Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 332 - Dan Mintz

Episode Date: June 23, 2026

This week actor, comedian, and writer Dan Mintz joins us at the table! He and Tom talk awkward high school years, the joys and difficulties of doing standup, and more. Enjoy! Our thanks to IQ Bar! 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

Sorry, I feel like I'm interrupting. This always happens to me. I like my awkwardness kind of spreads to everyone talking to. What do you mean? Am I getting more awkward? It's like, no, it was like this is where you start talking to and I kind of interrupt you and you stop. It's like when you get to an intersection, you don't know who got there first.

So I'm just going to jump in and answer the question. I didn't feel. Yeah, I didn't feel it. Okay, good, good. Maybe I'm oversensitive. It's breaking bread. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me.

Last time I saw you was at the comedy seller. Yeah. And you were getting ready for the tonight show off. You had all these, like a whole crew of people like a posse. All sitting in the back. Very exciting. Yeah. I mean, I usually have a posse everywhere. I go. I know. Thanks for not bringing him today. This is a small studio. Yeah. I wouldn't let them end. Yeah. Congratulations on the special. Thank you. Yeah. It's very funny. Thank you. You have so many jokes. Yeah. It takes a long time to write. Yeah. special. Yeah, I was going to advise you on that. You know, you can't just do faces and stuff. How long did it take you to put it together? I mean, I guess, you know, I release an album, which was my last thing in 2014. And I wasn't consistently writing during that part. I always get

distracted by other stuff. And I think when COVID hit, you know, a lot of people like, okay, I'm going to take advantage of this time to do something. And for me, it's like, I'm going to actually write an hour. you know, for me an hour's like, you know, 48 minutes or ever. But, yeah. But, and I had about, I looked at what I had was about a half hour. And then I was really, you know, working hard the next couple of years. Right. Right.

And, uh, do you have, do you do it like in small blocks or do you go out and tour it? Um, I eventually, I, I, I tore when I, like, actually had the set. Uh-huh. I mean, I'm, I'm very, like, uh, risk averse about trying new jokes. And I know it doesn't matter. I just like even after this many years, I feel so uncomfortable trying a new joke that doesn't work.

Right. Because an old joke that doesn't work, you're just, well, I know this work before. Right. But a new thing you're spiraling, like, is this like the most cringe worthy thing that's ever happened? Me telling this joke right now.

So I usually try to like, I'll, it's like, you know, dipping my toe in the water. I'll just sandwich, like two jokes I know will work. I'll sandwich a new one in between them. Right. Right. Yeah. It's such a great finished product.

Thank you. It's really well done. And why did you decide to animate it? I mean, you know, Tickinacchar did an anime special a few years. That was really funny. Yeah. I had, I basically just wanted, I mean, initially I just thought it was a good idea because I'm like no and mainly as a cartoon character. Right.

Right. And then, you know, the more I thought about it, the more I really liked. visually, like I did, when I'm watching like a comedy special, I feel like a lot of space is wasted. In terms of what you're watching, like, why is it not an album? Right. Yeah. And it's different. It's especially for me where I'm standing in one place.

It's different for someone that takes advantage of the space. Right, right. Yeah. I stand in one space too. Yeah, you should try the animation. Yeah. I'm going to use your animated character with my jokes. It'll be like if that character is like a franchise.

It just does everyone's driving. Yeah. What was really cool is that element, though, of like in between, your arms just straight down. Yeah. And you're not really moving. And it just, there's, I don't know, there was something about a calmness between the jokes because of that. That was really interesting.

Yeah. And I was actually, that's not how I was picturing it. When I first thought I was going to do it this way, I thought, well, this is great because with animation, it's like you have a million camera angles because you don't need an actual camera. And I can do a bunch of cuts like in the middle of the joke to mix, to kind of like fight against this. Yeah.

The stillness. And when I was doing, you know, Benobox made the special. The initial, initially it was Lauren Bischar, he's a creator of Bob's. His production company made like a three-minute animatic. Oh. And Bernard, who's the director of Bob's, was like directing it. And he gave me the first animatic. And it was like, his choices were so different than what I pictured.

It was like leaning into the stillness instead of trying to fight it. Right. And I thought it was so interesting. And I loved it. I felt like it was like, it was almost like I felt like it was a duet to me. And then the director's special, the actual special came in. And he had all his own new great ideas. It really just felt like it was just adding, like, adding like a depth to the awkwardness.

Yeah, completely. Yeah. Which in the beginning was kind of like, okay. And then you start to really, it draws you into that pace. Yeah. And it was calming. It was like, it was like a really nice thing to see somebody not like looking around and like all of the human things that happen.

Yeah. You could, the character could just be still and it made me lean more into what you're going to say next. Yeah. And I, and I actually, it actually kind of made me realize like, I think in my actual performances,

I'm like rushing and I should actually like, um, you know, take the time to pause a little bit and, you know. Yeah. And like let, let it linger.

It's like, it's not like I'm not tricking anyone. If I move fast, it's still obvious who I am. I know. It is such a thing that has to be, I have that struggle all the time. Yeah. Just stop. Just let it breathe.

Yeah. Like even within a joke, it happened to me on the road a couple of weeks ago. And I just, I hadn't done the set in a month. And I came back and I was just looser. more calm. I was just more calm. I wasn't like, I got to get all these jokes out. And I realized this one joke that I had been struggling with, it was because I kept talking over it. I was going so quick. And doing it this night, I've just let it sit and let each part sit so they could catch up and understand like a human being listening to a conversation without a desperate man just yelling

it at them. And it changed everything. But it's so hard for me to, I guess it's just fear. Yeah. It's just fear of the silence. Yeah. In between. I mean, a lot of times I feel like a stand-up set is just a constant like game of Blacktrack where I have like, I have like a 13. I'm like, this didn't go great. If I wait a little bit, maybe, you know, or do a tag or something, it'll like, it'll work or I could just totally. I should just move on and accept it. Right. No, it's really well done. When you said that you, uh, when you're putting it together, distracted by other things. Yeah.

