Shaun Newman Podcast - Ep. #142 - Comedian Paul Myrehaug

Episode Date: January 4, 2021

The life of a comedian or something like that. Paul & I discuss his journey into comedy from 16 year old sneaking into the bars to living in south France touring the world his career has shown him a lot. For the past 20 years he has been all over the world, performed in just about every spot imaginable & shares some hilarious stories from his travels.    Let me know what you think   Text me! 587-217-8500 

Hi, this is Braden Holby. Hey, this is Tanner, the Bulldozer Bozer. Hi, this is Brian Burke from Toronto, Ontario. This is Daryl Sutterin. Hello, everyone. I'm Carlyagro from SportsNet Central. This is Jay On Right. This is Quick Dick, quick, tick coming to you from Tough Moose, Saskatchew. Hey, everybody, my name is Theo Fleary.

This is Kelly Rudy. This is Corey Krause. This is Wade Redden. This is Jordan Tutu. My name is Jim Patterson. Hey, it's Ron McLean, Hockeynet in Canada, and Rogers' Hometown Hockey, and welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks.

Happy 2021. Let's say that again. 2021. Feels good to be out of 2020. Let me tell you. One of the cool things I'm going to go on this year, one of my goals for the podcast. You know, besides releasing an episode every Monday, Wednesday, have no fear. 104 new episodes coming in 2021.

Already excited about it. Got some cool guests that we're trying to get, some cool guests that we've gotten and they're going to come up. But overall, we're going to try and make 2021 a memorable year. I got a couple of goals here in 2021. First, a goal of mine has been, is to be more interactive with you. Now, whether you're driving to work, maybe you're heading back from holidays, you're out in the tractor working or maybe out for a walk, I want to hear what you folks think about the latest and greatest. So let's make it simple.

In the show notes, I've posted my phone number. I'm going to post it on all the episodes moving forward. I'm going to retrace my steps and put it in every single one. So if you're listening, I want to hear what you think. So shoot me a test with text with suggestions, thoughts, or maybe you just want to chat. I'm looking forward to the possibilities of 2021. And I've learned pretty damn quick that some of the best possibilities come from you guys and guess you want to hear or thoughts you have on the show.

And I want it to be interactive. So if you have ideas, let me know. So go to the show notes, in there is a phone number, text me, and you're going to get a hold of me, all right? Now, the other thing is, is I'm in, when I start off shows, sometimes I don't get it right. Sometimes I screw up. Those are the so-called bloopers that nobody ever hears.

and I'm going to start today, as I've already screwed up a couple times, instead of deleting them, I'm going to save them, and they're going to go for bloopers after the show's done. So if you want to hear me call myself an idiot, but all means stick around, and you can hear some of that. All right. Now, that's just a couple of the fun things. Let's start off with 2021 and a bang.

We've got a great guest today. He's a funny guy, but before we get there, let's get to today's episode sponsors. Claussen, a team over, Windsor, Plywood, builders of the podcast studio table. I cannot wait to have more guests in this studio. COVID needs to piss off already. For everything wood, these are the guys, whether we're talking about mantles, decks, windows, doors, or sheds. When you want quality, stop in and see the group at Windsor Plywood.

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There's still time to get in, well, heck, who am I kidding? Still time. It's the beginning of 2021. Hop on. Let's have some fun. 2021, here we come. Here is your first T-Barr-1 Tale of the Tape.

Originally from Camrose, Alberta. He plays second in the prestigious Seattle International Comedy Competition, a finalist at the Boston Comedy Competition and won the 2007 Great Canadian Lafaw. He's now been in comedy for over 20 years. He's been around the world in different countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo,

United Kingdom and Norway, has performed for the Armed Forces, is a part of the Snowding Comedy Tour that stretches coast to coast here in Canada, over 60 Canadian cities, and finally is the co-host of the Microdose podcast. I'm talking about Paul Meyerhawk, so buckle up, here we go. Hello, this is Paul Meyerhog, or as most of you will probably know me, the guy that came on after Don Cherry, and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast today. I'm joined by comedian Paul Meyerhawk.

I hope I said that right because I'm sure that's only been tortured a thousand million times. The first time I ever was introduced on stage, the MC shook my hands and he was like, what's your name? And I said Meyerhog and he said, ooh, I'd change that kid. Anyway, have fun. If you could pick an alter ego name then, what would you take for a last name? What would you take for a name? You know, I went through that phase because I kind of, you know, heeded that advice.

So I thought, you know, maybe I should have a name that somebody could at least spell or find online. So, but I was an 18-year-old, you know, douchebag moron. So I think the, I really wanted Paul Dimes. That was what I wanted. When I was 18, I wanted to be Paul Dimes. Did you ever get interviews? Does it? No, no, absolutely not.

No, I didn't follow through. But that was 18 year old me. If I had to choose now, I would probably either take my dad's, like my middle name, Gordon. So Paul Gordon might be all right or shorten up the mirehog and just Paul Myers maybe. But, yeah, douchebag me wanted Paul dimes when I was 18. Well, we all got, you know, Paul dimes, dimes. Why dimes? Do you remember why?

I have no idea. I just, and this is so embarrassed. but I remember being 18, like an amateur comedian, you know, going to university and I was practicing my autograph, you know, and I thought, oh, it'd be really cool if I could sign autographs as a comedian one day, and I just was signing Paul Dimes. I have no idea where it came from. I just thought it would be cool. Now, for the listeners, viewers, whichever they're doing, where are you calling in from today? I'm in the south of France, in a little village called co c-u-x um this is uh it's where our house is and um uh just for a geographical uh it would be near

montpellier so it's sort of closer to the spanish side of the rivari uh my dad is going to listen to this and he's going to hate you or envy you one of the two he's been saying for years since he was like i don't know since i was 15 so probably 20 years ago um that when he retires he's going to retire to a villa in the south of France. You're essentially sitting there then. Hey, right on. Well, hey, tell the old man there's lots of room in my house. You can have our guess. Yeah, it'll be. What's, what's, what's, what's, a, you're, you said you're eight o'clock right now. So for the listeners, it's, it's noon here. He's drinking beer. I was like, what, what the hell? All right. We're going to do this. All right. So I had to pour myself a scotch.

It is COVID rules, which means you can pretty much have a sasparilla whenever the hell you want, right? Like, I mean, how are things over in the South of France right now? COVID-wise. Life-wise. Life-wise, yeah. I mean, it's the off-season here anyway. So, you know, it's always dead slow in January, February, December. It's, you know, I'd say 60% of the population leaves.

So, you know, not many restaurants open. And so really the confinement or the lockdown, you don't even really notice it because it just sort of feels like every other winter it does here. It just, you know, everything's closed and people are on vacation, all the store owners and things like that. So, yeah, I really don't notice much of a difference. And there is a curfew. You have to be in your house by 8 p.m., but they're a little bit more relaxed on the get-together. So, you know, for Christmas, we were able to get together, have dinner with people. you know, went to a couple of a couple of things like that.

So it seems a little bit more relaxed down here. Curfew at eight? Curfew at eight. Yeah, you got to be. So I had to go get a pizza in town in the big city and I had to be on my high horse. I needed to get home before 8 p.m. No kidding. They got check stops, anything like that?

Or is it just kind of like, no, you're supposed to be in, nobody's out? Yeah, there is. I mean, we live in such as, you know, sparsely populated areas. that I really haven't seen too many cops around, but there is definitely, you know, checkpoints and things like that. So, but even in the, in the middle of the summer, in our busiest season, I don't see too many cops around here. It's just, there's not too many people around here.

And when you say small village, I think of small village, Saskatchewan, Alberta. How does it pair, you know, I haven't said it yet, but you're originally from Camrose. coming from small town Alberta to small town France obviously you you enjoy the small town France yeah yeah it's great it's uh and it's the same thing it's just a bunch of people sitting on the street drinking Pilsner

fucking just Guzzling but just fucking guzzling it's uh yeah it's it's like I never left it's awesome except you're not drinking Pilsner you're drink while you're drinking a variation of Pilsner yeah yeah Walbert Yeah, yeah. All birds. Yeah, no, it works for me and my missus. We both travel for a living. So when I'm here, it's amazing because it just feels like an oasis from a busy schedule.

But to be honest with you, if I didn't have my career and I wasn't traveling all the time, I think it would be a little bit too slow for me here, for sure. Well, let's get into it then. You know, you're originally from Camrose. Did you always want to be a comedian? I mean, you come from the land of hockey. I mean, it doesn't get any more hockey. I know you're, I believe you're an Oilers fan still.

I assume you're falling along the, there it is. Yeah, there it is. Okay. We're anticipating, I ain't got to put the hand. We're anticipating a hockey season here in January. Have you been watching the World Juniors? Because they've been on. We've been the old team Canada.

old 2-0 now. That's happening just like down the street, but nobody can watch it, of course, nobody in the building. But, I mean, you've been paying attention to any of the hockey over there? Yeah, absolutely. Unfortunately, I can't find a provider. I get my, I subscribe to NHL.com and to NFL, so I get the games as they come in, but I can't find a provider.

I tried Sportsnet. It doesn't work in France. I tried TSN. It doesn't work in France. So I can't get these world junior games. You can't see the world junior games? No, no. And it's killing me because it's absolutely killing me.

So I'm just sort of watching highlights and reading about it in the morning. But boy, they really beat the Germans over the back into the Suduton land, didn't they? Jesus Christ. I thought, I was, as soon as I opened up my eyes, I saw that score, I was rubbing my, I was like, what, that can be right? 16 goals? Like, it was, it was amazing. it was a good old-fashioned ass whooping and I had to turn it off. I was like, yep, it's 10. It's, they still got the horn going, I'm, I'm done with this, right? Like, they just, they just rammed it down

the throat and I didn't feel bad for Canada. Like, lots of people ragged on them, but I'm like, I don't know, it's, it's, it's, I think it was seven one or seven nothing. What was that? That was like, not even halfway through the second period. And you're like, oh man, like, you can't even take your foot off the pedal enough not to make it 10 or 11 one, right? And it just kept going and going and going and you're like, well, what are you going to do? Yeah, what are you going to do? Yeah, and we didn't without our captain as well. Like, unbelievable, unbelievable.

