Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Brad Williams Accidentally Became a Comedian & The Importance Of Betting On Yourself

Episode Date: October 7, 2022

Brad Williams (@bradwilliamscomic) is a stand-up comedian and actor. He joins Chris Van Vliet for an in-person conversation at his home in Los Angeles that originally aired on August 6, 2021. He talks about his dwarfism and how he learned at an early age to embrace who he is, how attending a Carlos Mencia comedy show as a fan accidentally started his stand-up career, where he gets his inspiration from, the chances he took on himself early in his career, his friendship with Chris Jericho and how he was invited to perform on Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea, how he met his wife, becoming a father and much more! For more info on Brad visit: http://bradwilliamscomedy.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. For more information about Chris Van Vliet and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Van Blen! Thanks for coming by my house. Yeah, normally when you're going to somewhere in the valley to shoot with an iPhone and some lights, usually there's a lot of nudity involved. And so, yeah, this is where we film porn, folks. But now, now it's nice to come in, and you have a lot of awards promptly displayed in. your apartment, obviously trying to get laid.

Yes. That's what you do. You go, oh, I have daytime Emmys. The second you walk in the door, I want people to go, oh, my gosh, look at this. Yes. See, I have a wife, so my Emmys are nonexistent. No, no, I can't, I can't plan that on her. Your award is your child, right?

Yes. But, like, I've had people make, like, fans have made, like, insane pictures of me, like, like hand painted like pictures of me and I can't display that like right like right as you walk in like hello like I just feel like it'd be very Alex Rodriguez of me uh he's kind of known for doing that yeah um there's there's there's a there's a there's a painting of himself as a centaur uh in his house i i want to see this painting uh but yeah so it's it's nice you come in we're just a couple of boys in the valley you put your name on your microphone that's it no ego there. No. No, I get it.

It's branding. It's branding. How do you pronounce your last name? Van Vleet. Van Vleet. Yes. So when the ancestors came over many, many generations ago, it's a Dutch name, right? Yes, it is. There you go. They should have spelled it V-L-E-E-T. Or F-L-E-E-E-T, like

Fred Van Vleet, the Plays for the Raptors. Oh, not the video thing that's going away from Twitter, the fleets. Oh, fleeting! Yes. Or Greta Van Fleet? Yeah. I feel like... So you're Van Fleet. Sounds like either a wrestler or a comic book villain.

Only once you can pronounce it correctly. Yeah. Because this gets pronounced incorrectly all the time. That's why I ask. Yeah. No problem there. Brad Williams, you never have a problem getting your name pronounced. Yeah, pretty much.

It's very white Anglo-Saxon Protestant. Nothing crazy. I don't have a weird celebrity name. It's nothing. I've not named after a fruit. nothing like that. Just Brad Williams. People go like,

so Brad, what's your heritage? I'm like, just white as fuck. That is my heritage. White as fuck. When they talk about white privilege, they just go through my genealogy and go, yeah, that, that too, and that.

Yeah, so this is what privilege looks like, everybody. This is it right here. Four foot four adult male, privilege. Four foot four? Yeah, you damn right. Or do you like exaggerate that a little bit? No. Like how five foot ten.

guys say they're six feet tall? Yeah, but see, dwarves can tell. And I don't want to get a lot of dwarf hate. I don't want you to get that on your YouTube channel because like, if I said, oh, I'm 4 foot 5, 53 inches, all the little people would be like, no.

We can tell. We know exactly. Yeah, I've had dwarves come up to me after shows and I go, what are you about? Three foot nine? They go, how the fuck? I go, come on. We know. Like, we just know. What is the cutoff? What does official cutoff.

4 foot 11. There's an argument like 4 foot 10, 4 foot 11. That's when you're legally handicapped if you're below that. But like in terms of cut off for being a dwarf, I have dwarfism. That's a genetic condition.

I have a chondroplastic dwarfism. So I could be if I got above 5 feet, I would still be a dwarf because that's my genetics. Not to get to Mendel Square on you. Mendel Square? Grendel Square. Someone made a square.

I don't know. He was a friar. Grendel Square. Grendel Square sounds like something from Harry Potter. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a chant before. But that's how, that's how you say that. You just didn't chant it enough when you were young. Not at all. No chanting, no veggies. This is what happens. Shit.

When did you start to lean into the fact that you were a dwarf? Oh, very young. Because of my parents. Okay. My dad specifically. Now, my dad, not a dwarf. We don't all come from the same tribe. And so when I was born, he knew that I would be made fun of as a kid when I got to

school. Like, he's like, oh, man, kids are going to look at that and kids are going to make fun of you. So his philosophy was he would make fun of me first. And like, but do it in a supportive way. Like, hey, I just insult you. Hit me back with something. So then. Wow, like toughing you up.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, like, even like three, four years old, he would like make fun of me. and then we would write jokes together. We would write comebacks. So, like, when I went to school, my very first day of school, a kid came up and went like, ha, ha, you're little.

And I looked at him and went, ha, your mom doesn't live with your dad anymore. And, oh, we wrote good ones. Little did you know you were preparing for your career. Literally, he prepared me to be a stand-up comic. So when I dropped out of college to be a stand-of-comedian, he shouldn't have been surprised. But he, because it's like, dude, you made me.

I'm you, dad. But yeah, that's when I became aware of it. And really just once you go to school, because once you go to school, kids just look at you and they go, all right, and they size you up and they go, what's the thing you're going to, what's the thing we can make fun of you for? What's the thing we can know? Like, if you have a mole, if you got, like, I'm sure you came out with that hair exactly.

I did, yeah. So, yeah, you never had the bowl cut. So, yeah, so they probably came out and said, like, all right, Stone Phillips. Oh, that would be great. Right. Nice reference, right? so much. Yeah.

So, yeah, they always latch on to that. And my dad knew they were going to latch on to my dwarfism, and they did. And then I just had comebacks. And once someone hits you and then you counterpunch, now you're the cool guy. So, like, I, like, people talk about, like, growing up with rough childhoods. I didn't. I was the cool guy in school. I was everybody's friend.

And no one really, like, every now and then a new kid would come in. they would try to like stake their claim and impress people, but like, okay, who's the weakest guy? Oh, Brad, okay, I can make fun of him. And then they would start making fun of me, but I would fire back, and then that wouldn't go well for them. You have an immense amount of confidence. It's an insane amount of confidence.

But you kind of have to, to be a stand-up comic. Everyone's like, oh, stand-up comics. They're very egotistical. It's like, yeah, you have to, because we have to go up in a room full of strangers and go, my thoughts deserve to be heard, not yours. The concept of stand-up comedy is ridiculous. It's insane.

It's a room full of people that are paying for you to make us laugh. Yes, and my thoughts and my words and my writings, these are important. Now, if you yell out or start having thoughts or talk during my show, you will be escorted away. But my thoughts are why we're here. This is not a discourse. Yes, it's very egotistical. I'm insanely aware of that. Did your parents have to sit you down at a young age and go, all right, Brad, you're a little bit different from the other kids.

Yeah, that's really. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And they kind of prepared me for the whole thing. And your mom and dad are not dwarves. Correct. Yeah, yeah, mom, dad, both tall. It's not like you drive down the street and be like, which house do the dwarves live in? Oh, it's the mushroom. with the door in it.

Like, that's not, that's not, that's not how it goes. Oh man, I'll never find your house now. Thank God. Yeah. So,

so they, they, they prepared me for life. They didn't, because my dad has a real basic philosophy, and that's, uh, there's the world that is and the world that should be.

And many parents make the mistake of preparing their children for the world that should be, you know, like, oh yeah, no one's ever going to make fun of you. It's like, yeah, people are going to make fun of you.

That's the world it is. So they prepare me for the world it is. And so now when I like it, because when Chris Titus has this great old bit where he says, you want to be with a dysfunctional person because a dysfunctional person knows how to react when things go wrong because they're used to it. They've experienced it before. Someone who's never had anything go wrong in their lives, when something goes wrong, they have no idea how the hell to react.

