Mayim Bialik's Breakdown - Laughter Can Heal the Conflict, with Jeff Foxworthy!

Episode Date: February 13, 2024

Comedian Jeff Foxworthy Wants You to Know....Laughter Can Heal the Conflict!   Jeff Foxworthy (Blue Collar Comedy Tour, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?) REVEALS the origins of his famous \"You might be a redneck if...\" jokes, the shame he felt from his parents being the first divorced couple he knew, and his decision to stay away from political and religious humor where the divide is already great.   He opens up about his reservations about being asked to guest on MBB, his tech beginnings working for IBM, and why it’s more difficult to be a clean comic than dirty.   Jeff highlights the importance of living a balanced life, realizing that everyone is dealing with their own personal struggles, and why we could all stand to laugh at ourselves a little bit more.   PLUS Jeff shows off his impressive illustrating skills that most of the world doesn’t know him for.   TUNE IN to MBB to hear the full hilarious, heartfelt conversation!   Check out Jeff Foxworthy's games including Relative Insanity, Relative Insanity 2, and See What I Mean!  BialikBreakdown.com YouTube.com/mayimbialik Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If I'm doing an interview and somebody goes, well, you know, you're one of those clean comedians. Almost bristle a little bit because to me that implies not as funny. And so the challenge for me has always been, okay, can I do it this way but still make you laugh as hard as somebody working blue. Sometimes when you find a way not to say something, it's actually funnier than saying it. I was preparing a set for the Tonight Show and Lina was hosting it. And it was back in the time where everybody in the country was filming the delivery of their kid. And I said, Jay, can I do a routine about filming childbirth? And he's like, you know, I don't know.

That's, you know, right up there close to the line. You got to be careful. So it became a challenge. I'm like, can I write a joke about this? And so the joke was, I said, everybody said, oh, you should film the delivery at such a beautiful moment. And I said, you know, I've seen those films. To me, it looks like a wet St. Bernard trying to come in through the cat door. Well, there's nothing dirty, though.

You know, there's not, but you can just imagine this wet seat guard. Okay, all right, Jeff. To me, that's actually funnier than saying what it really looked like. I only stopped you because I've only been on the other end of that. Sure, right. I know, I know what it feels like to have a St. Bernard trying to get out of the cat door. That's awesome. It's my and biolog's 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. It's a breakdown. She's going to break it down. Amazon One Medical presents painful thoughts. I've been on hold to make a doctor's appointment for, 23 minutes now. The automated voice has told me 47 times that my call is very important to them.

Hmm, I'm starting to think that they don't think my call is important at all. With Amazon One Medical 24-7 virtual care, you'll get help fast without having to remain on the line to make an appointment. Amazon One Medical. Health care just got less painful. Hi, I'm I'm Biallic. And I'm Jonathan Cohen. Very excited to talk to the person we're going to talk to today, Jonathan. him. Jeff Foxworthy. Who's Jeff Foxworthy, Ma'am? He is perhaps most famously known for being the stand-up comedian who also birthed the franchise you might be a redneck if. He's one of the most respected and successful comedians in the

country. He's also the largest selling comedy recording artist in history, multiple Grammy Award nominee, bestselling author of more than 26 books. He's in the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. he's hosted numerous television shows. Are you smarter than a fifth grader, the American Bible challenge? What's it worth? He also has created games, relative insanity, relative insanity too,

and see what I mean. He's a very, very funny man, naturally, but he's also a very thoughtful man. And we're going to talk to him about how he got started in comedy, how he kept going in comedy, how he prioritized his family and still kept his career going.

Also, his faith in God, his notion of how he was directed essentially to use his talents the way that he's used them, how parenting his children was affected by the way he was parented. I would say this is one of the deeper interviews that Jeff Foxworthy has done. And one of Jonathan's favorite things, can we make a legitimate stand-up comedian laugh? We'll let you listen to the episode and see if we did it. The answer is yes.

Let's just give them the preview. The answer is yes. Maim has him howling, and I'm very pleased and proud of her. Well, it is really a pleasure to welcome Jeff Foxworthy to the breakdown. Break it down. When they asked me about doing this, I'm thinking, okay, they have talked to everybody they can think of on the planet Earth, and they've reached the bottom of the barrel. And the next option is going outside on the street and stopping people on their way home from the grocery.

I'm like, and I never get nervous about anything. I'm pacing. My wife's like, are you nervous to do this message? I know, but they're just smart. They're just, you know. We can tell you six things about our personal lives together, and you'd be like, those are the dumbest people I've ever met. I love that.

We have the opposite question usually. Why? How is it that you want to talk to us? Well, that's kind of what I was thinking, because I'm like, these are really smart people, and I'm two decisions from drywalling. So how did I end up on this podcast? Well, we happen to love comedians. Jonathan and I love comedians.

We're connoisseurs of a sort. And so I actually am a huge fan of your serious comedy station, because it was one of the only things I could listen to with my kids in the car that didn't have cursing and was giving them a good comedy education. Well, thank you. I'm a huge fan of your voice, first of all, and your voice as a stage presence. But Jonathan and I are often really, really interested in, you know, people who make their living as public people who have to be funny or say funny things, but who also have very interesting

lives besides that. And so we wanted to talk to you. Well, I am honored. Fire away. Okay. So there's many interesting things about you that I didn't know that Valerie helped us prepare for this episode with. You worked at IBM. Yeah. Well, it's, that sounds more impressive than it is. I flunked out of college. I had to go, I didn't have money to go to college. So I lived at home and I worked full time in a grocery store. And I was going to Georgia Tech, which was a really hard school. And working concurrently full time, it just wasn't a good combination. So I flunked out. Well, I like to say they invited me to take some time off. And so I was working in a grocery store.

You know, I'm like this 19-year-old kid working in a grocery store. And my dad worked at IBM, and I'm sure he called one of his buddies and said, hey, my kids working in a grocery store, giving them a job. So I started out in dispatch. I was answering telephones and sending repairmen to calls. And then after about a year or two, I took an aptitude test. And they said, oh, you'd be good at fixing things. So I wore a suit and tie, but I carried a tool bag and I repaired machines.

