Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 324 - Fahim Anwar

Episode Date: May 12, 2026

This week we welcome the magnificent Fahim Anwar  @FahimAnwar  to the show! He and Tom talk stand up, parental expectations, and cooking. Enjoy! Thanks to: Sheath! The underwear of legends. Go to https://www.sheath.com/PAPA and use code PAPA for 20% off. Monarch! Start your free trial and get 50% off your first year of total money clarity using link www.monarch.com/PAPA or code PAPA Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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That would be... Yeah, 2010 used Toyota Corolla with low miles would be like, oh my God. Like, if I got him a BMW, Brandon, he would be like, I didn't raise you this way. What are you doing?

You're wasting money. But if I got a really great deal on that used Corolla, it'd be like, oh my God. You shouldn't have... And then I keep tagging it. I'm like, Dad, it's the original owner. He's like, oh,

original owner. I raised you right. It's breaking, bread. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. This is fantastic. We wanted to make this happened for a long time. Yeah, I'm so glad that we could finally do it. I'm so glad that we wasted

enough time and didn't put it together and it gave you time to come out with a new special. Yeah, I actually have a reason to be on here instead of coming on and being like... Just hanging. Man, the world, huh? You got anything to plug? Have some tweets. You want to pull those up? Yeah, are you on an all red meat diet? Yeah, yeah. No, it's called Intrusive Thoughts. Yeah, it just came out on YouTube. It's on YouTube. It's exclusive. It's a You are one of my favorite comedians. That means so much, dude. You make me laugh.

Bro. I think I texted you off of a Tonight Show years ago. And that meant so much to me because, like, you know, you're a veteran. I love your stuff too. And you do the Tonight Show in this era. You feel like nobody watches it. I mean, I was joking to Neil Brennan. They're doing the Tonight Show now.

It's very cool, but it feels like you're doing the Magic Castle. Like, you're going to the Magic Castle. You put a suit on and you pretend that you're a famous comedian from the the 80s, but then you wake up and it's no different whatsoever. It's so, it is wild. So it's this great artistic win that you always want. And then sometimes you feel like, it means nothing. But then when you texted me and I'm like, oh, wow, Tom Pop actually watched it.

And he actually liked my late night set. Yeah, it was so good. It was really so good. You did that thing about people who get up or get up, get up too quickly on the airplane. And they just. Yeah, as soon as the wheels touch down, they just pick up. overhead for 40 minutes. I could just wait.

It was so silly and perfect. Thank you, man. It was great. And the special is great. Congratulations. And I just really feel like I was saying to these guys like, you're going to pop. Like, you're too good, you're too funny.

That's nice. It's such a slow burn as a comic. Sometimes you don't know if it's going to happen or not. All you can do is just create and keep putting it out there and then hopefully you find your people. and then hopefully you think that there's people out there who still just like jokes and kind of old school comedy.

Because so much of the new class now, you've got to talk to people, people like that on the internet. And sometimes as a joke guy, you're like, oh man, is there a place for me anymore? I'm going to say, and I don't know anything, but I'm going to say there definitely is and it will have more long-term lasting effect

than crows. crowdwork and stuff. I think that it's a cool forum and it's kind of a fun thing and it's like an event. I'm happy for everybody who's able to find. Yeah, it becomes an event and it's a thing.

But you're not listening to that on Sirius XM in your car. There's a new station that's called CrowdWork's Greatest Hits. Every track's like, what do you do? What do you do? Yeah, it's all visuals. It's all stuff you have to see.

You're just trying to listen to it. No, but there is that real thing and I think that really well-teled jokes really are, they're dominant, long lasting and I think that's you're totally in a good space. My brother came to see you when you're in Seattle and same thing. He's like, oh man, I love Papa. Oh, that's great jokes. Seattle is, uh, what do you do the more? What was the venue you did or the paramount? I think it was the paramount. It was the last one, I think. I don't know. All these places have

blend together. There's like five paramounts. Are you like, thank you, Milwaukee. Have you ever done that said the wrong city? I did kind of I was in St. John's and there's like a St. John like it's a slight difference between them

and they booed me I was like oh get over yourself Was it at the end or was it? It was like in the middle And they were like Yeah it's like a slight Literally like a St. John to a St. John's

That's like nothing who cares They cared Yeah They really cared I called Boston Philly at the end one time And that was And I had such an amazing set

I had crush I was doing my hour I was gonna get tight You know Yeah And then I guess I was just Bopping around too much And I maybe thought I was still in Philly

Or something So this amazing hour long set And I'm like You've been great Philly And I don't even know I did it And then I'm talking to fans afterwards They go You know you said Philly

I go I did? I felt so bad But they loved you enough Yeah, yeah, they were nice enough and everything. But it's so funny how you can ruin an entire hour just by calling in the wrong city at the end. I did a stupid thing in Austin. There's no reason to say this. It was at a time when I would go sign books at the merch table after the show.

And I did it for a long time. But it's a lot, you know. Would you bring books or they just brought them? I would have the merch people would bring books. That's logistically. That's tough. Yeah. And yeah, it needed a whole other entity to do it.

But it was great because you could meet people, and especially your first time through in a city, and you get to sign and hear their stories. And it's all great. It's a wonderful experience. And I was used to in the set saying, you know, at the end, I hang out of the lobbies and take pictures with people and sign books,

and maybe I'll see you out there. And so if you're not doing it, because I had dinner plans, just don't say anything. And I said to the crowd in Austin, which was a great show. Yeah, normally I'd go out and sign books for everybody and meet people and take pictures, and I'm not doing that tonight. Good night.

Why did you say that? Why did you just float that you do it everywhere but here? It's a terrible thing to say. Yeah, they should have not known. I bring my opener out for a curtain call. Do you know your opener? Who opens for you? This was Stephen Robbins.

Rogers, and I said, welcome Andy Fiori. It was just a big, and one more time for, oh, you know, and when you open for people, you know, getting the name right. Your moments are so small. That's all you have. You did 20 minutes. You hope it went okay. Just get my name right.

I know. Sometimes I'll open for Allie, and then her tour manager is really good about setting me up. Yeah. He'll be like, you know, you know from the Tonight Show, one of Allie's personal favorites, those little things like the vouch will make them open to whatever's happening before they see their person because if you just go out there they're like why is this happening yeah who plan who is this why are they keeping me away from my person yeah exactly but if they go if it's it's like oh allie loves him one of one of her favorites good friends so much easier yeah completely yeah when I

open I remember when they would say and a good friend of jerry's Tom Papa oh it's amazing oh then then you're kind of like you have you have 20 seconds to good yeah good well before it's gone. Yeah. One time I was opening for Neil and then he couldn't do the voice of God intro, so I had to do. He's like, you just do it. Why couldn't he do it? I forgot.

