Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 313 - Aaron Chen

Episode Date: March 24, 2026

This week we welcome the incredible Aaron Chen  ⁨@AaronCh3n⁩  to the table! He and Tom chat all around the world. Enjoy! Our thanks to: IQ Bar! We freaking love these bars and you will too. Text PAPA to 64000 to get 20% off all IQBAR products, plus FREE shipping. Message and data rates may apply. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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What's your Emotional Support Snack Snack? support snack that's interesting I'm pretty like I go pretty diverse with snacking

I would go for a sweet yeah yeah there's an Australian call it a biscuit but you'd call it a cookie it's called Tim Tams this is a chocolate covered wafist style biscuit

oh that sounds good it's really good it's whenever we have friends from Australia they'll bring they'll bring a pack oh nice yeah can you order them Or it's better to get it from your friend. It's better to get them from Australia.

America has them, but the makeup of chocolate is different in this country. Yeah. Yeah, I think our dogs could actually eat most of the chocolate here and be okay. I think that's a good sign. Right? Like a Hershey's Bar? I think my dog could down a whole Hershey's Bar without any effect. I'm not sure that's really chocolate.

It's breaking bread. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me. an honor. Yeah, really is. The internet doesn't seem to know how old you are. Oh, yeah. Is that because you age differently in Australia than here? Oh, like, kind of like gravity or, you know, the movie.

Is that what happens in gravity? I think in gravity they went to space. Oh, interstellar. Is that the one with the bookcase when he was like behind the bookcase? Yeah, and he's spinning, you're so spinning far away that it's time moves different. Right. And like one day in space is like a thousand years. Yeah. Yeah.

And he came back and his daughter was old. That's why. And Krusty. That's why? Yeah, yeah. Oh, that's awesome. So what, so is Australia like the bookcase or is it the? Having not seen the movie in a long time, I'd say we are probably the bookcase.

Yeah. Right. That's cool. Yeah. Do you ever see ghosts? Do I see ghosts? Yeah. I've never seen a ghost.

Have you seen a ghost? I've, well, I kind of. Really? I have on my phone a ghost that my camera, my nest camera caught. Oh, I thought you were just looking at a video, but you caught a ghost. No, I have a picture of it. Do you want to see it? Kind of.

All right. I'm hesitating because I've got to flip through my phone. Okay. Well, maybe afterwards. It's one of those. As a father, whenever I'm like, let me show you and I start scrolling on my phone, I can hear my daughter's voices going, just give it to me.

Yeah, yeah. Just give it to me because they think I can't use a phone, which I can't. I'm going to find it for you. But you believe wholeheartedly this is a ghost that you see. I feel like you're. judging me the way you asked that? No, no, no. I'm asking with a lot of curiosity and openness. Okay. Yeah, it's a ghost and he's carrying a gun. And here it is. So, first of all, take that, daughters. And here's the picture of the ghost. That's crazy. No one else was in the house,

but my wife. It's a shadow. It's a shadow. That's on the second. floor. It could be a man. It's a ghost of a man. It's a ghost of a man with a gun. Right? And a trench coat. I think this is the story that I've painted.

Yeah. And I should send this to you, right? Yeah, I can put it in it. Yeah. I think this man was in L.A. and was making a go in the movies. Yes. Had to go fight in World War II as they all did.

did with Jimmy Stewart, just leave their careers and go fight. And then he never made it back. Well, he has now. And then he can't. Yeah, he's made it back. He's made it back. And he's still walking around my house. With a gun.

With a gun. You think your ghost, you're scary enough. But is that wild? Only my wife was in the house. Did she report any? And I got this alert on my phone. on the Ness camera. Yeah.

And it took this picture. Unbelievable. Yeah. It's pretty cool. Right? Yeah, I like it. I know. A lot of people don't have a, like...

A ghost pic. Do you ever feel it? Like, I feel that kind of a thing? Maybe not a ghost specifically. No, I wish I did. I'm not someone who's like, I never feel that. I don't believe it. That type of thing.

But I wish to. Yeah. Could be exciting. But I wouldn't wish it in a scary way. Let's just say that. Yeah, I know. It seems like, though, when people tell stories of like having a feeling or they see it or something, it very rarely is scary. You know, it's like, oh, I saw a woman walking down the hall.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I saw a little boy in the playroom. That is inherently, I think, is a little bit scary, don't you think? It's really disturbing. Yeah, yeah. But the ghosts aren't like, rar. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, they're not trying to scare you.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're trying to do their thing. They seem like mildly annoying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Were you born in Australia? Born in Sydney, Australia. Why?

I guess my parents moved there from China. I don't know why they both picked Australia specifically. Did they pick and go together or did they meet there? Meet there. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Uh, is there a big Chinese community in Australia? Lots of Chinese. Yeah. Chinese people, I think, are everywhere. Yeah, there's a lot. They've gotten to be everywhere, I feel. Yeah. There's, um, like Chinese food in every place you go.

And there's sometimes weird fusions that happen. Mm-hmm. You know Chinese Indian cuisine, that's a cuisine. Really? Yeah. I've never had that. But it's like there's, the Chinese people have all left, but they still make the Indian, in India make Chinese Indian food.

Oh, really? Yeah. And is the Chinese or the Indian dominant on the menu? In the vibe of the food? Yeah. It's kind of weirdly 50-50. Like it's like kind of sweet and sour, but with like masala, like spices, you know? Right.

They kind of went really in the middle. It's not discernibly either Indian or Chinese. What was your, what was the food in your house? In my house. Yeah, when you were a kid. Lots of, like, it was, like, kind of skewed Shanghai-nees maybe. And so there's, like, a lot of, like, braze, like, braze meat and then some stir-frived vegetables or rice. Like, that's pretty standard.

Yeah. And was that who cooked that? Was that my mom. My dad cooked. My mom passed away when I was young, but my dad could cook. Oh. Yeah. How old were you when she passed?

Five. Oh, wow. Yeah, yeah. Wow, that's tough. Yeah. that's soft. Yeah. So I guess dad had to cook.

