Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Cobra Kai's Bret Ernst on comedy, making your dreams come true and Wrestling Society X

Episode Date: June 10, 2021

Bret Ernst is a stand-up comedian and actor best known for his role in the Netflix series "Cobra Kai". He talks with Chris Van Vliet from his home in Las Vegas, NV where he talks about his inspiration for becoming a comedian, what motivates him, his process for writing a joke, how he became the commentator for Wrestling Society X on MTV and much more! Submit your Blue Wire Hustle application here: http://bwhustle.com/join 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 and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Let's do this thing. Here we go. And welcome back to another insightful audio adventure here on Insight. I'm Chris Van Fleet. Thank you so much for listening wherever you are and whatever you happen to be doing right now. Brett Ernst is hilarious. And he's been crushing it as a stand-up comedian for the last 25 years. He's also one of the stars of Cobra Kai on Netflix where he plays Cousin Louis.

And this is a deep cut for you. But he was also one of the commentators. for Wrestling Society X on MTV for the one season that it was on the air. But what a great show it was. Behind all of that, behind all of the success, is a story of grit and determination of how he was able to get to the point that he's at in his career. And I didn't expect it, but this conversation is so incredibly inspiring. You can find Brett on social media.

He's at Brett Ernst. That's Brett with one T. You can find me. I'm at Chris Van Vleet. That is also with one T. And let's dive right into it. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome. Brett Ernst.

Good to see you. How are you? I'm doing well, buddy. Thank you so much for making this happen. I appreciate you having me, man. I like your little Emmys back there too. You should, uh, you know, and you got your Cowboys background here. Yeah, yeah, I got a Cowboys background.

You've got actual accomplishments. I've got a mediocre team for the past 30 years behind me. 24. Yeah. Now, I'm a Browns fan, so, you know, I can't really say anything. Yeah, you're right. Actually, you know what? Not for nothing. I think you guys might take the North this year. I think that they're going to have like a legitimate playoff run this year. Well, I mean, they're definitely, I mean, they should get the Wildcar. And I'm thinking three of the playoff teams are coming out of the AOC North. I would say the Steelers, the Ravens and the Browns. Then I got the Dolphins and the Chargers as the other two wild cards. So the interesting thing about

the NFL is it all comes down to injuries. Like it all comes down to like, like the Browns have, if Baker Mayfield goes down, the whole season could just, you know, go away. Yeah. I mean, you know, it's the same thing with what happened with us with Dak. But we were already, we were one and three when, and we were losing when he went down. If, you know, we would have been one and four if he finished the game. So, you know, there's so much parity in the league.

And then they moved it to 17 games as if like, you know, that's going to prevent less injuries, you know but it's going to be interesting man it's it's it's going to be interesting uh season i'm excited for it my my season was awful last year i'm just excited for like football with a full stadium of fans again like i'm just excited for any sort of event where there's a full you know stadium of fans or arena fans again and being in Vegas i can't well i got to go to one of those raider games i don't know have you have you seen the stadium i have it looks like a UFO like crashed into the middle of the strip that's well that's it's kind of for darth vader's helm for real for real so and they called then they called the death star yeah because you know they

they used to come out to the imperial march like the yankee uh the yankees did you know that don don't yeah done done done done and they always had the Darth Vader the guy the one fan it was always assimilated with the raiders somehow was Darth Vader and that's that's how they that's how they patterned it oh at least that's what I was told I don't know if that's true or not so well if whether it's true or not I totally believe it now yeah I'm sure you get this all the time, but how do you look so youthful? I don't know, man. Just don't drink, don't really smoke, never smoked, never done any drugs, always

exercise, but mostly I don't really try and stress, you know. That's it. So it's, we should stop drinking. I mean, I enjoy a good drink. Or have Sicilian parents and then see how that work. You live in Vegas and you don't drink. I mean, I drink every now and then. I don't go on.

I went hard last night, actually, to be honest with you. A buddy in mine popped in at the show. And next thing you know, we're on the tables, I'm down 150 bucks. And I've got about, I'd say about four scotches in me. Stuff happens. I don't know if we can curse or not, but. Yeah, sure. It's the internet.

You can say whatever you want. All right. I was just going to say shit happens. So, yeah. There it is. But it must be so nice that you're doing comedy shows in front of a crowd again. Like how? First of all, how difficult was it to be doing these shows where you were, you know,

you were either doing them online or you were doing them like some people were doing like the drive-through shows? I only did one online thing and that was for a buddy of mine that had passed away. It was a memorial for him. Eric Myers, a comedian. But I kept going, man. I didn't stop. I met the first month, two months, there was no action at all during COVID.

but I was in Florida. So things started opening up. There was one-nighters popping up. You know, people just said, you know, screw this. And I was able to get up. And then as it slowly progressed, I would go to Texas or, you know, states that were kind of open. You know what I mean?

And I just kept moving with it. But I mean, obviously we're taking pay cuts. But in my thing was that I've known a lot of these club owners over 17 years. you know, so if I can help them and it wasn't like, you know, they still paid me. It wasn't what you're used to getting. But it's almost like we got to keep, keep everything going and try and keep it afloat. So it's like last night we had it, we had a packed house and that felt good, man. Oh, I bet.

You know, you mentioned Florida. I spent five years living in Fort Lauderdale. You grew up in Fort Lauderdale. Yeah, I went to high school down there. Why is Florida such a weird place? I think it's because you got a lot of transplants there, you know. The heat has something to do with it. You know, it is.

It's its own little thing. But I got to tell you, I, I agreed with DeSantis after a while on the opening up thing. I mean, it was past the point of ridiculous at one point. Because, you know, again, I was in, I'm not saying COVID wasn't real. I actually caught it. I had it. But the way they were handling it just made no sense to some aspects. I think if it was more consistently making sense.

