So True with Caleb Hearon - Jaboukie Young-White is Getting Soft

Episode Date: August 15, 2024

Welcome back! This week's guest is the hilarious and talented Jaboukie Young-White! Jaboukie and Caleb talk directing styles, doing comedy in Chicago, the magical act of turning 30, dating in New York, and much more! Subscribe to our YouTube channel for full video episodes! https://youtube.com/@sooootruepod?si=v6jSeGm7tdow05Rg Join our Patreon for an exclusive extended interview with Jaboukie and other bonus content! https://patreon.com/SoTruePodcast?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink   Follow Jaboukie! @jaboukie (@fakejaboukie on TikTok) Follow the Show! @sooootruepod Follow Caleb! @calebsaysthings Produced by Chance Nichols @chanceisloud Filmed at WTF Studios in New York CitySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

If somebody's brave enough to put us in a road trip comedy, I fear how well it would do. I know. I do see it. I see that for us. I see it for us. A kind of plane trains and automobiles moment. Yes. Hey, you said it.

Execs. From your lips to an exec's ears. From my lips to an exec's ears. That's the name of the episode. What would be bringing you to New Yorkork if you moved here jabuki you're asking all the right questions i really love la like legitimately i think i'm one of the only people in the world who loves la i love it there but i date so much more in new york yeah and like la dating is a nightmare it's terrible i'm sure you know oh 100 it's a it's, 100%. It is a self-harm ritual. 100%.

When I was there for a year, nothing. Nothing. For you? Yeah. Well, the thing is that it's... Okay, this is the thing. When I went out there, it was like all of a sudden I'm talking to these people who are so hot they think the world is a good place.

Yeah. And I can't relate to that, and I also don't trust it. Yeah. You know? Yeah. It was too... The shift that you see in people's eyes when they realize that you're like someone. Oh baby.

I can't. After that I get the ick. Like I just can't do that. The thing, the only time I ever have fun at like events or parties in LA is if I can, if I can corner someone's plus one, the plus ones are where it's at. Are so interesting. Someone's plus one at a party in LA is if I can corner someone's plus one. The plus ones are where it's at. Are so interesting. Someone's plus one at a party in LA.

Their friend from high school, their accountant buddy that they bring around to these things to prove that they know someone normal. Those people, talk to all night. 100%. Love them. Forgot to change my shirt for our episode, so people are really gonna know

I just did these back to back. That's cool. We're going, everyone's seeing behind the curtain how the sauce is just made. Right. I'm doing New York episodes, baby. How many are you knocking out? I'm doing you and Devin today, and then that's it. We did too few banked episodes before I left town for a very long time,

and I was like, fuck, I gotta either go back to L.A. and skip New York entirely, or I have to figure this out. So we're doing this. But I'm so glad you could do it yes i literally love you oh my god i think you're i'm such a fan of yours you're amazing i think you're so iconic i literally i've told you this before i think but the first time i ever saw you i tell you this it was in chicago that like one it was at the crowd try again it was at the playground it was at the playground yes yes yes yes it was at the playground and i was i the playground. Yes, yes, yes, yes. It was at the playground, and I came. Basically, I was just about to graduate college, like two months later,

and I came to Chicago to see if I was going to move to Chicago because my plan was to move to New York all along. I had lived in New York in the summers during undergrad, and I love New York. But then some of my buddies were like, we're going to move to Chicago to do comedy. And I was like, I'll check it out. So I came up, and they were like, we've got to go to the playground. I guess they knew someone who was putting on the show or something but you did stand up on it and I was like I guess a star oh my god I literally turned my friends I was like that person is very fucking funny wait wait was this undergrad underground maybe holy shit maybe

I think that is a deep deep deep deep deep cut a deep cut and I even remember a joke you told I don't know if I've told you this, but you had a joke about you were wearing two different sneakers at the time. Like two different Jordans. Oh, yeah. And you were talking about like being followed around at CVS or something. And you were like, you think I'm going to steal from you? I'm wearing two different Jordans. It was a very funny

like, I was cracking up. And I was like, I love him. Thank you. And then you moved to Chicago. And then I moved to Chicago. Because of you. I'm not going to take that. No, no, no love him. Thank you. And then you moved to Chicago. And then I moved to Chicago. Yeah. Because of you. No, I'm kidding. I'm not going to take that. I'm not going to take that. No, no, no. That's too much.

But no, I did that. Going to that show and kind of being in Chicago, we spent some time at like IO and stuff. And I was like, you know, I do, I love New York, but I had, I had like a feeling that New York would have eaten me alive. 100%. At that age. Yeah. And it would have.

No, because I wanted to go to New York for school. But then when I look back, I'm like, I would have died. Yeah. I would have died. Would have I wanted to go to New York for school. But then when I look back, I'm like, I would have died. Yeah. I would have died. Literally killed me. I did not have the impulse control to live in New York at 18. No. I just didn't.

Some people can do that. I couldn't. I was never one of those people. Even at 22. Yeah. Like when I graduated college, I'm like, I don't know if I would have fully admitted it to myself at the time, but like I was not ready to be in New York. It would have eaten me alive.

There are like also there's so much legitimate industry here, like agents and managers and shit. Yes. I was not ready to be in New York. It would have eaten me alive. There are like also, there's so much legitimate industry here, like agents and managers and shit. Yes. I was not ready for that. I was bad. Yeah. I was very bad at comedy. You know what I mean?

See, I got really lucky. So I started in college and then when I came here, I could just kind of pretend like I just started comedy. Yeah. And everyone was like, you just started and you have like 30 minutes. And I was like, yeah, I know. It's crazy. It's nuts.

I don't know. I'm just, I guess I'm a prodigy's nuts I don't know I guess I'm a product I guess I'm the best to ever do it maybe perhaps you went to college in Chicago yeah I did I went to DePaul yeah and then cause you're from outside Chicago I'm from Harvey, Illinois thank you thank you for your service

shout out and I'm saying it I'm not saying Chicago I've started recently just claiming the suburb you're doing something really brave I'm going to do it I'm going to. I'm not saying Chicago. I've started recently just claiming the suburb. You're doing something really British. Yeah, I'm going to do it. I'm going to make it a trend. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm going to make it a trend.

You're doing something most people could never. Yeah, no, they could never. I don't even realize. I say I'm from Kansas City. I'm from the middle of, I'm from the country. It's easier because if I say I'm from Chillicothe, Missouri, no one. Right. But I should be more like you.

There's also like a whole different slew of stories that people tell themselves about you when you say the actual place where you're from. Yeah. i'm always curious like i want to see what that triggers for you like when i say harvey illinois like what are you imagining because it goes from city to cornfield so fast yeah that i'm like are you imagining me just like running through a field of wheat like what do you think my childhood was like yeah i don't know what do you think people think of you what do i think people think of you the thing it is so different depending on the person that it's hard to pin down exactly what it is i i never know i think a lot of people think i'm from new york really yeah like a lot of people would be like well you're from here right very cool oh my god i think that might be part of it do you think i

mean let's be honest you know you're cool right i right? I am pretty cool. You're like, I'm a cool guy. I think also I just have like a resting cool face. I think I look a lot more nonchalant than I normally feel. I wouldn't clock you as nonchalant. You wouldn't clock me as nonchalant. No, I would clock you as chalant. I'm chalant. I feel like you're somebody who cares. I do care.

I think cool is like, to me, I don't ever think someone's cool when they don't give a fuck about anything. I think that person's like disaffected and kind of weird. Right. There's a lot of that disaffected and kind of weird. Right. There's a lot of that going on in New York and LA. But I think you're cool in a way of like, you're just like, I think you've got a good energy. I think you know who you are. I think you're very funny. You know that you're good at what you do, but you're not a sociopath.

I think you've just got a nice, you know what I'm saying? Right, right, right. I think you're on the level. It's even-keeled. It's even-keeled. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you feel that way? I can say the same about you.

