber. It's like there was a real misunderstanding of like, this is very unique. This is a lot of hard work. You have to have the talent. It's like everything.

You have to have the talent. talent. And you have to really, really be obsessed and go after it and put in the hours. It's just, this doesn't happen by mistake that you've had this success. Yeah, I feel this. Yeah, that's, thank you. I appreciate it. And that's very true. It's like, you know, there's no such thing as an overnight success. You know, that idea, the 10,000 hours or whatever Malcolm Gladwell said. But yeah, I really, and it's all these, like, weird little things you may or may not know about. Like, it's like, you know, is it true? Like, in the stand-up world, Do you ever audition jokes to people?

Like, meaning, like, if you're at a coffee shop and you're making small talk with a barista, and you know, and you're like, I wonder if this bit will work. And you say a little something and they laugh and you kind of gauge it on that. Does that ever happen? Not really. Sometimes comic to comic. But it is a weird thing. Like, you know when a comic's trying a bit out on you.

Yeah. It's better if they say, this is a bit. This is a bit. If they try and sneak it in. Then you're like, what are you doing? Wow. What do you do? That's funny.

I like that. So it's like, okay, you have to kind of be like, listen, help me here. A little bit. You don't have to, but yeah, yeah, yeah. And there's been some guys that have done that are pretty big, pretty well known. Who will sneak it in? Yeah, and you're like, really? Interesting.

But there is also another part that I think they just can't shut it off. Like they're successful for a reason. Like it's kind of like constantly going. But it's much better. comic to comic if you're like, yeah. I like that. That's good. Yeah.

Yeah. Even in conversation personally, in conversation, like even with my kids or somebody, I'll be like, if we're talking about something and there's a wine bottle and I'll say, I'm working on this bit and the thing and I'll kind of really set it up rather than just kind of sneak it in. And they have no interest in it, but I feel better for serving it up. This is for me. Yeah. Just so you know.

I'm not looking for feedback. Just be quiet for a minute. Yeah. That's really funny. I like that a lot. Yeah. That's so fascinating. I've always had the deepest respect for stand-up.

I, man, I want to try it so bad. Well, you toured, right? I did tour. Yeah, this was a different thing. It was sort of a, I hate the term, but a one-man show kind of a thing. I'm sitting there I'm playing piano, and, you know, there's a demon who takes over the theater. And, like, I have to do it. these certain things in order to get them out of here kind of a thing.

It's a really fun, it was a very fun interactive concept, and there was a 10-minute segment where I improvised songs on the spot based on words from the audience. So in a way, like, it does have kind of stand-up-e elements because there will be a moment where I go up to a mic and I say some jokes, and then I, but everything's scripted, and I'm interacting with a projector, you know? But the laugh factory of Hollywood found these clips of me on,

Instagram or TikTok or whatever where I was doing these live show bits and they're like hey man you ever want to do a set at the laugh factory like let us know and I was like I'd be terrified there's no way like these are fans of mine who are conditioned to like whatever crap I can say you know but I could never I mean I

I want to yeah I even went so far as to take a stand up class at UCB to like see you know but I had too many absences because I had You're busy. You're busy. Yeah. Anyway. Yeah.

I want to try it, but I, you know, I have such respect for people who've really earned their stripes and gone on there. And I feel like I understand a joke structure, but. Yeah. Yeah, it's different, like being hyper scripted versus going up there and having these bits that you've massaged out. Another way of saying hyperscripted. I guess so, yeah. Right? It's not that far off.

It really isn't. that way? I mean, yeah, for sure. I think, what does it feel like? I think you could definitely, yeah, you could definitely do it. But it's humbling. It's like if I were to start trying to make sketches on YouTube. It's like, I'm really good at what I do. I have this, nice stand-up, I've worked this for years.

I'm good at this. Oh, you're great. And then to go and be like, I'm going to do a sketch with me playing both parts and cave with it together, it's going to suck for a while. Yeah. I might get there because I'm funny, but it's, it's, You know, it's like it's humbling. It takes you back a little bit.