So, yeah, I really wish I could watch it. But if I was home, if I was in Canada, I'd be watching every game. And, yeah, diehard Oilers fan. And my original dream was to be a professional hockey player. but as far I played um I had an illustrious career I played uh I got a knee injury but I played on the Camrose Pirates which was a double a Bantam so uh then then my illustrious hockey career came to a game to an end so you know when then do you go and I say this with probably all stupidity on my part I I just always grew up wanting to be a hockey guy or a sports guy for that

matter. And so there's avenues everywhere for that. And I just know the avenues very well. To be a comedian, I don't know, how the hell do you even start? Like, did you just, you know, I think I read somewhere that you were sneaking into bars at a young age watching, watching comedians. Like, is that how you fell in love with it? Was it watching, you know, a movie or two? What got you going like, man, that'd be a lot of fun? Oh, yeah. So I guess once the hockey dream ended, And even if I didn't have bad knees, I would have never made it. I don't have that like Pitbull killer instinct. Like a lot of the guys that made the NHL that I played with,

I just didn't have that absolute killer, you know, energy about me. But I started, I guess it was, you know, Saturday Night Live, Chris Farley and all those guys, Adam Sandler. I had their, you know, Sandler's album, they're all going to laugh at you. I listened to it on repeat in the car, nonstop. I knew every, every word of it, every skit Farley did, every, so that sort of got me interested in it. And I always looked older for my age. So that is true.

I would go down to The Raven. It was a nightclub and cameras called The Raven. And they used to have comics in. So I would sneak in underage to watch. But I don't know if they have this in Lloyd, but in Camrose, if you knew there was an underage person in the bar, you could rat them out. you would get a free picture of beer. It was sort of a self-policing. If they implemented that now in COVID, they got the snitch line. If they put a free picture of beer on that, the entire population would be drunk and probably in jail. So yes, yes.

Yeah, absolutely. I do remember that. Wasn't that a beautiful system? So that was one of my remember because I was watching a comic. I got to say, I don't know if I was in Lloyd. I remember that in Amminton. I can't remember if that was in Lloyd or not. Lloyd might not have cared, but that was for sure in Emmington, and obviously if it was in Camrose, but I do remember those days. Yeah, it was beautiful. But I remember watching a comic who actually I've never met before again, and his name's Jim Fuchs. He's from Prince Albert Saskatchewan, and he was hilarious. And somebody ratted me out at the Raven, and I got put in a wrist lock by the bouncers and carried out. And then I was,

I was walking by the table there like, I have a good night, my heart, fuck up. I was getting chirped on the way out by the older crowd that, that ratted me. It's ridiculous. But so,

yeah, I fell in love with it around 14, 15, 16. And then to get started, really at my era in 2000, I started in 2000, it was very easy. There was a national system called Yuck Yucs. All you had to do was go to West Eminton Mall.

sign up for amateur night. You would listen to the headliner that week would talk for an hour in a workshop. So you would listen to the headliner speak for an hour. And then when it was your time, you got about one spot every month. And you'd go up there and away you go. So I started at the West M-Tamilmoyukyukes. And it went from there. Well, okay. First off, I didn't realize that was that easy. I mean, it shouldn't surprise me. It was that easy. I mean, there has to be a system in place. It's not like you just, you know, if you want to have good comedians come through, you got to make it accessible for them to sign up. How was, how was the first time? I think, you know, for the listeners, viewers, the last time we did get a start and

then the internet just wouldn't, you know, whatever, France didn't want to talk to me, I guess. I heard you, we briefly talked and you said the first time isn't the tough time. The second time is. And maybe we could start with the first and then talk about the second. Because to me, getting up in front of, well, everyone knows this. Probably one of the most terrifying things in the world is standing in front of an audience, right? And then I assume what's even more terrifying is try to make them laugh. Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, the first time.

And I don't know, we call that getting bit. So either you're going to try it. And a lot of people are afraid of public speaking. But if you get bit and you try it, And it really is funny. You can see it in people's eyes that you're like, oh, they're going to do it forever. And I was just one of those persons that I did it one time.

And that was it. I was like, I'll do this for the rest of my life. Even if I don't get paid for it, I'm going to do this. It's so addicting. It's like a drug, you know? It's unbelievable. Once you find a way to elicit that laughter and start to learn the craft, it's great.

But the first time I didn't realize this. but West Eminton Mall yuck yucks in Alberta in general actually the the Calgary comedy club as well I didn't know that they were the easiest comedy clubs in Canada so headliners that were coming through and still today that come to Emington and Calgary they crush you don't even it's just the rooms are magical their big crowds are so friendly they laugh at everything but I you know I was an amateur that started there I didn't really have the benefit of that knowledge so when I walked up the first time, it went really well. I mean, it was better than I expected. It was, it was amazing. And then I had that, that confidence going into the second time. And I was immediately punched in the

mouth. It was absolutely horrific because I walked up there with a little bit of like, you know, jam in my shake and like, oh, yeah, I got this. I'm a, you know, I'll be a professional in 10 seconds. and that nervous energy of a new person trying out stand-up wasn't there. The crowd wasn't on board with me. They didn't want me to do well because I was a cocky freak, and I bombed. The second time was fucking atrocious, atrocious. And I remember one of my billets' father was there. I used to have a billet named Aaron Grossell, who still is in the hockey industry down in the States.

And his dad's got a very, very recognized. laugh and I could hear his dad's laugh for every other performer and when I got on stage there was nothing and and not even his like I was just praying to God that my friend would save me. I mean even him was like good luck you fucking you're the worst too so what do you do after that you just walk off stage and now you're going to go sit with your buddies and and they didn't even laugh oh oh yeah it was brutal First of all, I learned a lesson that never bring friends to a show when you're that new, you know? So I think the first show I did, I must have passed out 50 tickets, all my friends and family. And the second one as well.

But then after that, I didn't pass out anything. I really didn't tell people when I was on stage until I got some confidence. But it was so embarrassing. And afterwards, of course, they're like, hey, you know, it wasn't that bad. And, you know, all those patronizing. Bullshit. Yeah. Oh, bullshit.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and you just, you want to crawl in a hole and die. Awful. Well, people's words speak louder than action, or people's actions speak louder than words, right? So you get those. Yeah. They didn't laugh once.

You weren't that bad. It wasn't that bad, right? Yeah, yeah. The voice goes up like four octums. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's awful. When did you, like, you said something there, you said, you know, there's a gap between being kind of like an amateur and professional.

When do you feel the switch? Like, when do you go from, you know, I don't know what the fuck I'm doing to like, wow, I can, I'm kind of feel, not that you aren't having the odd bomb night. I'm assuming no matter what you do, certain crowds you just can't even remark, you just can't even prepare for. But when do you feel the switch from like amateur to like, okay, I got some. something here. Yeah, again, it was a little bit more cut and dry back in the day when I was starting. So they had a bit of a system you went through, started as an amateur, which were on Tuesday nights. And then if you were good enough, they'd move you to Wednesday nights. And that was called Young Gun Night. So you were moving up in the farm system is what you're saying. Yeah, exactly. And everybody knew it. Hey, if I can get off this bloody Tuesday night,

on to Wednesday. I'm on the right track. Totally, totally. And once you started doing Wednesdays, you got a little bit of money. And then if you were doing the Young Gun Night, they would give you spots on the weekend. And that was huge because the clubs would be sold out. You know, the big fancy headliner from Toronto or Los Angeles was in. And you get to do, you know, seven, eight minutes on the weekend. And that was a big step. And so, and then eventually, you're going to, you're going to, started getting full weekends. So, you know, Thursday through Sunday, uh, you get paid every show. You'd be in the middle, you know, you're only doing 20 minutes or something. Um, but even then,

you don't feel like a professional, you know, it, um, I don't think I felt like a, that's an interesting question because I don't, I, I, I guess when I, I don't know, I guess it's, I guess it's finally when you're not worrying about money, um, you know, you just, you, there's enough work coming in, that you don't have to worry about earning a living. And then finally, I guess I felt like a professional. And another nice story is when your parents finally trust that you're going to be okay in life. That was a big moment for me. Paul's going to be okay, hon.

Paul's going to be okay. Yeah, yeah. And actually, I think that's when I felt like a professional, because I remember that specific moment and all the bricks were lifted off my shoulders. But I got asked to do a military tour in Afghanistan. And it was with the Governor General of Canada and the top ranking officer, General Minnichuk, and Peter McKay, who was the Minister of Defense and me. And we're going to go to Afghanistan and those guys would talk.

singer-songwriter as well. And then I would close the evening. And we spent the holidays, the Christmas holidays in Afghanistan. I remember my mom saying, I said I couldn't come home for Christmas and I'm going to go to Afghanistan with the governor general. And my mom said, officially, she was like, you know what? I think you're going to be all right. And I was like, yeah, finally. It only took 16 years, but I got the seal of approval from my parents. So it took it took you 16 years then to finally be like, yeah, okay. Now obviously you're successful in those 16 years. But for you, what you're saying is at the 16 year mark, that's when it goes boom. Yeah, I think, yeah, I'm here. The confidence of everybody around me, they see what I'm doing. Yeah, I'd say that's about right. Probably around year 15, 16. Yeah, I'd say that. And within the, comic circle, they say that you don't even start sounding like yourself on stage until after year 20. And I just hit year 20.

And I, and I, I always thought that that was bullshit. But now I understand what those guys were saying. Where I'm like, okay, yeah, I get it. I'm only just now able to walk up there and just talk like me, be myself. And it took, and it's taken 20 years. And I still have time still. Fuck, that's crazy. You know, in what I do, this, you know, interviewing people and talking to people, a lot of successful personalities on, you know, you've learned from this toothless face.

I love, I love hockey, you know, when we started off of that. A lot of them have said two years, two years to find yourself on a national broadcast to understand how your personality. And at the start, I was like, yeah, whatever, two years. but you kind of start to feel it like, no, that makes sense. There's just certain things you're very comfortable with and certain things you're not comfortable. But when you go two to 20 years, how many people are really willing to put in the time? Well, that's a lot of time.

