Pablo Torre Finds Out - The Art of the Improv Alley-Oop with Ben Schwartz

Episode Date: October 5, 2023

That guy from Parks & Rec, The Afterparty, and Sonic the Hedgehog has a side-hustle superpower: playing point guard at long-form improvisation. He and Pablo also happened to lose way too much money on NBA Top Shots of Miles Bridges and Bismack Biyombo. Plus: Why Blake Griffin isn’t just funny for an athlete and why Kobe never would’ve made it in comedy. Oh, and a mid-interview poo … and a post-coital orgy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Pablo Torre finds out. I am Pablo Torre, and today we're going to find out what this sound is. There's a lot to show up to today. Who you're going to find Pablo Torre? Right after this ad. You're listening to Draft King's Network. I'm rolling right here. I'm going to make sure. Okay, this is it. We're starting. Now we're talking for real. We're real boys talking. Ben, I thank you for coming on to a show that you know nothing about. I don't.

I know the person who hosts it and that much was exciting enough for me. But outside of that, I have no idea what's going to happen. I feel like it's going to be Survivor? Yep, yep, yep, yep. There is a, what is it called at the end? You get an immunity thing. What happens? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, you can win. I think you and I obviously both know everything about Survivor when we're like, you get an immunity thing at the end? All right, so you may know of Ben Schwartz from any number of Hollywood with things like the after party, which he started on Apple TV Plus. He's also the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog in the Sonic movies. He was also obviously this moron on Parks and Rec. Tommy T. You just missed the craziest of crazies.

Clubs, girls, dancing, naked, mom. Argument, police, fleeing the seat, hiding in a dumpster, coming here, crashing on your couch for a week because technically I'm homeless. Hey, mustache. I'm gonna hit the couch. You know where I'll be. Ben's also written for S&L and Letterman and Robot Chicken and many, many other things. But I find Ben most interesting because the thing he loves doing and does as well as anyone I've ever seen

is what you might have actual nightmares about. Because Ben Schwartz loves running out onto a stage in front of thousands upon thousands of people with nothing prepared, nothing scripted. And he'll just improvise an entire hour-long show with his friends. But the way I got to know, Ben, was in a completely different context. You and I got to know each other because in February 2021,

we got really into NBA Top Shot. Yeah, Amir Blumenfeld, I think who you know, is a huge Top Shot guy. He was from Jake and Amir from College Humor. And now they run Headgum, that podcast company. And he, the way that it started for me was, he said, he goes, I'm having the best time on this thing.

You remember collecting cards? And I was like, yeah, it's like my favorite. It's like I used to love collecting cards. I have Marvel cards. I have basketball cards. I still like collect. And then he's like, it's like that but on the internet. For fans who got to witness LeBron James Dunk against the Houston Rockets,

it might have been a priceless moment. But for NBA top shot collectors like Michael Levy, right now that dunk is worth almost $400,000. They're called moments. Think trading cards. but entirely digital. I said, amazing. He goes, you got to buy this,

you got to buy this Miles Bridges card. It's going up like crazy. You buy it now. I go, what do you mean? He goes, it's like stocks kind of. Yeah. And I was like, okay, I like the idea of like opening a pack. And so he said, no, you got to.

So I buy a Mile Bridges card for whatever. Immediately lose $100. Like immediately. Like the next moment lost $100. But then I started opening packs. And I love that. And then instead of holding on to it because who knows how. you know, you never know when things are going to lose.

I would trade immediately if I got a good card, and I was always able to break even. So, like, I made maybe $100 or $200, but, like, it was so funny, the way that I got into it was, Amir's like, you got to ride that guy, almost like a stock. He's like, you've got to get this mild bridges, and I got it, and immediately went down the next day. Yeah, not a great investment, that one, it turned out.

