Robert Kelly's You Know What Dude! - YKWD #584 | Ben Bankas

Episode Date: April 27, 2025

This week on YKWD Ben Bankas comes on to talk about leaving Canada and moving to Austin, edgy comedy and more.Get the EXTRA YKWD, Watch LIVE and UNEDITED AT https://www.patreon.com/robertkelly LIVE FROM THE SHED AND MORE ON PATREON DUDE!!! https://twitter.com/robertkelly https://twitter.com/YKWDpodcast http://instagram.com/ykwdudepodcast https://www.facebook.com/YkwdPodcast/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Yeah, baby, we're starting the podcast right now. We're back. You know what, dude? Live. Welcome, everybody to the show. YKWD. I started a social media podcast. The YKWD podcast. YKWD is back again. Old school, back in the day where it all started before them all. YKWD.

This podcast is so fun and crazy. It has no rules. God, how are you ruining this? Where podcast is so fun and crazy. And has no rules. God, how can I help you ruining this? Where's the barbana, man? I'm sorry. It's a comedy podcast. This isn't NPR. That's what this podcast does.

Is there any better show? This is the original. Original. Original. What's up? Ready? What's up, everybody? We're back. You know what, dude podcast. YKWD in the Comedy Cellar studios above the world famous Comedy Cellar. We've been here for a long goddamn time and I'm very excited. I get to have a lot of comedians on. A lot of times people you know,

people that are associated with me. But every once in a while there's somebody that I fucking, I like that a lot of people, up and coming, blah blah, I don't know what the fuck he is. But apparently he's known about me. I am just becoming a fan of him in the last two years. And he's on my show and I'm excited to have him. I think we're gonna be friends.

It might not work out, I don't know. I think we're gonna be friends. Danny, who do we got? Ben Bank is on the show today. He has no idea who you are. What's going on? Which is nuts to me. Dude, what's up buddy?

Listen, here's the thing. I've just discovered, like became a fan of yours. Like a legitimate, like watching your stuff. Very cool. Loving your shit. And then I go, I'm checking your stuff out. I'm watching all your stuff. I watch you get specials.

You got another special you have out on. I watched it. You sent it to me. I didn't respond to it. I didn't, I know. I didn't. You sent it to me. You got Lugats back.

You were like, hey, check this out if you want to. And I did. As long as I got the scene. I didn't you sent it to me. You got little gots back you like hey check this out If you want to and I did it's always like I got the scene I saw scene so I did see it and I watched it and it's very kind of you. I'll tell you it It's fucking great. I appreciate that. Here's what I like and your other specials great. You have a bunch of stuff You're doing it you do you just putting stuff out there. Yeah, but I'm watching you you're from Canada I'm watching you and I'm like, I fucking love this guy, this guy's great. You just say shit and it's hilarious

and you take the hit for it. And sometimes you do get a hit and someone will say stuff back to you and you deal with it. And I went, I go, I'm gonna go fuck him, I want this guy on my show. So I go to DM you and I look and there's a DM from you to me years ago.

So you sent me a DM going, hey dude, I was in Toronto. I don't know what show and probably for like a just for laughs thing, right? Or some type of stupid show, whatever, somewhere. And you're like, hey man, I got a show down the street if you want to come by, if you want to do a set. And I never responded. Yeah, it really hurt.

Did it? Yeah, I almost didn't come here today. No, no, no. Do you remember sending that? Kind of, yeah. Well, I don't understand, like, dude. Fairly, but. First of all, I fucking never saw it.

I never saw it. It's not like I saw it and I was like, fuck this kid. If I saw it, I would have responded. Especially to another comedian. But it must have just got pushed down or whatever. And I felt terrible. You shouldn't. I mean, when you're at the level I was at,

at that time, you shouldn't have responded to that. No way, dude. Look, here's the thing. It adds to the prestige of Bobby Kelly. I swear to God I would have read I have no prestige. Oh, yeah, do you mind? I have prestige in fucking 2006 But then there's a guy under me who's messaged me probably I don't respond to it either. You know, I always respond I definitely missed it and I felt I'm reading like fuck And I almost was like I was gonna just say yeah, I'm like, fuck. And I almost was like, I was gonna just say, yeah, I'd love to do The Spot.

Which, I hit four years, two years later. Was it four years ago? I don't know, it was probably a while back. I don't know where I was at. Like, with comedy, maybe I was, would have been, not even had a following. Right, well, I don't know, you had a show, and I probably did, I was probably at,

Or maybe I did. I was probably at the, what's the comedy, what's the club there? Yuck Yucks. No, no, no, I never did Yuck Yucks. Never did it. No? Nope, never did a Yuck.

Got a Yuck Yucks tattoo. You have a Yuck Yucks tattoo? I'm a big Yuck Yucks guy. I've never been to Yuck Yucks, never invited to Yuck Yucks. Never been asked to do a Yuck Yucks. It was the other place in Toronto, what's the one? Absolute.

No, it was Comedy. Comedy Bar. Comedy Bar. Yeah. That's the place I used to do. And then there was another place, it was a weed store that did comedy. Underground. Underground. So I would come in and do Massey Hall with Just For Laughs,

one of those things, or I'd do Comedy Bar for some type of underground, something. You're probably at a comedy bar maybe. Comedy bar is probably where I was. And then, and you probably asked me to do some fucking show out there and I just missed it. I wish I did, we would have been friends. Would have been fun, we could do it now.

We would have been friends for years now. You wanna do my show? Nah, no I'm good. NJ Pack? No I can't, no I can't, I can't do your show. I gotta do the mothership, it's sold out. Listen, the thing is, I sold good. You can't. NJ Pack? No, I can't. No, I can't. I can't do your show. I gotta do the mothership. It's sold out.

Listen, the thing is, I sold out four shows. Fuck yeah. No, they sold out. Buddy, this club is the best self, I think everybody should be able to do the mothership at least once a year, just for your self-esteem. Just so you don't have to worry about one weekend, ticket sales, and where you are in the business.

Because I called Danny on Monday, I go, dude, we gotta start promoting for Mothership. He goes, I don't think so. I think they're all sold out. I'm like, what? Because I never get that phone call. Everything's sold out. That's the one thing similar about like Yuck Yucks.

I mean, it's not Mothership, but in Canada, Yuck Yucks is a brand of comedy, like people just go there, they don't care who's performing. But that's, you know, when I started selling it out, and I realized like, oh shit, these people actually are all here for me. And then I was like, we gotta figure something else out, because I think I should be paid more than 200 bucks.

Is that what they pay you? When I first started having fans come to my shows, like at first it was 10 people, then 20. The show would still be sold out or almost sold out. The other people would just be coming for yuck yucks to see whoever. But then it became, oh, they're all my people. So the way they did is they let me do door deals

on like a Wednesday, or like a day they wouldn't be full. And that's just how they do it now I do weekends there sometimes but mostly they don't like to because they can sell out the weekend and you're you know the cherry on top for selling out a two-way but mothership sold out every night it's nuts and it's great it's like the seller but you get the headline and they treat you like a fucking god and it makes you feel Fantastic and then you come back and I gotta go to South Carolina and there's a lot of tickets still available We need to make an ad Danny for next week Yeah, we should be plugging what if a mothership is on the calendar we should plug all that week

What's happening where you at so in South Carolina? Where am I Danny? I? Don't know. I think I'm at talking to the microphone. Comedy zone. Thank you, dude. Why is it so difficult to talk to the microphone? Because I have to unmute every time and I forget. Is that hard to do?

