Mayim Bialik's Breakdown - Gabriel Iglesias: Fluffy Returns! feat. Emergency Plane Landings, Aliens, & A.I.

Episode Date: August 29, 2023

Gabriel Iglesias (stand-up comedian) returns to MBB, but this time he’s in the studio for a chill summer fun episode! He describes his super fun birthday party and Mayim and Jonathan give him birthday presents. He also opens up about the terrifying moment his plane skid off the runway earlier this summer after being forced to make an emergency landing. Gabriel describes what burnout feels like for him and how he copes with it, his addiction to social media, his recent lifestyle changes, and using the stage as his therapy. He shares his take on artificial intelligence and what it means for performers, why he believes aliens exist, and how performing at smaller venues allowed him to fall back in love with comedy. Mayim breaks down veganism for Gabriel and they compare their experiences on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune. See Gabriel Iglesias on Tour: https://fluffyguy.com/tour/ BialikBreakdown.com YouTube.com/mayimbialik Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You like aliens and conspiracy theories? Yes, I do. I think that we are definitely a small little piece of dust in a giant swimming pool. Because I've always said it too. We're just, you know, have fun. As soon as the aliens get here, get ready. You know, because I think it's, at least with me, like, uh, yeah, this is not going to end well. I do the math on that.

And it's just, there's no way. The universe is just so massive. They're like, really? We're the ones? We're the ones that get all the life? Okay. All right. And some people still think we're flat.

And I'm just like, okay. I always like to imagine, like, an ant hill. You know, there's all these ants on the hill, and they're just all about their own little thing that's going on. They're just going out. They're collecting food for the queen. They're building their nest, and that's all they know. They have no idea that, you know,

on the other side of the world, there's another ant hill. And millions of ant hills from here to there, they just think that that's them right there. You know, maybe there's aliens that are nice and pleasant, and they want to help grow other species and stuff like that. And there's got to be some aliens that are at dicks. You know, there's got to be the dicks of their community. And they're like, you know, they will die, you know, and freaking, you know, incinerate versus helping to grow.

Because, I mean, like, for example, we're right there trying to teach chimps sign language to better communicate with them. We want to help them, you know, be their best version of them to try to understand and communicate. And what's to say that that's not what's happening out there. like, you know, we see these freaking hairless things down there. They're, you know, they're walking around. They know how to hold sticks and stuff like that. They can be taught. They can be taught, you know, because the amount of technology that we have, you know,

developed in 200 years, not even 200 years, is insane. When you think about, you know, how long ago it was just a horse and a wagon and, like, you know, smoke signals were like, oh, my God, right? sending smoke signals and like, look at that. They're, they're, look at, ooh. And now it's like, you send a text, and literally anywhere in the world. It's crazy. And that's mine.

Yeah, for sure. Trote there's out there. It's Miami-Biolix breakdown. She's going to break it down for you. Because you know she knows a thing or two. And now she's going to break down. Hi, I'm Miami-Ollet. And I'm Jonathan Cohen.

And welcome to our breakdown. It's the place where we hang out with people and talk with them for a while and see what happens. And that's what we're doing today. You're so chill and relaxed, my. That's me. There's barely a plan. There's no structure. No plan. We've got a piece of paper with some things written on it.

And we are going to welcome Gabriel Fluffy Iglesias. What? That's right. One of the world's most successful stand-up comedians. We've done an episode with him on Zoom. But we went and saw him in person. And we were just really moved and wowed by what is. his kind of in-person persona is on a stage,

as opposed to like the stadium, like, oh, by the way, he made history as the first comedian to perform at and sell out the largest MLB stadium in the U.S. when he did his special at Dodger Stadium. But he kind of took a little bit of a break and went back to his comedy roots, as it were. And we were so moved by what he's like in person

and just the skill with which he crafts comedy, especially in front of an audience like that. we had to have him on again. Well, one of the things we're going to talk about is he had a near-death plane experience with two exceptional, unusual, terrifying things happen in one flight. He's going to talk about it in a way that I have not heard him talk about.

He's also going to talk about burnout, what that feels like, and what are the things that he's been doing to sort of remedy that. We also get him a birthday present and talk about aliens. And finally, hot take. It's been in the news and it's probably going to be in the news from now until we destroy this planet. His take on AI and what it means for performers.

Very interesting perspective. We're so excited to welcome him in person, so let's get to it. Break it down. We're going to talk about the funco soda situation first because this is really awesome. Isn't it? So I have several questions. There's a figure inside, correct? is this?

In theory, that's the figure it should be. Okay. But there is a chase figure. Okay. So, like, there could be something special in there? There could be something special on there. So I have to keep buying them. Yes.

It's one in every six. So. Go get the risk. If you got six, I guarantee you that one of them is. Are you sick? Can we open them? Do you mind if we do this in front of you? Okay.

So wait, is it going to pop out like snakes? No, it's not like old school. Yeah. A lot of people don't. I was very afraid. I don't think they have those. So wait, what do you do? You just.

You twist. You pull. You pull twist. Okay. There you go. I literally thought it was going to be. You know what? You don't even have to open it to find out.

The little pog. You got a little pog. So I got you. Yeah, that's the very, that's the chase. He got the chase! That's the chase. We got one.

We got one. I want to open it. I want to open it. All right, here we go. He got the chase. Yeah, so that's the difference. That's the different figure right there. Oh my gosh.

I will fight you for that. I'll punch you in the face for that. I bet you will. Oh, this is really. And so what I'll happen at the... This is adorable. I'm telling you, what will happen at the stores is because the sodas are located right by the register,

what will happen is people will go in and they'll open up the cans in looking for the chase. Yeah, yeah. And so all you need to know is that the little pog will tell you. The pod tells you. Tells you. What? What?

What? It has the dog. We'll have a little negotiation afterwards. Look at that. Oh my gosh. No, I want to. Look, I'm special because I got the special. Okay, fine.

So cute, right? What? Yes, really. And the tongue is out. Yes, her tongue is always out. Okay, this is incredible. So one in every six is this adorableness. Oh my gosh.

Also, this one has your logo on the back. Yes. Yes, it does. That one does not. How many prototypes do you go through? I'm thinking like the merch angle of this. Like, you have an idea. It's not so easy to like develop the packaging and like get these things to be as cool as they are. Because like all of your merch is like super high high end.

A lot of detail. My son wears your backpack to school every day. The launch fly backpack. Yeah, that's, he loves it. The, uh, well, you know, the process, the creative process is a lot of back and forth with the, not necessarily a physical. Right. bag or physical figure, but a lot of just artwork.

You know, so they'll send over artwork and then we go back and forth, approving it, making little changes here and there. I mean, also, it's so iconic. I mean, you have an iconic face. Like, you know, it's so recognizable. Thank you. No, but I'm saying, like, that's how you capture it. And what's awesome is they have amazing artists over there,

and they all have a pretty good idea of who they're designing for. You know, it's an actual person, not necessarily like a, a character that they're tied into, like a Batman or Superman or something like that. So with me, they know they can play. It's adorable. Well, shout out to your artist because they do a wicked job. It's really cool. Sorry, I'm all about that you got the Chase one.

How you had a pick. I know a guy. I can get you more. Why is it called Chase? Well, it's the Chase figure because the majority of the figures are going to be like the red one. Right, right. So the chase is the, you know, the secret figure.

Oh, I see. Ooh, that's the one that's hard to get. I love it. Okay, sorry. You get really distracted on figurines. I'm very, very excited. And collectibles. Well, I want him always looking at me. Nice.

There we go. This is very cool. I actually was saying that this outfit that mine is wearing would be the perfect figurine outfit for her. That would work. So how has your summer been? How has my summer been? You know what?

Living in Southern California, it's actually been pretty great because I travel to places where it gets really hot. Yeah. We complain a lot. here. But we have no idea for the most part. Most people don't know just how ugly weather can be. Yeah. We're very privileged in this state, which is why everything is so expensive. But then you go somewhere where it's not only hot, but humid. And you're just like, oh my God, how, why? You know, and I do a lot of fairs. And so during the summertime, I'll perform outdoors.

And so I'm there on stage sweating. It's hot, like hot, like, you know, 100 plus. And And it's humid. And I'm dealing with bugs and dirt and stuff. So it's like, ugh. And then I come home and I'm like, oh, my God, it's 89. Wham! Wham! The ocean is right there.

Oh, no. It's true. What do you do if it's just you time and not kind of work time in the summer? Are you a beach person? Are you just to hang out? No, I don't do the beach. I love the look of the beach, but I hate feeling sand between my toes. It's this weird thing where the texture and just I don't like it.

