Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 216 - Chris Redd

Episode Date: June 25, 2024

Chris Redd takes a break from his tour to join the table. We discuss losing weight vs tightening up, gym habits, “working on my hour.” Then, Chris delves into his peeves traveling for work, including leaving the window open on flights. Chris shines light on his attack outside the Comedy Cellar. He discusses his family reunion of 1000+ people. And lastly gets into his experience on SNL and funny rap songs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Chris: Chris Redd’s first one-hour comedy special “Why Am I Like This?” premiered in November of last year and is currently streaming on MAX. He co-created and is set to voice a lead role in a yet-to-be titled project from Broadway Video and Audible, and stars opposite Eddie Murphy in the upcoming feature CANDY CANE LANE. Redd is the co-creator, writer, and star of Peacock’s scripted comedy series, “Bust Down”. He was a repertory player on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” for 5 seasons. In addition to acting and writing, Redd is a rapper and stand-up comedian who performs across the country and has toured the United States and Europe with The Second City Touring Company. He received the Emmy Award in 2018 for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for the “SNL” song “Come Back, Barack.” In 2019 Redd released his debut stand-up album, “But Here We Are.” Redd starred in the independent horror film “Scare Me” and can be seen in the comedy films “Vampires vs. the Bronx”, “Deep Murder,” “The House” and “A Futile and Stupid Gestures.” He appeared in the 2016 film “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping” and opposite Kathy Bates in the Netflix original comedy series “Disjointed” and was featured in the series “Wet Hot American Summer,” NBC’s “Will & Grace,” Netflix’s “Love,” TV’ Land’s “Teachers,” ”Comedy Central’s “Detroiters” and “Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents.” He portrayed the character of ‘Gary Williams’ on the NBC comedy “Kenan” for two seasons. Redd has also loaned his voice to many projects including Netflix’s “Big Mouth,” Audible’s “64th Man” and Disney’s “Star vs. the Forces of Evil.” Additionally, he was featured as a 2016 Standup New Face at Just for Laughs in Montreal. Redd was previously a performer at Chicago’s Second City and iO Chicago. 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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From binge all episodes exclusively on Paramount Plus How did you do with the whole S&L experience? I had a good, I had a guy. I had a lot of fun with it, man. I was pissed a lot, too. It's time for breaking bread with Papa. Hey, don't you know? It's also a show.

Yeah, I did a, my daughter graduated from college. Oh, man, congratulations. A couple weeks ago. Yeah, thank you. And it was in New York State and hot. Oh, man. Really hot. No tent because it's on a hill.

It was beautiful and all that, but it was so hot. and I had a suit suit and tie. Oh, man. And I was like, I always wanted to be the James Bond kind of guy who's in a suit and tie and you're like, how's that guy not sweating?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everyone else in shorts. How's that guy not sweat? Or drunk. Right, or wasted. And I did it. And it wasn't worth it. It was so.

Oh, man. Yeah, that sounds like a recipe to pass out. Just right. on the flow in a suit. Yeah. Nothing's worse than passing out in a full suit. Right, exactly. Like a used car salesman. That's the other part. I always think I look like, you know, like James Bond.

And I really look like Abbott and Costello. Sweaty, the tie undone. The names has been through some shit. Mr. Bond is not doing well these days. Why is he? He's been binge eating. All his ties are loosening. and they used to be. It's good to see you.

Good to see you, too, man. Normally, if we were in L.A., I would have baked you bread. Okay. Because I bake bread nonstop and give it to my friends when they come to the podcast. That's awesome. But when I'm here, I go to Vesuvio Bakery. And I got you two chocolate croissants. Okay.

So, thank you for my croissons. Yeah. Yeah, of course. That's a solid-ass snack right there. It's a really good. Yeah. It actually looks like, I don't know where you're at. Like, are you trying to lose weight or letting it go?

I am tightening up. You're tightening up. Well, these are not going to be your friend. No. This actually, you just, I think you're trying to sabotage my plans for the summer. Nah, I don't go, I don't go totally off-cons. But, yeah, I'm in a tightening phase. I had that in the morning, then I'm going to eat the rest of the time.

What's your tightening phase? It's just, I kept my little belly on. I had this role while I was playing a mechanic and he was dirty. So I was just like, he ain't fit. You know what I mean? If you can't wash his clothes, he's not doing a crunch. He doesn't have a gym membership. Yeah, man.

So now that that's over, I get tightened up. Basically just for the summer, I'll get my little stomach looking good. I was in, a little while. I was in Air, you know, the Ben Affleck, Matt Day. And great movie. Great movie. Yeah. I was in that movie.

Yeah, you were. And it was a, I had one scene. And same thing. He was kind of a mess. And I was like, oh, he can show up chubby. Yeah. I don't have to dial it in. I can be chubby.

Yeah, yeah. So I showed up chubby and then kept chubby for a while and then got cut out of the movie. Good God. Do you like, I did all this chubby for nothing? Yeah. I show up. You know how brave I was? Yeah, man.

show up chubby and then you cut me and I could have cut me this whole time the worst no man but you dedicate you dedicate thank you the craft thank you and I respect it Tom can you gain weight easy uh no some skinny to me now now now I do I feel like um aging has never been the thing like I don't really care about it I guess I've always grown up with old people so so I'm like okay It's not that bad. I'm always the young guy. Yes. But like, the fact that I can gain weight quicker now and it's harder to lose is the only sign I'm getting older.

Yeah. Outside of like, you know, it's like being tired and shit. But like, right. But it's like, oh, man, I got to really run a lot. I got to really like do stuff for real. Yeah. Because I just, yeah, I've always worked out and always like been pretty active. Yeah.

But I've always been really skinny. And now it's like, oh, shit, I can't eat candy every day all the time. It's really awful. And the worst part, I'm at a stage now where I think, I don't think I can work out enough to offset. Like, I think I just have to stop eating food. Yeah, soup diet, baby. There's no workout, especially when you're on your own working out. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm pretty kind to myself. Yeah, you don't, you can't be, that's where you're fucking up. You bring a niceness into your workouts. Right. You've got to have somebody yelling at you. Yeah. You know what I mean? Screaming your flaws.

I know. You know what I mean? I don't want that pressure. That's how you get there. I don't know if you can get there just like on your own all the time. I feel like get you a little brush up session with a trainer. The trainers always make me go harder because I'll talk myself into being done. You know what?

I'll be in there and be like, yeah, one. You know what? Most people don't even get there. Yeah. Right, exactly. I still got it. You ever see the guys in the gym who read the paper on the treadmill? Oh, man.

It's like you're not doing something right. Either you're not treadmilling right or you're not reading. Right. Like, how are you lightly jogging? Everything you do is shitty. Yeah, dude. You're just in the middle of the road on both of those things. You're touring a lot.

You got a lot of good dates. Yeah, man. Yeah. I've been, you know, trying to get this new hour to get. I'm always working towards an hour, but yeah. But yeah. We got to come up with a new term for that. Yeah.

It can't be the... It's just because everybody's always saying I'm working on my hour. Yeah. I feel like our hours should be special. Yeah, it's like I'm working. I'm working. I'm working. I'm just working.

I'm just working. I don't know what it's going to be at the end. It might be 45 minutes. Yeah, that's right. Exactly. It might be an earthquake 30. A tight old earthquake 30. You robbed this earthquake.

You robbed this. I know. We wanted more, quake. We wanted more quake. Damn. Get back in the lab. That's what rapper said. Get in the lab. I wish we had a place.