Like what? What do you mean? Well, I meant in terms of like, I go through long periods of time, like, not trying to write stand up and not going up. And it was, I mean, it's mainly been like writing on shows. When I'm writing on shows, it's like I just get, you know, totally sucked into that. And I just don't have time to focus on other stuff. It's so hard to balance that.

Yeah. Do you ever try to like, I'm going to go do a set after being in a writer's room all day? Really, it's like impossible. You don't have the patience for the waiting around and hang out with people. Right, exactly. Yeah. And actually it was, it was really kind of, you know, shortly before COVID that, I, you know, we like, we got a raise on Buzzburger's. And I was like, I don't have to, like, write for other people's shows now.

I can just focus on doing my own thing. And then of course that was when like everything one disruption after another, you know, starting in COVID. And it was just, it's frustrating when thinking back to like a few years earlier just like any, everyone in their brother, however that expression is, everyone in their whoever, whatever. Everyone in their brother. Had like their own show on Netflix. Right.

And by the, and I was just like not focused on doing that. And then by the time I'm focused on it, it's just like everything. like so much slower and harder. But stand-up was, it's amazing to be doing stand-up because that's the one thing. You don't need to wait for someone to finance you. Right. Yeah, exactly.

Yeah. I know. It's amazing how with all the shifting of things being made and not made now, how stand-up has become like this little reliable locomotive. Yeah. You know? It used to be like, well, it's cute. You guys do that.

Yeah. And everyone's like, how do I do that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. Where did you start? I started in Boston and then came right out to L.A. after college. Right. So you started in college. I started in college. Yeah, my sophomore year. Oh, yeah.

You didn't start until after college? I started after college. It is really nice to, I mean, if you're lucky enough that your parents are paying for it and stuff. It is really nice to have that luxury that stand up as an extra thing and you don't have to do it. Yeah, yeah. Was it an extra thing for you? Well, yeah, because I was, it was, I wasn't like, I didn't have to worry about making a living. Oh, I was saying. You have like three, like three years.

Yeah, right to just do it. Yeah. Did you want to do it when you were a kid? Is that why you started in college? Or did it pop up when you were in college? I mean, I wanted to do, I have like a million goals that were all way too ambitious as a kid. Like, you know, being like president, being like a spy, being whatever. You know, being a professional athlete, like things, you know, I should have known if I wasn't a kid.

that wasn't possible. Which was the top one. It was always changing. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, it was just always. Because I think you just go through daydreams and then your daydreams get more and more elaborate. So it's like, okay, there's no.

Eventually it becomes like a movie with no conflict where everything is amazing and it's not fun to even daydream about anymore. Yeah, there's no reason to just keep cranking out something new. Yeah. But I mean, one thing I wanted to do is like something with. making movies or, you know, writing, you're writing for TV. Yeah. And I do remember, like, my dad, um, we just loved, like, Seinfeld. And in other comedies, too, but he would just laugh so much.

And, like, seeing him laugh at that, just made, seeing like your, your parent, you know, respond like that made its TV writing, comedy writing seem like a very high calling. Right. Yeah. And the stand-up side, uh, I don't know. I just kind of, I didn't really know you even, I didn't really watch a lot stand up. I like the idea of it.

I didn't know you could really be low energy and do stand up. And then I finally saw some low energy people and realized. Right. Were you funny to your dad? Sometimes I think, yeah. I think it took, I think it took a while to learn how to be funny. But I think I always had, I could always like randomly stumble into saying something funny that I didn't even understand why since I was little.

And then it was just kind of like, okay, how do I do that more often, I guess? Right. Did you have siblings? I had a younger brother. He's seven years younger. So he was almost, like I was like an only child for seven years. Right. So were you annoyed when he showed up?

I think I was old enough that I thought was cool. Oh, yeah. That's cool. Like we weren't really competing. Right. You could be benevolent. Yeah, exactly. Who cooked in your house?

Oh, my mom. Always cooked, yeah. Yeah, she good cook. She's a really good cook, yeah. Very, very kind of health conscious. So a lot of times I didn't realize that like the real version of food wasn't like the healthy version.

Oh, really? Yeah. Until you went to your friend's house? I remember being like the first time at like, I feel like at a Mexican restaurant, I would always order fajitas because there were like the fan, like the fancy sizzling thing. And then the first time I ordered,

enchiladas. I was like, these are enchiladas. These are amazing. I thought that like enchiladas were like the super whole wheat, tortilla and like baked and not fried. And no cheese. Yeah, yeah. Mom. When my kids were a little, my wife is a vegetarian, pescatarian now, but then was a vegetarian. And the kids kind of followed in her footsteps. and I was remember my daughter coming back from her friend's house for dinner. And she was like, it was really good. And she was probably like five. They had these little round balls with their spaghetti.

And they were so good. No idea. She must have heard the term meatball because it's in like kids' songs and movies. And she just didn't know what it was. You're a little kid. You're in someone else's house. Just like, whoa, I'll have another one of these. Do you have a family?

Yeah, I have a wife and a 13-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl. Oh, that's nice. Do they get along? And they get along pretty well. I mean, they kind of are so different. They kind of themselves, yeah. Are they funny? They're both really funny in very different ways.

Yeah. They both really, it's weird because I really like dark comedy, but you like, obviously you don't want your kids to be watching dark comedy, but they somehow just both love being really inappropriate. And I mean from when she, like our daughter is, you know, she's like always been like kind of small for age. And she, like, the youngest age, she would be like, like, I'm going to thought I can kill you. And it was like so funny, like you couldn't help.

Like you're trying so hard not to laugh. And like her, you know, other adults. obviously laugh at it. So it's like, but then of course her brother, who's not like, who's a big for his age and two years older, it's like scary. You're like, no, no, we don't want. You might actually kill someone. It's good.

Do they know, do they know, and like your character? Do they know? Yeah, I mean, Dave, you know, Buzzroger's was on the air, you know, a couple years before they were born already. So it's always been around. and they've always been going to events. Right. And I don't even think, you know, kids, I think all kids in, like, L.A.

and, like, with, like, parents in the business. They don't realize that that's not what everyone's doing. It's so funny, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. I know. When our kids were in school, it was like, you know, that's SpongeBob. Yeah.