Huh. But I'm weird with anything between my toes. So, like, for example, when I go, I'll go get pedicures, and I'm good until the lady goes right in between, and I'm like, no! And then I just, I flip out. Jonathan wears toe stretchers. I do.

Do you know what a toe stretcher is? We won't make you put them on. Well, like the socks, they go all the way down? So they're like a spread, something's rubber. Yes. Yeah, yeah. It's ridiculous is what it is. Yeah, I can't.

I can't. That would be like anxiety for me. Jonathan, why do you do that? What's the thing with toe spray? There's a physiological reason that he does this. Okay. We're going to expand a little bit here. So when I had my hip surgery, I got a hip replacement almost two years ago.

And when I was doing the rehab for it, they do this process called neuromuscular re-education, which is helping you remove your body. So like when I, after the hip surgery, like I couldn't move my leg for the first few days. And it's like strangest feeling because I know how to move my leg. think, and I send that signal down to my leg and the leg doesn't move. And so this is very true of after an injury, but actually, even as we get older, we lose the ability to move different parts of our body. And one of the ways that you can see that is like some people can move their toes

independently of one another. And another test is like, can you pick your big toe up and leave your other toes down? Can you pick all your toes up and put your just your big toes down? You realize I'm doing this as we speak right now, right? I can see your concentration. I'm like, okay, yeah, both toes are up. A lot of people can't do that. And a lot of people also have lost the ability to move their pinky toes.

So what happens is that... I'm so good. Is that... Yeah, wait. Yeah. I mean, that's very impressive. One. Yeah.

And so as we lose more ability to move our feet, obviously that impacts our balance and it impacts everything else. So the toe spreaders are like, oh, we often are in shoes or other things that are compressing our toes. So they spread them back out and they help us sort of just decompress. So I wear them. but not all the time. Sometimes I do.

This was related to hip surgery because I couldn't move my toes a lot. And so she started reconnecting me to be able to do that. Last point on this is that what I think is fascinating, just in a well-being standpoint, is that our lack of ability to move them is not necessarily a physical limitation. It's actually that the signal isn't traveling,

and that can be repaired, which I think is super cool. So yeah, I don't go to the beach. I don't wear flip-flops because I don't like that, sensation of a shoe between the, yeah. I haven't worn flip-flops in forever. I have a lot of slides, but actual flip-flop, like, I think I can handle that first part.

No? That big toe. No, just thinking about it? I get, I think, I think I'm okay with that first part. I get like a tickle in the back of my neck. With the rest of the toes? No, not at all. Interesting.

But you still get your feet done. Yeah, I go, you know, I like the, what is it, the paraffin wax and the scrub. And the only part that gets a little bit, is when I get the little hard, the pumice stuff. and they start scrubbing the bottom of your feet. And then it's like, you know, when they're hitting dead skin, no problem, you can't feel it. But at a certain point, it's not dead anymore.

And then it's like, oh, God. They use also, don't they use essentially what's like a cheese grater? I'm not at that level. I know some people that. The Parmesana Reggiano at fancy restaurants, they sometimes use that on people's feet. I call it the olive garden, the little snow. They olive garden your feet. They olive garden your feet.

But no, as far as meat time goes, you know, just. Being at the, you know, at home, my dogs, ranked the AC, even though I don't have to. Yeah, I like 68 degrees. So that's, you know, I like to, I like to feel a little cold because then I would just want to grab a blanket. Yeah. I have a lot of dog blankets.

I just grab a dog blanket in the dogs. Yeah, let's stay warm. My NBialx breakdown is supported by Superpower. We all know the feeling of leaving a doctor's office and kind of feeling like we didn't get anything out of the experience that was useful. Maybe they're like, you're fine. Drink more water. There's no real data.

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Oh, yeah. Yeah. Happy to be here. Look it to be here. Yeah. No kidding. And, you know, I know you've spoken about it and obviously it made news and we were very concerned about you. We consider you a friend and we were very, very concerned. And I know you've talked about it. So I'm not going to make you kind of recount all the gory details unless you'd like to. But what I'm interested in is like there are many people who are afraid of flying, right? They're just, you know, it's like a thing. And what we're usually told to tell those people is like, it's very statistically speaking.

Safer than cars, statistically speaking. Like safer than going to San Francisco to Whole Foods. Like it's a safe thing. And then you experienced something which indeed was extremely unusual, right? Did your life flash before your eyes just for a moment? It did. It did. I was very shaky right out. As soon as the plane stopped, I was just like, you know, I felt like I was about to have a panic attack for sure. So there's like two things that happened in

that there was intense, insane turbulence. Yes. So talk about kind of what that was. Well, we flew, it was a very short flight. It was only supposed to be like a little under an hour flying from Alabama to North Carolina. Okay. And as soon as we left the ground, you know, it was, the weather was a thing. Uh-huh. Uh, we get into it. It was raining. Okay.

It was raining. Okay. But we went into a really dark gray cloud. Oh. And as soon as we hit that cloud, it was like, you know, the whole plane just, you know, you got the regular turbulence. Yeah. We're used to.

And then this one, it dropped. Oh, no. And so I left my seat because I didn't wear a seatbelt because it's a private flight. And I had nobody there to yell at me and tell me to put on a seatbelt. So I basically went up and I hit. Wow. hit the, you know, the ceiling. And my dogs were on dog beds and you just see the dog beds.

No. Yeah. And then everything wound up on the floor. Like this, you know, magazine. It was a private flight. So, I mean, there's all kinds of stuff up. About six, seven people on that part. Okay.

So not a lot of people. Are people, and I'm asking because I'm legitimately like, you think you know what you would do in that situation. Like, do people, like, is there screaming? Like, I would just start crying. Like, I think that would be my. I was probably the loudest one. Everybody else kind of went into like quiet, uncomfortable.

Like nervous. People were nervous laughing. Yeah. And you? Well, I got, yeah, I'm dramatic. Right. No, so like, was it like, oh my God. Like what, like what came to you in that moment?

Well, as soon as I hit and I came back down on my seat, first thing I did was I grabbed my phone because I wanted to record and document whatever, you know. This could be it. You know what I mean? And as soon as I hit record, the plane levels out. I'm like, really? Nothing? But then when we came in for the landing...

Right, so then this is the second thing that happens. So when we came in for the landing, usually, you know, you'll hear and feel the planes, engines, you... Right. And then you kind of come in and it starts to glide and then you touch down and then the reverse thrusters kick in. And then you feel yourself slowed out. There was no EU. There was no EU.

And the thrusters did not turn on. And so we just kept going. at the same speed. No. There was no slowing down. We touched and kept going. And it was weird because I could actually see when we came in, we came in a little bit of an angle.

And they told me that it's common for planes to come in a little bit of an angle and at the last second it turns and straightens out. But I could see the runway and, you know, through my window. And it's like, I'm looking at it like this. You know what I mean? But I should be. Yeah.

I can see it from the window. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's the wrong angle. That's the wrong angle. And yeah, it just started, you know, it kept going. It kept going. And then you just see grass and dirt hitting the windows.

And that was crazy. So was this unrelated to the turbulent event, or we don't know? I don't know if whatever happened in the sky. Because either one of those things is shitty. And they both happened. You know, I'm not a pilot or, you know, I'm not an expert or anything. But I don't know. I think maybe whatever happened up there messed with whatever happened on the ground.

on the ground, yeah. And that's why we went and we ended up in a field. So did that feel, again, I'm asking you as a scientist, did that feel fast or slow? Meaning that experience. Was it like it went like that or like I'm in an eternity of hell? No, it felt like it was forever. Even though it was only an hour trip, it's still felt like, oh my God, it's just, you know. And as soon as I saw dirt and grass and then I looked to the window and I'm like, wow, we are You could see cows. We are in a field. I think if we would have landed anywhere else in a major city,

we would have ended up in the street for sure. Let's unpack the timeline for a second. So from the time the big... Yeah, that turbulence and the drop. Then it calms down for a while. And it's like just a regular flight for a bit. It wasn't a regular flight after that. It was just regular turbulence.

Just still shaky. And so you're calming yourself, because I'm trying to track the emotional experience from holy goodness. The scariest part for me was up in the sky. Yeah. I didn't realize I was in trouble

until I saw grass. So, but you're calm. You have that crazy experience in the sky. You're calm for a bit. I would not be calm. I just want to... No, you would be an absolute wreck.

Well, and I... Well, and I want to say that like, once that happens in the sky, the rest of the flight, I would be thinking that that's going to happen again. Yeah. You're anticipating the next... You don't really...

I mean, you're basically also what you're describing is literally what trauma is. You have a traumatic event and certain people don't kind of have the... The baseline isn't coming back. People have different abilities to re-regulate. And like, I'm the kind of person like every time... I don't mean to put this in your head.