And so, you know, it wasn't quite as glamorous as it sounds. Well, but there is a certain amount of glamour and mystique to, you know, the computer age in the years that you're talking about. How big were these computers? Oh, you could crawl up inside of them. I mean, you know, people had computer rooms that were like super air conditioned. And there were a lot of them. I'd take the side panel off and crawl up inside of them and work on them. And now, you know, your phone has more power than that.

computer did. Right. So I'm curious. Were you funny? Like, were you a funny guy? Yeah, I was always funny. I was I was funny as a kid, but I came from a funny family. You know, I'm like the seventh funniest person in my family. So when I go home for family reunions or Thanksgiving, there's zero pressure. You know, they all go, I can't believe you're making money doing this. But, you know, and as I've aged, I kind of landed on, I can't even, I get embarrassed when anybody compliments me because I don't know why I can do this. I cannot organize my office, but you could say, hey, Jeff, sit down and. and write me a routine about home security, and I could do it. I don't know why I can do it.

It's just a gift that God gave me. Like, you know, some people's gift is taking care of old people. Some people's gift is laying stonework or whatever. It's so, yeah, I could just always make people laugh. You have two younger siblings. Is that right? I do. I have a sister that's about a year and a half younger

and a brother that's about five and a half years young. And you were raised by your mom. Your dad lived in a different state. Is that correct? Yeah, well, working for IBM, he lived in a different state a lot of the time. And then sometimes he lived in the same state. But, you know, my dad was a, my parents could not have been more different. My mom was, don't drink, don't smoke, don't cuss, go to church five times a week.

And my dad was married six times and had a thousand girlfriends in between. and drank smoke, cussed, and had Playboy magazines all over his apartment. So, you know, as kids bouncing back and forth between the two of those, looking back, you're like, holy cow, that was a childhood of mixed messages. And also, not to age you, you're not a million years old. I mean, computers that you could crawl up into definitely indicates that you've been alive for a minute. We can age me. I'm 65.

I just turned 65. So you're 65. So having parents that weren't together, especially in the South, I would imagine, was that unusual? Do you know, I was the first family that I ever knew of that was divorced. I remember my mom picked me up at piano lessons and said, I think my dad and your father and I are getting a divorce. And I just remember riding home being horrified going, everybody's going to make fun of it. I don't know one other kid that has divorced parents. Did they make fun of you?

Not that I remember, but it wasn't very common then. You know, it wasn't a common thing. So I'm sure I felt probably a little shame in that. Yeah. Was your dad was funny? I think I've heard you say that your dad was funny. Really funny. Was your mom also funny?

Yes, but in a different, in a much more subdued way. But my dad was, you know, he was the guy at the bar that everybody was sitting around and he was telling the jokes and made everybody laugh. And yeah, he was a funny guy. So you're working at IBM, as you said, wearing a suit and carrying a toolkit,

which is an adorable image. And the story that I've heard is this, true, like you were encouraged to enter essentially a talent show? Well, okay, so I worked with a bunch of guys in Atlanta that used to go to the local comedy club, the punchline. And they kept coming back to work and they were going, Foxworthy, you're funnier than those people there. You need to do this. And I was the guy, I was the guy that was in the break room doing impersonations of the boss.

and then turning around and the boss was in the doorway. I was that guy. So I wasn't on the fast track to be promoted. And so the contest they entered me in, it wasn't an amateur night. It was called the Great Southeastern Lafoff. It was a contest for working comedians. And so I was like, oh, crap. So I went and watched one week, and I said, okay.

And I went home, and I wrote five or six minutes. about my family. And I went back and the first time I ever did it, I was terrified, but I won the contest. And I remember thinking an hour and a half into it, oh my gosh, this is what I want to do with my life. Wow. And I told, I went up amateur night for a couple of more months. My MBLX 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.

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$199, but for a limited time, our listeners get an additional $20 off with the code break. Head to Superpower.com, use the code break at checkout for $20 off your membership. And after you sign up, they'll ask how you heard about them. Make sure to mention my ambiotic breakdown to help support the show. And I told my mom, I said, I'm going to quit IBM. I'm going to try this. And her first question was, are you on the dope? Whatever the dope is.

And I'm like, no, I'm not on dope. I think I can do this. And then five years later, I was on Johnny Carson, and the same mother said, you know, you wasted all those years at IBM. Jeff, when you go and you get up on stage and you've written five minutes, like there's a big difference between telling jokes

in a break room or to your friends and then like structuring it into material for the stage, it sounds like that transition just like you didn't, like you just knew how to do that. Was there like the practice of like, oh, how do I take this stuff I'm doing over here and make it stage ready? Well, you know, Jonathan, as a kid, as a little kid, I would save my allowance and I would buy comedy records. I bought Philip Wilson records and Bob Newhart and Bill Cosby and the later on Carlin and Pryor. But I would memorize them in like a day.

I would just play them over and over and I'd memorize them. and I would go to school and do them and, you know, make the other kids laugh because, you know, it was, if I had to analyze it, it was like a power. People liked the funny kid. You know, the funny kid was the popular kid. And so I had listened to so much comedy by the time I did it. I think I had an innate idea, oh, this is, this is a. how you tell a story like that. And obviously, you know, hopefully I've gotten better at it since that time. But I had enough of an idea of how to put together a comedy set. Was there any notion of,

you know, you named some comedians who are, you know, obviously very well known and, you know, those records played in my house when I was a kid. My brother, you know, we listened to Steve Martin and, you know, all those kinds of things. Was there any sort of sense of like, I'm a kid from Georgia and I'm sort of adapting this to make it my own. Like, did you have a notion of like, that's a very different world, you know, the comedy clubs of the North and of New York and of Chicago? Was there any kind of, you know, interesting reflection you had at that point that might have been a foreshadowing of like, I'm going to do my own brand of this, essentially?

I mean, you've created essentially a comedy empire based on the specificity of the culture that you grew up in? Not immediately. At the onset, at that first night, I just wanted to make people laugh. But as I started, I had a very strong work ethic. I would go, I did year after year after year doing 500 shows a year. because I, you know, it's almost like Malcolm Gladwell do something for 10,000 hours and you become an expert at it. And, but as I, I would go to New York a lot.

And, and I would get advice like, look, Jeff, not for non, right? I don't want to hurt your freaking feelings, but you, you've got to take some voice lessons and lose that stupid accent you got. And it was just, you know, and in my mind, I'm thinking, well, where I come from, you have the stupid accident. But it was just trusting your intuition. And my intuition was, well, at least a quarter of the country talks this way. Why do I have to change the way that I talk? And, you know, it's probably where the redneck jokes came from. because I drove a pickup truck, and I'm driving all over the country, but I wore blue jeans.