I mean, and once again, it's not like you haven't had any success up to 20 years, but it wasn't like you had like smashing success out the gates and in the first year, you're, you know, that's pretty cool. But at the same time, it's like, man, not many people would be willing to put in the time to do what you do. Yeah, yeah, I agree. Yeah, you really have to be something wrong with you inside your head to to go after. And lately I'm thinking that a lot because, you know, COVID, because, you know, I sat back and I realized like, I've dedicated my entire. life. It's way too late to start any sort of like, oh, I'm going to go to law school.

You know, I'm an old man now. I can't go to law. Yeah. So I'm like, holy shit, you, you have completely dedicated your whole existence from your 18 to now on this ridiculous career. And yeah, so yeah, I really truly believe you have to be a little bit sick in your head to keep on going. Isn't that the definition of what, uh, uh, what is it, a cycle power? Or insanity? Crazy. Insanity. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Once insanity is doing the same thing over and over again,

expecting a different outcome. I don't know. I just, when I listen to you, and you, to me, and this is just to me, I mean, you're not Chris Farley. You haven't had, you know, rest of peace, but you haven't had the Uber success of Saturday Night Live, followed by all these crazy movies and everything. But you're not Joe Blow's sitting at Yuck Jax right now trying to start out either.

I mean, like, geez, you've gone and done some things. And there's something to hang your hat on there. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I always say that, you know, I'm a fourth liner. Like I'm in the NHL. You know, I'm a black ace. I get called up and down. Fourth liners win cups too.

Exactly. Exactly. And I'm so happy with my career. And it also doesn't come with a lot of bullshit to being, you know, a giant star either. I mean, like, I don't have to worry about, you know, people saying awful things to me online or being called, you know, all that, all that nonsense, all the stress. And, of course, would I like the millions of dollars? Sure. But, you know, I do big venues, you know, I've been lucky enough.

I do theater tours in Europe and in Canada. And, I mean, I'm playing NHL venues. but, you know, I'm just a grinder. And because of that, I also fit into a lot of different scenarios. Like, they can use me on a military tour. They can put me on television in the UK to do little spots. They can use me in difficult rough bars in Scotland, you know, because I have that Northern Alberta training where I can handle myself.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. And yeah, I'm very proud of that. It's, you know, I wouldn't change much. It's a cool, it's a cool, you know, to, you know, I can work, I think I've worked in 46 different countries around the world. So, you know, there's no shortage of work. I can, I can do what I love. And, and it's fine. It's, it's all right.

You know, 46 countries, geez, that's something. What, when you look back across it and look at the 46, is there, is there a group of people that are just tough to get to laugh? Like, you know, I talk about different rooms and different, you can, you can narrow in as micro as you want, but let's go a little bigger. Let's, is there a country when you go in there, you go, oh, this is going to be tough. I got to make sure I have my, you know, whatever dotted and crossed. Absolutely. And it's the Netherlands. The Netherlands is extremely tough for stand-up comics.

And I play clubs in Amsterdam and play them a lot. you know, there's an English comedy festival there. But Dutch crowds and all comics agree with, they're just, they enjoy the comedy, but they're not like, you know, they'll sort of give you a little bit of a golf clap when they see that you've done your skit. Is that how they do it? It's horribly awkward, very, very awkward. They're a very difficult group of people to get, like, rolling around like Americans, you know?

So will they get rolling around like Americans or no? That isn't there. Because when you think of Americans or Canadians, right, we go to, I think of going to even yuck yucks. Well, you got a pregame and then you got to have some pregame on the pregame, right? So that anything seems funny, right? Like, I mean, you're there for a good time. You don't want, you want everything to be funny that night, right?

Like, hell, that's what you're there for. You're there for a good time. So you go down a certain avenue in order to do that. Now, in the Netherlands, did they get there? Or are they always the slow clap? I like that. Right. Like, good job.

That was good. I trekkled. I had a deep belly laugh for a little bit and that was it. You know, I'm trying to answer that honestly. So the last two times I was there, I was with guys way above my pay grade. I don't know if you know, Arch Barker. who's, he's from Flight of the Concords

and a bunch of David Leberman appearances. He's an American guy that's really big in Australia. I don't know if you know that name. Well, I know Flight of the Concords quite well, but the name I can't think of, off the top of my head, no,

I don't recognize it. But in saying that, if I know Flight of the Concords, chances are I know exactly who the guy is. Yeah, yeah. So, and he's deadly funny. I think he did like seven lettermen or something.

He's super funny. And he's a, He's a dear friend of mine. And, you know, we both share the sentiment that when I watched him on stage do his hour, it was, you know, it's a grind there. It's a grind. But I also watched a Dutch comic that evening. And he, he got it rolling.

He fucking crushed, crushed. And then the two English speakers that went up, we had a hard time. So maybe it's a, maybe it's more of a prejudice thing that the Dutch. I don't like American accents maybe. I don't know. Well, where then is, let's go the complete opposite. Where do you just love coming back to you? You love coming back to Canada?

Like is Canada the sweet spot because you're Canadian and you just get to come back and, you know, the culture so well and everything like that? Or is there a different place that you just love going because of their uniqueness? Yeah, so there's way more on that list. and yeah, Canada is beautiful because without just looking at me, like when I walk on stage, people immediately get an impression of who I am. They know, you know, I'm introduced from Alberta. Maybe I'm wearing a plaid shirt.

You know, I got a, you know, people make an assumption about, so before you get to the microphone, they're like, okay, look at this fucking Yahoo from cameras. you know, they understand my character immediately, and they get on board with it. And you can talk, of course, local references, and I know specific jokes about every province and territory I'm in. So Canada is definitely the sweet spot. But I would say, Scotland, unbelievable place to go. Ireland, unbelievable place. Norway, unbelievable.

And a lot of England. like Brighton, Manchester, the Comedy Store in London. I mean, I have equal love for, oh, Estonia. Estonia is fucking... Estonia? Incredible. Incredible audiences. Tell me about Estonia.

There is one country, there is one country that I got to assume 99.9% of my listeners have never graced. Yeah, yeah. Well, for one, it's gorgeous. So for you listeners, it is in between, well, it's right underneath Finland. So you just, you got to cross the sea to get to Finland. And Riga is right below it. So it's sandwiched in between those two countries.

It was Russian, you know, it was part of the Russian curtains. Only in 93 did they get released from the Soviet curtain. So for them, live stand-up comedy, live performance. performances, anything of that sort are so new to them. And they're so, they feel so lucky to be able to like, freely go to a place and watch people speak freely and swear and have freedom of speech and that. This is all very new to them.

So the comedy is just fucking gangbusters. You could, you could just put up a sign that says standup comedy. You'll sell 600 tickets. It is fucking incredible, incredible time. and just a great population that I really think sees the good side of life because they've had it so rough so recently that now it's become one of the tech capitals of the of the world. Estonia? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's absolutely incredible.

They're way, as far as like technology for everything being, you know, cash lists and connected to bank accounts. and everywhere where it has Wi-Fi, Estonia is famously, they're like leaps and bounds ahead of lots of countries. They're very tech savvy, and it's just a boom situation there. So it's just a wonderful place to be. Wow, I never would have. That wouldn't have crossed my mind. I've got to be very clear.

You know what? It's interesting when you talk about freedom of speech and things like that. That's something very foreign to Canadians and North Americans for that. matter. Estonia. I'll have to put that on the bucket list of places to venture to then. I played hockey in Finland, so I mean, I know exactly what you're talking about. I was a stone throw from it, but never explored as much as a guy would have liked to

to experience different parts of that little chunk in there. Okay. Oh, well, you'll love this story because the Finns, every Canadian knows that the Finns are the hardest drinkers out of all the hockey. It's the Finns, right? They are. It gets insane, those guys. Some of my favorite stories come from drinking with the fins, yes.

It's crazy, man. They're crazy. So in between, so you do the gig in Tallinn, which is the capital of Estonia. And then your next gigs are in Finland. So there's a ferry between the two countries. And the first time I took it, I think it was at 11. am, alcohol is so expensive in Finland that finish people bring, you know, those like moving dollies that you move furniture with.

Yeah. They load on the ship with an empty dolly. And then there's a liquor store on the other side inside the ferry terminal in Tallinn. So they all come off the boat. They fill up those dollies with liquor. And they pull it back out into the water. boat and then and then they cruise home. So I'm on the way home and this whole ferry ride is just built. It's 11 a.m. and it's built for the Finns to get fucking smashed. There is discos,

pub quizzes, there's dance competitions and everybody's got their giant dolly full of whatever vodka that they're carrying cross. It was balls to the wall like college dorm room party at 11 am on a on a on a on a Wednesday or whatever it was the fins are insane man it's hilarious well i always tell the story and now things might have changed this is a few years ago now i assume it has not but at the time chewing tobacco was illegal to sell in finland so we'd be on a road trip going to one of the northern towns in finland and we get close to the sweden border so what the bus would do take an hour detour cross about 10 feet into the Swedish border and there'd be this store like a gas station

built for chewing tobacco. And you'd walk in and it was like going to get a can of Coke from a corner store, right? These cooling refrigerators built all the way to the roof as high as you can see filled with chewing tobacco. And the entire team would bust in there by bagfuls, throw it on,

including the bus driver, the coach, I mean everybody, and then we carry on our hockey game. And I'm looking around going, this is the most insane

but cool experience I'll probably ever have, right? Like, I mean, who goes out of their way on their way to a big hockey game

because they can't literally buy chew in their country. But right across the border, you certainly can. It wasn't illegal to chew. It was illegal to sell chew, right?

So there's this little store just make it a million dollars sitting right across the border. It was a super cool experience. So I understand the booze thing. Yeah. Yeah. Oh,

that's hilarious. And the same thing happens in Norway because they border Sweden as well. So when you're on tour of the North. And are you surprised how many of them shoot? Like the women, all the girls. All the girls. Yeah.

Just upper deckers. Not even lower deck. Fucking top shelf. Boom. Throw it in there. Incredible. Oh, man. it was a fun time there.