Yeah, he had to cook. Yeah. Yeah. Was he a good cook? He was pretty good for dad. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, but I guess dads can be really good.

Mm-hmm. But a lot of dads, they're not that good. No, my father, I don't think my, I've never seen my father make anything. Really? Nothing. You don't think he could have. I don't think he could. He's a big, strong guy.

And I think, uh, If my mom were to pass first, he would die soon after of starvation. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. I think he's got a couple. You know? He must have a couple of recipes.

Mm-mm. Nothing. Maybe toast? You can cook? I can cook. I baked you this bread this morning. Did you? Yeah.

Wow, that is a fresh loaf. Yeah, that's yours. Are you serious? Yeah, I baked it this morning. Is that prosciutto? real? That is a fake prosciutto. And if you want, if at any point you need comfort from a probe alone, this is, this is the provolone that we have for you. Yeah. You could use that as a buoy. I know. Yeah. It's also good as like a little backrest. Yeah. I know this is all phone-centric so

far on our, on our podcast. We love it. Do you like your phone or do you feel like it's a threat? I feel like it's a threat. I got it on black and white, so I use it less. I heard about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is it true? Does it make it less poor? I mean, it's, it's, it looks horrible. Really? Yeah. But it makes everything else look nice. Like, sometimes I'll have to take the cut, put the color on to see something. Uh-huh. And it makes everything look crazy. Like, everything looks so bright. Really? Like, you don't realize that everything is like so brightly colored. So you did it. This was your, this was your, this was your bread in my kitchen this morning. You baked that?

Yes, I made it for you. Wow. Yeah, I started it yesterday. That's beautiful. I started the day before. I fed the starter, the sourdough, the wheat, I mean the yeast, and then yesterday shaped it all, put in the fridge and then baked it this morning. Are we talking sourdough? Sourdough.

It looks like a sourdough. Yeah. And you slice it like, do you have a signature slice? You can go any way you want. I usually just start from one end and go across. You do the whole way, yeah. In the middle, it'll get kind of long. and maybe I'll start going in on the sides.

Yeah. But yeah, do you have a good knife at home? Ah, yeah. Are you going to go home with this? I guess so. Where are you going? I'm going to an Airbnb in Silver Lake. Oh, that'll be good.

They'll have a serrated knife. Yeah, maybe. Yeah. It being Silver Lake. Yeah. Maybe the host will have one. I feel like that's like, that's kind of like the Brooklyn-ish people of L.A. Yeah.

And they might comment on your bride. I don't know. Are you with them in the Airbnb? So I'm in a little, I think I'm in their yard. Oh, you're in their yard. Yeah, in a structure, in a structure in their yard. You're very successful comedian, but are you poor? It ebbs and flows.

I would never say I'm poor, but it ebbs and flows is what I'd say. Maybe. Now that you're in Los Angeles, Do you feel like you've made a mistake by picking New York is the place to live? I mean, in wintertime, you do feel that. Yeah. But I love New York. I love the vibe of it.

Yeah. You can walk around. It's so nice. I always like to say the difference between L.A. and New York is in L.A., you say, I'm not walking here. So I want to know more about this bread. How long have you been baking bread for? 12, 13 years. Wow. Yeah. So now it's like nothing. It's so easy. It's just like second nature. It's, but it's like stand-up comedy, I always say. You feel like you still improve? Or you can bomb.

Right. Both. Both. Yeah. You get better. You have a better understanding and then you can go wrong at any moment. Yeah. So it keeps you a little humble. Okay. You know. When's the last time you messed up below? A couple weeks ago when I got, yeah, I got, I just the timing of it stretched out where time is the big thing. You can't really mess with time. As you know, being in Australia. Yeah. We mess with time and we really feel the consequences now. We don't have ages anymore. It's pretty wild down there. And so I made some mistakes with time and thought I could get away with it. Yes.

And they come out and they were just like a little flat. Okay. A little flatter. Who gave you your first starter? My friend Max, who was a writer on a show on Amazon. Okay. We were working on a show called Red Oaks. Yeah.

And it was a very funny show. And he had just gotten into, he was very like a science kind of a mind. Yeah, right. And he had just learned about a sourdose. starter. Yeah. And I was, like, fascinated by it. And I'd never heard of it.

And then it was like a drug deal. We met at his hotel. Because he was from New York and he was in L.A. working on the show. Okay. And I had to go to his hotel and he gave me a little bag with starter in it. Wow. Yeah. And after I evaded the cops, I brought it back home.

Yeah, yeah. Big shootout. Yeah. That's great. Yeah. And then I just started... That's early to adopt baking bread. In a life?

Well, I mean, like, in the era of 2013, like, I feel like you beat the trend. Yes. Thank you for observing that. Yeah. Nothing gets my goat more than when people are like, oh, pandemic. Yeah. And I'm like, no, I was here well before. Yes.

All of you, Johnny come lately. Johnny come very lately. Yeah. Jake Ellenhall went on, is it Gellenhall or Jellenhall? Jellenhall. He was on Colbert talking about his new hobby baking during the pandemic. Where is he now? Yeah.

He's not on the scene. You haven't seen him around the ovens? Haven't seen him at the mill. Yeah. I haven't seen them sourcing wheat, none of it. Just off making movies is all I can see. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know?

Fair weather guy. Yeah. Can you cook for yourself at home? I can cook. Yeah, I can cook enough. Can cook to get by, can cook dinner. Mm-hmm. Do you live alone?

No, I live with my wife. I know. And she really cooks. Oh, yeah? Yeah. She went to culinary school last year. in a career pivot Really? Yeah

And that's her career now? Yeah, well she worked at a restaurant for a bit and then as an intern because we didn't have our green card yet. But now we got it. So she's looking for restaurant jobs. Oh, that's great. And what's her specialty? Specialty, hard to say. Like I feel like she can whip up with like what's ever around.