They don't know what to do. So that's kind of how I was prepared for. I was prepared for the world that is. And so when that world came up, I was like, okay, I've trained for this. So when you have a kid, is there a high likelihood that your kid will be a dwarf? For me personally, being that my wife is tall, that's right. That's how you know I'm really good at this job. Brad, you're a comedian. Are you funny? That's who I fuck.

Sorry, can I curse on this? Of course. It's the internet. I don't know. So yes, my wife is tall. So the odds of us having a dwarf child was of 50%. And then... But also the odds of having a tall child. Yes.

Are 50%. Yes. And I was supposed to stay neutral and not have any hopes and just be like, whatever, kid. But selfishly, I wanted my child to be a dwarf. And I got that wish. So, yeah, my daughter is also a little person. Yeah. I wanted a dwarf child because I didn't want a tall kid.

That, like, it's like, I'm kids nine. Go to your room. Fuck you, dad. Like, I don't want that. So, for very selfish reasons, I want her to be a little person. But she is, and she's doing great. And, yeah, life is good. I had a similar conversation with Hornswoggle about this.

Oh, because. I'm seeing him later this week. Oh, there you go. Because we all know each other. And that's not even a joke. We literally do all know each other. I'm doing a show this week. I don't know when this is going to come out,

probably beyond this. But this weekend, as we're recording this, I'm hitting to Appleton, Wisconsin to do shows. That's where he lives. So, yeah. His son is a normal-sized person. Yeah, yeah, his son is tall. So you see them walking around.

Yeah, it's great. His son is taller than him. Yes, yes, yes, yes, and obviously way younger, hence son. But yeah, so it's nice, though. I've seen that. I've seen what's happened with his life. And I know other friends that have tall kids. And I go, ah, I want a dwarf kid.

He told me his son got taller than him at nine. Just like your story. That's terrifying to me. That's terrifying. I don't know if I'd be able to. I mean, obviously, you cope with whatever gets thrown your way. But yeah, just that would, that'd be scary to me. You know, just like, I told you not to.

Like, that's horrifying. When we set up this camera angle, I said, you know, You look pretty tall here and you're like, oh, I have a normal-sized everything. No, not everything. But some things are very small. But, yeah, I have an average- Some things are proportionate. Yes, I have an average-sized torso.

I have-so, so my type of dwarfism, there's tons of different types of dwarfism. It's not just dwarfism. My type is called acondroplasia. It is characterized by shorter limbs, so my arms and legs are smaller. My torso is average-sized. my head is fucking huge and I have an ass that Cardi B wishes. That's how that works. That's that that's that that that's that that that that's that that that that's that that that's that that that's the

that that's the acondre plastic dwarf. Okay. With all that said, how do you find clothes that fits you? Uh, well, it's very tricky. Topps are fine shirts. This is great. By the way, I didn't even know I was coming to meet a Canadian and I'm wearing a shirt that has a where is it?

It's on the side. Yeah, it's got, yeah, it's got the maple leaf on there. Is this from root? It's guess. Yeah, it's, yes, but I bought it in Montreal, so they had some very pro-Canada stuff up there. Slaibien? Yeah, I don't know what that means. Very good.

Don't stand mis pantalones. Anyway. Something about pants? Yeah. So, yeah, shirts, just adult small. Pants are a little more difficult. I have a tailor. I've put his kids through college.

Where do the pants start? Do they start as? because I have the Cardi B ass so you can't you're like oh you just get kids pants it's like nah big ass they kids the kids if a kid has a waistline

like mine they've got a lot of issues they probably have a TLC reality show at that point so yes there's a big ass waist and then we chop them down on the legs shoes are weird because everyone's like

oh man I'm into sneakers are huge right now They're huge. But I go into the foot locker and I say, all right, bring me out some size fours. And they're like, all right, we got two options for size four. We have this, which has wheels in the heel. And we have this and these light up when you talk or when you walk. So I'm rocking Skechers. So God bless you, Skechers.

I did a corporate gig one time for Skechers and they liked me. So now they send me free Skechers. Hey, well, then pump Skechers as much as you want. Damn right, Skechers. These relaxed fit shoes are great. They got no laces on them, and I just slip them on, and I go,

and they're comfortable as all hell. Their dad shoes, get yourself some sketchers. Both you and Hornswagel openly used the term little person. Yeah. Which sounds very derogatory to me. I know.

You're a person, but you're a little person. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We miss the meeting. I feel like we should have had a meeting where we just go like, okay, this is the thing, because you're supposed to say little person and you're supposed to say

dwarf and those are fun. And you're not supposed to say a midget. You're not supposed to say that. I throw that word around, but you know. You're a funny guy. Yeah, yeah. It's like I don't find it.

And like if someone calls me a midget, I look more at intent in terms of, like, because if you call me midget and you don't know it's a bad word, okay, I'm not going to get mad at you. I might correct you, maybe. but like because I've been called like okay so one time I did a show in Odessa Texas

and I got done with the show and during the show I had some guys thrown out because they were heckling they were drunk as hell and we went back and forth and then I had them thrown out when the show ended I was walking out to the car to take me back to the hotel and I saw the pickup truck lights turn on and guys started racing towards me and they yelled out kill the dwarf and I wasn't going to stop in that moment and go thank you for using the proper terminology. It's like, no, the intent was not friendly. The intent was bad.

You didn't kill you? That's what they said. Thankfully, they never got to me. We got in the car and we drove off and they had a big truck and they're also very dumb. So they couldn't follow them. So, but yeah, so I don't really worry

too much about the terms. I know everyone freaks out now about like terminology and things like that. For me, it's all about intent. you my friend? Are you trying to be my friend? Right. What are we doing here? And yes, kind of like, kind of like you were where they say like, oh, little person. It's like, yeah, you're a person, but you're little. And it's like, I've seen Puerto Ricans. They're little people. Like they're very tiny people. Like Kevin Hart is a little

person. He's a little person. He's a person, not quite. But he's not a little person. Exactly. And then Dwarf, of course, Disney comes in and kind of messes that up. So we were all doing good. And then that happened. So yeah, so it's like, yeah, dwarf doesn't seem right, little person doesn't seem right, midget doesn't seem right. I like, I like to throw out new terms. So like these, I think most little people can agree

on this term. I like to refer to myself as a big dick Magoo. There it is. Yeah, so when you see a male little person, of course, you refer to them as a big dick Magoo and they are never offended. And a female? I haven't gotten that far yet.

I'll think of something. And then you, my people call you a reacher. A reacher. A reacher. What am I reaching for? Whatever we ask you. So when we're out, we're like, why am I a reacher? Go to the store with me.

You'll find out. So do you, your wife grab all of the glassware that's up really high? Yes. Yes. Which also means it's very easy for her to force me to be on a diet. puts the cookies up there and I'm like, my people made these and I can't, okay. So yeah.

But yeah, so you tall folk are reachers. I love that term. The number one thing that people Google about you as your wife. Yeah, that's weird. I think it's because people are like, how did he and her? Yeah, and the answer, money. I'd say that.

And you're a big Dick Magoo. And I'm big Dick Magoo. So that combined. No, no, thankfully, my wife met me when I didn't have, I was doing okay, but not great. And now I'm doing much better. Now, own a house in Los Angeles. Yeah. That explains everything.

Yeah, so she invested well. She picked the right stock. But yeah, it is weird. I've done that thing where I'm looking up something like I do an interview and I go, oh, I want to find that interview. So let me see where it is. And I Google Brad Williams. And then it does the auto fill. And yeah, it's always Brad Williams' wife.