You got to be able to be kind enough to yourself to suck. Man. Which you could do. I, you know, yeah, I guess maybe there's a little baby ego part of me too. That's like, if three people in that crowd know who I am, they're going to be like, this guy sucks. You know? Yeah. It's like, oh, God.

Well, that's what, that is kind of a weird thing is that if they were to, someone pops out a phone. Yes, exactly. And they're like, look at it. this great guy bombing here tonight. Dude. That is a weird thing. Do you have, do you have a comic friends who, you know, they're trying out new material and they, do people at your level bomb?

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah, you have an idea and you're like, bring it up to the Largo or whatever and it just doesn't go. Yeah. But it's, you know, it's not like. You sandwich it between bits that work, though. Yeah, or not.

And it doesn't really matter. It's like you can always save yourself with some kind of a line if it doesn't work. But, you know, it's not. like when you're starting and you don't have much stuff and this thing doesn't work, it's like, oh, God. Not only does it not work, I don't work, this doesn't work, is the whole thing. They must hate my personality. They really.

They must hate who I am. They really can't stand me. I know. It's really cool to hear when you were talking about stealing from the production and just the way that you have all the geeking out on the cameras and stuff. That is a language. And then when you said about the video that you directed, that's very director language.

That's very much my director friends, they have that thing. And even saying like real quickly, like the Red Raptor camera, like shooting on a red is like a thing. I've heard a couple of my friends talking great detail about. They shot hacks on that camera, the second season.

Oh, do they really? Wow. Anyway, sorry. Do they, do you have any aspiration to direct some longer form stuff? I'd love to. Yeah. I would love to. I think, you know, there's, I really idolize three people.

One of them is Donald Glover. Yeah. You know, he's incredible. Yeah, like went from NYU, UCB to, he had the number one sketch comedy channel on YouTube in like 2008, 2007. Did he really? No, I didn't know that. Yeah.

Derek comedy back in the day. Oh yeah? Was a, uh, yeah. O.G. YouTube sketch comedy channel. That was a huge thing. And then he went on to write for 30 Rock, was in community and became childish can beano, you know? Yeah.

And then you've got Bo Burnham, obviously, who's a piano comedian and who inside was insane. And all these, you know, he's just such a brilliant guy. Eighth grade. Eighth grade. And then he directed eighth grade, which was, and he did it at 20. Seven. Yeah. I know.

I remember talking to him and he's like, I'm just getting tired of being in stuff. I'm like, what? Yeah. I feel that. I mean, it does get, it's a weird sensation. This idea of being perceived, I posted this on my Instagram story like yesterday where, where this idea of fame is so, some people just should not do it. You know what I mean?

Like, I know. It's not saying that he shouldn't. Are you that way? you know, I'm in therapy a lot. I'm on SSRI's baby. Like, you know, it's, I feel like, and I'm sure a lot of people listening can relate to this, and maybe you can as well, but I feel like comedy and let's focus on comedy. I feel like comedy is in and of itself a service.

It's a service to people because you are, you're practicing this thing where, you know, if you're really, if you're really in it, if you're really in it for the, for the reason it. It's a service of you say words in a particular order, and the better you are at saying these words in a particular order, you elicit like a neurochemical response in another person. You're like a, you are literally a wizard. You're casting a spell on somebody. And it's changing. It's like their brain is now squirting different fluids than it was just a moment ago. Yeah. And they're feeling better. It's like it's medicine for the mind. It's a service for people. and I think

approaching it that way and I feel like sometimes you know your ego can get involved and stuff but the core of why I do it I think is as a service and then when it comes

with these other things like your ego coming in and kind of tricking you and being like you know let's get real rich you know let's what have you got the Audi

you know like shit like that yeah get the fancy watch like really man you know it comes out I don't know

It's just, it's this identity thing, I think. And, like, more people now than ever are dealing with it. I think, I have this prediction that in, like, 30 years, half the population is going to have a chip on their shoulder because they've all been famous for 10 minutes. They've all had a little viral, you know, Andy Warhol, they all, they all had their 15 minutes of fame. And they have the chip on their shoulder, like, I could have been big.