No, it's very easy. Is there like a crank you have to do that you don't have enough muscles to crank it? He's an engineer. He's a sound engineer. Is he an engineer? No, he's not. He's a stand up comedian. Oh, and he'll let you know that every time I tell him he fucks up, he goes, I don't do this. And he wants to quit and I force him not to quit. But we do have another

kid there. What's his name? I don't remember. I forget. Zach Zach. Zachariah. Suck it. That's not the gag on the show is the gag that we don't remember his name and we hit and you just fucking ruined a three month gag we've been building that we're going to do for five more years. You can bleep it. And now it's let's just do it again. Yeah. What's his name? Uh, I can't get that. Anyways, um, dude, how did you, I believe you did a thing that popped you off with the Mayor of Toronto, correct? I did that, I mean the original thing that I did was in 20, so 2020, the lockdown happened,

and in Toronto I just started a show in a park. There's a park in Toronto called Christie Pits, which is like a pit, so it's like an amphitheater. And people would chill there every day. That's how I thought of the idea, it would be packed with people because there was nothing else to do. So I just brought a speaker, portable light, like a spotlight rental, and started doing a show in front of like 200 people. And they were like, we love this. Got a bunch of people's emails, did it again. And then it got shut down by the police and bylaw.

Why? And because it was COVID and you weren't allowed to do. Gather. Gather and shit like that. Or it was, they hit me with all these fines, like a noise complaint and not listening to an instruction during an emergency, it was bullshit. The bylaw officer's name was Officer Coward.

It was actually the last name. It was a grown man with braces. And he told me to shut down the show, and I was like, I was hosting and bringing comics on, and then I just went back on, started shitting on him, I was like, uh, I was hosting and bringing comics on. And then I just went back on, started shitting on him. I was like, so bylaw officers, last name's Officer Coward. People are dying. I'm like, he's got, he's got adult braces.

He's, well, should we, I'm not ending this show. People are cheering more and more cops are showing up. Anyway, they finally shut it down. They gave me like a $3,000 fine. Jesus Christ. And I ended up tweeting, like doing a $3,000 fine. Jesus Christ. And I ended up tweeting like doing a little go fund me didn't make as much money as the black guy stabbed the white kid but

you didn't have you didn't have money to buy a house. Is that funny? This is amazing. I mean, a lot of people know that but what's the name? I saw a tweet and it was like very on brand. I don't know. It's a random tweet. It's funny, but yeah. Yeah, this black kid stabbed a white kid at school, I believe.

And then a famous person, who did the GoFundMe? Who started it? Well, they both have GoFundMe, like the family of the kid who died as a GoFundMe, but it only made like 150K. That's it. And then theirs did like 600K. Well, there you go, and they bought a house with it.

Yeah. They didn't even use it, all of it for the lawyer or the defense. No. They bought a house. So, white lives don't matter. Genius. No.

No. Genius, but we didn't make that much money. I made like enough to cover the ticket, but we ended up not paying it. I just used it towards continuing to rent equipment. We moved to a different park. So I tweeted out that GoFundMe and Doug Stanhope retweeted it,

and Russell Peters at the time retweeted it, and so we got that 3K. I did it at a different park for like 11 weeks, and slowly the cops started surveilling it. They started showing up with drones. Jesus Christ. And at the peak, we probably have five, 600 people in the park with,

they're all drinking and sitting like picnic style. And when, and at the same time I was making fun of online And when, and at the same time I was making fun of online, a Chinese woman that was Canada's Dr. Fauci. Yeah. So you guys had Fauci, we had Dr. Teresa Tam, who is Chinese and had a full Chinese accent would, so I would just do like the Jackie Chan dub of her fucking press conferences just in a Chinese accent. I mean like, don't go outside, wear a mask.

She went viral for saying, wear a mask for sex. Like this was a big news thing. And there was like, you need to wear the mask for the sex. And so people liked that. And then I was doing the park thing. My wife, FYI, just makes me wear a mask for sex even before COVID.

Perfect. I have to do that all the time. I wear a mask. But it's actually. As long as she's not wearing it. It's actually a, it's a, a Sly Stallone mask. Right. She makes me wear.

I used to have a bit about that. I'm like, if you go home with a girl and she's got a mask on, like, you're like, she's not blowing you. But yeah, the once that ended the COVID thing, I like transitioned people into coming to a bar that was cool, because it was only supposed to be half capacity. But we they were like, cool with just packing it. Yeah. So we started packing that every week and, you know, just kind of growing the following from there and filming all those sets and putting out that content and then Yuck Yucks where I was already a comic, I was a headliner, but like I had no fan base so the way it works in Canada, clubs like Yuck Yucks like they have headliners. They have like veteran comedians, but not like they have 1200 vaults.

Like nobody knows who they are, but this is their career. Right. They make, you know, 200 bucks a show and do weekends and scrape by. And you know, it's like, you know how Canada has a football league too, the CFL. They do?

Yeah, but it's like everybody in it's also a janitor. Right. They have to have other jobs. Yeah. Right. So it's like that. But I started. So the guy's coming right from a school

that he was teaching at. It's a headline of Friday night. Some of them actually do teach comedy at a college in Toronto. Really? Yeah. Wow. Which is. It'd be great if we all went and took the class.

It would be fucking hilarious. If you just got a bunch of like, it's like a full degree. It's like a four year course. No shit. You get a degree in standup comedy. So there's comics that headlined at yuck yucks and then didn't do anything with their careers, but now they're professors. Of stand up, of com of. Yeah. Yeah, I just I mean, it sucks because comedy is so attainable. Now it's actually a job. But what's crazy is they

teach so sorry to cut you off, but they they would teach some of the kids told me at yuck yucks because on Tuesdays you can go like I could just show up on Tuesday, right? And they have like the you could show up. I could show up and do a spot you could show up. But they do an amateur night. And before that they do a like like Schultz showed up to do it when he was in town. But the earlier show, like a 6pm show just for kids who were enrolled in that program. But the one of the kids state, you know, some of them stay and watch the other guys. And the kid was telling me that the professor, he brought up as like what about Ben Bankis because he's like selling out shows and moving to the

States and stuff and they're like yeah you should never be like that right so they're they're teaching how kids had a fail at comedy which is sad yeah but can I be honest with you they've been doing that long time yeah for your I mean doing a course is different than like doing what can degree I lived with when I was in Boston back in the day when I started, right at my beginning, I had no money and I was just trying to do stand-up. I was going to college during the day for fine art and shit like that and then I was doing stand-up every night. I live with this woman, she's a comic, Maria Falzoni.

She's since passed away, God rest her soul. But I live with her and she taught a class. And she made me, Dane Cook in this Aldo Bene taker class. She was kind of like a headliner. And she was like, you guys have to take my, we were like, whatever. And we all, and I lived in her house. I paid $125 for just a room.

It was her and some gay guy who was gonna be a weatherman. And I didn't know this too, all weathermen are gay. Did you know that? I mean, yeah. I didn't, it didn't hit me until I was like, now every time, oh my God, they are queer. I like those Mexican weather, the weather women. Weather women?