And then the next one is Brad Williams' baby. And I'm like, whew. It's weird knowing that people are caring that much to look that up. And I think you've done the two things that people didn't expect you to do. Yeah, yeah, have a hot wife and reproduce. Yeah, so that they want to know. My hat is off. I'm not even wearing a hat.

I'm not even wearing a hat. But my hat's off to. Yeah. You can't wear a hat. would mess up the hair. But yeah, it's strange, and it's something that I have to be aware of because so about three months ago, my wife was at a grocery store, and I was not there, but she was there doing the shopping, and the baby was with her, and someone saw them and went, Brad Williams' baby, and just ran up

and was about to grab my baby to be like, oh, cute baby. And then my wife, like, shoved her back, like, get the fuck. way from not normal. Yeah, like, who are you? And they kind of forget, like, oh, that's a weird thing that a human shouldn't do. Just grab a stranger's baby. We don't know you. But yeah, she literally yelled out Brad Williams' baby and then started.

So I stopped posting photos of her on Instagram. Or if I do, I do it like from the back or put a little emoji over her face or something like that. Yeah. Which emoji do you like to pick over her face? I mean, she's half Chinese, so I can't do the panda bear. That's racist. Uh, so I do something completely off the rails and do like kangaroo or something. Oh, she's part Australian.

The problem is now I put an emoji over her face and then go, wow, dwarf babies look weird. It's like it's emoji. Calm down. Yeah. That's not how we grow. Uh, so yeah, that, that was kind of an eye-op call to me not like, okay, I have to be careful with her identity because she hasn't chosen to put herself out there yet. You know, she has, if one day she wants to, okay. But yeah, I've chosen this life.

And like my wife, she's not on social media, which is probably a good thing. Because like she has a private Facebook thing and she gets messages all the time from people trying to be friends because they look her up. They find her. Oh, man. It's weird. And the weird one is when other male dwarves look her up and they send her a message. And it's like, really, dude? You think like, well, well, I should fuck that one.

She has a type. She probably will, and it's like, well, first of all, when it comes to the little people, it's like me and dinklage. It's like me, Dinklage, we men. Like, we're the top. We're on the current Mount Rushmore, okay? And I'm probably forgetting someone and I'm sorry. But, uh, Hornswoggle could be the fourth person.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, there's four on there. Yeah. So it's like, I'm on the Mount Rushmore of current working dwarves. So I, I don't know what you think you're going to accomplish. But good fucking luck to you, buddy. But that's one of the things that I'll tell people is, because I'm in a, my wife is Chinese. I'm a dwarf, so it's a mixed race relationship.

Whoever you end up with, if you're in a mixed race relationship, that's what everyone's just going to assume your thing is. Sure. So everyone thinks that my wife isn't a dwarf. Everyone thinks I love Asian women. And if you look at my internet history, you're not wrong. but everyone just thinks like oh that that's your thing so that's I like mixed race relationships I think they're really fun and progressive but just if you're getting into one just realize that's what everyone thinks your thing is going to be had she dated a dwarf before you no thankfully I didn't go through and find a bunch of ex-boyfriends and they were all like I I never saw that thankfully so yeah I was her first one it's not like it's not like the first time we had sex she pulled out a stamp of a smurf put her on the side of her bed like a fighter pilot, just boom, got another one.

Like, it wasn't like that. Not at all. When you went down this career path, realizing I'm going to go on stage with a microphone and try to make people laugh with my thoughts. Yes. Did you go, I immediately have to lead with what people see?

Yeah. Well, at first I didn't. I didn't want to. Because then the bar is raised because you're like, I want to be a great comedian. Who's a great comedian? Yeah. I don't want to be a great dwarf.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's this weird balance that I have to do because if I go on stage and I don't talk about it, rather than paying attention, the entire audience is like, does he know? What does he? Should we tell him? Like, it's strange. So, and I, like, as a comic, I try to write jokes about my life. My life is that of a little person. I can't write jokes from the perspective of a six foot two man.

Like, I don't know how to do that. I don't know what that life is. I know what my life is. So my life will always have a dwarf perspective on it, but they're not going to be, if you watch my act now, it's not an hour of, I can take a bath and a thimble. That's weird. Like, it's not that.

Yeah. So I go into a bunch of different topics. Yeah, you lead with that. You go into some other things. Maybe while you're into another topic, you have a tag or a punchline that kind of leads back to it. Like, there's a whole way to do it. But, yeah. I don't like to, because sometimes I'll do a dwarf joke on Instagram.

Like, I did one recently where I walked by a sign of a restaurant and the sign said short-staffed. And I'm like, that's funny. So I just stood next to it. Like, oh, all my friends work here or whatever. And then someone, of course, commented like, oh, so you can only make dwarf jokes? It's like, no, I do other stuff. but when the opportunity you know

like shows itself you fucking go for it like that's a joke like there was a guy who came to my show I did a show a few weeks ago in Rhode Island and a guy came to the show literally he's old

he's fat he has a white beard and he's wearing a Santa Claus t-shirt hum-off I had to take a picture with him I had to make a joke I think the joke was when your old boss visits you at your new job So good.

And it's just like because that opportunity, when it shows itself, you can't just be like, no, I'm too good for that. No, my job is entertain people. My job is to make you laugh, make you smile, make you on social media, look down your phone and go, like that's literally, that's all I'm going for is you to go, that's fine. A literal L-O-L-O-L. Yeah, yeah, that's it. So that's all I'm trying to do. In my stand-up act, I do the whole thing.

I'll start with dwarf jokes, going to non-dwarf jokes. family stuff commenting on modern days society things like that and then I'll but like if I'm just going for quick hitters I'm not going to deny myself an entire thing and also that's what people want to see they don't like a lot of people like if a fat person goes on stage or is on social media

and just talks about being fat the whole time we all know overweight people we know fat people same thing with a black comic like if it's just like oh like we know black people it's like it's fine. Not a lot of people know little people. Not a lot of, like, and, like, Swagel and me, do you have any other dwarves in your life?

Maybe an ex. You were drunk one night. I don't know. Now that's it. You're swoggle. Exactly. And you came through those relationships in the professional sense. Yeah. So, yeah. So there's not a lot of people have little people in their lives, so

they're genuinely curious. Yeah. And in terms of getting a message out there about little people, I trust me to do it more than another source. And that's one of the reasons why I love stand-up comedy so much. Well, you are an expert on the topic. Yeah, I've lived my whole life as one. So I like to do things to where it's like, oh, I'm controlling the message

because if you go and wait for someone else to tell your story, they're never going to get it right. And the media has never exactly gotten it right with little people, hence the reason why we have so many stereotypes that are actually weird. I had a joke way back in the day about like dwarves are the only group who's all

like all our stereotypes are fantasy driven. Like none are true, none are based on any any kind of fact like oh we make chocolate, we make cookies and we follow yellow brick roads like that's and we protect snow white. Like that's

our stereotypes. They're all fantastical. We don't have like, oh, we can't drive, we have a big dick, or we're chief. Now, those were stereotypes. I never said which group were the stereotypes. If you did the math and yourself, that's on you, you're the racist, not me.

Anyway, so, like, we don't have any of those, like, stereotypes that are based any kind of, like, fact, which is kind of strange. Yeah. When you started to realize that you wanted to be a comic, and, I mean, you talked about, like, how your dad kind of prepared you for this. Yeah.

When did you realize, all right, I've actually got the courage to go on stage, and try this for the first time. Oh, I was, it was Father's Day weekend. That's all tying into your dad. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is. It really is. Father's Day weekend, I took my dad.