You know, it's like the new football guy. Yeah. He tore his ACL in high school. Could it would bro, you know? Right. It's like, yeah, I had 50,000 followers. TikTok when I was 27 and I could fucking been the new Jimmy Kimmel and like

you know it's yeah it's gonna be this weird like like the world is gonna be haunted by these like ghosts of fame that never were you know it's just weird I had skibbitty toilet before everybody else yeah I thought the toilet that was my idea I put my head in a toilet yeah dang I can't believe you just said skibbitty toilet

I did it to impress you that I'm actually in the loop I'm super impressed right now. Thank you. Yeah. It's insane. Yeah. No, you're right. But your very eloquent way of describing what comedy is as a service is really, if you can, just hang on to that.

Because that is a getting those words to line up, getting those videos to deliver the message. That's a craft. And if you can hang on to that. crafting always be improving that craft, your life problem is solved. I love that. It really is. Yeah. And you find out quickly that any of the other stuff doesn't last.

Aplause doesn't laugh. Standing ovations don't last. The dopamine of seeing the go from 10 million to 20 million views doesn't last. But you getting incrementally better. at this craft that really will be enough to sustain a life for sure. I love that. Yeah. Because it is true.

I know what you mean. And then comparing yourself to other people. And the ego is this menacing thing. Yeah. But it's defeated by the work on the craft. I love that. Yeah. Do you like nerd ropes?

I brought you a nerd rope. I'll take a nerd rope. I just kind of discovered them. I've always been a friend of nerds, but I've never. I've never really knew the nerd rope thing. Okay. And I'm really a big fan. Also, I apologize, but I just got back from a trip last night.

So I got you bread from Lodge Bread, which is one of my favorite breads in L.A. But I couldn't, I didn't have time to bake it. I'm very excited. You're welcome. Well, cheers. Cheers. This reminds me of that Drake video. Anybody know what I'm talking about?

Never mind. We know Skibody Toil, but we don't know Drake videos. Okay, never mind. I haven't actually seen it. I heard Drake lost, right? Is that the way it went down? We're talking about two different things right now. But he definitely lost the rat battle.

He did. Yeah, he definitely lost that route. Sorry, Drake. I know you're a big Tompapa fan, so you're going to see this. I know. What would Mr. Beast do to a podcast of talking to funny people and people who love food in an Italian restaurant setting with bread? How would he get 10 million views for this podcast, do you think?

Probably strap some C4 in here and blow it up. That's really true. You know? Yeah. Do you see even, he like changes his thumbnail like a hundred times before he, like he's refining tiny details every time he uploads. Really? Yeah.

Like the facial expressions and the thumbnail always changing. The minutia of it all. He's psychotic. He's psychotically successful. Reptile mine. I'm going to rip this bread apart, shall we? If you want it, yeah. It's yours.

Or is it a set piece? No, it's yours. We have a bag. You can bring it home. You could eat it now. Whatever you want to do. I'm just going to cut off a little corner piece here. There you go.

Soak up the... It's such good bread. The simple sugar. Lodge bread. They make a quality loaf. Do you want a little slice? Or we can... I know it's called.

Jesus. God. We need a better knife. This is the shittiest knife that I had in my kitchen. That's why we can. brought in here. Oh, good. Well, I feel safe, though. I mean, I feel like, you know, you're not going to be... How do you learn about the inner workings

of YouTube? We always... We don't we don't know shit about algorithms here. Well, if you don't, I would love to come by and talk about it. Oh, yeah? Because I love talking about it. That'd be awesome. But you'd have to talk to Joe because I don't retain things. I'll talk to Joe.

I'll talk to Joe. Easy peasy. You want a little bit? You want a little thing? Sure, I'll take a piece. All right, you want the... There you go. I washed down my nerd rope. Yeah, that sounds good. I cut myself the bigger piece because I'm the guest, Tom. Who cooked for you and your family when you were a kid?

My, I think equally my mom and my dad. Oh, yeah? Yeah, they would, I was thinking about this yesterday. I was looking up, you know, because when you're an adult, suddenly you realize you have to cook for yourself and survive. And so I was just sitting at the table and nothing's showing up. I was like, what the fuck?