He was busy or he ended up doing it for most of the tour, but this time, he's like, you just, he's just wiping him off. I was busy. So he's like, you do it. And I'm like, all right. So I'm like, oh, everybody's doing tonight. You guys, you're excited to see Neil Brennan. All right.

You're going to see your first comedian. You'll see him on tonight show. You're the Bohmah! I'm like, hey, guys. That guy was gray on that emcees. Amazing. Because I can't do it as me. Like, you're gonna, this next guy.

And then I come out and I'm like, hey. That was a voice of God guy. Sounds just like him. Right. You start in Seattle. Yeah, yeah. You're very well liked. Well, that's nice.

I hope you know that. Well, that's what's kind of been getting me going all these past years is that the goodwill of all the respected comedians like me. Yeah. All right, that's something. It is something. Like I have no public fan. Yeah.

I don't have stadiums, but that means something. Papa likes me. Yeah. does mean a lot because, you know, that's where it all comes from, right? It all comes from that. Well, everything you get, too, is from your peers. You realize later on when you're young, you just want the industry to validate you or you're looking to the generation above you and like, all right, how do I get on? And then as you kind of are just in this thing for long enough, you realize your best friends are also rising. Right. And the most opportunities I've ever

gotten are from my friends, my peers. Yeah, exactly. Like Santino or, you know, Theo, or, you know, they'll have huge podcasts now. And they're like, yeah, come do it, promote your thing. Yeah, it's great. I know, that's exactly how it happens. Whenever, like my daughter's like making her way in New York, and it's just like, just me people, just keep meeting people. And they're gonna become your friends and your allies

and you're all gonna, you're gonna be, you're gonna see these people 30 years out. You're gonna see all these same people. And it's a shorthand, like, oh, I like them. I already know them, I'm an opportunity to give them. I just need to work with people who I like. Yeah. Yeah.

So you start in Seattle. Start in Seattle, yeah. I was like 18. 18? Yeah. First club I did was comedy underground. There was smoke eaters. That's how long.

I remember I was too young, too. I couldn't even stay in the showroom. I would have to sit on a stool outside. And then when it was my time to go on stage, it would like tap me and then I would go up. I would do like five minutes. And then I would have to leave. What got in you to go do it at that age?

S&L. That was the thing. Yeah. I was talking about TikTok now is sort of what SNL was. that if you wanted to be in comedy, the most exciting stuff was happening on SNL. Yeah. Who were you watching at that time?

Farley, Sandler, Spade, Norm. That was my golden era. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What a good class that was, God. Totally. And then I just wanted to do that. Like, how do you get on? Yeah.

And then I saw they came from improv or stand-up. Then I researched improv school. You have to pay money. I have immigrant parents. They're not going to be cool with clown school, you know? So stand-up is free Yeah You get what you put into it

You don't need anybody else Right So I'm like I guess I'll do that Yeah And then I just went to the clubs That summer after I graduated And then you kind of You just do a thing for long enough

And you're a part of it, you know? Did you have friends that wanted to do it too Or you were on your own? I was on my own Yeah Yeah I didn't have any other friends who did it Yeah Yeah

I love that Those moments It's like it's really on paper Such a freakish thing to do Stand up Like yeah and by yourself Just like you're walking around with that thought, you're inspired by whatever, and you're just walking around

quietly like, I'm going to go do this. It's not like you're all going to do something with your friends, which is very easy to do. Especially early on, it's like throwing yourself off a building. Yeah. Just emotionally and internally. When you wake up in the morning and you know you have a set, you're like one of your first sets, your whole day is ruined. Yeah, Neil Brennan would say it's like, what we do is like emotionally getting into a car accident every day. You know, just knowing you have a set that night and all that. It's tempered now that we've done it for long enough. But it still exists, right?

Yeah, you have a, but you understand it. Yeah. That feeling. I've had a set later that night. I'm like, okay, I don't have to freak out or anything. Yeah. I know what that feeling is. Oh, but it's so intense in the beginning.

Yeah, because you have no frame of reference. Yeah. So your body's like, you'd almost black out when you got off stage. You have to listen to your tape. You don't even know if you got laughs or not why you're funny. You don't know why something works. You're just a sponge. Yeah.

Yeah. So exciting. I used to, did you have the mini cassette recorder? Yeah, I would do that. Yeah, like a detective. Put on the school. The great thing on the iPhone, do you listen, do you tape your things on there? And you know, on the audio voice record, you know, you can hit transcript. Oh, yeah.

So you don't have, the problem is it's not that accurate, but it's so hard to listen to yourself. You know, it's like, oh, especially in a long set. I can't watch myself with other people. Sometimes I've done a special and then they go, oh, let's do a viewing party. That's my nightmare. You imagine. Because then everyone has hors d'oeuvres and they're having to force laugh. Like, oh, ha, ha.

Because these Hollywood people want to celebrate the win? And what are you supposed to do? Yeah. Yeah, I'm just like, yeah, that's me. If you can just read it, though, for me, that's better. But can you get the nuances when you're reading it? No, but it can give you like a reference of, okay, that's the part I want to go listen to. this is all stuff I've always done

and that's like oh that's the chunk that where something happened I threw a line out or whatever but sometimes it's really bad the translation on it is really and then when you do it again you just do the Bosch translation thinking it's going to crush you have a very funny joke in the special about your father

immigrant father like if you were to give him a really nice car that would be he'd be so down on it but if you give him a Toyota Corolla. Yeah, 2010 used Toyota Corolla with low miles would be like, oh my God. Like if I got him a BMW, Brando he would be like, I didn't raise you this way. What are you doing? You're wasting money.

But if I got a really great deal on that used corolla, it'd be like, oh, my God. You shouldn't have. And then I keep tagging it. I'm like, Dad, it's the original owner. He's like, oh, original owner. It's below KBB. He's like, oh, stop, man. KBB, I raised you right.

Yeah, he's always been that way. Was he always been tough like that? Because you also talk about like the clown money and stuff. It sounds like they weren't really down with, right? The immigrant experience, they come to America. They want to set their kids and generations up for success. So instead of being a doctor, it's like a trope and everything. But when you come from lesser circumstances or a worse situation, you come here, you want your kids to do the sure thing.

So doing this is insanity to them. Was it hard? Very hard. Yeah, yeah, especially early on because I started so young. I was like 18 and I was still going to mechanical engineering school. I was getting a degree at UW, but stand-up was like I was doing heroin or something because I would come late from the club and then my mom would speak, she would stay up and my dad would be a bed. My dad would always talk through my mom as like a vessel.