And you're how old? I'm 19 at the time. Okay. So 18 years ago. So I took my dad to the Brea Improv to see a comedian perform, and the comedians, it's just for a Father's Day thing. And the comic is on stage, and at some point during his act, he starts making midget jokes. and half the audience is laughing,

the audience that's sitting by me is like, and not laughing, and the comedian notices and he goes, whoa, whoa, what's happening here? He goes,

what? Is one of them here? And I just went. And I raised my hand. And he called me up on stage. Is this Carlos Mency here? Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. This is that story. Yeah. So I run up on stage. He starts asking me questions. Just want to know about my life. life. I answer the questions honestly. And then the question, my answers got laughs. So, like, I wasn't trying to be funny, but my answers got laughs just like, he's like, hey, what do you do for

living? And at the time, I was working at Disneyland. Because I, exactly. I see where the joke's going on. So I said, I work at Disneyland, and I heard people laugh and I turned the audience and I went, fuck you, I'm not one of the seven. And that got a laugh. And I'm like, oh, shit, okay, that was fun. And that, and that felt really good. So it was at that. moment that I'm like, okay, I need to try this. I need to do this. Wow. Because it felt really good.

And it felt like, oh, I just did something that made an entire audience laugh. I was always interested in comedy, but I never thought it could actually be a thing. It's like if someone told me, hey, how do you become a pro football coach? I go, I don't know. Like if I, if you today wanted to, today, I'm going to be a pro football coach. Like, how do you start down that path? don't know. And that's the same thing I thought about being a comedian where it's like, I don't know how people become comedians. They just kind of become comedians. Yeah, I guess you go to an

open mic question mark. Yeah. And so that's what I did. I just started doing that and you could just kind of slowly rise through the ranks. But I'm such a firm believer in the idea of like right place, right time. Oh, sure. Butterfly effect. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Imagine you had gone to a comedy show the day before. Yeah. And there were no midgett jokes. There were no midget jokes. And, and we, and, and, and, and, and, We just walked out and went, well, that was a fun night. And then I went back on my path to trying to... You'd still be working at Disneyland. You wouldn't be sitting here right now.

I would be a manager. No. And that's the thing is, like, I dropped out of school, college to do stand-up. I had one year left. I was going to USC, make all the universities. Fight on? Yes, fight on. Okay, that's what people say.

Yeah, so University of spoiled children. That's right. A lot of very famous people go to USC. Yeah. Will Ferrer. Harold's a Trojan. There's a bunch of them. Were you there at the same time as Dave Franco?

Oh. Maybe he's a little younger than me. Yes, he's a little younger than me. Yes, he's a little younger than me. But I was there during a magical time where Matt Leinert and Reggie Bush and all those guys were winning and all that stuff. It was great.

So that's what I was doing, and I started doing stand-up. When you dropped out of USC, your parents were like, oh, thank God. We'd have to spend $50,000 a year. I wanted to pay for that last year of school. They were not exactly happy. But here's what I tell people. It's like I was majoring in communications.

Yeah. Yeah, there you go. Like I was trying to do your job. Like I was, so it's like when I dropped out of school, we didn't lose a cancer cure. Like my goal before standup, once again,

it will all tie back to my father. I have a lot of daddy issues. My dad always told me I loved sports growing up and I wanted to be, a sports announcer. And my dad said, yes, you can be a locker room

reporter. You could interview Shaq's dick. And I just thought that was really funny. And I thought, that'll work. I'll go into the NBA.

I'll be like, so it'd be great. So that's what I was trying to do. That's what I was going to school to do. And then I started doing comedy. I'm like, oh, this is fun.

This is great. And full circle, I did some work with the radio station out here. K-Rock. and they actually sent me to a red carpet where it was in Los Angeles, there's essentially a Lakers channel, it's Time Warner Sports, it's this whole thing, but I won't get into it.

But this was the launch of the channel. So they sent me to the red carpet to launch the channel, and all the Lakers were there. So I got to interview at the time, Dwight Howard was on the team, Kobe, Steve Nash. In the juxtaposition, Powell, Gasol. Of you next to them. Yeah. I have a photo of Powell Gasol, and he's just like bending over, like, son of a bitch guy.

Like, really? And then I have an interview, I have a photo with me and Dwight Howard. Dwight's holding the microphone near his, um, nether regions. And, uh, he's just, he's kind of interviewing me. He's holding a mic. He's doing that. And so, yeah, that kind of thing came true. So it actually happened.

And if I ever do that again one day, that'd be great. I would love it. But yeah, so it's kind of crazy how life came full circle. Well, you've got the access now because you now have a certain level of celebrity. Yeah. Where they bring you in, they go, this comics can do these. Yeah, I can talk to people. That can be funny.

And if you're a comedian and you're my size and you can't make a joke when Dwight Howard is talking to you, you do it. Yeah. Like, oh, I almost, I got in trouble that day, kind of. Because I was on the red carpet and Magic Johnson walked by. And I was like, hey, Matt, everyone's trying to get him. And he walked over, saw me. And now I have to interview him. And have you done red carpet stuff before?

Of course. Yeah. They're often terrible. Yes. Because, yeah. So as a red carpet person, you know, you can prepare for a few people. But overall, it's like some publicist throws someone in front of you. And you just have to interview someone.

I don't know who you walk. or I know who you are, but I haven't prepared anything. I just have to ask. So when they say, like, why do they always ask people what they're wearing and who are they wearing? It's like, because they didn't know they were going to talk to that person. Oftentimes, there you go. The public will go, this is so-and-so from this CW show,

and they're already in front of it. You're like, you send your name's Brad? Yeah, okay. And you just go to Vampire Diaries. Talk me about it. So I was not prepared to meet Magic. But he comes over and I just, and I, you have to go into your bank in terms of like what, what, and I go, okay. So you opened up a bunch of Starbucks.

You are now, you're part owner of the Dodgers. Obviously, all the, all the, all the Lakers championships at the time, he had just written like a huge check to some charity. And I go, you've raised, you know, millions of dollars. And I go, how does it feel to be the world's greatest human? And I just do that. And he starts talking and he's kind of winded about his answer. And then he ends his answer with, and if I could do it all over. again, I wouldn't change a thing.

And my response was to go, not one thing? Not one thing, Magic Johnson. Not one, not one. Okay. And they kind of pulled me as I'm like, oh, wow. And Magic's like my hero. So, like,

it was weird, but that's just the comedian part of me goes like, this is funny. Like, you can't have Magic Johnson HIV positive be like, Like, no, it was pretty perfect life. Pretty great. Nothing.

Like, I had to. The joke was right there. So I met Magic a few years later when I played in the NBA Celebrity All-Star game. You're in Charlotte. You want to run their team. Yeah. Do you want to lose? Have breath.

And I met him there. And I asked him about that. And he goes, no, I don't remember that. I go, good. It never happened. So we're cool, everyone. Did you have a time early on in your career where you went on stage and just felt like it was not going well? Kind of like this Magic Johnson story.

But, you know, in the professional sense on stage. Oh, totally. If any comic says, no, I've never had that, no, then you're lying. Or you're just, you're insanely not self-aware. Does it make you go, I won't try those jokes again? Or does it make you go, maybe this isn't the right career path for me? Early on, second one, early on you go, huh, and do, did I make the right call?

Should I go back to school? Should I try to do this? But then now I'm in October, I'll be 18 years in comedy. And now it's like I go, no, no, no, I know I'm good at this. I know I'm decent at comedy. So now if a joke doesn't work, I go, okay, I messed up. I can make that funny. I'll try it two more times.

and if I'll switch it up. Like now I internalize it and go like, okay, like now it's more like a math problem to me. Like if you're a mathematician and you didn't solve a problem, you wouldn't be like, well, fuck it. I'm never doing math again. You'd be like, well, no, I just messed up. There's, there's a way to solve this problem and I just don't know that way yet. And that's how I look at jokes now. If I tell a joke now and it doesn't work, I just go, okay, there's a way that I can solve

this. I just haven't figured it out. So I have to figure out how to solve this. So now I don't I of course mind bombing I don't I don't want to bomb I don't want a joke to ever do poorly But I also know I'm that nobody in this business

Bats a thousand Like you're you're gonna have jokes that don't work So I just have a different mindset But yeah back in the day oh yeah oh too Chokes all the time when I would say jokes It wouldn't work I would come back and cry And like call my mom and dad be like you were right I should go back to school

Yeah there yeah there was definitely nights like that So if if you're going to celebrate 18 years in comedy in October. Yeah. Father's Day is in June. Yeah. So if you didn't step on stage until October, walk me through what happened between the Carlos Mencia show on Father's Day in June.