It was, that is, Finland was some of the nicest people I ever met came from Finland. I love Canada. Everybody knows I love Canada. I've been across Canada. I think we got great people all across this country. But Finland,

no matter where I went, they were just like absolute sweethearts, but they did crazy things like that. They have the party boat that goes from not Helsinki. It's a town a little further up and goes across the sea to Sweden. And the entire ship is just there to party. and you get on the boat and you just, it's a ferry ride, but it's a party barge.

My brother's been across it, and he just talks the world about it. And all I did was go there and play hockey. That's all I did. Play hockey, visit where Santa Claus supposedly lives, see one of this crazy movies that I can't even remember what it was called. It was fantastic. It was all on Finnish. That's English subtitles. But it was about Santa Claus being a monster.

And if you get to see that movie, it was fantastic. That'll change that'll change Santa Claus for you. Right on. Yeah, I'll look out for it. Did you run into my buddy Josh Green over there? I didn't. Did you play? No, I can't say it did.

No. All right. Yeah, he played over. Well, he played for a bunch of NHL teams, but he's a Camrose boy. And he played, he finished up in Finland. So I wondered if you run into him. I can't say it did. You know, for people wondering how me, everybody always asks this, Paul.

They go, how. how on earth do you find these people? I got to throw a shout out to Mr. Falsher because without Falsher, I don't know who you are. And I want to know the dirt. So Dallon lives with your family for what? What would have that been? A couple months?

Well, yeah, let me clear that up right away. Dallin never, he wasn't billeted by my family. He just wouldn't leave the couch. He just, he was like, he was like, He was like a raccoon that came in one day and you couldn't get the guy off. Like he found my mom's pantry full of food and then you just like, you're just, yeah, this is, this is home. This is home.

They're not pushing too hard. I'm staying here. Exactly. And he couldn't get rid of him. And we would never want to. He is one of my favorite humans in the world. Just an absolute delight. So,

so that's how that went down. He wasn't officially with my family, but he just, He just decided that's it. Well, you must have, you must have, other than him being a raccoon, you must have a fun story about Dallon that you can share. Well, yeah, absolutely. I mean, Dallon, so my parents, I really loved having hockey billets because, you know, I don't know if it's like every parent, but my family and my extended family didn't necessarily enjoy the younger generation.

getting drunk, you know, like you could have a few drinks, but they never like to see you get like, you know, toilet licking smashed. And, and I got to thank False, Dallin, for introducing that to my family. Yeah, that's good. That's good. Yeah, I enjoy that. Yeah, because I remember the specific moment because I think it was at a maybe it was a year end wrap up or maybe one of the playoff they won the playoff series and the all the billet families and everybody got together and Dallin and the boys were were smashed and and I remember my mom saying like Dallon's one of the best people I've ever met and he was so drunk and I was like I was like yeah like you can you can drink and be awesome like it's not it's you know and and I really think that

changed my parents perception about about getting smashed, you know. They, then they themselves drink a little bit, but, you know, not not Falshires style. So it's, uh, um, the Falshires, the Falshires have all been on the podcast. I had a brother's round table with the Falshires. So I sat down with all three of them. Dustin, Dallas, and Dallum, in their father's, uh, Harley Bar in the garage. Very cool. And, uh, when you say Falsher, uh, smad, you were banged. You were banged. on because I sat down and no quicker had I like set up the mics and they're already too deep and they're like hey you have them on I'm like yeah so I grabbed one and I'm like you know I'm like I'm trying to

set things up and the boys are after it they were having a good time yeah yeah yeah they're so funny bad yeah and I remember and he was up for anything because he would come home you know after curfew or whatever I'm sure and my um we lived in town see my parents, we had a farmhouse. We moved, my dad got transferred to Vancouver and when we got transferred back to Camrose, they wouldn't sell that farmhouse back to my dad. So we had to get a house in town. But my mom still had horses out at that farm. So she used to go out there late at night and false would come home smashed and say to Yvonne like, well, fuck it. Let's go feed those horses. And he used to go on. Most nights he would be drunk going out to the farm with my mom

feeding the horses, changing the blankets. And like, he's just like, fuck, he's just a great guy. Like, he's amazing, amazing fella. Dallan, that's awesome. I do appreciate it. I always love hearing the stories about the locals and how they impact outside the locality. And for it to be, I had Glenn Helion.

Actually, it came out today. Yeah, came out today. And Glenn played back. for the LA Kings. That's who he started out for. And J.P. Kelly is a guy from Lloyd who coached me and played for the Kings back in the day. And I said, so what was J.P. like in the dress room? And he goes on this long story about how J.P. had a bucket of beer here and a bucket of beer over there and a bucket of beer in the shower. And J.P. was drinking. I'm like, that's the story of Lloyd right there, right? Like, we do enjoy our Pilsners. That's, that, that is true. Yeah, definitely. It's a good. And we had

another, well, he's from, what is it, Paradise Valley? Paradise Valley. Yeah, PV. Okay. PV, yeah. And I emceeded his wedding, too, but he's like, he's very, uh, James Willis, who, um, who's around. I don't know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, my family, uh, billeted Willis as well. So we had a couple of the, the Lloyd area fellas and they're like, every person I meet from Lloyd is fucking hilarious, man. It's, uh, it's, it's It's awesome. The comedy shows I used to do as a kid in Lloyd Minster were very difficult. Where did you do the comedy shows in Lloyd? It was a like it was a Spanish themed nightclub.

Fuck, what was it? Amigos. Amigos? Amigos. It would be at amigosos. Oh, dude. Oh, my God. Yeah.

And I had a joke that I carried. for years because I was really young. They stopped doing shows at Amigos. I think they only did a few. Amigos was the hit when I was a kid, and then the cooler kind of came in. And then Amigos disappeared, but it's back. Amigos is the bar now. Well, I mean, if you go to the bar.

Yeah, you know me. I started this thing off with three kids, and I got to leave and come here and drink scotch with you on a noon, and it's been fantastic. But Amigos is back if you're up tearing up the bar scene, yeah. Oh, yeah, right on. okay, okay. But I saw somebody passed out under a urinal at Amigos.

And it was, I carried. Poor spot. I carried that. Poor spot. The poor guy. And you Lloyd boys were not giving them a break on it either. It was fucking whole face washes. It was nasty. That would be

a, you bastards for peeing on them. But can you imagine waking up and being like, what is that right like oh oh that's a terrible thought brutal brutal that that joke just kind of writes itself for you how much time do you you spend researching and developing your material well I have to write a new I have to have a brand new 25 minutes every year that's theater quality So I need a well-structured 25 minutes with, you know, a good opening. I need short little jokes for transitions and then a big closer that's going to get an applause break.

And it takes me a that my tour, theater tour usually ends in about March, maybe first week in April. And I start writing for it the second week in April. And it's a fucking panic until January 1st again. So it takes me, you know, a good eight months, seven to eight months to write 25 minutes that is serviceable for a theater audience. So, and just like anything in life, I guess you don't really do it unless there's a gun to your head. So if without those tours, I wouldn't spend too much writing. But because of the sheer terror to try to make, like knowing that I have to have this material ready to go, I write a lot. I write a lot, a lot.

So two things come to mind. The average person is going to say 25 minutes, shit, that isn't that long, but I assume 25 minutes on stage is a lifetime. Oh, God, yeah. And it's not even really a heavy pace because, you know, guys like, you know, the top dogs in the industry, you know, Bill Burr and all those guys, they're pumping out an hour a year, 60 minutes. But I've never been very good in school or spelling or writing. So I can only do about half, half of what. the big boys do. But yeah, 25 minutes on stages is an eternity. It's a long time. The second thought is you can't regurgitate some of the stuff you've done over the past 20 years?

No, because these tours are people coming back to see you every year. So we have a rule that you can't repeat one joke that you've told on a past tour. So you need to have a completely fresh 25. really so you're saying there is somebody out there or maybe lots of people who for 20 years have seen you from 18 all the way up to where you're at um well no no because um during i only i've only been doing the theater tour for eight years so um that's what that's when i would have started that heavier pace of writing and i've been doing the european theater tour for five or something like that. So that's when I had to keep up that space. If you saw me before that,

you would have seen the same old, you know, having sex with the cougar, throwing a French fry in the air, petrified seagull bullshit that I was peddling for about 13 years. So do you, so do you enjoy,

do you enjoy then having to, the 25 minute, do you enjoy that? Like, does, as a comedian, is that like, that's the bees' knees? That's, that's kick ass. Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, it's completely changed my love for the, for comedy. It's, um, before I was forced, before I was put in a pressure situation for the theater tours, um, you know, it's, it's, it's a bit soul crushing going out there and doing the same

goddamn material every time. and then you're not even really doing it for the art. You're more doing it for going from city to city to party, basically, because you could just talk that dumb routine that I've been doing for 13 years. I don't even need to be in the moment on stage to do it. It just comes out of your mouth. You've got no soul behind it. So until I was put in this situation where I needed to create, yeah, I adore it.

Because now I use the comedy clubs like in the UK. and in Canada to instead I use it to create material. So every show now, I'm scared and I'm doing a new joke in the middle of a headlining set that I don't know which way it's going to go. And probably one out of every three jokes that you try sucks. So, you know, it's dangerous. It's and you're in the moment. And it's, I love it.

I absolutely love it. But that's a hell of a fucking feeling. That like rush of like, something new and you don't know the outcome? Yeah. There's something there. That's addictive. Oh, it's addictive.

Hell, yeah, yeah. And to see it fly too, like I just had, I've done two weeks of work this year, but I have, I wanted, I had a concept for a closing joke for the next tour. And it was just lucky that it just started working one away, right away. I mean, right the first time I told it, it was seven minutes of, pure fun and when you see it take off just some dumb idea that um it's so addicting it's it's yeah it's like snowboarding it's fun do you ever does your brain ever turn off from comedy then like can you just like go to a family christmas and not see some humor starting to pop out of different

situations like can you turn that side of your brain off or is it just always firing um yeah yeah yeah i think you can turn it off off like oh yeah yeah i can turn it off and just be um just be a nephew or a grandkid or something i i you know but come to think of it i do take a lot of notes at family reunions on my phone so um you're in the middle of a family reunion hopped on the phone grandma just did x and billy just whatever that's what you're doing Yeah, because I do have like, there's Paul the comedian over in the corner again, typing on his phone.