Where, yeah. What is this bullshit? Where's my dinner? Mom! But now, yeah, they would make things like, like simple things, you know, that I appreciate now. It's like, it's like, you got little pork chops and like a bed of rice with like a Campbell's mushroom, cream of mushroom in there. Yeah.

Just little meals that I kind of think about and I miss. It was like, wow, you really baked Ziti is like, I love me some Ziti, man. Yeah. I love me some Ziti. It's really good. Yeah. My girlfriend and I were cooking all these little things now that I'm really excited about. We just landed on this one thing. She's Buddhist, and she goes to this Buddhist meeting in one of her colleagues, what do you call it, like a Buddhist mate?

I don't know. One of her friends, how about that? What do you call it, Joe, a spirit friend? Spirit animal. Spirit animal? I don't think so. That sounds offensive. Yeah.

One of her friends. One of her friends is like a chef of this, you know, and she goes to her house to have this little Buddhist meeting, and she made this chickpeas salad thing. Wow. It's like chickpeas and sliced cucumbers and sliced tomatoes and like, it's really healthy. Yeah.

And I demanded that she asked for the recipe because she brought it home to me one day. We chewed on it. It was like this phenomenal thing. And so we've been making that like three days a week, probably. What's addressing on it? Dresning is like a, it's like a little Dijon mustard with like a vinaigrette type thing. It's like olive oil and balsamic vinaigret and like a Dijon mustard with like some Italian herbs and stuff.

Dijon gets it done. It does. It really does. When you bring this bread home, oh, you slice that and put Dijon mustard, arugula and an egg. Ooh. That's killer. That's a beautiful breakfast. Are these pumpkin seeds in here?

I think so. Up here, you see? Mm-hmm. You know what? These guys are great. Pumpkin seeds are good for parasites. Well, good for you. Parasites like them?

Good for you. Oh, not for parasites. To keep the parasites off? That's what I heard. Really? Mm-hmm. Everyone's concerned about this brain worm after RFK Jr. Oh, yeah.

Described that he's got a brainworm. Now every time I have a headache, I'm like, oh, no. I have a worm. I don't want a worm How'd it get in me? It's like that... You know that Star, was it Star Trek movie? Yeah, yes.

Where the worm goes in? The earwig when he takes it out. Yeah. With the tweezers and puts it in his ear. I have vivid memories of that. Me too. I was a kid, man. I'd walk past my dad be watching that movie.

I'd go, wah! It was the worst. He would be in the sand. Oh. Oh. God. I need to watch that movie again. It was good.

Ricardo Montabon. Is he wrong? He was the guy. He was con. Yeah, he should be on the wall. That's how we should do it. Someone who mentions someone cool, we go get that thing. Or, here's another idea, we asked our guests to send their earliest headshot.

Oh, my God. That's funnier. I'll send you my ultrasound. Do you have an early headshot from when you were first going to be an actor? Yeah, when I was in high school, yeah, I probably got a lot. headshot out there. Yeah. Yeah.

When I was 17, 16, 17. Yeah. I look pretty similar. Right. I'm a little, my, my, you know, my chin is filled out a bit, but I, yeah, I was, I was really scrawny back then. Right. It's wild.

Yeah. One time this, uh, I was working at a coffee shop. I, I weighed 20 pounds less back then. This girl comes in and she goes, she goes, are you an actor? And I was like, ah, I mean a little bit, you know, like, and that's what every actor in L. I said as if they've been in a Dodge commercial before. Yeah. Which I was.

And I was like, I mean, a little, you know, whatever. And I'm behind the counter. She goes, are you and call me by your name? I was like, no, that's not me. And you know, it's crazy. When she was asking me that question, she had money in her hand. Like, she was a pretty girl. She had money in her hand.

I shit you not. And she was stroking it like this. She was stroking the bill. And I was like, I was like, that's that me, boo-boo-boo. Here's a little shallame stroke. That's not me. Yeah.

And I had longer hair back then. Yeah. There was a, there was a period there with anyone that had shallamee hair. My daughters were just like, I think I love him. There was actually a guy who my daughter was going out with. I think she literally broke up with him once he got a haircut. No way. As soon as he cut his hair, he was gone.