Yeah. To finally building up the courage to step on stage in October. Yeah. Writing jokes. And what does that look like? Writing jokes, just sitting there, writing jokes, watching stand up, being like, okay, trying to get the rhythm correctly. And then also doing research, because we had the internet, but it was still young.

like trying to be like, oh, how do you do this? Like, how do you actually do this? Because now we have all these podcasts that explain like jokes and stuff. So, uh, or they explain, uh, comedian's careers. Everyone's done that interview where every, every comic's explained their process, their origin story, all that. So, but back then we didn't have that. So it was just doing a lot of research in terms of like, how does one actually do

this and then I ended up like you hear about open mics oh people do open mic nights okay and then it was like okay well which open mic am I going to do like am I just gonna because also I'm young and dumb in the business I think okay so you do like two or three open mics then you start getting paid for this right like that that's what you think and you kind of have to have that dumb optimism to do this job your job like we're both big wrestling fans You have to have dumb optimism to be a pro wrestler because you go like, oh, the odds are not in your favor. Like the odds of everyone who said, you know, I want to host shows and I want to talk to celebrities and people go, I want to be a pro athlete. I want to be a famous actor, comedian.

The vast majority don't make it. Right. And you have to celebrate those really little wins along the way. Absolutely. So I didn't know how hard the job was. But it was just doing that research. And I remember finally finding an open mic. I grew up in Los Angeles or Orange County.

And then hearing, oh, the laugh factory, that's a big comedy club. Oh, they do open mic. Okay, that's where I should go. But I'll go to the first open mic as a, I'll just go watch it and see if I'm, you know, if I'm good enough to be at this open mic. It became very clear, very early I was good enough to be at that open mic. the Laugh Factory Open mic Man, there were a couple that you're like, okay,

but then there was a lot of like, there was, I'll never forget this guy. I found out later he's like an L.A. open mic legend. His name is Fancy Ray. He's been doing it for like 30, 40 years. But still, he went on stage. He was slightly overweight. He had a bright purple shirt.

shirt, like just pop in purple shirt. He buttoned maybe the bottom two buttons. So the shirt was like open. He had glitter all over his face, glitter on his body, hair spiked up and gelled back and styled and everything like that. And he would just go on stage. He would say a one-liner. They were all horrible.

And then after the joke bombed, he would just pause and go, I am the best-looking man in comedy. And that, I saw that and like, oh, yeah. I can sign up. I can do this open mic. Joe Rogan talks about how those types of people, terrible performers at open mics are crucial to the comedy business. Yes. Because it makes people who are coming up going, oh, if that guy can do it. Yeah. I can surely do this. Because yes, if you look at a Joe Rogan, a Brian Regan, John Mullaney, Dave Chappelle, if you look at them, Chris, rock and just go, oh, that's what it

takes to be a comedian. No one would ever sign up because but what they don't know is how long it took each one of those guys to get there and how much work they had to put in. But if you go to an open mic and see you know, I am the best looking man in

comedy and that's your and that's your punchline then yeah, you go, oh, I can do this. And it's like you say, it's those little victories along the way that you go, okay, I did my like I did my first open mic. Yeah.

Awesome. Check that off. Yeah. Check that off. Hey, I drove somewhere and did it like more than an hour and I did show. Cool. Okay, I got paid. I got paid to do stand up.

Would it be in cash? Would it be in free drinks and fries? Okay, cool. Like, yeah. So, yeah, like I remember my first gig where I got paid was I was there used to be a common, not it wasn't a comic club, it was a blues club out here in Hollywood called B.B. Kings. it was at the

right over here at Universal Studios City Walk and they had bands and they needed a comedian to essentially go between bands and talk and while they were switching the gear around and shit and I saw that ad somewhere and I would like

I'm a comedian and they tried me out and I got the job and it was just crowd work you're just doing crowd work you tell a couple jokes and then you got paid in a free hamburger, which for me, I was like, sweet, that's all I need for hamburger. We're also getting paid in stage time.

Yeah. And so I did two weeks. And then they switched managers. And then the manager was like, no, no, no, no, we don't need comedians. And then so, yeah, so I lasted two weeks. But hey, good enough for me. But yeah, so it's like those little milestones that you just hit and you go, okay, I'm on my way. Like, you don't sign up to, you don't sign up for your first open mic.

and then the next day you're selling out the Mass Square Garden. Like, that's not how it works. I think that far too often in our society, we see the likes and the comments on Instagram. We see the finished product. Yeah. We see the LeBron James, the Rock. We see Tom Brady.

Yeah. And we don't realize what it took for them to get there. Right. Yeah. And you see like, hell, let's take the Rock, for instance. Like, you see his character in, you know, what he's doing the third person, when he's telling you what the Rock's going to do and he's got the raised eyebrow,

he's got the catchphrases and everything's killing, everything's crushed. And you're like, oh, he's just naturally that. What you don't see or what you don't remember is Rocky Maya Villa coming out at Survivor's series as the good guy with some of the worst hair you've ever seen in your life, some weird like blue, green and white streamers coming from his neck and just being, hey, I'm a great guy. I'm Rocky Maya, Via. And then just crowd is going, fuck you.

And what you don't see before. for that. And a lot of people don't talk about this with The Rock. Yeah. Is him wrestling for 40 people at a flea market. Yep. And that's, that's what it takes.

Whether it be doing, you know, coming up in your business, maybe like doing shows at your college news station maybe. I'm guessing you did something like that. Of course. Yeah. So,

in fact, I auditioned to be on my campus radio station. Yeah. And didn't get past the first round of audition. Ah, yeah. There you go. And kind of as an, kind of as an FU. Yeah.

I went, I'm going to go do this for real. I don't need the campus radio station. And then two years later, work at the radio station, like an AM station, in my college town. There you go. See, and sometimes, sometimes a no can be what you need to motivate you, whether it be Michael Jordan getting cut from his high school basketball team to be like, oh, really? Asshole. Okay. Yeah.

Sometimes you need a note to make you go, all right, I'm going to show you. And then you go do it. So, yeah, just a lot of open mics and driving. God knows, all over the state. My favorite story in terms of like this is what, you know, you talk to Young Comics about, is there was an open mic at a bar called Marvin Marys. I don't think Marvin Marys is still there, but it's down here in L.A. and I was turning into the parking lot.

Thought I could make it. Couldn't end up getting into a car accident right as the show was about to start. So we're talking. The cop show up. I had signed up already so I knew where I was in the lineup. I go, hold on. I run in, do my three minutes, my two minutes, and then run back out and continue to talk about the car accident.

Was any of your bit the fact that you were just in a car accident? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Funny thing happened me on the way to the show. It's that kind of thing. So, yeah, it's those kind of stories. It's the driving six hours up to San Jose, doing a 10-minute spot, getting no money, and then driving six hours back.

You know, like that night. There's so many parallels in that world to the world of indie wrestling. Yeah. Oh, I can only imagine. Like, indie wrestling, like, it's starting, now with social media, wrestling thankfully for these guys is starting to be a little more profitable to the point where

some guys are like no i don't want to go to wwee because i'm making enough money in in in in the indies um so that's great but yeah when you start and you're and you're the low guy in the card yeah there's yeah you got to drive god knows how long with god knows who you got to set you got to set up the ring you got to uh close down the ring and you got to do your match and you got to take tickets you got to do all that just to yeah just to get a few bumps and or to get squashed by the main guy. Yeah. Like, I just want any wrestler that I follow.