No, and I mean, listen, if you want to get Amir on this podcast, I think he has a lot of money tied up and Top Shot right now, which I don't think is going to be lucrative for him in the future. So part of the reason I bring this up is that, big picture, I should say, that there was a report that came out this month that announced that 95% of people holding NFT collections. So non-fungible tokens, this is what top shots are. This is what we're describing these digital trading cards, as well as like board apes

and so forth, all that shit. Yes. 23 million people, that's 95% of those holding NFT collections, had investments that were now worth zero dollars. We got to get a mirror. on the line. I know. We've got to get him here on the line. Can you call Amir right now? I can pop them on there if you want. It'll take one second to get him on the phone. I mean, let's try. Do you want me to do? Yeah, we can put them on speaker. Let's just see what that's like. I'll put him on speaker

phone. I'm on a, there you go. I'm on Pablo's show. Okay? Amir. He can hear you. Yeah. He can hear you. And we're talking about top shot investments. So we're just, so Pablo, the stat that Pablo said is that these NFTs have dropped so, so drastically that a lot of them have zeroed out. So the question we wanted to ask you is, how is your Top Shot collection going? And do you have any, do you want to talk about it all just for two seconds? Eight figures? You're talking about tens of millions of dollars? Yeah, well, I started with nine figures.

You started with nine figures. How much did you invest? Do you want to talk about how much you've invested or now it's not the time? I'm on the toilet, but I would say I can. So I should say, Ben, it does look like angle-wise he is on the toilet, truly, just for the... You are on the toilet? Is this fine to... You are...

We can take this out, I guess, Amir, but you look great. Oh, thank you. Yeah. I didn't know this was a live stream. It's not a live stream. It's not a live stream. But he may be... We can edit out.

We can edit out whatever we want. No, we're not going to edit that out. He might be actually live streaming, though, into his toilet. I didn't know you were on the toilet. It's kind of funny that you're on toilet. It's sort of a metaphor for Tom. I don't know. Is there anything you want to talk to Pablo?

You heard the problem. Perfect point. Yeah, I love the show too. Thank you. See, Amir knows what it is. Ben. What is it? He's in my ears.

Explain to me what it is. Don't do that. That's now awkward for me. Well, this is a new podcast. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's a new podcast. It's a new podcast. Okay.

You want to plug headgum while you're here? It's okay. Okay. All right, have a great. Thanks, Amir. All right, he's gone. Well, Amir provided an excellent segue, which is that it is a metaphor.

for TopShod, the toilet he was sitting upon. I do remember I tried to wire transfer the money out, and I tried four times, four separate times, and every time it said it didn't work. So I don't have any cryptocurrency. I'm not invested in anything. The only thing NFT-ish that I'm invested in is TopShout. And I just always stayed even.

I didn't want to lose money on it. So, like, I have a little bit of money in there that I'm trying to get back, and it is near impossible to get it back. This was a complaint about Topshot, was that it was really hard to withdraw money. So, by the way, I just want to point out that as of February 2021, like Zion Williamson, a 13-second Zion-Williamson highlight,

did go for like $100,000. Whoa. There were people who actually were making seven figures legitimately, buying and selling, opening packs that contained. Yeah, highlights that anybody had access to, but were presented framed as digital modern trading cards. And then... Yeah, the idea was fun.

Right. And so we were in lines together, like waiting rooms together, like digital lines. Yes. I think I went on Instagram live once. Yes. You loved, I mean, growing up, it was one of my favorite things in the world to open up a pack of basketball cards. It was one, it was the best. And like to try to get like, you know, a rookie card and try to get a special hologram card or something like that. It was like, it was the best. So I thought, oh, this could be the adult version of that.

And it felt like it for a little bit. We all would FaceTime together and open up our packs together. Like we would zoom and share each other's screens. And then we would all explain what we got. And it was really fun. And then it wasn't fun anymore. No. Then if you're like me, you have an unpurchased Bismac Biombo layup that I priced out at $50,000 that no one has purchased.

I remember like when I had just, the game was then just lowering it. to $1 above what it was selling for and trying to just sell my stuff. But I think I broke even, and then when all the stuff that I had was really inexpensive, I was just like, I'm just going to keep it because there's always a chance it comes back.

Like, it's there. Instead of making like $5 off of an entire collection when I just, you know, let it sit for a couple years and see what happens. But I was trying to cash out all the stuff that I sold. This is mostly a show about getting Ben Schwartz his liquidity, his top shot liquidity back. Wait, can I tell you,

wait, Pavel, I'm going to tell you what, the first time I saw this show, I follow you on Twitter. Yes. Someone had posted something and then right below the post

was you being like, my man, why don't you give credit to where you got this information from? This was sad. And there was my boy, Pablo. It was sad. Just trying to be like,

this, so that's literally how I was like, oh, he must have his own show. I have, for everybody who has blamed me for overpromoting this show, this is why, I promote this show.