Yeah. I guess we do. I guess we did. Comedy club. Get back on a steak. Yeah. It's not the same ring, too. Yeah, it doesn't.

Yeah. Just working on it. Yeah. And whatever it becomes, it becomes. Yeah. Just just working. Just working on, just working. The new act.

Yeah, that sounds better. The new act is nice. The new act. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The new mind blowing. The new transcendent. The great American novel, the great American set. Absolutely.

Working on the great American set. I'm great African American set. The great African American set. I worked on that for a while and then was told I shouldn't be working. Yeah, man, you were saying a lot of wild stuff early in the set, too. I thought I thought I was an ally. Turns out you should be in the alley When they start calling you Elvis

While you're on stage It's not going according to plan No God, no Now it's been really fun man Just being able to be on the road And And just stretch the hour And kind of see how things work

I just I love the road more than most things Yeah, it is good How's your travel these days? Can you travel in a nicer way or Yeah, yeah, I'm really, I'm not boozy about much, but like how I get there, how I get back. Because I've been doing, it's been 14 years at this point. And so it's like, you know, I hate being uncomfortable when I'm flying because I'm flying early. I'm not a morning person.

And people love to talk. And I just like to sit where, it's like to sit and like, you know, a nice little seat where people have too much money to get on your fucking nerves. Right. You know? They have so much money. they don't care about your life. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're not going to ask any questions.

Yeah, I'm like, yo, as long as they do that and they shut that damn window. Oh, the window. Fucking shut the window, bro. It's so bad. Tom Segora used to post about the window. Yeah, every time I'm on a flight and see and that blaring, you can't see anything. There's no view. There's nothing.

There's just bright. It's just the devil of a person sitting there like, hey, just what? Guess what I can fuck up? The ambiance. I always want to say, look around. No one else has a window open. Oh, you're the only one. That's what life is like having an anger management issue,

is that in my mind, I'm losing it all of the time. And the only thing that stops me is the fact that I don't want to be that guy on that video or somebody pans up. I'm like, look at the window! That's when they're going to tune in when nothing makes sense. When nothing makes sense, spits flying out of my face. You're ruining the ambiance. The ambiance.

My man yelled ambiance. It looked like it was fuck bitches get money. It's so bad. I was on a flight recently with my wife. Yeah. And she doesn't, you know, we don't travel that often together. And we're traveling. I'm like, where's that?

I woke up. I'm like, where's that light? My wife had her window open. And I was like, no, baby, no. You can't. no windows. Why? You have no fun. I'm like, you're rooting the ambiance. The ambions! My own wife.

I was like, no. You got to take her to the Ambigons training. You know what I'm saying? They got classes on Craigslist. No, when I found my girl, she knows the rules. Now, she like to look out, but she'll close it right back. Right. You know what I'm saying? She'll look out real quick and she'll look, because we don't like it. Together, we are a menace. I'll give you a lift-off.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You can have lift-off. You got to check and see. what they're doing down there. So sometimes, sometimes they're hitting it. Sometimes they're doing too much. And you're like, hey, fam, one time I saw him, one time I saw him throw a bag. I wouldn't eat my bag. He was just tossed

the bag on there. I'm like, all right. They couldn't hear me. I was like, good to. Be gentle. Calm down. That's a person's stings. I keep an eye, eye mask in the bag. Okay.

Because I've given up. Like, it's a little uncomfortable. Like, if you're, all right, you've got two here. and then you're on the aisle over here. Yeah. And that window is open. Will you ask over a person to close that window? Oh, well.

That's a big ask. Okay, here's what I've done in the past. When that has happened, I've waited for them to knock out and then I close it. And then reach over. Yeah, I'll do reach over. Now, there's other times, if it's over there and everything else is closed this way. Yeah. I'll just tilt the hat down like a cowboy.

Like a cowboy just, you know what I mean? But I'll be steaming me whole time. Me too. It'll be the angriest nap you've ever seen in it like. I know. I'm just. We travel too much.

Son of a fucking bitch. Moron. What's your fucking God? I'm like, does anybody regularly get this mad at this thing? But they don't understand. We're weary. Yeah, yeah. We're on there.

We're flying too often. All the time. And then don't let somebody know that you're a comic because that shit is the worst. Yeah. It's just, I love people. I don't want to make it seem like I don't love people. But I also, you know, I have an introverted sensibility sometimes. So I need to be recharging.

And sometimes I got to travel when that rechargeing is happening. And people, man, this one dude was like, hey, man, what do you do? And I'm like, I do comedy, because I also can't lie. I don't like to lie, because then people ask you further. And you're like, now is insurance? Yeah, now of a sudden I'm like, I know being an astronaut it's fun. And you're just

like going down this long path of this made up life you have. Yeah, all the suits are tight. The training's not bad. The food's better than you thought. It's all dust, but it's good dust. It's like a good dust. But this dude he did like indoor, uh, indoor

skating. And he was like, I'm an indoor speed skating coach. And I'm like, oh, okay. And I said that, oh, okay, like, it was a period on it. You know what I mean? Like, I didn't say, oh, okay, tell me more. I was like, oh, this is an interesting thing to just lead with. And he was talking to me when my headphones were on.

Oh, man. So he's one of those like, yeah. I'm like, huh? You do it real slow, like, real exaggerated. Yeah, and don't take your hand off the headphones to let them know this is temporary. I'm not dedicating myself to this. He forced it on me. He was like, hey, man, speed skating.

I'm a speed skating coach. And most people think that speed skating is outdoors. I'm like, most people don't think about it at all. Actually, sir. And they show me videos. No. Yeah. And I'm like, hey, man, it's weird to show me videos of young girls speed skating indoors.

I'm going to be honest with you. I don't know you like that. An onlook I might think this is weird. This is like a setup. I'm like, what is it? He's a trapment. He's like, yeah, yeah. You like that?

You like how she's speeding around? Her little body can get around the curves. I'm like, hey, man, put your phone away. Oh, no. He was a kind guy. It came to my show. He did. Oh, my God.

He was super annoying about it. He was, really. He was trying to tell his side. I don't think he understood what comedy is. Like, he was trying to tell his side of the story. And I'm like, no, nigga. I'll make myself look good in this story completely. This is my one side of conversation.

I mean, and he came, so you really struck up a relationship with the guy. I didn't want to, but I had roasted him so much that I was like, you know what, come to the show. Well, that's the problem, too, is they start talking about their thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you're like, you know what? This might be more fun if we talk about me. Yeah, it's like, because I'm just going to start roasting what you say. And then I didn't think I don't like your life.

I went through this period. I was doing this show called Live From Here on NPR. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I had to write, didn't you do it? Yeah. Yeah, you did it. And I had to write these monologues every week. Yeah.

And they were about like the city that we were going to and the people that I met. Right. And first I made them up. And then I was like, I need material. Right. And I became the guy on the plane. Like if somebody said, hey, how are you? I'd start talking to them.

That's amazing. And I started to realize, as annoying as it is, everyone's hilarious. Yes. Everyone's got something. Yeah. Or some twist or something sad even that I could work into my monologues. Yeah. And I just started being the friendly guy.

I just started chatting it up. Man. I know. Wish I could be that all the time. Like, as much as I fly, I wish I could be that even half the time. Yeah. I'm just so tired. Like.