But that's where I'd be. But that's how I am too. I'm anticipating it's going to happen again. You have to fly the next day. Oh, sorry. But hold. Okay. So my use of the word calm was inaccurate.

I mean, you're not at... You're not on the ceiling of the plane anymore. So you're back in your seat. you're hyper vigilant from what just happened. Then maybe half an hour goes by and you start the descent, right? Ish. Yeah. Okay.

Then you go down and you look over and the runway is not where it's supposed to be. Does that immediately trigger like more panic or is it like? I did feel panic because I could feel us not slowing down. So when I felt us not slowing down, I'm like, hmm. And then something clicks for you. Yeah. Because you're on the ground. You feel the wheels.

Yeah. But you're not slowing down. That's terrifying. So you don't feel the break. You don't feel the reverse kicking in, that hole. Yeah. So that knowing, and from the time you probably, the plane stops is probably only a few minutes. But that probably felt like, I would imagine, in eternity as you start.

And then you see the cows. And then how does the plane actually come to a stop? The dirt and grass. The wet dirt and grass is what is what. Oh, this is not acceptable. And are you like tilted sideways? No, and they said that we're lucky that we didn't tip over because, I mean, we came in and fortunately the dirt and everything was level. It wasn't like we were on a hill or something.

You could have been anywhere. They said we could have easily tipped, but we didn't. You're holding your babies? Yes. Did you feel? I was like this. Yeah, I'm curious. I mean, that, that we call it maternal instinct, but that parental instinct.

Yes. One dog was like, oh my God. And the other one's like, are you, don't wake me up. The other dog can sleep through anything. Wow. What's it like when you stand up after that and like are you wobbling, you're scared, you're, you know, nervous. Adrenaline.

Yeah. What's the rest of that day like? Yeah. Yeah. I'm like, you're trying to, because going back to the hypervigilance, like, you have to regulate after that. You have to, yes, you have to get on a flight the next day, but until then. Oh, you had to show that night.

You did you show that night? Oh, yeah. So tell me, because. We've talked about this, and this is one of the things that I love to hear you talk about. You know, you have this incredible ability to have this stage presence, you know, and the sort of persona. And then there's the person, you know, that when we get into bed and we're by ourselves, they don't. We're all humans. Well, feel fear.

Right. If something happens to us, we freak. Right. So then what is that like to sort of say, all right, I'm going to put this other hat on that is the hat that the public knows me as? Like, was there a moment where you were like, like I shouldn't go on stage tonight. No, there was no part of me that said I shouldn't perform. If anything, I felt like everyone's going to know what kind of day I had.

And I think we're all going to have a different level of appreciation for the show and the fact that it's still happening. As soon as I got up the plane, I just took a look around and you could just see the tracks from the wheels and you can see how far the runway is. And you're like, wow, we overshot it by that much. Wow. And I just started, you know, taking pictures. I figured there's going to be some phone calls. I said, I've been in a couple accidents. They always say, take pictures.

Yeah. Take pictures, take video. And so I'm just kind of like recording. And I even recorded a video when I was shaking. And I didn't post it, but I recorded a video. And it's shaking. And I'm like, yeah, show's still going to go on tonight, whatever. Wow.

And I posted just the picture of the plane and panning to see how far the run. was and I just, you know, we overshot the runway. We're okay, blah, blah, blah. And I have never in my 26 years of being an entertainer did something that got so much attention. Like, I'm like, really? This is what's going to do it? This is what's going to make, you know, everything that could happen, everything that

I've accomplished near death. That's what's going to, you know, Harvey from TMZ called me personally to ask me if I was okay. And I which I thought was real sweet. It was real nice. You know, once I was on the phone with them and, you know, a couple of minutes later, I got that little update. I'm like, he was ready.

He was ready. Finger on the button. Yeah. But everyone knew. Yeah. Everyone knew. And I reached out to a few people to let them know, hey, before you hear about it on the news. Yeah.

You know, one of them being my son, who apparently doesn't watch the news. Because, you know, once I got back home, I said, hey, so did you see it on the news? He goes, I don't watch the news. I go, you know, you hear it. Nobody called you? No. You don't go on the internet? I go, how did you find out about the crash?

It goes, because you told me. Well, not the crash, but I mean the machine landing. And it was funny because we went to go eat. And while we're at this restaurant, people kept coming up to me. Are you okay? Are you all right? We saw what happened. And I kept looking at my son.

Like, see, it did happen. It did happen. It's kind of funny. But yeah, I went up on stage that night and I told the crowd, I says, I says, you know what? I work really, really hard to break stereotypes and try to do what I can to rise above certain situations. And I said, but for some reason,

This Mexican still ended up in a field today. Got a big old laugh and all right, let's move on. And in the movies, the pilot always knows when something's about to happen. And the pilot, you always hear, praise for impact. Every scary movie where there's a plane situation. But in this case, it was quiet. Nobody said anything. There was no seatbelt button.

There was no nothing. You know, usually get the boom. Yeah, I've seen an airplane. I know what happened. Yeah, no, we didn't hear from the pilots until maybe a minute after the landing when the plane finally stopped, then the door opens up and he's like, you good? You're right? Yeah. Okay. I think

they were very shook enough. I think it took him a minute to, all right, let's not go in there and let them know that we almost died. Let's just, hey, this is normal. Cows. And so then the pilot, you know, he put on his pilot voice. I mean, we're lucky they landed the plane, but I made fun of him a little bit. He's like, well, you know,

we could have just taken off again and then try to reland. Like you're the Millennium fucking Falis. And that would have probably freaked me out more to land, not stopping at home. No. No, it's not a roller coaster. Yeah. So, uh, I have a funny question.

Do you ever wonder what it would be like to sort of not have the public to tell about things? Meaning like things happen to people all the time who don't have Instagram accounts or Harvey calling them. Do you ever, do you ever wonder sort of how much your experience, changes because you know that people will know things about you? All the time. I mean, social media and just that the fact that you do things and people know instantly what you're up to, that's part of that I think is an addiction because you're like, it's attention. And people in show business love attention, good or bad.

I'll be the first to admit I'm an attention whore. But I was, you know, I was traveling before social media was a thing. I was doing this before social media was a thing. And I was never concerned about, you know, I was concerned about promoting my shows and getting people to come and see the shows. But sharing, I only shared when I was on stage. Like you had to find out what was going on in my day

if you came to the show. And then I would vent on stage about things that would happen to me. That's how I learned about your life, you know, was I'd watch your specials and be like, oh, he's got a kid. Like, you know, all the things that I learned about you. Yeah. But the fact that now we have social media,

I think that it's, for me, it's definitely an addiction. Because I'm always on my phone. I wish I wasn't because I see how much time it takes away from other things that I could be doing. But I am definitely, I'm addicted to it. Just last question about this whole plane business. Nice. Next day, you wake up, you have to get on a plane again.

Oh, yeah. What's going through your mind and what does your stomach feel like? I would walk. Everybody was like, you don't feel like renting a car? I'm like, the next, if we run, it's a nine-hour drive. And everybody was volunteering to drive. Yeah, hold on one second. Everyone was volunteering.

It's a nine-hour drive that doesn't involve getting on an airplane. Yeah, but if you don't get on that plane that day, that's a slippery slope, too. Like you might never get on a plane again. I, the way I, I'm a person who plays odds. And the odds of you having two situations back-to-back is super. Do everybody have to do what you did? Well, you know, everybody had to, everybody had a bet, make my bet, basically. No, but seriously, everybody wants to do it.

wanted to drive. They all wanted to drive. They wanted to drive. You know what? I go, we're going to be okay. Now, what I found interesting is my new tour manager, he had been in a situation similar to that on another plane in the same state, which I found interesting. So you do the logical, okay, you evaluate the odds, not a high likelihood it's going to be in the same situation. But what is your like, is your stomach okay? Are you still like? We all started talking to each other. We're like, All right, everybody. Here we go. Take two.

Take two. And it was a, you know, it was a different plane. Oh, yeah, definitely not getting on the same plane. I love the fact that as soon as we got on the plane, it had like twice as many goodies on the plane, I think. Because it was still the same people that provided us with the plane. And I think they're like, well, you know, let's try to distract them a little bit. So, yeah, it looked like a 7-Eleven threw up in there. It was, I mean, snack central.

