Breaking Bread with Tom Papa - Episode 347 - Sarah Tiana

Episode Date: September 18, 2026

Sarah Tiana and Tom trade stories about difficult rooms, Dodgers jokes, writing for sports television, and finding meaningful ideas without making comedy feel like a lecture. Sarah Tiana also shares her elaborate slot-machine routine and discusses Women’s Sports Now on ESPN. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Do you write jokes about them for that room? Would I in that situation? No, I would call you. Oh, okay, because I'm like, I've done jokes, like, shows for the royals, and I, yeah. And you write jokes specifically for them. Specifically for the players in the room, but then I also go up to all the players before, and I go, give me a joke about Pasquantina. You do.

Uh-huh. And then now they're invested because they gave me a joke. It's breaking bread. Thank you for being here. You're welcome. We just like dove into. I baked you this bread last night. You did?

Yeah. So that's for you and yours. Thank you. You and your family and your new husband. My new husband. Does it feel like a new husband? Because you've been together forever. We have been together for a long time.

It does feel different. It does. And maybe it's because I'm going through the process of changing my name. So like that feels different. It also feels like I lost like 30 minutes of materials, so that definitely feels different. Yeah. Yeah. Because, like, so much of my identity was like, he's never asked me to marry him.

We're not married because of this. We're not married because of this. That's funny. And now it's like, it feels like when John Panette lost weight, you know? I know Robert Kelly all of a sudden. This was skinny. Yeah, you're like, now what am I going to talk about? Wait a minute.

Oh, yeah. But have you recorded that material? Is it down? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's recorded. So it's fine. But it's still like it just, I think a big part of why I was so nervous even to get married was because it did feel like this identity that I've had for when I'm 48.

So 48 years of just like, I'm single. No one will marry me. Yeah. It's like gone. Yeah. That's always weird. And it takes a beat for your act to catch up to the new life because your new life, you don't really know it yet. like it kind of has to settle in it's like whenever like we like if my daughter was born you know

and he had all these jokes about whatever and then it took like it was like on delay yeah yeah no I think that that that was the same for motherhood you know where they're just like I remember comparing it to the bachelor where it's like you meet this new man and you're like I mean I don't know this feels really soon right and then you know it was during COVID so once I I was shot, you know, locked up with him for a few weeks. I was like, I think I loved him. Like, it took a second. But I think with being married, it feels like, I don't know, like wearing a ring is like new and different.

Like seeing him wear that. Like, yeah. And just being able to say husband and not boyfriend at this age is such a relief. It feels like so much of a burden has been taken off of my shoulders. There's no questions. Yeah, and I don't have to like do a caveat. It's just like he's my boyfriend. Well, we've been together.

Yeah. Yeah. How long were you together? Ten years. Ten years. Yeah. I have that same thing with living in L.A. Like, I can't just tell people I live in L.A.

I'm like, where do you live? Where's home? I live in L.A. But I'm really a New Yorker. I was born in New Jersey. I'm really East Coast, but I've been only out here for 15 years. Yeah. I think that happens with anybody.

A lot of, I feel like I do that with Georgia, where I'm just like, I live in L.A. I'm from Georgia originally. Yeah. But I live in L.A. Because L.A. is not really, yeah, it's not really a... It is home for me now, though, because I've lived here longer than I've lived anywhere else. You have? Yeah, because we were... I was five when we moved to Georgia. So then I lived there until I was 22. So that was 17 years. And now I've been here 25.

25. It's crazy. Jeez, Louise. I know. Goes about fast. That's really fast. Yeah. How long have you lived out here? 67 years. Wow, that is a long time.

You still can't find the restaurant that you like. You still don't know how to get anywhere. I still don't know the difference between Eagle Rock and Los Felice. Right. There's a difference. I don't know. Yeah, I still don't know neighborhoods. You know, when I first moved here, because I moved to L.A. in 2001, we had to have the Thomas guide to get around everywhere.

Do you remember the Thomas guide? When I think of you, I always think of you moving here recently. Like, to me, you've been a New Yorker and then you just moved here like during COVID or something. That's how I feel. Okay. That's how it's literally how I feel. And I've been in this house for 12 years, 13 years. And I had a house before that here.

See, I think I just associate people with moving here when I met them. Yeah. Like when I met you maybe like 10 years ago and I'm like, well, then that's probably. when you moved here. Right. Right, exactly. Because I would have known you before then. I do like that people don't really have a handle on it. No, I definitely don't. When people ask, like, yeah, they don't know where you live. It means I don't get out much. But I do like that thing, you know. Yeah, I think, yeah, I just feel like living here, there's, there's just so many different pockets. And like, I, when I first started doing comedy and I would have the Thomas guide or I was, like,

doing extra work, I would get directions to the location, but I would always not use directions to go home so that I always knew how to get places everywhere. Yeah, yeah. It's just something probably my dad taught me. It was just like, I think also just being a woman, I always wanted to know where I was, where my surroundings are, which way is north, you know, like I just want to have my bearings in case I needed to escape. Escape, yeah.

Run for murder. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not wearing a ponytail and I know how to run for murder. And yeah, so then I feel like I still have a, I still do that even. Like, now I will load in the directions. It's just because I want to see what's the best route to take and how long it's going to take me to get there. Right, yeah.