Meanwhile, all you're doing is you're just analyzing everybody. Exactly. Yeah, so I guess, yeah, you know what? Yeah, that's bullshit. I guess I can't turn it off because I have like tons of jokes. I have this great aunt, Chris, and she knows about the jokes. And they're like, you know, she, I'm not taking the piss out of her or anything. She's just a delightful human.

But I have lots of jokes about her. And so, yeah, you're right. I guess I can't turn it off. I'm oh yeah you're you learn to look at the world as an observer and try to and always be asking why like why would we do that why would and then and questioning everything and I yeah I guess I guess I guess I guess it's hard to turn off now that I think about it for sure and I have a notes in my phone there's probably 5,000 notes in my phone just just just just about random bullshit you know when you go back to saying getting bit you talk about comedians you can see when a person on their first time

gets bit or you talk about not being able to turn it off i just when i played hockey that makes i think there's guys who just they they fall into sport or they fall it doesn't have to be hockey be anything i think getting bit goes to anything and when i first started this uh february 2019 the first time i did it i went wow that's something that was that was something right and then and then you just you just fast forward and it's addictive which is, you know, I'm speaking directly to what you've been talking about with comedy. It's addictive. It's, there's this rush of when you try something new, when you bring a comedian on for the first time.

I tell you what, I was, I'm always petrified, you know, like if I stayed in the wheelhouse of hockey player all my life, it's probably a successful recipe. Because I understand it. I've been relatively successful at it, right? Like, I've had some success on the hockey world of having guys come in. But there's something just fun about having something that is completely out of the recipe. Oh, it's whoever. And we're going to talk about their career. We're going to have some fun stories about NHL and blah, blah, blah.

Oh, we're going to do that again. We're going to rinse and repeat. But you mentioned the kind of the soul in it, the art form of comedy. And I hope that's what I do for my listeners all the time, because I really, I'm intrigued by that. Because if you regurgitated the same thing over and over and over again, although it will be funny if it's the first time you've heard it or enjoyable, maybe the first or third time you've heard it,

I feel like it just kind of gets old over time. And talking about the soul and comedy, I think there's the same thing could be said about anything in life. And the soul, like, when you say that about comedians, the guy who comes to mind is Dave Chappelle. When I watch Dave Chappelle, every time he just looks like he's having fun and there's all the range of emotions with him. Bill Burr is another guy. Bill Burr is fantastic.

Like there's something to be said about those guys and how they can just see the world and be almost fearless in what they say and the reaction they're going to get. And that probably takes time and you probably, you know, doing it as long as you have, understand that. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, with those two, it takes somebody really special. Oh, yeah, and by the way, congratulations on your, because when, when you approach me and then I looked up your podcast and the first thing that came up was Ron McLean. And then I was like, I was like, what a fall from grace. This guy's going to have Ron McLean and then Paul fucking Meyerhawk on this podcast. You know, you know, my last two have been Paul? You know who you're following now? Glenn Ely, I know that. And Don Cherry right before that. Oh, my God. So Don Cherry, Glenn Healy, Paul.

That's who we got. How are you even taking this seriously right now? I love it. I love it. I tell you what, somebody at the beginning told me, before I let you answer, somebody told me right at the beginning. And they're probably right. The quickest way to success would be to follow that train ride,

that wave, that big hill, and follow Don Cherry with Glenn Healy and follow it with another. NHL and another NHL or another. I get bored. And so I love, I love throwing curveballs in. And from the listeners who follow along, they love a curveball too. They love hearing about a comedian from, well, cameras, which brings it local. But sitting over Paris and the stories and the lifestyle, it's awesome. Yeah, yeah. That's unbelievable. Don Cherry. Don fucking Cherry. We can say the fucking word in there. Apologies, mom, earmuffs. Get them on because that, yeah, it was cool. That's one off the bucket list.

Unbelievable, man. Unbelievable. Okay, cool. How long did you have him motor mouthing for? Did he do... An hour. Oh, my God. Cool, man.

Yeah. Unbelievable. Nice kit. Congratulations. Well, thank you. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know.

I look at it the same way I think, from what I'm hearing from you, is I just, I don't look at it the five-year game. I look at I'm 34 right now. and maybe podcasting changes over time and it turns into something a little bit different. But I really hope by 54 and 20 years, I'm still doing it, which means that, you know, when you listen to a guy like Joe Rogan and hear how good he is and like the guess he gets on, well, he's been doing it for, I don't know, 12 years now, 9, 10 years, whatever it is. And he's in his 50s.

So it just means he's 20 years advanced from me when he's just, I enjoy how he does it. There's going to be haters of that. There's going to be haters of anything in life, right? And as long as you're having fun with it and enjoying the ride, that's what it's all about. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I completely agree. And to your point about Burr and Chappelle on the same thread, it's kind of like, it's kind of like me knowing right at the front of this interview, I knew, you know,

I could play hockey. I was pretty decent. I was good, you know, I played in the summer leagues in Vancouver, but I knew I didn't have that pit bull madman you know I didn't have a goal you know I just didn't do it and um you know like I I'm I'm a successful comedian but you know when I look at Chappelle and Burr if you take an honest look at it I'm like for some reason inside of me I'm a little bit too worried about what people are going to think if I say a certain thing that's on my mind you know and those guys don't give a fuck.

They're built that way. They'll say whatever they're, they just don't care. They do not care. And you know, and you sort of have an honest look at yourself as a performer and you're like, well, I don't quite have that gear, you know. I'm still going to be placating to the audience a little bit where these guys are just built the way they're like, you get on board or you can or fuck off. I don't care.

I don't care if you don't like me and I still, you know. So there's differences like that that. that I really, really admire in those guys, you know, and still work towards today to be a little bit more fearless, even after 20 years. I'm still working on being fearless. Well, you watch Dave Chappelle. Dave Chappelle is, damn it, he's on the bucket list.

I know that's a, that's a, I get that one. Paul will come give me a parade probably. But I watch him, like the videos of him back when he was, like, what was it, 18 or 19? and he's on David Letterman. And you're like, and then you hear the skittie. It wasn't,

it wasn't like something like fluffy for a comedian to talk about. It was like, you know, race jokes and stuff that was, you know, when you think of the time, you know, that's,

that's pretty ballsy to walk out as a young guy and do that. But obviously that's what got him spotted and that put him on the map. But I, you know, and to your point about being conscious of who you are, that's a fair point. I,

I was saying one of the things you love about Don Cherry and it ended up getting them canned in the end right is he his filter was non-existent

he said what was on his mind and he meant it at all times and a lot of us are cognizant of well maybe we shouldn't say this at this point because this room won't

adjust to that and whatever else and as a host I'm pretty I'm going with the flow I'm not a I'm not a I'm not a Don Cherry And Don Cherry, well, there's a reason why he's Don Cherry.

And there's a reason why Dave Chappelle is Dave Chappelle. And they just, they have a way. And that's special. It's very special to watch. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's special to have the wiring to just don't, don't care. Like I don't, they just don't care. They don't care what the hell anybody thinks about it.

It's amazing. You say that. But what I did find interesting about Don Cherry is, I asked him the first time the critics got on him, right? Because, I mean, like on a national level, he says some of the things he says, and they must have berating him. And you could tell.

He was thinking back to it, and he was just like, nope, the first time hurt. And the first time I wanted to quit. Yeah. And you go, yeah, I get that. It was a very human side of Don Cherry

for a brief 15 seconds on the entire interview where you're like, and I bet you Dave Chappelle has felt the same thing, right? to expose yourself that much to the world is while it's very, it's showing vulnerabilities. And if there's anything you've probably learned on the world is no matter how good of a person you ever are, there's still going to be somebody who hate you, always.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. There is no pleasing everybody. That's for sure. You must have had, how many years you've been doing comedy now? 20. So you've 20 on the button. 20 on the button yeah I started in 2000 so 2000 man right on my birthday May 25th 2000 I started

okay so in 20 years who is the most memorable heckler you've ever had where you just wanted to walk out and swat him oh god good question um you know oh yeah this yeah I mean the the one and I actually took the scary thing he said to me and I use it in a joke about how how Canadians start a fistfight. But it was in Lethbridge. It was a gig called the Blarney Stone in Lethbridge. And when I was on stage, I was, you know, I do a lot of crowdwork. I talk to people and I was talking to the obviously a table of brawlers. Brawlers. I mean, these guys were just like, just like, like, like you, like a backwards hat.

But, you know, like I was a kid. Fucking backwards hats, bastards. Yeah, yeah. But you could just tell they've been into some altercations, you know? And, um, and I was opening. I must have been 19 years old. And I said something to one of them. And he said, uh, watch your fucking mouth or I'm going to punch the eyebrows off your face. And that was that stuck in my mind the whole time. But somebody came to my defense and they're like, don't do that, man.

He's just a kid. He's trying his best. And he's like, why don't you fucking? And then a full scale brawl broke out. And instead of leaving the stage, I just held onto the microphone and I did the hockey announcements for the brawl. There must have been 20 guys fighting full.

Like cop showed up and I just gave people nicknames of who they looked like. So one guy had a big nose, I was like, whoa, Tim Hunter takes a giant left to the, and I just did the hockey announcement for this brawl. It was, yeah, that experience really sticks out to me. But that line, it shook me to my core. I'll punch the eyebrows off your face. I thought, how descriptive. Very good lines, sir.

Very good line. That's got to be the most Canadian thing ever. getting an absolute brawl at a comedy show and it started by defending the comedian. You're an asshole. Let's go at it ourselves. Not the comedians jumping off the stage. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That was incredible. And I'll tell you another scary one. It was in London, one of my first gigs in London, England when I'd moved there. And same thing. I usually find. trouble and I go at it head on. I figure that's the best policy. Just get it on the table and go at the go at the tough guys. Equally as tough. I just go right down their throats. And it just, it works for me. So there was a geezer in the bar, a real tough guy. And I said something to weird. Yeah, that's a

Gaser. Gyser. Gyser. All right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. London Gieser. You know, like, oh, he might fucking, oh, you might, you know, like a geeseer, right? Um, So, but he, he walked up on stage, on, right on stage, and the whole rest of the crowd went, ooh, and he was wearing a track suit, you know, South London guy, and he handed me the beer, and I was like, what's this for? And he said, so when you get stabbed in the parking lot after the show, everybody will know it was me. And then he walked off.

