Mike Birbiglia's Working It Out - 91. Ryan Hamilton: Utah, Idaho, and the Clean Trick

Episode Date: January 30, 2023

Many people worry about getting hit by a bus. Last year, comedian Ryan Hamilton did get hit by a bus. Ryan talks to Mike about the shocking experience, his long recovery, and Ryan’s process of talking about the accident on stage. The Idaho native and BYU alum also talks about doing stand-up in Idaho and Utah, and how to be a "clean” comic without the audience even realizing it. In anticipation of Mike’s own trip to Salt Lake City, Mike also recalls a story of when people in Utah thought he was a “dirty” comedian, and the time he got caught lying in Boise.Please consider donating to the Scott Hamilton Cares Foundation

One of my favorite things is after a show, if there's a group, someone will go, oh, we loved it, we loved it. And someone will go, and you're so clean. And someone else in the same group will go, no, he wasn't. And then they go, oh, you were. And I liked it. That's so funny. It's like I tricked them. To me, that's like...

Your clean trick. Yeah. I don't like clean comedians, but for some reason I laughed at you. It's the Ryan Hamilton clean trick. That is the voice of the great Ryan Hamilton. Oh, man. Every now

and then, I'm working it out. We have a guest who first of all, he just doesn't do a lot of podcasts. He's a great comedian. He's a friend of mine. He's someone I've known for a long time. One of the comedians and joke writers who I respect most in this whole game. So I was thrilled that he was coming on. We had a fascinating conversation today about all kinds of things. He's a clean comedian. He's actually like, it's not because he's clean that I recommend his special Happy Face on Netflix a lot to folks.

People ask me for recs, for comedy specials. It's always in my top five of recommendations because it's so well written, such great jokes, and it's clean. because it's so well written, such great jokes, and it's clean, which, you know, for me, it's like it just means that less people are going to have objections to it. And so it's sort of like an evergreen recommendation for me. One of the reasons that this episode, I think, is so exciting today is that we really crack into material he's working on right now about a really, really, really intense accident he had in the last year.

That was awful, but he's making comedy of it, which I always love to see, especially from someone as talented as he is. Ryan is, he's a hen, he's a hen selected opening act for Jerry Seinfeld. He's, you know, the spring he'll be at, at the Be opening act for Jerry Seinfeld. He's, you know, this spring he'll be at the Beacon Theater with Jerry Seinfeld.

Coming up, he has dates in Boston at the Wilbur, which if you're near Boston, go see him at the Wilbur. He'll be at Steel Stacks in Bethlehem, which I love Steel Stacks in Bethlehem, this week. And all kinds of dates. He's going to be in Milwaukee and Aspen and all kinds of places. Oh, I should mention that we talk about this on the show today, but he's from Idaho.

He does a lot of shows in Idaho and Salt Lake City and in Utah. I'm going to be in Salt Lake City as well. I'm going to be at Kingsbury Hall March 17th. And the night before that, I'll be in Mesa, Arizona. Those were both makeup dates from the fall when the show went to Broadway. We moved them to this spring. Get tickets now. Also, there's about to be a bunch of new dates of mine going up,

maybe some overseas stuff. Join the mailing list on burbigs.com. That is how you find out. And enjoy my conversation with the great Ryan Hamilton. You came to the show, and I have a joke in the show about getting hit by a bus. And basically the cliche, anybody could be hit by a bus, which is true.

You were hit by a bus, and thankfully you're okay. You've been talking about it on stage. But when you were in the audience, I was like, wait, maybe should I cut this out? It's so funny that you say that because I was in the audience going, I'm 90% sure he just had a thought about me. Because I know that you knew that I was in the audience. And I just know how it is on stage

and you're thinking about who's in the audience. And that's just been such a prominent part of my life and we've talked about it. Oh my gosh, yeah. So it's funny that you say that because there was a microsecond where we both were like, We had a moment. Well, it's funny because that's what fundamentally the discussion in culture is of trigger warnings. It's like, what if someone experienced the exact thing that you're saying? I'm joking about being hit by a bus.

You were actually hit by a bus. Right. I hadn't heard the joke before, so I was going, I was like, where are we going to overlap? But we didn't. No. Yeah, there's nothing. I don't think there's anything.

No, your stuff is, your new stuff about your experiences is gorgeous. I've seen some of it at the cellar. Super, super funny and very honest. I think in some ways you had this awful, awful, really like nightmare situation where you were hit by a shuttle bus, I want to say. Is that how you describe it? In Los Angeles.

Yes. But the doctor's prognosis at the outset was bad. Well, yes. There was, I mean, I think they were, you know, they didn't think I was going to die or anything like that. Yeah. But it was a bad break, a compound fracture, I think is the term, the bone came out of the arm

and we had to put a titanium plate in there. Oh, my gosh. And it was a clean break. So I think they were confident about the surgery. There was one. Wait, when you say it came out, the bone came out of the socket? It broke here right in the middle between my elbow and my shoulder, the humerus bone they call it.

And it came out of the front, like where there's a scar where my bicep would be. Wow. I didn't know about it. I was wearing a jacket. It didn't come out far. It's pretty graphic. Have you made a pun joke about it being humerus?

No. The worst joke? I considered. I considered. being humorous you know the worst joke i considered i considered that's always the funny conversation you have with comedians when they pitch you jokes that are not great you go yeah i thought about that pitchy tags your special from netflix i want to say came out four years ago five five years ago yeah i mean so good i watched it again i laughed again like i it's one of those specials i recommend to people all the time oh that's nice

because well one of the things that's interesting about you as a comic is like you're so clever you're such a great writer and performer and you're clean which is notable i think I experienced this for a period of my career early on. I was clean entirely. And then I wrote Thank God for Jokes. And fundamentally, that was about the nature of jokes. And so I was talking about curse words. And then actually, I had a funny thing in Utah, which is I did a show. And I know you're huge in Utah, but it's like I did a show in Utah.