I know. I know. But if there's something to it, there definitely is something. I had a friend, I said, I'm, I went through a, and then after that, I went through this period and I said to my friend on a podcast, I said, I, I'm starting to see like the guy, I was always friendly, but now I'm starting to see the guys who don't talk at all and just put their head down and like, don't see anybody. And she's like, don't do it. Don't do it. Participate in the world, be a part of the world, talk to people. I was like And she wasn't letting it go She was like I'm telling you So I was in Dallas And in the elevator Going up to the lounge Yeah

And it's early And there's like six people And I is right off For talking to her And I was like So where's everybody going? Oh you're that guy I'm telling you Chris

This one woman's like We gotta go We have a graduation to go to Oh my God We got stuck in that Oh man you're going there we're from there. We just came back.

The whole, by the time we got to the third floor, the doors opened up, it was six friends. That's amazing. They were all just bubbly and just kind of like, you know what I mean?

Yeah, that's super cool. And that happens sometimes, too. I feel like elevators is like that. As much as I'm sitting on talking on planes, I have had moments where it was nice. But then there's also the flip side where I'm like feeling like talking and I'm in the elevator.

I'm like, Hey, how you doing? And they don't say shit. And I'm like, I don't even care for real. I'm not even just going to roll the coast of emotion. We'd like to thank the good people at Quince for sponsoring today's program. If you spend a lot of time cooking at home, it's time to elevate your game. When your cookware actually feels good to use and is thoughtfully made and looks beautiful on your counter,

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I don't even actually give a fuck, man. Fuck me. I'm just trying to be a better fucking person, but look at me. Cake on my face. Yeah, every once in a while you do run into a douchebag. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

doesn't want to talk. You're like, I'm not one of the talkers. I was just saying good morning. I do think that you can have the window open on takeoff. And also, you have to say a friendly hello to each other upon sitting down because we're about to go 30,000 feet into the sky. Yes.

We don't know what's going to happen. Just so we know, we've made an introduction. Yes. And we're on the same team. Yes. Also, I love aware people. So, like, most people aren't aware, and that's why I don't like talking to them. Right. But now I'm thinking, you got me thinking of like when the times I have spoke

is when like somebody maybe a stewardess or I was like rude as fuck and we all overheard it right and we're like and we gave the whole show a little like what the fuck was that you know what I mean that's how I bond right

with some shit's going to have someone's being a fucking ass and we're like looking at shit like those are the people I bond with all day and then the people who know how to retreat back to their bubble. Right. You know what I mean?

Like a good neighbor. Yeah, man. You can't force me into four hours of conversation, bro. If we talked all over Nevada, bro, leave me alone until we land. I know. Yeah, that's a good neighbor. Like, you wave when you're taking out the garbage. Yeah.

Say a couple nice things. And you go back in. You're not like, then following him to his house. Yeah, dude. Going inside and asking for snack. Yeah, you don't see your neighbor checking the mail and be like, yo, tell me about that. That thing that happened last week.

No, no, from there. You know what I mean? Like, what the fuck are we doing? Yeah, exactly. No, but there is some, there is that balance of, uh, of wanting to reach out. I mean, it definitely helped with that monologue. Like it, oh yeah, I bet it did. It was like you really, I mean, every single person's got stuff.

They've got. They really do. They've got stuff. And, you know, you do it long enough. You're like, I'm out of stuff. I need more stuff. You guys, give me your stuff. You grew up St. Louis?

I was born in St. Louis. I grew up there for about seven years. And then we moved to Chicago. In the suburbs of Chicago. In the suburb? Yeah, in Aurora, Naperville. And we, and even through St. Louis to Chicago, my family is from Mississippi. So we would go down there in St. Louis every six weeks we would go because it was a year-round school.

So we had three weeks off every six weeks. So it was. it was my mom and dad created a nomad because like there was I always felt like I could like attach myself to these places

uh huh so like so many places feel like have us homely feel to them you know what I mean so as I was getting older I was like where the fuck am I from

you know what I mean I've always had that feeling of like oh that's home but that's home but that's home but that's home yeah yeah yeah

it's good there's good and there's bad of it you know I'm trying to think who it was I was a writer, I think. I'm spacing on the name. Damn it. But he said that there's

there's somewhere people and anywhere people. Ooh. Yeah. Somewhere people have to live somewhere. And that's their spot. Yeah. They're not comfortable leaving that somewhere. And then there's other people who are cool with anywhere.

Yeah. I can make a home. I can make a home anywhere I'm interested in. making a home. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. But I also think I need an element of moving around. Right. It used to be out of not wanting to be home. But now I have a little home, you know what I mean? So now it's like as long as I can like have some time at home that's genuine. I'm working on that part now in my life. It's like finding that balance between like real life and comedy. Uh-huh. Because my life was comedy forever. You know what I?

I mean, and it's mad unhealthy. But it is a little unhealthy. But you kind of need it in the beginning. Yeah. Oh, I don't think you can make it without it being that. But I think, and I think it's a tug and pull. I don't think it's ever consistently one kind of thing. No, I know.

But you definitely need to, you definitely need your life because that's where you're going to get your stuff. All your stuff comes from your life. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. it's why do you think there's a part of you that wants to give it more balance now? Just because I'm in a relationship and like and I like it, you know, which makes me want to be home more.

I mean, therapy. So like I'm finding answers to the reasons why I was doing certain things and living a certain way. And I was like, I was thinking it was just because like, you know, because I'm the man. A hustle. Yeah, I got a hustle. but there's really were deep rooted things about it

you know and I and it made me having a life made the material better like it made everything else better like it right you know what I mean

there's more depth to it like this stuff I'm working on now is like directly pulled from every day so so it's like so it makes that funner and then it makes like the things you make up even funny

right everything else is just feels better. Which goes against the instinct when you're young and starting. Yeah. It's like slowing down and being content seems like that would be cold water on an act. Oh my. Yeah, yeah. You think that.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Or just being happy. I used to think being too happy was the end. Right. I'm like, what happens when things stopped annoying me? And I just don't know what to write about. Yeah, right. You know what I mean?

I know. But turns out things are annoying you until you die. You know what I mean? Yeah, there's no escape. Nothing, nothing's, this is the world. Right. Yeah. There's always going to be something to fucking make you mad.

Yeah. Piss you off. Even though you don't have to write from that place every time. Yeah. But that's where my gold comes from. You know what I mean? No, I know. I mean, that really, there is no, there could be a problem if you were completely zen.

You could not do comedy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you're moving, if you're like, I mean, look at Dave. He went, he brought the entire Hollywood to Ohio. You know what I mean? He went to get to place and then he's like, turn the whole shit into a Netflix comedy cut. Like, he needs that. But if he was, I think it would just be different if he went out there and there was, he was just, there was nothing.

You have to just come into town every time. Right. To, like, have that feeling. Mm-hmm. You know, I think that feeling has to be consistent in your, life, but it doesn't have to be, you don't have to eat and breathe it all the time. Right. I remember I got my nose broken.

Right here, right around and hit this club. Oh, shit. I remember that. Yeah. And that was like... It was like a year and a half ago. Yeah, after the pandemic. Yeah, yeah.

And it was insane. It was crazy. I'm a fighter, so I've, you know, I've dealt with being hitting the face before. Right. Just never like, right before a set. Yeah, just on a Tuesday night. Right? Yeah.

It was wild. But, like, what I put in bringing that up is, I got it wrapped up, I got it stuffed and all that. And then a week or two later, I was like, yeah, I'm going to go on fucking stage and talk about this shit. And Sam Jay was like, you are sick. Sit your ass down. Why are you going to?

You heal, motherfucker, heal. Because I was clearly still mad about it happening. Like, I was damaged. But that's like, that's how much I love this shit. and how much I've depended on it to heal me. Yeah. And that's sick. That is a sick thing.