And the whole crowd, everybody again went like, oh, hey. Like a kid got in trouble at school. Like, hey, mate, you're going to get stabbed. Woohoo. Like, it was, that was a very scary one as well. That was a scary echo. So what did you do after that? Oh, they escorted me out.

Like, the bar owners and the bartenders and the, and the doorman and that, they put me in a blacktop cab outside. They completely escorted me out. It seemed like he was, no one to mess around with this guy. And they knew who he was. And so they just got me in car and got me out. there. What? You're telling me you essentially picked a guy, picked, made fun of a guy out in the crowd and he walked up, handed you and said, I'll stab you, and they escorted you. Did I hear that right? Yeah. Yeah, well, I finished my show. I did the rest of my time. And, uh, and yeah,

and then the bar owners and the bartenders and the, and the dormant, they walked me out, put me in the cabin and sent me on my way. Hey, Paul, that's Tony. Uh, we're going to ask you you don't want to fuck with him. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Exactly, yeah, and I never went back to that venue or really to that. And I'm never coming back here ever again. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so those two stick out in my head as a weird heckling experiences. Now, I got to bring, the wife and I have talked about this awful lot,

because I'm a big fan of, as you've heard, Dave Chappelle, he, Bill Burr, back going, like, to my younger years, Eddie Murphy, um, Dane Cook. And what we always wonder is, and Mel and I were literally just talking about this like two days ago is, is there a lot of thought that goes into the, the outfit when you're doing,

you know, like I'm going to be on stage. I'm going to, I'm going to put on an outfit because, and the guys I'm talking about, they always seem to like the leather, the, the,

I don't know, man, you talk, I heard you talk about the plaid shirt and that. So I assume there's, there's some serious thought that goes into, hey, I'm going to wear this because it's going to elicit it. This is what I look like.

But I don't know. Like what did the comedians talk about with what they're wearing when they walk out to a, you know, to a live special. Yeah, yeah. So I guess I came up in an era where it didn't matter as much. It was more of the, you know, Zach Galifanakis. Everybody was wearing hoodies and the t-shirts and, you know, it was more hipster. which fits a Canadian wardrobe perfectly.

All I really own is hoodies and teach like a, you know, so in my era, you know, leather pants and a leather jacket? I know. Not that I admit to. Once in a while the missus makes me put on the red leathers. But,

so, but, you know, I guess the, the television specials that I've done. I mean, I did an hour comedy special for the comedy network when I was a young man.

And then I definitely thought about the wardrobe for sure. But I, you know, I didn't, that rock star thing was gone, you know, I wasn't, I wasn't going to the leather shop and, you know, just getting a nice pair of shoes and a dress shirt and a nice pair of jeans, you know, it was that whole rock star comedy had passed by the time I was coming along. It's bringing back why we were talking about it because Kevin Hart had done one here recently in his living room or whatever, wherever it was. And he had like this weird, I don't know, pajama suit on kind of thing.

And we're like, why does he have somebody looking at him going, that looks great? Like, why would you wear that? Or is it just from where I'm sitting and people are going, you got a backwards hat on a t-shirt, you look like a moron too. I have no idea, Paul. I have no idea, Paul. I'm wondering if comedians actually talk about this and are like, you know what you need to do? You need to develop a pajama suit because a pajama suit is going to look amazing and people are going to talk about this. Like it's Kevin freaking heart. Like why wouldn't he just, I don't know, wear something that looks presentable? Yeah, yeah. Was he doing, I haven't seen it, but was he doing like a COVID, you know, like, oh, this is my.

No, that's true. That is true. That is fair. It was a COVID. it from his house so maybe that hey now you're making me sound like a jackass all right where he was doing the pajama suit because he's locked in his house and he can't leave okay fair enough i'm an assail hey thanks paul guys actually more thought out than he than than i am all right yeah yeah yeah but um yeah you know i think the trick is is um especially if no one knows you like you know when i'm doing gigs in in Europe, no one knows who the hell I am. So I think you choose clothes. In comedy, you really only get 15 seconds of a crowd's first impression.

And they're going to decide if they like you or not, if you're an unknown person. If they already know who you are, if you're Chappelle or Seinfeld or something, you have their trust immediately. But for an unknown person, you got about 15 seconds. And they're going to decide whether you're going to bomb or whether you're not in those 15 seconds, 15 to 30, about your first joke. So whatever you're wearing, if it could fit your character the best, you know, so if those Europeans are going to look at me like I'm some sort of like dumb Canadian lumberjack, which a lot of them do, you know, then a plaid shirt and a pair of

jeans, it's going to fit your character. You're going to find you're going to be a lot more successful. And as far as talking about it beyond that, I think that, I think pretty much every comic would agree with that. 15 seconds is a short time, isn't it? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You really got to hit him hard that first one.

And then once you got him, you got him. You can go, you know, take him down weird paths after that. But, yeah, you don't have too much time to make that impression. Hmm. 15 seconds is a short period of time. I, I, uh, when you do a podcast and you talk to somebody not for 15 seconds, as you have clearly experienced. 15 seconds is like, man, you got to hit them hard.

You got to hit them. You must have a nice warmer that you're like, hey, how's it going? Boom. Or do you create new ones all the time then? Yeah, I try to, because of the tour, I try to create like one real snippy opening a year. But yeah, so I have a few of them. but and you try to take pride in how short a joke can be the the fewest words possible

you take oh yeah yeah if you could trim the fat on yeah and just get down a joke shaved down to a few words it's beautiful it's beautiful another comics will be like god damn that is fucking good wait wait wait wait and i don't know i'm putting you on the spot now but do you have one of those Yeah, so I think the most recent quick opener that I've been using in Europe was last year I found a lump in my right testicle. And then the whole audience kind of gets taken back. And then I say, you're left. Because, do you know what I mean? Yeah, I know what you mean.

I put you on the spot because I'm like, what happens if I don't laugh? Like, right? I'm like, that's going to be awesome. awkward, right? No, that's good. As soon as you mentioned testicles, it already makes you smile, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. And you say a lump, then people are going to, you know, be obviously concerned. So it just, it gets their attention right away, and then the year left thing, then, and you're off to the races. So that's, I think that's my most proud opener that, and I really did find a lump, and then I have a whole story that went with that. But,

but that's been my most sharp opening joke for the last couple of years. Now, I said at the start, of all this before we started recording. If people want to listen more of you, they should go to the microdose podcast. Now, I was, I'm about to sound really, really dumb because I don't really, you talk about just, no, it's a microdose of you to,

yet everything on the image, everything about the podcast suggests microdosing. Right. Which, is that part of it then? I guess in theory we thought that it would be fun to be microdosed every time we did the podcast. But logistically, and it just wouldn't work out, you know, because I'm in different countries all the time. You know, I'd be hard pressed to find psilocybin in Oslo, not knowing anybody, you know.

So I guess that that was the theory. And when we came up with the concept, we were microdose. And when I asked Damon to do the podcast with me, so it was a bit of the, a bit of both of that. But really all we promise is it's just a microdose of Damon and Paul every week. So it's a little microdose of funny every week. Now, this is where I come in sounding really dumb because I don't microdose. and I got to assume that half of my listeners have no idea what I'm even talking about right now. So can you at least explain what the hell you're talking about?

Sure, yeah, absolutely. So microdose would be taking a drug for the, you know, I wouldn't like to call it that. Let's say psilocidin or THC or LSD in such a minimal dose that it would. really it really doesn't affect you to the point where you're out of control. So I'm talking about minute doses of these products. And the reason why right now it's so popular and you're seeing a lot of states and Canada is very close to it as well, legalizing, especially psilicidin, is because they're finding that for mental health, and in the hockey world,

I'm sure you've already heard this, but it's getting very popular now for post-concussion syndromes, for anxiety, for... What is it about it, though? Like, what... As a guy who's never done it, I sit here and I go, okay,

so what is it, you know, I enjoy, partaking in a scotch with you. Yeah. What is it about microdosing that is just like, I don't know, why is everybody slowly turn into it? What, why is, like you say, I absolutely have heard about it in Canada. I've certainly heard about it a lot more in recent days and then probably lasts like

three, four months. And if you go back, you know, a couple of years, certainly heard about it back then. And it just seems like it's coming up more and more and more. And that's why I want to talk about it is more so just for awareness of what it is and why it's becoming prevalent. So what is it about it? So what they're finding is that, and I'm going to also say that I am not a doctor. Yeah, I'm not a doctor.

And I am well read on it. And I do believe in the benefits for mental health. But what they're finding is you're, especially with psilocyden, your brain can make new neural pathage ways. So basically new connections. So if you're, let's say, an ex-hockey player that has a lot of concussions and post-career you're suffering from anxiety and depression, these new neural passageways can make a new connection in your brain that can be very positive. you can start retraining your brain. And you can, that's basically the concept around it.

It's basically taking an electrician and pulling some of those plugs out and putting them in other places. And they're finding, I mean, it is about to get legalized. And it is legalized in a lot of states. And scientists and some doctors have been using these methods before the war on drugs, especially if you're talking, talking about things like ayahuasca. Ayahuasca, they were using to cure alcoholism and post-traumatic stress disorder

way before the war on drugs. I mean, back in the 60s, with an 86% success rate for addictions, 86% for alcohol and for drugs. They were using ayahuasca to... What is... I'm going to once again assume, A, 86. is like, wow. Like that is a big number.

I'm going to assume a lot of people here. Maybe people don't want to know, but what is ayahuasca? I'm going to assume that a few people have never heard of it before, or don't understand. Yeah, so ayahuasca comes from South America. Peru is where you could go for most of your ayahuasca retreats. They do have them on Vancouver Island.

they do have some in Mexico. They call it a medicine. It is a root. It is a natural root. Basically, you know, when you die, your life flashes before your eyes. Well, that's just a chemical that's released into your brain just before you die. Now, ayahuasca basically just pulls that cord and releases that chemical.