And then she'd be like, your father's worried about you. Like, what is this comedy? Is it worth throwing your life away? It was like the drug commercial. Like, what are you doing? Where do you find this? but I still got good grades and just did both but even up until a few years ago

I've done some stuff I'd been in a movie some TV shows written for some things and like I do well I have a house off of comedy I have a car off of comedy I bought my mom a car off of comedy I got my mom a Lexus but still my dad's just like

he thinks I'm delayed to get into medicine or something like I'm putting my real life on hold like still not any more it's just been too long Like I missed the boat. What, doing stand-down? 24 years. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So it's probably not going to happen. Yeah. And then the Tonight Show is actually kind of cementing that. I wanted that to be a celebration. That's why I did it. Because I never even bothered with trying to do Tonight Show.

Yeah. But then I'm like, oh, that'd be a really good celebration and kind of get this monkey off my back with all the family stuff. Because they know what the Tonight Show is. They grew up with it. They, yeah. That means something to them. them. I go, what a gift that would be to take my mom, my dad, my brother, have them in the audience of the Tonight Show, wear a suit, do a tight five, almost like a we did it.

Yeah. Yeah. And they go to a steakhouse. Did it work? Eh, to a degree. A little bit, a little bit, yeah. But my dad only understands like money and career and stability. Where did he come from? Afghanistan. Afghanistan. Mom and dad, yeah. And when did they come over? Like late 70s, I think, or mid-70s? Mid-70s. What was happening there in mid-70s? Right before the Russian, right? Yeah.

Yeah. So it was peaceful time they just wanted it. I think my dad left just before that happened. Like he came here for school. He got a math degree first, and then he went back for three years to Afghanistan, and then he came back and got his engineering degree. Right. Yeah.

And then my mom came to America. But it blows my mind sometimes just like the life. I have because of that. What would it be if I was still there? Yeah. Yeah. Maybe like less YouTube specials. Yeah.

Or more. What if I was huge? Are there any comics on there? Are there any comedians out there coming out? Because all these places, even if there's no clubs, you're able to on social media to kind of like do your thing. And is there anyone there? I don't know. Taliban would allow it.

That joke about raw dogging it on the airplane. Oh, the rod dogging the flight. So funny. Because all the clips I would see of the rod dogging where you just like stare at the seat, it's all white people in the clips. And I'm just imagining if I were to do that with Fahimann or just for like a five-hour flight to New York.

I'm just staring at the people would have a problem. It would be like the whole. What do you say? Staring at the flight aware? He's just staring at the flight tracker. at the plane. And I had this tag. I'm like, this is us, this tiny plane.

The tiny plane is us. He goes, sir, do you need headphones? He's like, no, I'm broad-dogging. I'm broad-dogging flight. You do a good job of talking about culture, but not talking about culture in a way. I guess so. It's always a light touch. Comedically, I like funny ideas, however they come to me, and I just want to do whatever

the funny idea is. I hate super identity, just my personal taste. when you get like two identity based like I don't want to talk about being Afghan or brown for a whole hour I don't want that to be the because I feel like it's comedically limiting Right yeah

Yeah I like to have to do a good job of Yeah to touch on it with my dad or something And it doesn't form me a little bit Yeah But you don't have to make it the whole The whole thing Right yeah And then I think it makes it a little more universal too

Mm-hmm You're single? No, I have a girlfriend You have a girlfriend Doesn't live with you though I did it finally You did it I did it.

I did it How's it going? Pretty good. Yeah? Yeah. How long's it been? A year and maybe three months. Whoa.

It's never been this good before. Normally, I've been in relationships, and it'll be a few months, and then they do some weird stuff. Right. There's a red flag. Right. Like what? I mean, what do I? I don't know.

I might be too much to get into. Whatever your red flag is with people. Or you'll be like, that's weird as a guy. Yeah. And then I feel like the clock resets. Men, we emotionally get invested, and best. and then there'll be something that's kind of, what is that, a red flag, and then you reset. So I just needed to be good enough for long enough to get deeper and deeper and invested in the thing.

Right. And this has been so good. And no red flags. No red flags. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. That's good.

How old are you? I'm 42. 42. Yeah. It's time to lock it in. I know. But I feel like with the career that we have, it's so arrested development. And it's so crazy what we're trying to do.

If you told me you were 26, I'd be like, yeah, okay. Oh, that's nice. No, but really, like, I don't have any gauge for comedians age. I know. I really don't. World just blobs of funny. Honestly, when I'm at the comedy store, Dean Del Rey, there's you, there's, like, bird, all these different body types and backgrounds, and we don't care.

He's like, oh, they're funny. You're right, exactly, but they're just like a funny orb. Yeah. And whatever your skin is, whatever. Yeah. We don't care. My wife will be like, how old is so-and-so? I'm like, no, it never comes into my thoughts.

He goes, he has a great opening joke. He's got a really funny bit about the beach. Yeah, that's how we describe you. Yeah, and they are all children, really, in a lot of ways. Kevin Neal in here. Oh, I love Kevin. He's so great. And we had this funny week where we were just following each other.

Like, we were here, and then the next day at the airport, he was at the gate. And then he got on the plane, and he was right next to me. and he immediately, and this was like the whole sequence of things during the week, and it ended up on this flight, and he starts making phony phone calls to me from across the aisle. And I'm like, they were waiting, you know, for 30 minutes, whatever. I'm just, yeah, hello? And it was Kevin, like, doing bits, you know, ordering food, doing whatever. And I look over at him in the middle of it, and he's like laugh crying to himself.

And so what's the matter? He goes, I'm 72. I'm still acting like a moron. That's kind of cool. It's so great. I don't look forward to. Yeah, you can still do that. Yeah, exactly.

I didn't know he worked at the improv back in the day. Yeah. Before S&L. That's right, behind the bar and stuff. He's part of that era that I loved as well. He's so funny. He really is that low-key funny. His special's worth watching.

Oh, cool. He came out recently. I think it's on YouTube. That's like the place. now. It's kind of crazy. If you can't get on Netflix, you know, for me, it's just like, it's not there for me or whatever. In the past, you just be like, all right, no one will ever see me. Yeah. You know, it's kind of that or you don't exist. Right. And what's been beautiful with social media and YouTube and Instagram and clips and everything is that even if

the juggernauts aren't messing with you yet, you can still get in front of people. Like, the phone is the TV now. Yeah. It's almost more powerful than TV. So it's so it's so cool that sometimes people are like, oh, you're underrated, or I wish more people knew your stuff. I'm so much further along now than if it was the way that it used to be. Right. So I'm so grateful that you're even watching this YouTube special or seeing my clips. Yeah. Because I didn't even exist before.

No, it's wild. It literally, on YouTube, this show, your stand-up, the Tonight Show, and ABC News are all equal way. Same ecosystem. Equal. And also, everyone's trying to make it to YouTube or the clips the next day anyway. I know. Right? Like a Tonight show, like Fallon's trying to make clips.