But is it, I mean, I don't know. I still have it doesn't think so. Half of me still is like, bro, if I got my nose broken today. Yeah. And there was a show I really wanted to do. I would go, I would write five minutes on my face. And then I would go do the show. Because there is catharsis to it.

It is a therapy. It definitely is. Right. I do think there's timing for sure. I think that, I think there's some timing. But if your friend is like, sit down, like, she saw you, she was like, no, wait. Are you fucking crazy? You're not yourself right now.

Yeah. I looked crazy, Tom. My eyes dark. Shit was fucked up, bro. I was like, they go take me off the streets. Like, they need to. God. For at least a month, man.

Did they ever find out who it was? This is the NYPD. They never found out. This is black on black crime, Tom. It was just a. random is just a random Shibu Semi Pongya?

Yeah, there's some brass knuckles on him too. Did they really? Yeah, he didn't need it. He was very big. He could have broke the nose, especially without any warning. He didn't need the weapon. So that was just an extra piece on it.

Didn't he pop out of a car into it? No, they were just like chilling. And then he walked away. I saw, so the police came over, and I didn't snitch. But the police came over and showed me footage of him like going street to street to street and he's like do you recognize

this dude and I said no who going street to street the guy who hit me they followed him because they got cameras by camera yeah so they followed him throughout the cameras but then he like he like went like he went like seven or eight blocks and then he got in a car

and he just was he like booking it or he was just casually hanging out casually walking because New York is the best place to punch a motherfucker in the face and get away with it and then just get a euro and my man walks away My man walked away like he was in a pack club.

He was just like, excuse me. Pardon me. It was so many people outside, Tom. It was so many people. He was solo? It was a watchout guy. Because I saw the tape. Yeah.

So I saw there was a watchout guy and then there was him. The watch out guy peeped me, signal the dude. Dude put the knuckles on. My dumb ass looking at my set thinking I'm at work. Yeah, of course. Wow. You know. Oh, my God.

Yeah, it sucks. So a watchout guy means they picked you. It seemed like a plot. Like a plot. Yeah. I don't know them, you know. Did you ever have ideas of like who or what? I mean, they had some ideas, but nothing, nothing, nothing concrete.

No, nothing concrete. That is terrifying. If some guy, you're just going to do your spot. Yeah, I just wanted a fair fight, man. Yeah. I was like, hey, I got a problem. I just want to hit me eight, one. morning. I mean, I don't want to speculate, but we will because we're doing a podcast.

He had to have, it wasn't him. Like, he was sent. He was, yeah, he was sent down. That big dude. Or, you know, because there was a trend where people were getting punched in the face. Yeah, still. Yeah. Oh, that's still going on. He just got punched in the face. Oh, that's right. That's what you said. Yeah, yeah. He was like on the subway or something, right? And some guy just came up, clocked him and walked away. Yeah, man.

You know, yeah. And I don't like throwing out names just out of speculation. But, you know, I'm past it. My nose healed some girls who saw me, he ain't seen me in a long time. They're like, ooh, it looked like it's normal. Go ahead. I'm like, it looks like it's normal. Thank you very much.

That is insane. I remember that. That was a very creepy feeling. Yeah, it's crazy when you get. hit anywhere, but just like outside of a comedy club feels kind of wild. Yeah, exactly. I've done so much other stuff

in my life where I felt like I was, I could have been punching and facing it. It would have made more sense. Yeah. I sold us for a while, man. Not one punching. So they bought this guy camera street to street, block to block. Yeah. And that's not enough information to go get them? Absolutely not. They didn't really see his face. I didn't have it. I didn't have it.

I didn't have or give them any information. And I remember they called me a few months after. And they were like, look, there's murders out here in New York City, okay? I'm like, all right, man. I didn't have any hope. You called me. You called me to tell me there's so many murders that my cases dropped. I'm like, that's fine, man.

I mean, sorry to the niggas who got murdered. But, you know. Could you have given him possible names in the night of? Yeah, I don't. But you didn't want to, yeah. No, I'm not doing all that, man. I mean, I don't have a strong history with the police, to be very honest. In no positive way.

You mean when they rolled up, you were in like, oh, thank. Oh, thank God, officer. You made it. My napkin. You know what I mean? No, I don't. I don't fuck with him like that. It was like brass knuckles and then right below

brass knuckles is these guys. Somebody send a friend. I was like, nah, nah, you know, if I ever find out, you know what I mean. I'll handle it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got thousands of family members. We'll figure something out. Right.

You know what I'm saying? We ain't got to attack. Do you come from a big family? I do. Thousands of us legitimately. Legitimately. Yeah, man. We love to fuck, bro.

You have reunions? You have the reunions where you wear the t-shirts? So, my mom and a collective of the family, because there's like eight or nine different families within our family. Right. And they all came together and they've been planning this big reunion for the fourth. Yeah. This year.

Yeah. And it's a huge deal. So I've been trying to keep off all my little tour dates off this little time. I can be there because it'll be the first time we all have gotten together. How many people will that be? Man, hundreds, I think. Wow. It's going to be pretty big, man.

That's going to be pretty huge. It probably impossible to get all of us together at one time. But this would be the most collective of our family in a long time, man. That's beautiful. Yeah. Oh, that'll be great. It's so much fun, man. Like Houston, I'm the only famous one, I think.

How funny you walk in it? Someone we know, he didn't realize it was part of your family. Oh, my God. All the cousins know me, you know what I'm saying? And they reach out and stuff. And it's really cool. I remember I was in Houston, and when I shit you not, 40 of my family members came to my show. Wow.

40. And we hung out and it was, we were deep. Wow. Deep, man. Isn't that wild? It's so dope, man. It's so cool just to know that you have all that family. And even in my family I grew up with, I knew really well.

it was still a whole lot of us. So there's always been a lot of us. That's kind of like... It's amazing when you get around family that you don't know that well. And I would watch with my kids when we would get around family and that they've only met maybe once.

Yeah. But it's just like that. Yeah, man. You feel that blood. You just belong. They see them on a different level from all these other strangers. Yes.

It's a crazy thing. It's so crazy. It's... I love it, man. Not the ones to be asking for money But like, you know Hey, we're going to meet on the fourth They're like, yeah, hey

Exchange phone numbers Hey, what's up, Cus? You remember that time? Nick, we just met. I don't remember any time. We don't have a time to remember. You're rich, right? Nah, $20,000.

That's not a lot to you, is it? What, they pay you for Candy Can Lane? Yeah. God, man. Yeah, it's going to be fun, man. That's going to be great. Yeah, I can't work. What part of the country?

Mississippi or Atlanta? Oh, okay. I keep looking at the camera. I don't know. Like, my mom's going to correct me. Like, mom, what the team? My mind, let me know. Yeah, but I think it's either Atlanta or Mississippi, one of the two.

Well, that's cool. I don't have all the details. I'm just going to go where they tell me. When you grew up, where were your grandparents? Were they around? They were in, well, I had my grandma until I, until my, teen years, I think, on my dad's side, his mom. But my mother's, my grandma, Irice, I knew her for a long time. Right. And until up until we were grown when we lost her.

Right. But they were in Mississippi. And they used to come up and stay with us. And everywhere we lived, she would come up and stay. We always had cousins stay. Yeah. That's another dope thing about a big family. You just like, you cycle in a bunch of, you know, a bunch of folks come live with you, come hang out, then they start work and they might move there or whatever. So it's always like a revolving door love almost. Any good cooks?