So basically, you're dealing with all your fears. and at one time. It's all hitting you at one. So it's basically, they say it's kind of like the Coles notes to enlightenment is what they're saying. So you go down there if you're suffering from addictions and things like that. Obviously, a lot of that is packed into your past, you know. So this makes you face all those truths that you've been hiding. All the demons.

So it forces you to do it. And it's awful. You spend eight hours vomiting. in a bucket and it's scary and but yeah do your own research I mean I'm not even really I've never done ayahuasca I'm not telling your listeners to go do it

but but you know it's it's hard to ignore the movement that's happening right now I mean all these things are coming into into the public you know mainstream and if you're in and it's just interesting to read about so yeah so my podcast

partner. He is one of the guys that did go down to do ayahuasca. And he had unbelievable success with it. I mean, completely changed his life. How so? Well, he's a little bit older than I am and I don't want to talk about his business. But he, you know, he was able to let go some things that were plaguing him. And that was years ago. And he's still, he's still good to go. And it was just, it was one week ceremony and and he had to face all his demons and coming out the other side and another one of our buddies who's who's an actor who was plagued with depression and and addiction to alcohol. He did it at the same time. I believe it was six years ago and he didn't touch it. He still hasn't touched a beer. I mean, it's not like it's even an effort. He just got back and he just didn't,

there was no point to touch a, he has zero craving. for alcohol, zero. You just, you just hasn't touched it. So it's, it's quite incredible. It sounds incredible. Like, yeah. I mean that in like the, you know, I don't mean that in the sense that I'm hopping a flight out to Vancouver tomorrow to go do it. I mean that in the sense that I feel like you search in life as you get older for incredible, incredible experiences or whatever, what have you. And one I've been raving on lately and everybody's laughing at me is natural honey. That's an experience I've had where I take it at night with just tea and I sleep unbelievable.

And the more I research it, the more I find that, well, wait, like, pure honey is actually a natural remedy for sleep. And especially if the bees have grown up where you grew up, right? They're in your area. There's a lot of properties in that that are very beneficial. And you're like, what's incredible about it, isn't that it works is that it works so well it's so evident like the next day it's evident like what the hell was that and when i hear you talk about ayahuasca it's not that it's not that

you go racing to go do it it's it's it's not like it's um it's not like it's uh acdc coming in emminton you're like oh fuck i got to go hear those guys live you know yeah it's what's incredible about it or what the hearing about it is that's interesting to me is that it's something that immediately you can see a change in people and for good things right like not like so much what we hear about drugs is like if you try let's let's use something popular a popular drug right now is probably you know while weed is also obviously been across the country but let's go something a little further. Let's go cocaine. And cocaine, there's this definite, once again, like, very negative spot on it for a rightful reasons, because a lot of people who do that

never come back from it. And that is evident to the population, but what you're talking about, and the reason why I'm just curious about it, because once again, your podcast is the microdose, right? And although it's a play on words, you've said in the beginning, and that's what it was. And I'm just curious about it. And I got to say, I love that you go, I'm not a doctor, I want to put it, but if people have listened that long or this long, they understand at this point that we're not doctors here.

We're just talking about things that are, well, evident, noticeable. And I find that very interesting. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I guess my, like, the nice thing about ayahuasca and psilicidin is they're not addictive. I mean, there's in no way, it's not like cocaine where you're like, okay, you do it once and you're like, well, I'm doing it for 15 years, you know, there's no, or alcohol. There, you know, there, there, there isn't that drawback to those things. It is, yeah, when you do ayahuasca, you know, you're, you're never want to do it again, ever. And so it, it doesn't have that quality about it.

So there's really no reason not to have an open mind about it. And I'm really happy. I just listened to an ex-hockey player. He was an enforcer that's using microdosing for psilocybin. And who's that? It was on spitting chicklets. It was one of the, it was maybe four episodes ago. I'm going to try to think of the name.

I've been trying to think of it for a couple of minutes, so I don't think it's going to come to me. but he started a company where he's going to yeah look at about four episodes ago he and you know if it's getting into if it's getting into that level of our popular culture if got if hockey players are seeing the benefits of it um you know i think it's something we grant it's something you got uh grattan yeah grattan yeah grattan it was grattan and he's using it and he's completely cured, you know, he's doing a lot better. And that guy was in serious trouble in really dark place. So you listen to that interview. It's just so cool that there's a different option rather than a chemical. And he's not getting high on mushrooms. He's just doing the, you don't even feel it. It's just a minute level of it. Just a little bit. You don't even feel a buzz. And it just, it just helps with those neural pathageways. No, it's cool. Like I say, the reason I wanted to go pick on a little bit,

is once again, you got a podcast. And I know it's play on words and everything else, but I think it's just, you know, you've got to expand your mind a little bit. You got to just open your mind to a couple different ideas and see what it is and whether it's there for you or not. I could care less. I'm not running this, like I said earlier,

I'm not running to Vancouver to go do it. But I do find it interesting that it's evident. And there's very few things in life that come along that are like, just like evident like wow that worked or that didn't work i mean it can go both ways yeah yeah and you know for me i i'm i don't think people would describe me as somebody that um that suffers from a lot of depressions i'm usually a pretty jovial guy i have my bad days like everybody but um yeah i still find a lot of success in staying away from lots of carbohydrates and exercising for me is like equally this is just another positive thing you could do for yourself

I think you know just another thing in your arsenal and as along with you know CBD oil is another huge one right now that um which is derived from you know cannabis but again there's no THC in it there's no quality to actually get you high but people are I mean it's um it's an anti-inflammatory so it's going to it's going to help in a lot in a lot of different ways for people and And it's people I think are starting to have a bit more of an open mind about these things. So I think I think it's really cool. Well, that's one of the cool things about internet. Zoom calls, podcasts, everything like this.

It's just expanded the world. So like, well, or shrunk the world, whichever way you want to go. It's allowed access to really smart ideas that, I mean, Come on, man. And we're sitting in, I'm sitting in Lloyd. You're sitting in Paris. It's just, even in what we're doing right now, if you just had the old ways 100 years ago, you wouldn't know anything outside of where you're at. And I wouldn't either. And there's nothing wrong with that. There's a lot of positives that came off of those old ways. But in our current world, there's a lot of positives that come off of being able to expand the world, being able to talk to

people on the other side or bring in and hear the expert from, I don't know, connect. but you're sitting in Lloyd. Like that, that's really cool to what we have right now. Yeah, yeah, it's great. The access is amazing right now. Yeah, and 99% of it is free, which is even better. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's perfect. It's absolutely perfect, yeah.

Yeah, and, yeah, I just, actually, I watched a documentary last night about it, but I love this quote where they said, they were talking about a, if you put it in a sports analogy. So they said, well, if you had a hockey team and they were, you know, since 1900, they've never made the playoffs ever. Just, you know, that can't be the players. Like it can't be the human race since the beginning of a hockey. Eventually you're going to fire your coaches and your front end staff and you're going to

come at it with a different system. And that's how they explained what's going on now with the, with that microdose world. I think they're firing the front office of, you know, pharmaceuticals and some of those old ways that we used to do things. They've changed the front end staff and realizing a benefit for it. That's in it for all my hockey player listeners, they're going, you haven't made the playoffs in 120 years? What the hell is going on?

Fire everyone. Fire everyone now. The culture. It's culture. It's not McDavid. It's culture. Oh man, we're in business this year. We got the playoffs lucked. I can't wait for this all Canadian division. Oh, man. You know what? Everybody always rags on, well, not rags on. I mean, it's easy, easy, easy to look at COVID and look at all the restrictions that put on everyone and like all the negativity. I get everything about it.

But, and a big butt, in my opinion, is like, look at some of the cool possibilities that's grown. And one of them is, one of them was that. One of them was that. the NHL playoffs we had. Now it's the all Canadian division. Like how fucking cool is this? Tell me as a kid you didn't think, why can't all the Canadian teams just play each other? Like, wouldn't that be cool? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And especially having it like a baseball, more of a baseball series where you go to town, you play, you know, three games in a row. Again, I mean, like, it's a mini playoffs every week all over Canada. Like, it's, it is, I am so jacked for it. I already got my NHL package. package paid for. They sent me an email. I was like, hell yeah, you charged me whatever the hell

you want. I'm getting so I got on the TV here in France. I'm fucking ready to go. Oh, man, it's it's going to be fireworks out there. It's going to be so fun. I'm excited. Now the question I have then is where do the oilers finish? You got a prediction on that? Yeah, me and my old man were talking about this and I think with the risk of not being, you know, I know this. I know this Oh, you're being too biased? Or are you going to shit on them? Where are you going to? I think that we're going to be behind Toronto at the top.

You think Toronto's at the top? Yeah, yeah. I think it's going to be Toronto than the Oilers in the second slot. Interesting. I hope you're right. Well, I hope Toronto. I hope Amiton's at the top. I'm not going to lie, but.

Yeah. What do you think? Oh, I love the Oilers. I really do. But in saying that, you can't argue with Toronto. When you look at Toronto over the last, what has it even been in the last five years maybe? Like they've been very successful, but they play out of a division with Tampa Bay and Boston. They've met Boston every freaking year.

And we all laugh at them when they can't win. But, I mean, they're playing Boston. And Boston is one of the top, what, three, four teams in the league the last five years. I have a hard time, you know, I'm going to throw a wild card out there because everybody will laugh. But they just signed a local kid in Braden Holpey. And the Vancouver Canucks, when you watch them play, there's something fun to watch about them. I wish the Oilers would adopt a little more of it. They worked their asses off.

Yeah. And there's no, no, like, you just can't replace that. There's no, you can't, you can have all the talent in the world. Well, hell, Canada just played Slovakia. And it was a one-nothing game going in in the third period. And there was like, I don't know, what was it, five minutes left I want to see? Not even. There was like three minutes left.