And it was the Thank God for Jokes tour. And all of a sudden word was out that Mike's not clean anymore. It was like Dylan went electric. I relate to that. Not that I have done that, but I'm

scared. I don't know what I would do, but it's like I do sense that I someday could betray people who like me. That's interesting. I don't think I would. I don't know what it would be, but I have that sense that, you know, because there are people who come to the show because they know it's clean.

100%. They like you. They're a fan of your comedy, but they also, that's a big, you know, if you're going to take a piece of the pie, like, why are they coming? Like, half of it is because they just don't have to worry about it not being clean, which I'm happy to have anybody at my show who wants to enjoy it. Of course. Yeah.

But that's not always – it just comes out of me that way. It just is like I'm not making a decision to be clean or not clean generally. I mean, it just kind of comes out. Yeah. I started it as, you know, I consider myself a writer.

I think of it as a word choice. You're not using a curse word more than any other word, you know? So like comedians who people would consider dirty use the F word or C word or whatever like 25 times in a show. And I would say if you use the word marshmallow 25 times, you go, what's with this guy and marshmallows?

That would be really weird. That's how I think of curse words yeah yeah that's why i don't curse right my word choice right yeah but it's a weird thing because one of the so one of the things reasons i recommend you always when people ask for comedy special recommendations is because you're clean it's a wider swath of people yeah who i know for sure will love Like, I don't think I've ever recommended your special and had someone say, I didn't like it. That's nice. That's amazing.

That's nice. That's amazing hit ratio. Yeah, yeah. One of my favorite things is after a show, if there's a group, someone will go, oh, we loved it, we loved it. And someone will go, and you're so clean. And someone else in the same group will go,

no, he wasn't. And then they go, oh, you were. And I liked it. That's so funny. It's like I tricked them. Right. To me, that's like. Your clean trick.

Yeah. I don't like clean comedians, but for some reason, I laughed at you. It's the Ryan Hamilton clean trick. So that always makes me go, oh, I'm doing my job. Because I want to, I don't know, I want people to feel good. I want people to laugh. I want people, I'm not picking a specific audience necessarily, but I do get like, I'll often have three generations at my show.

Yes. You know, grandmother. I love that. Kids and their kids. It's like my favorite thing. Yeah, isn't that at my show. Yes. You know, grandmother. I love that. Kids and their kids. It's like my favorite thing. Yeah, isn't that wild? Yeah. Yeah.

I always say my shows are for 12 through 112. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's interesting watching you at the Comedy Cellar because by virtue of the bus accident was so serious, you talking about it brings out a different side of you. Like I think it's a more, it's more like talking to you sitting at the table at the Comedy Cellar than seeing you perform. Yeah.

I was working on this, I could never really get it to work, but this, one of the first ideas I had when I really, it took me months before I could really start thinking about this, but when I started thinking about it, one of the first thoughts I had was, I'm not this kind of comedian. I don't know how to do this. I'm the kind of comedian who gets hit by a bus and has five minutes on hood ornaments or something. I'm not a trauma comedian. Oh, my gosh.

But this was like an exception or something, and it forced me to talk about something that I normally wouldn't get this personal with. I'm not that kind of comedian. It's so funny I relate to that so much because when I wrote my girlfriend's boyfriend about 10 years ago, it was the first time where I did, I acted out the scrambler at the carnival.

And when I wrote the bit, I was like, well, the only way to convey what's happening is to act out the scrambler. I mean, how could you possibly, other than just going like, who's done the right? And it was actually a hugely seminal artistic moment for me because I was like, oh, at a certain point, I've got to let go of who I think I am and just be who I am. Yeah, right. Do you feel like that with the bus stuff? Yeah, I do.

I feel like it, I mean, I've written it in a way that it feels like the rhythms and everything are all the same as I've always done. Yeah. But it's deeper. The content's a little deeper. And it's more personal. And it's relating to people in a way that I haven't really had material relate to people. had material relate to people. Not that there are a lot of people who've been hit by a bus,

but it's just when you talk about trauma and these kinds of situations, everybody has one of these moments in their life. And so they just go there. And so I think it's something I haven't really experienced in my standup yet with my audience. This is the first time. So I think it is different, yeah. Have you found that comedy audiences are more open-minded to any type of comedy than you think, than you would assume? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Right. Because I found that when I talked about sleepwalking through a window, I was like, oh, they're like game for this. Yeah.

I was like, this is going to be too much for them. They're like, no, no, they're in. Isn't it weird? It's kind of like, I don't know why we have this wall up to go against getting specific about our lives. But it's like, in the specificity is where people really relate. Because I've never jumped out of a window. But I go, oh, I have health problems.

I have issues that I've had to—that's where I go. And so you just kind of like—you have to get specific. So you grew up in Idaho in this kind of famously small town, like a thousand people. You talk about it in your special. Is it all Mormon? No. I don't know. like this kind of famously small town, like a thousand people. Yeah. You talk about it in your special. Yeah, yeah. Is it all Mormon? No, it's, I don't know, maybe half, a little more than half. Yeah.

So there's Methodist, Lutheran, Mormon. Yeah, there's a mix. Chris Redd was on the podcast and we talked about how in Salt Lake City, it's like one of the best comedy towns, arguably, in the world. Yeah, I wouldn't disagree. And I'm going to be there at Kingsbury Hall in March, and I love going there.