Everyone. No. Not everyone, but a lot of good cooks. Yeah. A lot of good cooks. Yeah, man. Yeah, yeah. It's a, it's a

anytime we get together on holidays, you know exactly who's going to throw it out. You know what I mean. And you know exactly. which ones to avoid. They'll always bring that weird old thing under that foil.

Yeah, yeah. Like, with casserole. All right then. That looks like a lot of stuff in there. Looks like a lot of emptied cans. Yeah, they look like butter ammunition than me. That's what that looks like. Who close to you was a good cook?

My mom was an excellent cook. Yeah. What was she make? Oh, man, dude. She makes these potatoes slash kind of hash brownie things. That goes really well. with like fish and spaghetti. She's

her lasagna's banging. My mom can kind of throw down like pretty much anything. And then like, I don't eat like sweets, like not like cake sweets. But she makes this dope-ass coconut cake. Oh, man.

That bangs. Oh, my God. I'll bring you some next time. Yeah. And you know what I mean? Yeah, she goes hard. And all her sisters, too. All her sisters can cook.

So would you say this is July 4th? Let me put in my phone. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, put it in your phone, Bimmo. Yeah, everybody going to think you my entertainment lawyer. He's a distant, distant cousin. Five times removed. But we're not removing them tonight.

Cheers. Coconut cake. I love coconut. Yeah, it's so good, man. Yeah. And I don't even like coconut that much, but the way she whips, it's like a whipping cream kind of. Uh-huh. And it's, yeah.

Oh, that's good. Yeah, it's great, man. How many siblings? My brother and my younger brother and then my older sister. And that's kind of us. And then we have cousins who live with us that like my sisters and brothers too. Right. Was anyone else funny?

Yeah, man. My brother's funny as hell. My sister too. Everybody's always had jokes like a sense of humor. That's good. Definitely. Is that from one of the parents? My dad's funny.

You know what I mean? And my mom is funny when she ain't trying to be too funny. She's funny. She's really funny. Everybody got a little, like, you know, a little funny to them. I'm the one that weaponized it. Right. You know what I took it to the lab.

I'm going to take what all of you people gave me. Yeah. And also just was doing goofy shit trying to figure out who I am. You know what I mean? When did you know you were funny? I kind of knew I could be funny. I knew I could be funny. really early because I was introvert

and I got ADHD and depression and I didn't really understand any of that so I was super quiet and introverted and nervous to talk to people so comedy is how I... Is a little kid? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's how I kind of engaged French. It's like by being funny and being goofy. Right.

And then once they laughed then I could get more comfortable and talk but for a lot of people I was quiet you know what I mean? For a lot of years so it's so funny when people are like, we always knew I said a word to you bro not for any other reason I was terrified you know what I mean

Yeah And then I got you know I got the high school and Like the middle school high school It's kind of when I realized that girls like funny guys Right But I was rapping in too So I so I was like I was funny but I was rapping

So I was trying to straddle the line of being cool And not being too funny where I couldn't be cool Right right Yeah I was But I should have just been funny the whole damn time Yeah Yeah, pretending to be cool.

Like, nah, girl, you know what it is. Well, you got that award for the song on S&L. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And made me think, like, did you, is there a part of you that feels like, I could go back into, I could mess with this a little bit more. With the music? Yeah, yeah, I'm always making music. You are?

I'm always writing music. Yeah, it's, it, I love. I love comedy music. Comedy music was something that was like, oh, it brought two things I love together. Right. And then there was a level of authenticity there that made the stuff work. Uh-huh.

That wasn't making my rap's work before because I wasn't truly being myself. I was being what I thought people wanted to hear. Uh-huh. I was getting the skill set down. I could rhyme. I could write, you know, I could write songs. But, like, I wasn't, I wasn't, I didn't truly know myself. me. I feel like most of the time you kind of got to know who you are. It just makes the art

better. And so now I'm like, you know, I would maybe release some music just for me kind of thing. Like just to see if anybody, you know, if anybody would feel it. Yeah. But I'm working on comedy music. Like that, that I'm not, that I'm not going to stop. Have you ever released anything like that? Uh, on my own. No. Not yet. Because I'm picky because I really want to do it, right? Yeah. I have ideas and I have plans. But I, I, didn't want to do it, you know, I love the quality that you get to make on SNL. Like, I like the, even though most of those songs, some of the songs we, we got lucky that we were able to do it in the way we wanted to.

But you're, you know, you're creating in a vacuum. So it's, so you don't get to always do all of your ideas. So there's, right. There's a large part of me that wants to make a project where I get to do all I wanted to do. Right. And in the way I want to do it. Uh-huh. No holds bar.

No FCC shit. You just get to just make something. And so I'll do that and, you know. As Chris Red or an alter ego? Both, I think. Yeah. I think it'll be both. Maybe a concept thing.

I don't want to get too much away here. Yeah, I don't know. But I do have plans to make, you know. That's great. Yeah. It's such a cool. I've always envious of that outlet. Like it almost seems like you can just put on a new skin.

Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, there is a fun to it. It's hard to do it right consistently. But it's not, but that's what makes it fun. Yeah. I think it's like, it's like you're making a funny song or you're making a fucking musical.

I don't know. Right. I mean. But man, I mean, not that many people do it anymore, but like when I was young, funny songs. What? It was a thing. It was just, yeah, it was just so great. Yeah.

And so, especially. when you're young just to be like this is something like you love anything that's just taking something and twisting it out of the normal a little bit. Yeah, yeah. You're like, well, that song, I know that song but it's about boadies. Oh my God, that's crazy.

Hearing what I'm hearing. Oh, that's the seal song, but it's about breakfast. You know what I'm like? Okay. Really? Like, yeah, there hasn't been that a lot of that lately. I mean, yeah, you see it. You see it on Instagram, you know what I mean? Yeah.

And then, like, you see it in some sketch shows and stuff like that. But that was, like, one of my things I loved growing up. And that's when I went on that show, I wanted to make a name for myself in that, in that specific genre of comedy. Oh, you had that in mind. Yeah, that was one of my goals. It was like, I want to be the guy. I want to be the guy. I want to be the guy that people come to, like, yo, music week.

Right. Or, like, yo, what music you got? You know what I mean? Just know that, like, when I, what I used to love about being on a show is, like, when you made a job. It was like when you made it, when you got a song on, and then they like, in that first five seconds, the shit turned, like the music video revealed itself and it was like, yeah. And I mean, it was like, yeah. Like, that was like how you knew.

And then like between the first verse and the chorus, you can tell if it was going to go well. And, you know, when it didn't, it was very devastating. But when it did, oh. There's no drug. I mean, there's very few things. They're that kind of high. You know what I mean? Just getting that, that visceral reaction right away.

Oh, and knowing that it's going across the country. Yeah. Yeah. It's crazy. It's crazy. It's crazy. It's crazy. How did you do with the whole S&L experience?

I had a lot of fun with it, man. I was pissed a lot, too. You know what I mean? I don't think you can have one without the other. I think it's built for it to be difficult and hard. Yeah. But it, man, it showed, it highlighted a lot of stuff within myself that I may not have been as confident about or didn't know I had interest in. Being able to produce your own stuff and being as involved as you want to be.