I grew up fishing and deer hunting and, you know, vegetable gardens. And so as I would, and I talk like this, so as I would go around the country, it was good-natured, but, you know, I'd be in Chicago and they'd be laughing at me going, Foxworthy and nothing but a old redneck from Georgia. And one night I'm playing just outside Detroit in a little suburb called Livonia. And they're kidding me after the show about being a redneck. Well, the club we were playing in was attached to a bowling alley that had valet parking. And I said, wait, if you don't think you have rednecks in Michigan, let's all go look out the window. People are valet parking at the bowling alley.

And I went back to the hotel that night, and I wasn't smart enough to think, oh, this is going to be a hook or it'll end up being books or calendars or anything. I was just trying to write stand up. And kind of the premise was, look, I know what I am, but apparently a lot of people don't. And I wrote 10 ways how to tell how you might be a redneck. But what I found when I was doing them, people were laughing. Then they were turning around and pointing at somebody, you know, in their group. And I'm like, oh, wow. You know, maybe there's something here.

I wanted to go back when you said that, you know, the first set of jokes that you told us about your family, you know, Jonathan and I get some of our best material from our families. What did you talk about? Like, what were the first things that you thought, this is how I put myself on stage? Like, what was funny? You know, I, and boy, this is aging myself, but, and I don't think you're quite that old, but, but I grew up in the age where people smoked all the time. So people had ashtrays all over their house.

And one of the first things I talked about was how fathers, when they cut their toenails, they don't throw them in the trash can. and they leave them in the ashtray in the den for the entire family to admire. And that big toenail looked like you need bulk cutters to get it off with. So that was the first thing. But, you know, like I listened to you talking to Bob Odenkirk and talking about like his influence with Monty Python and all. and talking about the different kinds of comedy. Yeah, I think I was very fortunate in that very early on I found what, I found that template that worked for me.

And the idea was if I think something, or if my wife says something, or if my family does something, I am going to trust that other people are thinking and saying and do it. the same thing. That's how I'm going to make that common threat. I'm going to trust if I think it, other people are thinking it. If she says it, other people are saying it. And that's what worked for my style of comedy. Because the biggest compliment to this day that I can get is somebody coming backstage after the show and going, oh my God, you've been in our house. Oh, my God,

you've been on the road with us because you know you've taken part of their life that they never thought about it being funny and you've kind of showed it to them and they're laughing basically at themselves. There's something that came up in actually in the Bob Odenkirk episode that that I wanted to ask you about. You know, I have a 15 and an 18 year old and, you know, Jonathan has a teenager as well and you've had kids. You're a grandpa. There's this sort of, moment in time, I'm imagining, when you go to your mom, you know, or when you have that feeling on stage of like, I think I want to do this, right? And you go to your mom and like, it makes me choke up a little bit because we think of all the things that our kids want, the things that our kids

dream of, you know, the things that our kids bring to us. And I wonder, I wonder if you can identify two things. What was it in you that really believed you could do it and that it wasn't? wasn't just like, I want to be an astronaut or like, I'm going to be the president of the United States, which apparently anybody can do. I don't know. Well, I'm 65. I've got 15 more years before I'm eligible to be president. True story. So I want to know two things, though. I want to know what was it in young Jeff that felt like this is something I can say out loud? Because the notion of like imposter syndrome, I'm like, that looms large, I think, for many of us who have dreams that are bigger than what,

let's say, we thought we were programmed for. But I also want to know, what was that like for you as a young person to bring that to your mom and be able to support that? Like, how did you know? And what if you were wrong? Maybe you're still wrong. Yeah, I might be wrong. You know, I used to say I never would want.

to be psychoanalyzed about why I do what I do because maybe then I couldn't do it anymore. Welcome to our podcast, Jeff. You know, and maybe every human being feels this way. Like I remember being a little kid in church and I knew that I loved God, but all the people in church were marching in this straight line, you know, behavior-wise. And I knew at seven years old that I was wired like this. And so that became a dichotomy for me. And I'm like, God, I really, I love you, but I'm not wired like this.

And it took a long time in life for me to kind of reach the point where it was like God saying to me, look, I know that you're made like this because I made you like that. And it's okay. I don't need all of that. And so I guess I always felt like maybe I was a little bit different, you know. And I would tell my kids the whole time growing up, I said, you know, if you're going to have a full life, you need to have a few hold your nose and jump moments. You need to just not know that there's a safety net there and hold your nose and jump.

And I think that was probably my thought with quitting IBM. And this is interesting because as I was contemplating it, two things happened. One, the very night that I won the contest, I also met my wife, who was an actress and was to root for somebody else. And so we literally met that night. And so she saw me from the very first time I ever did it. But we started going out and she was the only person saying to me, you know, you've got all of this stuff down inside of you.

And if you don't find a way to get it out, you're going to have a pretty miserable life. You do not need to be sitting in a cubicle. you're too creative for this. And so she was the voice that was encouraging me. And I also remember as I was contemplating it, I was sitting in the break room one day. I was sitting by myself.

But a couple of tables away, there were, and I'm 24 at the time. But at this other table, there were guys in their 60s. And you can't help but kind of overhear them. And one guy was saying, man, I wish I'd have had a hardware store. I would have loved to have had a hardware store. And another guy going, yeah, you know,

I always thought about starting my own business refinishing cars. And I just remember, like it was yesterday, having the thought, holy cow, I don't want to be sitting in this break room 40 years from now thinking, I wish I had tried to be a comedian. And so my thought was, I'm going to hold my nose in John. And if it fails, what's worst case? I come back with my hat in my hand and beg for the job back, you know. And my goal was to be able to do it for two years because I thought when I got old,

it would be a cool story to tell my grandchildren like, hey, I was actually a comedian for a couple of years. Somehow, too, has now turned into 40. So, gosh, I'm, you know, I don't know in my wife. wildest dreams did I ever think that that I would be doing it this long. But I've, but I've so enjoyed it. I feel like one of the most blessed people alive, because I've made a fabulous living, doing something I would have done for free. Also, I want to, I want to, you know, mention your, you know, your empire, your comedy empire. It's, it's not just you on a stage, you know, you, you have branched out, you've written, is it 26 books?

Something like that. Something like that. And, you know, there's an entire, you know, there's an entire universe of things that people identify you with. You know, whether it's, are you smarter than a fifth grader or? Like when COVID hit, I started inventing games. Well, that's where I was going. So, yeah, tell me how that came about. I'm particularly interested.

Well, Jonathan and I both love games. But I'm particularly interested in see what I mean. So I'd like you to tell us about why you started creating games and sort of how it combines your comedy sensibility with this format. Okay, so the original one, my family, we're big on traditions. So at Thanksgiving every year, I have a farm about an hour south of Atlanta. And so every year at Thanksgiving, we have like 30 people, cousins, relatives, grandparents, and so... We all do days at a time doing Thanksgiving.