Right. Oh, yeah. I think I remember running into Tom Kenny or something. Yeah. We turned out our kids both went to Carpenter. Right. Yeah, exactly. It's just like, yeah, they're so, it's such a different world.

It's really bizarre. Yeah. So Bob's Berger's, how many seasons now? 15 or 16? God. Yeah. I mean, it first aired at the beginning of 2011, so. 2011.

Was it hard to get their role? It was weirdly easy because I just, it was a pile of presentation. so no audition. And I was actually, it was actually just going to be two kids who was going to be Kristen and Eugene. Right. And I just met John Benjamin

writing on Demetri Martin show and he told Lorne like, I just met this guy with the weirdest voice. You got to put him in your cartoon. And then he did. And then I was, and that was that. Man.

I didn't realize until later how common it is to be like recast and stuff or it would have been way more terrified during those early first years. but I just assumed by that point. That's good forever. Right, yeah. That's so great to not have the panic of I'm probably going to get fired for five years.

But it is so perfect. I mean, the idea like it couldn't be anybody else. Yeah, once you, I mean, obviously it could be in a different universe. But once people, I get used to it, it's hard to imagine. God, that show is so good. Yeah, I think so. I'm always amazed at the writing of how they get into an episode so quickly. Like they develop the storylines within like a minute.

They have a complex direction going. It's just, did you write on it too? I wrote one episode. Yeah. But yeah. Are you as impressed with that staff as I am? Yeah, I'm incredibly impressed. And there's no turnover for writers hardly.

Really? I actually was like going, like, you know, possibly going to write on it when I first started and, you know, write and do the voice. Yeah. And I just remember there was like some disagreement about the title and whatever and what I, and so I ended up not taking off. I think part of it was like, I was excited by the idea of voiceover hours. And like, you know, I had just been working on shows with long hours. So it wasn't easy. It wasn't hard to convince me not to take the deal

versus if I was like, I should just take whatever they get. But I did kind of think like, oh, well, you know, maybe like in a year or two. But there's just no turnover of writers. So it just stuff's like not opening. Wow. Yeah, that's a good thing. I mean, what a great gig. Well, yeah, I think that's why shows get worse at a certain point

is mainly because all the writers leave because they made all their money already. Right, exactly. then they go for the really big money and then they end up parting ways. Yeah. That's so good. And is that, is that like from the top down? Like, why is there no turnover at this one? I mean, I think, I think Lauren is, I think people are just really like Lauren.

I think he, until, you know, meaning him, I always assumed that like, to be like a success, you have to be like Steve Jobs to run, to make anything that's good. You have to kind of be an asshole. And you hear all the stories about like all the best shows in the 80s and 90s and like, oh, actually behind the scenes that the bosses were mean. Yeah, they were mean. Yeah. And I'm like, well, like, I don't know. I mean, I guess you have to be to make a show.

But then Lauren's not. And he's still somehow pulls it off. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no, that is so refreshing to hear. Like, I remember hearing that like with the, everybody loves Raymond. Mm-hmm. With those guys that they had normal hours because they had families.

Yeah. And it was like, oh, you can be. successful without driving people into the ground at 4 o'clock in the morning. I remember when I was doing a pilot and someone was like, this is so nice. Everyone likes each other and it's never like this. And I was like, oh, we're dead. Yeah. This episode is brought to you by IQ Bar, our exclusive snack, hydration and coffee sponsor. IQ bar protein bars, IQ mix, hydration mixes, and IQ Joe mushroom coffees are the delicious, low sugar, brain and body fuel you need to win your day. We around here run on IQ bars most of the time.

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a bench scraper, and something else in there. I forget. It's beautiful, though. Yeah, bread products. Go get it. Can you record from your house? I'm the only one that doesn't have a home studio.

You'll get a home. I mean, during COVID. What do you do with all your burgers money? I'm just like so overwhelmed by the idea of doing anything home renovation related. And it does, I mean, some space has to be converted into that studio. It's not like they can just add more, I guess, but or, you know, even if you expand your house and you're going to your yard. Yeah. And I mean, mainly I just feel like it's like kind of bad karma.

I'm not going to do voiceover on anything else properly. This is, I don't do 100 voices. And I feel like as soon as I build a home studio. It'll put the way on it. Yeah. You're right. Yeah. Do they have plans? Like do you hear it seems like it's just going to keep going?

Yeah, it seems like a Simpsons, right? Yeah. God. I mean, they, at the last renewal it was for four years, I think, or maybe one and a half years into that, I'm not sure. But, yeah. Jeez. What a great gig. Yeah.

It's really nice. Yeah. Man, what a lucky, lucky break. Yeah. Do you have a lot of Tina stuff all around the house? Yeah, so much stuff. Do you really? You get stuff from the show and you get stuff from fans and like, everyone's nice.

Do people relate you to your, you as a person doing stand-up? Do people, what do you mean? Do you, does you, like, did your stand-up get people from the series? I mean, yeah, that would be the main, I think it would be hard to, for me to headline without the show. I mean, that's the main reason people will come to the show. They do.

Which is it, it presents some challenges, I guess. It's not, I mean, the style of the, the comedy of the show is not that different from the comedy. Right. And I said, it could be a lot worse. Like, I don't know. Like, you know, when Pat and Oswald was on King of Queens,

like his stand-up is pretty different tone. Right. Right. But on the other hand, it is like a family show and not all of my, you know, stuff is family-friendly. And it is, you know, I'm a 45-year-old man, not a 13-year-old girl, that's the main difference. People always say like they can't help but see Tina telling the jokes, which I guess, I think that's fine. It may be, I don't know if that adds to it or takes away from it, but it is what it is. Yeah, it's all just part of the package.

Yeah. No, that's cool because I would think the reason I ask is you could see a disconnect between people not just being into the thing and not seeing the bridge to you as the stand-up. It is, I mean, it is maybe a little harder to get people to write to come to the show, to promote the show. I mean, I'm a stand-up show or the special. Like, I don't know. I mean, like, from a marketing point of view, for a club, I'm kind of like a YouTuber, you know, or someone that got a, famous for something else and then decide to start doing stand-up, even though I have been doing stand-up since, you know, 1999.