Well, we'll go ahead. You're locked in. No, you, you. Listen, I're locked in Listen, I've seen the clips You're all over my TikTok I feel like you're locked in You're present, you're grounded You're in the moment You're smart, you're tactful

It all comes across Thanks, babe I'm trying I think I know what I'm up to I think I feel pretty at peace with my whole thing Do you know what I mean? How old are you? I'm 29 Yep that's the time. Is it? That's the time You think? I just turned 30. Congratulations

What'd you do? I really just treated myself I got a massage I got some new fragrances Did a little shopping Come on And then just like throughout the week just saw friends and stuff like that Like throwing a party can be so stressful. Yeah, and I do that every like five years or so Yeah, and maybe for the 31st 30 felt a little too sweaty for me. Yeah, I was like I want to hit the off note like

31 yeah the 31. Yeah, right like like i'm already here i'm already here i'm past the precipice yeah we're in it well you've arrived yeah we've arrived at 31 we've arrived yes yes i am not a big birthday person i've never been a big birthday guy but last year 29 or this year i guess january my birthday when's your birthday july 24th july 24th yeah the day of july 24th i uh i threw three birthday parties for myself whoa for 29 it was this weird thing where like the week of my birthday i just schedule wise was meant to be in new york la and kansas city like i had to like i often will stop in kin city uh going between that's where your house is yeah i bought a house in kin city and so i will i'll stop in between

going either way just because it breaks up the flights and it's like a good excuse to like see my family and stuff right but i was meant to be in all three in one week and i was like the week of my birthday i'm gonna be in all three places where i have like the most like loved ones and friends and stuff so i threw a party in all three and it was psycho and as a not birthday person it was really kind of uncomfortable as well but i really went i was like if i'm doing i'm doing i got like fucking photo booths whoa and i like did like i made a jungle juice it up there was a step and repeat baby there was a step and repeat i had a photographer i did my new york one at bell house because i had a show oh okay so i was like we'll just stay afterwards

and bell house was cool enough to let me and then yeah i mean my kin city one was low-key but like la and new york were nuts and it was interesting being a birthday person for once i was like this is a a birthday person is such a different type of person than me i think yeah who is that person a birthday person is somebody who well i view birthdays kind of the way i view weddings where i'm like if you're really excited about either of them you don't get celebrated a lot and not in a bad way but like as performers we get celebrated a lot yes yes people stand and watch and clap us a lot it's the job you know what i think it also is maybe when i take a step back and i think about it it's that for my birthday i'm like okay i didn't do anything like yes like i i do things to get applause all the time like this kind of feels like cheating a little bit like i feel that

good point that's a good i think we it's it almost feels and i don't know if this is valid or not maybe this is something i need to work on i'm open to that but i do think to your point like it feels like birthdays weddings uh any any kind of attention for that kind of stuff it feels like it feels like clapping at a joke instead of laughing you know i mean it's like yes you're paying attention to me and i don't really deserve it yes yeah like i didn't earn this i just showed up today yeah yeah what do you mean you're loving me for my inherent worth because i lived another year like i'm falling asleep i should be telling a joke or something. Maybe we should just do sets

at our birthday parties. Now we're talking. Do you want a wedding? No. Are you in a relationship? No. How? Well, it just ended.

No worries. Hey, no worries at all. This was so much fun, Jaboukie. Thank you for coming in. It was a lot of fun. Do you want to talk about it? Do you have any Kleenex? Does anyone have anything? No, I think I'm good. It ultimately just came down to like, just wanting different things. And like, you know, when you're in it and it is working to a certain extent, but you

kind of know you have two different visions for the future it's like at a certain point you just have to decide all right well we're gonna go chase our two different visions of the future yeah and that's kind of what it came down to we're gonna go chase our two different visions of the future is very beautiful i think that's a pretty that's a pretty way to put it we need to put that in some live left love font let's go let's me and you get into final draft and see what we can do with this. It's interesting, though, to think about sometimes when you have that dynamic with somebody like, you know, even if you're just dating somebody pretty casually, like you've been on a couple of dates and you know they're not your person. Yeah.

But they're cute and you're having a good time. You like making out with them. Whatever. You go dancing and it's fun. The math for me has started to get shorter and shorter on how long I just let it be fun. Do you know what I mean? Yes. Like when I was 22, if I enjoyed dancing and making out with someone, I'm like, we can do this for a year. Yeah. You know, and now I'm like

maybe like a month in, I'm like better be getting to the guy. I better be getting to the guy who I'm actually going to do this with. You know what I mean? We did our little Nick and Nora infinite playlist night like five times now. When is it getting serious? Do you know what I mean? Yeah our little nick and nora infinite playlist night like five times now when is it getting serious you know what i mean yeah yeah no it's getting like okay i can't really be the window is is shorter but it's also like the the fireworks

phase you've been through so many of those at that point that it's like it's not new yeah anymore i don't know it's kind of it gets old hat it's old hat to be falling in love it's a little on the nose so hacky yeah what do i look like right hanging out with this person that i enjoy i got butterflies when we kissed okay cool all right so you're like a ton of fun and i enjoy spending time with you right you're gorgeous and my stomach drops and i look at you whatever fuck you so yeah so i accidentally brought up a breakup that's a good that's a good thing on the show, I think. That's helpful for the interview. Yeah, tactful, I said.

Tactful. Yeah. I said, why? You said, well, we just broke up. Humiliating of me. But I do. I kind of do like doing that. I like just, you know, going for it.

Because really, at the end of the day, it was nothing. Yeah. You know what I realized recently? Sometimes I'll watch cringe comedy and I won't laugh because I'm like well They just made a mistake and people do that all the time Like there's some part of me. That's like I don't really see. Oh, that's funny I think they were being vulnerable and I don't know if we should laugh at that. I think I've been getting softer though that I get do you think so?

I think so. Are you a soft person in general? No, not really. I don't see you as a No, but then I think, I don't know. I was talking about this with someone recently. It's like all my memories feel like coming of age movies now because I have enough emotional maturity to project so much weight onto like trivial things in my past that maybe if I went back and relived it, it actually wouldn't be that weighty.

But there's like a full A24 filter on so many of my memories at this point you know what i mean yeah like the wistfulness is getting really intense really intense yeah and the like um the like montage washing of like that six brutal months that i went through being reduced to like the two times i cried beautifully on the train you know what i mean where i'm like i'm like it wasn't all that pretty my friends you know what i mean but if i i so like i so like series of shot wash my yes my like things i've been through especially in my early 20s yeah i don't know what that is i don't know if everyone does that or if that's like being like a writer or like i don't know if that what

we're doing what our brains are doing. That's true. Maybe it's our profession is just doing that to us. Every time something happens to me, I think like another piece of the lore. I'm like, oh my God, I'm going to probably talk about this in a couple months on stage, which is sick. You were really good with that when I saw you, when you did the Union Hall show that I had. Oh, with talking about my life yeah but i really liked the storytelling aspect of it like thank you yeah

it was really captivating that was a fun show i don't remember what i talked about on that show but i do remember i think this was your show that was a week where i was doing a lot of spots and i think this was yours because it was one i only did a couple at union hall you were so nice to let me jump on your show and i don't know if this was your show or not but like three weeks after i did i think your show i get on instagram uh which is one of those classic fatal mistakes and i see a clip of me like a stand-up clip of me and i don't do stand i don't post stand-up clips i did at one point but really stopped doing it and someone had like full like camcorder recorded my set edited it what put captioning on it like like made it into a stand-up

clip that set or it was either yours or another union hall show i did but it was like very clear that they were not like sanctioned they were just like doing it on their own and then like edited it as a stand-up clip and posted it like material i was working on like not even like because you know that show i was like right i was improvising i was trying stuff out this is not even settled material so dark-sided i was like crazy because that's actual real theft yes like it's because they're doing it the way that comedians do their own clips for engagement they actually like stole that and they they mess they tagged me and so i messaged them and i was like hey uh i'm sure you thought you were being helpful by doing this like no big deal at all would you mind deleting it just because that's like material

i'm still working on and i don't know what i want to do with it and they're like oh my god yeah no worries i'm a comic as well so i just thought it would be i was like i was like you're a comic as well you're a stand-up and you did that so was the page just like stand-up haha funny clips or like what was it personal page and she was like posting clips and she had one of jared goldstein as well oh my god and i don't remember if i if i told uh i remember if i told jared or not or if he had told me i think we talked about at one point but it was just the craziest thing and i was like i haven't i haven't thought about it since then but you you bring up that show me remember that someone did that you know i've had i did a show

once where someone like a parent at a kindergarten recital had their ipad just recording the entire time and like the first minute of this i'm like okay like get your story whatever but i was like four minutes in and i noticed that they just still had it and i was like i'm not gonna keep going until you shut that off yeah like you have to turn that off that's really crazy why do you need that i feel surveilled right now it's insane i don't feel comfortable it's also like defeating the purpose of this live show that we're doing right now this one time yeah and like sharing this moment together that's wild that they would do that that's really crazy it also defeats the thing you're talking about about the experience we're having in this room right now i decided to stop posting clips because i was doing i posted some stand-up clips and then i did i tried the crowd work thing

and i enjoyed it and i really love crowd work i like talking to the audience but it just felt posting it felt for me and it's no shade to anyone who does it genuinely for me it made me feel very disingenuous and like i was selling out the relationship that i created with the people in the room yeah to me and i'm not saying that it overall is but that's how it made me feel and so i stopped and so someone yeah posting my stuff i'm like i actually think stand-up for me is a it's a live art form meant to happen in the room. And maybe I'll do a special or something. But, like, the constant posting of it all the time is there are people who do it very well.