And so at the Thanksgiving, before COVID started, our kids who were now in their early 20s, that night they're sitting around the kitchen table and they're playing cards against humanity. And they're gut laughing. And I walk in there and I go, you y'all need to go downstairs in the basement. You cannot play this in front of your aunts and uncles and your grandparents

because we're out in the country and it's hard to get an ambulance out of here to take them to the hospital. And I thought, well, and I'm literally sitting there thinking, well, could you make a funny game that wasn't filthy? That was, that was, and so I went in my office where I keep, I'm sitting, I keep stacks and note cards. everywhere. And I got a couple of packs of note cards. And I sat down and I wrote 500 punchlines, not set-ups, just punchlines. Give us an example. Like, give us a couple examples. I have mold in my crawl space. My mom said the same thing, you know, or just things that sounded funny. And

I'm not wearing any underwear. You know, so it might be, and then I did like 100 setups that were all about relatives. So the setup, it's the simplest game in the world is everybody

has seven punchlines in their hand and somebody reads the setup and it's like right before Daddy walked me down the aisle, he leaned over and whispered. you know, I have mold in my crossspace. I'm not wearing it in. I'm not wearing any underwear.

You know, what? And so people just throw down the punchline, they think,'s going to get the biggest laugh. And you learn to play it in 10 seconds. But so I wrote, you know, I wrote out this stack of no cards. And then the next day I got the family around and said, sit at the table. We're going to try this. See if this work. And I've recorded it on my phone.

And they're all gut laughing. And I'm like, crap, I think I just made up a game. And so it's called relative insanity. And that's how the whole thing began. And then see what I mean was just kind of doing the same thing with pictures of families and, you know, creating punchlines and things. And so, you know, it's a weird gift. I don't know why I can do it.

What strikes me is that you have a level of openness with your creativity. A lot of people might be like, oh, I could create a game and sit down to write, but then second guess themselves or like, oh, this isn't good enough. But it sounds like you have a relationship or what strikes me about what you were saying is that you have a relationship with your creativity where it's just like an open channel. You're like, I'm just going to write these things. Like to sit down and write 500 for most creative people without that second guessing or editing isn't very easy. Has it always been like that for you? A little bit. You know, my brother, like I did the first, you might be a redneck page of day calendar in 1990.

And my brother helps me with that. And he called the other day and said, hey, I'm going to need some for next year's calendar. Now, so 1990 was how long ago, 33 years ago? And I've written 8,000 of them. And I sat down. and, you know, got a notebook, and I wrote 119 in a couple of hours. You know, and I'm like, hell, after this many years and how can I still do this? But there's something, and maybe Miami you can speak to this.

As an actress, there's, see, I think most people have the thoughts comedians have, but they kind of go in one ear and they go out the other and we learn to grab up. But there's something within us and I think the same thing is within actors and maybe musicians

where say somebody says something in public and you immediately think of some funny retort to it. I think most people keep their mouth shut. They think, oh, that would be funny. And there's something within us that goes, I'm just going to throw it out there.

and, you know, not knowing when you throw it out there, is it going to get a laugh or is it not? But there's some boldness in us that goes, I'm going to throw it out there. I think it's the same thing with acting. I'm going to decide that this character does this. And it's, you know, there's something very instinctual within all of that, I think.

Well, I think it's instinctual and it's also compulsive to innate. Yeah, probably. Yeah. Because, you know, I'm thinking about Jonathan, who is a writer, but a very, very funny person. And Jonathan also, you know, there are certain people for whom the filter is not as thick as it should be. Sure. So Jonathan is famous for there is no time that he will not say the thing that is in his head that he wants to grab. Well, to the point that Miami said about there's never not the right opportunity to make a joke, she points out all the places that I should not be making jokes quite often.

And I was wondering, Jeff, do you have that? Or if you're surrounded by funny people in your family, is it sort of you have to say the thing that's funny? It's like it's sort of the rule. Like don't leave a joke on the table. Yeah, when my wife first started hanging around my family, she was a lot. little bit aghashed because like if if you have a zit on your forehead in my family and you walk out in the morning somebody's going to say what up cyclops you know i mean it's not like they're going to ignore it and be nice they're going to point out all of your flaws they're going to

make fun of them and she's like oh y'all are so horrible to each other um but but we're really not i mean it's like a love language for us. You know, it's like, hey, I know, I still love you and you got a big old Zit on your forehead. So let's just acknowledge it. Yeah, let's acknowledge it. So everybody in the room doesn't sit here and think it for the next three hours. Let's, let's point it out. Is your wife not a Southerner? She's, well, she is, but it's a different southern. She's from New Orleans. Oh, very different. Yeah. Very different. There's their French influence. They've got a lot a Creole things happen. It's a whole different culture. Yeah, it's the Heinz 57 thing going on there. And she's, she's funny too. But she's been, golly, for 40 years, this poor woman is, it's me coming out of the shower going, hey, is this funny?

And, you know, and we're going, yes. And I'm like, wait, I haven't told you yet. But I so trust her in that she will go, yeah, there's something there. That middle part's not very good. Or she will go, yes, that's really funny. Or she will go, no, not funny at all. Or she will say, okay, yeah, that's a funny joke about women, but you need to balance it out with something about men. And so I really trust her instincts on things.

She's right more often than I am, which is part of what I think, I don't know about you, Jonathan, but one of the things that, and I've been very blessed that I've gotten to do a lot of creative things. And I enjoy doing different things. I enjoyed hosting the game show. I enjoy doing sketch comedy. I enjoy writing. I paint. I draw. But the thing that fascinates,

but out of all of them, stand up fascinates me the most. And that is because you never get to the point that you haven't figured out. After 40 years, I still do not know what people are going to laugh at. And I can take something that I think, oh, people are going to snot on themselves at this

and go try it out in a club and it's crickets. And then I'll have something else that I think, well, this is stupid and throw it out there. And people are beating the tables. And I'm like, and the audience is right. I mean, they're always right. But I'm like, crap, if I laid carpet for 30 years, I would know how to do a corner and how to do a step. But that's part of what fascinates me about stand-up. It's crap, I can't figure it out.

Does it change based on the audience? You know, you say something in a southern city and you're like, oh, it got a great laugh or it was crickets. And then you're like, but maybe if I was in, you know, Boston, this might be a different reaction. How do you reconcile those two? You know, for me, I don't really notice when I changed geographics. I don't go talk about necessarily other things. And I have a theory about human beings. I think for the style of comedy I do, that we're looking for that connection.