But, but, you know, someone, just being like a fan of the show that doesn't mean you're like, I want to go watch the voice of the character do stand-up. Right, yeah, yeah, yeah. So you have to cast maybe a wider net to get people to come than if they're specifically for stand-up. And now it's got, like, you have the years on your side. It's like they're being informed and it's just, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So who was your crew when you came out to, you came out to L.A.?

Who were you friends with, like, comedy-wise? Yeah, I mean, I went to college with BJ Novak. So he actually, you know, I was doing San Mateo. He came out a year before me and started doing stand-up. So he took me to all open mics, and we would do the mic every, you know, three, four times a week. Nice. Do the mic circuit. Yeah.

And then Dan Levy, not Dan Levy, but Dan Levy. Right. He also, he, we, uh, man in college, uh, we both did stand up at the same place of the same night for our first night. Oh, really? Um, so, so we've been, and our lives have weirdly paralleled since then. Like he, his kids go to Carpenter. His kids are the same age as mine. I've worked on, he's been my boss on a show.

I've been his boss on a show. So, that's great. Um, so yeah, he's another one that, you know, and then, and then you just start me, I think like, kind of our first scene was, Did you ever do the Westwood Bruko back in the early 2000s? It was like, I mean, BJ just described it as, it's like an open mic, but like people come to it that don't have to go to open mics to try out new stuff. Right.

So like Zach Alvinakis, I remember, was there. Right. He was famous as he was now, but he's way past what you expect to see it in an open mic. Right. And that was great because, you know, it's a bike people who are practicing new stuff, but I come in, I've been doing this for, you know, three years and just do like my tight five.

and then by comparison to everyone else's new stuff, it's impressive. And yeah, and then I met, you know, right away, I met, you know, Jared Grotie and Morgan Murphy. And kind of the four of us were all kind of early 20s, right at a college. Right, right. Going around doing stuff. That's a good crew. Yeah. And Jonah Ray, too.

I met him there too. Yeah. Oh, nice. So those are kind of my earliest kind of people. Who did you live with when you first came out here? I lived with a friend from college. and who ended up writing on The Simpsons, Danny Chun. And then, yeah, I was roommates with a few other people over the years.

I never lived by myself. It's kind of sad because I went right from roommates to living with my girlfriend and then wife. Right. You've never been alone. Yeah. It's overrated. Yeah. Yeah, probably.

I do like it when I go to hotel. I guess that's my time. Yeah. When you were out here, was it, was it other than the open mics? Like, what were you, what was like the place you wanted to try and get into? Like, was it try to get into the improv or try and do Largo? I mean, I had a very clear, I've always been like a few years behind the path that you're actually supposed to do. So I was still in my head that it was a few years ago.

And my goal was to get like, you know, get on new faces of Monterey. and then get a development deal. Right. Or get on a late night show, basically. And I was really focused on that, or get a writing job too. I was kind of trying to do that at the same time. And I was always really focused on like the tight five

and not trying to build like a longer like road set. Right. And I kind of like, I took for granted that pretty early. You never appreciate what you have, but I was pretty early able to get into like, really good shows in like the alt scene. Because kind of, you know, at Westwood that open mic, I met like Scott Ackerman and BJ Porter

and that was right before they started what became comedy death ray. Right. And I got in there right away. And then I got, it wasn't too long for I was in Largo. So that was all, that was the thing that like, in hindsight was easier than it should have been. Right.

So I was like focused on all the things that were hard to complain about. Yeah. Man, the, the focus on the five minutes sets. Yeah. It was, you know, we just did the Tonight Show and this is really the only spot you can go do it. Like there were so many, like you could, it was such a good way to work. Yeah.

Because to get a really good five minutes took a lot of work and a lot of material to boil down to that. Yeah. It's a shame that it doesn't really exist that way anymore. Yeah. Because I think ultimately makes people better comedians. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's easy when you do one-liners. But I think, yeah, because I still get to do a bunch of jokes.

Yeah. People that do stories and bits. You really have to streamline them to get it down. Yeah. Yeah. Just it's such a part of the art form. Yeah. It really is its own little art form.

Yeah. And it's only one spot to go do it now. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Do you, when you do long sets, do you do anything to shift gears? Like I remember hearing. Stephen Wright, when he would start, he started breaking out the guitar.

Yeah. Just because he's doing all one-liners and to kind of, you know, conscious of the time of. Yeah. Yeah. I, uh, sorry, I feel like I'm interrupting. This always happens to me. I like, my awkwardness kind of spreads to everyone talking to. What do you mean?

Am I getting more awkward? It's like, no, it was like this, where you start talking to and I kind of interrupt you and you stop. It's like when you get to an intersection. you don't know who got there first. So I'm just going to jump in and answer the question. I didn't feel it. Yeah, I didn't feel it. Okay, good, good.

Maybe I'm oversensitive. Yeah. But yeah. I mean, I definitely, when I do, when I do, yeah, when I do an hour, I try to find some kind of like, I mean, on the special is great because I had the animation-specific bits. Yeah. And I was doing that for the live audience as I was preparing. Right. I was explaining this is going to be an animated special.

Right. And the impressions? And then, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I wanted everything in the animated show to, I wanted the live audience to be seeing the same show. Right. So it was all like, this is what they knew what they would be seeing. Right.

It was animated. But, you know, before that, I mean, you know, like when I was like preparing for my album and doing that, I feel like I had like kind of list pieces or more conceptual pieces spread out. it's always good to have, I'm not like a crowdwork comic, but like usually something happens. I'm always ready for something to happen to break character. Right. And I'm always trying to, I mean, wherever I am, I'm like, I mean, it's weird because I was always like, so I'm not this comic. But eventually you kind of converge on, everyone has to do kind of the same tricks to engage a crowd. And I'm like, okay, every place I go, I'm like, I got to say a thing about the place.