But then it got past the point. ridiculous and you know everybody's just like screw it in the beginning though I'm sorry uh in the beginning we all were like you know we're all in yeah everybody's like okay we got these two weeks i went down there i stay with my mom because she's older i did all the shopping i disinfected everything you know what i mean i was buying toilet paper like illegal drug deals and uh in a public's parking i actually made a video on it and then after like a month and a half two months you start knowing people that got it. You get all these things started happening and then you started learning more about it.

And, you know, and then then just a year and a half later, you're like, come on. Yeah. You know, so it is what it is. I'm just happy that everything's open now. When I first moved to Florida, I remember like I went to a restaurant, a bartender like, you know, gave me a drink and, you know, was asking, where are you from? What did you move here for, that whole thing? And he said something and I'll never forget it.

He said, Florida is a sunny place for shady people. And I kind of laughed at the time. And then the longer I lived there, I went, oh, damn, that's so true. Yeah, no, it's 100%. I mean, the whole South Florida was built by the mob and then the drug dealers. And, you know, there was just, so I'm writing that down, by the way. I feel free. It's not mine.

So feel free to take it. That's hilarious. It's true. It's a sunny place for shady people. No. Yeah, it's built by, I mean, South Florida from the pirates, you know, on the treasure coast. to the mob in Miami, to the Cuban crime wave

that Scarface was based on, to the nightclubs, the strip clubs. I mean, it's, it is. It's all, it's all of it. It's all of it. I mean, you know, it's, to me, I love it. I love South Florida, man. It's great.

There's no place like it. Everything's open late. I remember going out in South Beach, man. We would step out at midnight and they'd be serving breakfast at like 6 a.m. in the clubs. It's a good time. It was a good time to be, to be. It was a good time to be in the night.

90s, I'll tell you that much. I bet. What you just did there, writing that down, is that what, like, a lot of your, is that how a lot of your ideas come from or where a lot of your ideas come from? No, this is something I'm going to tell a friend of mine because we talk about this. I would never, because it's not an original thought. I wouldn't use this on stage. Or if I did, I would reference this to saying, I heard a great quote. Sure. You know what I mean? But I would never claim it as my own thoughts. Do you have like an ongoing list or like an ongoing like note section in your iPhone of just ideas that popular. into your head for material? Yeah, yeah. I mean, a lot of comics, you have two types of comics. You have comics that write and then comics that write on stage. I write on stage. So I'll come up with an idea and I'll write that idea down, right? Like, it would be one word or two words, just to remind me of what I wanted to talk about. Yeah. And then I'll go up there and then I'll

talk about it. And then, but it's weird. I mean, I've been doing it 24 years. So you have your own style of way of creating and writing. I'm a lazy writer in the beginning. And then once I start honing it in is when I start punching it up and touching it up, if that makes sense. For sure. And when you hone it in for something like a special, do you know it word for word like you're reciting a script almost? Just through repetition. Yeah. I mean, when I did my half hour for Comedy Central years ago, like in 2010 it came out. We shot it at 09 and it came out in 2010. I had to, they asked for me to write it out and, but I just couldn't.

I couldn't do it because, so I just had like, you know, reminders almost like bullet points, so to speak as it ran down the prompter, but I, it's not how I perform. I just don't. I can't do it that way. And I'm not. I thought I was unique, but I'm not a lot of, there's a lot of comics. I mean, in the beginning, I thought I was, right? In the beginning, you perceive stand up to be what, you know, you write every joke out and word for word.

And then you go up and you're trying to remember everything and it's not really hitting. And then you start to realize that that's not what it is. I mean, it's more, most comics just go up and talk. So if we take this way back, Brett, what did you think you were going to be when you were a kid growing up? I had no idea. I mean, what I wanted to be was play for that team. right there. I wanted to be a linebacker for the cowboys. Huh.

But I, you know, I don't know, man, never thought of it. I knew I was, I knew this was something I always wanted to do. Well, how do I say? I always liked clowning around. I mean, I went to some rough schools and, you know, that's how I got most of my friends. I mean, you know, just like every boy, you, you know, I was good in sports, you know, you get respect that way. I was a scrappy kid. I wasn't the toughest kid in the yard, but, you know, I could hold my own. But it was mostly telling jokes, making people laugh, getting in trouble. I got in a lot of trouble.

That's why my special I released on YouTube is called Principal's Office. I was always, always in trouble. I mean, I went to 15 schools. My mom was constantly coming to the office. And, you know, I did a lot of, I was in a lot of trouble as a kid. But I did it. I love getting in trouble. I still kind of though, you know, but it was more the attention and I don't know what it was,

but drove me. But I did it. I was always in trouble. But once I found out, once I saw Eddie Murphy's delirious as a little kid, which I shouldn't have been watching, I'm like, oh, this is what I want to do. You know, I just didn't know how to go about it. And how did you go about it? Because there's a big step there between making your friends laugh and then actually getting on stage and doing this. on the path to do this for a living.

Well, I play football at Long Island University, right? And I was always cutting it up in the locker room. And it's weird because I would watch stand up and then I could, I knew how to construct a bit, but I would run bits on people in the locker room. Like I would have these thoughts. But then I would present it almost as if I was, actually hasn't changed much from the style. I use now on stage where like I'm always telling stories or making fun of friends. You know what I mean?

And then I knew that could possibly translate. So once I was done, I went back down to Miami and then I asked around. I went to the comedy club and said, open mic. And I was thinking about doing it. And then I got a letter from my boy Jose Cosme from the Bronx. And he was like, yo, I just I just walked past his comedy club. This is how long ago it was. I was thinking about doing it.

And then when I came home, my mother said, Brett, you got a letter in the mail. And it was from this kid, Jose. He used to fade me up in the bathroom. So then in the letter, it said, yo, I walked past this comedy club. And I don't know why, but I thought you should do that, man.