And I think if you gathered everybody in this country together and set them down and said, what is it that you want out of life? I bet you, and I'm talking about pegging left and right politically, I bet you people would agree on 85% of the same thing. And so that's what I look for, even though, you know, Miami, you grew up Jewish, I grew up Christian, you grew up in California, I grew up in Georgia. I'm going to look for those things that we have in common. And, you know, it's kind of funny because as a country now, we don't focus on that 85% we have in common. We focus on the 15% where we differ and we yell at each other about.

that, but, you know, I think there's basic human wants and needs that are universal. You know, you want to be able to take care of your kids. You want to be able to eat today. You want to be able to get from point A to point B. And so that's the part of it that I tend to, it's like, I'll just stay in this lane. I don't want to do political humor. I don't want to do religious humor. I don't want to go in those areas where we yell at each other.

There's enough of that. I have a question about, you know, many of the comedians, I mean, almost all of the comedians that many of us were raised with, you know, tend to be blue. They tend to be, they tend to curse. They tend to talk about, you know, a variety of things that you kind of choose to stay away from and, you know, kind of even make a point about it. I wonder if you can talk about what that value is and what it means to you that you've had, you know, this kind of really beautiful success that has a lot of, you know, principle behind it in that sense.

You know, my goal, again, I'm dating myself. My goal, when I started out, I wanted to be on Johnny Carson. And I remember in 1984 sitting with Jay Leno at a Waffle House and Jay said to me, you know, if you work clean, you'll always work. And he goes, you know, you can't be dirty in the clubs and then all of a sudden clean it up and be on the Tonight Show. It doesn't work that way. And I thought, okay, but I was still kind of wired like that anyway.

And, you know, there's something in me, I like doing things the hard way. and I just do. I don't want to do it the easy way. I want to do it. And so to me, if I'm doing an interview and somebody goes, well, you know, you're one of those clean comedians, I almost bristle a little bit because to me, that implies not as funny.

And so the challenge for me has always been, okay, can I do it this way, but still make you laugh as hard as somebody working, blue. That's the challenge. And sometimes when you find a way not to say something, it's actually funnier than saying it. I remember when I was getting, I was preparing a set for the tonight show and Lenna was hosting. And it was back in the time where everybody in the country was filming the delivery of their kid. And, and I said, Jake, can I do a routine about filming childbirth? And he's like, you know, man, I don't know.

That's, you know, right up there close to the line. You got to be careful. So it became a challenge. I'm like, can I write a joke about this? And so the joke was, I said, everybody said, oh, you should film the delivery at such a beautiful moment. And I said, you know, I've seen those films. To me, it looks like a wet St. Bernard trying to come in through the cat door. Well, there's nothing dirty there.

You know, there's not, but you can just imagine this wet season. Okay, all right, Jeff. Okay. But that was the challenge. It was like, and I called Jay and I said, can I do this joke? And he started laughing. He's like, yeah, you can do that. And, you know, so to me, that's actually funnier than saying what it really looked like, you know.

That's great. I just, I only stopped you because I've only been on the other end of that. I know, I know what it feels like to have a St. Bernard trying to get out of the cat door. That's awesome. I wanted to ask if you see God in your life, meaning, you know, I love this notion of, you know, having acceptance that you're made different, meaning everybody's made different, but some more different than others. Yes. And I wonder, like, is that, you know, I'm a person of faith. So this is a safe place.

I'm not asking from a hostile place. I'm curious. Do you feel guided? Do you feel a presence? Do you feel like blessed? Like, where does that sense of what you were destined for? Like, where does that play into your life when you look at your career? I remember saying to Ron White one time, I said, Ron, I don't understand.

I said, you know, there were so many people. that were funnier than me when we started out and I don't understand why God let me be successful and so many of those people went by the wayside and Ron goes, that's because God knew you'd do the right thing with it and the rest of us with the smoke dope and watch cartoons. But, I mean, I felt all of those things, Ma'am. I do feel blessed. I feel so lucky that, You know, I know there's people out there that are going to jobs that they hate every day.

I've always loved what I do. I get to be creative, which was, but I believe that's the gift that I was given. You know, Mark Twain, there's a Mark Twain quote where he said, the two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you figure out why. Yep. And I think that's my why. It's like God said, all right, I'm going to let you be funny, but take the leverage that you get from this and use it for good stuff.

And that's what I've tried to do with my life is, you know, I left, I left L.A. We were in L.A. And I did get to do Johnny Carson, but, you know, before, before he left. So I remember going home that night and staring at the ceiling and going, oh, my gosh, I have no plan. was it. That was all. But other things came along. And I did a sitcom, which out of everything I've done, I probably enjoyed that the least. I feel you. But once I had kids, I wanted my kids to grow up around their family. And so we left L.A. and came back to Georgia. And agents and managers were saying, you're killing your career. You're killing your career. And I'm going, well, I might be.

I hope not, but they're more important than this. You know, I remember doing an interview several years ago, and the lady that was interviewing me, she said, okay, you do stand up, you paint, you draw, you write books, you make up games, which one are you? And I got to laugh and go, well, that's an interesting question. And I said to her, I said, well, all these things you name, those are things that I do and I love what I do.

But who I am and what I do are not the same thing. Who I, when you say which one are me, who I am is I'm a husband and I'm a dad and I'm a brother and I'm a son and I'm a friend and I'm a child of God and I'm a person of this community. Those are who I am. So what I do over the course of my life, it might change a lot of times, but hopefully who I am stays more concerned. through that. And so when I left L.A., I thought, gosh, I hope this doesn't change my career, but my kids, and maybe I was influenced because my dad left early, but I'm like, my kids are my

priority. And out of everything I was doing, I liked stand-up the most. And I found out that I could do stand-up, that I could take my kids to school in the morning, run a plane, fly to Milwaukee and do a show, get back on the plane, fly back home, get there at two in the morning, but I could get up at six, take them back to school the next day. And I literally did that for 15 years. And I look back and go, when did I sleep? But doing that gave me 100 more days a year with my kids. And now they're 30 years old, and they call or text me every day. So was it worth it? Absolutely, it was worth it. you like as a parent. There was a, I think, an article from a couple years ago where you said you parented your kids differently based on their personalities and their eneograms. Is that right?