What was it again? What was it again? This is even sadder. And now it brings us back to Hollywood, Ben, because I had my friend Stephen Glover, Donald's brother, writer in Atlanta, all that stuff. Oh, I love Stephen Glover. I was on an improv team with Donald for six, seven years

called J. Jobs at UCB, and his brother would come in and check out the show, but his brother's a genius. The writing he's done in his television show, I think, is one of the most... I'm so blown away by it. And so Stephen came on, Steven was a friend of mine for 10 years now.

even came on and clarified that the thing they're doing for Star Wars, him and Donald, is a movie. We're not allowed to talk about it. But anyway, we're not allowed to talk about a tag strike. I was yelling. I remember it exactly now. I was yelling at some Star Wars aggregator meme account. Credit me because they had aggregated it without linking back.

I saw you underneath me like, come on, my man. My man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that sounds like, oh, I think Pablo has his own show. I can't wait to read more. You saw the equivalent of me standing outside. the gates of a manor with like a tin can being banged with a cane. It's like, sir, sir, please.

Is there a world? So like you, I feel like you are firmly established in the sports world. Are you trying? Is there, is your goal with this to be like, you know what? Not only do I do this, I want to talk about everything. I think it's just about my actual curiosities. And so you provided me a couple of segues, Ben. you doing improv with Donald.

So I should say that, like, you two guys, I have been embarrassed to say this to you, even though we've known each other now for a couple of years in this very strange way, that I've been, like, watching you do improv for like 15 years. Really? So I would watch you at UCB Theater in Manhattan, right?

When were you at UCB? I was there from 2003 to 2009. Yes, exactly. So I would see you doing like ASCAT right? Yes. Yes. Yes. And I was an intern at ASCat. I used to hand out tickets and do the garbage to afford classes. So I was watching you do improv then. In fact, I remember seeing Donald doing improv at UCBOR. NYU maybe. But the point is, I would say you and Donald's are like, again, I haven't seen everybody. But you, Ben Schwartz, have a superpower. And the superpower is improv. You just sold out Radio City doing it. And I've, I've, I'm glad to now tell you that, like, I have many questions about the superpower that you have. So just to explain to people what improv even is, I feel like...

Sure, long-form improv. Exactly. So explain for people who maybe are kind of aware. Maybe they've seen, like, whose line is it anyway? What it is that you do? Sure. So whose line is it anyways is a show that I watch coming up and I love so much. It's a short-form improv show, which you do a series of games.

And those guys are brilliant, like Colin Mockery and, like, Wayne Braves. all those guys I remember watching when I was a kid and loving. When I was in college, I did short form. And then when I was in, when I graduated college, I started taking classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, which is a long-form improv, long-form improv theater. So what that means is you get a suggestion up top, and then we make up an entire show.

So if you're talking about Ben Schwartz and Friends, which is my current show, I talk to someone in the audience, me and three of my friends. And then we make up an entire hour-long show based off the conversation that we have with the audience member. There are no quick games, and if we're doing it well, if you're doing it well, then it feels like it's written, and it feels almost like a play.

Yes. You're like, how are they doing this? It feels like magic when it's great, because you can't believe that we're making it up. We'll have a scene that ends, but that scene will somehow connect into all the other scenes, and all these characters kind of converge and all that stuff. So that's what I do, and it's always been at 99-person theaters.

They call Black Box Theors, which all the walls are painted black, upright citizens brigade underneath Christie's and stuff like that. And so it's like, it's done for 100. And what Thomas and I wanted to do when we were touring, Middle Ditch and Schwartz, we wanted to show people that it doesn't have to be there. So we started doing Largo. Then we started touring, doing bigger venues. And then after that, I did with Ben Schwartz and Friends. I started doing more venues and bigger venues. There was never the goal to do Radio City because it didn't seem possible.

I'm even quoted on Pete Holmes' podcast as to say like, he goes, you can do Radio City one day? This is years ago. And I go, no, I'm not John Mullaney. I can't sell out Radio City. And then, you know, cut to literally a week and a half ago we sold that Radio City. Incredible. The first ever long form improv group or improv group to headline that theater ever. So 6,000 people in every seat was taken up.