But we eat a lot of. like Asian food. She's Korean. So we eat Korean food a lot. Oh, that's good. But she can like look in the fridge and like see all the ingredients and cook something like pretty amazing with that. Really? But me, I have to like kind of plan and prepare and like look up a recipe. Right. Like I'm not like creative with it like that. Don't you hate when you look up the recipe and you're like, all right, I'm going to make this. Yeah. And then first item, I don't have it. Yeah. Saffron. I'll go buy everything and then we'll have like, everything and never use it.

Right. I don't really just piss everyone off. You're like, should I spend $17 on coriander? Yeah, yeah. It's so expensive. How long have you been married? I've been married for three years now. Oh, yeah?

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am. Really bad. No. No, really? No, it's going awesome. I love it. How did you meet? We met at a university,

at school. At school, at university. Yeah. In Australia. In Australia. Why don't you call it college? I don't know. We call it university.

I think that's maybe a very British thing. And then college refers to maybe a specific school in the university. Or maybe we call colleges like what you'd call like a frat or something. Oh, or like a dorm or whatever. So do you feel a great sense of relief that you now live in a place that calls things by the right words? Yeah, the right way. Finally. I didn't know that I needed that.

But now, yeah. Now I'm here. it feels good. Yeah. And you met her on campus? On campus, yeah. What was the move? What was the move?

Yeah, like, did you come up to her at the library? Did she throw a frisbee near you and pretend to pick it up? She never threw a frisbee. We kind of like didn't start dating until the pandemic. So like years later. So we were just kind of friends. for a long time. Right.

Mm-hmm. And there was, out of a great sense of loneliness and fear of death. Yeah. Fear of the virus. Of the virus. Yeah. That you figured you might as well. Give it a go.

Give it a go. Yeah. Give it an honest go. Right. Yeah. I've been told by my daughter that I'm not allowed to use the term hook up. Hook up. Any longer.

Why? Because when I was younger, you would say, Aaron and I are going to hook up and do the podcast today. Yeah. Yeah. And every time I say to my daughter, did you end up hooking up with your professor? Yeah. She gets really upset.

I feel like that's even more reason to use it to roll one up. So you started stand-up in Australia? Yes. That's where I hooked up with the mic. When you hooked up with the mic. Yeah. What made you decide to go into stand-up? I was just doing, well, I started, because we had like public speaking competitions at school,

and I would enter them and do, like, funny speeches, and I would really like to do that, like, more and more. So I googled, like, where you can do it outside of school. And then I found, like, a comedy competition. I didn't know you could do comedy until I did it. Oh, for real? Yeah, yeah. So you didn't have, like, influences in comedy?

Like, you didn't watch stand-ups? I did. but I wasn't like so into it. I loved it when it was on, but it's like honestly on TV in Australia. At that time, it was on like very little. And once a year we'd have the Melbourne Comedy Festival. It had a gala. Right.

And it went for three hours and every year I'd watch that. Right. Yeah. And that was like my main source of comedy. Right, right. Yeah. So it wasn't like this lifelong thing of I'm going to go do it. Yeah, no.

It wasn't. But I love that I fell into it. Yeah, yeah. So when you looked it up and decided you can go do this someplace else, was it an open mic situation? They had a competition run by the festival for school age people. That's good. Did you win? I did it two years in a row.

First year, I didn't win. Like I maybe got past the first round or something, but the second year I won. You did? Yeah. impressive. You're very funny. Thank you. I really, really enjoy your comedy.

I wonder why you didn't win the first year. Very offensive stuff. Maybe not fully formed, yeah. After the first time, like, all the other kids, they did it like one time and then they'd wait another year and do stand up the next year. but that year I just went and did open mics and clubs and stuff like that. Yeah. It's really interesting because you're very unique and it probably helped that you didn't digest a ton of comedy. It probably helped you be kind of a singular voice by not having too much influence.

I started watching a lot after I started. Like not watching a lot. Like I did watch comedy beforehand, but then I started watching a lot. lot after. Right, yeah. Have you ever been in a fist fight? Fist fight? No. Not like unregistered. I've done boxing and like, you know, push people around and stuff. Most people, they don't start fights with me. In a gym, yeah, in a gym. Right. Just as a way to work out? Well, also, this was in high school, they make you do a sport on a Wednesday. And I picked boxing for one of the...

Oh, yeah? Yeah. Why'd you pick boxing? Exciting, I think. Yeah. Yeah. It's like, I think a lot of my friends were doing it. Like, the idea of learning to punch and stuff.

Were you good at it? No, not at all. It was horrible. But the trainer we had, it was, uh, he, his claim to fame was his. His last fight was against Manny Pachio. Oh, really? Yeah. Oh, man. So, yeah.

Packia was amazing. Yeah. He was really good. Are you a boxing guy? No. I mean, I liked boxing. Yeah. But not to the point.

I've never done it. Mm-hmm. Been in a fist fight? I've been in a fist fight, but I always saw that... Just one. I always saw that people used gloves were sissies. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You like the Irish style.

Yeah. Yeah. Just fist a cuffs. Yeah. Tight long pants hiked up to my chest. Yeah. Yeah, starting from the opposite end. I was only in a couple fist fights, but it was my last one was in high school.

Okay. I haven't fought since then. I retired. Yeah. But it was a good one. Okay. It was a really good one. You win?

Yeah, I won. Okay, nice. And it was only one punch. One punch. Yeah. This story makes me sound pretty cool. Yeah. I was, it was at a party.

Nice. Already cool. Already cool. I got invited. Not everyone goes to those. And I was at the party and there was this kid there named Mark. And he was, he was about my size. Okay.

And which was, I was about the same size in high school. You know, I was the size in eighth grade. Yeah. Right. Or would you call it grade eight? Year eight. Year eight. Year eight.

If you can believe it. Yeah. Oh, I can believe it. Yeah. But this is still when you counted it grades and age. Yeah. Right.

So Mark was picking on this kid, a younger, smaller kid, really small kid. And he had little issues. And this guy, Mark, was picking on him at the party. Right. And I didn't like it. So I told him to stop. He wouldn't stop. And then I asked him to come outside.

And we were out on the front lawn. and of this house party. A little circle? A little circle. Great. Yeah. Everyone at the party or just select few? I would say most of it.