Right. Which is like weird for me because I don't do that kind of thing. But I, you know, I try to like do like 10 minutes and then be like, it's great to be here in Cleveland and think of something. I mean, the good news is because I'm breaking character a little bit, there's not a lot of pressure on me to do a full-fledged bit about Cleveland. I can do feeling kind of half-assed. Right. But yeah. Do you see it as a character?

I don't try. I don't really try to be a character. It is how I naturally am on stage. Yeah. But I'm not engaging with the audience. Right. Unless I break character to engage with audience. Right.

So when you say break character, you mean kind of leave the act? Yeah. For me, the act is like every line I say, I'm like really, I really believe it. Right. I believe that this really happened to me. And if it doesn't make sense logically, then that I'm a crazy person who really believes that this happened. I'm just narrating. And I don't acknowledge that like there's a crowd there and I'm just, you know, and people are responding to it.

But that's interesting. But I do break from it a lot. In the short set, I wouldn't break from it very much. But I do break from a lot in a longer set. And I think about, I mean, I try to base. basically not break for a while because I really want to commit to it, you know, for like 10 minutes. Yeah.

And then I kind of get more relaxed kind of as we go along. And there are certain jokes that like the point, like the point of view of like a pun, I mean, there's not a lot, puns don't usually work, but sometimes like there's a great joke that's a pun. And it's like, it's, it's, the point of view is, could be either like, look how smart am I thought this pun, like I'm eye selling a joke, or it could be like, I'm just saying something that happened to me. I mean, the thing I'm thinking,

this is like an old joke from many years ago, but it's like, you know it would be really confusing as if you're performing an abortion and someone ran and yelling, abort, abort. And I say it as though, I really think that'd be confusing. And like the other way to do that pun would be like, yeah, they were supposed to have an abortion,

but I guess they imported it. Like you're hitting it, and that's not the joke that's going to work in the same way. Right. And it's, but I do have, but like with a long set and you build a credibility, you do have some jokes that are like, this is maybe a little bit, like, this is a little bit more throwaway, this little bit more this. And I do kind of relax, flex the character. But I really try to be strategic about the timing of like from beginning to end. And so I'm shifting gears at exactly the right time. Right, right.

It's so interesting to think of you not, not even thinking about the audience being there. Yeah. I mean, I obviously am a lot, but. Yeah. I'm trying to act for when I'm in that, in that zone, yeah. Yeah. Is it, is it difficult to not, like to,

are you having to hold yourself back from like making eye contact? or is it comforting to kind of perform that way? It is, it is like, it's my natural state. And if I'm doing, if I was trying to just be a regular public speaker, it would constantly be a battle to like, you do need to look at them. You do need to make icon, you need to smile. So it's like easy, it's very easy.

It's, I really don't like to see people in the crowd. Right. Because they're always, like, the laughter is an average of everyone and you're always going to see, you know, one person that might hate it. And it's just really stressful to see that. I mean, watching you, it's not like, I don't see it, I don't see it as a character.

I just see you and we don't know each other completely. But I don't see like when we're just talking. Yeah. Like it's not that far from. Yeah, I mean, maybe I'm too more pressures about it than I, or more in my head. No, but I mean, it's really cool. Like, yeah, I get it. I mean, it's, it's, you have to, that's your structure and your, performance. I mean, you're getting into that headspace. I mean, I think, I also think it comes from when I first did kind of finally learn how to make peers laugh. Yeah. It really was like, it was not people that

were my close friends. It really was a little bit performing for people that I was not that close to. So I almost was like learning how to do stand up as I learned how to do comedy. Right. Right. Yeah. It's interesting. Like, uh, If I see people in the audience and it does, I pretty much am like with them. And you see people who are just kind of nonpluss because they're, you know, thinking about their laundry or when they're going to go home or whatever. Yeah. And you never, you know, you can run into those people after the show and they're like,

oh my God, I was so funny. And it's like, well, you know, that old joke will tell your face. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, there's that thing is if I see it, then I want to win them over. Yeah. I'm desperately trying to get them. Yeah, I hate it. And I'll see people, I'll even see people like shaking their heads because I'm not, I'm looking above them. I see the head shake. And that could either be like, that's a positive, like, laughing or like, I don't know what their eyes are doing. Yeah. Or if you see somebody, one person out of a whole theater full of people. Yeah. And one person gets up and. starts walking out. Oh, God. It's like, please go to the bathroom.

If they're probably going to the bathroom. And if they don't come back, I'm like, oh, what did I say? What did I do? It's like, you know, all these other people just laughing their heads off. Yeah. But did you kill you? What do you come back? Marge, where are you?

Like, if I see someone leaving, I'll like panic and I'll be like, oh, just a few minutes left and then even if there's like 40 minutes left to keep other people from leaving. Right, exactly. So when you are performing and you're not looking at them, where do you look? I look above them. You look above just into the black. Yeah. And I guess, I mean, that just is like when I say in my character, like I'm doing what comes naturally to me.

Right. But it's not, it's not what a typical comedian would do about like trying to like act like you're having a normal conversation. Right. Right. Exactly. I know. Which is so that's why you have such a unique style. it's a it's so your own thing yeah well just as all that I mean I could have you are yeah yeah but I mean

it's hard be I mean was it hard in the early days to stick to that because you know when we're starting out you're influenced by everyone around you and did you ever have moments of I should try subconsciously be a little more like that or do a little bit more of this I mean not not really because I feel like I kind of like I I was like so happy with the first time I stand up that like this that my stage fright and not and not doing what you're supposed to is actually working for me right so that always I was like from the very beginning I was like this this is perfect I love that yeah um I there are little things I mean I you know people always people people always said how important is to get up all the time and it's actually

not that important for me because I'm not I think what I think the reason that that's important is because it is so hard to connect with the audience in the real way. But since I'm not doing that, I really like my, like that's kind of like trying to get up all the time and doing the same jokes. Like it's much better for me to spend the time trying to write jokes because that's like the hard part. So just like learning that your process is different.