So it kind of blows my mind. It feels too surreal to even compute. But what I'm starting to learn now is that by doing these shows for so many people, I'm introducing long form to thousands and thousands of people for the first time. It's crazy. It's been a very crazy and fun ride, and it's always kind of been on the side for my writing and acting. Like, this is the thing I do for fun. Yeah, you're a prolific voice actor, actor, writer.

All of the, you have a truly like unrelenting resume. There are many, many, like, Hollywood stars, like huge names that have come through the craft, right? Like Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Mike Myers, they were all improvisers. So you're in a lineage, but you're kind of introducing it to people, the genre itself. Yeah, you're right. Like, Amy Poehler is the person who created the Upright Citizen Brigade Theater with Matt Besser and Matt Walsh and Roberts. And so, like, those people to me are like icons. And they learned from a guy named Del Close in Chicago who taught Bill Murray and all the guys that you named.

So it's like, you're right. It's been around, but it's now, it's never been toured to audiences of this size. Part of the reason why I love it is because it is the very thing. that I think lots of people, including some comedians, I would imagine, identify as like an active nightmare. Like, you're on a stage. Yeah, a lot of standups make fun of it. Well, the stand-up improv dynamic, please explain that.

I find stand-up to be hard, really hard. I tried it for, like, I did like 10 or 12 times, and I found it to be so hard and so isolating. And, like, when I failed, I really failed. What was failure like as a stand-up for you? How vividly do you remember that? So, really vividly, because it's the beginning. It's before I knew how to be on stage.

So I was doing a show at Boston Comedy Club, and I did the bringer show twice. And then they said, you know what? You can come and you don't have to bring people for the next one. I was like, oh my God, this is going to be amazing. And I got on stage, I was so tired from work. I was a page at Letterman at a time. I came right from work, and I hadn't slept

because in the morning I write jokes for Letterman, too. And so I was like, I got to stage, and my first two jokes, bomb. Not one person left. And I was like, and my whole body, like, I felt like, I felt hollow. I felt like bones. I was just like, I just felt terrible. I felt terrible.

To fail by yourself was really sad. Also, to succeed by yourself was not as exciting as I'm, I love playing basketball. I love being a part of a team. And like, so to write sketches or to improvise with all of us, together we build something. And it's not just what I'm thinking, but this person's going to make it better and I don't know what's going to happen. I loved it. And my mind really went towards it. But that part is the part that reminds me of sports.

Like there is, I think, unlike anything else in entertainment, Like the argument I want to make to you, and I wonder if it resonates, is that improv has qualities that remind me of sports in ways that nothing else in comedy does. I think that's exactly correct. And the way that I pick my teams when I go out is exactly that. I'm looking for a point guard. I'm looking for power for it. I'm looking for, so like if I bring different people, I know they have different skill sets. So it's like, and I know where I can fit and how I can adjust my skills to better help the team.

In improv, I'm always trying to make the person opposite me look. better. That's like my goal. And like, so if I can make Drew Tarver look better, like, you know, Mary Holland, anything. But I also know what these people are really, really good at. And I was like, oh, if I mix these, this little, you know, like if I use this person, this person, we're going to get a totally different show than if I get three people who are really heavy on characters, who love coming out as crazy characters. So I got to make sure that I play with my teams correctly, I think. Yeah, well, look, there's, there's legitimately unscripted, completely unscripted, live action. There is this team dynamic that you've just described, but the idea of you trying

to figure out, okay, to make the analogy to a basketball team, we need people who can move the ball. We need people who can finish an alley-up, right? Like, what you're really doing there, absolutely. What you're doing there, which I love is also like, you're being very sensitive to ego, right? Like on some level, ego to me is the thing in sports that is so complicated. Look at any locker room dynamic, that's what ruins dynasties as well as creates them, right? But for you, how does confidence and ego fit into how you do the job of professional long-form improviser? The best improvisers, the ones that I love the most are the ones that can share the ball exactly. Everybody on stage with me is undeniably funny. Everybody on stage could be the leader of their own

sitcom, anybody, you know, like all those, they're all incredible. But for me, they have to be really good at exactly finishing an alleyup or if this scene means for them to be the straight man then they have to be the straight man on that scene but like if i take three people who are like exactly what I say like if you have so someone can be really funny but not the best person to play with because all they want to do is score all they want to do is get every single laugh this is what I was going to ask you ben um can there be in your mind as GM and and player on the team can there be a Kobe Bryant in improv Can there be an ISO, like, clear out, I got this? Like, that mentality of, I'm the star, I need the ball, get out of the way.