Yeah. And just being able to write with the best of the best and just constantly critiquing work that you already like. Right. It just, it was dope. It just makes you a better artist, I feel. Yeah. Because, I mean, there's a lot of stories or, you know, you just hear, like, depending on the artist's

thick skin or emotional place it could be a really difficult place for people like a lot of people come out of it and they're like whoo-oh yeah oh yeah I was on Adderall life for two or three years heavy and I didn't realize I was on it heavy

because I wasn't a really Atterol person you know what I mean but I had just started therapy and that's when I found out like oh I got ADHD ADHD and I got depression and then but instead of going to a doctor I just found some Adirot because I'm used to I used to selling drugs

So I just called my old cohorts You got this? Was he friends with someone Who owned Brass Knuckles? Damn it Tom might figure this whole shit out By the end of the pocket You know there's a lot of things

I was introduced to there Where I was like A whole life there for a long time It's not healthy for anybody Does Adderall help you writing? Like yeah I've always been curious of that It does

It helps me be functional. Just focused. It helped me be, yeah, focused and functional. Yeah. But it doesn't help. I hated it when I had to do stand-up because I was too rigid. I was too, I was too like, I was too like if this gotta go like this or this gotta go like this one. If this is, this is, this is, this joke is fucking done.

When it sounds like my act. Yeah. But you're good at that. You're good at rigid. You're good. You know, my style. I know my structure, I know my jokes, but I got to have a little looseness in there, or it's not going to feel it. Yeah, it's not you.

Yeah, because I'm also performing from anger sometimes. So if I'm too rigid, it just looks like I'm an angry man. You know what I'm like? I'm just like, are you having fun? You know what I mean? It's just, there's too much intensity. Interesting. Yeah, so I had to like, I had to make sure that I was, I wasn't take, I never took it to like perform stand-up.

I always did it to write. Right. You know what I mean? And then, yeah, but yeah, but then after a while, it's just kind of like, it's just a weird, it's just too intense. It has you sweating all the time. It's just a little, it's too much. Yeah, if you don't need, yeah, to get through something. Well, I just needed to go get like a thing from a doctor and not just self.

Someone monitoring. Don't medicate. Wait, how many milligrams do you want? My God, dude. Who told you to do this? You need five. What are you doing? Forty.

God damn. Yeah. Yeah. But it's funny, isn't it? It's like, it's kind of similar to the thing we were talking about earlier, that crazy obsessive drive that you need early on. Yeah. Probably taking that Adderall to that effect on that show at that time.

Probably what you needed to get through. I will say, I will say it definitely got me through some really, really tough times. Yeah. I do wish I had done it the right way. Just to figure myself out Because I feel like I paid for it a little bit Later we're trying to figure it out now Like

What do you mean? I feel like when you self-medicate You know what I mean? You, you throw off You throw yourself off a little bit Like your system is thrown off Yeah So it took

I feel like my depression was a little worse Because I had I had with cold turkey on it And then it was just like My dopamine was weird It was a weird way You know what I'm saying Weird lows and shit

So yeah I just was scared of being judged and going into the doctor and all that shit. So I wish I just had found the confidence to figure myself out a little bit sooner. You know what I mean? Did you know when you were, because you mentioned when you were a kid. Yeah. Did you know you were depressed as a kid? No, I knew I knew I was in my head a lot and I knew that like I was emotional and sad about when I shouldn't be sometimes or I felt like I shouldn't be.

From an early age. Yeah, yeah. But, like, I didn't know I was any different than anybody. I thought everybody else was having the same kind of feelings. Yeah, yeah. And then I just thought I was nervous. And then I just always thought it was something else because I, you know what I mean? Yeah.

Because the conversation about that wasn't prevalent at all in my house. You know what I mean? And I remember... In the world. Yeah, at all. And then I remember I was acting out a bunch. Like, I was just angry. As I got older, all that.

all that emotion just just turned into anger because anger's cool it's a cool coat to wear right yeah it's the only emotion that makes a man feel fucking like you know what I mean you can get a whole bunch of men riled up being pissed yeah it's true you can make everybody feel

we're crying you know yeah you know and so it was something like I would act out a lot and that's kind of the only time I remember as a child that my parents took me to see somebody you know what I mean but even after that the file There was no follow-through.

What age was that? That was 16. Okay. Because I was punching walls and shit. I was real white kid shit. Testosterone. Yeah. Yeah.

Only other kids I knew punching walls were white kids. Yeah, exactly. I was like, I got to figure something out. I'm ruining my stuff. Yeah. That's how that is, that's the locker rooms filled with that. Man, dude. Just dents everywhere.

Yeah. So it's 16. Yeah. Yeah, and then I didn't address it again until my second year, S&L, I had, you know, I had won that award my first year, didn't expect it. That was the first year. I didn't really understand that. Yeah, it was super cool. I didn't really know.

I was so ignorant to what the Emmys were and what that meant. Yeah. And I tried my hardest to be like, all right, this year, we're not chasing. trying to top that. That was incredible, but it was like a trick shot. Like, don't expect it to be, but it was hard fighting, like, the expectation that, Nick, you're about to be it, Amy again. And then the system of that place was, you know, it's almost as if it plays against you

to do well like that. And it's also, it's also like catering to the stars of the, Even though I won that, I wasn't like a star of the show for real. Like, there was stars. So they would get catered to and it was so hard to get stuff on. Yeah, yeah. Like, no matter what we wrote, it was, it was, there were like weeks on end where I did nothing. I brought my PlayStation up there.

I started playing in a room. I was, like, that's when my lows got crazy. I couldn't sleep. The Adderall was doing too much. And I'm not good at just sitting and doing nothing. I'm a hustle. I got to work. Yeah.

So I did stand up throughout my whole career at SNL. Sometimes just to make me happy, just because, like, you felt so unfunny some weeks. And then you'll go out and like, oh, yeah, I am a killer. Right. I forgot. I just, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you go back in and try to keep some of that happiness. It's hard.

It's hard. Everybody has those low years. And it's a part of that because there's so many people. Yeah. The cast was so big that you, it was with my time in there, there was a known thing. It was like if you're having a good week, five people are having the worst week. Right. All the time.

That's and then everybody else is kind of just in the middle. Right. You know what I mean? It's like there's no way that you're having, like everyone can't have a good week at the same time. There's no way. Right. You know what I mean? So if you have that mentality, then you're able to navigate it a little bit better.

Sure. But I wasn't, I was just being introduced to it all. So I remember being so depressed about it that I went to a show. a stand-up show it was on Wednesday after we had stayed up all night writing went got nothing on got a lot of stuff pulls

and they didn't even read it and then I was so fucking mad and like in my shit I went and I did stand-up and I'm rocking but I can't feel it or hear it so it's to me it sounds like I'm not doing well but yeah and I was like

what y'all don't fuck with me at one point I just stopped my acting like I'm not laughing at all and it was said Sam J is always in the right place In the right time when I'm having An emotional breakdown She was like Chris what the fuck you're talking about

nigga they laugh And I'm So I continue to rock and I do my act But I still feel no different But I'm like fuck But I'm looking at people I'm like okay they are laughing She said it to you in the middle of the set

Yeah yeah because I made it so weird It was so jarring How like I put the brakes on Yeah I put the brakes on something when I was clearly doing well. And then I went outside with her. She's like, what's going on? And I fucking cried like a fucking child.

And I just couldn't understand what was going on with me. And then I got in the therapy that next week. Really? Yeah. And from there, that was my- And her urging? Yeah, she had started already. And my late friend Jack Knight had started, and they had been talking about it.

Right. They had really got me into thinking about doing it. And then I finally pulled the trigger. Wow. And did it help you straight off? No, because the first therapist was trash. Oh, no. Yeah, yeah, she stank.

Her whole room stank. Oh, no. Yeah, man, it stank, bro. And she didn't write anything down. So every beginning of my therapy session was like a Netflix recap. Oh. And she's like, so what I'll be talking about last week? Bitch, do you have notes?