Yeah. The show is trying to make clips. It's almost like TV is just a clip factory. Which is insane. Which is why it doesn't see sustainable that you would do a show for a million dollars a night for clips. Yeah. And is the procedure of the Tonight Show and how cool it is to do stand-up on it. I can have just a set from me in the main room or me at some bar show.

Yeah. And it could do better numbers than like an official clip from the Tonight Show. or even my set on YouTube or even when it aired. I know. So just trying to wrap your head around the new world that we're in. It is so special, though, like that showbiz moment of walking into 30 Rock and being in the dressing room. The elevator. Gearing up for it.

The NBC symbols on the carpet. Yeah. And Jimmy comes by and it's just, it's showbiz. It is. Showbiz. And it is special. John Oliver was back there. Yeah.

My family was there. We got to take photos. Jimmy and like John All. And then the roots, my family met the roots. Yeah, come on. Hello, Questlo. You know? I know.

I know. I mean. And then that curtain, it is a great experience. You're back there. Yeah. You hear the intro, the band. It's powerful, the energy, the whole day. Hitting your mark. Yeah.

It really is special. And it just, but the, yeah, but it's just, the views aren't what they used to be. It's not like the 80s. You do the Tonight Show. Like, people are honking, like, oh, you're the guy. Yeah. But I mean, in a world where you have to do everything and more is the currency.

Yeah. I like it. It's great. This new era. Yeah. Less gatekeepers. And funny finds a way. I know.

That really is the thing. It's like, if you are really funny, there is no stopping it any longer. Yeah. You can't hide talent and talent can't be hidden anymore. It's beautiful. Yeah. It's a good thing. What's your belly room show?

Oh, you got to do it. I would love to have you on it. Yeah. Yeah? It's once a month. I thought it was just you. No, I emce it. So I kind of invented this show by accident during COVID.

So it's called Fahim works on stuff and its friends drop by. So I go up and I have my paper. These are just ideas I've been writing for the whole month. It's like pure diarrhea. Do it once a month? Yeah, I've never done these jokes before. But I just throw the ideas out there. And then I do that for like seven minutes.

And then I bring up a real act to do like a real set. And I just go in between and I throw these ideas out there. So it's this beautiful, easy way for me to test all this material out. That's great. And then, like, I'm not responsible for how great the show is because I have these other great comedians on it who are doing awesome sets. So I just get to, like, they're not doing new stuff. If they're big enough, like, you can do some new stuff, you know?

But for the most part, they just kind of do regular sets. And then I get to try stuff in between. Oh, that's brilliant. And it's a great way to try a bunch of new stuff every month. Because it keeps the room elevated to listen to stuff. my fans, like I have enough fans now that I could fill out the belly room and they're there for it. Right. They want to see what the new jokes are.

Oh, that's good. And then they get to see some really great comedians as well. Do you have an idea of the hit rate of the stuff that you vomit out? I put it on YouTube too. So maybe I end up filming 40, 40 or 50 minutes when you put it all together. Uh-huh. And then maybe like 35 or 40 of it, I'll put on YouTube. Oh, yeah?

It's very raw. It's very raw. Oh, that's cool. Yeah, yeah. So it's not necessarily stuff that's going to end up in your next. hour. Yeah. I mean, I can rob from it if I want to. Yeah. But sometimes it's such a brain dropping or non-sequitur that it has no place. Right. You know, something you have these jokes. You go, this is great, but this has no place in my hour. Right, exactly. Just a funny take on whatever.

Yeah, just a whiplash. Yeah. So it's a great. Oh, that's great. Yeah. That's a really great solve that comedians are trying to crack of like, yeah, take it. What do I just post and what do I hold on to for a thing. I think that's been a big unlock for me as being less precious with my material. Yeah. Because before, I think Schultz was the first guy to just like,

here it is. Right. On YouTube. Yeah, yeah. Because before we were all on top of our goal. Can't record this. Yeah. Saying, hey, Mr. Hollywood,

can you tap me so I can show you what I have? Right. And then this new philosophy of just, here it is. Do you want to tap into my brain? Or here's my stream. Yeah. That's an asset now.

So that's why I do the works on stuff. and people are, I've been able to make some inroads and get some followers that way. And people know who I am just for my weekly works on stuff. Oh, that's great. Some people like that better in the special. They're like, oh, I don't mind that. No, I was talking about that with Gaffigan last night. We were talking about like when your special's out and, you know, you go back on tour and, you know, how much stuff you have. And he was saying, you know, I really think that people enjoy that. Like they, when they can see a little bit of a comedian that they, know and love and see them kind of the wheels turning and the process that thing yeah that they do enjoy it then it's like they're your friend they're in on it yeah um and people are so savvy now

with comedy podcasts and before it was like a magic trick like oh this guy he just came off the street and he's hilarious yeah but people know well enough how comedy works now yeah that it's cool for them to see the notes out like oh he's working on this bit he's getting ready for the roast he has this paper of yeah yeah it's a cool thing i mean because there is this beast now where in one way it's demanding you feed it content and keep it out there but it's also it's also powerful like to be able to have a way that you can release the certain amount of stuff that you want it's like you could release any i mean it's it's insane like we're saying like that this is a TV studio.

Yeah. And you can just send stuff out every single day. You don't have to pitch to upload a reel. No one's saying no. No one's like, we're doing, we're angling for Latinos now. Yeah. There's none of that. There's no barriers and it's so great.

Yeah. It's just completely your own destiny. It's also weird too. Like I put out this special. I'm proud of it. It's a cohesive thing. I toured for a year from city to city. You refine it.

You slot this here. and it's this nice vase. But honestly, more people are going to see it from the clips. And you just have to come to terms with that. Like, all right, I have a beautiful vase, but more people are just going to see broken pieces of the vase. Right. I know. But the vase is there if anybody is a comedy nerd

and wants to see it all the way through. Yeah. But clips are king now. I know. I remember I was backstage at the comedy store and everyone was having this discussion. And someone said, you know, but, you know, do you're doing a special thing?

And it doesn't matter, it's all going to be broken down into clips. And Lara Bytes was like, I didn't get into this to do clips. I didn't get, you know, she's thinking the album. She's thinking the artistic thing. And, but it, yeah, but, you know, if your special is seen by X amount of people and your clip is seen by five times that. It's still a win. Still, yeah.

And it's still you and it's still a piece of you. If, like, 50,000 people watch your YouTube special. but you get 6 million views on a clip. Yeah. That still is valid. Also, people don't have time for that much anymore. It's for the diehards. But everyone has time for 20 seconds or 30 seconds.

And if they see enough of those, it's like death by 1,000 paper cuts. I've seen this guy three times. Right. He must be a thing. Yeah, yeah. If you enter their feet enough, then they go, all right, I'll accept them into my heart. But if it's just one, you're like, oh, fuck this guy. Yeah.