No, the hot ones. Is that like fake ass and shit? Yeah, they're, it's Mexico really does a lot of things, right here. They're just fat or gay Yeah, they just gay because he told me he goes are you gonna be a gay weather makes it they're all gays, sweetie But um, she made us take the class and they quit the first time we did I live there So I had to she would just wake me up ago The class is starting. And I remember they came in, and this is back when evening at the Improv was big, the Tonight Show,

you know, that was seven minutes of clean material. And I was a piece of shit. I just got out of rehab, I'm sober, my whole life is pussy. Stand up and pussy, that's all I wanted. I wanted to do shows, get laid, and then go do more shows and get more pussy. And so all my act was about fucking hand jobs

and cutting farts and shit. And they came down to me, that you have to be clean, you gotta do seven minutes of clean material, that you can't talk about dirty stuff, cause that, and they brought up Rogan at the time, he was killing it, by the way, with stand up. And I was like, why, why can't I talk about this? And I had a big argument with this guy about,

you know, talking about what the fuck you want to talk about, isn't that the whole thing? And he was like, you got to have clean material. That's how you make it. You'll never make it in the business. And he's dead and she's dead. Yeah. And I'm still around. Never listen to any of these. Anybody who gives you advice that you got just goes,

that doesn't, it's probably bullshit. Yeah, the best advice was from Rogan when I finally got to do a show with him in Boston. He was like, I was like, can you give me, he was like, no, just do standup. I was like, well, he's like, don't, if anybody gives you advice, don't take it. Just get on stage and become you.

Just talk about what the fuck you wanna talk about. And you'll do what you do, that's it. You have to. Yeah, when you did standup back then, you told your parents, hey, I'm gonna do standup. They're like, why? Like, why would you do? Have a backup, do something.

Now you'd say, I'm gonna do standup. It's like, that's awesome. Because it's actually anybody, I feel like anybody can do it now. Yeah. Well, you mean Kill Tony? Like, do a minute? No.

No. I mean, listen, those guys, some of those guys did a minute and they're famous. And then they're making a lot of money. Most of them already had like a bit of experience, I think. Like, the better ones. Think about the people on like TikTok who put stuff out and they're selling out clubs.

I know, granted it's a six o'clock show, but they're making thousands of dollars and they're standups. What are you gonna do? It's not punk rock anymore. It's more of a, you can learn how to do it. Like I started in 2011. I never tried to do any social media shit till 2019

because I quit. I had another job. What was your job? I did commercial real estate at the time. That sounds fucking weird. It was kind of weird, yeah it was like, business, it's like you represent, like you help places get leases, like offices.

Right. And businesses. So like on the bigger end it's like Facebook and stuff and like helping them, their office space and their office strategy. I never really did big big ones like that. Right. I guess it did was like 20,000 square feet for like some startup you know but I was doing comedy at the same time and then when I quit to just do comedy like I had a part I had a condo rental move back to live with my mom I

was like fuck it I don't want to make money I don't back to live with my mom. I was like, fuck it, I don't wanna make money, I don't wanna do this, this sucks. And I just got signed with Yucky Yucks doing those like $200 gigs. And yeah, that's when I was like, if I'm gonna actually do this, I need to do this, do this. And so I started posting stuff. I had something go viral pretty early on.

It was a Canadian thing. There's like a Canadian like world star hip-hop kind of account. It's yeah, it's called Sixbuzz. They are in Toronto. They have like millions of followers, but they post, they would post comedy or like comedy skits. So like I did like a thing where I pretended to be a guy that like one of one of our big so when the woke thing happened in Canada one of our big Canadian heroes this guy Don Cherry I don't know if you've ever heard of him but he basically does like the half time shows of the hockey game. Yeah. And he's been he's like 80 something and they fired him because he was talking about like the equipment like we have veterans you have Day, we have Remembrance Day, the poppy. The little poppy on, yeah. And he was like, you know, these foreigners, they just, he called them you people that they weren't respecting

the poppy or whatever. And they fired him and it was like this huge uproar and all these Canadians were making, you know, saying that they were gonna cancel their cable because they canceled their phone because it was all that company that fired them and all this stuff. So I made a video pretending to be somebody like that,

super Canadian guy. And that was one of my, I'd just been with Yux and got like a couple million views on that kind of thing through the, not on my account, on their account. And it kind of started like a little bit of that too So because you I've seen like even your audience is guy heavy. Oh, yeah, it's dude heavy It is but like I'll say that at shows and it's like a lot of women at the shows, right? But the women know what the fuck you're doing, but occasionally there's some girlfriend that came with a guy

Yeah, they usually yell I've seen like they yell shit out at you. Yeah, yeah, Connecticut. That happened a couple times. Were you just there? Last year. Oh really, what happened? Around this time. Well the thing is it'll be like my fans

and then especially because it was my first US tour, there would be other people who would just come. Right. And had no idea, they were just kind of buying a ticket like at Yucks or like at whatever, Mothership or anywhere where people are just like, we're going out. I don't care who's playing.

And yeah, they would be like, what the fuck is this? Like this is, I'm scared. Right. Which is good. It's good for clips. It's good for clips, but it's also good for you. It's good for them too. Most of them don't leave.

They don't walk out. They just go, OK, yeah, I did enjoy that. Have you had somebody throw something at you or want to hit you? I had somebody hit me but like a way long time ago. What, they came up and fought you? No, I had like a drunk woman slap me once. It's always women. That was like four years into comedy.

Did you laugh? Or did you just, did you? They shut down. they stopped the show. They gave me an extra 20 bucks. Really, for a slap? Yeah. Was that the going rate in Canada for a slap across the face?

Yeah, it was supposed to be like a $40 spot. I got like 60 bucks or something like that. They try to get slapped every week? And there was cops outside already because the auto body shop next door was like selling weed or something. And they were like, but I thought she was gonna get arrested she didn't she just left but yeah that's the only real thing I know people that have

in Toronto there used to be a show at this place called the Fox and the Fiddle Jane and Finch which is like the bad area of Toronto and somebody like got like the comic had a knife pulled on them and like held to their throat. No shit. Yeah. Over a joke. A joke, yeah. Making fun of the guys like chain or something.

That's hilarious. Yeah, but usually no, like especially now, like I think people kind of get it. It's either they leave or they cause a problem then they get kicked out. Cause I think there was one thing where you said something about women, I forget what it was, about women are useless, I don't know. What one thing where you said something about women, I forget what it was, about women are useless, I don't know.

What did you say, you said something about women are. Women can't fly. Yeah, maybe it was something like that. You said something about women just, they suck. Yeah, how you need to get a Filipino. But as soon as you said it, you heard some chick yell out something. Yeah.

And you're like, why? You just confronted her right away. Like, no, why would you? Yeah. Her defense was cause of some shit. And I think. Oh, no, yeah, there was a woman who just was sitting in the front row and she was upset.

And I was like, you look like you were trafficked here. And then she was just so offended and that she was like, and like her husband I could tell he was like, fuck. And then I was like, what's wrong? She's like, the lights are just the lights are really hot. I was like, they're not even, you're not even facing the light. And then she just like got up and left. Right. And yeah, I'm facing the light. And then she just like got up and left. Right.

And yeah, I mean, that's great. I mean, I actually posted that. And then like a friend of that woman's, like some guy was like, she's having a really rough time. And I'm like, take the clip down. I was like, no, fuck you. What, they contacted you? They wanted the clip down, I was like, no, fuck you. What, they contacted you, they wanted the clip down?