And like he just, he just fought Lance Archer on dark and got destroyed. But for him, it's like, yes. He worked an AEW show. I worked an AEW show. Like, that's the, like, you see those little victories on, on the way. That's his, that's that wrestler's biggest moment right now is that Lance Archer chokes land him and beat him in a minute and a half.

The first time. an indie wrestler gets flown in for a booking, that's like, oh my gosh. That's huge. I'm Stone Cold Steve Austin. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. First time someone buys your t-shirt. Yeah, that's a huge one too.

What for you was your first break and your big break? Man. So there's a lot of, yeah, so there's a lot of breaks along the way. There's a few. getting on the Mind of Mancia show way back in the day that was probably a break because then comedy club owners saw me and that was my first credit to where you know you can say you know him from

like you know and because oh and here's a little tip for all you guys watching and I it's like known but not known if you ever at a comedy club and you hear the MC or the DJ go you've seen him in clubs and colleges all over the country, that means they haven't done shit. That means, and I only say that because at some point, we were all there. We all had not done shit. So you have, everyone's gotten the clubs and colleges intro. He's played, he's played clubs and colleges all over the country.

Nope, this is his second time on stage. He knows the headliner or he owed us, we, we owe him a favor. Boom, it may not go well. That's, yeah, the old clubs and colleges. But so, yeah, getting on that. And then, so this is a long-winded story, and it's very indicative of Los Angeles. So I'll try to make, I'll try to make it more broad. But basically there was a very popular morning radio show out here called the Kevin and Bean show.

Yeah, I know. Yeah. No longer on air, unfortunately. But, yes, one of the members of that show was a guy named Ralph Garman. Ralph Garman is a very popular podcast called Hollywood Babylon with Kevin Samp. Smith. Ralph Garman on Twitter retweeted one of my tweets. I don't know how he saw it.

I don't know what, but he saw it. He retweeted it. And it did at that point really good for me, like in terms of tweets and stuff. So the next time Ralph did his live podcast, Hollywood Babylon with Kevin Smith, I go to Ralph and I know he likes whiskey. And I brought him a really nice bottle of whiskey. And I went, hey, thanks for retweeting. like that I really I really appreciate it.

You know, I'm a nobody. You did that. Thank you. And he kind of looks me and goes, oh, do you want to come on the show sometime? I go, yes. I guess I want to go on the Kevin Bean show. It's one of the top radio shows

in Los Angeles. Which then makes it one of the top radio shows in the country. Yeah. In the country. Yeah. Just in general. So I go on the show and like the day before my chalkboard looked like that meme

of Charlie from always sunny in Philadelphia like the conspiracy chalkboard okay if they ask this I go this like these jokes are lined up this is my radio routine like I'm going to go in firing because as someone who has interviewed a ton of people you know

how hard it is for you when you show up and you go like like, hey, so, blah, and the person just gives you nothing. Just another, yeah, it's a movie. Especially on a morning show. Oh, because often they're too tired to be funny. Yeah, they're tired. To be entertaining.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm like, no, and I got plenty of sleep. I drank coffee, so I'd be hyper. And I never drink coffee, so it's really. So, like, I've got that whole thing, and I plan it out. And I do my interview on the show. It goes well. at the end of the interview

they go, all right, that was Brad Williams, check them out, blah, blah, blah. I see my Twitter at the time, like just start blowing up. And they look at me and go, what are you doing in April? April is their big comedy show at the time. It was called April Foolishness.

And I go, I'm not doing anything in April. They're like, all right, do you want to be on April Foolishness? And I go, fuck yeah. So at the time, it was at the Gibson Amphitheater, which held doesn't exist anymore, but it held, I think held 9,000. Yeah, I think not like 9,000 people.

Someone could Google it. It might be four. I don't know. But way more than what you were performing. Yes, way more for the lackluster ticket sales at comedy clubs. Yeah. Do that. And on the show, just to give you an idea what the show is, it's a lot of people, it's

a thousand people. On that lineup was Bob Sagitt, Jim Jeffries, Tim Mincham, Eddie Izard, Jay Moore. Oh, geez. Yeah, nobody. Yeah, just an insane lineup Yeah So I go on I do my set

I'm near the beginning I do my set I end my set By bringing one of the girls From the show Her name is Lisa May She was like She was the traffic reporter

On the show I bring her on stage Give her a lap dance On the stage The place goes Eight shit Uh Get a standing ovation

Jay Moore is on after me He walks on and goes on goes, okay, let's just be honest. Right now, before I start, after Brad Williams, we're all playing for second place. Wow. And this is on that show with that lineup. And that was a quote that made the newspaper the next day of,

like, there's a bunch of, like, writers there from the entertainment section. And it was all about this was the Brad Williams coming out party. Like, holy shit. So that was a big break. Yeah. And then people in LA saw that. And people started that started circulating. And yeah.

And then you do that. And then the first Showtime special, that's a big break. The Netflix, the Degenerates, that's a big break. But then even going on like, I've been on the Rogan podcast. I've been on your mom's house podcast, which is Tom Cigra's podcast. They have insane fan bases. And those were big breaks. She started selling tickets after that.

This is not happening. That show for Comedy Central, the YouTube story that I told has over like two and a half million views. Like that was a break. Like it's all these little breaks that add up. Like very few times do you have that moment in show business where it's like today, no one knows about you. Tomorrow everyone knows about you. Like I can't even like I can. Like the ones that I can think of that are.

actually that didn't actually pan out. Like, remember Ken Bone? He was during, I know it sounds like a porn star, but he, he asked a question during a presidential debate, and his name's Ken Bone. He had a great sweater. Yeah, he had a great sweater. And the next day, everyone knew about him. Like, you could have that.

And then the next week, they forgot about him. Yes, exactly. So, I mean, the close thing I have, and it sounds insane, but like, I remember there was a time where no one in the United States of America knew who Ricky Martin was. No one. And then he went on the Grammys. He performed the Grammys, and everyone went, holy shit who the fuck is this guy yeah but then it's that's fair that's unfair to say that he blew up

after that because he was a minuto and he was a big latin star before that so that's completely denying all those years but it takes you to that new threshold yeah that idea that like you're the 12 year overnight success like like sebastian right now oh my god or like kevin hart yeah yeah yeah yeah like it's like dude kevin hart people have told legendary stories about kevin hart getting email addresses together and mailing lists and and packing clubs and going to malls and passing out flyers and doing all this stuff just so we can sell tickets there and having that work ethic.

Sebastian, legendary stories of him being a waiter, running back to the comedy store, doing his set while wearing his waiter outfit, running back and didn't miss tables. Like didn't tell his tables, like, hey, I'm going to go do, so this guy's going to take over? No. didn't miss, just went back to the set, ran back.

And there are stories about that, and now he's selling out arenas all over the world. So it's great. I think you might be at the level now where maybe they don't know your name is Brad Williams. Maybe they're not familiar with your brand of comedy. Sure. But they are aware that there is a dwarf comedian.

If you Google Midget Comic, I believe my photo pops up. I believe it's my website. So yeah. And that's all, like, all I want is for people to go, Oh, yeah, that guy. Like, that's all I need. You're there. You're there.

That's all I need. You're that guy. Good. I want. That's all I want. Like, when people see me to go, like, oh, yeah, that's a comedian. Or when they see my name up on the marquee, like, if they're going to see somebody else, like, you know, maybe they're going to go see Whitney Cummings. And then they look up and go, oh, Brad Williams is going to be here in a few weeks.

Okay. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, let's come back and see him. Like, that's, that's all you want. I just want my name to be associated with comedian and that's it. Do you think you need a big role in a movie or in a TV show to really get to that next level? I don't want that, though. Oh, okay.

I don't want that. Here's what I want. I want to be Brian Regan. I want to be Sebastian Manuscalco. Because, yes, he was, Sebastian was in the Irishman, you know, huge movie. Right. But he wasn't a huge role in that. Right.