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I lived at home. I drove to campus. Uh-huh. And it was engineering school, so I didn't have a lot of time to party or, I was busy. Yeah. I was doing all these equations and calculations, stress analysis, and then I would do comedy at night. So I didn't have time to party or.

Right. Yeah. And I'm at home, so I'm not going to party with my mom and dad. Were you good at the equation stuff? Yeah. You have a good brain for that? I'm good at it. My heart's not in it.

Yeah. Like, if you're going to be a great guy in aerospace, that guy loves it. I think the reason I do well in comedy or it's, I've been able to carve out a career is because I love it and you don't punch out. Your mind is just always geared towards that. When you're a young comic in a big city like L.A. or New York, you're just a runt. People are walking through you. I was a ghost, I swear.

I remember I would hang at the Hollywood Improv and just like watching people. Yeah. I saw Sandler there one time. Like, whoa. Yeah. Because you didn't seem like a real person. And he's just been in a TV box, you know? Yeah.

To see Sandler, the guy from yes dear. Oh, man, those early days when you don't know anybody. Yeah. You just kind of, but you know you have to hang. Right. You know you have to eventually become friends. Well, you realize that's a win too, just because sometimes you get disheartened, you're like, oh, man, I don't want to go out.

Nobody cares. But then you're like, no, I should just like get out. And then someone be like, oh, you should do my show, like a younger comic. Yeah. You go, that was such a win just by leaving my apartment. Every time. I have to remind myself. Every time you left your house, it was worth it.

Yeah. Because there's so much fighting against the inertia, the gravity. It'd be so much easier to just stay here, then go to the improv and be alone in that room with no friends and no one to talk to and no phone even on your... Right? You wouldn't even look at your phone. You're just there as a person. Everything's just saying stay home. Right.

But then you break through it and go every time you'd meet. somebody something would happen exactly like you know what's going to happen if you stay home right you don't something could happen if you leave yeah so at least give yourself the chance yeah oh the early days are so awkward it's nice to be beyond it but now when I see a young guy I'm like okay I should I should be better about pulling them into the yeah you know because I remember what it was like me too I mean there's nothing better when you you know especially like at the comedy store say I think those kids are you know they're parking cars and doing the stuff. And I'm interested in it.

Like, I want to know, like, so what are you doing? You know, what's going on with the act? What's happening? Where are you going? What are you doing? And you can tell the way they're talking that they don't get to talk like that with everybody, you know? Yeah. But I'm always fascinated by it because it's always like a slight wrinkle of how they're doing it.

I am curious to know what is the roadmap now for. I was asking a young comic. I'm like, what do you guys strive for? Because I know when I was coming up, it was, okay, you wanted to get maybe a Comedy Central half hour. Yeah. Or you wanted to do a late night set. And these things aren't really a thing anymore for this generation. So I go, I was curious.

I go, what are you trying to get? And they go, it's really nothing. Maybe like a don't tell. Maybe a don't tell set on YouTube. Yeah. But those things that we were striving for are kind of going away. Yeah. Well, isn't that funny?

That's kind of a weird thing. It's like there's no gatekeeper, but you have to come. kind of literally finds your own way. You have to be your own gatekeeper. The algorithm is. You have to figure out a way to get through to people. That's almost when you say it that way, it's almost more daunting. It's an open opportunity, but at the same time.

But at least you know what the blueprint is. It's the same algorithm for everybody. And that feels equalizing and liberating. Whereas when there's one guy who controls the yes or no, that's just based on a guy's taste. Yeah. And you may never be able to break it because you're not whatever he's looking for. Right.

But an algorithm, you can't, it's just ones and zeros. You can. If you tinker enough, you can break it. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think of in those math terms of breaking it? Not breaking it. I think the way I treat the algorithm now and the internet is just sort of trying to take what I do organically and apply that for best practices.

So whatever the best practices are for this month or try to do that. And then everything's a lotto-ticket. Put the clip on TikTok. Put the clip on IG Reels. put it on Facebook reels, put it on YouTube shorts. Right. It'll pop off on one. Then a different one will, it's just sort of meeting the universe halfway.

Yeah. And then letting go. Right, right. But at least I have control. I just love that I have control over my career now. When before I didn't, you were just going to call like, yeah, they're going a different way or not this year. Or you just don't hear no. Or you just keep doing it and no one ever tells you no.

Yeah. Or you get told no, but then you just call it. crush in a club and you go, well, that was for nobody other than these 100 people tonight. Your clips are funny. I saw that one about when you're dancing, that beautiful woman. Oh, the sketch? Yeah. Oh, thanks, man. That was so funny. That was a stand-up bit that I couldn't get to work. Oh, really? But then it just worked great as a sketch, because my thought was, I love Michael Jackson. I grew up with his stuff, and I used to try to dance like him. He was my first foreign performance, because I would try to do his.

moves and all that. Oh, would you? Yeah, yeah. In what regard? What do you mean? Oh, I would just watch his music videos and his concert footage and try to do mimic. Yeah, yeah, yeah, every kid, like moonwalk, all this stuff. My mom got me a fedora. I was doing fedora before guys in Hollywood were doing fedora. And then I just had this thought that Michael Jackson dancing is so specific to Michael Jackson. It's a whole vocabulary of dance that you can only do with Michael Jackson songs, which is kind of, That kind of sucks. If you invest all that time and energy into learning a dance style,

and you could only do it with Michael Jackson songs. Right? Like, when you learn hip-hop, you could do it to every song in the world. Right. But you learn Michael Jackson song, it only works with like beat it or thriller. And then I try to do an example on stage of just like a regular song. And I'm doing Michael Jackson moves. Yeah, yeah.

Or I'm like grabbing my dick and I'm like moonwalking. It just looks absurd to any other song. Yeah. So the sketch is it's winding down after a date and we're on the couch having wine. And this hot girl is dancing. And she's like, come on dance. And I'm like, no, no, I want to watch you dance. Like, no, come on.

She's like, I know. And she puts on this rap song. And she's feeling she's like, come on. I'm like, no, I want to watch you dance. And finally I get up. I'm like, oh, you want to dance? She's like, yeah. And then I started to, I'm like, rejected, like hard.

In socks. In socks. Just hitting it really hard. And then she's so turned off. She's just like, and it's going on for so long. I'm doing Michael Jackson for way too long. She's like, oh, okay. And then I do the lean into the couch.

So I keep going and I land in the couch. It's longer. She's completely turned off. I know. It's so funny. And the longer version, she gets her key. And I'm like, oh, I hope your stomach feels better. It's so stupid.

Yeah. It's so funny. You can hear my snapping all that. And I'm doing the sounds, too. I'm like, sham. She was beautiful. She looked like a film star from the 70s, like 80s. Carson.