Yeah. You didn't have to run around and do six sets a night. Yeah, I never had to do that. When I was first trying to do longer sets, I did try to tell stories. And it was, And I kind of realized, like, I'm just telling a story the way, like, a regular person tells a story, not like a comedian.

Where a funny story is, like, a long setup and then a funny thing of that. Right. And, like, I was like, oh, I can't. I mean, I kind of got away with it because I had credibility by that point. But it wasn't even, it was like not even material. It was like, I was taking a break between songs to do, like, an musicianing break in songs. Yeah. To just talk to them and then get back into the actual stand-up.

Right. And I was, for a while, I was like, I. I, okay, so then I'll figure out how to write stories like a comedian. Right. Or do, I mean, same with like observational stuff. And like, I would just like observe the thing and then be done. And I'm like, oh, you have to say 20 different metaphors. Right.

What it's like. And I spend a little time trying to do it. And then it's just like, I don't know if I could have done it or not, but it's so hard once you, once something is easy for you because you figured it out. It's so hard to go back to the beginning with something else. Yeah. Yeah, no. Yeah, that would be very weird at this point. Yeah. All of a sudden, yeah, you start just getting personal and drifty. Do you still love L.A.? Yeah, L.A. is, I mean, I grew up in Alaska and I always dreamed of being in Southern California. And I still like warm weather and I don't mind when it's too hot. I mean, I don't miss seasons. Yeah. Yeah, I don't, I wouldn't. I mean, I kind of daydream about living. other places, but I don't think I ever want.

So you went from Alaska to Boston? Yeah. Was that a, that must, what kind of town in Alaska? I was in Anchorage. Oh, you weren't. And that was, and I mean, my parents, my mom's, I was born there, but my mom's from, like, Boston or Newton and my dad's from Burbank. So I don't have roots there.

And we'd always go back east to visit family. Yeah. How'd you all end up in Alaska? I mean, my parents, when they got married and my dad finished law school, they, he went, they went up, they thought it'd be cool for him to do like this environment. environmental law job there for a year and then they liked it and they stayed. Wow. Was that a good childhood?

I think it was a good childhood. You don't appreciate it. Yeah. I think Alaska was a good place to grow up. I don't want to. No, I did have a good childhood, but I'm just saying at the time, like, I wasn't excited about living in Alaska, I don't think. But like now I like love to go back and like be able to have so much nature. Just because you were a kid and you wouldn't like anywhere you were.

Yeah, I think unless you live in like L.A. or Manhattan, maybe. Yeah, yeah. Those kids kind of, man, Alaska's so special. Yeah. Just seeing Eagles flying around is just such a weird thing. Yeah. I've only been up there a couple times. Yeah. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Anchorage is pretty rough though, right? Rough as in what? You got a lot of like lumberjacks who drink a lot.

Oh, I mean, Anchorage is like the, the cosmopolitan part. of the city. So I mean, that's the joke of Alaska's like, what's the best part about living Anchorage is you're so close to Alaska. It's not actually. Oh, because it doesn't feel like a real Alaskan. Or you're not, if you're, for people that don't live

in Anchorage, you're not like a real Alaskan. Were the winters hard in Anchorage? Were they not as bad? I mean, Anchorage, it's like kind of, you have temperate ocean currents. So I don't think it's necessarily as cold as like, you know, northern like Michigan or Minnesota. It's probably, I remember being typically between zero and 20 and sometimes dipping down to

like 10 below, but not crazy. When you were a teenager, were you just smoking cigarettes saying I'm getting out of here? I didn't smoke a lot of cigarettes, but yeah, I definitely was going to get out of there, yeah. Was it a big shift to go to Boston or you had gone and seen family and stuff? So wasn't that? Is that why you went? Because there was a connection there? No, I just, I mean, anywhere you go, I mean, there's, there's, there's, there's, there's,

at University of Alaska and the Fairbanks one is like I think considered the prestigious school like good research and stuff but like there's not that many most of the options for college

are going to be out of the state and so it was like it would have been the same it's like a five hour plane flight anywhere everything's far yeah right right and I think boss I mean it was such a big change to go from being a kid to being in college that kind of dwarfed

anything about the city of Boston, yeah. Yeah. The geography didn't matter. Now you're sleeping in a room with a stranger. Yeah. How was your first roommate? I had like five roommates. You did?

Yeah. Were you the problem? Me. Yeah, it was, I remember, I think I put on my, like, roommate form, like, I'm shy, so I'd want to be balanced. out by more outgoing roommates, but then I think, realized like, not that they were bad, but I was like, oh, that's probably why they put me in a room with six people. And I probably would have been happier than like a room with one other person. Right. You're just one maniac. Yeah. Was college good for you?

Yeah. It was, it was great. It was like stressful. I, you know, I had, I was like depressed for part of it. Yeah. But I really like my classes in what I was, what I was learning about. And you obviously make, like, you know, deeper friendships than you'll ever make. Yeah. the rest of your life. Yeah. Did you struggle with depression? Or was it just like normal college depression? I mean, yeah, I went to like therapy and took Prozac for a couple of years.

I mean, I think I don't, I've had like a lifetime struggle with it. I think I'm more like more of anxiety issues that sometimes like veer into dread. Right. But yeah. Like in everyday situations or in? Oh, yeah. I mean, anything. I just have, yeah, I just focus on something that I know doesn't matter.

but it's just so I mean to me it's really the one of the most stressful things is uh I'm fairly stressed about money not not not like the idea of running out of money just like the idea of just making the wrong decision about what I'm or you know been paying too much and just the literal just like just on a small scale just on a small scale yeah and there's nothing more stressful in me than like having committed to something without knowing how much money is going to be uh which sometimes happen, you know, if you have like, uh, um, something that has, like, a water heater, you know, needs to be fixed and like, you can't like get a bunch of quotes and it has to be done now and you're just this person and whatever they say I have to pay or, you know, with a car and like, technically

I could, I could like, you know, take the car somewhere else, but I'm not going to. And like, just like that waiting and waiting and not knowing that uncertainty, it kills me. Right. I wonder where that comes from. I think it just, I think money, like money to me, I, I think I'm stressed about just making good decisions and not making bad decisions. And money, it's so obvious what the good decision is because I actually, I actually spent $2.50 more than I could.