But I don't need the GPS to get to El Segundo. Yeah. Yeah. I'm the opposite where I now put on the GPS and let the self-driving do it. And I just kind of hang out. I'm not interested in. No. driving.

So you're totally fine with a self-driving car. Completely fine. It's such a better driver than I am. It really is. I wish everybody would do it, honestly, because I hate so many of the drivers. It's so much, like, when I'm out there, I can, I know when it's a human. Because there's emotion behind it. There's like a, like you can feel all of it.

Yeah. And the car is just, no, there's this much space. I'm taking this much space and I'm moving over here. People are really bad drivers out here. And they get aggressive and then they get angry. And then I get angry at how aggressive they're being. I have a child in the car. Yeah.

But I think I have an automated drive feature in my new car. And I have not used it and I'm too afraid. You're still, to take it over is just like this on the steering wheel or just a tap on the brake. It's like you're still engaged. Okay. up to a point. Then when you really trust it, you're not engaged at all.

You're just kind of... Just falling asleep, doing work. Like, any time that there's been a report of, like, an accident or something, I know that they were just, you know, completely negligent. Yeah. These cars are so...

Like, they could see everywhere all the time. Like, I come out of the studio, and you've got to get on to the main street, and there's all these parked cars, and I can't see shit. I can't see... anything. But as long as the car's nose is out there, it's seeing everything. And it's like, you look to the right, you look to the left, it's looking everywhere all at once. It's just so much

better. You heard that Orney Adams joke about whenever, like how people get in car accidents all the time. He's like, yeah, of course, everyone's on their phone. But it makes me wonder how anyone ever got in a car accident before cell phone. What were you doing? All you had to do was look at the road. There was nothing else to do. That's so funny. It's such a funny joke. I had a great orny run in, I was in Santa Fe, New Mexico doing a show in the little Santa Fe. And this guy just walks by in a diner. And it was a vacationing Orney Adams. He just like stopped in front and I was like, oh, he knows me from comedy. And I look closer. It was Orney. He had sunglasses and like board shorts and was just like on vacation in Santa Fe passing through.

Santa Fe. Yeah. A destination vacation. Orne Adams. I love that. I love that for him. I know. I was really proud of him.

I guess, but you were doing a club there. I was doing a show, a theater. You were doing a theater there? Yeah. Yeah. Was he immediately like, oh, they have a show here? Yeah. I just see him.

I never imagine Orney ever taking a vacation. I know. That's what I mean. All he does is write and create. He always has something. something new. Yeah. No, he's always. To the point where I feel guilty. I don't want to be on shows with him because I don't want to feel guilty about how I have nothing new. Really? Yeah. But I mean, I also just want to like watch his stuff because he's so funny. But also I'm like, ugh, I don't have anything. Yeah. I know. Right, exactly. What am I doing? I know. I had that. Yeah. I did this thing where I'm like, let me just work some local stuff so I can like work on things. And then, You don't. And you just show up.

And you're like, why am I here if I'm just going to do my best of? You know? Yeah, you have to be a little more bold. Yeah. And it's like I've written stuff down. But I don't. You always have stuff, though. You're always.

You write a ton. I feel like I write a lot of stuff, but not necessarily stand-up stuff. But then when I am performing, a lot of times I'm up so early that I don't feel like I really have the space to just try new stuff when I have the opening spot. Because if I have a bad set, then it's like the rest of the people after me, it's going to be tough work for them. And I don't want it to be tough work for them. It's really about, there is pressure in that first spot because, yeah, if you, yeah, there's just,

you have to work, you have to do more because everyone's getting settled and they're getting in and doing the thing. I got a spot at 930 in the main room the other day, and the show was at 9. And normally I'm the 9 o'clock spot. I can't even remember the last time I've had a spot that wasn't the opening spot. And listen, I don't mind doing that spot because it's the only spot that's on time and it pays the same. And so I'm like, I'll do it. Yeah.

Nobody else wants to do it. I'll do it. Yeah. But I went up at 930 and just destroyed. And everyone was like, oh my gosh, that was so good. I go, yeah. I mean, this is what it would be like if I didn't start doing, like, performing when people were still sitting down and ordering. No, it's so much easier.

And there's been three comics up before you and it's all loosened up. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's a lot easier. Yeah. It's just like, you know, in baseball, it's like if somebody has to come in from the bullpen cold, it's going to be a second. Right. Before, they might give up a home run.

But that's what's always because I'm always right after you. in town. You're welcome. Yeah. Really. And I'm always impressed because you're always, you always kill. There's a lot of people that take that spot. And, you know, it's rough, but you always kill them.

You're very good. Well, I think that's very nice. But I also think I've had a lot of practice at it. But also, if I was booking the room, I would book me first too. Like, I'm jolly and happy. With great jokes. Yeah. You're getting them into the rhythm of listening to good material?

Yes. I do a bunch of jokes. and then some of them are smart, some of them are silly. You're not going to get mad at them in turn if it's... Telling them, I'm not doing crowdwork of any kind. Have you ever snapped on an audience? No, I did say something to an audience at Soho House Malibu a couple months ago because... I was getting cackled by the ocean.