What has happened? Also, why is it stinking here? How are you going to fix me? You can't shower. How are you going to fix me when this is the saddest place I go all week? Absolutely. I'm like, no, fuck all that. So it took me a while to find a therapist that was right for me.

But then when I did, my last couple have been great. This one I have now is fantastic. That's great. That's great. Man. So when you're 16 and going through that rage, that's also the time you were clocking of starting to know you're really funny. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Like I knew I was, I was sick. I knew I was the silly, funny guy. You know what I'm saying? I wasn't open to everybody, but once you got me there, I was, you know, I was definitely cracking mad jokes, class clowning all the time,

you know what I mean? But I was rapping, so that took the forefront. I never saw comedy as a career. Really, I didn't really, because I was just so gun-holy. You couldn't, from 10 till 20, 21 or two,

you cannot tell me, wasn't going to be a rapper. Wow. You just couldn't. Like, that was what I knew I was going to be. Really? I did it every day. Man, every dollar went to studio time.

Everything I did, every hustle, every fucking bad thing I did was all to fund or create stories for this rap career, you know? Amazing. Who were your influences there? Who were you listening to at the time? Oh, man. Pot, Big. M.

Snoo. I mean, everybody, bro. You know, cannabis for like, I love battle rap. I love jokes. I've always loved jokes. And I was always good at, I could win at battles because I had jokes. And I knew how to rhyme. So I could watch somebody and like, now I know what I'm doing.

I'm making a set. But I would see somebody that I make a full set on their outfit or whatever is going on. Now all I do is rhyme. And I rhymeing every day. So I know how to, you know. And so most of them were just stand-up jokes like, rhyme together, you know what I mean? It's amazing.

Yeah, and that's how I made a name for myself doing that around the city. Is Eminem the funniest rapper? Oh, Ludacris was one of my favorites. He might be one of the funniest. Eminem is definitely hilarious. Yeah. But Luda was like, Luda was funny. He's like a cartoon on a beat.

But in the coolest way, you can do that. Right. His skits used to be hilarious. He used to like, his whole. his whole albums were these dope concept albums that were like they had so like five or six sketches and and then the songs were funny and then the lines were funny but they were dope and I was like this is the kind of shit I want to do you know what I mean yeah to be funny without losing your cool yeah yeah yeah and there was only a certain people doing it yeah you know what I mean

and M and Luda and I feel like I'm forgetting some others yeah but yeah like they they were the guys who brought humor to it in a way that I'm like, oh, yeah, I want to be able to be funny like that. When you left music, or not completely left it, but when you shifted and went, right, comedy is going to be the thing for a while. Did you have to put listening to music away a little bit? I know a lot of times the musicians will be like they kind of, where they put the guitar down, they check out for a while. I had to stop writing the way I was writing music for a while.

I never stopped listening. Music is the heartbeat. We used to have music playing all through the house 24 hours a day. That was always been like the baseline. Even now when I'm walking to the club, I'll pick a song with a BPM that I want to match joke-wise. Oh, really? I just realized I do this. What do you mean?

So if the thing is like 160 BPM, I want to see if I can match laughs per minute. I want to match the rhythm of the laughs to the beat. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like I, it's just an internal thing that I just, that I do to kind of, it's like a fun little challenge for me sometimes. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, uh, I don't know what it's making better. I don't know what the point is. Yeah. But it is, I, but I found myself like when I would listen to slower songs before I go up, I, my pacing would be, my pacing would be different. Uh-huh. And I was like, I was like,

oh, I like, I'll start slower. You know what I mean? Like, if, if I, if I want to come out, explosive high energy. I listen to something that's high energy and explosive. And I'll just come in with that energy. And I just... Interesting. Yeah, yeah. I just noticed it. Really interesting. Actually, as I've been home these past few weeks and I've been going up every night and I've been doing my walk up to the club, I can get about three or four songs in there. And I'm like, yo, whatever is the last couple songs, whatever that feeling is is what my first few sets feel like. And it's crazy. I was like, oh, fuck, that's nuts.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's interesting. Someone was saying that to be like a great speaker, oh, man. It was like 96 beats per second. Like all of the great speakers had this rhythm that was pretty exact. They weren't musicians by any means. Yeah.

But it was like all these great speakers all had this same rhythm. And I was like, how do you get? keep track of rhythm while you're doing it. But I guess if it's innate in you. Yeah, well, yeah, I think,

or that you learned for 12 years of doing it. Yeah. There's markers. Yeah. It's just like, it's, it's, it's the laugh markers or the,

or the reaction markers. So it's, right. And then it's like about what kind of laugh you get in enough, obviously, but, but most of it is just like, I like to feel like a machine gun.

Right. You know what I mean? So, so, so like, I like, I like, I like,

I like, I like, I like, What is it going to, you know what I mean? Yeah. But then like every time you're working a bit, it can't always be that. You know, you got to give space and time. And I also love a slow build.

I love, I love, I love like throwing a wrench on a flow just to see if I can get out of it back to that. You know what I mean? Like I love self-sabotaging. Yeah. Right. Yeah, there's, there's a funny thing like you're trying to kill so hard. so fast for like and when you're doing your like longer sets you really have to take a drink and relax just to be kind to the audience yeah man just to let them yeah yeah and kind of reset it's

almost like you you need to do that yeah and if you don't have the energy to to to if you're going a hundred miles an hour yeah or a half hour you got 30 left and you're tired yeah it's a rap bro. Like, yeah, you're all going to sleep at the same time. Right. Like, that used to be the thing. Like, I really worked on pacing more when I was doing hours more consistently. Yeah.

And those Friday shows. And you go so crazy hard on the first show. Right. And then you're like, fuck, there's two hours to the second show. And then there's like two acts before me. There's like almost three hours of waiting. Yeah. And it's like, fuck.

I was just listening or just learned. what Kat's schedule is when he's on the road? Oh, yeah? Have you ever worked with Kat? No, we've crossed paths a few times, but not had a privilege. It's amazing. Like, he has like two hours of show with great comedians. Yeah.

Before he even gets on stage. That's crazy. And that's crazy. And it works. Like, you know, it's, like, because they're all so psyched to see him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But could you imagine? That's so much comedy.

Sometimes I'm like, I know you're used to doing 20 before me, but how about you had 15 and get me up there. He's got two hours. I like Curry and all these greats. That's crazy, man. I highly respect it. I highly respect it. I know there were some folks that I had opened up for a couple times when I was

first starting who were like super controlling about what you say. Right. You know, and so, and Bruce Bruce was the first person I opened up for who was like, boy, do what you won't. Right. You know what I mean? Go out there and do what you won't. I'm going to do what I do.

You go ahead and do what you won't. You're right. And I was like, so I've always respected the OGs and the people who, who carry themselves like that. Because there's a level of confidence there. 100%. To know that you're giving the people the best of the best.

I will say, I'm like, I don't know if anybody doing two hours of comedy on my show but me, but. Yeah, I know. But that's, yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. Cat has a different,

he's a different world. He's a different beast all the guy. Yeah, he's thinking about things in a totally different way. Yeah, absolutely. He wants him exhausted. He wants him exhausted so every pop fit is like, yeah, bitch. Yeah, he thought you was done. I feel that.

I get it. I understand it. You know what I mean? It's just a long time. That's a lot of comedy. You got to have a lot of love for you. Yeah. Like, none of those people are going out again for a month or two.