A stripper pole where there shouldn't be. Oh, and we had a flight attendant. now too. So now we had somebody to tell me to put my seatbelt on, which I thought was funny. But yeah, that next day was kind of, okay. But then, you know, we flew smooth flight, landing smooth. All right. Okay, we can breathe again. Now we're back to. Guess you're more regulated, yeah. But I actually had to fly, what, three, three times that week? Mm-hmm. You know, we talk a lot here about the role that, that, like, God or spirituality plays in different components of people's lives. And, you know, when I think about, when I think about what

some religious people might say would be like, God was protecting me. Did you or did anyone else sort of have that notion? Like I, me personally, God doesn't work that way of like, oh, these people get to live and these people are going to die. Like I just don't have a, a God that has, you know, the mechanics of the human brain to sort of be making decisions left and right. But I'm, I'm curious, was there any like spiritual notion? Not from me. And I didn't see anybody. No one dropped to their knees. No one was, you know, kissing the ground, looking up to the heavens. There was no, you know, let's all hold hands. All right, let's just pray for this flat. No. Huh. It was a secular experience. Yeah, no. I think we were all just dealing in our own way,

but that's not how I, you know, how I handle it. You had this, this unbelievable, you know, monumental kind of, you know, set of years in comedy. You know, you're, you've already made history in so many ways. But, you know, it was really, it's been an enormous time for you. And you talked about in your show that we saw, we got to see you in a club. We saw you at the improv and Brian. It was fantastic. It was a very, very moving show. And I know you do a lot of shows, but for us, it was, you know, our experience with you. And it's also just awesome to see you in that venue. Like, It's so intimate. It's so intimate.

Intimate. And it's just like... There was some really, really touching stuff that you talked about. And you talked about... You talked with vulnerability, you know? And I think your comedy is this really awesome mix of like really, really joyful entertainment. Like, let me entertain you. But also, there's always hints, you know, of the things...

It's definitely a therapy session for me because I will open up and... Yeah. If I'm dealing, I... I try to, you know, talking about it always helps to air it out. Yeah, well, and I think that's what felt so, so special, you know, and I think every one of your shows is probably special for the people who are in the audience, but, like, everybody takes, you know, and what we were really struck by was your discussion of sort of, like, burnout, your discussion of exhaustion, you know, of sort of being this person

out there and also having your own experience, you know, of the world and life. and you were, I think, at that time, newly single-ish. I mean, I think it was still new that you were, you know, talking about sort of regrouping. And I wonder sort of if you can talk a little bit, people ask us a lot about burnout. And I think it's sometimes easy to think about it in terms of someone with a career like yours, where you're so clearly, you know, on a schedule and doing so much, go, go, go, go, go, go. But people even who have, you know, not a go, go, go, go, go, go schedule can, experience that too. Can you kind of talk about, you know, I think people would find it really

relatable, even though it's on a, you know, a bigger scale for you in terms of like the shows and the schedule and the calendar. Can you talk about what that kind of feels like to say like, I need a break. Like, I need some time. What does it feel like that motivates you to do that? Well, when I get to that point, and unfortunately, I'm not good at pumping the brakes and slowing down when I should. I get a lot of people tell me, dude, you really should kind of. And I'm like, no, I got to be in Fargo. They need me in Fargo.

Unfortunately, every time I get to that point, it's because I've already gotten, like, I don't, I see it coming, but I still work through a lot. Because I feel like when you work through it, when I'm working, I don't have to deal with certain things. You know, I'm on stage. I mean, yeah, I'm talking about certain things, but I'm not really dealing with them because I'm out there on the road. But then I do, you know, it takes a while.

But when I get to that point, I just, I just want to go home. I just want to get in my bed. Again, turn on the AC, just pet the dogs, chill. I don't even watch TV. You know, I just want to just be there. But yeah, it does, it does get to, you know, to those places from time to time. And, you know, how do you handle stress? Some people, you know, I'm not going to lie, I do drink sometimes in excess.

Why do it? I don't medicate any other way. I used to smoke back in my 20s and now that was good. It was nice, but I need my voice. But yeah, I do from time to time need to just go home. But unfortunately, you can't just stop a tour. And I've done it. I have stopped a tour.

And, man, it takes a lot to get back to that place. Because, you know, I always give that analogy. You're trying to keep that beach ball in the air, you know? You look away and it's going to come down. And to get it back up there again, it's like, ugh. Like in 2017, that's when I took a serious hit. I just got off the road. And that's when I actually was going through the whole situation with my relationship.

I couldn't deal. There was no way for me to be functional out there. Wasn't it being productive. I was not enjoying myself. I was dealing with stuff at home. And it's just like, ugh. The stage isn't helping. Because now I got to go out there and put on a fake smile every night and try to get through the show.

And I'm like, the last thing I want is to crack. on stage. I'll do it when I get off stage, but if I do it on stage, that's not going to go well. So I just, yeah, pull the plug. And you can feel that pressure starting to come. Like, I guess it's, I'm not a performer,

but I would imagine if you can feel that pressure as your, that's trying to impact your performance persona, like that's a pretty clear sign. Wait a second. It may not be as safe up there as I thought. You know, I mean, for the most part, I can usually deal with things up there. But every now and then something comes across the table

that's like, I might need to go home. You recently took a bunch of time to, you know, not play massive venues and start to play more clubs. How's that been? That was actually very therapeutic. It was very helpful because, of course, every night I would tell the crowd, I go, I know you guys are like, didn't he just have a special where he performed out of a freaking stadium?

And now he's here at the Chuckle Hut in Davenport. You know what I'm saying? It's just like, all right, what happened? And it was a negotiation I had with my team. look, I know that we all want to, you know, it's a business. We're all in show business. I go, but I need to feel, I need to fall in love with this again. And I feel like it got to such a crazy place where it just became this machine.

And once it's a machine, you know, there's so many people that are affected by it. You know, it's not just me and a couple people. Like I literally have, I'm responsible for like 30 people, you know, when you break it down. And so I wanted to be able to work on a. a new show and and feel like I'm still, I don't want to be a comic who has attention and not a show that's solid. And the only time I felt like I could really build a strong show is if I was at a club versus building a new show in an arena or somewhere, you know, because every, every time you walk

on stage at an arena, it just, it sounds like you're killing no matter what. It's loud the whole time, but at a club, you could hear a pin drop. Yeah. And so I says, let me go back to clubs for half a year. And after that, I'll be a good little hoe and I'll go back out on the road and do all the big shows that you guys think I should be doing. But the difference is I will have a solid act, a strong solid act. Well, there's a theme in this that I think is, I mean, it's powerful for me, which is to be able to know what you need in the face of a ton of voices. And that gets amplified when you're in the public eye like you two are in a way.

that I can't even begin to fathom because when you are responsible for people, when like the accountant is like, well, this could happen if you go to these stadiums and you're like, well, I need my creativity. And especially as an artist, you know, to be able to have emotional space, lack of pressure, to be able to create to do the thing. And like the business people don't always understand that in any type of creative endeavor. they're like, well, just, you know, go in your pocket and bring that stuff out and like, let's go to the stadium. And the artist is like, wait, you need a whole set of circumstances or environment in order to feel creative to do the thing that allows you to keep going. So I think it's, I think a lot of people experience this as like, well, what's the outside world telling me to do versus what we know intrinsically? And sometimes that's hard to access a lot for artists. So I think it's really special.

Because harder is being able to say the word no. It's really hard. say no. I wonder if there's also something to kind of going back to, you know, smaller venues like that when you said you kind of needed to fall in love with it again. Is there something about like remembering, you know, what young, hungry Gabriel felt like, you know, when you were kind of first dipping a toe in and trying out material? Was there something about like tapping into that person instead of the person who employs 30 people? That was part of the whole going back to clubs. Yeah.

Because again, it's like, once you're in a club, I don't have all those luxuries that I have. Yeah. I wasn't flying. And by the way, I find it funny that it was the week after I stopped doing clubs to transition back into big venues and going from commercial. Because for the whole six months, I wasn't flying private because that would have been the entire, that's it. But you're just paying for a plane. So went back to my, you know, using Delta Miles and all that shit. And so the week after that, you know, that's when I had my whole.

whole thing with the plane. But, God, I lost my train. I thought, oh, being at the clubs, it very much reminds me of what it was like in the beginning, you know, and it's like just being able to hang out and being one place for multiple nights versus just you do your show, you get on the bus, you go to the next. Yeah. You know, it was just go, go, go, go, go. I never even stayed at the hotels.

I would just sleep on the bus. So to actually be in one place and be able to, yeah, let's actually have lunch. time for lunch. Get to the club, talk to the staff. It was like, it was really, really cool. And I was still getting my four shows in a week. Because I would do two shows Friday, two shows Saturday, but it was a shorter week for me.

What did you do the rest of the week? Well, I mean, I'm still, you know, doing the merchandise and stuff like that. So definitely. There's other work stuff that you do. Promoting the merchandise. And there's all kinds of other things that I'm involved in, whether it's voiceovers or, you know, doing shows and stuff like that. So believe me, my calendar was still.