It was so loud. And then the place was playing this loud music. And then no one in the room was laughing. And I had the entire UCLA basketball team there as my guest. And I was like, oh, this is great. You know, National Championship team. They all came here to see me. And I'm freaking bombing.

And so I, like, said something to the ladies in front. And then I realized that they were all older. And I was like, oh, well, of course you can't laugh because your faces can't move. But I know that you're, like, happy on the inside. Like, that is, like, the most I won't. That's about as mean as you get. That's about as mean as I'll get. Yeah.

Did you get out of that set? No. No. No. Oh, what a bummer. That's annoying. No. And they were like...

The ocean? It was so loud. Because why the windows were open? Yes. It doesn't even matter how close they are. It's loud. Oh, geez. You know, just like every wave crashing, every second.

It was just like, it was a lot. Yeah, it's a lot. Yep. Oh, that's the worst when you have like, there's a gig that I know some comedians have done for the Yankees. Mm-hmm. It's like a charity thing once a year. And it's all of the Yankees. And all of them from all time, of all time. Of all time. Everyone, even dead ones.

Ew, wow. That's an impressive list. I know. And but, you know, I'm a Yankee fan. I know. We've been through this. We've been through this. But we're still friends. And they're very corporate environment. And they're not guys that are there to laugh at themselves. And everyone I know who's done it and really great people have just bombed. There's no way I would take that gig. As much as I want. want to be around the Yankees and be whatever. That thing of like, UCLA came to see me and they have to see me struggle. And now they just, they don't know what I'm capable of. Do you write jokes about them for that room? Would I in that situation? No, I would call you. Oh, okay.

Because I'm like, I've done jokes like shows for the royals and I, yeah. And you write jokes specifically for them. specifically for the players in the room, but then I also go up to all the players before, and I go, give me a joke about Pasquantina. You do. Uh-huh. And then now they're invested because they gave me a joke.

Right. Is the joke. Sometimes. You're so smart. You know? And then I get them all to give me jokes about the other one. I write a few more while we're mingling, and then I do all those. Really?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right that, so you'll read them off? I have a bunch. Will you have them on a piece of paper? Usually they're on my phone. I have them printed out, but then I have a Google Doc on my phone that I'm also looking at. You're not up there just trying to memorize and get up there right after that. No, then I'll just like write it into the Google Doc on my phone.

And then I'll also try certain jokes out on them, like just one. I'm not going to tell them all of them because I want them to laugh. But I'll be like, is this funny about Bobby? And then they'll be like, uh, you know, like, and then sometimes they'll help me correct it. Ah, that's even better. That's even better. And then they're super invested. And then it's like, I don't care.

Like all that matters is that the team likes me. I don't really care if like the owner does. That's right. Yeah, who cares? Exactly. You just want these people your fans have. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, you gave me this advice when I was doing the Dodger thing. Oh, yes. Uh-huh. Right? When I was doing the Dodger thing for the Netflix festival. Yes. And it was like, yeah, why am I thinking that they're going to be interested in the jokes about my wife? Oh, well, they will also do that.

Like, I do. Like, they will also like that. Yeah. They have wives too. Right. But you have to kind of, you have, it's about them. The thing, the reason why the Yankees don't laugh is because they're the New York Yankees. Yes.

And it's like, it's like if you ever do like a corporate gig for salesmen, like top salesmen, they don't care about your life. They're there at this conference because this is their job and this is their thing and they're the most important thing. in those situations crowd work talk to them acknowledge that they're important and it'll go great. So many times just as a comedy purist I was like I'm going to do my

act. This is about my act and I'm going to win them over with my stuff and no you're not going to. They're not interested in your problems. No they're not but they also don't always understand

a lot of reference that you're making. Like if you're talking about like prices at the grocery store, like they don't go to the grocery, like they don't go to the grocery store. Right. They don't know. It's like, it's why the, I think it's also why hosting the Svues is really hard.

It's because it's not that the athletes don't have a sense of humor, which, you know, they have a sense of humor with each other. Sure. But they also, like they also, they, A, they don't want to not look cool. Right. They don't always have the best sense of humor. they don't always understand the pop culture references because unless it was on Instagram with someone that they follow, they probably have not seen the story.

They also don't know any other athletes because you cannot be Shohei Otani and know who Lamar Jackson is. You know what I mean? Like you cannot be that good. You're not Aaron Judge watching, you know, the Jets on the weekend. You know what I mean? You're not, you can't be that good. Right.

And then also have just a regular life. That's right. That's a great point. Yeah, they're a point of reference. Yeah, they live in a bubble. So get into their bubble and then do jokes within their bubble. Right, right. Yeah.

Yeah. I think the best advice you gave me that night was, well, anytime you do these kind of things, call me. Yeah, always. And I was like, yeah, that makes perfect sense. Why could I not use this amazing weapon? That's what Ken did. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, he hosted it. And then I. Yeah. Helped him write all that. Right, exactly. Oh yeah, and read it off prompter. Yeah. I'm like, why do I have to make this so hard on myself? Well, I mean, I think it's also like, it's not just the Dodgers that were there.