Does that, how does that work? I think it would be hard. It's easier to have that in sketch. I think it would be hard. Listen, if someone's undeniably funny, you could always do a show with them and I could just always set them up. You know what I mean? Like, I'll always, like, I'll give Kobe the ball every time.

But the magic in the show itself wouldn't be as exciting because we're not all doing it together. It's just like, you know, something like that. But I think that's a good question. I think people could get in the way of the show when they're just looking out for themselves. I love sports and basketball and improv so much. And there's no place that combines the two. Like, I've been doing this for 22 years and this is the first time ever that I'm talking to someone that like, like, really wants to learn about it and also love sports and can see, I love being on a team and completing something together. Because when I'm writing, I'm writing by myself. And you're like, when I'm acting, I think One of the things that I bring to the table is I love playing in a scene.

I love trying to make the person opposite me look better. Whatever the scene needs, I can kind of help with, hopefully. But also, I like scoring too. So, like, if I see a place where I could stand out or steal a scene where it doesn't get in the way of anything and it helps the movie, I'll see, you know, I'll try to find that stuff too. My God, I can't wait to see which place rips you off and you being like, what the hell is going on? I don't rip this video off. Ben Schwartz says that Kobe Bryant never would have made it in comedy. That's me.

I do a show called Ben Schwartz and Friends and it used to be called Snow Pants and I used to bring people who've never done it before. The best performer in Snow Pants was Blake Griffin. He did it three times and he was unbelievable at long form improv. Wait, so follow up question because I've heard that Blake Griffin is like the funniest athlete, but I've always assumed that we're grading on a curve. Right?

It's like, ah, he's funny for an athlete, right? But you're telling me that... We did a show. We did a show. And Zach Woods was there, who I think is one of the best improvisers ever. We did a show and it was others. first or second time ever doing improv. And this is when I was hanging out with him a bunch. And he's like, I find him to be so funny.

And so backstage, Zach Woods looks at him and he pulls me aside and goes, it's not fair. It's not fair that he can like be so good at basketball, but do our nerdy thing too. He's like also handsome and tall and he could do our nerdy thing. He's sincerely very good at it. He did it twice in a group of six. And then one of my shows canceled on me and I had nobody and I texted him. and he came to the theater and was me, him, and one other person

and we did a three-person show for an hour and he crushed. He was, it's, he's so, he was amazing. Like, I know he does stand-up, but man, was he good at improv. I was so impressed. It does feel unfair when the person can literally finish an alley-oop.

Like, you shouldn't be able to do both figuratively and literally. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I agree with that. Give me, though, what it's like to listen while you're doing this. Because to me, I'm trying to like, the other reason I'm fascinated by you and improv

is because I think anybody who communicates professionally in any way, if they're curious or want to get better, watching you work is such an interesting thing. Because what I watch you do is actively listen. Like, I want to make this kind of more specific because you're generally describing, like, okay, how do I create architecture out of utter chaos such that by the end of this thing,

there is some sort of throughline or narrative or callback or breadcrumb that I've dropped that I then pick up later. What that tells me is that Ben Schwartz is listening with like bat ears all of the time. Listening is the biggest thing. You have to listen and you have to be okay with.

What happens sometimes is it's called an initiation when I start a scene. So let's say with me and you, one of the scenes that I'm starting, I have no idea. Let's say we're about to play basketball together or I'm drafting my basketball team and you want to be picked or something like that.

And I'm like, okay, who do I want to pick? Me starting it being like, Okay, so, all right, so there's only one, we can only pick one more person and then you're on the line by trying to be picked or whatever. And I'm trying to figure out who it should be, you know. So that's initiation, me starting to seem. Someone else can come in with an initiation as well. And this happens all the time because when two people come on stage, they both have ideas. One of them has to just shut up and let their thing go.