No, no, I'm sure. I had another question because one of the things you also talked about in the show that we saw, you know, was sort of about, you know, like what loneliness feels like, you know, what it feels like to be with yourself or what it feels like to be in relation to other people. I wonder, do you feel the difference in attention, you know, in a big venue versus a small or for you is it really just about like the material and connecting with people? Like what does the scale do kind of for you as like, for your ego. I tell people, you walk out on stage at an arena and the, the, the, I mean, you know, it's an incredible ego feed. It's like, wow, don't get me wrong. You walk out on stage in front of 300 people at a club. It's still awesome.

That's still 300 people. It's not like a, you know, a dozen. Sure. It's still a significant amount of people that came out to see you. But it feels different. It feels different because it's, it's just magnified. You know, it feels good either way. but the difference is one, I know it's like, okay, it feels good,

and I also know that it's a big payday. And unfortunately, I got to that point where that's why I said, I just want to go back to clubs because by performing at the clubs, it is absolutely not about the money. It is strictly for the love of being there. The material, yeah. And that was one thing I would say every single night, and it felt good to say it.

I said, my favorite part about being here tonight is knowing that I don't have to be here. I want to be here. And I handpicked every single club in places that I wanted to just go and hang out for a couple of days. And, you know, wasn't, you know, doing the business that they wanted me to be doing. But at the same time, I felt like I was in control of what I was doing during that time. Clearly, see? I said by to Delta and you saw what happened. I let someone else run.

I'm just struck by, you know, I can't help, but, you know, think about your experience versus like mine, let's say, you know, I, I perform in such a different way, you know, being a comedian is such a, the way you are. You get such an instant, you know, kind of set of information that you then get to mold and work with. If something's not working, you can make a joke about it not working or you can alter it or you can add. And it's kind of interesting when you do like scripted work. Like I'm, you know, I worked on a TV show for three years in COVID. Like we didn't have an audience. I guess so awkward. and just thinking about sort of who decides what's funny, who decides what works.

You know, you really get to be kind of in charge of so much of your life. That is my favorite part about being a comic is that you have instant information. Yeah. Instant information. You know you're doing good. You know you're doing bad. You know it right then and there based on what you're putting out. And every time I would do like a film or, you know, if it's a live studio audience,

then I know I'm doing good. Yeah. And that's why I would just, I would play the game during the week and, all right, I'll stick to the script. I'll say the line that I don't think, I don't think it's funny,

but all right, I'll do it. I'll give you at least one good take on it. And I'll sell it. And then when they say, take two, my turn. And so anytime we had a live studio audience,

I would always go off, you know, the rails and just start ad living and having fun with the show. I'm like, yeah, the show has my name on it. Let me take a swing.

But when I do it, did a, you know, like with movies, I'm like, you know, the first thing I did, the first movie I did, I was talking to the director and I go, um, is it funny? Because it's hysterical. I go, nobody's laughing. And he goes, they're not allowed to laugh. Yeah. It goes, it's like, I'm like, oh, but it feels weird, man. I feel like, you know. Yeah. And so it is, it's a different feeling. You know, you got to, you need that confirmation. You need that reassurance. For sure. I mean, it's probably like it's one of the earliest ways that we as humans, you know, try and figure out if we're funny. Like, are you getting laughs in class or from whoever you're trying to get laughs from?

I tell that story I used to do, I used to do impersonations for this kid at my bus stop. You know, I went to public school and, you know, Chris Engel was his name. And it's like if I could make him laugh, like I knew, right? I had done something right. That's how I feel about making you like. Nice. She's my Chris Engel. And by the way, me trying material out on friends or family or just people around me in small circles never ended well.

Why? For some reason, it's like the magic works on stage. Is it you or is it them? I think it's a combination of the two because, you know, they know I'm trying something. And so then you kind of look at it through those eyes. I'm like, all right, let's see. I think I'm hysterical offstage, but not with material. It's funny.

We're just having a conversation and I'll say something off the wall. Right. Yeah, but, you know, half the time, that's stuff that I would never say on stage, but between friends, you know,

you can say stupid things. Does your kid think you're funny? Um, I don't know. I do make him laugh all the time. If you don't know, that's a good indicator, my friend.

Yeah, I mean, you know, you make him laugh. I make him laugh. Again, not with material, but not with what I,

what happens on stage. Yeah. But I think in person, I'm always, you know, mess around, say something silly, stupid. Does he watch your stuff now? Does he ever go to shows? I don't know. He goes to a lot of my shows because his girlfriend is a big fan and the brother of the girlfriend. And so they've been coming out quite a bit.

Do you feel different performing in front of him? Yes, I do. It terrifies me when he's in the room because I will talk about him from time to time. And even though I said in my last special, I was done talking about him. but I'm like, no, there's still a couple left. There's a couple, just, you know. And so I will intentionally avoid bringing him up if I know he's there. Right.

Because I'm like, I don't want to make it awkward for him and girl, whatever. But at the same time, I don't know how he sees it now. You know, it's been so many years of me doing it. Sure. And I never took him into consideration because I figured, hey, he's not listening at the house. Well, I'm going to, he's going to, you know, this is how he's going to help me help him. And so that's why it was that whole, I don't hit him. I don't yell at him.

I go, but I will shame him publicly until he does what he's supposed to. But now you can't do that. Now you can't do that. Now you're a bad parent, you know. My son recently, my son who's nearing 18, he recently told me we were talking about something kind of heavy and something we disagreed on. And honestly, he argues like I did as a teenager, which is annoying. And now I see why my parents were always so pissed off at me because he really thinks

he's figured out, like, the deepest philosophical things. And he's very thoughtful. He's very bright. But he is so definitive. And I just want him to be open to the fact that he might not be correct, which, again, as an adult, is something I struggle with. He's always telling me, you don't know. Anyway.

But the thing that he said is he's like, well, I know that if you don't agree with me, you'll just shame me publicly about it. I was like, what? He was serious. I said, well, now I'm shaming him about him saying I shame him. But he said you, yeah, he said, he said, you, he said you, he said you, you, what's his name? Miles. Miles, you don't know everything. Miles says, he says, I will, I will shame him. He says, I shame him intellectually. Because like, if I want to make a point about something he doesn't know about, he doesn't listen to us. I will.

Does he? No, he will now. Then I'll never hear the end of it. But what he says I'll do, and I apparently do this with adults too. It's why I'm not very liked. I don't play well with others. that I will like, I will school him on all the things that he doesn't yet know about. So he has an opinion about something politically, well, this is why. And I'll be like, well, but what about blah, blah, blah, blah. And he says, I have too much information. I shame him with it. Do I do that with adults? Everybody hates me.

Just my kids? You have a lot of information. Yeah. I would not want to argue with you. For sure. For sure. How often do you do the show and you see the, you know, the answers and you're like, That was a weak.

Even on jeopardy? I would have, I would have dusted this. I would have smoked everyone on this show today. Here's the thing. Here's the thing. I'm not a good standardized test taker. I'm not good with like, you know, my years of data recall was when I was getting my undergraduate degree and my graduate degree.

And you have to learn the things they tell you to learn. And you got spit them back out exactly the way. Like, it's like being a soldier. You are a soldier of information. But once I got into working in kind of like neuropsychology and working with humans, that part of my brain got to go away. I'm not naturally good at the, you know, I would meet kids who were pre-med students and they were like just wired for information. I was always struggling. That's not my thing. But I have a very hard time forgetting things. And the things

that she does know about, she has a robust amount of information. Like ask her about Jewish mysticism and like dates in the Bible. She'll tell you everything you've ever wanted to know and a lot more. But no, but jeopardy-wise, it's a very different kind, it's a very different kind of recall. Yeah. It's like the breadth of the amount of information. I mean, I just, yeah. And also, like, I don't know if you experienced this when you were on wheel. There's something about sort of like the pressure of like, answer now.

You know, you've got five seconds to answer. That does something to my physiology that makes my brain stop working and all that happens is tears. That's the only thing that comes out. You handled the pressure okay, though. That didn't bother you? Well, like I said, for me, it was. awesome because most of the puzzles, I waited until someone else messed up. Got it.

And then when I would answer the, you know, whatever it was, I said it very slow so that I wouldn't, I almost sounded like questionable. Today is the day for, you know, whatever the thing was, because I did not want to mess up. Because I guess the biggest mistake that people make is they leave off an S. Oh. And then it's totally wrong. Yeah. When I did, I did Celebrity Wheel. and it was me and Vanna White and Ken Jennings.

So, yeah, I watched that episode. Poor Vana. I felt bad for Vana. Vanna picked a couple letters that were already up there. And Pat was like, seriously, Vana? And she was like, I just, I, you know. But the thing with Ken, because Ken is, I mean, he's a Jeopardy master. Like, he is the goat.