Right. That night, you had a great set because I got to see it. And like, I was in the crowd. By that time, I actually had, the Braves were in town that week. And I went into the crowd to watch that show. And this guy taps me on the shoulder. And he's like, oh, hey, you probably don't know. me, but I'm a big fan.

I go, I know exactly who you are. You're C.J. Nikkowski, you're the Braves Play-by-Play Play-Play announcer. And he's like, oh, cool. He's like, I'm a big fan. I go, what? And, like, then him and then, like, the other play-by-play guy and the whole production team, they ended up coming to the comedy store with me after that show.

Really? And we hung out all night. It was so cool. And they gave me tickets the rest of the week to the games, which is, which saved me $8 million. Right. And I got to go to batting practice. and bring my son there. It was amazing. It was an incredible show, but I did see your set, and it was very good. Because I think that also, it's not just the players that are there.

It was Dodgers fans, but there are still real people there. Like, that would come to a regular Netflix is a joke comedy show. Yeah. It definitely is a mix. There was definitely sports fans and comedy fans. I think it's got to be tough for people like you that are so used to showing up at a venue and everyone's there to see you. Yeah. But I think that's why going to the club all the time is so great. Because you don't stay in that bubble all the time. Like just go to the comedy store or Largo or whatever.

That's why I do it because a lot of the people don't know who you are. But I did do one joke about Muncie for the Dodger. That was the only sports joke I did was about Muncie. And it was so fun. because I said how, I said it's very intimidating being in these events with all these athletes because they're all just, they're just in such great shape. Everyone's just like, we're comedians. We're like trolls next to these people.

And I said, these guys are just like gods. I said, where's Muncie when you need them? Oh, because he wasn't there. He wasn't there. And the place when crazy was, boo and yay. And there was no one knew what to feel. and what? Yeah.

But it was the most fun moment of the whole set. Oh, I love that. I love that. I know. Is he hurt right now? He lost, he lost some weight. After that? After that.

You were his motivator. Yeah. I shamed him. Max Montsday, I think, is only like 29 years old, but he looks like he's 45. That's the other thing. It's been a coach for a long time or something. Right. They're all babies.

They're such babies. They're so young. That's the other thing. This is like their point of reference in their life. Yeah. I think. But man, you really, I mean, you love it. This is just a great thing that's happened, that you love comedy and you love sports.

Yeah. Because this is such a good moment. Really? I mean, sports is like the only thing in entertainment that's still working. Yes, I know. Really? I'm very lucky that like just so happened maybe like 10 years ago really started. I was already.

working in a lot of sports like I would get asked to and then I really just started branding myself as that because I was already such a big fan and people always needed it and I was starting to get starting to get more interviews for stuff and to the point where I just started going like listen I would go into meetings or generals yeah and I'd be like I know sports country music and the military if you know that if you need that I'm your girl yeah if you don't I can help but I probably not your girl. Right. And, you know, I'm like, that's such a great thing to say. That's such great confidence. And then, but you know what helps with sports too? It's like you can ask anybody if they like sports in a meeting. And as soon as they start talking about their team, I know tons of stuff

about their, like we're instantly in a conversation. And hopefully they'll remember that. But I don't, like, I don't know. You have such a great sports brain too, though, because I, you know, You have lots of people in my life that like sports, and I'm one of them, but it doesn't all stick. The names, even my beloved teams, and they talk about, remember in that Super Bowl? And you're like, kind of. No. You really, it's all in your head. Really?

See, I don't think that it is. Really? With my husband, he has that brain. Like he remembered who won the Iditarod like 10 years ago. And I'm like, what? I don't think I could even. He's all sports. I don't even think I know how to spell that.

He knows all of it. Yeah. He really. He could tell you every Super Bowl winner, every, you know, like I could just be like, oh, did so-and-so ever win MVP? He'd be, oh, yeah, Super Bowl 52. Oh, really? Like, just his recall.

Well, that's just because you live with an autistic sports person. Yes. That you think that you're lacking. Yeah. But for us, we're mortals. Yeah. It could be that I just feel compared to him. But I mean, like, the Braves won the World Series in 2021.

I don't think I could name the starting lineup. Right. And I watch every single game. I literally watch every single Braves game. Yeah. If I'm not listening watching it, I'm listening to it on the radio on the way to and from the store. Don't you love listening? I like listening even better.

Love it. It's the best. I like, I bring a headphone to the game. You do. I'll put one in. But what about the delay? It's never in sync. It's never in sync.

But that's okay. Yeah. I just, I, you know, sometimes I need to hear, because I'm keeping score usually, so, like, I need to hear, like, what the play. Because the Dodger Stadium, you can't see what the play was ruled. It doesn't show up immediately on the board. Right. Sometimes if it's, like, a weird one or if it was an error, I want to know that.

Yeah. Hearing the call helps me. Man, that's always been my dream, my quiet dream, is to just go to games by myself. It's fantastic. With the radio in my ear. Why don't you? I'm socially awkward. Oh, I go all the time by myself.

You do? All the time. Really? All the, it's my... It's the best, right? It's absolutely one of my favorite things to do. It's something that my husband has let me do ever since he's met me. He's like, oh, I'll come, and I go, finally after a couple of...