Well, I didn't know about eneagrams then. But you have two kids, you know, and you know that. I don't know how many you have, Jonathan, but I have two daughters. They are literally the sun and the moon. The older one is, is, has been the advocate for poor people and the social justice person and the serious one since the day she was born and the youngest one is the cheerleader and the sunshine that walks into the room. Same mom, dad, same, you know, village raising them. Couldn't be more different. And so with my oldest one, if you punished her by telling her to go to her room, she was thrilled to death because she would go lay on the bed and read three books at one time and be happy as a clam. Now, if you made the youngest one go to her room, that was punishment.

You know, the way you punish, the older one was said, you've got to go with us to a high school football game. You know, then she would scream at that. But so, but I love that. You know, I tend to think that about all human beings. I think we're all kind of masterpieces. and none of us are exactly alike. And if you take the time to, like, really know somebody's story, you get to see all the different colors and the brushstrobes.

And so you can't treat them all alike. I'm curious what your career looks like now. Do you have plans? I know you have your first solo special in, I think, 24 years is streaming on Netflix now. Is that right? It is. I mean, I did, I never quit doing stand-up, but we did like three blue-collar comedy tour movies. I did, I did one with Billing Ball and Larry the Cable Guy, and then Larry the cable guy and I did another one. So I've been doing, this is the first time I did one

solo in a while. And I still enjoy stand-up. the most. But, like, creatively, I still like doing different, like, I saw somebody that was drawing with, like, fine detail stuff. And I'm like, oh, I've never done that. I'm going to try that. So, like, the Jeff way to do it, I go out and buy all the stuff. And I sit down and I do it.

And now, like, I'm loving doing that. And people are like, I've got a. list of people going, oh, I want to be next on your list to draw something for me. Well, you know, that's a little creative thing I've never, I've never gotten to use. How can we see your art? Is there a place that it's posted anywhere? Do we get a sample? All right, Jonathan. Look, this is, this is the most atypical podcast you've ever seen. Oh, still. He's been drawing you the whole time. So, okay, so I just, this is an idiot.

I just ran across to the bathroom. Like, I just threw these two things. What? Well, my wife was like, oh, I want to frame those and put them in the bathroom. What? Wait. Okay, for people who are only listening. It looks like a photograph of a freaking elephant.

It looks like a photograph. The detail is unbelievable. You just picked this up, Jeff? Yeah, and so. What? We were in Africa and I took this picture of this elephant And so and then I had taken this Did you shoot it? Is the next drawing the shot elephant?

No, I didn't shoot it. I did not shoot it, no. Okay. All right. Next one is a lion. Oh my goodness. Took his photo too and drew him. But I just like the detail like doing every area. Oh, yeah.

You know, so. How long does one of those take you? A few hours. but it's very cathartic. Like I, you know, it's almost kind of mindless. So God gave you this talent too? And we just didn't know? When I was a kid, I would have thought I would have been, if you said, if you were,

that I was going to do something creative growing up, I probably would have guessed it would have been an artist, but and not a comedian, but you were just always able to draw that level of detail. Like, that's miraculously detailed. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, but like paintings, I'm not very good at painting. I've tried painting. I'm not good at that.

But like for years, because I lived on planes, like I would see somebody interesting in the airport. And I would take out a little sketchbook and I would kind of just like draw them with a pencil without them noticing. And then I would get on the plane and with pen, I have stacks. I mean, of cartoons where I've drawn people and then put like a farceau. side caption on them at the bottom. And so I have a seeing this is like something nobody knows about me and I have a ton of friends when they

come over, the first thing they'll say is go get your books. I want to look at the cartoon books. I want to look at the cartoon books. Maybe you publish the cartoon books. Well, it's a combination of two aspects of your creativity. Like that's so, that's so special. If you had to caption

mine, what would it be? Something about the beard, I think. It may be something you had found in it, you know. This is the second, the last comedian we had on, we had Whitney Cummings on, and she literally said Jonathan's beard looked like a Santa Claus beard that you buy at Oz on the corner. She said, what is that thing hanging off your face? You know, I might draw him, and it's kind of more of a cartoon style, and say, you know, Jonathan found his missing.

left earbud while he was fourth in his pin, you know, or something like that. That's awesome. I like that very much. But, and my, I, you know, I get embarrassed because this is you guys asking me stuff, because I love to know other people's stories. And so, you know, I would want to know

your story of starting doing this as a child. and looking back and go, what impact did that, did that have on me? And, you know, for me, I always wanted a life in balance. Like, I think from my time in L.A., it's like, I go, I don't want to lose the ability to take my kids to school. I don't want to lose the ability to go to the grocery store. I and and so you know there's been so many things that I have done like I for 12 years I would get up every Tuesday at 5 o'clock in the morning and go I would go teach like a small group like a Bible study at at the homeless mission downtown and you know after a dozen years of doing it like people would find out about it they go well how come how come I don't know that you do this?

And I would go, well, I'm not doing it. So you know that I, you know, but I met somebody that was homeless and learned their story. And I realized this was something I needed in my life. I needed to be able to have these conversations with other human beings that were just as important as me. and whatever their addiction was it, that was the symptom of something worse that had happened to them. And it was, you know,

man, I'm so grateful for that in my life because it is the counterbalance between having a weird job when you go out in public with your family and people want to take their picture with you, you know, and it's like, okay, I need something on the other side of the scale, to kind of, I don't want this to become my life.

I want, you know, and isn't that what we all do? Don't we all kind of go through life? I imagine it like the abacus with the bead on it. You're like, too much work, not enough work, too much work, not enough work, you know. That's the healthiest life. And you could be greatest. I probably could have been more successful as a comedian, but it would have cost me too much that I would have to give up as far as being a dad or a husband.