Stubbers Halkis does it amazingly. He's so good at it. And I find it to be an art form in its own the way that he does it or Matteo Lane. Like, there are people who do it very well. there are people who do it very well, but it feels like for someone to do that on your behalf when I don't like it was like even more of a crime against what we had like made together. You know what I mean?

It just felt so crazy. You know what's wild is that Chris Delia posted a clip on. You love him, right? You guys work very closely together. So we're best friends actually. And I stand by everything that he's ever said or done. He posted a clip on Twitter, like bashing crowd work. And I just thought it was so funny that that's the big splashy comeback that he decided.

That's the big swing. That's where he's like coming in and planting his flag, like right there. I'm going to win him back with this one. Yeah, yeah. Like, okay. He said, hey, I know y'all weren't crazy about my allegedly but y'all are gonna love you're gonna be obsessed the way i take comedy to task real quick i do i do love that as a swing that's really fun yeah yeah the crowd work of it

all but yeah i feel the same way about live performance i like i think that's what always drew me to stand up was like we're creating something together and it's so precious and luxurious in the fact that it is one of a kind and it does not exist after this it's like that's what's so special about it and i especially feel now especially like the way that we spend so much time online and blah blah it's those live moments become so much more weighty when they actually go well. It's transcendent. It really is. I really actually love stand-up and live comedy a lot.

As much as I also hate it at the same time. You're so good at it. Thank you. You're very talented. Thanks. It is also, I've come to think of it as the only thing they can't take from us. Yes. I'm like, this is the only, you cannot cast me in a million movies.

Right. You can not fund my projects. You can, like anything can happen in a career. Things happen to people all the time that are not ideal. 100%. The only thing that cannot be taken from me is that I can stand up in a room of people and make them laugh. Yes.

You cannot change that. No one can take that. And that is a really beautiful, I feel the same way about like someone who can play guitar really beautifully. Yeah. You can get up and by just moving these strings you can make like beautiful sounds yeah that can't be taken from you that's so beautiful yeah you're doing a lot of spots recently are you prepping for something i am i'm doing a show at new york comedy festival

i'm doing an hour when i think it's uh november 14th to 17th uh-huh i think that's it i'm doing a few shows at the Hard Rock. Come on now. Yeah, all right. Come on, Hard Rock. I'll probably do like, you know, I'll do some stand-up. I might do like a song or two, like a new like funny little bit song or something, which is new for me. Yeah?

Doing like musical comedy. I know. I've heard some of your music. Yeah yeah but it wasn't necessarily jokey that's what i was thinking i was like you just make good music thank you but then you also are going to do some comedy stuff right i think i might because i haven't done that before but a lot of the stuff that i've been doing recently i've just been so like i just want to have some fun so i think i'll probably do that i might do a song. I kind of want to do that. I would love to hear that. Another thing that I wanted to ask you,

what is it like doing the coastal thing and then doing the Kansas City thing? Amazing. Yeah? Kansas City, I mean, I talk about it a lot on here. I'm sure the listeners are sick of it. But I just adore Kansas City. It's the best, and it's very grounding to just, like,

I love New York and L.A. as places, and I've come to really love New York and L.A. in a new way, like still as cities that don't have anything to do with my career, but then also the knowledge that they are deeply tied to my career is another part of it. But I think, like, L.A. la and new york become so like worky they become so about the the thing you do and that's great that's a privilege it's a huge privilege but i do start to feel crazy and i start to feel like self-obsessed and i start to think about myself all the time

and then when i go to kansas city it's just like a nice check back in with reality of like new york and la are also my reality and my job is also my reality but the truth of the matter is instead of getting so spun out about like not getting a tv show or something which which happens to me a lot uh not to brag it happens to all of us a lot but yeah i mean i used to get so spun out and then i go back i started going back to kens city more really when my dad died and was really feeling like I kind of feel like my career doesn't matter that much. It's like a cool thing and I want it. I like what I do and I want to do more of it at a higher level. But also like the perspective of like there's a whole real world that exists outside of our little bubbles really like grounds me in reality.

100%. Nicely. I, for work, was in Little rock for a while arkansas yeah and we went to hot springs oh hot springs it was gorgeous oh it's beautiful yeah yeah you just swim was it like swimming weather no no no no or no i don't think it was but we did go to like a little like natural spring spa thing and it's just nice like yeah seeing people outside of that orbit it's like it opens your eyes that's nice yeah how long were you in little rock like a month yeah damn it was it was interesting you're really acting lately i i have been you're working i have been i really

just decided to just okay i'm gonna act for a while i'm gonna do it you have been too though i'm here and there how do you like it i love it yeah i love it sets hard it is being on production is very hard people don't talk about how it's mostly waiting it's mostly waiting and it's also i have a deep like we got to make these days shorter not for me but for the people who are working all fucking day long yeah there are makeup people in the gaffers and stuff i'm, how the fuck are y'all working 16 hours? Yeah. It's like, good God. And they're not waiting.

They're like constantly working. Go, go, go, go, go, go, go. That's nuts. Yeah. Especially on like indies and stuff. It's like, yo. But I do love it. Yeah.

But it is really, really, it's a lot. Yeah. And you're doing it a lot lately. Yeah. Are you liking it? I do. I do really like it. Like, I realized one thing about me with everything

that i've done is i love doing the thing like i love doing stand-up i love acting like on camera off camera whatever yeah on stage whatever it's everything that i have to do to continue doing that thing that frustrates me yes you know what i mean yes self-tape it's like the self-obsession of like how am i coming across like do i read as this or like that sort of like self-reflective navel gazey kind of thing that you almost have to do of course that that drives me crazy well it's not crazy yeah it's a nuts thing to think about yourself so often right it's that fucking that um jimma from girls instagram story where she's like I think you guys are thinking about yourselves much legitimately like yes Yeah, also, it's my career. Yeah, that's psycho to think about yourself crazy. Yeah. Well, I asked people on the show a lot What do you want? Like what do you what is the what is the dream? What do I want?

What is your dream because the truth is you're a talented musician. You're very talented comedian. Nice guy. People love you Oh my god, you're acting a lot in movies. Things are going well. Yeah, I think you're a talented musician you're a very talented comedian nice guy people love you oh my god you're acting a lot in movies things are going well yeah i think you're doing very well yeah and so what what now i think the way that i thought of it okay uh when i was in high school i did a speech thank you speech team thank you for your service did you no okay but i know your type yeah yeah i know kids like you i know a guy like you from a mile away yeah yeah yeah so i did speech and i was like a theater kid or whatever so then i ended up going to film school for screenwriting and i was like i will write and direct i'll do the score i'll do the editing i'll do everything like so i just kind of wanted to know everything like in college i i did some camera i did some sound i directed a few shorts in college i kind of did everything and now i think over the past

like 10 years i truly have you know tasted a little bit from every pot and i kind of just want to make the thing that can incorporate all of those things i think maybe direct yeah to be like very succinct would you would you star in the things you direct as well or would you like to direct without starring in some things i kind of think i would like to direct without starring yeah i would love easier yeah right have you you're working on something where you're directing i just directed a short that i started in and it was only two days. We did 15 pages in two days. But it was a lot. How was that?

It was really intense. I think maybe with a bigger budget and an actual time to do something, like the normal appropriate amount of time to shoot something, maybe it would be better. I think the next thing I direct, I would like to not be acting in it. That's what I hear from everybody who does that.

They'd never do it twice. Like the second one, they're like, I think I'm done. Yeah, I just did it. And I was like, oh.

So is like the second AD watching monitor for you or the first AD or like is. Watch it to the producers and yeah, mostly the producers. And then I would like hop off set, go, they would play it back. I would watch the takes. Whoa. And then I would get back on the, go, they would play it back. I would watch the takes.

Whoa. And then I would get back in the scene and do it again. Whoa. It was nuts. It was fun. The self-tape muscle is really used there. God. And it's also brutal because I, you know, you never like the way you look on camera.

You never like the way you turn that phrase. Yeah. And so you just, but you're also in a hurry because you're shooting 15 pages in two days. Right. And so you're like, there's really no time to to be precious what do you feel like is the pettiest reason that you did another take do you have one someone someone talked over a really funny line that i improvised and it was not crucial to the it was not crucial to the scene at all but it was was funny enough that I was like, we're getting that one. Didn't make it in the final cut, by the way.

We've already edited it. But I was like, we're going to do it again. How did you give that note? You were like, okay, so we're going to do it again. But this time you're just going to shut the fuck up. Well, I was like, hey, we're in my coverage on this one. So I'm just going to like, just let me run on some of those lines really quick, if you don't mind. And they were totally cool about it.