I was like, I just want, one of the games, I need to go alone. Yeah. Because I don't want you to watch me while I scream, while I get upset. Like, I just need to have these moments alone. I've also met a lot of interesting people just sitting there in a seat by myself. Can also get a better seat if I'm just buying one. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

Oh, every, I mean, look, it's fun to go with your friends. Of course. But to just roll in and not have to ask, should we get something to eat? Should we do this? should we do that, just, and just go and just, it's just, ah. I just watched, no one yapping. No one's talking to me, the whole game. And you're missing stuff.

Oh, my friend, one time I was at the Dodgers game, and my friend, Chiquet Ocunquo was there. He's this incredible actor. If you ever watch, like, LaBreya, he also reads a lot of books, and he's on the calm app. He has, like, the most beautiful voice. Anyway, he was at the game. and he's never been to a baseball game. And I was very excited to see him, but I was there alone, and I was like, Chiquay, I love you.

But do not ask me any questions unless it is incredibly important. Because I don't want to be sitting here the whole time. I hate going to games with people who've never been because I don't want to be telling them what's going on the whole time. I'm like, if you don't want to be here, don't be here. You know what I mean? Or just go, you know, sit at the top, you know, with people who are doing. just happy to be alive, you know? But when you're down here on the first baseline, you know, with me in the trenches,

you know, you got to catch up. And so anyway, he didn't ask you any questions. Everyone's why we'd just talk about something else. And then finally about the seventh inning, he goes, I do have a question. And I go, what is it? And he goes, I'm like, here it comes. Like, what's a strike or whatever? And he goes, what is it?

When you walk to first base, you're safe. But when you run there, you're out. he's like, what is the rush? And I was like, that is literally the best thing I've ever been asked. It's a good one. And I think you've just explained baseball better than anyone else. Yeah, he was like a cricket fan. So, like he liked cricket.

Yeah. So he's willing. He understood like the concept of hitting a ball and catching it or throwing it. But like the rule aspect didn't make sense to him. I was very proud of you because I was in some place on the road, getting ready for a show, and they were promoing the MLB Awards. I'm like, I know who wrote that thing. But really, I mean, that level of, I mean, you're writing for all of these great sports shows

because that part of entertainment is like the thing. And everybody wants a live audience and sport is what delivers it. And you're in a good orbit. It's really great. I mean, it is. It's kind of nice to just watch things that, or write about things that you have a true passion about. So it's like, you know, I mean, I have friends that watch every Real Housewives, and they're very passionate about that and listen to it, you know, but I'm like,

so if there was a Real Housewives Award show, surely they would be very good at that. Just so it happens that I love something that more people watch on a very regular basis. Yeah, but you're a hard worker. I mean, you are a real writer. I mean, you crank out screenplays, you crank out for your act. You're always writing. It's impressive. Always doing something.

It feels like, you know, especially the screenplay, gosh, we just had another rewrite on our Christmas movie. It's probably the 12th one that we've had to open up and rewrite. And it's just like, but to me it's like a screenplay never dies. Yeah. So if I'm not writing on a show, like, and I'm not working on something, like, on a daily basis. And I'm like, I better be writing a movie because to me, those are just savings accounts. Like, someday somebody's going to buy one.

Right, yeah, yeah. And then they're going to be like, what else you got, kid? Yeah. And I want to be able to be like, here's four more. Right. That's so smart. Take a gander. Yeah.

Has that changed at all having another little person in the house? What, like having to write? Being able to write. Like, did you have a... schedule that got kind of blown up when you formed a family? Yes, I guess. But I thought I was going to be able to write way more stand-up having a child. And like, I just don't have the brain capacity as much. Because you're writing all this other stuff? I think so. Yeah. But then also, like, I think, I don't know. I think I might also just be lazy. That could be,

No, everybody tells me that I'm not, and I'm like, I don't know. I feel like I've gotten really good at mahjong on my phone. I know what you mean, but you're doing, it's hard to, it's hard to write multiple things. It really is. Yeah, I feel like there's, there's just always, you know, I've been trying to meet up with, you know, some of my comic friends, like, once or twice a week just to, like, talk and, like, see if there's anything that kind of comes out of like a writing or like hey i was thinking about this idea like is this funny is it interesting and you know and so that has helped me don't you have

those moments when you're like spending all this time on the other stuff and you just think oh if i put all of this effort into those into my act yeah into those files that are sitting there on the other part of the computer waiting for me that act would be pretty kick-ass. Yes, I do think that. Yeah. And I think, gosh, Sarah, get it together. Like, if I just, like, sat down and wrote my act the way that I write a screenplay

or the way that I would write an award show or just jokes about baseball, you know. But then when I do have a joke that, like, for me, it's not just like, it's more just like, what do I want to write about? Like, things don't always come to me. ideas don't really come to me. And then I, you know, like, the other day we posted a clip about me being from Calhoun, Georgia, and, like, lots of people from Georgia, like, glommed onto it, and they really liked it. And I was like, oh, man, I should write some more stuff about Calhound.