And the reason why they were still in the game and Canada couldn't score is because Canada was trying to do the nonchalant, like fancy, you got all the talent in the world, and they should be up 10-0. But the other team just fucking works their bag off and just works and works and never relents. That's kind of Vancouver. Now my Vancouver and friends are going to say, I've got all these guys. Well, you do. You got a talented team.

But the others got your side on them like David and Nuge. And like they got some players. Got some absolutely. Oh, my God. But I look at it and I go, the Oilers haven't shown me enough where they are top and I could see where Vancouver is floating in there. Now, screw all you Calgary Flames fans.

I hope they are at the very bottom of the division. And, oh, it's the worst. My buddy called me on it because I was like, I was like, I hate Kentucky so bad. And he was like, if he was an oiler, you would love him. And I was like, I would not. And then, and he thought, but I guess like, yeah, I guess he's right.

Like if Maddie was an oiler, we'd be like, mix it up, Maddie. Come on, buddy, good job. But that there's no more frustrating hockey player in the NHL right now than fucking Chuck. Zach Cassian. Brakes Gagne's jaw, you fucking hate him. Now he's on our team, you love him. It's simple as that. If Chuck was on our team, we'd love him.

Yeah. Can't say the same thing about Johnny Hawking. but but but but but it's fair uh if you were going to take one calgary flame over the entire flames history to bring on the others who would you take in their prime uh terry crisp terry crisp i'm just doing it oh yeah i just tried to think of the most obscure flame so like the flames today or any flames flame of all time. Any flame, all time. All time. We're talking the Lanny McDonald's, the Theo Fulrys, the Doug Gilmore, the Jerome McGinnla, um, Kipper. Al McKinnis. Kipper. Yeah,

yeah, yeah, yeah. Rick Natress. Or hawk and lube, hawk and loob, baby. Bring him over. Oh man. Wow. That's a tough question. But you've got to go. If it's coming to the Oilers to my team, I got to go a Ginla because that guy was so solid, never got hurt. Unbelievable human. I'm going Iggy. If there's a flame that I love, it's a Ginla. And I can't name another flame that I loved. But I did love Iggy. if you didn't say Iggy I probably would have hung up this call that's the one I have that's the only one everybody will talk about they can say anyone else they want

a Ginla is a guy that you're like God I fucking hate the Oilers Oilers the flames but if he came across yeah and even for him to win a cup there I would have been like

mad at the flames but I would have been happy for Iggy like that guy he did everything right like absolutely yeah Sain Albert kid. Like, he's just the best.

He's just the best. And yeah, yeah, yeah, just a great guy. And all the, all the, you know, the Olympics, you know, how do you not love it? Yeah, he's just wonderful, wonderful. Okay, well, before I hold you here too, too long, and now my bottle of scotch is empty. So that's partly part of the problem is we're going to do the crewmaster final five. So a huge shout out to Heath and Tracy McDonald, uh, supporters of the podcast since the very beginning. Five quick questions. Long, short, you want to go? Here we go. If you could sit down

with one person, who would you take? And you know what? Normally I say dead or alive, but from now on, I think I'm going to say alive. I like somebody who tomorrow, if you wanted, you could have hop on the microdose. Um, my biggest, uh, letterman. I would, uh, I would really, really badly, uh, yeah, letterman, letterman, hands down letterman. Have you? Have you? Have you? you watched his show on Netflix? Absolutely. Absolutely. And I just, what a, what a great, what a great man. And to just give it all up and go to Montana and grow a beard and do, you know, do your own Netflix thing. Like he, everything he did with his career, it was like a veteran that won the Stanley Cup and then retired that second and walked away. It was perfect. He is the

benchmark in comedy, I'd say. So if I get Letterman, I'm going to send you that link because I'm certainly on my list because I also watch that show and he's fantastic. He's one of the best interviewers that I've seen. Who's your favorite guest on his show? His current show on Netflix.

Well, Obama, I guess. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I guess Obama because, yeah, I mean, it was just... It's Obama? It was historic. Like, yeah, Obama, Obama. You know, people can hate or love Obama.

It doesn't really much matter. But you get that guy for an hour and sit and listen to him talk. You aren't but engaged. Like, frig that guy is smooth. Like, he just unbelievable. And so inspiring. Every time you listen to him talk, you feel like you can make change. change in the world. Do good. Do good for yourself. Do good for others. He's just an inspiring,

inspiring man. Love that guy. If you could perform in one place that you haven't performed yet. No, if you could perform in one place. If you could go back no matter where it is and perform in front of a full house. So we're talking, you can get 100,000 people to come see Paul. That's cool. But where do you want to perform that you haven't or have? Well, Carnegie. Carnegie or Radio City Music Hall, but I would say Carnegie is number one. Carnegie Hall, New York would be a dream, a dream. What is it about Carnegie?

The reason that I say that is I've heard that come up, not with comics, but I've literally I think Glenn Healy just like that's why it's sprouting to my mind he plays the bagpipes and got to play the bagpipes at Carnegie I'm shouldn't you not

like is it just the history yeah yeah totally you know to know to like every every human that's walked on the planks on that stage are just like oh man legendary just legendary just walking on the same piece of wood that sinatra like everybody played that venue so and and i think it's a a cool uh i mean if you play if you play carnegie on your own name that's it you're you're

done you made it you no doubt about it so i think i think that would be my choice for sure if you could open for one show open for one comedian who you take somebody tomorrow is calling your phone boom pa we need you who are you going for So dead or alive or alive? No, I'm going to give you the free range. I'll give you the free range. Headberg. Headberg.

Mitch Headberg. Mitch Headberg? Mitch Headberg? Yeah. Yeah. That would be, if I could open for any person, be headbird. Really? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He was my, yeah, I absolutely adored Mitch. And basically was doing an impression of him when I first started. I just, you know, always, for me, yeah, Headberg, hands down. Current, one comic, one comedian that we should all look up that we don't know about. So obviously we've talked a lot about the Chappelle of the world, the Bill Burr, but who's one guy that people probably don't know about? I would say, and maybe people know, yeah, he's, well, okay, so I did a comedy competition

in Seattle in 2006. There wouldn't be a name and comedy that hasn't done this competition. It's a month on competition all over Washington State. Every comedian in America does it. You need a vouch to get into it from a past finalist to get you into the competition. So the guy that vouched for me is my podcast partner, Damon Schroeder. No kidding. Yeah, yeah.

So he placed third in the competition before I even started comedy. and then I said, I'd really like to do this. Can you vouch? She said, sure. And then he's like, I'll tell you what, I'll go with you. We'll go back into the competition.

We'll travel. We'll travel together. And I was like, oh, really. This is amazing. Yeah, yeah. So we went down. We did a month together in Seattle and no Canadian had ever won it.

And Damon, my podcast partner, was the first Canadian to ever win it. I came in second. He beat me by a couple of points. Son of a bitch. Fuck, Damon. Fuck, Damon. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And still every week holds it over my head. And in third place, and it's funny, they have a, that competition has been running for years. They say the spot you want is third because whoever places third in this competition becomes famous. And it happened. Our good friend, Rory Scoville, who, I don't know if you know that name, but that's why I'm going to mention it here because he's a well-known guy, but hasn't quite hit the superstardom yet. He's on his way, but he's had Netflix specials. He had his own NBC sitcom.

But if you don't know Rory, you've got to listen to him. You have to let he is phenomenal. And he does a thing that he calls surfing. So keep in mind when you watch him, and Damon, my partner does it now too. And I'm trying to, but he goes on stage with nothing in mind. He doesn't have prepared material. So when Rory does a special, it's all off the top of his head.

And it's super funny. It's a talent that I wish I one day can learn. So if you don't know Rory, get into Rory. He's amazing. Well, and you know, he said, do you know who he is? I'm like, can't say I've ever heard of him. But now that, you know, you look up, just recently, he was on Harley Quinn TV series. or Robbie the Tories series

or super like he's got like man his his list of things he's been on is just goes on and on and on and on yeah and he's sort of getting like you know the the male lead in some movies like you know Amory Schumer's new movie he was the male lead in that like he's very successful guy podcast on

Conan O'Brien's network and and all that all that good stuff so but yeah get into Roy and just keep in mind that he's just talking off the top of his head. And if you have, it's just incredible. Incredible. Okay. Your final one, let's take you back to whenever you want. So I want you to think of S&L. You're going to go to Saturday Night for one show. You can be a part of any of it. What skit and what actors do you want to be a part with it? Oh, hands down, Christina Applegate, David Spade, Chris Farley, Phil Hartman,

when Chris Farley was the motivational speaker and fell through the table. Van down by the river? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, my God. If kids don't know what that is, look that up right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. No question about it. That's the one I want.

God, would it hate you. You know, if I could have guests on that have passed away, Chris Farley is definitely in the list. Man, he was talented. Just funny. And it's so evident in that skit where everybody's like trying to hold it together but they can't anymore because it's just like,

what is what's going on here? Yeah, David Spades got his hand over his face the whole time, crying, laughing. And just before the podcast started, I don't know why I was watching Farley being introduced on the Letterman show. Remember when he runs from the back and shakes all the audience members,

picks a guy up, throws him in the trash in the alley. Like he was just dynamite, man. Dynamite. Oh, shit. That's good. That's good. Well, sir, I have thoroughly enjoyed having you on. I'm glad the internet worked this time and we got to do it. But really appreciate you hopping on and all the best to you here in the future. Oh, thank you so much. It was a pleasure to get to know you.

And I can't wait to see you. and Lloyd will have a beer in the Harley garage. Shirelesi. Hey folks, thanks again for joining us today. If you just stumble on the show and like what you hear, please click subscribe. Remember, every Monday and Wednesday a new guest will be sitting down to share their story.

The Sean Newman podcast is available for free on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you find your podcast fix. Until next time. Check, check, check, check. Welcome to the podcast, folks. Welcome, welcome. A goal of mine here in 2021 is to be more interactive here. Fuck, shot.

A goal of mine... Fuck. Fuck. La la la la la la la la. That's not what I want. It's not what I want. They, uh, you know, I, uh, originally from Camrose, Alberta.

Nah. Fuck. Originally from Camrose, Alberta. He plays second in the precheate. Fuck me. This is terrible because I know I got to pull this and put it at the end of the fucking episode.