Exactly. Because whoever talks first wins. So if I have the best initiation in the world, I'll let it go because this person. started and I want to say yes to whatever they're saying. I want to show them I got their back. Whatever they say, I'm going to jump on. I'm not going to make it this, if that makes sense. So what I'm doing is I'm listening always and also if I have initiation in my head and it goes somewhere else, I let it go wherever it goes, wherever it feels like. But also on the back line, I'm thinking when I'm interviewing the person in the beginning, I'm listening and I'm trying

to take nuggets that I can use, like characters or like places, like or just, you know, like feelings or them just like understanding what the audience is laughing. at. But I also do it in my real life. I love, when I'm sitting down with someone, I will listen 80% of the time. I never have to talk about myself. If they ask questions, I will, but I love learning about people. I was a psychology, anthropology major. I think that's why you and I like, we like talking to people because we like to learn. I like, I like human beings. I like being around people. So it's like, I'm always, I'm always ready to listen and only talk when it feels, you know, necessary that I can add something.

But the idea of always saying yes, the whole yes and concept. Could you explain that for people again who aren't like familiar with going to, you know, improv shows? Sure. So let's say Pablo Deuce, it doesn't have to be good. There's no pressure. Just start any scene in the world and I'll tell you the incorrect way of handling it. So start anything. Don't be nervous.

I know that you've come to a bunch of shows, but it doesn't matter. Anything you say is fine. Just don't ask a question. Okay. Oh my God, I cannot believe that I left the stove on. You didn't leave the stove on. So if I say no to you, I've taken your idea, and it's got, the scene is gone. The energy's gone.

Now you have to pretend like, oh, I guess I didn't. But if you say, do the same thing, ready? Yeah, go. Yeah, yeah. I cannot believe I left the stove on. Oh my God, I had pasta on there. How long has it still been on? Like, so now it's like, I take your idea and I'm explaining like a pasta on there.

Now slowly we're going to find out why maybe we have a big date tonight or something like that. But now we're building. We're slowly building a scene together. And, you know, as we keep adding, you would say something. adding it and now we can play with something we find we find what is called and i think this is what you're referring to we find the game of the scene yes yes yes yes we find the game of the scene so the game of the scene maybe if we keep going oh my god i paused it tonight and you're like oh it's gonna be you'll be fine dude it'll be fine it's totally burnt like you can make it into blank so

now it's like how do we turn this bad thing into a good thing type thing yep but um saying yes to it and adding to it gives us a place to go and build a scene together saying no to an idea stops it and makes your partner feel stupid for offering an idea. So it's like, I'm sure it's the same. By the way, you have to be so good at that when you're doing your talking heads in the room for all of your sports stuff. Like, you have to be listening. I was going to say that I think about improv a lot, not because I'm trying to do comedy when I give takes on sports, but because I'm always thinking about A, the other person who I'm ostensibly choosing, okay,

Am I arguing, saying no to them, or am I saying yes, and going off on hopefully a riff with them that gets us to a place that feels, by the way, like, to me, there's this fork in the road every time you do a sports debate on television. It's, am I going to say no, and we're going to now hash it out, and we're going to make this a thing that jeopardizes either of our egos? Or is this going to be a thing in which we're going to find the game of the scene in which, like, but now, we're building on this mutually. And part of me feels like, again, Stephen A. Smith says no a lot, right? In his seats. Yes. And he's the greatest.

So I don't want to say, that's how you do it wrong. But I always love when there's the waterfall cascade of just like, and now we're just making jokes that build on each other. And that part, it's the best. But you're describing, I think, a generosity that I think of, that I aspire to. in conversation as a human. Like, I'm not here to just be a yes man, although we are literally being that in this context.

I think about it being sensitive to how this can be really fun for every person in this room. So, like, what was your, like, what was your statement, your mission statement, your Jerry McGuire mission statement when you started this? Yeah, I wanted to have fun with people that I like and people that I find interesting. And so the reason I'm having you on is,

is not, you don't need to be a psychoanalyst to like realize why I'm particularly interested in how you do what you do because that's the version. That's like the spiritual sort of North Star that I have is like, oh, I want to spontaneously do stuff that feels to people like, wow, that's a high level version

of me shitting with my friends. You know, just like talking shit with friends. Or in a Mier's case, literally shit. Literally, honestly, shitting. Yes, yes, yes. I can't imagine he won't text me and tell me, please don't put that on the air. But give me the sense of what it feels like

when improv is going well. Because there's no net, right? This is the other thing about improv why I'm obsessed with it, kind of, is that there is danger. There is great danger. You don't have a script. Even if you do a play, right?