And then I just start thinking about, like, oh, man, what else was interested in about our town? You know, it's like, you know, your town's small when, like, you have to go to other towns to do stuff. you know or it's like you went and it wasn't when i say do stuff it's just like go to an oh charlie's you know you have to get out of town yes so it's like yeah i don't know like just i don't know so then it's like oh okay then maybe i can open that up you know or every once in a while i'll have i'll have an idea and i'm like oh that's really poignant because it's like i don't want to just do stuff that's not meaningful, like stuff that's not kind of saying something without saying something, you know?

Yeah. Some of my stuff is absolutely like that. Yeah. But then every once in a while, I'm like, I would like to have maybe take a stance. Make a point. Make a point. You know? And like, I did that with the thing about banning books and, like, books being gay.

And I was like. It's a great joke. Yeah. So, like, I have that. Mm-hmm. And, like, the one that went viral about Calhoun was. about how I had, I saw this thing on Facebook about them wanting to change the name of Calhoun High School

to not reflect the piece of shit that it was named after, John C. Cahun, who actually changed parties because his party became anti-slavery, and he was like, no, I'm going to, I better change, because obviously this is catching on and it's a really good thing, I'm going to double down. He was a bad person and a really bad gambler. I'm going to stick it. Yeah, sticking with it. And anyway, the whole point of that bit was just like men were like, you can't change the name, you know.

It's not about history. It's about heritage. And I'm like, well, men ask women to change their name all the time. So like that's kind of like, I like being able to figure out a way to make a point in the middle where and then still go on to deliver a few more punchlines about it. But hidden in the middle. Yeah, a little spoonful of sugar. A little. Yeah.

Yeah. Helps the medicine go to home. Yeah. So I don't want to do that with everything. Yeah. Yeah. Every once in a while. You know, that's when I get really excited about a bit.

That you want to, right? Yeah. Yeah. Other than that, it's like, yes, I have a lot of new stuff about my wedding and stuff like that. But I'm like, how long am I going to be able to really tell those? Yeah. I know. There is that thing, though.

And I always, even as a kid before I even knew what comedy was. I remember noting how Carlin would, he was hammering things. At that age, I didn't even really grasp, but there was an urgency to what he was talking about at the moment. And then he was acting like a crab and walking across the stage. You know what I mean? That silly thing, I think it's okay to have like that mix of stuff, you know? Yeah, I definitely want it to be a mix.

I don't want my whole act to feel like, you know, I'm giving him, you know, know, a speech. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But. No, but even the stuff that you are really good at sneaking it in in a way, really, because it never comes off as like preachy. It's all of a sudden you've made a point. Really.

And it's... Oh, and people go, oh. Yeah. Wouldn't you, I didn't expect her to say that. Yeah. I also really like that, that I think about my face doesn't really come across as like someone that would be just like... My face.

You know, like, liberal or like, or... open-minded or just like have a stance. Right. Or a take. You know? And then all of a sudden it'll come out of nowhere. Wow. She's thinking.

Whoa. Hold on a second. Wait a minute. Wait a chicken. Yes. And I remember doing like that about like a joke about guns or something. Like I remember having these jokes about guns and like people would get really upset when I was talking about guns or like being against guns.

or something. And I would be in Texas. And so I realized that I would say, after I would tell the joke, I would go, you know, people told me not to do that joke here. So I couldn't wait to do that fucking joke here. And then everybody would applaud. Because they stop looking at you as the enemy and they start looking at you as brave. And they're like, oh, she's saying what she's not supposed to.

Oh, really? And I'm just telling them that they are the ones. Yeah. The people in the crowd. Right. No one actually told me that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I have been told that before.

They're like, I wouldn't do it. And I go, well, now I can't wait to fucking do it. It was like when. So I'm like, you guys are the ones. It was you guys. Yeah. And the crowd. And now of a sudden you're applauding.

So it's just like a way to trick their mind into thinking like, yeah. And then I could really just kind of go wherever. That's really great. Yeah, because then it's like, yeah, then you're being. I'm a trickster. Yeah. Right.

Exactly. Oh, that's really smart. Yeah. I think it's important to like to make, you know, like I remember doing, you know, I would, doing bits early on, you know, me and Jesolnik would write together all the time. So my act early on was a little, you know, darker. It was definitely edgier and way more racial. Oh, yeah.

I wouldn't say racist. I really hate when people say this is racist. I'm like, just because a joke is about a black person does not mean it's, you know, It's like just, it's racial. There's a difference. Yeah, we're talking about race. One is mean and one is a haircut from friends. No.

But, so, but like, you know, but then I stopped doing any material like that because when I was on the road, people would go, oh, I know what you mean about, you know, such and such, whatever. And I go, what do I mean? I'm making fun of you. Oh, they were taking, getting it. And they weren't getting it. Like I was doing everything in a very sarcastic way, but it was, it wasn't always coming across. And I was like, I need to be way more deliberate. They're laughing for the wrong reason.

Yes. And so I go, mm-mm. This ain't happening, man. No. And lesson learned, you know. Right. But I think that you try a lot of things early on, like, not really knowing who you are and, like, getting your footing. Yeah.

But, yeah, no more. Yeah. Mm-hmm. But I still do stuff, you know, about, like, Armenians or whatever. I'm just kidding. They're the worst. They are the worst. No, no, no. But I'm just like, that, yeah.