I tagged her in it. So if you check it out, her name's Carson. Carson. At first I was like, is this, first I didn't know, this is just old Tom. I was like, are you responding to something else? Like was she like another video? Because she seemed like so otherworldly. And you're on the couch with your slouch with your red light.

Because she seems so out of your league. This couldn't be a something. No, yeah, she looks like movie star and you look like Don Rickles. And you look like IG Reel Star. Yeah. And then to see her breakthrough and pull you off the couch, I'm like, holy shit, she is there. They're in the same room together? Yeah.

You text me. You're like, way to go, dude. Really. It is funny. Like, those little tweaks in the videos and stuff. Did you see the video that Zoltan posted with L'Hulton? Oh, I love Zoltan, too. Very funny.

Yeah. Off of the Hulk Hulgan. conversation that I had with him on the radio show. And he just put together his own thing with all this Hulk footage because off of that documentary... Oh, I got to watch that. The documentary, it's pretty great. It's such an American story, you know? It's Netflix. And it's like four or five of them. And it's just such a crazy run. I mean, that light... The manufacturing of a life in America and rising to the culture. apex like that is so fascinating. And then, you know, everybody stays around too long. And then it gets weird.

But anyway, I was just talking about it with Zaltan. And then he just popped together this whole video with, you know, Hulk in his yellow and red and the stuff like that. It's like one of the most popular videos I've had on my feed. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, it was crazy. Just so creative. I think it's so fascinating with wrestling the world. Like the world is just wrestling. You realize as you get older, everything is just that. Yeah, I think that's what Trump is realized. Yeah, politics and even entertainment.

It's finding whatever your brand. I always love seeing the documentaries on wrestlers where they tried six times before with different names, different outfits and like Stone Cold or whatever. Right. And it not taking, but then bicking the hair and then having, there's a certain alignment of things. and then the world is like, yes. Yeah, the showmanship, and all of a sudden it connects. It's no different than what you're talking about with the algorithms.

Yeah. And all of a sudden it works in a big way. You know, it's like Larry the Cable Guy, right? Going around is Dan Whitney and kind of finding his way and he's got this character and that becomes the life. The biggest thing, yeah. Yeah. That'd be a funny documentary if you could do.

Dan should actually do that, like the, because the Hulk Hulgin thing is like, no, I'm really Terry. Well, maybe the world will know that I'm not the Hulk. That's just a character. It's how the whole thing starts. And then you quickly realize, no, there's no difference. You became Hulk and that is, you are. How do you separate at that point?

When you have become, everybody wants that and you're doing that for 23 hours out of the day. Yeah. How do you suddenly, of course Terry's going to get lost? You completely. Yeah. Just completely swallow you up. It would be a very funny documentary if Blue Collar takes it with the earnestness of that.

An A-24 film? Yeah. Before Larry. Come on, Mater. That would be so funny. Is it too late to just completely concoct an alter ego? That would be pretty funny. I know, just trying out.

Aren't you Fahim? No. No. I don't know who that is. Yeah, right? I have no idea who's in it. Yeah. It's Italian to me.

No, I'm completely different now. Are you touring a lot? Not yet. I'm starting to get my dates in a row. I think late July I'll go out. Yeah. And then I'll be out. I think I have a few dates on my website if anybody cares.

Right. You like staying in town? I do. I like popping out twice a month, like two weekends a month. That's good. Yeah, that's healthy. I always say I do that, and then my wife will correct me. What would you do?

It's been eight in a row. You know, every weekend, February and March. Yeah. You know. I also want to get to the point where I just want to win in every city, because sometimes you'll do a market and you go, I don't know if this is my market yet. Yeah. So it almost feels like inefficient.

Yeah. I wish the club had a more full room. I wish I had a more full room. My fans, I wish, had a more packed experience. Right. I go, why don't we just do this later? Let's start smaller. Yeah.

And if I start selling out like a fifth or sixth show in these bigger markets, then maybe I'm ready for a Milwaukee. Right. But just out the gate doing some of these smaller cities. No. Yeah. I'd rather, I want to outgrow my fishbowl and then get a bigger one. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. No, I have a show coming up in June in Augusta. I don't think that the whole, I think there might be a campaign not to come to my show. What do you mean? It's aggressive. Yeah.

It's not like we're just kind of coming. It's like, no, we're not. We are not coming. Yeah, that's what sucks about touring too, is that you get ticket counts every now and then, and then you just panic every week. And then it gets there. Yeah.

But that never goes away. Your agency will send you the ticket counts. You go, all right, we got to, I got to do it. What's up guys? I'll be. Like you think it's going to sell out from, What's up guys? Yeah.

It's so funny. Watching with the festival, because it's all A-list comics, like playing giant places. Yeah. And all doing the, Hey, what's up guys? Why is he doing that?

If he has to do, Hey, what's up, guys. Yeah. Someone's got to move some tickets. Yeah. I remember I was doing Seattle, and then Taylor Swift sold out like two Seahawks stadiums or whatever.

And then I'm trying to get people to, like a 200 people show. Yeah. Two different lives, right? Like Taylor, just give me a fraction. Just give me that, yeah. Right, you ever do like a theme show, all these things? Or like one of the festivals and they're like to have a comedy tent.

Yeah, yeah. We're just hearing this wrong. Bonneroo, you know. You can hear Tom Petty in the distance. Everyone just wants to go there. You're right. It's always how it feels. Or they're just there to cool off so they don't die.

That is literally how it always feels. You're like, oh, this is a little. the people that didn't get into the big show. That'll happen on my belly room shows sometimes. I'm working on material. There's a lull. And there's three showrooms at the comedy store, right? And sometimes they have a crazy lineup in the main room.

Yeah. And I'll be, I'm like, you guys ever, and you're here? You remember those there? And I'm like, you guys can't go to that show. You already bought tickets. You have to stay here. We could do that too, guys.

But this is different. This is better. This is cooler. This is more intimate. This is a new. cutting board that I designed with a company called Oh really? I'm not going to give you the heel because that's hard to chew.

Okay. I'm going to go deep. That's kind of funny. Like some guys have skateboards. You go, I have a bread. This is my new Papa line of cutting boards. It really is. Because I love bread so much and like we design these things.

Oh, cool. It's like this cool bread line. And but you can't really sell the bread. It's like how do you get bread out there? know what I mean, to the people. And we're starting to experiment with cookies. Oh. I'm like, that would make people happy.

And I have a feeling, you know, you always like, whenever you have like a little project, you're like, well, when I win the Emmy for this, you know. With the cookie thing, it's like, am I going to change the name of the podcast? To making cookies? What did you keep it? Breaking cookies? Thank you so much.