And I wasn't mad, but I was like, we're going to get it. You know? Improvising on a quick day is the hardest thing. Because I'm like, if I have more time, I can make this so funny. Right. I just need like three more takes. Yeah. And you wrote this.

But we do not have time. Yeah. Holmes and I. Holmes and I co-wrote it. Do you know Holmes? At all? Chelsea Holmes? Do you know them at all?

Maybe. They go by Holmes. But they are a very, very funny comedian. We co-wrote it and co-starred. Oh, sick. Yeah, it was super fun. We did it in Kansas City. It was a blast.

But directing, I'm with you. I want to direct more. Yeah. I like it. It's a lot of fun. It is. It's also very stressful. It is.

In a fun way. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because everything relies on you. Yeah, you're the guy. Yeah, it's your vision. Everyone is there to serve the vision. Yeah. Yeah.

And it's also a huge responsibility in terms of just like obviously pace but also like energy and like yeah just like you're so stressed but you have to like keep it together yeah and you still have to be like interfacing with people in a way that's respectful and nice yeah like and you have to give hard notes yeah it's like hey that's not working right you know hey if we could do it this way yeah yeah you're giving me sitcom i need right whatever i need would you give the note like that or like how would you it depends on who it is yeah there are definitely people that i would like if it was homes yeah and i needed something different and it was it would be easy to be like you're my best

friend yeah i mean hey we're giving seinfeld we need to give a24 you know they never needed that no but i wish directors would talk to me like that. I wish. It's giving Seinfeld. I'd be like, got it, understood. I totally get it. You don't have to tell me twice. I did, I will say, I did a movie a couple summers ago

that I think is coming out this year, but I had a very dramatic, I had a very, not dramatic, but emotional scene. I ultimately played a teenager who's coming out of the closet and yeah we can all laugh at me playing a teenager I for sure do not look like a teenager

everyone's gonna watch the movie and they're gonna be like this grown man did you have tattoos at that time? no that'd be hilarious like with the sleeves

just a fucking sophomore year is so hard god I fucking hate homeroom yeah but I had like a big emotional scene and I was way overacting it and I could feel it and I knew I was overacting it. I just couldn't help myself

There was something about the room and the way it was lit that I was just doing too much And we did a take and the director jordan weiss who I love uh yelled cut and there was like, uh kill come here for a second and I went over there and I was like Will you just tell me that i'm doing way too much because I feel like i'm doing way too much and she was like We're doing a lot. And I was like, yeah, how do I stop?

Because I can't, there's something about this scene that's not, and she, she's a great director and we really worked through it together, but it was nice for her to just not bullshit me and be like, yeah, you're doing a lot. Yeah.

You know, cause I want. It's so nice. I think so many people are afraid of actors. Like everyone on set is kind of like a little frightened, but I'm so like like please be a little rough because i'm not gonna get it sometimes yeah like you might have to cut through a little bit like there's also nothing humiliating about it acting is really hard yeah and i don't like when

people pretend i think mostly from an ego place that like it's it's impossible that they would be getting it wrong it's like no there's a lot happening between you and the camera and Video Village and like there's so many different elements that's like no and also that's the point of a director is they can tell you like you're giving me Seinfeld and I don't need Seinfeld right now. I think the other thing is too is you could be doing

something that totally works in person and on camera it just translates to something completely different. Yeah it's like it's like you know so it's like it's like stage versus screen as well sometimes it's like you know yelling isn't always the same way you need to yell sometimes you need to like fake that you're doing it like it's just a lot of moving pieces yeah and i love when someone's like yeah you're doing a lot it's great i love that i like that you also were able to see that in yourself but the thing is is

that when you're over acting you can feel it Yeah, you like it just it doesn't feel right but also it feels like a train wreck and that's like I don't know how to like how do I stop this? Yeah We need a timeout like what what is happening? What is happening? I'm actually really good timeout I want to be really good because I'm actually really good Do you have like grounding things when you're on set like working those 16 hour days like what do you have like a routine like when you get home or like how do you deal with that no genuinely it all for me is about going to sleep as soon as i can and then just envisioning how good it's going to feel when it's over like how good it's going to feel when you

don't have to do 16 hour days anymore how much you're going going to miss it. Yeah. Like, you know what I mean? And the sense of accomplishment. Yeah. Like, wow, I just did that. When you do something really hard done and then you're like, oh, I did that. Yes, yes, yes. I love having done it. Yes.

I love having done everything. Wait, what is your, what is your end goal? What do I want? Yeah, what do you want? What are you doing? What do you think you're doing? I don't know. You're turning this around on me?

I'm flipping it back. This is unheard of. Has anyone flipped it back before? I don't think so. Whoa. People don't ask about me. Oh my God. Why? I don't know if anyone flipped it back before i don't think so whoa people don't ask about me oh my god why i don't know if they have or not i don't know i i i don't you know what's interesting is this is actually the first episode of the show i've ever done where there's not like an audience we always have like five or six people in the room okay and so an

interesting thing about this episode already and also just that i'm uh very like locked in with you but it's very um like it's been very I don't want to say intentional but I feel like I'm usually doing a lot more bits and I'm really locked in with Jaboukie right now I feel like I'm like we're here I feel that like we're talking we're chatting

what do I want I want to like make my stuff I just want to like make movies I've written a couple scripts that I just want to make movies. I've written a couple scripts that I would love to get made. I'm in the process of getting one of them made right now. I want to work with people that I like and never people that I don't. I have no desire to work with people I don't like.

Ever, not even for a day. I just don't ever want to do it. What if you're working with them and you realize you don't like them? I want it to end quickly. I just don't want to work with people i don't like and if it's somebody that you know there's this thing that happens in entertainment that everyone kind of pretends isn't happening where awful people get ahead yeah and you have to work with them even though they're awful i have turned down things because i knew someone i didn't like was going to be there i just don't want to work with someone i

don't like and it's not that i'm incapable i've done it yeah i just don't desire to right it's a really like this there's no reason that i should be hanging out with someone that is mean or upsetting or like a narcissist but that's how you know that the caleb cosign means something you know if you have those principles and it's like oh well if caleb is doing it there's like a certain i hope so certain ilk that he will only associate with i hope i hope just really mean people is what I'm talking about. And I hope that people, I would like to think that like at least my fans are like, you know, people who like know me in the industry know that I really, really only put on people that I think are great and like nice.

If I thought someone was an asshole, I would not, I would not be around them just because they were famous or whatever right not that and i don't think that's by the way uh like i'm not like um patting myself on the back right i think that's a really easy thing to do i don't think it's like a i'm like a hero you know i only hang out with people who are easy to be around yeah sorry deal with it but i do think it's it's, it's for some reason not happening a lot. Like there are people that I just know are like mean that I'm like, why are you around so much? How have you not been kind of gotten out of here?

Right. I don't know. I think mean requires a lot of upkeep. I think that's it. It's like you never really meet. I feel like the only mean people i see are very type a you never really see like a type b mean person like a relaxed yeah like a relaxed asshole like that just doesn't really happen i feel like mean people are like but

that's a part of maybe that's why they're mean is because they care too much and they're like too on top of it yeah well also deeply and i mean this is like that classic like thing your like parents would say to you as a kid or something but like deeply insecure yeah deep insecurity is what most bad behavior comes from i think that's so true like just meanness and nastiness and jealousy and pettiness which by the way in small doses are all very funny but like an obsession with meanness and pettiness and jealousy is like that. I have never seen it not come from a place of like deep self-hatred. Right. Even if it masks as like self-obsession and self-love.

Yeah. I can tell you don't like yourself. Right. It's very clear. Yeah. Don't you feel? I do. And nice people are always,

nice people don't always love themselves, but like nice people I think are much more like gentle in general on themselves. Yeah, I think the thing that's the most unbecoming about meanness and jealousy and all that stuff is like it's coming from a place of lack and stinginess. Whereas if you're nice or kind to someone, it's like you actually have so much positivity in your life and goodness that it is nothing for you to just give some to another person. Yeah. But I feel like the meanness is like there's a there's emptiness like you're trying to grab on to things and like scrounge as much as you can to like add up to something that you want to take yeah you want to take it's like that's coming from a place of not having enough who's the nicest person you've worked with recently

the nicest person that or like even just someone that you worked with you're like god damn they were nice heli bailey yeah she was really really really sweet how so just like all all the time just like lovely yeah she's just super lovely and just like a sweetheart she's very giggly and as a comedian that's always great someone who giggles a lot yeah she was just great she's a baby the baby was always around ah yeah i love that yeah she was really really sweet shout out holly how about you um i've been so lucky like i feel like i've worked with like i really have not worked with a lot of assholes um kieran shipka and nico haraga the two of them that when we did our movie together i was like i was nervous i was like really

kind of nervous because it's like we play like three uh best friends in it and don't know how much of this i can say i guess i'll text you jordan and see if this is okay um but we played three best friends in it and i was like oh i don't know they're like hot like hot young starlets you know i was like i don't know what if they don't like me or like what if i'm like not i was really nervous going to that set because i was like it will be apparent if the chemistry is not there yeah and we're supposed to be best friends so i really want to like make the chemistry at least believable on camera right and just like two of the like loveliest like nicest sweetest people i've ever it's also a really specific thing being

the comedian who is coming in to act yeah like that slot yeah is is always kind of like a weird to jump into a little bit yeah because being an actor is such a completely different life it's like they i from what we were talking about they are waiting for someone to give them an opportunity in a job and i think that there is a level of just interacting with other people in the world that changes when that's how you orient to your work you know there's i think as a comedian there's like a i don't really i don't no one is really taking me that serious and also i can kind of just do whatever i want that there's like a freedom in that that I've noticed like I just there's certain things that I learned I should care about yeah you know that I just did not before and when you're just

the like honestly being in like a number three role where my only job is to be funny I'm like I don't really have to worry about being hot or being yes my only job is to make like the best possible case on this next take is that I make everyone laugh so hard that we ruin the take. Yes. That's my job. And, like, that's a great job. Being funny, I can do. 100%.