Like Rapunzel. Like a high school thing, you know. But it was just like, oh, he lost all of his. She was like, oh, you're not like the cool guy in the movies. That's true, though. You just have a haircut. There was a TikTok I saw once that broke my heart because I had long hair at the time. And it was a girl.

It was a cute girl. She was like, is he really cute or does he just have long hair? And I was like, he's probably cute. Stop it. You're giving away my one thing. Do you find that TikTok is, are you a fan of TikTok? Or is that like a... I am.

I mean, you know, I feel like Instagram Reels is starting to catch up to where TikTok was. Is it? In my mind, I was like, I'm starting to feel like maybe Instagram is like the new Facebook. Like it's just for oldies? I think the video platform on Instagram is certainly overtaking the photo platform on Instagram. Yeah. And TikTok is doing this weird thing right now where if it's a carousel with a bunch of still photos, it does really well. They're both kind of promoting each other's thing.

It's really strange. But if TikTok is, if TikTok does get banned by Congress or whatever, then I think Instagram reels will take over as well as YouTube shorts. Right. But there is something more cracky, addicting about TikTok. It's a better, it's a better algorithm. Yeah. They have a proprietary. algorithm. It's really smart. It's like

where, you know, it's shotgunned out to 10 people. And if there's indicators that it's successful, if like over 4 people like it, then they'll shotgun it out again to 100 and 1,000, 10,000 something like that. And then, you know, there's a bit more

indicators in there, but you know, it's it really is a platform where anybody can blow up at any time. Yeah. Yeah. It definitely feels more potent. And you see how many, hilarious human beings there are who just haven't been given a platform

yet. It's incredible. Yeah. I think the most talented people in the world are on TikTok. It's really kind of insane. Like when something goes down, like when it was the earthquake in New Jersey, the speed at which regular people were cranking out

hilarious memes, bits, sketches, songs, I mean it just, it was faster than the earthquake. Just regular people all around just, I'm like, people are just, but I've always said that to just about certain places like Boston or New York. It's like, it's hard to be funny there because everyone's funny there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And now on social media, like, really seeing how funny everybody is. It's crazy. It's insane. At every age. And then there's generational comedy,

right? There's like comedy that works really well for Gen X. There's comedy that works really well for millennials. Gen Z's got their own zolennial comedy now. You know, It's like this odd or zoomer comedy, I guess, and it's just very random. And it's like subverting the expectation that you have because you've been conditioned by this other type of. It's just so, it really is evolving in front of our eyes. Yeah, like we actually can, I mean, there was always a, there was always a mystery behind why comedy doesn't age well, generation to generation. Even the great comedians. And you try and show it to something, they're like, unless they're really.

comedy geeks. They're like, not for me. Right. And it was always like a mystery as to why. Now we're starting to see why. There is a complete different, like watching my kids shit on kids five years older than them, that they're lame now, that their funny stuff is lame.

That's probably me. You just say my name if you want. You can just say it. Yeah. It's really, it is interesting. It's so small and subtle, but they just have a different way of talking. They've already digested a whole bunch of comedy delivered a certain way. And now this is the way we do it.

This is our inside language. You know what I think? I think it's all surrounded by surprise. And what surprises you. Right. I think if you've been conditioned to expect this type of punchline, that's why I think, Yeah.

Tim Robinson, I think you should leave. his his sketches are unlike any keen and peel sketch because they twist and then they twist again and they twist one more time it's like it's like to fuck you to your expectations yeah yeah it's like completely different from from what we've all been sort of conditioned to yeah you start to know where it's gonna go yeah because like if you know if you really look into it and and you have but i mean you know for people who are if you really look into it all these people come from like ucb comedy or second City. And like, they've all been taught this methodology of, like, how to, how to do a proper, like, you know, set up punchline or the first unusual thing. And then you underscore it. And then you, you know, play that game for a while. That's, that's been the, been the primary language. And then these newer generations are just so used to it. And so, like, almost bored by it that when somebody comes out with something that's really surprising, it's like a punch to the jaw. And they're like, wait, what was that? It's like real life evolution.