Them I'll talk about all. The last time we worked together was in Las Vegas. Oh, yes. Yes. So much fun. Yeah, and I asked you to do the show because I know how much you love Las Vegas. I love Las Vegas. And you have a.

love of gambling, which I tell people about how you gamble. You do? Yeah, just because it's so unique. What do you tell them? I'm not giving away secrets or anything, right? No, I'm not ashamed of anything that I do. I'm like, I have a friend who loves to play the slots. Yeah, so we all do.

No, what she does is she goes back to her room first, puts on sweatpants, gets all cozy, in her pajamas basically. And then she puts on a ball cap, pulls up the hood, puts in a book on tape, and just goes down there like the Unabomber, and just starts gambling for like four straight hours. The whole Las Vegas drops away,

and she's just locked in to this machine in her little world in her cozy pants. I've never heard of anybody doing this in my life. Never. Never. Have you? I can't get it out. Now I have to compare outfits.

I wear a trotsuit in a cowboy hat. You do for real? Yeah, I call myself a cash out cowboy. No. Okay. You do? You call yourself the cash out cowboy. Hell yeah. No, why?

Because it's a good luck hat? I just like it. It just became part of the outfit when I started gambling. It's so. What are the odds? What are the odds? He could probably tell you. The cash out.

Cowboy would probably know the exact odds. Now, is it an alter ego or are you just hiding from? No, I don't remember putting my hood up. I definitely put a ball cap on because I always wear a half. Oh, I pictured you with the hood. I mean, ball cap's pretty close. Ball cap definitely sweats, definitely like some sort of cardigan, like hoodie situation, whatever I brought. I love this. And then I sit with my foot up and my book on tape and my ear and then I just play and play and play. until I either run out of money or double it. And most of the time... I think the thing that really gets me is the book on tape.

That I'm listening to true crime, like murder mysteries. Yeah, it's almost... For both of you. That I'm listening to Barba Strasy and... New autobiography. This isn't like Sarah that I just worked with backstage. This is a new character. I see.

You think that that... Yeah, I don't know. Like, it just feels like really... dopamine hit and like I don't it just feels like I'm doing something I don't know like it feels more productive than just like eating wings in my room or something yeah and watching law and order SVU you're having a lot more fun than I am having a great time people bring me drinks yeah I don't even have to get up you know and then most of the time the other thing that I love to do is make friends at the slot machine, like if we're, if there's four in a row or whatever. Yeah. Because if one person gets a

bonus, I'm like, oh, Sheila, it's contagious. And then all of a sudden we're all high-fiving and then we all start winning because I'm putting positive vibes into the game. Yes. I don't really like sitting next to people who are taping it, being rude to the machine. No, we don't be rude to the machine around you respect the machine. You respect the machine. You know, if you, if you, you, you take that shit over to angry birds or whatever. Like, here at the Huffinguff. Where do we at? We're at the Huffin.

Yeah. Were we at Wheel Fortune? I'm usually at a Buffalo. I'm usually at a Buffalo. You always say Wheel of Fortune. I do. I always picture you with Wheel of Fortune. It is the only machine you know. It is the only one I know.

No, I always, I usually sit at like some sort of quad games. So there's like four games at once. Okay. Although at the Venetian, where we were last time, Right. They now have this 100-hand poker game that I absolutely love because every time you get a four of a kind, you get to spin a wheel and it will like give you extra coins. And so I played that a lot. I won like three grand on that a couple times ago.

This time I did not get a hand pay. Wow. But then I, this time, this last time that I was there, because I actually went back the week after our wedding. because it was Flavor Flaves She Weekend, and I was covering it for our Women's Sports Now show on ESPN, so I had to go back out there. What's that show? What's laying on there for a sec?

It's women's sports now. It's on ESPN. We cover female athletes, women's leagues. Oh, great. We just talk about that. And so I was going out there for Flavor Flaves weekend, so did my work, and then I was like, time to, you know, get my new personality on it.

So I assumed my outfit. Yeah. Went down, played the game for a while. I was up and down, and then I left, I think I went to probably go to the ATM, but I'm going to say for this conversation, I went to the bathroom. And when I came back, someone was playing it, so I sat down at a quad buffalo game. And I was playing and playing and playing.

And then I was like, whew, I think I'm a little. Then I was getting mad because I was like, man, I thought I had so much, I can't believe I've lost so much money on this game. I'm down to like, you know, $80 or something. And then I worked my way back up to like 140 or something. And I was like, I was getting mad because I'm like, every time I win, it's not even registering. And I think this machine is broken. And so I was like, all right, I'm, you know, I got down to like 120 and I cashed out.

It was not 120. It was 1,200. What? I had no idea that I had won that much while sitting there because I was in my own world. You're in your zone. Listen in a books. I was literally listened to like a six-hour book. and I had one so much

and I was like, oh, I don't even know how much I probably actually had. I probably had 22,000 and something. But, you know, it was never enough for it to stop and give me a hand pace, so I was like, it can't be that much. Nope. You could have been up.

I could have been up to like three grand. I have no idea. How long were you there about? Oh, hours. What's hours? Two, three hours. Two, three hours. Is that the normal rate?