I love that job. But I was very nervous. I was like, ugh. And I don't really get nervous about whether or not people are going to like me in, like, social settings. But for some reason, this movie, I think it was the work aspect of it all. It was also the biggest role I'd ever done. And so I was, like, very, like, like, it was the work aspect of it all. It was also the biggest role I'd ever done. And so I was like very like, like it was the biggest time I was in a script.

And so I was like, man, if they don't like me, we really have to keep hanging out. Like I was like, if they don't like me or if I don't like them, that thing as well. I was like, I don't, I didn't expect to not like either of them. I'd only ever heard lovely things. But so I was more like, if they don't like me, we're really going to be together. And then that's going gonna suck for them what do you feel like was the thing that made you want to act do comedy do all of it god was there like an origin story moment for you or like no but i will tell you i don't think there's because i never did theater anything growing up i never did no i like started performing when I was like 20 really. Really?

Yeah. Were people just like you're so funny. Yeah. I mean I was always funny. And I think I will say like is the closest thing I have to an origin story is I had this babysitter when I was like 8 to 10. Like this babysitter I was with a lot because my mom was like working three jobs and putting herself through nursing school.

So she was gone a lot. And this babysitter her name is Teresa. Shout out, Teresa. She served us, like, really bad food. Like, one of the meals she served us was, like, cooked spaghetti noodles and Thousand Island dressing. And she, like, wouldn't let us leave the table until we finished our food because we, like, had to eat. And I hated her food so much.

And I remember I was recounting to my mom and my cousin, my older cousin, who was, like, 10 years older than me, like, how bad the food was and, like, reenacting, like, how she was making us sit at the table. And I was, like recounting to my mom and my cousin, my older cousin, who was like 10 years older than me, like how bad the food was and like reenacting like how she was making a sit at the table. And I was like doing her voice. And they were like calling over other members of the family to hear me do that. And they're like, tell it again from the beginning. And I have a very vivid memory of being like, this is the coolest thing that's ever happened to me. I want this to happen forever.

I like just the attention. Yeah. And like the telling of the story and then there was another very similar one where like my dad and all my like aunts and uncles were talking about they were all in school at the time so they're talking about like what fonts they use on their like papers that they write they're like oh yeah i use like times new roman because it's a little bigger it makes the pages go longer or whatever and i was listening and very earnestly was like i was like maybe like 7 and I was like I like Comic Sans

and I really thought I was contributing because I thought it was a fun like we just learned in computer class like different fonts and of course I liked that one because it's you know that goofy little ugly one and they laughed so hard that was a moment where I was not in on the joke but even still it felt good to get the laughs

you liked that oh yeah I was like awesome as a kid I hated that really yes i always wanted to know what was so funny you're annoying us yeah you're like explain it yeah like no tell me could you explain like what about this dynamic is crazy because we're equals i don't know why you're laughing at me that's kind of fucked up so what's so funny i weighed in on the bush administration and you guys are laughing oh my, I remember the thing for me Was I think I was maybe four or five

And I had Found a bunch of coins I think I had like a hundred pennies and I was like I have a hundred dollars And people were like dying laughing And I was like, yeah I'm rich, I don't know why I'll buy you bitch like why are you

why are you laughing at me dinner's on me idiot yes and then there was like the people laughing thing and then i was like this is so fucked up and then they were like you have a dollar you don't have a hundred i think maybe that being the first time i remember that like remember that dynamic maybe that's why i felt like no i need to know what's so funny because i lost 99 dollars like that was really painful it's the worst thing that could ever happen to someone yeah i went from being rich to like a total loser i'm poor right poor five i can't work god how am i gonna get that i have nothing yeah yeah it's all over so yeah i don't know were you a class clown i don't know you don't remember like like like i i think at certain points yes i was definitely

making people laugh but i don't think like there were there were definitely kids when i think of class clown i think of like the kids who were always getting in trouble for being funny i was usually smart enough to like keep it you know you were cracking the the teacher up. Yeah. You were that kind of class clown. I was definitely always talking to the adults. Yeah. And I could get on their good side. I remember, I always found the kids I think of as class clowns were always annoying guys who made jokes that I thought were basic.

Do you know what I mean? I distinctly remember in middle school, there was a kid who was obsessed with, like we were in health class, and he'd be like, yeah, if you have sex with a girl uh after she gives birth it's like throwing a hot dog down a hallway like really crude like stupid and even then i would be like you're disgusted i just was like you're you're an idiot i was like i was like you have no ingenuity also you heard that somewhere that's you're repeating something right right like

repeating stepbrothers was a big thing. Oh my God. You remember that? That was a play. That was a play. You know what I used to do? My parents didn't really watch my media consumption at all because they're immigrants. So like they didn't know that they were supposed to. Yeah, yeah. I would go to school and just recite Family Guy episodes for people whose parents wouldn't let them watch Family Guy.

So I'd be like, okay, so the A is is that lois is doing this um brian is doing this and i would just fully recite like adult sitcoms you're like walking into the lunch room being like sorry guys today's a meg episode um that is so funny i love family guy yeah it's amazing it's one of the best comedies we've ever made it you know when i've been describing oh mary to people who are not like tapped into the scene, I've been saying it's kind of like a queer. It has the spirit of like an American dad or family guy. And it's like a reverence. But it's very queer oriented.

Yeah. Even though both of those are pretty. They can get very queer. Yeah. Like Brian and Roger. Come on. Okay. And also they have Peter be gay a couple times.

And every time I feel clocked as fuck. They put him in like a crop top and Ugg boots and I'm like, well, that's me, unfortunately. So that's what I look like. So I'm trying to get rid of Cola Scola. You are. Yeah, Cola's a big problem. Too talented.

Yeah. Must get them out of here. Yeah, it's powerful. I'm like, you got to go. You've seen it. You're too good. Yeah. Yeah.

You've seen O'Mary? Oh, yeah. Yeah. The ending number was when it was like, okay, it funny you're too you're too talented you need to go you're too good no i love cole yeah it shows amazing that honestly has like been a big source of inspiration to me lately because i'm like oh someone i think for uh just before i saw o'mary and how well it is doing i had just been feeling for a little bit like, is anyone doing anything original and good?

Yes. Is anyone doing anything original and good? Please, God, somewhere. Is there any appetite for someone writing something original, not based on existing IP, not a fucking Marvel movie? Is there any appetite in the general public for something original and funny and wonderful? And then I saw O'Mary, and it is all of those things,

and it's brilliant, and I think Cole is all of those things and it's brilliant and it's and i think cole is such a genius and to see people love it i was like thank god yes thank god there's an appetite for this do you know what i mean yeah for it to be embraced like that it's huge i also think that goes back to the live thing like they went about it in a way that was just bypassing all of the gatekeepers and now they they're on Broadway. Now they're on Broadway. That's so. I love that. I love that.

I love it. I love it too. Would you ever act on stage? Yeah, I would. Yeah. If someone would let me. Let me, y'all. I would.

I've never done it. I've never done like a play or a musical. Have you? The last time I did one was in college. And it was a play called Zipped and Pelted. It was by this playwright, Lucas Baish. I don't know if I'm saying his last name correctly, but I just found out recently. I think he's in New York now.