Most. You know? Oh, then there's some objectors inside. We don't want to watch a fight. Some people probably into drugs and stuff. Yeah, yeah. Trying to make it out, something like that. Hooking up.

Hooking up. Yeah. And I hit him one shot in his, under his jaw. Great. It was my right hand, right under his jaw. And it was like a movie. I hit him. I sent him back on his back.

No way. On the ground. Yeah. And he started crying and it was over. And he stopped bullying. And he stopped. Well, yeah, he went home. You can't go back to the party after that.

No. I mean, you could if you become friends with the person who punched you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah, a little moment. Share a cigarette. Yeah. I mean, I get it.

That kid's weird. But, you know, lay off. them. Yeah. And that was it. I retired after that. Uh-huh. Did that kid appreciate you defending his honor?

Mm-hmm. Wow. Yeah. That's awesome. Isn't that a good one? That's really good one. Yeah. Because I was big.

Yeah. I would protect little guys often. And it was good, but then that sometimes I had my one friend who was, he would start trouble with people. Mm-hmm. Because he knew I'd protect. him. That's bad. That's really bad. I know. But it was kind of funny also. He would pick people out and then. I feel like that's like China with North Korea, you know. Like China's like,

we're going to back you, but you maybe settle down with this stuff, you know? Like, yeah. Just calm down a little bit. Yeah. Do you still have family in China? A little bit. Yeah. I have like a cousin. and stuff like that. Do you go see them? Sometimes, when I go back, I'll see them. But most my family in Australia and New Zealand. Right. How angry do the people from New Zealand make you?

They really piss me off. No, I like them. They're gorgeous people. Are they? Yeah. They're sweet. You've never been to New Zealand? Or Australia.

if you'll like it. You've never been to Australia? That's unbelievable to me. Yeah, why? I don't know. You've like, to it everywhere, you know? Yeah. I know. My wife asked me this morning, when are we going to Australia? Yeah. Can I be honest about my response?

Not if it will hurt. Yeah, no, go ahead. I said, I said, I'd go, but they seem like a bit much. Okay, um, please expand. They seem like, uh, American adjacent. You're sure. But a little, enjoying it a little too much. Like, uh, rough and rowdy, that kind of thing.

Yeah, like really having a fun time at the bar. Yeah. A little extra at the bar. There is that vibe. There are those, that like, those people and we have projected that into the world in the past. But I feel like it's, it's like, like America where maybe there's some of that, but there's also a lot of everything else. Who are the best people there that you like?

The best people? Yeah, what are they like? What's their vibe? That's a very good question. I mean, I like all sorts of people. The people that I kind of made friends with, I had a lot of, there's a diverse bunch of people. Some people like that. Some people like to party and go crazy. But a lot of people very relaxed.

Yeah. Yeah, I think they're laid back. All right. There's that as well. That's what I like out of people. Sydney is very much like L.A. in that it's like an early to bed, early to wake type city. They're active in the day.

Active wear kind of, especially on the East Coast. You know, you'll get an asy bowl. Right. That kind of thing. And paddleboard. Yeah. Right. If you want to stay up all night, you go to Melbourne.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, it's more like that. They're more than night creatures. Night, they like going out at nighttime. Right. It's very cold. The weather's horrible. So you have to be indoors and stuff.

It is? The weather's horrible? I think in Melbourne, the weather is not my favorite. Oh. Where's Melbourne from Sydney, north or south? South. It's south. South. It rains a lot.

Uh-huh. They like to joke four seasons in a day, that type of thing. Right, right. That's a good joke. It's really funny. anytime you say people are cracking up yeah you want the weather to change just hang out a couple minutes stick around a while yeah really good stuff yeah they invented culture because they had to stay inside right right uh is there any part of the states that is similar to both those places

Yeah. Well, people always say like Melbourne is like New York and Sydney is like L.A. But I feel like you can't, it's a stretch, you know. Yeah. It's a big stretch. Do you have a best friend? Do I have a best friend? I have many friends that are, I call them nice.

Hmm. But maybe. So nobody's elevated to the status of best. Maybe my wife. That doesn't count. Yeah, I have many. good close friends and I will maybe host a competition in September. And maybe a few different disciplines.

Are they all around the world? Yeah. So it might be have to be on Zoom. Ah. Yeah. Not the best, right? No. It kind of lowers the group already.

I mean, not to judge you, but I'm wondering if it has to be on Zoom, are they really friends? Oh, they wouldn't fly to a central location, you mean? I don't know. Yeah. If I was your friend, I would show up. Interesting. Interesting. Okay.

I'll consider that. Yeah. Do you have a best friend? No. No. I have a lot of friends. I really thought I had to say yes, because I'd imagine you'd have a best friend. No.

No. I have a lot of friends, but no best friend. That's good. And I feel like at this age, but I was watching, oh, on Netflix. Have you had a special on Netflix? Have I? Yeah. I'm about to release one. I don't know when this will come out. When is that coming out? My special is coming out March 31st. Oh, man, I can't wait. Yeah. It's going to be good. What are you calling it?

It's called Funny Garden. Funny Garden. Yeah. I like that. It's kind of mystical. It is mystical. Yeah. Especially the way you said it. Oh, yeah. Sorry, Funny Garden. Oh, that's great. Where'd you film it? In New York at the Gramercy Theater. Oh, nice. That's great. Oh, did I see artwork for it? Are you holding like a platter of something?

There's flowers. Flowers in front of you? Yeah. Oh. Now I get it. Yeah. When's your next special coming out? I'm going to shoot it in October.

Oh, wow. Whereabouts? In Denver. In Denver. Denver? Where about which? The Paramount Theater. That's a big theater.

Yeah. It, uh, yeah, in October. Why Denver? Uh, I, it's been a great comedy town for me. Yeah. Just the comedy works, have you worked there? No, I know about it. It's really, I always hear about it.

Yeah, they have two clubs, great. It's run by great people. They were like, really like family. Uh, I just kept going year after year. And the audiences were always really receptive. and then I toured around Colorado. I just have a real good connection with those fans there. Great.