And so he really is used to like getting stuff right. So if I would guess something, I did a little bit of what you had gone. I was like, oh, there's enough letters that I'm a guess. But Ken was like, I knew that. I'd hear him in my ear. I was going to get it. Like, I know, Ken, you know everything. But I got to choose.

He guessed a puzzle with one letter. Yeah, he's in team. I've never seen that ever. His brain is very much. It's unreasonable. How? It was one letter. Yeah.

I'd like to solve it. It's the fuck. That's how I felt. And so I think watching your episode is what freaked me out because I'm like, oh my God. I'd be like the stupidest person ever. I just was so, so anxious. And also, it's very iconic. And look, you've played some of the most iconic places in the world.

There's something very forest gumpy about when you find yourself in a location that is so iconic. I was excited. And the fact that I had such a big heads up, I knew that I was going to struggle with the show. At least I thought I was going to struggle with the show. And so I says, you know what? I want to still make a big statement. And so I had a friend of mine. create this amazing outfit for the show.

And so it had a wheel on it, the numbers it was going out. Hold on, we got to see this. Oh, I'll show you. It was, it was the outfit of outfits. I'm going to ask a silly question. How did you find spinning that wheel was? It's a heavy wheel. It's a heavy wheel, right?

Yeah, that's gorgeous. That's gorgeous. That's amazing. I'll send it to you so you can post it. here's something that happened to me that I don't think happened to you. I had to be, I had to be directed in how I was spinning the wheel. You want to know why?

You got wheel correction? I got wheel correction. You know why? Cleavage. I was wearing, I was, it was tits and wheel. Nice.

It was just tits and wheel. And I think at a break, they came out to me like, when you, when you spin the wheel, can you just like, well, my own. arms. I got to get down there. It's got to hold like that. Then I'm like a Puritan woman. Like, oh, let me cover my, but I, they should have said wear a fucking high collar dress. Come in dressed like a Mormon and I would have been fine. Oh my God.

Anyway, that was my my favorite note. Um, I want to, I want to, I could, you can't get a full, you can't get a full rotation, huh? It's like it's so it's, you, you pull. It's like, first you got to pull the wheel and then once it gets centered with it, then you have to push the wheel. So it's it has to turn it. It should be an Olympic event. That thing, you got to use everything right here.

You know, it's just. You know who would look the best doing it? Love Cut Lady over here. I want to shift a little bit. You know, you're very open about your body, your weight, you know, kind of some of the changes. Can't really hide it. Some of the changes in lifestyle.

Oh, it's talking about. There's some changes in lifestyle. You know, you talked about kind of like losing weight also when your schedule changed, meaning like when your normal way of being functioning shifted, like things shifted. I also, Jonathan mentioned to me that you didn't think you've met a vegan. And I want to know. Oh, wow. I want to know about your vegan experience.

So you have two in the room, me and Valerie. And I'm curious because it's something that Jonathan and I sort of talk about a lot. You know, there's different kinds of vegans. Some people do it for ethical reasons and spiritual reasons. And, you know, some people, some very, you know, prominent people have done it when they've had, you know, health stuff where the doctor was like, you need to stop. But I am curious sort of, I'm curious what your experience is with the vegans that you now know that you know. Nice. Well, when I attempted to go down that road, it was just because I've tried every other.

I was approaching it from a, let me just see if this will help me again as a weight loss thing. I didn't realize you could actually get fatter. Oh, yeah. You know, like, wow. Like, I've met some big, big-ass vegans. Elephants are vegans. Biggest vegan on the planet. It was funny.

And, you know, vegan and vegetarian, what is it? You can eat eggs and drink milk. I think there's a couple. Yeah, so vegetarians typically eat eggs and dairy, but there are vegetarians who won't eat one or the other, but vegans typically nothing. And then there are what we call lifestyle vegans, those of us who don't wear leather or silk or wool or.

Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, it's a whole other level. Nice. Yeah. It's not superior. It's a different. It's a different philosophy.

It's a different commitment. But yeah. So the first time I met a vegetarian, and actually I already knew them, but I didn't know what his diet was. And that's why I found out that you can actually be overweight is Ralphie Mae. You know, rest in peace. I picked him up at the airport when he came to L.A., Texas.

And I picked him up. I had at the time an Oldsmobile Regency 98, they call it a mafia staff car. Big old car, right? And so I picked him up the airport and he got in. And I was so excited because I was going to take into my favorite barbecue restaurant. And so as soon as he got in the car, I go, hey, man. Ralphie, good to see you.

I said, I'm going to take you to this bad ass barbecue spot. You're going to love it. And he goes, oh, hey, big dad, let me tell you. I don't eat meat. I go, what?

I'm a vegetarian. I looked at it without thinking. I looked at it. I said, what do you eat crops? Started laughing. And he goes, no, big dad,

I don't eat meat. But the funniest part is that he actually would host barbecues. But, yeah, I started, you know, finding out that, yeah, you eat a lot of rice,

Certain things are just real high. Nuts. Yeah. Yeah, you can gain a lot of weight as a vegan. But I guess for me, the reason why I was having issues with after the fact is because every time I would do shows, I'd always try to accommodate, you know, whoever's on the show or whatever. And anytime we had a vegan, it was a mission to fulfill that writer.

Yeah. You know, and I'm like, really? And even on the bus, it's like, you know, we had a couple on the bus. and every time I go in the cabinets I'm like, what is this shit? Right? Just eat the cardboard already. And so it was just more so annoying

and I was just like, ah, why? But that I was it. It was more so, you know, just out of like being annoyed. Sure. Because I couldn't. Yeah, we tend to snack. Meaning it's hard, if you're not a vegan person, it's hard to feed a vegan a full meal

is what I've discovered. So I usually, you know, when I speak or when I speak or when I do things, I usually just say like carrots and celery and hummus and just call it a day. Don't try and feed me. Don't make me a satan steak. I don't need a tofu marsala. Just like, just give me snacks. And I'll deal with my own, you know, protein consumption on my own time.

How's the lifestyle changes going for you in terms of your own journey? Well, I think I can honestly say that I've been on probably 90% of the diets that are out there. I've tried everything and certain things. What works for me is when I actually can dedicate time and get on a schedule, because that's the only way you're really going to lose weight or make changes is to be consistent. If you're not consistent, your body's just going to be like, dude, what are you doing? Well, it's also your mind, right? Yeah, you have to be in it.

You have to be mentally ready to go for it. So hard. Because I can get derailed on a diet in a second. Changing time zones, changing eating schedules, doing shit. Like, it's so hard. on the road it was hard for me to eat right before a show and it's still because when I go up on stage you know you're you're talking you're moving and so I'm up that burpin and then I get like refluck I'm like oh my God what am I doing and I felt uncomfortable and so I don't like to eat before the show but then you end up eating so late after the show but then by then what are your options yep and so most of the time I just make myself you know peanut butter and jelly sandwich or something or two in the green room or or, you know, whatever. So if you want to put a Waffle House

at late at night or just... Well, that's the other thing that he's really big on that he got me into. So I used to just eat myself to sleep. What? That's not a coping mechanism I'm allowed to do anymore. And he noted, because whatever,

I had sleep stuff. And he was like, you eat like literally right before bed. Like, I've talked about, like sometimes there's been a chocolate stain, you know, in the bed. And it's, very interesting because when I when I stopped doing that I realized like oh I want to watch TV

myself to bed like it's that witching hour of nighttime you know like I want to I don't know I want to I want to make the feelings go away I don't know I like so now I try to listen to a meditation I read a book I write in my journal to lumbord with myself not as tasty right not as tasty but no chocolate stains on the sheets birthdays or aliens first the birthday. Oh, you want to talk about your birthday party? Yeah, it was, we had, uh, food for days, including food for, everyone here. We have, we had a special station. Um, yeah, the, uh, entertainment, we had, we had, it was Lucha Libre theme. So we had professional wrestling there, Lucha. And, uh, it was a show. We had the singers and dancers and a band,

a, uh, God, uh, build a bear station. There was all kinds of different food stations. We had, Wait, a bill de, hold on a second. Yeah, at a bill de bear station. And so everybody, everybody that came, get a bear, make your bear. And the bear, there was different T-shirts that had, like, you know, Gabriel's, you know, a 47th birthday, with a date and everything on it. So, like, a little. You know what I call build a bear?

The thing we couldn't afford that I always cried about at the mall. I always wanted that. How cool is it, right? It's like, it's just all it is. You know, you don't want to buy one off the shelf that's already made. You want to. No, that's amazing. Yeah, so I want to say we had between six and 700 people.