I haven't seen him since then. Is he a white guy? No. Damn. Why? Oh, I realize how that sounds. But I was gonna say if it's a white guy person you can always mess up the name and it's okay

oh right right right so I was really like on your side I know it was problematic it was very problematic I'm sorry of course it doesn't look too good on me saying it's right yeah oh it was about furries it was about there was a gas attack on a furry convention and I played a furry who was like

not 100% sure if they wanted to be a furry or not so most of the play I only had the neck down of my fursuit on but we were we did this play it was a part of the Chicago Fringe Festival and it was in this gymnasium in like a like attic situation of this huge like public rec center place easily was like 95 degrees in there and we're all wearing like full fursuits i really got a lot of respect for the furry community after that they're they're really they're dedicated and they're mobilized they're mobilized and they the hacking that they do did you see that the other day? They hacked something really important. Yeah. Like, I think they're going to save us.

They hacked, like, some Republicans who were involved in Project 2025. Huge. They, like, hacked their IP and found out that some of the people who were involved in the project had, like, IPs in different countries and shit like that. And that it wasn't, like, fully American. It was something really, really crazy. Those fursuits are also not cheap like they're expensive as they ball the fuck out they're expensive like they're tapped in they're connected they're powerful you worked up with a furry not that i know of once for me really no the costume was not involved okay for my request but you know what sex was great i believe? sex was great I believe it

that's a level of self-actualization that most people never reach I think you're willing to be a furry you know yourself you're strong in the self you're rooted in yourself you're not externally you have to know before you can become a hawk

or a fox or whatever your fursona is, you have to know before you can become a hawk or a fox or whatever your fursona is, you have to know the human first. I'm saying. That's deep. Furries, hey. Put that in the final draft. Put that in the final draft. Yes, yes.

Let's get in the. We should be writing in here. We should. We shouldn't even be doing a podcast. Yeah, come on. We should be collabing on a script. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I should be sending a collab code to you.

Come on. What are we doing? What are we doing? What are we a script I should be sending a collab code to you come on what are we doing what are we doing I don't know what should we be doing I don't know maybe we should be what do you feel like what's the vehicle for us like road trip comedy god

if somebody's brave enough to put us in a road trip comedy I fear I fear how well it would do. I know. I do see it. I see that for us. I see it for us. Yeah.

A kind of plane trains and automobiles moment. Yes. Hey, you said it. Execs? From your lips to an exec's ears. From my lips to an exec's ears. That's the name of the episode. Wait, I have a question for you.

Yes. Well, I ask people on this show What is so true to you What's something so true to you What's a hill you would die on A thing you believe in passionately You know it's something That I

It's a so true That would have been So false to me Like maybe seven years ago these are the good ones that um it is not your location it's you say more i think uh i when i lived in la i was such like la fucking sucks i hate la blah blah but like of course it sucks because i went into it with that energy so i wasn't trying to make that happen for me. I was looking for examples of why LA sucked. You know what I mean?

I think now that I'm a little bit older and I have perspective, the odds are stacked against you for having a good time in LA. But that doesn't mean that you can't. I think for me, it's easier to have a good time in new york um but also there have been times where like new york was not giving for me but it was because of me you know yeah yeah i think it's it's you wherever you go there you are wherever you go there you are that's not like a new thought but it is so true it's painfully true that is so true yeah i've very very often said probably several times on this show,

about L.A. L.A. is a wonderful city. It's one of the greatest cities in the world. It literally has an incredible population of very diverse, cool people who do all kinds of different stuff. You can see 27 different types of trees in a day. There is beauty in L.A. to be found

if you can stop being a narcissistic sociopath, like I have done and like many of us have done. L. beautiful there's mountains there's an ocean there's an incredible food scene it's a lovely city however most of us who end up talking about la and thinking about la we go there and project all of our dreams onto it and so it becomes a physical site of disappointment when you don't love your writer's room or you don't get cast in the thing or you do and the production sucks or it's not reviewed well or whatever. So it becomes this physical site of disappointment because you projected all your dreams onto it. Right.

Instead of just letting it be a cool city. I love LA. Wherever you go, there you are. Me and my friend Kevin talk all the time about this phenomenon that we call randomly wish I was in Paris. And randomly wish I was in Paris is where I'll be having a perfectly lovely day in New York or Kansas City. Yeah. I'm having a lovely day. There's nothing wrong.

I'm enjoying myself. I went out of my way to be here. I took a flight. I made sure I was here. And for no reason, I wish I was somewhere else. I'll go, oh, I wish I was in Paris today. For what? You'd be having the same exact day.

You wouldn't be at the Eiffel Tower. No, it's really crazy too, especially now that I've been traveling more. Brooklyn is everywhere. Yeah. Brooklyn is everywhere. brooklyn is everywhere mexico city is brooklyn at this point yes yeah like there's a brooklyn coffee shop anywhere you go yeah people talk so much shit about flyover states and i was in little rock

it was brooklyn and little rock yeah it was brooklyn and richmond yeah yeah everywhere like it's really not that special granted sometimes it's like 2011 brooklyn right like there's like a geometric wolf on the wall with a mustache. No. But like. Shabuki. The. I am begging you to stop.

That is so fucking funny. Like. Geometric wolf with a mustache. I know you've seen the geometric wolf with a mustache. It's 10 years behind Williamsburg. It is. It is. It is. I can't wait for when it catches up to Bushwick And there's people with like Sigil tattoos and shit

In like Athens, Georgia I'm really, probably is already happening I don't know Well you know it's interesting now though because A lot of the coastal culture is borrowing From the Midwest and the South Like jorts and Carhartt and chemo and stuff How do you feel about that?

I am at once terrified and comforted Do you know what I mean? Like I'm scared as fuck How do you feel about that? I am at once terrified and comforted. Do you know what I mean? Like, I'm scared as fuck that you're wearing that. Yes. You're in Realtree? 100%. What are y'all doing in Realtree? What's happening?

Who told you about that? You know how when Trump won and everybody was wearing those little safety pins to be like, I'm safe. Yeah. We need to start doing that again. Really? Because the red state cosplay is getting too intense. So you can wear the Realtree shirt, but you have to put a safety pin on it.

Yes. Or like, I feel like gay men do it. And they do it right. Where there's like something a little f***y about it where it's like, okay, I know who you are. And I feel, I get it now. But then there's some people where I'm like, this feels aspirational to you. You want to be. Yeah.

Like, you want to be. And look, it's okay that your mom is a neurosurgeon and your dad is a college professor you wish you had some struggle right like live in your truth live in your truth i'm not gonna lie i think that that aesthetic is a means of like uh i don't know portraying some sort of struggle for people who don't have access to it yeah 100 it's not new like the poor cosplay shit but it's like it's very self-convinced now it doesn't i feel like they're going so deep that's really interesting yeah my favorite part of it is when um gay guys put on like a camo shirt and

they're like in my mascara sweetie let me hold your hand when i say this let me hold your hand when i tell you you are not no in your mask era not now not ever no baby girl i i saw um someone do that recently and post the poll on like instagram and like it was like 80 no no they're like am i giving trade is it dl trade and they're like am i giving giving trade? Is it DL trade? And they're like, no. Am I giving trade? Trade? Trading what? It's not giving barter. It's not giving.

It's nothing economical about it at all. I want you. It's not giving trade. It's not giving barter. It's not you. The only thing you need to trade is you need to swap out the delusion that you live in for the reality that the rest of us are in. My mask era. i swear to god these i by the way the notes for this show every single week are just my

very straight producer like you know we have like the the edits right it's just him being like um two minutes 13 seconds mute uh three minutes 17 seconds mute like it's just mute f slur 500 times right right these i you in that camo sweatshirt listen to me god pray with me y'all are not mask your hips are betraying you yes your wrist is betraying you yes you are a fruity little queen and god bless tighten up the wrist babe babe tighten up the wrist there's so many things we need to do before we get in to the cowboy boots 100 listen and i'll do that sometimes i'll do it but i'm not it's camp i'm not like anything i do that might seem off as camp right let's be very clear right when i do it it's intentional it's winking it's a nod it's genius it's elevated but when they do it it's like come on it's delusional when they do it it's village people right take that construction vest i think that we do need to start going that far though i saw someone yesterday who

had a bullet like it wasn't bullets it was like that like they were open carrying yeah no for a second i was like yes okay let's do this let's do this like militarize the yes but then it was actually that like uh you remember in 2009 when everything had spikes on it? Yeah. It was that. Okay. It was like almost bullets. Yeah.

But I saw that and I was like, this is an amazing development. Wow. That's actually interesting. What if we arm gay people and let them think that they're masculine? We're not too far off from that. We could do this. I think gays are going to start open carrying. I think it would be really, honestly, probably for the best.

I'm sorry. I think maybe. I do think it might be for the best. I think it might be kind of good. I do know some gay people that have gotten into guns. That are like, guns are now my, I'm going to do a gun thing. I'm not going to lie. I shot some.

And it was really fun. I've been shooting guns my whole life. Really? Yeah. You grew up doing it? Grew up shooting guns. Whoa. Are you good?