You know what I mean? Right. And like other decisions, it's not as obvious, which is why I'll waste time that's worth way more than the money I'm saving by spending that time doing whatever to get a better price because the time doesn't have a number on it that I have to, feel bad about. Right. Right. And is it, is it a bigger thing of, uh, a vulnerability of making enough bad moves that you end up with no money? No, it is just being like, I want to be like, it's just like the like existential like what am I like I, like I want to be a person that

makes good decisions and does what it should be. And I feel kind of shame. If I made, a bad decision, even if it's like, you know, you just, and it just is like being, being a perfectionist about little decisions that don't matter, and it still is important to me that I do them right. Right. That's so interesting. I, um, I don't have any of that. That's nice. I always figure, I always figure I'm making all the wrong decisions. I always figure I'll probably make the wrong decision, but it'll work itself out somehow. Yeah. I'm a, I'm a little, I'm getting better at that as I get older. Yeah.

And obviously, once you have a kid in a house, you're so overwhelmed by the amount of, you know, money that stuff this money is spent on. Yeah. That you kind of just get numb to it, I guess. Right. Right. Yeah. You just kind of like, yeah. But it's, it is kind of silly.

Yeah. All of it. Yeah. Like, both approaches are probably just as troublesome. Yeah. You know? Yeah. I mean, like, you know, anything, your moderation.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. I have a friend who any time I'd be, if I would just say something like, you know, we'll just go stay at that hotel if we're going away with them. He'd be like, you're just hemorrhaging money. It would drive them crazy.

You're not even, you're not giving any thought to this at all. No, I remember I got, I was doing this stand-up show to college with John Benjamin. Uh-huh. And he's like, oh, I booked a hotel for us. It was like, it was in. It was in Dallas and it was like, you know, a 300-something dollar hotel, but it was like, it was at like the University of Texas campus that was like, so we had to go to the hotel,

go all the way to wherever town that campus is in there. You probably could get a hotel for like $60. Right. And then drive all the way back to downtown Dallas, you know, for like a few hours we have to get up and go to the airport in the morning. Right. Just to stay in the nice hotel. Yeah.

Yeah. They did have like this little thing of olives that, you know, they left out. Oh, that's nice. With the little bamboo shoot? Yeah. Yeah. That's fancy. That was nice.

Yeah. Have you, have you passed this on to your children? No. I mean, I definitely pass some anxiety onto them, but they are definitely are not frugal about money and they don't like it when I am. Oh, that's good. Yeah. That's good. Is anxiety always a thing you have to deal with?

Yeah, I mean, I've read I you know, I I read about you know accounts of people like more severe anxiety and like oh I guess I shouldn't complain because it's not that bad. It's never like disabling and like overwhelming me. But it is it does kind of always in the background. And yeah, it just is something just like just like just this kind of noise that's always in the background that I always have to live with. Right. And did you get better at living with it? Like is it that kind of a thing? I mean kind of I think like I. I. I think like I. Um, my attitude has shifted a little bit. I've tried, I've done some stuff with like mindfulness and meditation. I'm not great at it, but, you know, um, but it does help a little bit. And I mean, a big part of it is if you can reframe your anxiety as excitement. And, you know, anytime I'm anxious about something and it gets resolved, I feel so good. Yeah. Um, and I almost now try to like, as soon as something happens, like, I can't believe I have to deal with that.

It's going to be so stressful then. Right. I start to think about, oh, but when it's done, I'll be so. is so happy in a way that I wouldn't have had that happiness if the stressful thing didn't happen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you feel that this morning when you woke up and knew you had to come to this podcast? No, I've done, I've been doing, I was, I like did have done very few podcasts in my life. And I just recently, because of the special, I finally was like, I have to start doing them. And I've done enough now that I feel comfortable with it. But yeah, that used to be like,

that or like doing radio used to be like a paralyzing. fear for me. Right. Because you felt like you had to be on and... Yeah, or just the idea that it's going to live forever and like anything you say is going to be forever. But then the more stuff that's out there that lives forever, the more just a big pile of stuff about you there is. It's like, you know, when people post a picture of you that you look ugly, or not you, but one of me where I look ugly. Definitely me. And eventually there's like so many of those pictures out there that what does one more matter? Right.

It's always so weird too because it's such a hard concept to wrap my head around that what I see in that picture, that horrible picture of me is not what anyone else sees. And like what I see is like, oh, what a monster. Other people see that all the time and are okay with it. Yeah, yeah. It's so weird. And like when you go through life, you meet so many interesting, weird-looking people that you never have that reaction to them that you would. Never. Like any of your, yeah. Yeah, never. Yeah. People are so different and funny looking. Yeah. There's like so much going on with every human face. And you're just like, oh, that's just them.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But you think, oh, my God. Look at my neck. Look at my neck. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a monster. Yeah, I've never met anyone that has like a neck as horrifying as mine. And yet there must be. It's not pretty people out there. Oh, when you were saying the thing about the water heater. Yeah.

Is that where that great joke came from? Yeah. Oh, exactly. That is where it came from. Yeah. That's such a great joke. The first time that, yeah, you own a house and you're, there's no hot water. They're like, oh, well, hopefully it'll be on in a few hours.

Like, oh, no, wait. It'll never be on until I fix it. it. Yeah. But that's not the joke. No, the joke. Oh, yeah. I'll tell the joke.

You want to tell the joke? Yeah, great. It's such a good joke. It's, uh, when you're little and you, and you hear noise in the middle of the night, you're like, please be the water heater, not a monster. But when you grow up, you're like, please be a monster, not my water. It's such a good joke. Yeah.

Oh, thank you. I just sit in my house every night and I'm like, what's that noise? I never heard that before oh shit there's always somebody having to come over to the house and fix things I can't fix anything

I'm really not good I don't have that skill do you you know I just have bad fine motor skills same reason I can't do magic and I would love the idea of like how things work and I love the idea of doing stuff myself

and I always try to but like I would just something as simple like drilling a hole on the wall to bolt something in. Yeah. Then when I try to screw it in, it won't go in. No. And there's something like my hand must just be shaking or moving as the drill's going in. I don't know what it is because it's like...