Because I was always making them laugh at the barber. Like, we would all hang out and get, you know, you know how it is. And I was always making fun of people and cracking jokes in the barber chair. and then he just I got the letter the day the day I went to the comedy club to look and think about it to check it out I didn't I was like not on the fence but when I came home there's a letter for my boy that means he mailed that shit two weeks ago that said you should I always thought you should do this and it just kind of pushed me to go that way wow yeah do you remember what your first set was like Or what you actually, do you remember what your first joke was? Absolutely. What was it? You don't want to hear you?

Well, I mean, or maybe just the premise of it. It was basically, it was all about jerking off, really. But the one I did, this is how long ago it was. I said, I feel bad for Bill Clinton because of the dress. You know, because God forbid somebody found that sock under my bed. Tacky. It's like the first joke I opened up with. Remember the stains on the dress?

Of course, yeah. I'm like, you know, and then I went into how, you know, how my mom caught me rubbing one out. And then I forgot what the other stuff was, but that was my first joke. Wow. So right before you went on stage for the very first time, were you thinking, if this goes well, I'm doing this,

or were you just, you were sold on the idea no matter what? I went down there and I remember thinking, I remember thinking that this is what I'm going to do. And I don't want to sound like it's, you know, magical or whatever. But as soon as I went up, I said, I'm home. This makes sense to me now. You know, because she went through all of these experiences in life and none of them made sense to me until I stepped on stage, if that makes sense. Because, you know, man, I was, I was always.

restless. I was always nomadic. I was always wondering, you know, what is it I'm going to do? And I was always good at stuff, but never the best. Like, I was one of the better football players, but I wasn't the best on my team. And I was still good enough to play college. You know what I mean? I was always good at stuff. But with this, I was like, okay, I've always been this way as a kid. Like, I would go up to people when I was like, two, and start talking. to them asking them questions about stuff. You know what I mean? And my mom said I was always personable. And then I would get up

and I'd start talking in the living room and stuff, you know? Weird. So when you went on stage for the first time you went, this is it. Like this is the path that I want to go down. Yeah. I mean, I don't know to what degree it would take me, but I, I mean, I've been doing it 24 years, man.

And it's, everything I own is because of it. I've made friendships with people that ended up becoming comedy legends. You know what I mean? And I'm part of a history of the comedy store. I made my name's on the wall. I remember there's a couple of times when things got a little rough that I thought I was going to stop and I was maybe going to change career pass. And then something would just pull me back in.

The biggest one is when I got married, I had hit a really, really rough spot. And, no, I had lost my agents, everything. And then I'm like, screw this, man. It was a good run. You know what I mean? It was a good run. But I want to start earning. And then I remember the next thing.

Not that the next thing I know, but I get a call. And I'm in a meeting with a network and with the heads of the network. And I remember thinking of myself, I keep coming back here. Yeah. Does that make, like I can't give up. And not that I ever would have taken that option, but I did consider it at one point. But I would have never have taken it. Yeah.

If that makes sense. Yeah. And the interesting thing about the path that you're on, it's a path a lot of comedians have been on where you make a name for yourself in comedy, which then leads to you making a name for yourself in film and television and like becoming a broader star outside of that. Well, you know, when you're doing comedy and I've always been okay. See, here's the gift that I've had that I don't think people realize it's a gift. There was always people that had more than me as a kid. Right? I was used to that.

So when you and when you get into comedy, you also, I was always okay with, how can I say this? I understood that failure is part of it, right? You just, you know, I remember playing the odds. I remember because I analyzed things a lot. So I was like, you know, when you first get to Hollywood, the odds are way against you, right? So, I mean, people can't even pay their bills, let alone be able to do what they do. So, but after the longer you're there, the odds now becoming your favor, right?

It would be like if you went down a gambling sheet, the odds of you picking all losers is the same as you picking all winners, right, to get 100%. So the more knows, the more failure you get, you now get the odds start, the odds start becoming in your favor. Yeah. The longer you're in it. And I remember I kept every side of every audition that I didn't get. And then until I got that one. And it was like a hundred some. And it was one line on a soap.

opera. Wow. And now the funny part is, and after a while, I got rid of that stuff because now I'm looking at it as it's more failures. So as I started getting more accomplishments, I would frame them and put them up. Like I still, you know, like everything I still got here. Like this was when I was in the Hollywood Reporter and then I got my variety art, you know, and then I started, and this isn't about, it's just a visual to let you know that you are being successful. You know what I mean? Yeah. To keep you going and keep you going.

And, you know, it's a lot of self-motivation. And this goes in anything that you do. So in the beginning, I recognized the failures to understand that that was part of it. Then once you got the first one, I didn't want to keep my failures in my face. Then I just kept the ones I booked to remind me of success, you know? And then as things progressed more and more, like in my office here, I only have, I mean, this isn't in my home. I mean, the office is in my home, but I don't have all this stuff up where people can see it. It's just for me in this area as a reminder of what I've accomplished. You know what I mean?

And just to keep going. Yeah, I love that because then you're driven to accomplish even more when you're seeing this every single day. It's like what you got in the background, man. That's strong. Yeah. And it keeps you going. It does. You know that, you know, I mean, I'm, I'm content. I'm very thankful for everything, but I'm not content. Yeah. I want to keep going and going. I meant I've self-produced another special that, you know, look, the industry is a fickle thing.

And if you wait around for accept, I always say, I don't need anybody's permission to exist, right? So you're either going to ride with me or I'm just going to keep it. I'm going to keep doing it. Like my special that I released on my website, it's Brett Comedy, Brett with one T.com. Yeah. That's at three and a half million views now. And I released that whole hour two and a half years ago. And it just started picking up momentum.