And do you always try to change up the city where you shoot it? Yeah. I've done New York twice. I've done New Jersey. I've done Cleveland, D.C. My first one, which was just audio, was, Hermosa Beach, the Comedy Magical. Comedy and Magic Club.

Yeah, which is so weird. It was a CD that I just took off the board. What year was that? Oh, man. I would say, I would say 2002. Wow. Four, somewhere in there. Maybe four.

And I just had a great set and I was like, I think that's, and they were recording stuff in such a great way. that I just took it off the board and I was listening to it and I was like, I think I'm just going to release this and I literally got a check for it like last week. Like people are still buying...

That's late to pay. It's only on a CD. Yeah, yeah, right. People are buying the CD. They're still buying the CD, which is so wild. Yeah. Yeah.

It was really great. So yeah, so that's all the locations. And now I'm going to add Denver. Denver. And the only other one I have like really top of mind would be St. Paul or Minneapolis. The Twin Cities. Yeah.

Uh-huh. I love it there. Yeah. And again, like the sourdough, I liked it before the troubles. You know what I mean? Like, everyone loves it now. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He just says they love it now. Like, I'm sure Jake Jellenhall is a big fan now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I was... He's going on Colbert tonight. I was there. I was there. I was there early.

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Conditions apply. Scotia Bank. You're richer than you think. All right. Thank you guys for joining. It really means a lot. Is there an age limit that you could adopt someone? I think 17 and 364 days.

Wait, 17, 17 does feel a bit old, doesn't it? It does, but I'm sure there's a lot of 30-year-olds out there that are struggling. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Are you offering to adopt me? If you need help, if you guys need help while you're in L.A. If you're tired of living in the yard of these people in Silver Lake. Yeah.

It's a good yard. How old are you? I'm 30. You're 30? On the nose, yeah. On the nose, that's great. Yeah, so you have a kid maybe in the next five years? Maybe, yeah.

And your wife's 18? Not, yeah. Tom? No, my wife is 19. She is. I'm not a creep. She's 28 now. Yeah, you guys have plenty of time.

Plenty. This is very exciting. Living in New York, does she likes New York as much as you? She does, yeah. I think she really takes it. She's quite extroverted, you know? Oh, yeah. Yeah, but first year was struggle.

What do you mean? Australia is so, like, calm and peaceful, but New York's, like, kind of, like, it's high energy. Yes, it is. And crazy. It's intense. There's honking. A lot of honking. Yeah.

A lot of random swearing. Swearing, yeah. We hate swearing. Yeah. You don't swear in your act. We live in a clean city. Mm-hmm. We're a clean area of Sydney.

Right. Yeah. Do you swear in your act? No, no, I don't know if you're swearing. Consciously don't? Maybe at first, but I just like never did it. It would make me kind of like I would be shy to. Yeah.

Yeah. Are you religious? Yeah, I'm religious. You are? Yeah. Are you? Yeah. Really? Mm-hmm.

What style? Catholic. Nice. Which style of Catholic? Old school? Okay. Just straight up Catholic. Nice.

Oh, yeah, I guess there is. No, but there's different saints on the kind of... Yeah, you could be more Franciscan... I went to a monastery. You did? Yeah. Did you try... In Louisville, Kentucky.

Not Louisville, Gthsemini, Kentucky. Oh, really? Yeah. In Kentucky. Yeah, that's the biggest one. What did you do there? In America. Did you?

I just spoke to a monk. You did? I hung out with a monk for a day. Did you have to arrange it or you just walked in? Someone else arranged it. So me and a few friends went and hung out with him and talked to him. It was great. Was he cool?

He was very cool. He was 85 years old. Really? Brother Paul. Brother Paul. Yeah. A Catholic monastery or a Buddhist? Catholic.

Oh, yeah? Catholic. Are you Catholic? Catholic? I'm not Catholic myself, but I really like it. Yeah. Yeah. Would you come away with? Did he give you any? His closing words were to be present. Be present all the time. Yeah, and I think that's very interesting. He, when he found out I was a comedian, he was like, do you know Josh Johnson? He loves Josh Johnson. Oh, really? He's like, I watch him on YouTube when I get the chance. That's great. At 85?

Yeah, he says like, he was like, oh, a lot of comedians, like I really respect it. Some of them, they try really hard and I respect that. But Josh Johnson, he doesn't really try. He liked that. I guess because he's so used to quiet. Yeah. Josh would do very well at a monastery show. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That's really good. He's got good taste. Yeah, he's got good taste. Yeah. Are you friends with Josh? I met him a few times in New York. Yeah. I'd say I'm his best friend, but he's not my best friend.

How much time did you spend with the... I saw him two times, and maybe a few hours each time. It's very good. Two times over what? Over? Like, we were in Kentucky for like four or five days. And was the purpose? purpose to just to visit this monastery?

Yeah, amongst other things, but the monastery was the, like, focal point. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And they just invite you to come and sit and... Well, it was kind of done cland... Clandestinately? Yeah.

Like, he was like, I don't really tell the abbot that I do this, but he doesn't have to know, you know. Oh, really? Yeah. So who got in touch with him? This guy, he organizes some, like, kind of, like, a... He's like... Like a Protestant guy, but he loves like spiritual practices and stuff like that.

So monastery is a big thing for him. I never thought of visiting a monastery. You should. You could do a retreat. Yeah, you could. Yeah. Hmm. I never thought of it.

I don't like groups. Yeah. Can you go by yourself? I think it's very, like, it's almost like silent. You're supposed to go. There will be other people, but. But then how do you don't talk to them? How do you get the tips from the guy if you're not talking?

I guess there would be moments of talking to the guy. Right. Yeah. Yeah, there's that guy. Maybe the tips are within you. It's very present. Yeah. Thomas Merton, have you ever heard that name?