Wow. Wow. Plus vendors. So normally a setup, it would take two days to do a setup. It took us three days. Wow. And then I think today they got to go power wash the entire parking lot because some people didn't, you know, some people can't aim.

And yeah, we've got to clean the whole building plus a parking lot. So it's usually one day to take down and clean up, but this is going to take a couple more days. Did the dogs dress up? I did not dress up the dogs. Actually, I kept them in the room for the moment. part. That's good. It was a very loud party and they, you know, they stress out with a lot of people and I don't know. So do I.

I'm like your dog. I'm small and older also. I'm like one of your dogs. We have a gift. We got you a birthday gift. What? We wanted to be there, but we got you two things. Two things. It's not a build of very next. No, it's not. We're going to explain them but maybe he

gets to open them. No, I know, but okay, there's one on the side. There's a little one and then there's a larger one. No pressure. Okay. That looks, heavy. It's heavy. Look at that. Oh my god. Yeah, you hear that? I wouldn't do that too much. Oh, shoot. Okay. There's a little one and a big one. Do the big one first. Oh, wow. I already saw the name of the company. I have an idea. Okay. Suspense. Not okay at all. Spence. Wow. Wow. So it's a smoky

Quartz skull for... Reminds me that Indiana Jones one where they found the skulls. I said the elongated skull. Longated skull. So Jonathan, what is Smoky Quartz and why did you choose Smoky Courts for a gift for Gabriel? For people who are only listening, not seeing

the visuals, we have a fairly large, smoky quartz skull. And we went to a crystal store and I felt like this may lead into our next conversation a little bit.

So... Just tell him what a smoky courts is. What is Smoky Quartz? So it is a stone that's used for grounding. Grounding. Energetic grounding. Also, energetic protection. It is known to not ward off, but it can be used to...

I guess... Ward off. ...energies from external sources, so it helps the person better connect to their internal knowing, which we touched. earlier in the episode and clearly, yeah, you do very well anyway. But this can help amplify it and also it's just a cool stone. Thank you. You're very welcome.

The other one is a smaller, a smaller one. That one is not so easy to travel around with you. So we got you, I believe it's a piece of tourmaline, black tourmaline, which is also used for grounding and more portable. It has like a design engraved in it. Yeah, I think that's natural, that's just a naturally occurring. Yeah. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Just extracted. So we... So Jonathan is a crystal person, and he's taught me about them, which kind of relates to what we wanted to ask you about, which was aliens.

Thank you. You're welcome. Happy birthday. In terms of things that some people don't understand or are out there, you like aliens and conspiracy theories. Yes, I do. I think that we are definitely a small little piece of dust in a giant swimming pool. We watched the moment of contact trailer that you've spoken about, about this event. Go ahead. Rogan was speaking about it with you. I don't know if you actually got to watch the documentary since talking. We haven't watched it yet either, but we watched the trailer right before this because we wanted to tee up this idea to talk to you about.

They say they captured one and they put it in the hospital. But I think they've been saying that they've captured one for a long time. This was in Brazil. It was in 1996. I'm fascinated. She was freaking out during watching the trailer. And I'm not saying that it's, you know, BS or anything. Sure.

You know, it's just like, all right. It's always never something more credible. I mean, yeah, I'm sure they got video, but there's always a video. There's always a thing, a moving object. But even if only one percent of these everything or half a percent or even a spec. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm also just, you know, there's, there's off.

I'm a huge X-Files person. Like I watched it. I don't know if you were an X-Files person. Yeah. So I'm always also interested. Yeah, the truth is out there. Yeah, the truth is I have a T-shirt that says that. But I'm also always kind of interested in, you know, how much it comes back to, like, what is the government covering up?

Like, that's always, that's always a thing. So either avoiding the whole panic, because I think if everybody knew. Right. Like, and it was confirmed. And it's like, all right, how are you going to, is it going to turn into the purge? You know what I mean? Is that was going to happen tomorrow? Like, oh, well, they're here.

Because I've always said it too We're just, you know, have fun As soon as the aliens get here, get ready You know, because I think it's At least with me, like, uh, yeah, this is not going to end well. Have you ever had any specific experience with anything supernatural or out there?

I can't say that I have. Huh? I can't say that I have. But I mean, I just, I do the math on that and it's just, there's no way. There's, the universe is just so massive. They're like, really? We're the ones?

We're the ones that get all, the life. Okay. All right. And some people still think we're flat. And I'm just like, okay. So what does it mean to you to think, like, when you think that we can't be the only ones, like, where does it go next for you? Well, there's only so far you can go with it because then it's like trying to understand why. I mean, I always like to imagine, like, an ant hill. You know, there's all these ants on the hill and they're just all about their own little thing that's going on. They're just going out. They're collecting food for the queen. They're building. They're building. building their nest, and that's all they know.

They have no idea that, you know, on the other side of the world, there's another ant hill, and millions of ant hills from here to there, they just think that that's them right there. And, of course, we're right here watching them. And you're like, oh, look at the ants. And sometimes we're cool. We leave them alone, and sometimes we're assholes. And you're like, give me that magnifying glass.

What's this? You know, sometimes you pour water. I mean, they're ants. And so people, you know, what I mean? And so what's to say that there's not somebody who's, you know, maybe there's aliens that are nice and pleasant, and they want to help grow other species and stuff like that. And there's got to be some aliens that are at dicks.

You know, there's got to be the dicks of their community. And they're like, you know, they will die, you know, and freaking, you know, incinerate versus helping to grow. Because, I mean, like, for example, right, they're trying to teach chimps sign language to better communicate with them. We want to help them, you know, be their best version of them to try to understand and communicate. And what's to say that that's not what's happening out there. like, you know, we see these freaking hairless things down there.

They're, you know, they're walking around. They know how to hold sticks and stuff like that. They can be taught. They can be taught, you know, because the amount of technology that we have, you know, developed in 200 years, not even 200 years, is insane. When you think about, you know, how long ago it was just a horse and a wagon. And, like, you know, smoke signals were like, oh, my God, right? like sending smoke signals and like, look at that.

They're, they're, they're, look at, ooh. And now it's like, you send a text and literally anywhere in the world. That's crazy. And that's mind-boggling when you think about it. Yeah, for sure. So you think that we could potentially be already influenced by whatever the other ant-hills are in our universe. There's a lot. I mean, I look at the pyramids and when you, like, when you see.

The level of precision. And like, I got a contractor who cannot put up a fucking drywall thing to save his life. And I, dude, what's so hard about getting it straight? You can't really? And so, and he's got hammers and he's got a laser level and he's got like, you know, everything there and for other guys. And he can't get the thing right. I'm like, how is it that people were able to get these massive, you know, each brick is like the size of an elephant? How are you able to get that as straight?

you know and like how i went to um i've been to guatemala and i went to the the pyramids like in the jungles of tical you know which is this this unbelievable you know civilization with these phenomenal structures and then i went to yucatan and i went to chichinica and you know to those ruins and you know i've i've been to the i've been to egypt i've been to cairo and i've been to to luxar and i've seen them and like everything you said but when you go to like Chichenita and you see like the the astronomy that is connected

with the architecture I mean there literally there was like a there was like a planetarium and it doesn't look that different from the way we build planetarium and there was like a whole thing that like when the moon was this way

it would line up and you could see the serpent god coming to and it's like perfect and like the geometry is so perfect. And I don't mean to be like, how did indigenous people? That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that that long ago, right?

There was, I mean, they would say that it was divinely orchestrated, you know, that the wisdom, the architecture, like all of that artistry is absolutely phenomenal. I don't know that I'd say that it's alien. But there was clearly a certain level of intelligence back then. Oh, whether it was from somewhere else,

for sure. Or whether it was just smart people of that time. Yeah. Whatever the case, those people aren't here anymore. Yeah. And that's why people fuck up on Wheel of Fortune. Just put an ass on it. I wonder if we are being influenced in some way.

And they're, you know, are the asshole aliens and the ones that are helpful. Is it that there's some conflict between those two forces for how we progress? are we... Well, I think of also what people talk about like the vortexes in Sedona and the vortex there's one in Ohio

and there's one out in Palm Desert where this guy built a structure you know I'm talking about there's a structure that was built that he believed the aliens would come down to it's in the middle of Palm Desert you can visit it

there's no metal in the building you can you go there and do sound baths I think most people do shrooms and go there but I did not do shrooms and go there but you know it was built and I, also, you know, a lot of these regions that have vortexes, indigenous people also lived there, gathered there, and had tremendously significant religious ceremonies there. So there's also this

notion for me, like, I don't know if it's alien, but there's something that is alien to our cognition, you know, that happens in certain places. But maybe it's aliens. I don't know. New fluffy special in the vortex. Yeah, right? No, there's definitely, a higher, at least intellect out there. Whether you want to say it's a life form, there's something out there because there's no way that some of these places could have been created by luck.