And then people don't even know I'm a comedian. They just know me that I'm on Cobra Kai. And then, you know, so you just keep putting things out there and just like if you want to produce something, just get it done. And the internet, this is the best time to be an artist. Just get it done. Put it out. Move on to the next thing. Get that done.

Put it out. Move on. And what happens is it's like set it and forget it. Remember that wrong code thing? Yeah. Next thing you know, you're getting hit up. Like I got featured in Men's Help magazine as one of their top five specials.

I was self-produced. They hit you up. And then you're looking and you're like, holy shit, I was at 50,000 views. Now I'm at 400,000 views, you know? And then now my site's getting monetized. And now I'm doing this.

And the next thing you know, you get a phone call going, hey, man, Cobra Kai just got picked up by Netflix. And you're like, wait, what? But you got to keep moving, keep creating. You know what I mean? And I mean, this is only advice for artists.

I don't know what to do any other profession. But just keep creating. Just that's all you can do is just keep creating and keep putting stuff out, man, you know? No, I think this is advice for no matter what you do. This is just great life advice because I think that too many people look too far off into the distance and go, oh, man, this thing might not work out. This might fail. don't look at what's in front of them.

And you're basically saying, take step one, then step two, then step three. And don't worry about step 78 down the line. And you're going to fail. You have to fail. That's like dying. It's part of it. Like it's these idiots that think they're going to live forever or, you know, nobody, nobody gets up and just and just hits a home run right away.

And if they do, they ain't going to last. Yeah. Doesn't work that way. You know, when like, you know, Bill Bers said to me one time, he was like yeah you know you know you're doing it right when it takes a long time and then you got to ask yourself you know do you want a body of work do you want to be not to put down the backstreet boys but i'm saying do you want that four years of megastardom or do you want to have a career like zeppelin or you know this body of work that stands to

test the time and it's and it's a decision that artists have to make you know and you really have to stay focused on why you got into it. Now, don't get me wrong. I mean, look, you got to eat and everything feeds itself. You know, like if you're, I hosted a dating show and then I hosted wrestling on MTV, which I love, by the way. We got to talk about that in a second. Wrestling Society X. Yeah. So you, you know, you like for instance, I'm a diehard Cowboys fan, right? I do a podcast on the blog and the boys network, but I'm not doing it just to do it. I love the And because I do that, I get in. I look forward to it. It's the same thing with, I have a gambling show as well that I do because I'm a degenerate. And with comedy, I look forward to it. I don't, I want to leave. I want to be on stage. I want to keep creating. Now, I see a lot of comics do TikTok and a lot of that. That ain't me. And, you know, I've been, I've had my rep say, you got to do more of that. What am I going to do? Right. What am I going to do? dance? I mean, what am I doing? That means I'm just putting myself out there to put myself out there. I'm not going to do that. I'll cut up my clips and release them. But I didn't come. I didn't risk everything to come to Hollywood to establish a career to dance on 30 second videos or act like a jerk off. It's just not me. I came to do comedy. I came to write and I came to produce and direct and everything and act. And act.

and everything, that's what I came to do. I'm not against it. It's just not for me. Yeah. But the medium, like YouTube, just to put whatever you do, if you're a singer, you know, a comic, a broadcaster, nothing can stop you now from doing what you love. You could just put it online, you know? And if it's good, people will find it.

It may take a few years. Yeah. But set it and forget it. Bronco. The interesting thing about comedy is like you've got these 10 and 15 years, year overnight success stories. I'll put that in their quotes, overnight success stories like Kevin Hart, overnight success story. Like Sebastian, like these guys are grinding. And you know, you're very much in that same position. So I'm curious because there's a lot of ups and downs in that

world. What makes you keep powering through when you're in one of those down areas? Just remember you're doing what you love. And, you know, on my worst day, see, that's the other thing. out of my car. I mean, this was before I got in a comedy. You know, I was for a month, I didn't have a place to stay. And then I would shower at the gym. And then my buddies would let me crash on their couches for a while. And I've had, you know, I've been on my own pretty much my whole life. And I'm okay with it. I'm okay with now when I was married, my wife wasn't okay with it. And that's where the stress could come in. Yeah. But, you know, now that I, you know, it's very hard. to stay driven and focused when the people like the person you love the most is the one that's telling you

you know maybe you should reconsider certain things you know that was more difficult for me to stick to what i know to be true like i mean one of the things i said to her is don't make me second guess myself you know what i mean but we hit a we hit a rough spot and it was like hey man you know this is just life i've been here 30 times times she was never there before you know what i mean right so but then it the light shines and then you make it through and then you're like you see i told you you just got to stay the course you know yeah what was the first big break for you um well it depends i got my i got a network deal out of Montreal in 03 and then i got another deal in oh four and then the first national thing i did was

the vince fawn wild west comedy tour it was a documentary that me uh Sebastian who you mentioned Ahmed Ahmed, John Caparulo. We went on tour for 30 days and 30 nights, and they shot it as a documentary. And it was a major theatrical release. I remember, yeah. But right, when it came out, the writer's strike happened.

And nobody could do press. Like, we couldn't go on the talk, Vince couldn't go on the talk shows or nothing because they were respecting the writers. So when it was released, you know, not many people knew about it. This is what I'm talking about. And basically, it was,

we were all disappointed. at that point. And then it just picked up momentum on HBO. And it picked up momentum. And then it's still going. It's on Showtime now, I think. Yeah. No.

And then that was probably the first national thing I ever did where, you know, that got national exposure. Let's talk about Wrestling Society X because I'm a huge wrestling fan. I actually auditioned for that show to be a ring announcer. And, I mean, what year was that? 2003, I think it was. No, 2006, I think. Oh, six, that's right.

I just graduated from college and I audition, or I sent in an audition to be a ring announcer for that. And it's funny, as I was researching for this interview, I completely forgot that you were a color commentator for that show. Yeah, well, see what it was. This is what I'm talking about. So MTV at that time was looking to do something. Like, they were like, hey, we want Brett to do something with us.