Yeah, and I was like, no. Because why'd you sit in the front then? It was a sold out show, they were fans apparently. How does it feel that you're selling out now, you're just killing it? I saw your schedule, it's nuts. I mean, this is all you're doing. And you got a podcast, you're doing your podcast too.

Yeah, Bankist podcast. Which is you a little more serious? Yeah, I was a little too serious. I think I like lost my mind. I've lost my mind like four times over since 2020, for sure, just over. I mean, COVID made me lose my mind. I was out of my mind. A lot of people were. I mean, COVID made me lose my mind. I was out of my mind.

Right. A lot of people were. Yeah. I mean, I just was upset about it. And then, you know, and then you feel like, you know, this, you have to care about everything. I don't, and I realized I actually don't care. About anything? No. No, I don't know. And that's, I'm like, why am I talking about?

Like I was doing these little news things where I'd be like, and what's going, you know, trans, brown, snow white? And she's like, I don't care. I actually don't care. I almost want to watch Snow White because it looks really horrible. I want to show my kids the brown, snow white. I did show my kid the black little mermaid,

and she's like 2 and 1 half, and she just goes, that's not Ariel. Little mermaid and she's like two and a half and she just goes, that's not Ariel. So, I mean, I just think it's funny now. Like I'm just used to everything being, and I still have my opinions, but I didn't want to have a fucking really serious podcast. I like this, I like hanging out, like learning about people, meeting people.

Well, because I did because I you know, I watched a lot of years stand up on when you sent me that clip, which was great. Check out a special. It's on YouTube right now. Thank you. Actually, a couple specials are up there. I did elect this last year I did to permission to laugh. elect this and then this year I did Bankus. And you're not, I mean, I'm going to be honest, it's not high production value. No. I mean, you're pretty much just putting a couple cameras up and recording.

And that's it. The whole thing is based on... They're terrible. On the... I mean, it's funny, I mean, the audio's good. It's good audio. Which is all you need. Really? Is good audio.

But I don't have four cameras. I didn't spend 20 grand on them. I think there's two cameras. I think three. I think like the most any of them cost was like six or six grand. Which is fine. With the editing and the shit and stuff.

I think they're getting better. My thing's like, I think the last one was, that was just like, I hired a guy and I was like, eh, fuck it, let's just make it, like what am I, you know what I mean? Yeah. I have to come up with new material and I feel like if I don't post anything, then you end up

trying to do the same material for longer than you need to because you're like, oh, well, that's good and I want to keep it and I want to hold it. And it's like, otherwise I don't get anything new. Well, it's funny. When I did Kill Box, I had an hour, I had almost two hours of material because I didn't, because I came from when you had to be given a special. When Comedy Central gave you one, you earned this, or Netflix, or whatever, or you know what I mean?

Somebody... This was a serious business. It was a serious business. And then I was right on the end of that with Live from the Village Underground, and I got that, and then Killbox, nobody would give me a special. And then Louie came in and said, I wanna do it.

But by that time I had almost two hours of material. I did a 90 minute special, and we only used an hour. So all that other material just went away. I don't even know what those fucking jokes are. And then I started doing new stuff, but now it's two years later and I'm still, I think if you just start putting stuff out, it does force you to come up with a new special

because they're not giving you, no one's giving you shit anymore. There's not, they're only giving, they're giving you a certain amount of people specials on Netflix. Amazon Hulu, it's the same people that are getting these specials. Side note, I'm a huge fan of your Louis episode

with the bang bang. Yeah, that was a big. We always, we do that. We've eaten that much. Oh, yeah. And then we we quote it. But yeah, no, you have to I mean, you really have to just want it and take it. And like, I'll go through my like to post a reel. Sometimes I go back like a year or like six months and see what was I posting

or what did I almost post? Because sometimes there'll be clip. Like you said, there's like a I'll make a clip or my guy will make a clip and I'm like, I wanna keep doing that, I'm not gonna post it. And then like a year later I'm like, fuck I haven't been doing that.

I just, I forgot that I did that. And then I'm like, fuck it, I'll post it now. But. Yeah, like I'm doing fucking jokes from when I got that stomach surgery and now it's like, alright dude, this should have been gone. Like I almost want to do a special in September just to get it over with and just get all the stuff out.

And it doesn't matter. It's like, I'll just do it anywhere. It doesn't matter. And like some comics, like they'll put out a special and then they market the tour, like new material tour. Right. And like, those are probably the most fun shows to do because like I've never done that But I've like kind of done like done it without doing it. Yeah, like announcing it but

Yeah, I think that well I came from what you had to do you spent three four years working on an hour So when you did that hour it is fucking a slamming perfect hour or Or it bombs and then you're fucked. And then you film, yeah, exactly. But you film it and then it's gone. And then you start over. People are doing specials every six months now. Yeah, I mean, I was and I think, I don't know how any other people are doing that.

Some people are putting out like 20 minutes here. Yeah. And that's still kind of like a special. But I just started doing it because like the first one I did was I wanted to do it because I'd art. It was all COVID shit. Right. And I was like, this is not. This is done. I mean, you can go back and watch it and find it funny, but you're not going to pay to see somebody do that.

You can't do it now. Right. Right. And then, you know, whatever the times are, I mean, there's personal shit in there too, but you just say it. I don't know. You just do it. But it is scary. You ever read Rick Rubin or listen to him talk? You know who that is? I do, yeah, of course.

It's like the bearded Jewish guy. Yeah, he's the dude of Beastie Boys. And he helped Kanye draw the swastika. No, I'm just kidding. He's like, go with your mind. He makes you Kanye. He has no talent except telling people to do shit. Yeah.

That he thinks that would work. But somehow it does work. It does work. And like, yeah, being over-perfectionist is scary sometimes too, because I don't know if my brain, you know, also, if you want to sustain yourself, you have to come out with new material because you have to post something unless you want to post the same shit over and over again, which I do that as well. Yeah, but it's like, this is a whole new thing. It's a whole thing. When like 10 years ago, had to go to TV or a record store you know 15 years whatever it was. I used to walk 15 miles in the snow. Right? For years it was you got an album that went into a record store or

online right and then you had a Networks Comedy Central or whatever would put your special up and HBO blah blah blah it was a big fuck and then you had a Networks, Comedy Central, or whatever, would put your special up. And HBO, blah, blah, blah, it was a big fuck. And then you became in the mix. I think the equivalent in terms of effort is, like Joey Diaz, I would always listen to him, I was a big fan of the church. And he would talk about, like in those days,

and sending out tapes. Like every morning he had a routine, like I'm gonna send tapes to these clubs and to these bookers and his auditions. That was the equivalent of posting a lot or having a lot of content. Was you had to put your effort into making tape. You had to film it.

You had to film it. So you film every show? No, I mean sometimes I don't't like if I'm in Austin doing Sunset. But when you're on the road, every show on your tour, you're filming. I try to. And who films it? You? Some of them. I just do it. You just said I mean, I won't that won't be a special. My I might get a few clips out of it.

So you'll go in and you'll film your own show. Yeah, I don't like to. I mean, when I was... 2023 tour, I did it all myself. My first tour, which was the Permission to Laugh tour in Canada, across Canada only. And then the next year, when I was still touring in Canada, I had a bit more money, so I hired somebody that actually approached, a few people approached me

asking like, I like your stuff, I'd like to help. And they wanted to be paid, but they were decent. So they helped me with clips and stuff. But then I learned all that stuff myself. In 2020, I got a job at this place called Rebel News in Canada. I know Rebel News. Which is Ezra LaVaunt.