Right. Luck can only take you so far. When you hear people describe also psychedelic or transcendental experiences or, you know... Other forms of consciousness. Other forms of consciousness, it often sounds like what people talk about when they talk about alien abduction.

So I also wonder, maybe there are people who are having transcendental experiences and our culture places on it, I've been abducted by aliens when maybe it's a different kind of transcendental experience. This is a working theory here.

Or maybe, ooh, what have we got? Las Vegas police placed cameras in backyard where aliens supposedly landed earlier this month. I heard about that one. Is there a video? Do they have big eyes and a weird head? You heard about it. What do you think?

you can't really see a whole lot. I mean, it's like, why can you never get a clear picture also with these aliens? They're like, oh, I'm going to hide from you. I don't know. There's plenty of things, though, that can happen in the sky

that the government is doing or testing that doesn't have to be aliens. Police ready if UFO comes back. You know, I got a couple other things that police need to be ready for. Oh, yeah, they're ready. Yeah, exactly. They're so ready.

They're very, very busy. They're very busy monitoring the UFOs in Vegas. And what's to say that we're not an experiment? That we're not the, what do they call the sea monkeys? That's right. We're just sea monkeys? I don't know. La vie de Sweenio.

It's just all a dream. I mean, that was also... Very possible that we're also not the first version of this experiment, that there have been multiple versions of this human experiment and that they're just testing, can they get the formula right, for us not to kill ourselves. Well, we're destroying the planet. The lost civilizations, yes.

We're destroying the planet. Last thing I wanted to ask you about, there's a lot of discussion. I'm learning a lot about AI. We have a whole segment called introducing mine to topics she's never heard of. I kind of like I sort of understand it. Like I do understand it. I'm a science person and like I get the algorithm and the stats. But I was interested to see how it relates to what we do in that. You know, I've heard people who learned English from me, right? They came to this country and binge Big Bang Theory or watched Blossom. And it's how I hear that a lot from people like,

you taught me how to speak English. And, you know, it's like, well, I'm sorry if you speak like this. I didn't mean for that to be what I'm training people on. But this notion that, you know, actors, performers, you know, are, I'm sure I've already been utilized. Well, the models are scraping all the content. So all of your specials, all your interviews, go into a model. And then they have, you know, you could type into,

to chat GPT. Tell me a joke in the style of fluffy. And then all of a sudden, that material is technically informed by you, but not owned by you. And that's what the conflict is. And, you know, if they created a model from that, that could then do a podcast. I guess this is my question. And there's not a right or wrong answer. I'm not trying to, like, be political. Because I'm still trying to figure it out. Like, do you feel threatened by that? Absolutely. I think we're all going to get replaced as far as a creative goes. I think that the fact that they're showing us what it can do now, it's already way more advanced than what they're allowing us to see.

It's like the aliens thing. It's already, yeah. Like there's already a freaking iPhone 20. You know what I mean? It's just, they're just like they're spacing it out and kind of a thing. AI is very scary and it's, you know, they've already, they've opened Pandora's box. And there's no way to put that away. It's there now.

And so now there's going to be the fights of, you know, How do you, what happens to people that are creatives? Right. What happens to them? And it's like everybody's worried about the strike right now. You should be worried about AI. That's going to take your job for real. And as a comic, I feel like I'm a little bit safer, but not by much.

Because with humor, there's a lot, it's open to interpretation and there's a lot of sarcasm that I don't think artificial intelligence has picked up on just yet. Yeah. You know, I think that the music is different. But I think that like sarcasm and. double meanings and stuff like that. Those subtleties of language. Yeah. Whether it's a language or tone.

Yeah. You know, that's still, I feel like, hmm, maybe it's not there yet. But I don't dismiss it. But think about facial expressions, especially you, you're so expressive. And I know that things can look very real. I'm told.

It struggles with human emotion. Right. It struggles with what you just mentioned as well. Every time I see a filter, every time I see something that's just like, wow. it's scary. And it's like, oh, what are we doing with this?

Because, you know, for some people, oh, look how fun, look how cool. And I'm like, eh, they don't need us anymore. That's where it's going to get to if it continues. So I'm kind of like, all right, well, smoke if you got them. Jonathan mentioned something about background actors. It's a big point of contention in negotiations right now. Studios suggested that they can, for one day of pay for a background,

actor, they can scan their likeness, then replicate them and use them in perpetuity, they would own that scan. And so obviously that person gets one day of pay and then their likeness is being utilized forever. Which is, you know, not that dissimilar. I mean, it's a, it is very dissimilar, but related to the notion of if you two have all of your work scraped and they create a model of you to and then that model goes on to generate new work. Isn't that... And we just sit on a beach somewhere, have a career? Nice, right?

Shouldn't that be, you know, shouldn't you participate in that? You would think that that'd be the case, right? Yeah. But there's no rules for AI yet. Not yet. No. It's the Wild West. It's the early stages of the Internet, basically. It's like, we're all like, well, we don't know what to do with it yet.

And some people do. And if you can get ahead of it, you know, those are the ones that are going to make money and profit. But it's cool when you're playing, but when it comes down to what we do, the only thing that I would say is live performances clearly will not be affected just yet until the hologram game gets locked in. Stop it. I'll always want to come see you. Don't want a hologram of you. But then it's like, what if the idea gets presented where guess what, Gabe, you only got to do one show a year. We will feature you in every single venue that you perform in for one night. and it'll look like you're actually there

and you only got to work one day a year. Like, if someone presents an offer to you like that, are you going to be like, no, fuck that. Let me go get on another plane and almost die. Or are you going to take that check and knock it out? It's like... Well, it depends on how addicted to work you are. I mean, that's the thing, right?

I like what I do. That's what I mean. Then you only get one night of applause. You only get one night of hanging with people. But then you could also then... You can zoom in and listen to this. Them laughing at you and your hologram. But if they compensate you on such an ugly level where you're like,

because there been so many times where I'm like, I'm not going to do it. No, how much? So that's going to be the question then. Like, what are we worth? Like, what are we worth to ourselves? You know? Someone asked me a really interesting question yesterday,

and I had to really think about it. And I was like, oh, my God, that's a hell of a question. They asked me, they said, if Bud Light approached you to do a campaign, how much would they have to pay you for you to risk all the back and forth?

And I'm like, oh, like, wow. And what's crazy is I actually had a figure. And that was kind of disturbing. But I'm like, wow, okay. How long did it take to get to that number? I don't know about less than a minute. Well, I need to know what that is, but I don't want to say it on camera.

So thank you so much for joining us. Please check out the Funko Soda figures. You too can chase the chase like we did. Chase the chase. What else can people look for? Miles. You don't know everything. I love you, man.

Where can people go to figure out where you're at if they want to come see you? Live and in person. Live and in person. That'll be the name of the next tour. Yeah, before AI takes over tour. I'm the easiest person to find online. Just Google the word fluffy.

If you Google the word fluffy, just one word. I'm the number one thing that pops up. I come before quilts, comforters, cats, cotton candy. I am the number one. Try it. I'm the number one thing that pops up with that word. And next tour is Don't worry, be fluffy. So I have a new tour.

It's called Don't worry, be fluffy. And it is actually me. It's not AI. Awesome. Thank you for coming in person. really, really a joy to get to talk to you more. And Feliz Cumpleanos again. Much a good.

Thank you for the gifts. You're welcome. Trote is out there. We love having friends in person, especially. I do my best work in person. Gabriel Iglesias. And you do do you. Very good work in person.

I don't want to end on a downer. I feel like there's a lot of hope for the future. And when we talk about technology and we talk about the unknowns of artificial intelligence, I am not a tech euphoria and believe that it's going to solve all of our problems, but I want to be hopeful. I want to be hopeful for... I'm going to allow you to still be hopeful. I don't know if a lot of people feel hopeful,

especially in the entertainment sector that Gabe and I are in. But what I will say is I think that there are still things that cannot be... I want to believe there are things that cannot be replicated. The live experience is exceptional. And honestly, I wouldn't want to listen to an AI version of you and me. I would want to listen to the real thing. And having Gabriel here in person, I think, was a really special way to talk about some of that complexity as well. What if this is the AI version of us?

There's no way to tell. I'm going to hit refresh. I want a new Jonathan. From our breakdown to the one we hope you never have. We'll see you next time. It's my M. Biolix breakdown. She's going to break it down for you. She's got a neurose.

sites, Ph.D. or two. Fun fiction. And now she's gonna break down. She's gonna break it down.