And they were like doing like weird shit, like teenage pregnancies. It was like all kinds of stuff going on. That's right. And I told my agent, I said, look, man, I don't know, you know, if we could find something, that's great. It's not like they offered me a deal. We just, they were, we just knew who they were. And they were like, yeah, we like them. We think it'd be good for the network.

You know, that's back when they were still showing videos. Yeah. At the end tail end of that, you know. And he called me up. He said, listen, I don't know if you're going to want to do this, but they're doing professional wrestling. And I was like, absolutely. He goes, that's the thing you said yes to? I go, yeah, man, are you kidding me?

I'm a huge mark, dude, huge. So what MTV, the concept was they had a comedian, a commentator, and then they had a band perform in the beginning, and then the band would call the matches with us. So when I went in there, at first, they were like, oh, you know, we're going to have a comic, you know, but they didn't know I was a real fan. And then, yeah, dude, it was one of the best things I ever did.

I was hoping that, you know, it was the highest rated show for males. I think it was 15 to 35 on MTV, MTV, MTV, Espigno, whatever the Spanish one was. Next to Beavis and Butthead, those were the two highest. Wow. And they ended up canceling it because they changed all their format. But I was really hoping that would keep going, man. I mean, people still love it. Like, people talk very favorably about Wrestling Society X.

I just had Colt Cabana on the show who wrestled on Wrestling Society X with a math. gone. I couldn't believe it got canceled. Yeah. Matt Classic. Yes. Matt. Listen. Scott, I mean, yeah, we became friends for a little while after that. And that was my favorite character. I thought that was brilliant. How he couldn't adapt to the new wrestling world. Like he was still trying to do the test of strength. And I remember he went up on a, on the second rope and was he didn't know what to

do. I thought that was a brilliant, brilliant character, man. How long, like you guys obviously filmed that like, the course of just a few weeks, right? Yeah, yeah. And then... No, it was, yeah, about a month. I think it was a month. Obviously, it felt pretty good when you were on set, I'm guessing.

So at what point did you realize, oh, this thing isn't getting picked up for another season? No, I thought it was. I mean, it was until after it aired. And, you know, we were all waiting on a second season. And, you know, it's so funny again, man. When I tell people about stand-up comedy, it's not it's a lifestyle you know it's a lifestyle it's the same thing with wrestlers yeah and the

similarities between comedians professional wrestlers and country western singers is exactly the same i mean dude because you know country bars they still have a circuit you know where guys go and they play they play live you know um any live musician but you hear conversations it's like you know i was listening to the wrestlers you know when we were when we were filming and they were like yeah, you know, there's a promoter up in Modesto. If you want to go, he pays 200 a match. And the guy's like, yeah, but my car doesn't work. Can I ride with you?

Yeah, we'll split a hotel room. It's exactly the same conversation as comics and musicians have. Yeah. There's so much in common between those two worlds because you're just hustling. You're hustling and you're like trying to make a name for yourself. Now, in pro wrestling for the longest time, the threshold you needed to break through was getting signed. It was either WWE signed you, team.

at the time, now it's AEW as a possibility. What's that threshold in comedy that you have to break through? Getting people to buy tickets. I meant that's really what it is. No matter what city you're in. Right, man. I mean, that's what puts you over. If it was a meritocracy, then, you know, everything would be changed. And it's not. It's a business for us. Now, I mean, I would say the gift would be being on a sitcom. Yeah. You know what I mean? I mean, because you're getting sitcom money and it's syndicated and now you're famous and now you can go go do stand up. But a lot of those older comics with the exception of say Seinfeld or Jay Leno, those guys always still hit the stage. Yeah. You know what I mean? They never stopped.

Jay Leno every Sunday at Hermosa Beach, he's down there working his sets. Seinfeld and all of his billions of dollars still gets up because that's what we are. and you know and it's not even they don't there's nothing to prove it's just who you are i can't explain it so getting on a show would really boost you up like this cobra kai is helping me a lot now sure well the thing is they can now put on the poster that it's cobra kai's breederance well that's the thing too is people don't they come up to you back oh you're you're the guy from kobra kai they don't go oh it's breederance yeah fans of fans of comedy will come up and be like, oh, holy shit, you know, because comedy's still underground.

Yeah. But those were, those are few and far between, you know, I mean, like, I would be in the airport or whatever every now and then. And, you know, you get that just fans of stand up. But now with Cobra Kai, you got whole families coming up to you because they watch it as a family, but they don't know them. I was actually at the Palm Beach Improv, right? Sitting there, I'm performing next door.

I'm at Copper Blues eating. And this family came up to me. And they're like, what are you doing here? So I'm like, I'm performing. I'm working. That's how much they don't know I'm a comedian. There's probably times when you're in an airport. And people are like, they know you're famous or they know you from somewhere,

but they can't quite pinpoint it. Who have you been mistaken for? Well, never been mistaken for. But people say I look like walking Phoenix. Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah, you could definitely be walking. I had, you know, now that, again, man, now that the masks are off, more people are coming up to me. Because we don't wear masks in Vegas.

Yeah. If you've been, if you had the vaccination or the antibodies or whatever, you're good. So, but yeah, it does people go, you know, do we go to high school together? You're like, yeah, I don't know. So how did How did Cobra Kai come together? Was this just an audition

that your agent sent you? Yeah, man. It was actually, dude, it was crazy again. You know, we shot the first three seasons for YouTube.

You know that, right? Yeah, YouTube. It was called YouTube Red at the time. Right, which I had to change because people kept saying Red Tube. That's something very different. Yeah.