And Chris was saying this too. Whenever we go, we always talk to Mormons. We always like to, what's going on? Tell me about the religion. I want to understand this. Because it's so outside of people who aren't Mormons. It's typically so outside of what we understand as or what we were raised as. I was raised Catholic, for example.

But our experience was Mormons have a pretty good sense of humor. And since I said that on the podcast, I've gotten emails saying, not true or true. People can have conflicting opinions about that. Where do you, do you think that Mormons have a good sense of humor about the religion? I do. Yeah, I do. One example is, I always thought this was interesting that, you know, a book of Mormon, when it came out on Broadway, it was like Mormonism was having this moment. Mitt Romney was running for president.

Right, right, right. And it was like, what is this? Mormons are coming up. Yeah, yeah. Right, yeah, yeah. And the church ran an ad in the playbill that said the book is always better. Yes. And it was like that's that's pretty

good joke yeah it's a good joke decent joke right and it's like they they didn't take offense to it yeah they didn't go against the grain they didn't come out and say there's a lot of stuff in here that you know we need to defend yeah yeah they just go the book is always better they yes and it they yes the book is always better as a five word it. The book is always better as a five-word joke. And you know as a joke writer, that's a good joke. Yeah, yeah. So I don't know. I think if there's all sorts of people in every religion,

but I think that they're a pretty good audience. Do you have any recs, by the way salt lake city while i'm there uh things that i might not know to look up because you've played there so much well i mean you would know this but just for your listeners wise guys is one of the best comedy clubs in the country. Oh, my God. It's crazy. People don't expect to hear that, but amongst comedians, we all know. We all know. Denver Comedy Works is like that. There's a handful of them. There's a handful of them.

For whatever reason, the alchemy of the people in the city, the way they run the club, the height of the ceilings. Yeah. Yeah. It's just they really care there, and the shows are fantastic. They bring in good comedians. So that's one thing. I mean, um, it's just a beautiful place. Anytime you can get outdoors, it's gorgeous there. You know, it's so unique because you can get up into the mountains so quickly from downtown, which is like, I think you can get to like five different ski resorts within 45 minutes or an hour or something like that. It's really unique. So that's just take advantage of

that in the winter or the summer. Temple Square for the history is really interesting. Just the temple, when they came across the plains as pioneers built this temple in the middle of the desert. Yeah. It's still erect and stands and it's beautiful when you do you ever play it doesn't seem possible do you ever play your town you grew up in a thousand people you'd have to you'd need all half the town to show it's not really possible i don't think i mean it's it would be hard i have done things like i spoke at my high school graduation. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. So I've gone back and done a few things. But I do a show in one of two cities. Actually, I have a date coming up in March in Rexburg, Idaho, which is 30 miles away.

And Idaho Falls, Idaho, I did over Thanksgiving. And that's as close as it gets to me coming home to do a show. Right. And that's as close as it gets to me coming home to do a show. Right. So you grew up in Idaho, and then was college radio your first time breaking into comedy or talking at length? Yeah, exactly. I was going to be a journalist.

I had a little radio show in college, and some of us were interested in stand-up. So we did a remote for a radio show at a little pizza place. Where was that? It was in Rexburg, Idaho. I went to a small junior college there and transferred later to Brigham Young University in Utah. But we did stand-up in a pizza place. None of us had ever even been to a comedy show

we just tried it and it was broadcast on our little we did that like four times that was the first time I did comedy I love that as an example for people listening because I feel like often creatives listen to the show a lot of the questions is like I had Mark Forrester the movie director on

and I said what's step one for being a movie director? If you want to write movies. Yeah, yeah. And with stand-up comedy, I get that question a lot. What's your step one? When I was in college, me and my friend Michael, we took the coffee shop that was in the student center, created like a comedy night in it.

Yeah. With like a little microphone and an amp and like 20 people watching, maybe 10. Yeah. And it was pretty good. Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure it was. We learned a lot.

Yes. And maybe it was terrible. I don't know. It doesn't matter though. Yeah, yeah. I think things are a little different now. But when I was growing up in such a rural place, I didn't have access to anything. Everything I was interested in, there was nothing.

Like, you know, I wanted to be a newspaper humor columnist is what I really wanted to be. I had that aspiration when I was in high school. Did you? Yeah. So I called the county newspaper when I was like 14 years old. We didn't even have a school newspaper or anything like that. For people listening, newspapers are like these broad sheets. Yes, exactly.

It's so hard to explain. Yeah. And they just said, actually, I kind of do this as a joke when I'm in Idaho. I just said, when you're in Idaho growing up in the 90s and you call the newspaper and ask if you can have a column, they just say, yes. Yes, you can. That's so funny. And I just wrote that all through high school. And that was like my first kind of foray into like trying to be funny publicly.

Yeah. But there was nothing. There was no, there was like, we did a high school musical once a year. But that was really the closest thing that there was to me. One of the things I love about your. But that was really the closest thing that there was to me. One of the things I love about your special is that you really trash New York City, which I love because I feel like there's a lot of New York City kind of exceptionalism. Yeah.

And I live in New York. I'm a New Yorker. I've lived here 20 years plus, 22 years. But it's annoying. Yeah. I love New York too, but I do always feel underrepresented here or something. It's just like we're all different here, but nobody understands where I'm from here. None of my friends get where I'm from. No amount of explaining.

They can't understand it. get where I'm from. No amount of explaining. They can't understand it. And I intentionally, they wanted to do my special out of New York. And I said, no, I have to do it in New York because I can't do these jokes about New York for the special unless it's in front of New Yorkers.

And that just gave it a little more power. Well, yeah, but it's funny because you have this joke where you go, if you can make it anywhere, it's the Sinatra song. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. And you go, no, not true. I think that's so true. It's a ridiculous concept even.