I am. Whoa. I have a really good shot. I haven't shot a gun in years and years and years. But I also did archery when I was a kid. Really? I won archery competitions. What?

Yeah. We did that in gym class. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Damn. Our first, like, when i went to high school your first uh gym class and your first quarter of gym is just like juggling um archery roller skating ever

you know what almost i'm surprised we didn't because our teacher was like an old lesbian and yes yes um she was iconic but um it was like clown activity like it was clown school basically they were like you're not bullying each other you're all gonna look stupid you're all gonna drug all these scars yeah yeah yeah literally um okay so we're doing an action comedy you and me yeah that's what we're doing okay two gay guys who uh pretend to be masked and accidentally end up in a militia yes yes i think that that's perfect the accident that's perfect civil war two civil war two yeah hey i have a segment for you okay what's up if you can believe it so this is a true false segment all right okay basically what's gonna happen is and

i'll let you know devin who was in here before you as you know okay he did not do very well all right devin i love you king but it was tough so basically it's a true false segment where i'm gonna read you like 15 statements you're gonna tell me as quickly as you can if you think they're true or false just answer true or false okay and if you get 10 or more correct i am gonna give you 50 us dollars okay 50 us dollars and i'm in this time dude it's not nothing that's not a small amount it's not nothing you ready okay okay ronald m nothing Ronald McDonald was a real person True False

The 1984 film Red Dawn Was the first movie to be rated PG-13 True Barry Manilow wrote State Farms like a good neighbor jingle False The state bird of Illinois is the swallow False Do you know what it is?

Red Robin The Northern Cardinal. Very close. The Statue of Liberty wears a size 879 shoe. 879 shoe. True. That's true. The official drink of Kentucky is bourbon.

False. False. It's milk. Real. Yeah. Michelle Obama is an only child. True. False.

She has one brother. Oh. Wasps can live up to three years. False. False. 22 days. A newborn giant panda is about the can live up to three years. False. False. 22 days. A newborn giant panda is about the size of a stick of butter. Oh, true. Oh, true. Olive Garden was founded in Rome, Italy. False.

False. Orlando, Florida. The first pair of Nike running shoes was made in a waffle iron. True. That's true. There are no volcanoes in Alaska. True. False. There are over a hundred. Kiki Palmer was born in Joliet, Illinois in Alaska. True. False. There are over 100.

Kiki Palmer was born in Joliet, Illinois. False. False. It's Harvey. Yes, yes, yes. The most popular Father's Day gift is a necktie. True. True.

The dot over a lowercase i is called a peck. True. False. A tittle. Oh. You got 10. You got it, baby. What?

Yes, yes, yes. You got 10. Congratulations. The animal ones. The animal ones. I love me some animal facts. Big for you. And the Harvey, baby. You did it. You got 10. The animal ones. I love me some animal facts. And the Harvey Illinois lore. You threw me that one. I didn't write these. Chance wrote these.

Thank Chance. He's not here, but tell him thank you. Thank you. Chance also has some questions in here for you. Well, this is actually interesting. So, the internet. Yes. You were big on Twitter.. Yes. You were big on Twitter. I was. You were big on Twitter.

Rest in peace. Rest in peace. What do you think of the internet and comedy? It's such a huge thing. I could talk about this for like three days. As could I. We were both big on Twitter. You before me and in a much larger scale.

We were both big on Twitter when it meant something. Yes. Which is really interesting. Right. Because now it means nothing. It means nothing at all. But for a moment there. It scares people now. It scares meant something. Yes. Which is really interesting. Right. Because now it means nothing. It means nothing at all. But for a moment there. It scares people now.

It scares people now. Yeah. But there was a second there where being big on Twitter and comedy. Whoa. Was the only thing. 100%.

It was like, oh my God. If you weren't doing that, then it didn't matter. That's all it was. And it's crazy because that reign was like 10 years, kind of. Yeah.

Like it was a long time. There was a long tradition. Like Drill, Rob Delaney, Megan Amram. Boom, boom, boom, boom yeah there was like so many i think the thing with internet comedy and the challenge that it brings to comedy now is never in human history have people consumed so many jokes in one day yeah never like even when you talk to logged off people the way that they will just like wholeheartedly laugh at something that will almost inspire rage in you at how basic it is yeah like i i can't look at that with anything but ah because it's it's crazy what it's doing to our brains the way that we consume

comedy um uh i think there's this weird relationship to it where you kind of have to do it now. It's like a prerequisite almost to like really gain an audience as a comedian because all of the traditional channels have kind of eroded because they're like, well, what's your following whenever you get to those channels? So they're expecting you to come with all of the, you know, artist development already done for yourself. With a dedicated audience yes with a dedicated audience dedicated artist development and then also the other thing is too is that when you look at like mega mega mega viral people who are funny online like a drewski like why would he cut his teeth doing day player roles in like a blockbuster you know like yeah that's

weirdly almost beneath him in a way also for a lot of these internet people why would they really ever do a movie right there it's such a pay cut yes they make every video they post they make hundreds of thousands of dollars so much money why would they go and work for yeah why would they do an indie film ever easily i would love to but like why would they do that right but i think it's also almost like for us it's we just love the medium and the art form yeah and that's kind of why we do it but if we were being like business oriented that's really like hey doing twitch yeah is going to bring you way more than like doing all that other stuff so i think that there's this weird like internet brain drain happening with the industry where i think there's more reward

it is a faster reward online so that's kind of where attention and energy and focus is being put and i think the industry is trying to catch up to that in a way but even when they do it i'm like that was five years ago like i think the other thing too i see so much stand-up and i'm like baby that was hilarious in 2017 oh that was really funny now we've said it and you have you're kind of like doing like a prometheus thing where like you stole fire and you're bringing it to the people who have never seen fire before and they're like oh my god like iced coffee i'm so gay like i'm like we were there like we did it yeah we did it and it's it's cool that i i don't know like i never, the thing is that I never want to knock what audiences are enjoying because I don't know better than them.

Like they like what they like and I can't tell you what you should be liking. Yeah. I just think. That's my job. Yeah. Right, right. I can tell them what they should be liking. That's you, that's you.

But I just want more from the artists i want people to be pushing things forward instead of just following behind what has already been said online and just repeating it and sometimes people don't know but then there's sometimes i'm like i saw that twitter thread like yeah i know what you're talking about the same thing you saw when you wrote this joke right right right i think think that the dynamic between that is weird. I don't know. What do you think? Well, I think it's net bad. I really do.

And it's very funny. I can't remember which one of my friends it was, but somebody dragged me very recently for saying this because they were like, oh, so you get to make a career off of it and then everyone behind you doesn't? Whoa. And I'm like, fantastic point. And also, absolutely.

Yes, correct. Yeah, I think it's net bad. I think it's just, yeah, I think it's really lowered the quality of comedy. I think it's like let in a bunch of people who don't really care that much. Yes. I think also the pivot to live shows that happens where there's no formation in live shows, but then they pivot to live shows after they get a big following is totally fine,

except for they don't care for their audience. Yeah. And the only, I really have a disrespect for people, musicians, uh, painters, comedians,

anybody who brings people into a physical space, a disrespect for their time by not preparing or not caring is so fundamentally whack and like crazy to me. Right. Like I really do do every time someone comes to your show even if you think it's nothing if you think the show doesn't matter they uh took off work they bought a ticket they paid for a babysitter they got an uber they bought two drinks they might not they might not be able to get a babysitter for another two or three months

it's their only night out right they went out to an expensive dinner beforehand they wore their best clothes like it it really fucking bothers me when people put on a show and don't prepare. Yeah. Someone gave you a day of their life. That's crazy. Yeah. Do you know how crazy that is? And when you add it up in the room, like, how many days of life did you just get?

Yes. From people. When they could stream a billion movies and TV shows at home. They could go to a billion other live events tonight. They could be with their friends and family. They came to see you on stage with a microphone. That responsibility is so immense.

And when people don't prepare and then they're kind of like, well, I don't give a fuck about this. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I'm like, you are so, like, it actually, like, disgusts me. Yeah.

Like, it repulses me in a way that's, like, almost unhealthy on my part. Right. But I'm just like, how do you not care? I know. At the very least,

you have to at least show people someone having fun yeah if you aren't really if you're not great but you're having an amazing time sometimes that's enough for people i'll do it i'll take that i'll take that like i don't i don't know it's the yeah that's why if a set doesn't go well i'm i'm oh my god because i i carry that i'm like wow like i really let people yeah i really let people come see that oh yeah yeah that doesn't feel that doesn't feel great it really is not bombing when i first started out was so much about my ego and whether or not i like i thought i was good enough at this or the audience didn't respect me or whatever. And now having a bad show is so much less about my ego and more about that.