Yeah. And at first, they came to that park show and documented it with like all the cops and stuff and the hubbub and because it was locked down. So it was popular. They were very popular then. They still are. But they I was like, I need a job like anything.

And they gave me a job just editing regular news stories and stuff. And they taught me a lot of shit that I use still. Like how to use Premiere Pro and shit. Which I had no idea how to do, but I just learned it. And now you just do your own things if you need to. Yeah, but I don't want to because it sucks. It sucks.

Yeah, but the hardest, I like an editor that will watch the whole thing. I'm paying you not to get the clip just watch it and tell me what was funny because If like you should like I'd listen to my own sets But like if it's like an hour-long thing, yeah, and it's like a full weekend of five shows. Yeah, and I'm I Want the clip. I'm not I'm not listening to it to Just be meticulous, which I should be, but I'll listen to shorter sets

like that, but the longer sets I'll just watch, you know, the clips. Unless I edit it myself, then I watch the whole thing. It's not like I bring Danny or Joe with me because they'll, number one, they're funny, but they also record the whole thing, and they'll get clips, I'll get clips that you have to, it's just the whole thing

that I'm so. Sucks. It sucks, man. I hate it. I used to just go on the road and just, it went into the, you went, you did your shows, you did whatever you did after, and then you left and it was gone forever.

Now, you gotta get something that happened, that you gotta put up to promote the next show. And it sucks. Clubs used to promote the shows, they would do radio, they would have that, you know, you'd go on a- Clubs still don't know how to- But it's all on you now. Clubs expect you to have a social media

and they book you as such. So if you have a social media that can sell some tickets, I did a club a month ago or whatever and I wound up going on radio myself. I booked the radio, they were like, hey man, can you come on? I was like, yeah, let's go. And I sold 150 tickets that morning on Friday.

And the club was like, wow, you sold, yeah dude, if you do radio, local radio, you'll sell tickets. That's what you guys used to do. You used to pay a radio station, whatever you paid them, to bring your comics in once a week, the radio would get content with awesome comedians and we would sell a shitload of tickets

and build a fan base in that community so I could come back there like Florida when I went on my cultist show and I would, I sell out and I can I can count on that and I can go on those shows and it's a You don't do that anymore most clubs. I wish like that was when I you know was starting comedy I was like I want to be on them I want to go on a radio at 6 a.m. Like it was fucking love it right there's there's a romance to it There is a showing up in a town you get town, you get up, you get your coffee. Right, have your little things of the town.

You're fun, you're interesting. Right. But the fact that people are live listening to you and going, either they know you, or they go, who is this fucking guy? And they come, they buy a ticket right there and then to come see you that night or the next night, and you're selling out based on a 20 minute radio thing that you did

with these two guys that they like, and those people will follow you like they follow that radio people forever. Now you gotta spend four years fucking learning how to edit, how to go to comedy university. Buddy, you gotta make sure there's a fucking asshole in the audience, or someone has a fucked up shirt. Is there anybody who's a piece of shit here?

I need you to make, I have people accusing me of that. They're like nice plant. Like as if I like fucking made these like paid people to like say shit or something, which is, I kind of wish I was that fucking smart. Where I was like, yeah, we're. Well, because I'll tell you what. Do people do that?

Yes. Yes, there's comics. We say that. I believe I'll say it. I don't give a fuck. Edit it later. No, you can not edit it. No, you don't have to. He could say I'm lying.

I mean, I think that Steve Hofstetter, what's his name? Oh, that's like alt. Yeah, I think he would plant. Maybe the alt-y more alt-y. He's not alt, he's just, no, he's a hustler. He's not the guy doing the fake Kill Tony. No, that's Tim Heidaker. Oh, okay, sorry, that's an easy mistake.

Well, there's a guy that's on, there's a guy that was during COVID, had just made a club, put a curtain up, lights, and would do a set, and then add his laughter in. So he was killing. So people actually started fucking following him, thinking he was hilarious, in his laughter in, so he was killing. So people actually started fucking following him, thinking he was hilarious, in his living room, with fake audience. But he's not still doing well.

He's got thousands and thousands, hundreds of thousands of people following him on a social media platform. There's people with big followings that can't sell tickets, though, because people come. But they still make thousands of dollars. They could do it once. But they make their money off of the social media off of the ad thing you know the ad but then they're clean usually happy

I mean I'm at the point now where I might start writing some fucking live fucking fucking soy sauce I don't know dude some I mean I mean dude it's fucking crazy I did the radio recently but it wasn't the radio. I thought it was some person from a radio station in Wisconsin where I'm playing there soon and my Appleton reached out to my agent was like, hey, can I can Ben come on to do the radio? Here's some times. So I was like, yeah, I thought she knew that I was like, I

thought it was like how you were talking about where they're like, come on. Yeah, you do it. But then she's like, we're talking and she's like, yeah, I thought she knew that I was like, I thought it was like how you were talking about where they're like, come on, yeah, you do it. But then she's like, we're talking. And she's like, oh, you're actually performing here. Yeah, I was like, why? I think like 12 people were listening. It was like some weird AM. You got to be careful, dude.

I've done those. That's bad. I've done the podcast where I was like, hey, we do my podcast. And they're like, sure. And then he shows up in the lobby and he has four listeners and they're in his family. Yeah, I don't do that, luckily. But yeah, that's scary. I hate that. I feel like I'm the guy people think, well, have thought, like when I message you to do a spot. You're like. No, I would.

But that's, I mean, but that's, podcasting's harder than, like there's people whose clips don't even do well but the podcast does well and they sell tickets from that. So that's a whole other. It's a weird thing. I've had a couple clips go viral and you're like, that one?

Like that's the one that went viral? Yeah. And there's other ones where you're like, this is a great, this is funny. And fucking nobody likes it. And I don't, there's no rhyme or reason to it. No, time of day, like you could probably just post it again. Which I think sucks.

Yeah. I hate it. I hate the fucking algorithm so bad. It's bad. I'm 54. And I hate that I have to deal with the algorithm. It makes me sick to my stomach. Well it's like, you know how you see some comics, especially when they're newer, and they'll do shows and they'll have business cards?

Yeah. And they're like, I'm gonna get famous by handing out business cards at the end of, it's retarded because. It's retarded, but is it's retarded because retarded but that's why is it fucking retarded dude because if you're like say a say of video bombs on Instagram so what you got four thousand fall views yeah four thousand though like people just think of these numbers it's like nothing because like oh I only got four thousand views I'm a loser kill myself yeah but it's like

four thousands way more than handing out 10 business cards and a fucking open mic. You know what I mean? And that's how you build. Because out of that 4,000, maybe you got 10 followers or five. And then those people actually like you. I just helped a buddy of mine who opens for me. His name's Armin Arbabi.

Armin? Yeah, Armin. Is he Italian? He looks a little bit like a tall Mario, no, but he's Persian. Right, Iranian. He's Iranian, he's the enemy. That's the, he's the enemy.

He was fingerprinted at the airport today. Was he really? Yeah. That's great. Well, yeah, cause he's from 51st state as well. Good, good. But he's from the, he's from the, our 51st state Canada? Yeah, yeah. Isn't that funny, you guys are all flipping out about that.