Yeah, yeah. What do you mean? Like, yeah, you could make it as another advertising executive in Chicago? Is that what you mean? Like, could you make it in Abilene, Texas? Because I'm not sure. I'm not convinced of this. Like, do you grow wheat?

Do you know the first thing about farming or raising cattle? Nothing. Nothing? No. You couldn't. You take the subway. Yeah. Subway's the easiest form of transportation.

Yeah, yeah. And that's, I love that your special hits that. Now I'm kind of doing, I have some jokes about it in a different, kind of like almost the opposite direction. It still has perspective. Because this is true. I love New York, but when I come back, it's not my default setting. I don't know if it ever will be.

Oh, yeah. And so there is this, every time I come back, there's a little like, and I get this, I have to get back into the rhythm of this city. And it's not my default setting. My chest starts to tighten up. My thoughts start to whirl, I say. And then I go, it's like getting into double dutch. You know, it's like I can see it coming.

I'm going to New York. I'm going to New York. And then it's like you're in it. And you're like doing it. You're like, you know, you're like, I don't have any money. Hold the door. Oh, my God. I go, this is a two-bedroom?

Are you out of your mind? You know, it's just like all these things of New York that you're just in. That is so funny. Double Dutch is a phenomenal turn of phrase. Life is kind of like one rope, a jump rope. Right. And then New York is two ropes. This is crazy.

Like, what is happening? What is happening? I can't believe I'm doing it. That's how it feels. You're in Seattle. You're in New York. That's a great joke. Oh, good.

I love that. Thanks. Have you been doing it? Yeah. That's great great joke. Oh, good. I love that. Thanks. Have you been doing it? Yeah. That's great. Yeah. I mean, I haven't been doing that stuff because I have this bus stuff that takes up the whole set when I'm in the city now, and I'm trying to tweak little things. It's a weird thing.

It would be interesting to talk to you more about this, but we have a little, but the length of the set, I don't know how to work that out in the city because it's like i've never had a thing where i'm like i need an hour to work this out it's like hard yeah it's like i think that what you should consider doing is some hours at the cellars fat black pussycat which is around the corner where it's like you like 60 people in a room or 80 people, and just see how a full bus hour would go. Yeah. Because I think that could be fascinating. Yeah.

Obviously, Sleepwalk With Me and some of my other shows are based on this idea of you start with a single story of, I jumped through a few years ago, I was in Walla Walla, Washington, blah, blah, blah. And then along the way, I jut out to a digression here, a digression here. I keep coming back to the central story. But I feel like the bus story is so ripe for that. It's the perfect story because, first of all,

it's got majorly high stakes. It's also like a curiosity. You know what I mean? It is very strange. It's one of those things where people lie in bed at night thinking, what would happen if I got hit by a bus? It's so weird that it's just the thing that people go to. It's like the hypothetical death that people grab onto.

I talk about that in the joke. It's like, you don't know, you might walk out of your house tomorrow and get hit by a bus. That's what people say. And that's what happened to me. But I don't think they actually mean get hit by a bus. And then I say, but I'm here to tell you, live your life. Live your life.

But most of my set is about health now now so it's all kind of like one topic yeah but like i get into it by talking about the insurance struggle yeah and then it's oh my gosh and then it's into like others that that kind of feels like i can go into more broader mundane kind of top not mundane but broader topics well it's funny you go through the insurance thing. I had bladder cancer when I was 20. I talk about it in the sleepwalk with me and in the old end of the pool too. But I've never even talked about this on stage. The insurance thing, that's a whole hour.

Oh, man, it's crazy. It is wild. I have periods in my 20s because I'm a self-employed person. I had no health insurance. I have cancer. What am I going to do, wing it? Wow. You know what I mean?

You didn't have health insurance when that was going on? No, no. There was a period of time I didn't have health. I had lapses. Right, right. Like I was under my parents' insurance for a bit, but then it lapsed, and then I was like, ah! Yeah. insurance for a bit, but then it lapsed, and then I was like, ah.

Yeah. And then I remember being on the subway and seeing a sign one day that said, like, freelancers insurance. And I was like, yes. Yes. I know. I had that, too. In that same moment. What is this you're saying?

Yeah. Freelancers insurance? Which is not even really what we call ourselves, but we're like, it's close enough. It's close enough that I can, these people will understand me somehow. I'm a freelancer. Can I be, please? I remember that, the freelancers union seeing the ads on the subway. It was like a godsend.

You're like, maybe this is something. Yeah. I was in the, I was, I talk about this, like there was a moment when you're in this kind of accident. So I had the 10 broken ribs and my arm, my lung, and they didn't know what else. And they wrapped me up in this thing. It's like a burrito. I love they didn't know what else. That's a great setup. Well, I'm sure they didn't because when I got to the trauma unit, they were like, I have a broken collarbone

and they thought it was recent. They were like, is that, they were starting to treat it. I had to be like, that's 20 years old. They were just like all over. Wow.

They don't know. Anyway, I'm wrapped up in this burrito thing. They just wrap up your whole body. It's like I can't move a muscle, I'm wrapped up in this burrito thing. They just wrap up your whole body. It's like I can't move a muscle. And I'm laying in the ambulance. I have a neck brace on and all I can move are my eyes and my mouth. And the guy is reading me questions.

And for whatever reason, it's like my mind is on fire. I don't know if it's the adrenaline, but I'm like, I can answer any question right now. I'm like, I can answer any question right now. And I'm like, just challenge me. And he asks about my health insurance, and I say it. And he goes, and it's apparently just in New York. And he goes, I never heard of that. And I just remember laying in the ambulance going, I am in trouble. Oh, my God.