Plays are very scary for actors because they're live performances, but they're literally scripted performances. In this case, there is no net. And so when it's going well, what does that show? feel like inside of your brain that is processing quite a bit that people are not necessarily hearing it's amazing you the biggest thing is and i think it's something that you you do incredible

with is you have to be in the moment you you cannot be thinking of anything else than what is happening in that very moment because you'd lose track of the whole show and there's too much to juggle um so it's like um when it's going well it's just the best feeling it's like you're getting our laughter when we have shows is nonstop it's Every, you know, a couple seconds, every five, six seconds, it's like, if we're doing it right, they're just rolling. And we're just rolling. It's a crazy feeling. But when I did Radio City, Josh Groven has done a singer, great singer, has done Radio City a bunch of times.

And he's like, he goes, I can't believe you're going up there with nothing. Like, you're going up there with nothing. What's throwing up a brick in improv like? Oh, my God. It's terrifying. I feel fortunate that it hasn't happened a long time. but if you have a scene that's going poorly and you can't get out of it

like it's just there's nobody's really back in the day man it would happen all the time we'd be in a scene the audience isn't laughing where it just feels like work feels like hard work you're just like trying to find anything to make anybody laugh or care

and then you're trying to also if a scene's going poorly you're trying to find any button to get out of it but I have such skilled improvisers with me that someone always makes it hilarious that's where having like Kobe skills helps someone is just so funny that they can make that scene

have enough comedy to keep it alive or to give me a place to get the hell out of the scene. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I was thinking of a quote from the NFL this past weekend. So the Bengals are terrible, and their star wide receiver, Jamar Chase, is being interviewed after the game? And he's like, is it frustrated to not be as open this year?

And his response is... He's always open. No, I'm open. I'm always fucking open. And the idea of like... So I should retry to... my previous statement, right? Like, there is a safety net, and it's your teammates. It's having a guy who you should theoretically be able to just throw it to, even if he's super covered, like wildly, seemingly inaccessible. You just know you can throw it in his direction generally. That's right.

Help me. That's exactly correct. It's like help, help. And also, I'm that person that helps somebody. So it's like, it always switches. It's like, okay, what are we doing here? Let's figure something out. You know what I mean? I'm sure you're live editing all the time. Do you remember, can you remember a that you did that quote unquote bombed or put you in a terrible position where you're like, I hate that I'm talking about this still. How do I get the hell out of here? Do you remember specific? Oh my God. One of the first times they did around the horn. So like one of ESPN's most popular television. These are huge shows. And so literally one of the first episodes I ever did of Around the Horn, the topic was the 49ers quarterback controversy. And it was this was, this is a

real thing for you. You're feeling that this is in here. Oh, so already I'm palpably just sort of reliving the awkwardness of. And this was pre-Colin Kaepernick being revelatory, like, race relations figure. This was just him as a quarterback with the Niners. And so it's who should start, Alex Smith or Colin Kaepernick. And I just remember being so nervous on Around the Horn that when it came back to me, the only thing I could say was... Everybody's ganging up on you.

Boom! Alex Smith, man. That's it? Alex Smith, man. Alex Smith, man. And then I just shook my head. I was assuming one of my teammates was going to come in and just like I thought I was out of time

I thought the horn was already sounding but I stopped short which is like a sin to stop short and leave silence and to have nothing but Alex Smithman everybody laughed in a way that has haunted me for over a decade and all I had to respond to someone else was Alex Smith,

man. Hard period. How do you deal with a public failure? Then I remember one time Sarah Silverman came up to me after a show and someone said

Ben, you had a great show and I was like, oh, thanks, man, I felt off. I just don't know why. I didn't feel like a great show. And she came up to me, she goes, why did you do that? And I said, what?

He goes, that person thought you had a great show. Now you're making them feel like they're wrong. Like, they liked what you, they loved the show. Now you're telling them that you thought it was a bad show. It's like, I really, that connected with me

because it's like, they're not doing improv every day for this long. I would think about it for days. I would be sad for days. Same. But what you said, what you said that I really relate to is that sometimes we're not good at self-scouting in the moment. Is that our standard sometimes is so uncompromising.