And then they change it to YouTube premium or whatever. But they outbid other networks. works for it and they they they gave them a full season so they the guys got right in and you know the guys that produce it and write it there was some really great creative people behind it you know it was um the guys that did hot tub time machine and harold and kumar and then will smith executive produces it you know because he own the IP um but his company overbrook i think it's called they they all produce it with sony so you had some major heads behind it now i didn't know again man I was

in Asbury Park that week. I was doing the Independence Theater down there. I was only doing one night. And I was there all week promoting it, like going on radio. And then I get a call from my agent, Danielle, there's a karate kid show for the internet that they want you to come in on. And I'm like, you know, well, what is it? He says, I don't know, but it pays. It pays like a real show. Yeah. And I'm like, what? So I said, send it to me. So my show was on Saturday. And then I Sunday, I flew out Monday. I had my audition that day. So I get three hours, by the way, because I'm coming from Jersey to Cali.

So as soon as I get off the plane, I go and I audition. While I'm on the plane is when I actually read the sides and looked into it. Wow. And I just kept discovering more and more because I didn't look at it at all because I was promoting the show. And then I'm on the plane. I'm like, all, let me look at this. Yeah.

And I'm like, wait a minute. And then I'm like, it's saying. is John, then the original cast is in it. I'm like, what the fuck? Right? Then when I got off the plane, I had my Maruka's shirt on from Jayr's Bar and Grill from Seaside Heights because I was there all week.

And then I don't really have an accent. I sound like I do, but if you really listen, I don't. It's just the way I talk. Like I don't say talk or dog. You know what I mean? But I was around everybody. So it was a little bit more organic because I was around it. I grew up there.

Yeah. And then I just went in and read. And I just read it. I played it normal, but it was enough of an accent to where you know. And then I guess they liked it. And then they were like, you know, they kind of knew who I was in a sense through comedy. And then they wanted me to come in because they were comedy writers. And next thing you know, I get the job.

Wow. So now they're like, yeah, we're flying you to Atlanta. I'm like, you know, it just then the first day on the set, me and Dan, a dude. I don't know if you know who Dan is. He plays a noosh. We're staring at each other. And Johnny and Daniel or Ralph and they're facing off for the first time ever on camera. Since I was a kid, I remember looking at Dan.

And he's like, what the fuck? I was like his eight-year-old self was looking at my 10-year-old self going, I can't, I can't believe this. Yeah. It was a little surreal, bro. Yeah. Wow. And I had worked with Ralph on Beer League. a few years back in Artie's movie.

And he's really, I mean, like, really a great guy, dude. That whole set is such a pleasure to be on. It's just, it really is, man. It's just such a, I think because you have the kids there and it's got a very good family vibe to it. And Ralph is a family man.

He always has been. So, you know, his wife and kids will come. And, you know, it's just, I keep saying Johnny, but William brought his kid. it's just a good vibe man everybody everybody from top to bottom i can't say enough about i couldn't say enough about i'm very thankful that i'm a part of that so you filmed three seasons before it ever went on youtube red yeah the first two no the first two aired on youtube then we shot season three and then that's when youtube was willing to sell the property and netflix licensed it but then

season four was the first season that was totally shot by netflix which we just wrapped on Wow. I mean, the fact that it's on Netflix now means that, I mean, anyone could see it on YouTube, but the fact that it's on Netflix, I think that that just takes it up to another level. Yeah. And like I said, we always knew it was a good show. We just didn't know it was going to be this big. And the funny thing is, is like the internet wanted to hate it in the beginning, you know? Because you know how the fanboys are? They're like, you know, how dare you mess with my childhood, even though I'm 58? You know what I mean? It's like, all right, guy, relax. But the way the guys did it with Ralph and with Billy, because they're co-executive producers as well. I mean, they stuck to the canon. They, you know, they paid respect to all of the, you know, everything is not gratuitous. It's, I've read so many great reviews.

One of the, two of the best ones were one said this is the only thing the internet agrees on, which I thought was pretty cool. Because we had almost a perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes. Wow. And then the other one was like, you know, this is the only nostalgic remake remake that got it right, you know, that added enough new with the old and everything made sense. And, you know, and it's still got that little, it's got an 80s feel to it too, which I think is cool. So how much has being on COBRA Kai helped you to land other auditions or meetings or even jobs?

I mean, you know, it's still, I just did an episode with the Tacoma FD guys, you know, the Brokewarm. and lizard, the guys that did stupid troopers. It just reminded people I'm around. You know what I mean? Yeah. Which, like, I've got friends of mine that have been in the business a while. I say friends, but, you know, people I've known for over 20 years that are reaching back going, dude, you did a great job.

I got this project. It just reminded people that I didn't go anywhere. Yeah. You know what I mean? I mean, obviously. Because I got out of L.A., man. I got out of L.A. So I had.

Well, you were saying you got out of L.A. You're in Vegas now. Do you want to come back to L.A.? I left L.A. in 2017 and moved to Ohio. And then I was there until 2019 to the end. And then I moved back down to Florida. Because, you know, I got a divorce. And again, man, lost everything, bro.

And the next thing you know, this show gets picked up. And now, you know, because of COVID, I lost all my gigs. I lost everything. You know what I mean? And then I got, I got divorced in COVID, bro. It was awful. And I don't want to dig like too deep into it.

But you were mentioning before that like you guys were just on different paths. Like you had struggled. Yeah. You know, we were together 11 years total. You know what I mean? So. And then we were separated living in the same house, which I don't know if you ever had to do that.

It's not fun. No, I fortunately never had to do that. Jeez. But I was on the road a lot. I was on the road a lot. So, you know, I was like,

you know, like I said, it's a lifestyle, man. You know, as an entertainer, when I tell other entertainers, you know, seven Tuesday nights don't equal one Saturday night to them. You know what I mean? And but at the same time, I'd be gone like two, three weeks, but then I'd be home for like three weeks and then I'm gone again. And then, you know, something, I like the hustle, man. I love it.