This guy has never heard of my health insurance. And in the joke, I just say, I am in trouble. Oh, my God. This guy has never heard of my health insurance. And in the joke, I just say, just leave me here. I'll just live in this thing forever. I can pay cash for this thing. Oh, my God. That's so funny. But it's terrifying. Well, because I think, I want to say my insurance is SAG,

and so it's like Blue Cross Blue Shield, like Anthem or something like that. But I am just saying, after years of having non-existent weight, the same thing you're describing, which is like, I don't think that's health insurance. When you go to the doctor, we definitely don't take that. Do you have any cash on you?

When you have the thing that says Blue Cross, it makes you so proud of being part of a corporation. You're like, we demonize these corporations, but then you're like, Blue Cross. I'm with the big guys. Like a backstage pass. Yes. It's a backstage pass for the hospital.

Yeah, yeah. That's funny. That's worth trying. All right. I might throw that in. Yeah. I mean, the insurance things are riot. It's crazy.

It was one of the first phone calls I made. I made a phone call to the health insurance company while I was laying in the hospital waiting for surgery, waiting for emergency surgery. I called them to go, I don't care, just pay the deductible because I want this. Yeah, to get it, the surgery, yeah. It's so stressful.

It's funny, it's almost like you, yeah, you. The insurance I had in my 20s, when I had, you know, I had had cancer, the looks that they would give you when you would try to go to a doctor. I know. Were as though you had written down the word insurance on a piece of paper and handed it to them and said, this is my card. They're like, that? No, no, no, no, no. That's not how insurance works.

Where does this work? Surely, surely this is a company of some kind. But you're desperate. Yes. You're so desperate when you don't have health insurance, you're on the subway, which is, you know, the sign is basically next to a sign that's like, you know, we'll fix your teeth for 40 bucks.

You know what I mean? Like the sign, the most ridiculous kind of like con artist. Like, you know, you'll never have acne again. 13 bucks. You know what I mean? Right. Dr. Z, whatever the thing is. And then it's like, and you're like, well, that's bullshit.

But this thing's real. This is health insurance. No, I'm sure of it. Freelancers. I'm a freelancer. That's how con men work. They prey upon your desperation. Of course.

We need this thing. It's so scary to not have it. Yeah. That's really what you realize is you have to be your own advocate. Like there's no other way out. Like you have to be. Yes. When you're in the hospital laying there,, you have these moments where you're like,

my ribs were all broken up. And I just didn't feel good about it when I got out of the hospital. I was like, I know there's nothing I can do, but it just feels like I need more information. So I went back and they sent me to another specialist. They did a CT scan. And immediately, this thoracic surgeon was like, you can't travel for eight weeks. Oh, my God. And I'm like, you can't travel for eight weeks. Oh, my God. And I'm like, oh, they told me like three.

And she's like, no, it's because of your lung. It needs to heal. And I'm like, well, I'm glad I didn't fly. Wow. I mean, she's like, you'd probably be okay, but I'm not sure. Yeah. So you're not going to fly until I see an x-ray at eight weeks. And it's like that wouldn't –

Because your lung would have collapsed or could have collapsed. Just because it was injured and, yeah, because of the pressure on the airplane. Yeah. It wouldn't be able to handle that. Yeah. Oh, this hacky comic is doing lung collapse on the airline jokes again. This guy? We've heard it.

I felt like my lung collapsed when I ate that food. When you tell your story, what's the most extreme reaction you've had from an audience member coming up to you after a show? I had a woman in Idaho Falls, actually, who I was doing a lot of crowd work. And a lot of people were just kind of talking and it was fine. But she stood up and said, I lost a son as a pedestrian in an auto accident. And I'm just so grateful that your mom was there to be with you.

She stood up and said it in the audience. And it went like, and I didn't know how to handle it, really. I mean, it was like I had so many emotions because, first of all, I was alive. Because, first of all, I was alive. And the pain that I knew, just a son is what she said. So it was like, I just immediately felt empathy. But I'm at a comedy show. It's a strange dynamic.

And it got very quiet. And so I just tried to ask her as little about it as I could without getting detail, but letting her speak and just said, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry that happened. And if I can, I would love to talk to you after the show. Yeah. And I was able to meet them and become friends with this couple. They're very sweet people. They live in Boise.

They had driven like six hours to the show. Oh, my gosh. So now we're friends. But, you know, we went to breakfast together the next day but it was just uh it is interesting because it's like like i was saying that was very specific the husband had to leave the show because he couldn't handle it which i understand and they they didn't know how much i was going to talk about this yeah you. You know? And honestly, if I was in a show and someone was talking about getting hit by a bus for half an hour, I might have to leave. Yeah, of course.

You know? Even now, when I'm talking about it, there are moments where I'm like, I'll have a little flash of like, that was real. Yeah. It's joking, but it's like, that was real. Yeah, I have that sometimes with sleepwalking. I bet. Where right before I fall asleep, I have a flash of like, oh yeah, that could happen.

Yeah. And I don't even like to talk about it. It's like I flash back to that. I flash back to dreams that I've had in my life where hitting my head against something or this or that, and I fear, what if I'm having that? And I wake up and it's real. It's weird, right?

It's weird to talk about those things on stage because it's almost like I click into another place and I'm like, okay, this is the material. I'm thinking about the lines. But then every once in a while it just flashes in where you're like, oh, yeah, that was real. Sometimes I have that with my show, with Old Man in the Pool, where I'm talking about such embarrassing things. I'm talking about seeing the urologist when I was in high school and asking in hindsight the most embarrassing questions. And I'm on stage thinking, am I saying this to strangers?