Why are they getting angry at that shit? Because they're, they're far left liberals. All of Canada? Majority. The people are mad. I mean the same people who are mad are the same people mad at Teslas. But how do you get mad at that when that's the actual,

that's your thing? Like, conservatives want to drive fucking diesel trucks. They want to drill into the earth and suck it all out. They want to make money. They want nothing to do with this fucking car. They want to drive muscle cars and trucks and go to a gas station and get zins and beers And then you fucking assholes show up with your stupid battery operated cars and now you're keying those

I don't get it's not you It's what are you doing? I mean, they're they're not smart people They're not people that did well in their lives and they're taking it out on whoever they can fucking find and I've never thought We'd come to the point where hey, you know hating Jews would be like the far left Where it's like soup de jour. Yeah, it's like people talk shit about Jewish people, which I thought in my lifetime That was over. You know, like yeah. Well think again because Yeah, no, it's it is, I mean, I don't even say that I'm not Jewish at all. Are you Jewish?

My dad. Your dad, so you are Jewish. So I'm, I should be murdered. And I personally am responsible for the atrocities. I mean, I agree with him. But I, well, I don't know, I remember watching Joan Rivers be like, they started it, who can, you know, I don't know, I thought that was funny.

Making a parking lot. I do think that angle's funny. I mean, it's funnier than being like, these people are suffering. I mean, it's funnier to be like, yeah, good. I don't know, to me personally. Well, because we're comics, we're supposed to be funny. That's how you deal with pain.

But here's what happened with us. We somehow, through the podcasting is what ruined us, because we have to have, like you said, we have to care. When we're not supposed, the only thing we're supposed to care about is making people laugh and finding that way into that, right? But for some reason, we became the news. I don't know how it happened.

Or like the news, the philosophers were trying to, we have to, but even like if I make that joke and then people are like, oh, so you're pro-Israel, it's like, not really, I just don't, it's just who, like. Right. I remember watching fucking 9-11 happen at home and being like eight years old and being like, well, I'm racist now. Like, you know what I mean? Like I was just and it was incurred. Like my dad was ranting raving.

My dad was this how Jewish my dad is, which is he's not religious. He actually didn't have a bar mitzvah because his his parents were like Holocaust survivors. So they didn't fucking like he's an immigrant. But he was in Israel on 9 11. Wink wink nudge nudge dancing as he was dancing. But it was actually my cousin's my cousin got married. We're supposed to get married. On September. So Jewish. But.

Yeah, it's you know, who like. I would never protest for anything other than I did protest for kovat because I wanted specifically comedy clubs to be open Right, but I would other than that we didn't March Did I did? Yeah, you marched? Yeah, did you make a sign? No Did you go to Staples? I I was handing out business comedy business cards actually after March. Really? Yeah.

That's where I learned that it didn't work. I wouldn't be able to protest because I don't know how to spell and I'd fuck up my sign. It was, it felt awful. I would probably write something and I wouldn't have enough room for the full sentence. So I ended up going with the Booker of Yuck Yucks. I like that joke bombed. I still tried to force it down your throat. And you were like Yucks. I liked that joke, bombed.

I still tried to force it down your throat. And you were like, yeah, I'm going to get to that. Hang on, cocksucker. What the fuck, man? No, I felt like defending myself, because I'm like, yeah, it is kind of gay that I did go there. But I remember showing up with him and looking at the people.

I'm like, dude, we can't. We can't. And he's like, but nothing's open. How are we going to? What the yuck is going to close forever? Like, there's going to be I was like, but did he this pro? It was kind of fun. You just protested. Work. Did it work? That one did.

It did. Well, they fucking eventually not. I mean, they did it work that specific. Well, so Canada did remember the trucker convoy? Oh, God, what you fucking that did work. That worked. Well, what happened so Canada did, remember the trucker convoy? Oh God, what you fuckin'. That did work. That worked. Well, what happened was they did it, and then they used all this force to like shut it down,

but then right after they lifted everything, and they go, this has nothing to do. The reason we're lifting this is because the experts said it was okay. It has nothing to do with, so this is why, remember I said I lost my mind like four times since, because that was a big thing for a 20, I was 28.

Like I lost my end of my 20s just like to this bullshit. I was pissed. Yeah. And yeah, but then I realized just recently, like I don't actually care about anything. I just didn't want to be trapped in my house for a year. Right. You know what I mean?

I mean, dude, when COVID hit, I lost 50 shows in a night. I had a tour for the year. Right. You know what I mean? I mean, dude, when COVID hit, I lost 50 shows in a night. I had a tour for the year. It was the first time in my career where my agent went, dude, you're good for the year. We're done. And I was like, I this is great. What? And then he called me, I don't know, like a month later and goes, they're all gone. And I was like, what? He goes, all the shows are canceled. You have nothing. And I was like, oh, I'm fucking, I'm unessential.

I mean nothing in this world. What I do is not needed at all. And then I panicked so bad. And that's when I went into like Patreon and panhandling. What did Jay calls it? Digital panhandling? Yeah, it does feel like that. And we're just like, hey man, can you give me some money?

So I can talk. It's like OnlyFans, but instead of showing tits, we like just edge saying the N word. That's the one thing about women comedians, they got to show their assholes and make a lot of money during COVID. Yeah. I wish there was a guy,

some fucking queer into belly button hernias. At least they're fun, like they're nice to look at even if they're bombing. What, the chicks? Yeah. You're like, I can't look away. Do you have a date a comedian? Would I or have I?

Have you? No. Good for you. No offense ladies, but. It's not, it looks really. You're married, right? Yeah. How long have you been married? Officially not that long. Like, I yeah. You're married, right? Yeah. How long have you been married?

Officially not that long, like, I forget when we got married, February? Where'd you meet her? She was a fan. You married a fan? Yeah. You married an early fan. Early fan, so she had low expectations.

Nice. Yeah. That's good. Yeah. She was at a show. She started following me somehow and then she came to a show, I think the first time she came to a show with like a guy that she was either dating or something,

but it was when I was doing Yuck Yucks and I was like hosting. Yeah. Or middling or something. And then she came and gave me, after the show she just came up to me and was like, hey, here's a thousand, she gave me, after the show she just came up to me and was like, hey, here's a thousand, she gave me a thousand dollars.

And was like, give this to, give 200 bucks to the other comics. And like, so I gave, so I kept it. Buddy, that makes no sense to me. Yeah. She gave you a thousand dollars? Yeah. So she.

I think she was just hammered, but. So you're like a. Well, no, I don't even think she was. You're like a gigolo. Yeah, it's kind of weird, but. So you're like a. Well, no, I don't even think she was. You're like a gigolo. Yeah, it's kind of weird, right? I've never. So she gave me a thousand, and then I didn't speak, I didn't even hear from her.

You took it? Well, I was like, I can't take this. She's like, take it, give it to the other comics. So I gave all the comics 200 bucks. Right, so everybody got. There was like four comics. Okay. Or whatever it was, we split it up.

And then I did some show-ons. Then we went back into lockdown. It was one of those things where it was like, we're out, and it was like half capacity. Oh, I get it now. And then we went back. She gave you money because of you needed it. It was, yeah, that was part of it too.

Like the comics or, you know. What did she do for it? Because she had a thousand bucks. She was like a hairstylist. Okay, all right. And she had some other job some like host of a financial news Thing on on YouTube at the time Canada's weird where you can do a bunch of weird shit like that. Yeah. Yeah

and then I Did his show on zoom and she came to this went on the bought a ticket and came on the zoom and I was like, oh, I saw it. Right. And then I think I DM her she DM me and she was a hairstylist who couldn't get a haircut. I was like, can I get a haircut? She's like, it's three hours away. I'm like, all right.