And then what's the best? Do you want olive oil? Yeah, I'll do the whole thing. Do I go on? and half. Get some sweet olive. I'll just put it in here, Daniel. I feel like you're the bread pro.

Yeah, yeah, tear it. Okay. You can tear it. It's good, tear. It feels good. Oh, really? ASMR. On the mic, yeah.

Oh, yeah, it sounds good. Yeah, it looks good. Yeah, this morning. It just came out of the oven this morning. That's how much I like you. Thank you. You're welcome. Oh, wow.

Right? It's legit. Mm-hmm. Sourdough? Yeah. It's a country loaf. Country loaf. Yeah, super fresh.

Mm-hmm. What if the podcast was just all this for like two hours? Just the rest of it? Different breads, chewing. I'm just going like, oh, yeah. Yeah, there's no way. If we, in the beginning of this podcast, we're like, we'll just eat, you know, we'll have serve stuff.

And people are chewing in the mic and crunching. It was more violent than the August. to people. Boo! Stop chewing! Are you on the road right now? Yeah. I went really heavy from January

till last night, actually. And we did like 40 dates. And now it's going to kind of mellow out a little bit. What's your process for a special? Do you even have the special in mind

or do you just tour? And once you feel it, you go, All right, let me put it down. Yeah, once it starts to kind of cobble together. Because, yeah, it was never like thematic. It was just like where I'm at and what I want to talk about. And it seems without any design, it seems like it's about two, two and a half years of work in the material. That's healthy. That's an awesome.

Yeah. I think for myself, earlier is too early. you know and I you know there's a lot of specials out there where it's a little early it's not baked all the way yeah yeah you know there's so many jokes that just get better with time yeah there's really you know I did a corporate gig the other day I did one of the I did a joke that's literally 25 years old but it's a corporate audience yeah they don't know They don't care. They don't know me.

That was a big unlock for me because I always thought every show I did, I had to do what I'm doing now. Right. But then when I opened for Allie or Theo or whatever, I go, they don't know who I am. Yeah. This is a hard gig to begin with because they're there to see their person or even a corporate gig. I go, everything's free game. Yeah. And it's so liberating to be able to rob from all my specials.

That's right. Because they're like, who are you? Yeah, just show them all your best stuff. Show them all the greatest hits. Yeah. It's just a postcard for you. That's right. and it really is, and, you know, I argue that your rabbit fans would like seeing that stuff too.

Oh, even the old stuff? Yeah. I guess you think that's reserved. I could watch you do that joke you did on the Tonight Show every night. Every night. It's a great bit. And it's, you know, I'm not going to laugh like the first time I heard it, but I'm going to still love it. And, you know, you know, you know what I do an hour of that when people, like, when you can roll

through town again. You don't want to just, you know, you want to mix it up, but definitely. There's such a sweetness to these great jokes. Sometimes as you get like more rabid fans and stuff, they will request, which never used to happen. And that's kind of sweet. Like if they want it that bad and they remember it, sometimes it's a deep cut and you go, how do I even do it? It's been six years. I know. Yeah. And they'll walk you through it. They go, no, then you go, then you went to the grocery store? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You want to come up here and you do it? I know. Like legends in concert. Yeah. No, they come up disappointed. Well, we thought you were going to talk about the whatever. Yeah. I used to have this, in my works and stuff show, I used try these ideas and sometimes they're God-awful.

One time, this is many, maybe like two years ago, I tried this joke. I go, this is my impression of imitation crab. And then I go like this. I don't know what's bad until I do it, you know? I go, you get it? Because he's like, he's not a real crab, so he doesn't want anyone to find out. It's just so bad in the room, but it was a fun bad too that we're all in on it. Yeah. Just kind of joking about how bad it is. Yeah. That it's become a runner. Oh, really?

So now on the YouTube comments and even live shows, sometimes people are like, do imitation crap. That's so great. So we pretend that that's my huge bit and that I'm selling out Madison Square Garden. It's like your hot pockets. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. So when I tell I know they're real fans and they go, imitation crab. That's great. You didn't do invitation crap tonight?

there is really something to that like if you have a little weird thing that only a handful of people like i had a thing in my act about a baby pig man it was about a liquor cabinet how liquor never goes bad and you open it up and it's like whiskey from 20 years ago still in there and there's like like that would never happen with a ham sandwich you wouldn't open up and there's like a baby pig man living in there and it was just so bizarre and off of like what i normally talk about but they just would resonate with people. people, like weirdos. Yeah. You know, it's just like, it wasn't, it's just, there's something about the completely

unique thought. Well, no one is you and like, no one is me. Right. And the goal as a comedian is just to try to be as authentic to yourself as possible that even when you're talking about a subject, it'll come out unique because it's your prism. And my works on stuff show is kind of nice. Sometimes I wouldn't even dare trying this ever on any other type of show, even in the OR or anybody there's like two

two high stakes it's like a big lineup and stuff and even if I'm working on new stuff there's a degree there's a level of how good it has to be

for me to try it but works on stuff they're all my fans and it's such a safe space that's so great that sometimes the most random thing I would never even

try on a show does so well and then it'll make it into the main act whereas before I would I would be too scared to even try it on a show I'm like this is too dumb

has it liberated you at all like will if you bring stuff to the OR say a little early earlier. Yeah, there's levels to it now kind of. For my words and stuff, I can do anything. I can, they're all, I can't lose. It's house money. They're, they're my people. They're there for the bad ones, even imitation crap. But the original room, it's kind of more of a uniform crowd.

They're not there specifically for me. It's, some are there for you. They're there for Burr, they're for whoever. So I can't, I also have respect for the show. Yeah. I don't want to, I don't, it's kind of masturbatory for me to try this fresh new or this off the wall and I have no inkling if it'll do well. If I'm trying something into OR, I think this might have legs. Yeah. Yeah, but when I do my belly room show, I'm like, this might, this might have legs. Is it, is it respect or is it fear, you know, because I, like, I always, I'll have my set list at home of, like, stuff I want to work on tonight. And it's this long. And then by the time, I get to the side of the stage, it's down to this.

I've lost, right? You lose faith. Yeah, yeah. So you get to putting it up there. And it's like, well, why not, you know, or is the editor in my head correct and we shouldn't go there? Or should you just try it? And there's no consequence.

I think I have tears of jokes. I have A. I have B. I have C. So if I'm doing the O.R and it's a pack night and everything, it's too good of a show for me to try a C or a D. Yeah. And I can still get the B's up to an.

A. So there's still work to be done. I don't need to gamble as much. The risk to reward isn't worth it. And I have respect for the show and other comedians. Because you keep it moving after you. You don't want people to walk out of the room after your set. You want to keep it a good room. Yeah. Yeah. And keep it a good show. So I'm like, I'll work on the Bs tonight. But if I go up and there's 20 people in the crowd, super late night in the O.R. I can try, I can work on the C's. I can work on the D's. But if I go after Burr on a hot night, it's going to be A's, maybe one B. Right, yeah. And then maybe some A's turn into B.