What am I doing? I've had that too, where you're like, wow, I'm oversharing a little bit. But that story about the woman saying that, it's so moving, but I think that that's worth talking about in the show. Certainly if you're going to let it go to an emotional place, because I think it shows versus tells, which is always, I think what we're trying to do as storytellers, it shows versus tells the power of comedy and storytelling, which is to say that you told

your story that opens up and she tells her story where she opens up. and that has a degree of healing that's worth talking about. Right. Yeah, that's true. I do think generally it's been healthy for me to talk about it. Yeah. Do you feel the same about the things that you've talked about? Yeah. Yeah, I do. I think I'm better for having written all this material and talked about it than if I hadn't. I'd be so bottled up about it.

It would just feel so unnatural because comedy is such a big part of me. It would be very strange to ignore it. How long did it take you to talk about it after it happened? I wasn't able to physically work for three months. The first thing I did back actually wasn't stand-up. It was I wrote for Amy at the Oscars. Oh, for Amy Schumer.

Yeah. And so that was like a couple weeks. And then when I got back in April, I really started to get on stage. I got on stage a couple times maybe before that. But I talked about it the first time I got back on stage immediately because it just felt like impossible not to yeah it was just like I looked strange like yeah it was obvious that I was hurt I think I mean maybe I could have played it off but but it was just all occupying. So it would have been impossible not to talk about it, I think.

I fiercely, as a fan of yours, as a friend of yours, fiercely believe that you should do an hour on the experience, but with digressions into other stuff. Yeah. I mean, I'm at like 25 minutes, 30 minutes without any kind of digressions into others. Yeah. I mean, I'm at like 25 minutes, 30 minutes without any kind of digressions at all. I haven't talked about physical therapy. I haven't talked about the time living in LA with my mom in a hotel for a month. Yeah. I haven't talked about the recovery. Wow, that's fascinating. Yeah. Yeah. It's really interesting because I say like my mom, she had to come be with me. I couldn't do it alone.

I was so grateful to her. But it was like we started over. It's like she's taking care of me again. Oh, my gosh. And I'm an adult. Yeah. It was like, but I'm helpless. I'm like a child.

So it was like we started over again. We're going to pick up right where we left off when I was 10. Wow. Yeah. You realize things about your dynamic that you didn't know? It was weird. I was in such a weird head space and in pain and all that. But my dad had, just to add more, my dad had passed away a year before my accident.

And so my mom had taken care of my dad because of his health concerns for a long time. So she kind of moved into, like, it was natural for her to take care of someone. And then I kind of fell into my dad's role a little bit, I felt. Like, it was just interesting. Like, I remember having conversations with my mom about my siblings, feeling like, this is what my dad would say right now, I think. It was interesting. That is fascinating.

But I also, because i i just gone through covid with my dad and then he passed it was like i knew how valuable this time with my mom was yeah also yeah even though i was recovering and like it was a strange period it was like i did there was part of me there was another level of me where it's like, this is rare and this is a valuable thing that I'm getting. Right. That's actually I think one of the things that you get from pain and painful experiences is you do get in clearer focus how lucky you are to have the thing you have. Oh, man. My parents had COVID twice this year, and it definitely zeroed me in. I'm like, okay.

And they're in their 80s. I'm like, okay. Right. Well, what we have is we're very lucky. We have this. Yeah. In a way, I felt like I went to my own funeral or something weird. Oh, my gosh.

Because it was like I just heard from so many people who didn't know what was going on, and all I could think was, I just want my life back. I would give everything I have, just everything, just to get – I would start over just if I could get back to it. Yeah. But life's weird. And then you get into your life and it's – that was the thing that I tell people. They go, what did you learn? I just want to say that the thing that I learned, I think, is that when you go back to your life, you – I just don't want to forget.

Like, it's weird. Yeah. Because, like, I went through all that with my dad and realized how lucky I had and all the stuff I had. And then I had this profound moment because it was like a year and two weeks since my death that I was laying in the hospital. Oh my gosh. And I was like, I had this weird feeling where it all came back where it's like, oh, this is the same feeling I had a year ago where I said, don't forget this. Oh, wow. And then I'm like, I forgot already. It's like, and because those two things happened a year apart, it just made me go, really, really don't forget.

Really, really don't forget. Really, really this time. No, no, this time for real. Yes. For real. We're going to do it again this time for real. That's how it felt. Yes.

Appreciate it. Appreciate it, everybody. We're going to do it one more time. This is going to be the circle take. appreciate it appreciate it everybody we're gonna do it one more time we're gonna this is gonna be the circle take the no but it's it's in my show i talk about how warren zeevon said on you know as he was dying of terminal lung cancer to david letterman he said enjoy every sandwich right and but the enjoy every sandwich thing it's like for me i feel like a like a metaphor for what you're describing, which is like having everything taken away and appreciating what you have or what you used to have is, I think, COVID for a lot of people. Yeah, sure.

So for me, the biggest thing was, and you're a part of this, is I used to go to the comedy cellar a few nights a week. And it was this very casual part of my life, and I'd have a salad and a chicken kebab with friends who were comedians, and I'd go on stage a few times and watch other comedians, and you and I would kick around joke ideas, other comedian friends. And then when it was gone, holy cow. Yeah. When we couldn't go in i know i mean i i'm like i'm getting choked up thinking about it i realized how significant it was in my life

just to be with other comedians it's feel it's like i feel like they're the people who speak the language that i speak yeah it's it's such a supportive group of people too at the same time. It's really interesting dynamic. And even people I don't know, it's a small group, but we all kind of feel like we know each other because we've seen each other,

we have a lot of common friends. And even if I go to LA and see people I've never met before or whatever, I do feel a certain level of support from even strangers. It's a really strong community. We're going to have to keep the slow round for next time because I'm going to go straight to material because I can't have you here and not work on material. This is what I wrote down.