So I made different choices. And that's what life is, choices and consequences. Do your grandkids live near you? Where do they live? I picked up my two-year-old grandson at school. He's about 12 feet away on the other side of the door there. Yeah, he lives about 15 minutes away. And he's two and a half.

and he has a little sister that's three months old. Oh, wow. Very tiny. So maybe in 65, and I tell my kids this, I said, I miss my 30-year-old body. I miss that body that didn't hurt when I woke up and, you know, but I would not trade my 65-year-old mind and soul to get my 30-year-old body back. And so I had gotten to the point that I thought that I kind of had life, figured out, you know, that, hey, good stuff happens in the struggle and it's not all good stuff

and it's not all bad stuff. And I really thought I had it figured out and then I had a grand kid. And I had no idea how impactful that was going to be. I had no idea. I had that much untapped love inside of me because I really kind of made it a conscious thing every day. It's like, okay, love on people, encourage people, be nice to people, love on people. Love on. people. And holy moly, this is such a sweet season. I love these little kids. I mean, I was telling it out and putting down for a nap. My scratch his back. I go, I love you so much, buddy. You, y'all have got that to look forward to. It is, and you're going to remember, damn, Jeff Fox really told me this. It's the best. Jeff, it's just, it's been such a

a pleasure to talk to you, and I hope you understand why we wanted to have you on. You're a fascinating person. You have a really beautiful journey, and I think especially the notion of being a person of faith and feeling like you've been, you know, directed to where you needed to be. And I think it was when we had Whitney Cummings on, she mentioned, you know, that jeans load the gun and the environment pulls the trigger. And that's usually said in reference to addiction and mental illness, but, you know, hearing your story, it's kind of like jeans loaded the gun. And, you know, the trigger can also be pulled to so much beauty and so much hard work that you put into your gifts. And you've brought so much joy to so many people, including my own family. So

it's really just a pleasure to talk to you. And we will direct everyone to your special, which is streaming on Netflix. And thank you so much. And God bless you and all that you do. He does. And Thank you for having me. And then the next time around, I want to interview you. I'm happy to talk more. And I was, you know, I was that kid making other kids laugh at the bus stop, doing imitations of teachers and students. And yeah, I remember that feeling.

I come from a very, very, you know, complicated first generation American family. And so we used to say, if you don't laugh, you'll cry. And so we did a lot of laughing. and also a lot of crying. Well, you know, I say when I walk out on stage every night now, I say, I remind myself, which I do, that everybody I'm going to look at is going through some kind of a struggle. And it might be a financial struggle or an emotional struggle or a physical struggle, but everybody's going through one, which is kind of like why I've always been,

you know what, just be kind to people because you don't know their story. You don't know what they're going through. And I don't think laughter makes people struggle go away. I'm not that naive. But I do think laughter is like that release valve that keeps the boiler from exploding. And so if that's what my gift does, if my gift allows you to put your struggle on the shelf for just a little bit and recharge, you know, there's like Mark Twain. That's why I'm here. Hopefully, you know, that can be a little good thing for people.

Laughter also bridges that 85% or solidifies it, you know, if we can laugh together. And I think there's something about your comedy and the Blue Collar Comedy Tour that does stretch across, you know, the divide in a way that really helps heal people and helps bring the country together. Yeah, you know what? Somewhere along the way, we kind of lost the ability to laugh at ourselves. And because now we all have to be right. But when you have to be right, that means somebody else has to be wrong. And people don't want to engage in something where they have to be wrong.

So they just walk away. But here's what I believe. We're all idiots. Everybody's family's crazy. And nobody has it figured. out. If you've got it figured out, you're lying. I think everybody's life is a hundred times a day. We're coming to forks in the road and we're guessing. Left or right. I think it's right's the right way to go. I think left's the right way to go. None of us haven't figured out. So if you'll just admit that

and free yourself from having to be right, then you kind of laugh at your say, gosh, it takes a lot of pressure. off. I also feel like we can't, we can't let you go without me asking about the baseballs behind you. Okay. So, I've got all kind of weird stuff back there. I've got one of my hobbies is I look for arrowheads in different states when I'm there. But baseballs, I grew up a, I loved baseball when I was a little kid. And so when I started doing things like the Tonight Show or hosting awards programs or something, I would carry baseballs in my backpack, and I would just get random people to sign them. And I have maybe some of the most eclectic baseball.

Not many of them are baseball players, but I have one section on comics, and it's like Milton Burrell, Johnny Carson, you know, a red skeleton, Carol Burnett. I have another section that's musical, So I have like Robert Plant, Elton John, and the Eagles, all on just individual baseball. So when people come in and look at them, they're like, wait a minute, Robert Plant played baseball? I'm like, no, I met him at an awards thing when, though. So, you know, it's fun conversation things.

I really enjoyed that. He is so soulful and wise. What a special guy. I mean, I think it's funny that he was nervous. Like, I don't know what he thought we were going to try and make him answer, like, calculus questions. I don't know what he thought. I mean, he's so self-reflective and has so much insight. It's interesting to me that he said he listened to or watched the Bob Odenkirk episode. First of all, it kind of freaked me out that, like, people watch our podcast or, like, see other people.

Like, that's so crazy. But I really love that he shared deeply about both feeling really, really blessed and really lucky. And I didn't feel like he was like bragging, but also really, like, truly humble. I think that, I think that's what humility is. Like, he's both, he's not self-deprecating. He's not like, why me? I don't deserve this. He's just like a lot of things happened in my life.

And here I am. but it seems like he also does a lot of really good things with it, and I was very impressed by that. It seems like he has a genuine acceptance for the success that he's had. And, you know, he also feels extremely humble. I wondered, and we didn't get to ask him, I'm like, what is it like when he goes out in the world? Because he both is extremely recognizable,

but also you put that guy in some cowboy boots, some beaten up jeans in a baseball cap, and he's like just any farmer that you would see. there and maybe people don't recognize them. Well, I think it sounds like, I mean, the leaving L.A. thing, I didn't realize how much of a big deal that was. You know, and you hear about celebrities who are like, we have a ranch in Montana or I don't know where people go. Montana or Ballerianame somewhere else people go. They have a place in Kentucky or Texas or Wyoming or like, oh, we have a house in the, you know,

in the, um, in the Berkshires or the, the, the, the poker. Like, it's the 1950s. I don't know where people go. But, you know, I think for him, like, the notion is if he lived in L.A., he'd be much more immersed in this culture. And his kids would be immersed in this culture. I mean, my kids are immersed in this culture. People who are not actors, their kids are immersed in the L.A. culture. So I think that was a really big deal, you know, for him to go home, as it were. Yeah, I really, I just, he's a really, I just, he's a really big deal. He's a very quirky guy. You know, I really loved his notion that everybody was, you know, going straight. And he was like, I'm made to go a little bit, you know, not like that. That reminded me also in the

Bob Odenkirk episode of being true to oneself and knowing oneself enough to accept and to find that path if it's not what the traditional path is and it's, you know, more circular or more, not circular. What is this? We're doing this hand motion. We're doing it. Yeah, I mean, the notion is like it's a crooked path, you know. Like the... And that he can be unique and he can be himself.

What I feel fascinating is this notion that he listened to all of these comedy albums and he basically internally ingrained and built a structure for comedy in his head so that he could take his life experiences. A lot of people have to study and learn that. But just by listening and memorizing it. those albums and performing those albums to his friends at school, he had the structure, like, just downloaded. There's something I wanted to ask him, but I was embarrassed to ask him, so I didn't ask him. Like, it was a conscious thing, not like, oh, I wish I would ask Jeff Fox where he is.