You hope for C's and get into your car. Yeah. Yeah, and there is something to, you know, Chris Rock can go up on that stage. They're so happy. Yeah. But a different attitude than, you know, us. That's like flying. I remember when I was a young comic and I would see Louie pop around town.

Yeah. Or rock. That was my dream. Like, oh, man, I'm so envious that I spit. The bread on your mic, sorry. That's good. Just to see they could pop in wherever they want. Yeah.

Work on bits whenever. Yeah. And then everyone's so excited to see them. They already have the goodwill. Right. As an unknown comic. Yeah. Turning the crowd or getting them to be open to the rest of you is the hardest thing.

Yeah, it is. And then once you have them, then, okay, now I can really see if these jokes work or not. Yeah. Because if you don't have them at the beginning, and you try a great joke, you don't have them. So you can't really gauge the joke yet. Yeah, yeah.

Because you didn't do a good job of opening the room yet. Right. Starting's the hardest. For me, at least, stand-up. That's the trickiest. Yeah. Because when you first go on stage, I feel like people are adversarial.

Like, who is this guy that thing that's funny? Yeah. Even though they paid money and brought a date or spending it's funny. Yeah, but there's also that part of if you if you get up there with

this is going to go fine and they even just you haven't even done anything but they sense confidence that's just as important as right yeah attitude and when you have the right joke and the set list

then it's easy yeah yeah but some people just are such a great effervescent personality that they can just like smile and then I like this or they're such a character

Like Joey Diaz goes up and he's like, hey, what's the way. You're like, all right, I'm just whatever. I'm here for it. Yeah, right. It's true. You know? Yeah. Yeah.

No, there's completely that. Yeah, there's a little, there's a. A twinkle or. Yeah. It's almost a shorthand. Like, oh, I know this archetype or I know someone like this. Mm-hmm. Or like Theo, like, what's that man?

Like, what is this going to be? But there's an argument to be made that you have that. And that you, right? And it's not, it's not. For me, I feel like I have to get there through writing, though. So it comes up. I would argue against them. Really?

Yeah. When you come up, there's like this mischievous, like little, handsome little, but wise-ass guy that just got up there. And you kind of lean in a little bit. And I know what you think. I think, I mean, this is the, you know, this is the debate, you know, back and forth forever. It's, do they want to be with you or do they want to be with your jokes? Right? and you have enough going on that, you know, we all need jokes.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But there's enough other stuff going on. Yeah. I feel like jokes help me get to that other thing, though. Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's like a launch pad or a slingshot.

Sometimes. I mean, look, sometimes, you know, you do these awkward shows and it's like, I don't have them at all. I'm just going to keep putting out, I'm just keep telling the jokes until, and you slowly start to turn them. They weren't into me, but the joke saved me. The comedy store was a great place to learn as well because it's a different comic every 15 minutes. And as a younger comic, you would watch these lineups and just see how everyone treats the approach differently. And Sebastian was really eye-opening to see because I think the instinct when I'm a younger comic, you think you have to kill in the same way as the comic before you or ride that energy.

Right. You have to be the same thing as what came before. Yeah, yeah. But then Sebastian might go after super high energy off-the-wall voices and all that. He just comes up and he's slow and steady and he does his thing. He doesn't let the audience inform what he does. Right. And then slowly you see people hop on the train.

And that was kind of a real eye-opening thing. Like, oh, you could just be, as long as you are the most you, that's how you're going to win. Yeah. Yeah, it's whenever I'm faced with a little uneasiness, I always equated to fear. Oh, this is a new environment. This is a corporate show. This is a. Yeah.

New. New is tough. It's always like the, yeah, the little fear's a big thing. That's kind of why I went on the road with Theo for like four dates just because I've never performed for that many people. And I go, I should do that for me just as a comedian. Because it seems daunting. To what?

Just that many people. Oh, just to go with him, yeah. I mean, I've known Theo forever, but just like those venues are really big. And the biggest I had done up until then was maybe 7,500, the Dolby. Yeah. And I'm like, okay, what's bigger like? It just seems kind of scary. Yeah.

I go, I've been doing stand-up a long time. I've done every type of room. I've done late nights. I've played all the levels. Yeah. I haven't played this level. I have an opportunity to. Theo asked me.

Yeah. I should just do it. And I'm glad I did it. The first one is kind of, it's new. So it's a little scary. Yeah. But then you settle into it. And then after you've done one, you go, I understand this.

Right. I know what it is. Exactly. And once the lights go down, it doesn't feel as big as it is. It just feels like a larger theater. Yeah. Yeah.

Because the rows of people on the floor feels like a regular show. Right. You don't see the people up there. Yeah. Yeah. And then it was a blast. Yeah. All you can do is go.

Yeah. You can't do anything different. It's not like all of a sudden you're going to break out a guitar and some pyrotechnics. Right. You're just going to tell you a joke. And you have the skills too. Like I'm up there. And I know how to listen to the crowd.

So my pacing is fine. Yeah. So I can slow it down, get to wait for the laugh, keep on going. Yeah. So everything's the same. It's just different timing, I guess.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, a new situation. But now I know what it is. So if I ever have to do it again, I'm like, oh, cool. Yeah. Not like, can I do it? Yeah, right.

How'd you like the bread? It was so good, dude. It was good. Yeah, and I'm not just saying. No, I watched you eat it all, so that was a good sign. Do people not eat all of it? They just humor you. they have one piece.

Yeah, and they're like, no, this is enough for me. But they don't get ass back. That's like the Johnny Carson, like getting tapped at the come of the couch. Right. Yeah, like, whoa. Yeah, we have a meeting after you leave and we're like, how do you think you like the bread? He loved it. How can people keep in touch and we want them to watch the special more than anything else?

I love the special. The special is called Intrusive Thoughts. Intrusive Thoughts. Intrusive Thoughts. It's so funny. Thank you, dude. Thank you. It's on my YouTube channel.

So just Fahima Anwar. And then Instagram, I put a lot of clips up there. And that's just Fahimanoir as well. TikTok's Faheymanor comedy, because Fahemannwar got it, I guess. You're right. Yeah. I was like, yo, I'll give you some money. He's never responded to me.

Really? Yeah, yeah. So you check me out there. And then tour dates will be on my website, just for heemannor.com. So late July, I'll be back out there. Well, I'm glad we finally got to do this. Same. It means a lot to me.

And you sending that text from Tonight Show meant so much. Yeah. Whenever I see you on the lineup, I'm excited. that we're running into each other. Same. It's really a treat. Thank you, Matthew. All right.

Thanks, kids. We got it.