I haven't even put this on stage. I have an injury. I left shoulder. I broke like 12 years ago. And so I'll go for physical therapy and massage therapy and things. And I was in another city on tour in the fall. And I went to this massage therapist named George. I told him about my shoulder.

I can't really move it. I don't have full mobility. And I showed him the mobility and he started moving it around in ways that made me scared that he was not hearing me. And then he said, by the way, this is a section of the show called From the Notebook. I mean, this is not audience-tested material. This is just the story.

This is me writing down in my notebook what happened. So I don't have all the jokes yet. But he said to me, in my country, there's a saying that God, and I thought, oh, no. Because I thought, I'm not sure I believe in God. I definitely don't believe in George. And partly because George is very proud of George. He's very like this buff ancient Greek warrior body guy.

And he goes, we have a saying that God gives us our bodies, but doesn't put them back together. And I said, what's that again? And then he says it again. I still have no idea what he's talking about. I have to figure it out. So I say, I'm trying to like understand his accent. I go, are you from Greece?

And he goes, Romania. And then he says, some people say I'm magic. They come in, they say, George, you fixed me. And now I'm even more nervous because i don't believe in god or magic and i i don't i still don't believe in george and i'm not sure his story is even true about these people i don't think anyone said he's magic and george works on my shoulder at the end of it he sits me up and says, how does your shoulder feel? I said, it's magic, George. He fixed me.

That's great. It's a nice little vignette. I don't know what to do with it. I've been wrestling with this injury forever, and I've written down a lot of different little vignettes like this. Yeah. Like George. Yeah.

So he's, what kind of doctor is he? Oh, he's just a massage therapist. And he's just very, I mean, it almost looked like he was straight out of a movie about like the Roman Empire or something. Right. You know, like a very unique character. He looks like God gave him his body. Yes, that's right. That's a good point.

Yeah. Right. There is some trust. Yeah. When someone evokes God and they look a little bit like a good point. Yeah. Right. There is some trust. Yeah. When someone evokes God and they look a little bit like a Greek god. It's like, this is how you put your body back together. Now, I can help you put yours back together. That's really funny.

Yeah. Yeah. You want a body like this? You want a body like this? I can get you set up. It was funny. I didn going to buy it like this. I can get you set up. It was funny. I didn't even make this connection. I've been reading.

My daughter's been reading about Greek gods. And so I picked up a book about Greek gods that grown-ups and kids can read together. And I'm reading the Greek gods book, realizing how little I know. I know. I mean, my God, do I know nothing. Yeah little I know. I know. I mean. There's so much. My God, do I know nothing. Yeah, I know. You ever read a book and you think, you pick it up and you think like, I'll know some of this stuff. And then you're going, every sentence you're going, well, that's new.

Well, that's new. Oh, I didn't know that. You don't know anything. Yeah. That's Greek God. Yes, I know. But the thing about the Greek gods that drives me nuts is when you have a daughter, my daughter's seven and a half years old, it's like the most sexist. Oh, it's crazy. I mean, it's like there's this God and then his nymphs.

I'm like, hmm. So where's – if you're a girl, where do you see yourself in this story? Are you the God or are you the nymph? Right, right, yeah. And it's kind of, you know, it's troubling. Of course, everything, for centuries and millennia, there's misogyny. And I'm like, where do you begin? A lot of these gods are about to get canceled, I think.

You're telling me? I mean, they've had it too good for too long. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, clearly. Clearly. Mount Olympus is not as high. Oh, my God. Dude, that is so funny.

Some of these gods are going to get canceled, and they should. I mean. I read a Vulture article about, yeah. I'm trying to think of a good god. I read that Vulture article about Poseidon. He's pretty cut and dry. Pretty cut and dry. I know you play Idaho a lot.

Yeah. I had this Boise, Idaho story because I love Boise. Yeah, Boise's great. People don't realize I get so many requests to perform in Boise. People in Boise, I don't think they realize. This is not even a joke. Their town is so popular. It's hard to get availability at their theater.

You can't get a venue there. I've been trying to get. It's wild. Yeah, people are mad at me because I haven't been there for so long. I get these constant comments. How come you don't come to Boise? I'm trying to. I'm on the phone with my agent.

How come we can't play Boise? It's weird. It's a weird problem that doesn't exist in a lot of markets. No. What is happening there? They need to build a theater. They need to build another theater. They need to build another one.

There's demand. Whoever's building these things. Okay, so one of the things that I do when I'm traveling, I'm sure you do this a little bit too, is try to get to the town a little bit early, experience the town a little bit, mention it up top. It's like a nice way to feel like you're part of the town. And every now and then I find myself in a jam and I miss my

flight or whatever it is. So one time I went to Boise and I get there two hours before the show. So I have no experience of the town whatsoever. And I say to my tour manager, what'd you do today? Because he got there the night before. He goes, I went to this great place for breakfast called Goldie's. They told me the wait would be an hour, but actually it only took 20 minutes. And I go, that's a cocky restaurant. Pull it back, Goldie's. And he laughed. And I walked on stage. I said, this morning I went to Goldie's. They said it was an hour wait. It was only 20 minutes. Then I did the punchline. I got a laugh.

It was as though I had gone to Goldie's. Here's where it gets bad. Next morning I wake up. I ask for directions at the front desk to Goldie's. Hotel clerk goes, I thought you ate there yesterday. I thought, it's a pretty small town. I'm used to lying in larger cities. Even as I say this, I'm lying about how witty I was in that moment.