Yeah, I mean, I usually will go to bed by like, two in the morning, depending on what time my flight is. Right. I had to be up at eight for my flight, so it wasn't too early. Right, right. And I was like, oh, that's plenty of time for me to go to sleep. I love this. Yeah. I just love this. It's so far from what I would do. I just love it so much. I'm actually really excited because this Friday I'm going to St. Louis. I'm flying there because I'm driving up to Springfield, Illinois on Saturday to watch the women's professional baseball. league that just started. It only lasts a month and all the games are in

Springville, Illinois. So I'm going up there, but I have to fly into St. Louis. There's a bunch of casinos along the way. So Miss Tiana's written a car and hitting the slots. Miss Tiana. St. Louis, here I come. Is Miss Tiana your alter ego?

I don't know. I just said it right there. It is for like the purposes of this podcast. Talk to me about women's sports. Well, what do you want? What about him? I'm good pals with Aaron Foley. Oh, yes.

Love Aaron Foley. Aaron's great. And I always feel like the two of you should work together because you guys are just so knowledgeable and such a big champions of women's sports. And I've just watched through my friendship with Aaron what was really, really obscure when we became friends. is now becoming so mainstream, and people are really turning up and realizing these games are fantastic, these leagues are fantastic. They're fantastic and they're growing. It's like the one part of sports that is actually growing.

So that's why I think you're hearing about it more and more. You're seeing more and more people talk about it because more and more male athletes are getting into it, mostly from an investment standpoint, because it's the easiest way to double, triple your money in a few years. You know what I mean? There's a reason that Peyton Manning just bought the Denver soccer team. There's a reason that like 80 people, I think, own Angel City. Right.

And that team was bought for maybe like $1.6 million, like something crazy. And like there's no way it's not worth, you know, nine figures now. You know, so like Patrick Mahomes owns Kansas City. Lots of people like own. And that's again why the WNBA is growing so much. It's like they're seeing such a huge return on their investment. And like, yes, yes, the Lakers evaluation went up $2 billion in two years. Is that real?

I don't know. Right. But the Lakers and the Cowboys like franchise, the Yankees, franchises like that will always go up in value. Sure. But, you know, we've never really seen that for women. And those big ones will go up incrementally but a lot slower. I mean, there probably are some jumps now because things are just popping off. But yeah, but to come in at that level and watch things like double, triple.

Yeah, I mean, I think it's unfortunate in the W that most of the expansion of the league is like not new ownership. These are, you know, NBA teams that are opening up a female. You know, the cavaliers are getting, you know, or whatever. So it's still those, right, so it's still those ownership. Don't quote me on that. But yeah, it's like, it's cities that already have an NBA team and they already have the infrastructure. And for me personally, I don't totally love that. Like, I'd love to see a team in Nashville for women.

I'd love to see a team in Kansas City. Like, teams that, places that don't already have a men's team and like tons of options. Like a great way for me for us to go. grow the game is to put a women's basketball team in South Carolina, where it's like, all right, you already have this huge South Carolina women's basketball team that everybody loves. You have LSU, you have Yukon, like, why aren't we building teams there that already have the fan base intact and are desperate for bigger, you know, bigger. Yeah, not competing with other things either.

No, not competing with NFL, you know, NHL, all these other, you know, entities. pretty smart so i'm like i don't know i don't know why we're but i i know why it's because the nba owns the w nba and they're like okay right and we squeeze more out of this yes yeah yeah everybody is it's it's it's all money but it's all these are great problems to have yeah yeah everybody wants a team right exactly yeah it's so great uh and we don't have to like soccer anymore now right for four more years actually the women's world cup will be in two years years. Oh, it'll be in two years. Which is actually the one we care about because the women's team is the one that's good. Yeah, they're actually good. Yeah. Yeah. They're the ones. They're the team that wins. Yeah, they actually win. Yeah. And then we'll also care about soccer for the Olympics. Yeah. But it did really fall. I just felt myself personally. Like, I was so into the World Cup. I was really enjoying it from the first kick. And it was so great. As soon as it was over, I was like right back to baseball. Yeah. I think the World Cup is so great because.

it really, like, I don't watch soccer on a regular basis, especially men's soccer, women's soccer for sure, but like men's, no. But I think when it's the World Cup, you go, like, all these famous players are now playing for their own country. And that you can go. You go, well, okay, well, I know that Cameroon's team probably wasn't supposed to win this game and they are, so this is very exciting. I can understand for them to beat, you know, Spain or whatever.

Yeah, the stories unfold because we understand where countries, you know, just from the onset, we know that England probably is going to have a good team just because of what we know about colonialism. Right? So we're like, okay, this is all tracks. They've been out of a long time. So I know who I want to cheer for in this game. You're amazing.

This was so great. I really love that you came. I'm going to send you with a spread. And also those are new cookies. Oh, did you make these? My wife made them. Oh, how lovely. She's been using my sourdough starter.

No. Yeah, there's a little sourdough in these chocolate chip cookies. And are you okay with that? Yeah, I'm really down with it. They're really good. Okay. But let me know what the review is because this is a test kitchen situation. I will let you know.

All right. Thank you. You're the best. You're the best. Thanks, good.