I have such a standard for what I'm doing that I will notice something that is off and I will let it infect everything such that the entire experience, was poisoned. I think it's insecurity, I guess, or something like insecurity masquerading as just being, you know, f***in Mamba mentality. Like, if I don't think this is good, it's not good. In reality, you're probably too mean to yourself. I think the biggest thing you said, which I'm sure people that are listening can relate is, I will let a small thing get in the

way of me enjoying the entire thing. I think that's really smart of you to say. And it's so bad to do that. It was like a post-coital joy to like a long-form improv show going really well. I guess it's a post-coital orgy. Sort of sensation of like, we all we all got our shots off.

And it was beautiful. When everybody has a great show, it's my favorite thing. What? Where does this go, Ben? I mean, so I should say that there's something that you can't say, which is that, and I am free to say it, which is that you produced a Netflix special, which has never

existed before in the genre of long-form improv. And that is unprecedented in this genre. What do you want to do next within the world of improv specifically? Like, where does this go? It's crazy because it's the thing I do for fun. It's like the fun things. There's no end game because also there's never been the stuff that I'm doing with this tour hasn't really happened before.

People don't do long-form improv in 3,000-person venues and stuff like that. So it's always going to kind of be the thing that. do for fun on the side. So like my writing and my acting takes precedence. Writing acting, you know, my real life stuff takes precedence. And then if I have time, I want to make people laugh as much as I can. I want to get to stage as much I can.

It brings me such joy and I feel like it keeps me sharp. But there isn't a thing. Maybe I'll do some, maybe I'll record some more Ben Schwartz and friends. I've been slowly recording all the audio of all my tour shows. That's kind of a secret. But it's like, so I have it. So I could release it as

like a Patreon thing or as a podcast. I could do that. So I own my stuff, which is great, but I don't have any video. I don't have an endgame yet. I have some ideas, but I don't have an end game, and I just want to...

I was talking to something the other day being like, how old can I be till it's not cool for me to be like a wizard jerking off a dragon on stage? That was my last... That was not going to have it. That was going to be my last question for you.

That's a great way to do. It's like, I don't know how long... Also, I don't know how long people are going to keep... People are selling these venues out. Like, I'm selling these out. How long is that going to go on for? I have no idea. Wait, what you are concerned about at the very end here, Ben Schwartz,

is that your improv career is a lot like NBA Top Shot. You did it. You brought it all back together. You crushed it. You belong on stage. You belong on stage. Is there going to be a moment when I'm on stage when my Jalen Brunton reverse layup is worth zero cents?

Well, I should say that the very end of the show, we go around the room and we say what we found out today. Great. So Ben Schwartz, what did you find out on Pablo Torre finds out? Wow, what a great question. I found out kind of, first of all, I found out that you're a fan of comedy and improv that I had no idea about,

that you're really here to, like, show people what you can do as a intelligent Filipino gentleman who loves sports and also comedy. You want to express your passion in the way that you want to express your passion. You don't want it, you want it to see what it feels like when you have total control. Yeah, what did you learn today, Pablo?

I learned today. Oh, also, we learned what Amir's toilet looks like. We did. We learned that Amir Blumenfeld will let us record him while he's taking a... We got to... When we stop recording, we got to call him and see if he's okay with sharing that

because, I mean, that's obviously going to be the clip you put... I was going to say, we're going to circulate that widely. Yeah. What I also learned is that, I don't know, I feel like I kind of want to put a quarter into the Ben Schwartz improv monkey machine and just like, sing our theme song, Ben, sing us out. Can you do that for us? Absolutely. What's the name of the show? Oh, God. It's Pablo Torre finds out. I hate you. I deserve that, but I hate you. Okay. Ready?

Yep, go ahead. Pablo Torre. Will you join me? perhaps we'll find out there you go that makes sense there's a lot to find out in the world who you're gonna call who knows the answers there's a lot to show up

to today who you're gonna find Pablo Torre what do you think about that you are somebody that I greatly admire so sincerely thank you for plugging in a microphone and doing this with me man thank you babe

Bye, buddy. This has been Pablo Torre finds out, a Metal Arc Media production. And I'll talk to you next time.