Yeah. Were you thinking about other things? Yeah. Yeah. I don't get it either. But then the band, I always feel like the bandwidth for getting someone to fix something is often harder than just fixing it yourself. Although what I usually do is I spend a lot of time not doing it because I'm going to fix

myself. Right. And then I try and I can't. And then after a lot of effort, then I hire someone in that anyways. Yeah. We have a friend Robert's a handyman. Oh, that's nice. And I call him for everything.

Yeah. And it's so much better. Yeah. Because there's so many times I'm like, I'll just fix that hinge. Yeah. And then I'm like, you don't. Yeah. And then when you do, it's worse.

Yeah. And just call Robert. Just call Robert. And the pressure of like the door's off. like if you can't figure something out right you can't just leave the door off or you're in the middle of it so you have to or like there's wet pain or wet

or wet, whatever yeah, it's a problem now yeah I had the, uh, my, all of a sudden, the kitchen sink, um, water pressure just got super low. Uh-huh. And everything else was cool. All the other faucets were fine. So it's not a house thing.

Something's up with this. Yeah. And I was like, I looked underneath the sink. Yeah. And I saw knobs. And I saw the tubes. And I'm like, I probably can just start turning on. And I'm like, no.

Just call the plumber. Just call him. And he came over. And it was something like in the tube, like a rubber thing. And over time, that's why I've been getting weaker. And he took that whole thing off and got the rubber thing out. And now we've got water pressure like I can't believe. I'm so excited.

I just keep running it. Look at this pressure. But if I. I had tried it myself. Yeah. It would have been a disaster. Yeah. We all have our talents.

Yeah. Yeah. That's the way to think of it. You know what I mean? Yeah. Yeah. You write great jokes. You don't have to try and fix the thing.

I mean, I like, but I also have the curiosity about, like, how things work. And that, I like that side of it. Like, my, if I could do it, if my hands would work, I think I find it rewarding to do this stuff. But it's just not worth it. Yeah. Right. Was that hard for you when you were a kid, like having to do gym class? class? I mean, I was never much of an athlete. Yeah, there's always. And I mean, gym class was,

the hard part was like doing like Little League and stuff. And I'm like, which I was optional. I totally could have just not done it. But like, I would just like nervous about throwing wild and then I, you know, and then, you know, and then because I was nervous, I would and I'd be embarrassed about it. Right. Yeah. It's hard being a person. Yeah. Do your kids have skills? Yeah, our son and our daughter too We're both like great athletes Which surprises me I don't know where they got it from

That's amazing And yeah and they're Yeah and good of music and just good at stuff That's great I mean my wife and I are very different I think that having two different people Is sometimes good for Yeah

They'll get at least one good gene for each thing Yeah That's why they're She's yelling all fucking kill you. That's me. That's what might have been me. So what are you going to do now, now that this special is out?

I mean, what's your, like, it'll take another eight years to get another hour together. I might be able to do it faster if I'm actually focused on it. But yeah, it'll take a while. Are you feeling like, focus now? Yeah, I am. I mean, it's, if I get something that, a project, that's taking out my time, I guess there'll be a good problem to have. But for now, that will be my main thing.

That's my main thing. Do you work out in town? Do you go do spots here in town? Yeah, I haven't been doing it down. I will just do it when I have new jokes. So actually, my goal, my initial goal, which I just did, was to have a 10-minute set, not like new jokes, but sets have not been on my special or album. Okay.

And I just did that. And then, because even though they're all jokes I've done, before a bunch of times like doing a whole new order of stuff, the new opener and closer. Yeah. It's stressful. And I figure, okay, I figure that out. Then if I go up to 15 and then 20, then I'll be able to do any spot in town

because it's never more than that. Yeah. And then I can just fold in new jokes until I have enough to go do somewhere. Right. Yeah. Oh, that's cool. Did you have anxiety about performing? Was that ever a thing?

Well, I always have stage fright. Yeah. You do? Yeah. But that's kind of like part of my character. I think I'd do like better when I'm nervous. When you're nervous? Yeah.

And was it ever to the point of like I can't get up or like that kind of dread or just normal? I mean maybe the first time. Normal like. The first time I did it. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't cobble you up. Yeah.

It's like a good manageable. Right. Yeah. Yeah. You always have to be a little on edge. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

It's funny though to hear like, you know, you get nervous about whatever with life or whatever and stuff, but then to stand up in a room. It's so counterintuitive, right? It's so like, well, what I always think about is like, if I have like one person that I'm worried doesn't like me, like that, you know, that waiter I talk to or there, or someone honked at me or something, it would eat in me all day. And then I can go be on, when you're bombing, you have like, you know, hundreds of people that all hate you at once and I'm just fine. with that. Yeah, it's weird.

Yeah. It's a weird thing. What are you going to do with the bread? Looks like there's oil to dip in it? No, I mean, when you get home. Oh. You don't have to eat it here. I'm going to give it to you in a bag.

You bring it to your family. I mean, I love putting avocado on bread. I don't know if we have any fresh one. People will stop it. Trader Joe's on the way. Yeah. We don't have any to give you. I wasn't a demand.

You just saying, yeah. It felt like it. And I usually don't put olive oil and bread, but seeing it there is making me think that would be pretty good. Yeah, it is good. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I congratulations on your special. Thank you.

It's really good. I was really surprised. I didn't, no one told me it was animated. Oh, cool. So it was like this cool little surprise. Oh, cool. Yeah. And that it more than worked was really great.

Thank you. And really fun to watch. And for you know, there are certain. there's certain comics that were very well written and have got great jokes that you almost, like listening on Sirius XM, like they play great. Yeah. Like it almost brings it to another place, you know,

because it's where other people are if they're very performative and, you know. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And you're missing it from. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you really, you nailed it with the animation. And it was really, uh, really well done.

And come back anytime. I will. Thank you. All right. Thanks, Dan. We got it, kids.