Yeah, that's his monastery. That is? Yeah, that's where he went. That's why it's named seven-story mountain. Right, right, right. Yeah. It was a really great book. Great book.

and he yeah I was just rereading it this morning actually oh you really mm-hmm I'm reading another book of his right now yeah there's the other promise something I don't there's a lot there's a lot but it's interesting he was a comedy writer Thomas Merton in college oh that's right like the jester or something yeah yeah yeah yeah it's really interesting to read how he starts peeling things out of his life that aren't... Yeah. That are getting in the way of his connection with God.

Uh-huh. And he just keeps going. Yeah. Where we would kind of like, okay, maybe that, you can kind of peel some things away, but to completely go the full distance that he went. Yeah.

It's such a great story. That's what they do. Yeah. He was, he kind of built a bridge with the Buddhists. Mm-hmm. Yeah. The guy was telling us that like after, after he went to the Buddhist, like, the monks started like sitting on cushions and meditating on curtains. Oh, really? Yeah, the cover of that book, he looks Buddhist. He's got like a sash on and like a robe. Oh, that's interesting. Oh, that's really cool. I learned something today.

Yeah. Do you feel like you are present most of the time? No, but I try to be. I think that's like the biggest thing is trying to be. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like so distracted. Mm-hmm. It's very distracting. I'm reading this book now.

I'll give you the name of it. This book is called The Sabbath, Abraham Joshua Heschel. I've read this book. You read this book? Yeah, it's like a Jewish mystic, right? Yeah. I don't know. Is he a mystic?

Maybe, I don't know. Or just a rabbi? Yeah, maybe a rabbi. But it's all about the Sabbath. I only bring it up because of what you're saying about being distracted all the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. This book is really good, right? Yeah.

Just the isolation, kind of similar to the monastic life of just peeling everything away and giving yourself one day. Do you have that? One presence in time, carving time out instead of space. Yes. They were always dealing in space. and there's very few things that let you actually interact and be present in time. Yeah. And that's really what the Sabbath gives you.

That's what the book talks about, right? Like Cathedral of Time or something like that or something like that. Right, exactly. Yeah, it's good. I used to try to do that, like turn my phone off for like a full day. Mm-hmm. But I haven't been doing it lately. But it was so good when I did it.

It's funny. I did it yesterday. Did you? It feels so good. Because, you know, the Sabbath for the, for us is on a Sunday. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, and after, as I'm reading this book, I'm like, you know, yeah, like, I mean, they're, you know, the Jewish Sabbath is, you know, nothing, nothing, right? No phone, no work, no noise, no television, no radio, no whatever.

Yeah, yeah. And I was like, well, I'm pretty much, I'm pretty sure I'm not getting there. Yeah. But yesterday after I went to Mass, and then I was like, I'm just going to turn the phone off. Uh-huh. It lasted probably an hour. Yeah. Because I wanted to talk to my daughter on Sunday.

Yeah. And then I wanted to look something up. And then my daughter said I had to cancel chat GPT because they fund ICE. Yeah. And then I had to go on Claude and ask Claude, is ChatGPT? Really funding ICE? What's Claude? Claude is another chat GPT.

And Claude's like, yeah, chat GPT is fun. If you don't like ice, then it is. If you do like it. I thought it was going to go hardcore against chat GPT, but it was like, no, it's kind of fuzzy. And Claude was actually sticking up for chat GPT. And saying that, yes, he has made donations in the past, but not necessarily for ice.

and he was, he was very kind to chat chief. They do. They really do. I have a feeling if you ask chat TVT about Claude, it wouldn't be as gregarious. Well, there was that period where like, you know, Elon Musk has one, GROC or something? He's got, yeah, Gronk, GROC. People would ask GROC, like, is Elon Musk cool? And they'll be like, no, he's not, you know, like, stuff like that.

Yeah. But they must have fixed it. or something. It was weird. As soon as I canceled chat GPT, which I'm not, I think I'm, I think I did cancel it in here. I canceled it just so my daughter would think I was cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She wants, you know, she's, I'm supposed to cancel that. Yeah. Spotify. I think not go to Target. I think that was just on Friday. Just on Friday? Oh, you are? Okay. The general strike didn't work out great for me because I was on tour. Yeah. I was already doing a show. Yeah, yeah.

And I had to buy dinner. Yeah. You know? Yeah. And I went to Buckees. Buckees. Have you ever been to Buckees? Have you toured the South?

I've never, I have to, I've been to Texas. Mm-hmm. They have Buckees. And Carolinas. Yeah. Oh, so there's, yeah. Yeah, yeah. There's opportunities for you to go to Buckees.

Yeah, you should. I'd love to. It's really, it's like a theme park and a gas station. Yeah, yeah. Combined. So I just kept it on the down low that I was there shopping on the big strike. It just didn't work out. You can't spring it on me.

I couldn't cancel the show in Charleston. I can't remember Friday. I was on the road as well. I was in San Diego. Oh. Yeah. Did you buy anything? Was that the point of the strike that you weren't meant to buy things?

Almost like the Sabbath. Really? You were supposed to completely show them. This is what happens when we opt out of. That's what I thought of when I saw the strike. I'm like, that's the vibe, you know? It's like Sabbath fasting like that and the thing. Yeah.

As resistance. As resistance. It's so hard. But I did buy stuff. Yeah. I've bought like never before. You have your green card. It's totally cool.

And they're not coming for errands. But yeah, the Sabbath is a really interesting book. Yeah. About just how difficult it is to carve out that time. It is so hard. I know. But people do it. You ever when you're on the road, just sit in your hotel room with nothing on?

Not necessarily. No. Maybe when I go to sleep. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I'm not saying clothes. I'm saying like TV. Yeah.

Yeah, I got that. But, uh... We have a thing on this program called The Uncomfortable Moment. Okay. We're not in it yet. I thought it was a test Like Yeah

Where we This You know Just things that are somewhat uncomfortable But we feel like We're pals and We'll get through it Kind of a thing

Interesting This isn't our doing at all And it's coming off of the chat GPT Claude conversation This is what AI Thinks of you Whoa Oh, that's good.