He's not that part where you go, ooh, this guy. Like, so all I want is for people that know me as a stand-up, come see my shows, have a special every few years, cool. You don't want to be like Andrew Dice Clay where you're peppered into a film every once in a while? Maybe, but I really like stand-up. I really like stand-up. I love it. Yeah, you definitely more than like it. It's so, like, I get an audition now, and I don't get mad, but I go, like, I have to do this thing and I have to prepare.

It's a lot of work. It is. It's more work than you think. And I don't, I don't like doing it where I go stand up. I'm the writer. I'm the producer. I'm everything. And whatever happens in stand up is almost a direct result of me.

Whereas, like, so in acting, you have to, you have to audition. And the person has to, the casting director has to go, yeah, I like that person. Like, you need that person to be like, no, I like. you, I give you permission to be in our show or a movie or whatever. Yeah. If you're trying to sell a TV show, you need networks and a bunch of executives to be like, yes, that I believe this is our brand and they have to make a decision. For stand-up, you have to be funny.

But here's the thing with stand-up. Just got to be funny. You are the brand in stand-up. If your character doesn't work in a TV show, you could go, ah, bad writing, bad producing, bad directing, bad casting, whatever. Yeah. If you don't work in stand-up, it's because you didn't. work. Yeah, and I like that. Oh, because I trust me. Yeah. I trust me to do the work. I trust me to make it work.

But it's also hard to not take that personally. Oh, sure. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But like, I like knowing that if it doesn't work out, it's because I fucked up, because I can control that. I believe I can control that. If a show doesn't work out, if a TV show doesn't work out, then that could be any number of reasons why it didn't work out that I had absolutely no control over whatsoever. Yeah. So, um, there's a movie out right now with Eric Andre called a bad trip. It's on Netflix. It's

a great movie and the whole concept of the movie for those you don't know is it's like it's like a it's like a sitcom but it's taking place in real life with real people and there's insane like imagine if you were just walking

down the street and a chase scene happened from Fast and the Furious and you're like the fuck like but they're also getting the people's reactions that's what the movie is it's a brilliant concept and i'm laughing about it because about seven eight years ago i was in a pilot for nbc that did not go it did not get picked up but it was a sitcom that took place in the real world we would go to dinner and those sitcom family family arguments would happen at a restaurant with real people that didn't know they were on a show so we would like throw

gravy at each other and everyone would go like there was one scene where I was at a where I was at a bookstore with my twin brother who wasn't a dwarf yeah fun uh it's a weird show uh and like something happened and all the bookshelves fell over and like like we rigged it to where it would happen but then no no one in the store knew that that was going to happen it's their real reactions it's us reacting to it I thought it was brilliant um but it didn't go and for whatever reason name name your reason uh but in that case you can't go not my fault Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can say not my fault, but I don't want it.

I don't want to do that. I want it to be my fault because then I have control. If it's because a new executive doesn't like that kind of show or the writing wasn't good or whatever, then it's like, well, then why the fuck am I doing it? If you're going to fuck it up, like, it's the team sport versus the individual sport. Yeah. Like, if Roger Federer doesn't win at tennis, it's because Roger Federer wasn't good at tennis. if the guard from your favorite football team does everything right, he could still lose because the wide receiver dropped it,

the quarterback through the wrong guy, the running back fumbled it, or the defense sucked. Like all of that can happen. And he's like, mother, like, you know,

it's, it's every, name every great player that didn't win a championship. And then you have like Adam Morrison, who's won two. And if you don't know who that is, he was a great college player. went to the Lakers, was sitting on the bench,

never got in the game, won two champions. But he has two rings. So it's like, it's that whole thing of like, what do you prefer? Do you want teammates who you can rely on, who can possibly fuck up, and then also pick you up when you're not doing well? Or do you want to be the individual show

where it's like, no, no, it's you. It's you, it's all you. And if it goes wrong, it's you. Wouldn't you think, though, that when you get an audition or you get a breakdown, they're looking for you. You would think that? I had an incident during an audition one time

where they, it was for commercial, I won't say the brand, but in the audition it said, we are looking for a funny little person. I'm talking funny. Improv comedy. Prop comedy, like great comedic timing. Like just everything like that. Yeah, you're like, who better? Yeah, and I'm reading the part like, holy shit. Yeah, me, great. So I get to the audition and

they're like, okay, for this audition, we want you to mime picking up those boxes and putting them on the shelf. There's no boxes, there's no shelf. But like, pick up the box, and I go, okay, and then what? And they go, oh, that's it. And I did it, and then, and I try to do it funny. And then they told me like, no, no, no, just play it for real.

And I'm like, but you want, okay? So I did it. And then they went, okay, that's all. And I stopped in the room and went, the breakdown said this. And they go, uh-huh, that's what we need. and I went, that's me. Okay, just so you know, if this is what you want,

me, like, yes, there are other very talented dwarf actors out there. There are other dwarf comedians out there. There are funny little people out there, no doubt. But I go, if this is what you want, this is literally me and me alone. Yeah. Give me the fucking, like, and I kind of, I kind of said that to him, like, in the room. Didn't get the part probably because of that. But like it made me so, it infuriated me, because I'm like, you literally just said,

you literally just said, we want Brad Williams. Brad Williams showed up, and then you went, but what can you? Like, and there's so many stories that. Well, sometimes, not everybody will know this, but sometimes you'll get a breakdown. And it will say, we're looking for a Ryan Reynolds type. Yeah, and you're like, get Ryan Reynolds. Right. Call him.

It sounds like here. They were saying, we want a Brad Williams type. Yeah. And then Brad Williams showed up, and they're like, but can he? Did you see who they ended up casting? I did. Because if they cast anybody who would like, maybe was Asian or black, you could go, ah.

Right. I go, okay, that's what you wanted. And that, and that does happen sometimes where I don't get a part, I'm and go, wow. And then I see the person's performance and go, cool. Like, okay, so you saw the movie, you saw the movie Joker? Of course. There's a dwarf in that movie. Oh, you auditioned for it?

Yes. I auditioned for that one. Didn't get it. I thought, I thought I did. I was really mad about not getting the part. And then I saw, his name is Lee, he's a great actor. I saw what he did. And I went, oh, yeah, him.

Okay, yeah, give that to him. He won. And I've gone in for auditions and then I see the person that they cast. I go, I was nothing like that person. Why did you call me? Yes, why was I there? Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. So it's just a crazy business that way.

And that's one of the reasons why I love being a stand-of-communian because if I don't get the part, if my show doesn't go, if whatever doesn't happen, I still have comedy. I have comedy. And you'll always have that. Yeah, I can't stop doing that. Like, the worst case scenario is I literally never write another joke and I just do the same act that I'm doing right now for the rest of my life. But the act works. So there'll always be some people that laugh.

There'll be people that get tired of it and never come back and see me. But it will always get some laughs. So that's the worst case. So I got that. And that's why I'm really happy to be a comedian. A lot of people that are watching this or listening to this will know you from the Chris Jericho Cruz. Oh, yeah.

The rock and wrestling rager at sea. Rock and wrestling rager at sea. Okay. How did that connection happen? I'll tell you this story. And by the way, I think for the new one, or the third one, some cabins, it was sold out, but I think some cabins just became available. And it's a complicated vaccine situation.

It's some politics. I don't know. I don't want to step there. But anyway. So, yeah, if you want to go, look it up. So yeah, the Chris Jericho rock and wrestling Raidstee, which is the, like, people make fun of comedians on cruises.