Yeah. I remember my kids were young and a friend of mine who was a good comedian said something like around the table. And my door just went, ha, jokes. Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. I was like, oh, shit. That's rough, dude.

That's so rough. I got a niece, Cheyenne. She's 13. Brutal. Yeah. Might as well have a piss. still strapped to her head, man. Yeah, they're just relentless, and they've seen it all.

It's just so, it's amazing. It is really cool. I mean, but it's really, like, you said, I think you're right with a chip on everybody's shoulder because they're all going to hit. They're all going to have one funny thing that's going to be, like, really blow up. Yeah. And then not be able to replicate it again. Yeah.

Because they have a job they have to go to or whatever. Yeah. Because we, you know, yeah, because it's a capitalist world now. Yeah, amazing. What are you working on now other than the show? Do you have, without giving away any of your content, what areas, is it more musical stuff? Is it more sketch stuff?

Like, what's coming down? What are you going to be feeding us? So down the pipeline on my main channel, I'm going to get into making sketches. I almost said making sketches great again. I don't know what that's about. Where does that come from? Can I get a hat?

Yeah, no, no, no hats today. No, but I want to go back. I want to really focus on my sketches on main channel and really sit down and nurture them and, like, not create them from a place of fear. I feel like sometimes when I'm really rushed, I make from a place of fear. I want to do that. So I want to make really good sketches. I'm just Daniel Thrasher on YouTube and on Instagram and TikTok. But I have a second channel where I'm doing more conversational stuff.

I would love to have you on something later. We'll talk. But there's a, you know, more of a personality-based thing where it's not hyper-scripted. And then I do have a third channel in the works that is a puppet show. Nice. Yeah, it's going to be like, you know, like Bo was talking about it. I want to not be in this one. Right, right.

And I don't want to direct it and I want to see. Ah, that's cool. The new studio space, we made sure it had tall enough ceiling. to put a puppet stage in there. Nice. They do really interesting. The puppets are made. Oh, yeah?

Yeah, it's like, it's crazy. Really? Yeah, it's like the feeling I wanted to have is South Park meets like, you know, there was a big YouTube series a long time ago called Potter puppet pals that was like super and really popular. And I'm trying to get this new thing out there because I see the, I see the vacancy. And I see the gap in the market. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm like, I know this will hit. Oh, that's great. It's just a matter of putting it together. That's in the future. That's cool. You ever go to that puppet theater in, I think it's moved to Glendale now? Was it Bob Baker? Yeah, Marionette.

Bob Baker Marionette Theater. I need to see that. You do have to see it. It won't. Are they like proper marionettes? People walking behind puppets. That's crazy. Like, you know, all red.

But you have, it's been there since like the 60s. Oh, so it's like a famous spot. Yeah. And it moved locations, but it kept it intact. Okay. And you just walk into, It's like you're walking into a birthday cake. Whoa.

And it's just, you should do it, just to see the immersive quality of what the puppet world can be. Yeah. It's really insane. Man. And, you know, they're kind of like, it's a little dated in some ways, a lot of ways, but it's, we went there during the holidays for the, to the Nutcracker. And we rolled in there. It was like in an Elvis movie at one point and all this kind of stuff. And it's just tripping.

You really got to go check it out. Wow. I think it's Glendale now. I think it's Glendale or Pasadena. Yeah, I'll check it out. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that sounds great.

Well, this was amazing. Thanks for your coming. This is really, it was really cool to meet you. Thank you for, thank you for breaking bread with me. Well, that's what we do. We are breaking bread with Tom Papa. I guess contractually, we can't say breaking bread and nerd ropes. Right?

Yeah, you can't add it to the official name. Yeah. All right. Oh, I see. I see. Yeah, to the, you can't share. You can't, yeah, market this as that. Unless we'd say it enough where they're like, we'll pay you money to keep saying it.

They'd probably pay in their growth. Which we would actually make that deal. You reach out to Mr. Beast. Reach out to Mr. Beast who has a candy company. He has a candy company? Oh, yeah. We'll talk about this later. Amazing.

It's great. All right, we got it, Joey. Thanks, everybody. Bravo. Tom. Bravissimo.