Well, no. And then she was like, but you could come and do a show and I'll we'll put on a show for like, it was like in the middle of nowhere, like for her family and like, whatever. And so yeah, I went and did a show, they gave me like 500 bucks and cut my hair and yeah. And the cops actually tried to shut that down. It was like gathering in a forest of 40 people.

Fucking Canada. I thought Canada my whole life was freer than us almost. It's like a police state. It's more like upstate. You know how upstate New York is like, I think, one of the most patrolled or like you can get, it's the easiest to get pulled over or something like that. I didn't know that.

Similar to Canada's like easy. Like you drive from. From the prime minister, what's his name? Trudeau? Is this all in the last whatever many years he's been up there that Canada got fucked like this? Yeah. Is it his fault?

It is. It's also the, so the premier is like, which is like a governor. Yeah. They, like even the conservative ones, they like pretend to be conservative, but they're still doing all this kind of low key authoritarian shit.

Right. Lowering speed limits to points where it's like anybody who goes at decent speeds like getting a ticket automatically from a speed camera, like shit like that, where it's like, that's fucked up. Like how can you, it's just, it's very policed. And during COVID it was crazy.

But anyway, that's how I met her. And then we went to Texas. Together? To, yeah. She moved with you? At that time we just went and got an Airbnb for a few months and then I got her pregnant. And then, so we came back.

Because I was just there as like a visitor. She's from Canada, right? Yeah. So you both, how do you, how are you? So came back and then I just kept building my following and posting and got to the point where in 2023, I hired a lawyer. I started getting fans that were like,

go come to New York, come to America fans. And then got the visa. When you have a visa, your spouse can come with you. So you are here? Yeah, I moved to Austin. So you can stay? Yeah, till I have to renew every three years. Every three years you renew and you can just stay here?

Yeah, and then probably after the next one I'll probably go for a green card or something. Really? Yeah. So you're gonna become an American citizen? Yeah. Is that your goal? Yeah, I'd love to.

Cause you love America. I do love America. I do. God bless you, man. Yeah, thank you. No, I like this hat. God bless you, dude. It's beautiful. God bless you. God love America. I do God bless you, man. Yeah, thank you. No, I like to bless you dude. It's beautiful God bless you. God bless America. You can have that hat. I'm gonna give you that. Yeah, you can have that I want you to have your hand me down. I know it's not a hand me down fucking asshole. That's my

You know, I'll take this hat who's this hat that's trying to Raptors. Oh, yeah. Okay. They're good. There you go Look at that. I'm, I don't know if it fits your head. I know, it looks great. You look like a fat elf. Is it Yarmulke? No, pull it down. There you go. Why don't you keep this one?

And how's that? You keep, you can have that one and that one. Keep that one just in case that one looks ridiculous. So yeah, that's a, you got a massive head, dude. Yeah. So buddy, you got this. I think, for me, I mean, I'll be stand up. You got to check it out.

I love that you're, I call it like, silhouetting, man. Like, there's nobody out here doing what you're doing right now. You're very unique. It's very kind. It is, man. I mean, you just kind of go up there and do your shit. And you talk.

And I don't even think people call you conservative or right wing, I don't think you are. No. I think that you're just. Just racist. Huh? Just racist. But you're.

But I'm not, but I am. You're 100%. I know how to be. You, don't worry about it. That's like, that's the whole thing with the racism thing, is it's like everybody's pretending like they don't know how to just like, like turn it on at any second. Like it's like, yeah, I'm at a rental car, Avis, like at any moment I

can be like, Oh, is it is it? Oh, yeah. Uh huh. Like, you know, and that's racist. Now I'm being a racist. We don't know how to do it. Who is that? Can you do Starbucks? That was the Chinese accent. I don't know. It's probably the trance. But I have nothing against any of these people. And I don't hate any of them. And I don't,, it's probably a trance. But I have nothing against any of these people, and I don't hate any of them. And I don't, you know, with the COVID stuff, a lot of people got labeled conservative.

Well, it's okay one way. It's just not okay the other way. Yeah, if you're liberal, oh, at least he's liberal. If you were talking about white dudes or white women, it's fine. Yeah. But if you're talking about black women, you can't do that because you're white.

My crowd will turn on me. So that clip you mentioned, where that woman got pissed off, the beginning of that I was saying, white women have a lot of privilege. And people comment on it being like, I'm just pissed off at how that joke started. And they're like, my fans or whatever. You know how your fans turn on you at any point.

I don't understand it. I mean, there's the four people that love you. Like, you'll have a message from a guy from two years ago that's like, dude, you can stay at my house. And then I had a guy say that, stay at my place in Victoria, BC, anytime you're here for free, and we'll fucking give you food and I never responded to it but then the next one was he replied to a story of like me and

holding my newborn and he was just like fuck you you American piece of shit why some Canadian crazy why was he mad that you had a baby because I had in America and I'm traitor some people call me a traitor of Canada. Because you came to America? Did what every other Canadian artist does. Yeah, what are you going to do? Stay in fucking Edmonton. You're going to stay in Canada and get a show that goes on

for three years and has eight episodes a year? It's much better to be. You're going to do the Halifax fucking festival every year? Fuck. Yeah, I remember when I started at Yuck Yucks and I was like, I'm gonna... I told some comic who'd been doing it a while, he'd been on TV ads for like Auto Trader or whatever. Is that even a thing? Is that a thing in America?

Auto Trader? Yeah, it used to be. Not anymore. Oh, okay. But... Yeah, I was like, yeah, I'm going to do a Just for Laughs or and Halifax showcase like an audition. And he was just like, you'll never get it. And he was right. Actually, he was right about that, but I don't want it now. Yeah, right.

But at the time you did At the time I was like, because that was still before I realized the social media, I was still like, but that's how you, you gotta do that. Changes so fast. And to get out of Canada, that's the best way to, like there's people who have those credits, they get a visa, but they have no fans,

they have no shows, they have no tour, and they're here working, but they're not right But they have the same visa because just for laughs wrote them a letter is going he is an Incredible talent that we picked up to further our political agenda So it's yeah, you have to come to the states you have to You have to pave your own way now, right? Right, I mean not, some people are lucky, some people, but even, like look at Shane, like he was, the SNL thing was his first thing, but he.

He's a prodigy, dude. He's. That guy was gonna make it in spite of anything. You know what I mean? Those guys come around, Chappelle. You know, there's no, Chappelle had a nervous breakdown, quit a show. That would have been the end of anybody's career.

It actually just made him bigger. There's certain guys, you know what I mean? There's certain guys that are just, no matter what, that's the dude. Shane is one of those touched by the showbiz gods. Has been funny from the get-go, confidence out the fucking wa-woo, and then, you know, just, you know, he's a talent. He's a first-round draft. Yeah, and he knows how to deal with it.

You know what I mean? And he's a cool guy, and he's really nice. He's very nice and sweet to me. I was just like, he told me, you know, he's like, you're really funny and stuff, so it makes you feel good. Yeah, he told me I'm not funny. He did? Yeah. know, he's like, you're really funny and stuff. Like, so it makes you feel good. You told me I'm not funny. He did? Yeah.