I wasn't witty. I was groggy. I hadn't drank my coffees from Goldie's yet, which I may or may not have drunk eventually. That's like a fun little thing. Yeah, that's a funny little thing. The lying in a small town is, to me, the crux of that thing. That's really, I think, meaty. Yeah.

That's maybe worth tying back to, obviously, you grew up in a small town. I grew up in a small town, too. Shrewsbury, Mass. Or at least when I grew up there, it was 25,000 people. It's probably grown. But it definitely didn't feel like you could keep a secret in that town. Right, right. Yeah.

Unless you're a priest, in which case, man, were there secrets. Ooh. Kept by all, apparently. You want to learn how to lie? Oh yeah um but that's a funny that's a funny angle just getting caught having no no not even thinking that it would be there would be any repercussion and then all of a sudden blow back yeah and you just see it i mean that's sort of and oddly you know that's sort of the internet in a certain way now.

Where it's like, if I post something saying, I love Salt Lake City, well, there's another tweet from 15 years ago that someone screenshots and goes, oh, actually, here's another feeling you had about Salt Lake City.

He had a different take. What if you went back? Boise is the internet. That's funny. What if you went back to Golby's and they're like, oh, it's a two-hour wait. Oh, that's funny. Oh, that's funny.

They stick it to you. Everybody knows that you've been to Golby's. Yeah, yeah. That's funny. Oh, that's funny. They stick it to you. Everybody knows that you've been to Goldies. Yeah, yeah. That's funny. Yeah, I don't know. Happens again. Do you have anything that you want to kick around? Let me see.

I'm working on a line in the bus. I don't really know how. I just kind of tell the story about when I was in the hotel with my mom, I couldn't watch anything. And anything with impact, any action thing, and really anything on TV was giving me anxiety. But I finally was like, we're going crazy. We need to watch something. I got to get over this. So Muppets Take Manhattan was next on the hotel. So we watched Muppets Take Manhattan. And this is really all I have, but the entire crux of The Muppets Take Manhattan

hinges on Kermit the Frog getting hit by a taxi cab. That's right. Oh, my God. In Manhattan. This is shocking. This is shocking. And getting amnesia. Yeah.

So the whole film is about the Muppets trying to find Kermit. Oh, God. Because he has a big show on Broadway. This is wild. And this is the first thing that I try to watch. After being hit by a bus. And I can't even watch Muppets Take Manhattan. You were triggered by the Muppets.

Well, it was just like, I mean, there is the actual visual of Kermit getting hit, which is quite violent. Yes. But also just, it was very discouraging. Because it was like, at the time, now it's kind of funny, but at the time it was like, I can't even watch The Muppets. Like, how am I going to get over this? Wow.

Yes. But I don't know over this? Wow. Yes. But I don't know how to expand that. Yeah. And then I turn on the Teletubbies. I couldn't handle that either. I couldn't even. Because I was purple. Everything.

Everything on my body was purple. The last thing that we do is working it out for a cause. And if there's a nonprofit that you think is doing a good job, then we'll contribute to them. Oh, great. And we'll link to them in the show notes. Okay. I do a lot of work for Scott Hamilton's Cancer Research Foundation. My father died from esophageal cancer, and I connected with these guys when my dad was going through treatment. I did an event with Scott. He's an Olympic athlete. He's an ice skater.

This is scotthamiltoncares.org. I'm looking at it right now. This looks like a great organization. Hamiltoncares.org. I'm looking at it right now. This looks like a great organization. They do. So I do some shows with them a couple times a year. And they're just great people, and they're doing a lot of good research. That's great.

We're going to contribute to scottcares.org. Cool. And we'll link to them in the show notes, and hopefully people will consider contributing as well. Thank you so much. Thanks, Ryan. This has been awesome. Thank you. much. Thanks, Ryan. This has been awesome. Thank you. We'll have to have you back.

And I want to keep hearing about the show and the progress of the show because obviously you're one of my favorite comedians. Oh, that's nice. I'm really dying to see where it goes. Well, it was a pleasure to talk to you. I really appreciate it. Thanks, man.

Working it out because it's not done. Working it out because it's not done Working it out Cause there's no hope That's gonna do it for another episode of Working It Out. I love Ryan Hamilton. Go see that fella live. If you can, watch his special happy face on Netflix. You can follow him on Instagram, Ryan Hamilton. And you can see me, my stuff, in Utah at Kingsbury Hall on March 17th

or Mesa Arts Center, March 16th. Our producers of Working It Out Are Myself, along with Peter Salamone and Joseph Birbiglia. Associate producer, Mabel Lewis. Consulting producer, Seth Barish. Assistant producers, Gary Simons and Lucy Jones, Sound Mix by Shubh Saran, Supervising Engineer Kate Balinski, special thanks to Marissa Hurwitz and Josh Upfall, Mike Insigliere as Mike Berkowitz, special thanks to Jack Antonoff and Bleachers

for their music, special thanks to J-Hope Stein, my wife, the poet, her book Little Astronauts in Bookstores Now, special thanks to my daughter, Una, who built the original radio fort made of pillows for the podcast. Thanks most of all to you who are listening. Thank you for all the great feedback and comments on Apple Podcasts. If you have 45 seconds,

help us out and spread the word on there that we exist in this sea of podcasts, but we care so much about ours, and we work so hard to make it nice and tidy and sound real nice and bring the best guests like Brian Hamilton. Thanks, most of all, to you who are listening.

Tell your friends, tell your enemies. In the spirit of Salt Lake City, tell your enemies, and then also tell them about Mormonism. You know, there's a lot more complexity. As I always say, the book is always better. We'll see you next time, everybody. Working it out.