I always have something going on. I can't sit still. Yeah. And I've, my whole life. It's just been, I'm earning on my own. You know what I mean? Like, I never really worked for anybody. I mean, other than jobs that I'm in a career,

because it's a difference between a job and a career. Sure. You know what I mean? And, you know, I've had plenty of jobs. Yeah. I mean, I can't even tell you. I've probably done everything. Yeah.

Like, I tell people, you know, it's when people are always like, I was delivering pizzas at 32 or 30, 30, 30. And a 97 Ford escort that when we made left, it would stall out. So the first time I ever got on TV, it's true story. I was trying to record, I was trying to record it, but I had to deliver pizzas because the Lakers were winning everything then. And I get to this guy's house and I'm trying to get back to watch it. I figured I wouldn't be able to.

As he opens the door, you see me walk on TV. So I'm literally standing at his door with the pizza and I'm on TV. I swear. And the guy looked at me, like the look on his face. was wow, how cool, how fucking depressing at the same time. I'm like, yo, you mind, man? And he goes, yeah. And he watched it.

He didn't even laugh once. I was eating a slice, too. He's like, I was watching myself. Then I'm like, let me get out of here, man. I was like, I never even heard. You guys like, yo, let me know. I go, yeah, I perform at the comedy store. You know, I was being nice to him.

Yeah. But you figured, you know, we would have a lasting friendship. The guy never called me. He must have thought it was a hack or awful. With everything you've learned. I couldn't even tell you if that guy would he look like that. With everything you've learned over your 24-year career and with all of the friends that you have that have been successful, what would you say are the few traits that it takes to really make it in comedy? I'm not one.

One of my favorite quotes is it's none of my business what you think about me. You know what I mean? Hey man, you have every right to not like me. I don't care and I really don't care. But I have that naturally. I never really gave a shit. But I would say, the successful people, one, they don't, they don't peck. Again, man, again, this is kind of a, you know, I'm long-winded here, but I love it.

I'm still a little hung over. No. So there's another expression. You can't store with the Eagles if you're pecking with the crows, right? And because of stand-up comedy, there are a lot of people that hang out in comedy clubs and that say they're comedians. They bring their notebook. They get up maybe once a week.

They'll do three to five minutes at a coffee shop. But they're more into the scene, right, than they are into the actual art form. Yeah. You know, of actually trying to get up and working a bit or getting a point of view across. It's just like that and anything. You know, you have, it's like you have 8,000 people in Hollywood that claim to be actors and never took a class. Yeah. They have a headshot and, you know, it's just the way it is.

Yeah. The people that are successful are one, they just worry about themselves and what they're doing. And the idea that you're never competing with anybody. It's, I always say comedy is more like golf, right? You're playing against yourself. and my very dear friend of mine this kid you know Gerard Carmichael no

Gerad he had a show called the Carmichael show on NBC he had a couple of HBO specials he was younger than me we were very close we still are but I just remember how enlightened this kid was and he is man he's such a great great person and he was talking about this to another comic and I thought it was brilliant

but it summed up another thing that understanding that the comedy table is infinite, right? Art is infinite. There's not a limited number of seats. There's a limited number of people that can do it. Yeah. There's thousands of people trying to get in. But what you bring to the tables, what you bring to the table.

It's never like, you know, they'll make room for you. And that's like great music and great comedy and great art and great movies. You can never have enough of it. So if you in your mind think that if somebody gets something, that means that that's not why you didn't get it. Right. So you have a lot of these bad attitudes. Now, again, I played sports my whole life. I know, I know that one has nothing to do with the other, right?

Like, I'm not mad at the guy that's in front of me. It's got nothing to do with him. That means I got to work harder. And if I'm not good enough, then I got to either switch positions or just ride the bench or play special teams and control. You know what I mean? Yeah. There's ways to do it. what comedy you're like I said you're playing against yourself you got you're trying to outdo and be the best comic you can be now if the best comic you can be is still subpar you know what I mean then that's something you got to say to yourself is this what I'm meant to do but again just keep working and creating and if you're good you'll be successful it could be five years it could be 20 years who knows I mean a lot of comics didn't pop until they're late 40s man right you know what I mean

what do you think it takes for someone who is in there and maybe they are subpar how do they get better i you know i don't know i don't even know yeah well because you're it would be like a um i'm not saying look not that's the thing that that bothers me a little bit that and not what you're saying but the attitude towards comedy especially what's going on in the industry now and you never see this anywhere else. You never see this in sports, right, where they're starting to check the wrong boxes, right? What you look like should have nothing to do with your talent level. They're separate, right? Especially with the way they think comics should be. Very few people can do what we do well. And the only way to do that is to, is through time. It's to do it. You got to keep doing it for a period of time.

You can't fake it. And a lot of people try to fake it. Like they'll get on TV and think, okay, but at the end of the day, you still got to talk. And if you're stealing jokes or, you know, you're being unoriginal, it's going to come out eventually. Don't what I mean? But then you get those people that just put their time in like Sebastian and Burr and like Leslie Jones, man. Leslie didn't pop till later. That girl's been doing comedy, I think since like 1989.

I mean, just think about that. She didn't pop until like 2015 or something like that, man. And she was always one of the best. I remember being at the back of the comedy store. Me and Sebastian would watch her. And she's just a fucking beast, man, an annihilate her on stage. And I remember going back kitchen and she was upset because she, you know, she was having a tough time with something.

And nobody was hiring her. And she had no agent. And, you know, and we would talk about that stuff. And then somebody got to see her. Chris Rock actually got her that. And then the next thing you know, she went from crying in the kitchen to getting a job riding on Saturday Night Live to being a supporter to being a main player to being written in variety, how she single-handedly was saving Saturday Night Live. And that didn't happen to later. Yeah.