On the MTA. This is awesome. Is it okay? I mean, it's not good, but it's okay. I don't think that's possible. It's very heavy. And the art is interesting. With Australian tropes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But this... You have a boomerang in your hand. A surfboard? Too small? On your chest. It's very weird. It is a weird one.

It's like a tiny surfboard. There's two dingoes. We call that a kubra. A kubra? Vegumite, koala, kangaroo, and the Australian flag. Yeah. It feels okay? I didn't know how you were going to take it if you'd feel.

Imagine I walked out. I don't know. It's hard. I feel like it's hard to be offensive to Australians. Mm-hmm. As Australians. Right. Because it's just like, I don't know.

It's not. have a good sense of humor about themselves and everything? Maybe, but I think like, um, like if you did like Canadian stereotypes or American stereotypes, could you really hurt someone with a Canadian stereotype? I don't think Canadian so much. Australians, I feel like at the same, at the same level. I think Americans are probably, certain parts of America are very, the ones who yell about snowflakes are actually the biggest snowflakes.

They would get offended by a picture like that. Yeah, right. I wouldn't even know what they'd put in it. Yeah. The flag. Yeah, the flag and a jet ski. And the American Eagle. It's a Bud Light, an American Eagle.

Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. Again, in the eyes of the beholder. Like, you list those things and people could be like, hell yeah. Yeah, yeah. Or they could be like, you're mocking me. Yeah.

They'd be like, that's a cool image. I'm going to Canada this week and they're very upset with us. Oh yeah. They're really not that happy. What's your emotional support snack? Support snack. That's interesting. I'm pretty like I go pretty diverse with snacking.

I'll go for a sweet. Yeah. Yeah, there's an Australian, call it a biscuit, but you'd call it a cookie. It's called Tim Tams. This is a chocolate covered. Wayfistar biscuit. Ooh, that sounds good. It's really good.

It's whenever we have friends from Australia, they'll bring a pack. Oh, nice. Yeah. Can you order them? Or it's better to get it from your friend. It's better to get them from Australia. America has them, but the makeup of chocolate is different in this country. Oh.

Yeah. Yeah, I think our dogs could actually eat most of the chocolate here and be okay. I think that's a good sign. Right. Like a Hershey's bar? I think my dog could down. on a whole Hershey's bar without any effect. I'm not sure that's really chocolate.

Yeah. Do you guys have a pet? No pets. That's good. Is this still uncomfortable questions? No, we're out of it. Oh, we're out of it. Because I'm like, these are very comfortable.

Yeah, these are nice, right? And that wasn't uncomfortable, really. Oh, that's good. Yeah. That's good. Maybe we'll be best friends. Yeah. Finally.

I feel like we're back in an uncomfortable moment. Who was your favorite teacher? Favorite teacher. My favorite teacher was, I had a history teacher, an ancient history teacher, who I really liked in high school. She was tough, but she liked academia, you know? Yeah, yeah. And made you, like, excited about the subjects and stuff.

What, uh, do you, did she make you like history more? I think so, yeah. I loved history. I did like so much of it and I thought I did it in college a bit. Uh-huh. Do you think maybe that's what you would have done? Were you, maybe heading towards that something? I was already doing like comedy then, so I thought I would do comedy.

But I thought I'd keep like studying, like I studied art history and I thought I'd do that. Mm-hmm. But I didn't finish it. Do you think if I, if I were to tell you, I don't know and make it a threat. Yeah, make it a threat. Make it a threat? Yeah, sure.

All right. I'm going to, I'm going to do something horrible to someone you love. Yes. Unless you go into the Museum of Modern History and you get me a painting off the wall. Yeah. And if you don't, horrible things are going to happen to said loved one. Okay. Are you up to the

Could you do it? Could you get the, could you get a? Maybe like think of a loophole like I'd bring a painting, put it on the wall and then bring it back. So you would, I'd be like, oh no technicality. You can't hurt my loved ones. When you heard of the people that, uh, stealing from the Louvre. Yeah. Do you root for the thieves or do you, are you on the side of the museum?

It's exciting. It is, right? It's exciting. I think stuff like that never happens, so you should be like a bit on their side. Yeah. Yeah. A little bit like, go guys. Yeah.

They got caught, didn't they? But I don't think they retrieved the stuff. No, I think they broke up. It was like jewels and they broke up the jewels and they sold it for parts. Oh. That feels like a bit of a shame. That's net. See, then you lose this.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You could have just been cute with it. We loved you. You lost up. Yeah. We were there. We were on your side. Yeah. People go too far.

They go too far. They really just go too far. What do you do for fun in New York when you're not doing comedy? Not doing comedy. Do a lot of stuff. I've been playing pickleball a little bit. Why? You can't do tennis? I'd love to. There's not much tennis in New York.

You'd have to seek it out. It's all pickleball now. Yeah. I forget who was saying it. Maybe Andre Agassi or something was saying like New York's the worst city for tennis. Oh, really? Yeah. Jeez. That's unusual.

Maybe it was Roddick or something. Are you good at pickleball? No, I can play, but I wouldn't say like I'm the, like, yeah, I can play. Yeah. Yeah. But I like playing sports. I would play soccer if I could. Oh, yeah?

But that's also hard. You need to like find a time and place. Yeah. Yeah. I remember friends would play like Chelsea Pierce. Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You can go play in those fields.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That always look cool to me, like under the lights at night, after your spot, go. Go play soccer. Yeah. Yeah. Why don't you do that? I'd love to. I just have to figure out.

It's like half administration and half. And I'm scared. I don't know the level here as well. If I went to play pickup, I'm like, are these people really good? Mm-hmm. Are you good? Are you good? I'm in the, I would say I'm like just in the average range.

Right. Like I can play. But if people were really nice, they wouldn't want to pass the ball to me, you know? Do you have cleats? Not in New York. And I haven't for a while. I played like indoor soccer for a long time. Right.

So it's just like rubber shoes, you know, rubber soles. So pickleball is taking up most of your time? No, not most of the time. Maybe stand up. up comedy. That's a hobby still. Is it a hobby? I guess so.