I wonder if he, like, in his personal life curses, I wonder if he ever tried, I wonder if he ever tried to do sets that had cursing in them and was like, oh, it just doesn't feel right. I mean, I wonder if it was Jay Leno's suggestion to him of, like, I wonder if it was Jay Leno's suggestion to him of like if you, you know, if you do clean work, you'll always have work. But I'm very curious if it sounds like it's against, you know, his religious and kind of ethical sensibility. And, you know, he seemed really pleased when I said that, you know, we listened to Jeff and Larry's comedy. Like that was the comedy we listened to, you know, in the car because I don't want my kids, you know, hearing stuff, not just curse words, but things about like sex and,

you know, often like mistreatment of women and things like that. And like so I really, I think he takes pride in that. But I was just very curious if that's something, like if that's his sensibility in general. But I felt embarrassed to ask him. I mean, it is your podcast. That's kind of, this is the time and place to ask him stuff. I had a fantasy. I had a fantasy.

Okay. I had a fantasy of me and Jeff Foxworthy on a stage. Because I was like, there can't be two people more different, you know, in terms of like, where we come from and like, you know, the kind of comedy and like things like that. And I was like, I think that's such an interesting crossover. Maybe we run for president and vice president. Can I say something that you're going to get annoyed by? Why should today be any different than any other day?

This is a vulnerable space. We're in a podcast that talks a lot about communication and I'm about to step in it. So people can enjoy that at home. It felt like he wanted to know more about you. It felt it. I think he wants to be my friend. It did. He felt like a serious level of genuine curiosity, and he was so present.

You know, if you're just listening in audio, you may not really be able to feel what I was sensing. He was like, you know, what they call leaned in, not just... He was totally leaning in. And it wasn't just like proximity to the camera, but he had this like curiosity. He was present. You know, sometimes you speak to people. podcast tours and they're kind of giving you the same stuff and and you have to break through that as an interviewer to get their authentic self. But like he was just so there. And he asked you a few times

about questions about yourself. And it felt like you were shy or standoffish. And I was like, what's what was going on for you that, you know, you were leaned in, of course, because you're in the interview. But it felt like there was something else there that maybe you were shying away from. No, I just don't like to talk about myself. I don't think of our podcast. I don't think of our podcast. is a place where like that kind of back and forth goes. We've had some examples of people asking things, but no, I really wanted him to feel special and, you know, and like he's our guest.

Well, here's a new idea is the notion of what is a podcast and what isn't a podcast. Okay. This is the place where we break things down so that people don't have to and also where we make friends, that people can also make friends. We can invite him back for an abbreviated episode anytime he wants and he can interview me.

You know what I wanted to tell him about? What? I wanted it. When he was talking about the toenails and men keeping their toenail clippings, I wanted to tell him about your pinky toe and the sand that is required to get that thing down to shape. That's TMI. If people have listened all the way to the end of this podcast and are sticking around for the conclusion, they deserve to wonder about my pinky toe.

What do you, you know, if they're curious right now, is there anything you want to tell them or we'll just leave it in the gray zone. I'd like to tell people, I'd like to tell women that you should not wear narrow shoes because everything will be fine. And then one day you'll be 43 and a podiatrist will say,

oh, there's nothing wrong with your pinky toes. You just wore shoes that were too narrow for the past 35 years. And now that's what your toenails look like. They have thickened. To the point where they don't look like a traditional clipper. No, no. They don't look like the other toenails.

They're thicker. There is not a fungus, a mongus. There's nothing wrong with them. There's not a medical condition. There's no cream, lotion, or potion needed. It just sucks to be your pinky toe. Because you wore narrow shoes. Valerie's laughing because it's true that they show you these shoes and they're

Like, you'd look great in these shoes, women. Well, they hurt your pinky toes after 35 years. There's nothing that an industrial senator can't take care of on your pinky toe. But this is actually a serious... You make jokes at inopportune times and everyone knows it. I do. But objectively speaking, when we have an audience, like when Miles is with us or another one of the kids,

they laugh at those jokes. So it's only you that gets upset at me. And Fred, when I do it during movies, although I was talking to Fred, well, I tried to bring up this subject with Fred at dinner because he was just like cracking joke after joke after joke. And I asked him, Fred, are you open to some feedback? And he said, he got quiet for a second.

And then he looked at me. He's like, no. So I didn't give him the feedback. But what I wanted to say was he was doing the thing at dinner that he gets upset at me. for doing during movies. Oh yeah, that's a really good thing for you to do as a grown-up to say to a 15-year-old,

that thing that you don't like when I do, when I interrupt your movies with jokes, you're doing it right now. No, Jonathan. Gently bring his awareness. You know what's funny? When that happened the other night, I was perceiving that my child was being very sassy with me, and when you said,

Fred, are you open to feedback? I thought you were going to say to him, just say yes to your mother, instead of being sassy with her, and then she'll stop talking. But now that I know that what you were going to say to him was like, hey, you're making a lot of jokes like I do, I'm glad he said he wasn't open to your feedback. I think he would have appreciated it.

You know what? I would have appreciated him not being sassy and you're not making jokes. The jokes are trying to bring the divide to heal the divide. They're trying to relieve the pressure cooker. And what, you know what we learned in this episode? If laughter is the reliever of, what did he say? laughter is the pressure valve release. What I learned, Jonathan, is that you are always under pressure.

You always feel like you're under pressure. Because someone who feels a constant need to release pressure means they're feeling pressure. And it didn't make me upset with you. It made me feel compassion for you because a situation that I may not perceive as stressful, you may be perceiving as stressful. And so you may need to blow off steam, as it were,

and release that. The fact that it's not shared by other people, in your conscious contact is a different issue. All I hear is I have the green light to make jokes, and that's good enough for me. How many times did we make

Jeff Foxworthy laugh hard? Okay, you got them really, really well on the Labrador going through the cat door. The St. Bernard going through the cat door? Yeah, not the Labrador.

I said, I know what it feels like. I don't know what it looks like. He laughs so hard. Really? The only really, the only reason. reason we have comics on is so that we can get them laughing once or twice and that validates our existence. From our breakdown to the one we hope you never have. We'll see you next time.

It's my and be all next time. She's going to break it down for you. She's got a neuroscience PhD or two. One fiction. And now she's going to break down. It's a breakdown. She's going to break it down.