You know, and that's constant. Same thing with Burr. Burden pop until his mid to late 40s, you know. It's just the way it is because you're doing it right. It takes time. And again, I would say, I don't know how it works with other comics or artists, but you can keep getting better. It's like I can never run faster than Dion. I don't care how, I don't care how much I train.

It ain't going to happen. Yeah. Right. But I can still run fast enough and play hard enough to be in the league. You know what I mean? If you work hard in anything, you can get what you want, but you have to stay persistent at it. And you got to keep your integrity. That's the other thing.

Yeah. some people don't do that you know you got to keep your integrity and your character because you know there's a lot of people there's two types of people people with personality and people with character personality you got to be careful they placate they're always smile you know I can sniff you out but some people can't yeah and then you get character and those are the people that hey man you may not agree with them but you know that they're honest and they have integrity yeah and I think that plays it to stand up as well you know because you can't take shortcuts.

It always ends bad. I've never seen it end good. And I'm not mentioning any names, but eventually it all comes out in the wash, you know. Sure. If you're not a good person, it'll come back and get you. There've been so many nuggets in this.

I've loved this conversation. Man, this is great. I forgot we're recording, by the way. I love that. We've been talking for almost an hour. I just want to say thank you. Like, thank you for dropping all this knowledge on us. Like your career has been incredible so far.

And I feel like there's still, like you're still getting just started here. There's so much more ahead of you. I hope so, man. I mean, another thing I love about comedy is I don't ever have to retire. Yeah. You play sports, you've done, you know. You got to retire eventually. Yeah.

But this, this you can keep doing. I mean, again, I tell all the comics out there, pick your lane. Now, whatever lane you pick is fine. You know what I mean? but we're not taking the mantle from sitcom actors and you're taking the mantle from Patrice, from Burr, from Carlin, you know, or even as Seinfeld, you know, where you had success, but you never gave the stage up.

But don't be afraid to take risks and to say what you want on stage. Just say what you mean. Mean it. Don't just say it. You see a lot of that pandering too. I can see some people that just try and shock and they don't mean what they say. Make sure when you open your mouth,

you mean what you say. You know what I mean? That's the other thing about comedy, man. I'll keep going on it, but it's always a work in progress. So when you see a comic working out a bit, it may come out wrong.

But that's only because that's part of the clay. Does that make sense? Of course. But when it's a finished documented product, then you could judge them on it. Right. But like, you know, there's so many times comics getting

trouble for a random thought that they say on stage because that's how you paint. That's how comics paint. Like you'll say something. You go, is this fucked up to say? And then you say it. They're like, yeah, I guess it was. Or I don't think it was. Or that's not what I meant.

You know what I mean? And then, you know, it's through that molding that you get, you get a finished product. Yeah. So don't judge it until it's documented. Yeah. That makes sense. For sure. I end every conversation talking about gratitude.

which is something you touched on at the start of this conversation. But I'm curious, what are three things in your life, Brett, that you're grateful for right now? Health, number one. Always help. Well, I'm a self-motivated guy, so it's very hard. I'm very grateful that, you know, I believe in God and I believe Jesus was who he said he was. And, you know, I'm glad. I'm grateful I kept that communication open.

you know and i don't know what your beliefs are so you can humor me on this but a lot of people don't realize that the devil quote unquote he can't stop god from answering your prayers but he can stop you from praying right so even at your darkest time if i always try to keep that communication open even when i was down them you know and when you do that it's it's still there and i was grateful that i have a beautiful mother and grandparents that always instilled that in me. You know? I think Denzel Washington said it.

You're not doing this alone. There's always people that are praying for you as well. And, you know, and I'm just very, very thankful that, very grateful for that. That I had as much dysfunction I was around. I had a great mom, a loving mom and grandparents. I had a stepfather, a godfather, my brothers. So family is also when I'm thankful for.

for too. And I am. I'm thankful that, um, you know, that we drafted Micah Parsons because we needed linebackers for our town town. Bringing it right back around. A little levity. I love it. No, um, because you know, listen, you know, sometimes when you're grateful, I think you should only be grateful for things that you don't have control over. Yeah. Does that make sense? Yeah, like health and family are two great ones on that grateful list. Yeah, I mean, I think it is. And, and, you know, even being born in America, I mean, Jesus, think about it. If you travel the world, I mean, the fact that we're, I can make a living talking on stage and that there are guys that make a living, people don't even realize this. They put a ball in a net, right? You're throwing a ball to another

individual. Yeah. And you make hundreds of millions of dollars. You set your family up for life. Yeah. Where else you're going to do that, right? Yeah. So I am thankful that my grandparents came from Sicily and thankful for that. Yeah, you make a living telling jokes. Yeah. Like, I look around, I'm like, you know, these are, I just pay my bills by my, by telling jokes.

I mean, how, I'm very thankful for that, man. I mean, oh, I really am. I don't ever take that for granted. Yeah. Ever. I mean, every time I'm on state. you have a chance of that could be the last time you're on stage. Yeah.

Does that make sense? All of this makes sense. I know I talk a lot, bro. No, this is great. Thank you so much for sharing all of this. Thank you for making this happen. I'm so grateful to our mutual friend Michael Yo for connecting us and making this happen. Love that guy.

Yeah. There it is, the you. All day. We bonded to do that. We were trying to get a University of Miami podcast, football podcast going. But I got the gambling podcast. I got another sports podcast, and I got the Cowboys podcast. Yeah, that's a lot of podcasts.

It's a lot of podcasts, man. It's all in sports, though, so I'm happy. Yeah. You know? Brett, thank you so much for this. Nah, man. I appreciate you, dog. And again, thank you for having.

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, but get up in here. The Jim Rome Show podcast. What should be? Follow and listen on your favorite platform. You've been warned.