Not this one. This is, it's comedy, it's metal rock bands, and it's wrestling on a fucking boat. Like how, this, yes, this is my people. This is my cruise. So I'm doing this,

how that happened. So I was doing the Tampa Improv, and I was headlining it, and I do meet and reads after every show and this lovely attractive blonde woman comes up to me after the show and says, wow, that was really great. You were really funny. You know,

my husband's in show business. He would really like you. And whenever I hear my husbands and show business, my son's doing stand-up, my whatever the, I'm just like, uh-huh. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, your husband's in show business. Out here in Tampa. Yeah. Okay. So he's done like a used car commercial. Like that's what's going through my head.

I go, oh, your husband's in your business. And I just kind of nonchial and I go, oh, who's your husband? She goes, Chris Jericho. And I go, oh, hey, go on my face. Okay. Well, please tell him hi. I'm a big fan. Blah, blah, blah.

And I probably geeked out and said way too many inside information about Chris Jericho during that time where she's like, how do you know that? Yeah, you have that thing in your house. I haven't been there. but she goes, no, I'm going to tell him about you. And I go, okay, cool. And I think, I think, well, there's a fun story I can tell people, but I don't think really anything of it. A few days later, I get a DM on Twitter, and it's from Chris Jericho.

And I am a lifelong wrestling fan. Like, we geeked out before the cameras went on. And Chris Jericho is definitely one of my favorites. And so he DMs me and says, hey, man, I'm going to, my. My wife says you're really funny. I'm going to be out in L.A. in a couple months. You want to do my podcast? And I'm like, yes.

Yes, Chris Jericho. So we set a date and I go to his studio where he does his podcast. I sit down and I talk with him for an hour. Talk is Jericho. I tried not to geek out too much. I tried to act professional. There's probably some moments where I geeked out. And then at the end of the, we stopped the podcast.

and he goes, wow, that was really fun. Cool, nice to meet you. And we got along really well. And then he goes, you know, I'm doing this before it was announced. This is the first cruise. He goes, I'm doing this cruise thing. Like, what do you think? Do you think it's going to?

I go, how can I be on this cruise? Yeah. He's like, I can't really pay you that much because I'm losing money on it. And I go, I don't care. Pay me. Don't pay me. It's wrestling on a boat. I want to do this cruise.

And at the time, AEW didn't exist. So it was Ring of Honor versus versus is Impact Wrestling. Yeah, it was right before AEW was announced. Yeah. So, which was really cool because there was still a Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega match on that boat. So we got to see that.

So, yeah, it was amazing. I go, yes, I will do it. And I did the cruise. I did shows. But one thing is that I went to everything. Like every wrestling event, I was there. Every rock performance, I tried to go see every,

because every live podcast I did. I was involved in some of them. At one point, Jim Ross called me humping Don Callis's leg, where he's like, Good God, oh, matter. That leg's got a family. It was like the biggest nerd moment,

and I did everything. And Jericho noticed that. I was at the one-man show. It was like Mick Foley did his one-man show. Jericho did the one-man show. and I did that stuff and he's like, oh, you're really, like, you're really into this. And the fans saw that too.

So the fans were like, oh, Brad's not just showing up here for a paycheck. Like he wants to do this. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. So after that, Jericho and I legitimately, and I can say this honestly, became friends. Like, friends. There's one time I was in Columbus, Ohio. I noticed that his band Fossey was doing a rock festival there.

at that time and uh i was like hey i'm in columbus here doing Columbus he goes oh i'm done at like two o'clock we're one of the day sets so i'll come see you and he drove by himself over an hour and a half just showed up the comic club he's like hey you know and he walked up and you know i'm chris jericho and they're like yeah we don't we kick you in here uh and yeah he watched the show and hung out afterward it was great like we're legitimately oh man friends right now and it's it's the weirdest thing because I have to like he's a great guy the best dude and then I have to remind myself like oh yeah that's that's like one of your heroes when you were a kid

and now you're friends of them that's the weirdest shit ever he's such a good guy he's a great guy and he makes time like his texts aren't just like okay yes he makes time to communicate he's caring he read it he knows he knows what he knows we're talking about so I was going to be on the second Jericho Cruz but then my wife had the nerve to get pregnant. I know.

How dare she? So it wasn't able to do that one because... It's partly your fault, too. I had something to do with it. But yeah, the due date was like a week before the cruise. So it couldn't be like, all right, you're born, you're healthy, good, all right, bye. Like, I couldn't do that. So I didn't do that.

But now I'm on the third one. I'm hosting it and also doing some standards. end up shows on it. I love it. So yeah, it'll be great. I can't wait. It's, it's the most fun. It's the most fun if you're a wrestling fan. Because it's like I said, it's rock music, it's comedy. And all the comedians on it either like wrestling or associated with wrestling in some way. So they're not just getting people that are, like I said, are just showing up for the paycheck. Like these are all people that have respect for the business. So it's going to be a blast. That's such a good story that I think we're going to end on that story.

Let's do it, man. Where can people find you? Yeah. You can find me. Go to my website, Brad Williamscom. That's got links to everywhere, but if you want the shortcuts, Instagram.

The short cuts? That's the name of next special, maybe, I don't know. But then go to Instagram at Brad Williamscomic, Twitter, at Funny Brad. But my whole touring schedule

is on my website. We talked about this before. You are on the road pretty much every weekend for the next year. I got college to eventually pay for. So yes, I'm on the road.

pretty much all the time. So if I'm not in your city, wait. I'll be there. I'll be within a stone's throw. No problem. Just a short distance away. Get! You're funny.

You're funny, Chris Van Vleet. Yay! I end every interview with the same question because... Six inches. There we go. Oh, okay, no, no. I'm very driven by gratitude. And I feel like I start and end every day.

saying out loud three things that I'm grateful for. So I end every interview with this too. Okay. Because it gets people that are listening to think in that same term of like, hey, I can be grateful as well. Yeah. So what are three things in your life that you're grateful for right now? Wow. It's such a simple question, but also such a great question.

Where it does. It makes you stop and go like. Well, because so many people think about the things they don't have. Yeah. Instead of thinking about the things, but they do have. Yeah. I'm very grateful that my wife is patient and lets me go on the road and do stuff on the road and entertain. She let us hang out today.

She let us hang out today. You know, she's got the baby there. And because I'm wealthy enough to where I'm okay. I'm not wealthy enough to where I've got a staff of nannies. And we just wake up. We go, oh, I'd like to see the children today. and we wander in and see the child whenever we feel like. It's like, no, we're there.

We're in it. We're doing all this stuff. So, yes, I'm very grateful, very grateful to have a patient wife, very grateful to have a healthy daughter. And I don't want to make this a political thing, but very grateful for the vaccine because I can now go back on the road and I can do stand-up and I can do meet and greets afterward and not worry about me getting sick or me passing it off to anyone

or if I do get sick, it won't be as bad. So yes, yay science. So yeah, I'll say that I'm grateful for the vaccine. And here come the tweets. Save your tweets. Whether you're pro or anti-vaccine, I think we can be happy that we're able to leave our houses now. Yes. We're able to eat in a restaurant again.

Yes. We're able to go to comedy shows, to movie theaters. Yes. Thank God. My industry shut down for a year and I do virtual shows, which don't get me wrong. part, they were okay. But yeah, it's kind of weird when you tell a joke about anal sex and you see someone's

three-year-old like wander into the camera and you're like, it's all right, same of the invoice for the therapy. I know I just caused that kid some harm. But yes, thanks for having me. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me to the apartment and showing me all your Emmys. Do I have to polish them now? Is that one of those things? Yep. Okay. I brought you here. I got to go

polish his daytime Emmys. Please. Thank you so much. Thanks, Bob. Jim Rome takes on sports. Why? Because I have a job to do. With rapid fire takes. So I don't want to hear from you lava pigs on this notion today.

No idea what you're talking about. You're complaining more than you like to breathe air. It's like you get up in the morning only to complain and cry and moan on social media about things that you don't even understand. He's the spitfire of sports smack. Take advantage of it. Get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What's your beef? Follow and listen on your favorite platform.

You've been warned.