No way. Not until he comes around a year and a half later. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. There's no way. That's too much comedy to take in at once. Yeah. Oh, my God. He really does. It is kind of amazing. Back to what we were talking about with the hour. There is that thing. Do you ever think, like, you know, we all influence each other? You know, we're all in this beehive together in a real way. And it's nice that, you know, you inspire each other. You learn from people's mistakes. You learn from other stuff. But there is definitely, I've been thinking lately, like, there's, you have to be careful to not be all going at it the same exact way. Yeah.

Like we're all doing this thing and putting out specials and doing that thing. But you got to kind of put the blinders on a little bit and think what can I, like the way you're talking about the music. Yeah. Is a good example of that. It's like you're not imitating anybody doing that. Like that would be your own lane. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely.

I think that I feel like that's why like, um, When I'm working on a new, I'm working on a new set, like, there are certain people that I know influence me, so I can't watch them. Right. Like, I just, which is harder because sometimes I'm coming across topics that they may have in their special or, I won't know until a homie is like, hey, you know, that's a,

I'm like, fuck, all right. But they already know me, so they know I'm not trying to do somebody else's bit. It's just like, fuck, he touched that? Uh-huh. Like, I can't watch Chappelle. I can't watch Rock. I can't watch them too much when I'm getting my shit together because I have how much I like those guys in their styles.

And they're so unique in that rhythm and the whole thing is. Yeah, absolutely. Intagious. So, yeah, it's just some of it's, that's one of them things where you're like I just got to stay away from it until I'm solid on what I'm doing. Yeah. And it sounds like you're in a really great place. And it sounds like that thing you're talking about of like the life balance with comedy. Yeah.

If you want to be unique, just live your life. Just live it. Just live your life, man. And there's no way that anyone can copy your life. Yeah. You know what I mean? Exactly. And so you just do exactly.

I had like a theory. I don't know if it's new idea, a new idea. But it's, yeah, it's just like if you speak from your life, you're always going to be authentic. Yeah. And everything else is up for grabs. Right. Any angle you think is the most creative angle in the world, if someone beats you,

you to it, it's because it's up for grabs. Right. But nothing in your life is up for grabs. That's right. Nothing that happens to you. That's something that you personally go through. No one can be, no one's going to write nothing like that. No way. Even if they go close to it, there's always going to be a difference. No, 100%. And you get to a certain point with that's where you want to explore and talk about. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's like you've lived life and now that you're have your perspective on it. It's like in the beginning we're all talking about the train. Yeah.

The apartment, the girlfriend. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you get to a point in this where you know you can write, you know you can write jokes, you know you can write an hour. Right. What kind of comic do you want to be? Right. Like, what kind of comic are you?

What are you actually bringing into the game? Right. You know what I mean? And then I think that's where you really find your separation. Yeah, yeah, it's great. So are you going hard this summer? Yeah, man. I just sold a show.

Uh-oh. I'm working on it now. Super fun. And so hopefully we'll be... Nothing ruins a good stand-up set, like, success. Absolutely. Oh, God. Now I'm looking at my set every time, like,

is this for the show or is this to my set? I don't know. Yeah. And the answer is both, probably. But, yeah, so I'll be working on that, but I'll be touring a bunch. Oh, where you going? Man, damn, I don't know any of my...

schedule. I am going. Shit, I should look. I know I'm going to Austin. Let me just look. Is that for the family reunion? No, no. The family reunion is going to...

I want to go to that so bad. Yo, come on out. Boy, Papa, you better. Come on out here. I got a big family. Oh, here we go. Cleveland. Yep.

Is that hilarious? Oh, I love hilarities, bro. Yeah, I'm going there on a sixth. The best. Yes. I'm going there. I cannot wait. I haven't been back to hilarities.

Going to all the good spots. Denver. Yep. I love Denver. Comedy Works. Fort Worth, Texas. August, we're going to Kansas City, San Diego. London.

Yep, yep. I had to move London because of a shoot. But I cannot wait to go to London. That's good. They don't pay shit. But I love the people. It's vacation and you get to do a spot. Exactly.

And that's why I had to move it. I was like, hey, I got to move it where I can like, I can put a vacation in there. Because this has to make sense to me. You know what I mean? I know you have to build this up somehow. I have to, this has to be either of work vacation or I'm not coming. Exactly. I can't.

I had the same thing. Yeah, I can't reconcile with myself. Yeah. Going out there for $2 and a baguette. Like, I don't know. And a smaller crowd than you have in the States. Yeah, absolutely. Like, you keep coming back.

Yeah. A third or fourth time is really great. I have a croissant. Is that the wrong country for this? Well, this is really great. Really good catching up. Dude, so much fun. Yeah, really cool.

Always good. I didn't realize you would just be hanging out with you. That's nice. Yeah. Unless it was going to be a trivia podcast. Would you think who's going to happen? I thought it was going to be a trivia podcast. I got games.

How many Star Wars movies can you name in the back? playing ping pong. This is awesome, man. Yeah, this is really cool. It's always great to see you. Yeah, you too. Very funny. And you're always cranking out good stuff.

And seriously, Candy Cain Lane, what a cool thing. I mean, really. Eddie's the guy. I mean, the cast was amazing. Amazing. But Eddie's one of the guys who I looked up to. Obviously, I feel like a billion people say this. Yeah.

But he was just so cool. It was so fun to like, you know, play with. And I had a small part, literally. And they made us feel like family. That's so good. Yeah, he just got to riff a bunch and improvise. And with something like that, like that big, you know, you never know how it's going to go. But it was just so much fun, man.

Did you get to interact with him a lot? A lot. Yeah? Yeah. Like every day almost. Wow. Pretty much. I think, yeah, just about every day.

Wow. That's amazing. Yeah, it was super. Man, super cool. She's Louise. Did you ever talk comedy? Could you get there? Dude.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Eddie's cool as shit because he's like, he's like very reserved, you know what I mean. Uh-huh. And then he'll hear a funny conversation and he'll perk up. You know what I mean? But the conversation got to be funny. You can't force it on him. You know what I mean?

It got to be, you know. Yeah. But he's super cool, though. And I remember we talked about SNL. And that was super dope. Yeah. had always wanted to talk to him about SNL. Of course.

And like I was, I started to try to compare, but I was like, ain't no comparing to this nigger. You left and you became the biggest star in the world. I left and I swam through some shit for a couple years. We getting there. Oh, God. I mean, no one's bigger. No one.

No one. Oh, my God. Yeah, it's awesome. That's so good that he was. So you got to have some like just one-on-one little? Yeah, just a little. moments, you know what I'm saying? Which was super cool.

I wasn't sure just because the way the movie was done. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If we would even be in the room, which I didn't know either. I thought I was like, ah, we're not going to see them. Yeah. But it was cool, man. Yeah, we got to chop it up with every now and then, you know what I mean? Oh, and how cool.

I mean, it's a great thing to be in a holiday movie of any sort. Yeah, yeah. Because every year it becomes part of the of the catalog. Yeah, yeah. And that you and that cast. Dude, it was so sick. It was such a new vibe to be able to be in something like that. It was cool.

It was really cool. I was really proud of that. Yeah, that's really great. Well, man, you're going to continue to work forever, which is a good thing because I always need guests coming back on the podcast. Hey, man, I'll be back playing. I'll bring you bread. All right, when you're in L.A. A different kind of bread I'm going to bring you.

All right. And when you were in L.A., stop by the studio. and I'll give you the proper bread. I mean, these croissants will be fine. Oh, yeah, I'm about to ban these croissants. But when I'm in L.A., I expect some fresh bread by the out of the bread oven. I got you covered. All right, we got it.