I like doing it. Like a hobby that's become your career? I guess so, yeah. It was, isn't that what it was for you? Yeah, I don't know. I could say it didn't classify it. I was just like, this is what I'm going to do. It was when I was a kid.

Yeah. Yeah, when you were a kid. When I was a kid. How old were you when you start? Like seventh grade. And you're like, I'm going to be a stand. I'm going to go. Yeah.

I'm going to go do that. Yeah, yeah. Because I was funny, and then I realized you could do it as a job. I was like, oh, I'll do that. And first time you did it, you're like, oh, I have to go to work. Yeah, I was just like, I'm just going to go do it. But yeah, I mean, the ultimate thing is that it's the most fun you can have and that becomes your work. Yeah.

That is kind of like a blessing. Yeah. Yeah. When you say you're religious, what religion then? If it's not Catholic. Protestant. Oh, you're Protestant. Yeah, yeah.

Oh, that's how I was raised. But very sympathetic to Catholicism, just never been baptized into the church, which I think is a big part of it, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

If you wanted to. If I wanted to. If I wanted to make some calls. Did you go to the, um, did you go to the, um, What, what, you know, what happened with when the Pope, he asked all those comedians to go? Yeah, that's when I shot my special in Washington, D.C. Yeah, right. I really would have liked to gone.

Yeah. I'm hoping to meet Leo. Leo would be great. It seems like there's good access just because he speaks English. Chicago guy as well. Yeah, Villanova. Yeah. I think what you do is you walk into Vatican City.

When they try to stop you, you say, I'm a comedian. I'm the comedian. I'm the comedian. I really think it would work. Yeah. It really do. Yeah, he met a whole bunch of them. Yeah.

Francis, that's a good book. Did you read that book? No, I haven't read it. It's called Hope. Okay. It's a really good book. He was such a cool guy. Yeah.

He had a real fondness for music and, art and movies and just very hopeful. Okay. Yeah, it's a good read. I'll read it. Yeah, if you read Merton and you read this stuff, that Francis would be just a, it's just light. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

This Sabbath book is pretty dense. It is. It's got a lot of concepts in it. But it's like little, right? It's like a... I don't know because I'm reading it on the Kindle. Yeah, it's not long. Because my eyesight's not great.

so everything's on the Kindle, so I never know how big a book it is. Yeah, yeah. I just keep going along. Why did you pick it out? Because you wanted to know about it. Yeah, I was listening to, yeah, I was listening. You know, I read a lot of books on religion and stuff. And there's a, and, oh, it was the guy from Texas who's running in Texas.

Who's the cool guy? Yeah, he's the cool senator, Aston. John Deco or Skitskullin. Ostinoff. John Ossoff? Is that his name? Osoff? I think so.

And he's, uh, he's, his whole thing is, I'm a real Christian. Let me tell you what these people are saying they're doing in the name of Christianity is not Christian, right? He's a Democrat, right? Yeah. Like he's in text, Austin. Really thoughtful. Yeah. Really thoughtful.

And just shining a light on. Jesus wouldn't be down with a lot of these practices. And he was in an interview, I think, with the New York Times. And he mentioned a phrase from this book, The Sabbath that he always liked. So then I looked up that book. Great. That's how I found it. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty good. Well, I have to say, I feel like our friendship is really starting to grow. I don't know if we'll get to best friend status. I think I'm, I think I've aged out of it. Unless I meet someone much younger,

like, um, like a, uh, like a lost, like, like a lost, um,

like 16 year old. Yeah. Fish is in the same place I fish. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You know.

Uh-huh. And then, uh, or the bread baking. Yeah. Consortium. And he becomes, and I'm helping him, but then he ends up helping me in the end when he's like in his 20s. Oh, yeah, that's good.

Right. That's good. I have one of those moments where we're fishing and I cough into a napkin and you see there's blood on it. Yeah, yeah. And you're like, oh, it's nothing. It's nothing. Yeah. Yeah, but as far as like just meeting a best friend now, I don't think it's going to.

But I'm always looking for new friends. New friends. Yeah. Okay. So I think this is a good first step. I've given you bread. You have. Will this make it?

So you're leaving on Wednesday? Will this make it? Probably not. Might have to eat it in Los Angeles. Yeah, you might. Breakfast. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Is there a toaster in this lawn house? I don't know. There's a microwave. Mm. That's not going to do it. There might be a toaster. Maybe I could offer a couple of slices. to the host in use of their toaster.

Oh, that would be good. That's nice. Yeah, that would be nice. And they'd like, yeah. Well, look, if my bread helps you make new friends outside of me, I think that's fine. Yeah. I do have friends outside of you, by the way, just to let you know now, just to be very transparent.

I think, I like, thank you for being honest about it. And I'm totally cool with it. You're cool with it. I'm totally cool with it. I'm totally cool with it. Will you be at the comedy cellar during the next, when you get home? On Thursday, I will be. So will I.

Great. I'll see you there. Yeah, that's fun. Oh, there you go. I hear it's really awful there right now. I hear it's very cold. I have a couple friends who's... I thought you meant at the cellar.

I'm getting into it. No, it's cold, yeah. I have a friend whose car was plowed in, and they just keep putting tickets on it, but he can't get to it. That's hard. It's horrible. Yeah. Someone can get to it. It's a solid block of ice. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And they just keep putting tickets on top of it. That's so mean, huh? Isn't that mean? Yeah, yeah. It's really terrible. That's life. Yeah. So your special is called Funny Garden.

Funny Garden. On Netflix. March 31st. March 31st. This is going to be big. We'll see, yeah. And what's the goal to be able to tour more of the U.S.? Where do you tour mostly?

Yeah, I'd love to do. Yeah, I've been. been touring in the U.S. for the past three years, but I still tour in Australia. Yeah. I tour around the world, but to tour more in the U.S. would be a dream. Yeah, that would be great. Well, it's going to happen. You're so funny. I don't know anyone that sees your stuff and doesn't love it and come away, like, oh, this is a good one. That's very nice. Yeah. So, all the success. And enjoy the brand. Thank you very much. All right, but. Thanks, Tom.

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