Well, that's hilarious. He said, why did you stop being funny? Oh, shit. Well, but it is like, you know how there's a guy that gets drafted to the team? That's when I stopped being funny. 2010, 2013. Like, certain players aren't drafted high up,

but then they have to, those are the guys, they gotta be in the gym more. They gotta be, they gotta, and then they end up being champions. So it's not everybody, you can get, but like you have to do some shit that like, you don't wanna do. Yeah, you have to sacrifice stuff.

Posting all the time, I'm always looking at my phone. Yeah. You know? It's weird, honest to God, I love, I just wanna be with my family. I just created a life and I like it. And it's like, it was a time where I just wanted to be on the road.

I wanted to be on stage every single night of the week and I wanted to be on the road every weekend at a different place, fucking just killing it and meeting people and hanging out and doing all that shit. And now it's like, fuck, as soon as I leave, I'm just trying to get back to Sunday so I can sit with my family.

And I'm sure that will, I can feel that kinda getting the itch again lately as my son is making friends and my wife doesn't want anything to do with me. I'm kinda getting the itch again to, let's go fucking, let's go do this. You know, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, do some spots and get back into the grind with these young fucks.

On stage. You know, I haven't done, I don't really do, I do my Tuesday night, like I used to do, I did comedy seven nights a week, multiple times a night for almost 20 years. You know? And it wasn't even a thing, it was just what I did. And now I have to be, I have to be. I should have filmed it.

All right, yeah, with what? Yeah, I know. A fucking 35 millimeter camera. I know. I know what filmed it. All right, yeah, with what? Yeah, I know. A fucking 35 millimeter camera. I know. You know what I mean? But now it's like, I gotta, I was talking to my wife the other day, I go, look, babe, soon I'm gonna have to start not being here as much as I am,

because I gotta do some other, I gotta hit this next thing and I'm not gonna do it by Monday nights, Wednesday nights, Thursday nights, Sunday nights being home, having dinner, watching a TV show. If I'm gonna get back on that fucking dumb TV, I gotta get back out there and do my due diligence and my work. And it's hard because you go to the table

and it's just a bunch of young kids in weird shirts talking about weird shit and I don't get it. I come from a generation where it's like, what's up fucking losers? And we fucking- Like, should I film you saying that? Post it? All right, well listen, man, I'm glad you came on.

When you come back- Thank you, I hope you enjoyed. I mean, it was all right, but the thing is, no, I hope you come back,, come back on whenever you're in. And I mean, you're not in Austin this weekend. I'm gonna be in Austin Saturday night. Saturday night, dude. So let's hang out Saturday night.

I'm at the mothership. I'm at the mothership Saturday night. Sweet. So we'll hang out. We'll get some grub, we'll talk some shit. I have a spot at 8.30 in the other room. Oh, dude, I'll be in the, you smoke cigars? Yeah.

Oh, fuck it, A. Good, we'll hang out this weekend. I can't read that, because I'm fucking old. Okay, make it big. You want to check him out, go to, what's your website's name? BenBankus, B-E-N-B-A-N-K-A-S.com. Has all my dates. You can just go to the main page.

You can click the Ben Bankus name thing. Go there and check him out. He's got a huge tour. You're everywhere. How many dates do you have? I think like 70. Scroll, scroll, scroll. Look at all these dates.

I mean, he's everywhere. Yeah, when does this come out? A week and a half. A week and a half. Yeah, so I'll be in Boston. Where are you playing in Boston? Laugh Boston. Great club.

Love that. Wisconsin. Make sure Boston. Go see this fuck. You're gonna, Boston's gonna love Boston? Laugh Boston. Great club, love that dude. Wisconsin. Make sure Boston, go see this fuck, you're gonna, Boston's gonna love you. I love Boston. Oh, it's the best, I fucking love. They're mad that I stopped doing my, I used to do a character that I stopped doing.

What was it? It's a Wuhan monkey hybrid. Well their mayor is fucking. It was a face swap of a monkey. And then I said that I was, cause did you hear how there's like a half human, half monkey hybrid made in a laboratory in Wuhan? It's like a thing that Alex Jones was talking about. So I did the monkey with the Chinese accent.

Like I'm the Wuhan monkey. And the Boston, apparently the Boston police force was sending that over, because I had a bunch of cops at the show and they were like, fucking live the fucking, the fucking Wu-Ha monkey dude. They just said, I'm like, are you sending that to, because I had a bunch of cops at the show, and they were like, we fucking love the fucking, the fucking woo-ha monkey code. They just said, I'm like,

are you sending that to each other after you shoot an unarmed black guy? They're like, fucking right. It's such a, it got so woke. Boston is fucking down, I mean, god damn it, dude, that mayor's a fucking asshole. So I had a lawyer from Boston helping me with my visa, and they wouldn't help me renew it

because I work at Mothership. Really? And they're like, we don't like that you associate with Joe Rogan or Tony Hinchcliffe because she was such a lefty. Really? That she was like, I will not help you, and she dropped a few other comics

that I knew that she was helping. What a fucking. From Boston was helping. What a fucking. From Boston but. What a fucking loser. She was like you're anti-Semitic, I was like I'm Jewish. She was like doesn't matter. But yeah it's sad that people are that insane. Yeah it is sad but thank God fucking people like you

are around and there's comics around. And you man, thank you for having me. Dude absolutely. Being so nice to me. Fuck yeah dude, I'll have you on like you around, and there's comics around. And you, man, thank you for having me. Dude, absolutely. Being so nice to me, I appreciate it. Fuck yeah, dude. I'll have you on any time you're in town. Come on, and we'll hang out Saturday night. You gotta go check him out, Ben Bankus.

Go to his website, watch his specials on YouTube. Go to mypunchup.live slash Robert Kelly. I'm in San Diego, and then I'm fucking done. I'm taking the summer off. I'm fucking out of this fucking shit business. I'm gonna be I mean there's other dates up there. I'm in Tampa of course I'm filming Directing Lewis Gomez is special at Tantan sides putters in Tampa more dates are coming up there My wife didn't put the fucking dates up there. There's other dates. I don't know where the fuck it is. But anyways, next year I'll be, I'll be everywhere. What do you guys got over there? Follow me. What the fuck was that? I have COVID. That's what I have. All right. Well, don't cough

into it. The one time you talk in the microwave, you fucking cough into it. Yeah. You piece of shit. I have a follow me on Instagram at Danny Braff and come to comedy at verve and summer boot New Jersey the third Thursday of every month. I want to be booked there again to get that pizza. Joe had to step out, but I'll plug the cheese show for him. Zach again, I followed Joe's cheese show. He had to step out. Follow me on Instagram. Zachary unlimited corn balls podcast. Thank you. Thank you. Zach. Zach. I know Zach. You know him. Yeah. From where? Williamsburg. Okay. Comedy Club. Oh no shit. Okay. Yeah. He says he's a big fan of yours. That's cool. Danny had no idea you were. I'm like he's what you're one of my favorite new comedians. You're going to fucking blow up and not talk to me like Shane. Anyways.

All right. So make sure you go there, punchup.live slash Robert Kelly. We're going to Patreon right now for questions from you guys for Ben. So if you wanna ask questions any of these guys, go to patreon.com slash Robert Kelly. Become a member and then you can get the episode free. You get the extra episode a week

with me and the boys, the Tizzy Two, and we also get to ask questions to the guests. So there you go, we're going to there now. We'll see you next week on You Know What, Dude.