Where I'm like, fuck, I feel really bad that they came out and spent their night on that set where I like just didn't nail my closer, you know, or whatever the fucking thing is. Yeah, but it is, I think, specifically coming from an Internet and then pivoting to live because some agent at uta told you that you could sell tickets you know right it's like they're right you can and and they will let you because they love the money and you love the money but the lack of respect for the live art form specifically from people who come from the internet really it's it's bothering me yeah but i i i feel that i agree with that i really agree with that but you know also everyone's got to do their thing i guess do what you got to do right i guess i can't ask you to not do stand-up i think one thing though is because i've had that complaint too i think a lot of the time those people are bringing people into those spaces that would never have gone there in the first place yeah like they're probably not tapped into comedy like that. They just like this one person.

Yeah. And I like to think of it like they are bringing more people in to the fold. Hopefully. Into live performance. Hopefully they come back. Yeah, yeah, but hopefully they come back. But I agree with you. I think they're hopefully they prepare enough and do a good enough job that they do like

widen the tent and bring people in who want to come see a live comedy show. So many people have never been to a live comedy show. It's crazy. But yeah, hopefully they're bringing in more people and they do a good enough job to warrant a return. That is the hope. But then there's the fear that they brought them out and these people are going to go, I don't think live comedy

is my thing. Yeah, stand-up isn't that good. Stand-up low-key sucks. You know, and then they're like i don't think i ever need to go back to zany's yeah yeah i think i'm good i'll skip that oh god do you like performing in clubs or do you i feel like you do like the sleeping village that's yeah yeah like over there i feel i feel that i love performing in a music venue yeah love performing in a music venue i do too there's something about it that just feels so right. So right. Most of my fans are lesbians.

Yeah. I knew that. That's why I wore these. And thank you. And they'll love that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Most of my fans have not been to a comedy show, I will say. Like mine will be their first one.

Yeah. And so I like to send them somewhere cool if I can. That's good. Yeah. Meet them where they're at. Yeah. Sometimes when, because I have that experience too, and I bring them to a comedy club club it can be very foreign to them they're like what am i doing what am i doing

at this right right i want to meet them halfway like you know maybe you could have seen mitski here in 2017 like i want to i want to give that be in that energy tonight right right here don't worry exactly exactly yeah but you make money at those comedy clubs you do god damn the markets are good i just don't know why they all have to be carnival themed yeah why do they all have the orange and purple stripes yeah ultimately no offense to them thank y'all for having me but the fact that i performed at a place called hyenas twice recently and there's like a howling wolf it's like okay really like a cartoon wolf for sure why wouldn't he be yeah and calling the place hyenas is like damn yeah that's really it's a little it's a little insulting yeah and i let that show go they were lovely the show was great the audience was lovely the staff was lovely thank you for

having me hyenas fort worth and dallas i love your work but i would love i would encourage a name change if possible right right and i you know what would the name change be maybe like caleb's caleb's yeah Maybe like Caleb's Caleb's Comedy Club Caleb's Comedy Club Could be fun CCK Or you could do them all with a K TCR, I could do them all with a K

That'd be really interesting Like those chicken places in the south They're like crunchy chicken with a K And you're like uh oh How come I wonder Hey I have something for you Here's a K and you're like, uh-oh, how come, I wonder. This is not how it's spelled, is it? Hey, I have something for you. Here's a question for you.

Okay. When you were eight years old, you almost drowned at Jesus Camp? What is that about? Okay, so I was eight years old. I was at Jesus Camp. And so I got to go to the Jesus Camp because because my i was allowed to attend i got the

privilege of going to jesus camp um because i was one of jesus's special little soldiers um but my godmother was the camp nurse so the camp was actually like 10 and above you're a nepo baby yeah i was kind of jesus camp nepo baby yeah um and i had like a trip on my shoulder okay because i was a tiny kid um and then i also was eight years old so i really needed to prove myself we were at the pool and we were playing marco polo and the ball went into the deep end and i was like oh no no guys like i got it i got it like you know i'm like i'm i can hang i'm like one of you guys and they were like you sure and i was like yeah yeah i got it and i was thinking i was like okay so you've seen tv when people swim they just go like that kind of and they do like

yeah the doggy paddle so just like do this and then you're good so then i'm going over to the deep end and as i'm going over like a fight broke out or something like that so I go to reach for the ball and then just like slip under and I like am drowning and trying to get someone's attention and no one was looking and I was like damn well that's it this has been so real y'all yeah and then I was like okay cool um all right peace out but then i remember when i was sinking i was like wait i'm going to heaven like i haven't done shit yeah i'm eight years old like no sins not you being at peace drowning in the pool i seriously i know my path right i was like i'm good like baby lift me up like i'm ready i'm i'm at jesus camp like what a better place to

die like jesus knows what i was just about to do i was about to pray yeah and then he stopped me so like hey so then um i like blacked out and then i woke up on the side of the pool to the lifeguard like giving me mouth to mouth and resuscitating me and then i turned gay there's was a guy. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. There was a really hot lifeguard at my pool. Really? A really hot guy. I distinctly remember he was like 18. Like he was like a high school senior about to leave.

But there were two summers that he was like the head lifeguard at the pool. And he was so hot. And he loved me for some reason. Like he just like loved talking to me. We would like sit and chat. And I literally, I just remember every time he talked to me i was like i'm gonna i'm gonna die if i have to keep talking to this guy like i just felt like he's i didn't know what it was but i was like i'm so uncomfortable by him and i also need to be near him at all times i was like if this hot guy keeps talking to me

i'm gonna explode and die and i just remember his girlfriend was also a lifeguard and i hated her yeah for some reason you didn't know i couldn't figure out why because she was perfectly like I'm going to explode and die. And I just remember his girlfriend was also a lifeguard and I hated her. Yeah. I hated her. For some reason you didn't know why. I couldn't figure out why. Yeah. Because she was perfectly, like literally she was so nice to me. And every time she was nice to me, I was just like.

And I would try to float the theory to other kids at the pool. Like when we would go to the concession stand, I'd be like, do you guys feel like Rachel's kind of a bitch? Kind of thing. And they would be like, no, she's like awesome. She's actually really sweet. But don't you think she's like, she's like fake like fakey about it they're like caleb she saved you from yeah yeah and you're like yeah but there was a way that she went about it i'm like no she's lovely

but she moves weird right and they're like no couldn't figure it out i hated her they probably knew too probably i was like the gayest kid ever really i was such a little homo oh yeah i was so it was so i've always just been like this. Yeah. Like animated and annoying. You know? It's like, of course I was gay. Yeah.

But I never, I don't know really what happened with him, to be honest. I don't know where he is in the world. Maybe he's listening. If you're out there, dude whose name I don't remember, I want to say his name was like Kale or like Cade. Like he had a C or a K name as well Imagine his name was Caleb Caleb Yeah this is fully I imagined it

It's just me I was in love with myself actually It was a mirage Honestly it would be huge Thank you so much for coming on We did it can you believe it Is there anything you want to plug to the people I am performing at new york comedy festival uh november in november in november

yeah yeah and they can follow you on everything yeah and you can follow me on everything at jabuki at jabuki except oh my god except on tick tock i'm fake jabuki because somebody thought it would be funny to take jabuki and also i ran into this person's friends one day on the street. And they were like, ha ha, our friend has your username. And I was like, okay, yeah, tell him to give it to me. I want to kill your friend. Okay, right. I was like, tell him to give it to me.

And then they like FaceTimed him and he did not give it back to me. He doesn't even post on it anymore. I just want to say this. Do you know how hard it has been to have the name Jaboukie for 30 years? This is the one thing that i could have i'm talking directly to you i know you're on tiktok and i know one of your friends will probably fucking see this give me my name back okay i'm not playing hey truthers i want every single one of you listening to this right now i'm so dead ass serious there are a lot of you go to at jabuki on tiktok and

spam them with messages about how inappropriate it is it's fucked up that they have jabuki's name it's fucked up we We need it back. This is what I want from this episode. Yes, thank you. Thank you. There were three years of my life where I was called Jadoukie. That's not right. You know how I had to survive that. This is new to you. You don't have the strength to carry that

name. They're new to it. You're new to it. I'm true to it. By the way, give us the handle. Fake Jaboukie. Do I get a cut if we get the handle back from this segment? Yeah, I'll give you the $50 back. That's it? Damn, I thought it was worth so much more to you. We can negotiate.

Cool. We'll talk offline. Well, my lawyers will hit you up. Have your people hit my people. Have my lawyers hit you up. Directly. With a threat. Just keep people on their toes. We're'm not lawyers. Directly. Directly. With a threat. With a threat. With a threat. Just keep people, yeah, keep people on their toes. We're out of here.

Thank you. All right. Thanks for doing it. Thank you.