The Bill Bert Podcast - The Bill Bert Podcast | Episode 33 w. Mike Binder

Episode Date: September 30, 2020

Bill and Bert prattle with Mike Binder about his new Comedy Store Documentary, Bill's listening skills, and generational comedy.

This podcast is brought to you by Bud Light Seltzer. Your new flavors are here. Keep listening for more. Hey, what's going on? It's Bill Bird. It's time for another wonderful episode of The Bill. Bert. Pod.

Cast. Hey, what's going on? All right, we have an amazing guest this week. I like to think he's a friend of mine. You never know with this guy. He's a little shifty. No. Yeah, okay.

So maybe not a friend. Showbiz friends. No, we're friends. Okay. I met him about seven years ago. He might be talking about me, Mike. Okay. I met him about seven years or eight years ago

on a movie starring Kevin Costner, Octavia Spencer, called Black or White. Oh, that's where you guys met. I was always wondering where you guys met. Yeah. And then he did stand-up comedy at the Comedy Store, which has brought him back to doing a documentary about the Comedy Store, which is going to be out on Showtime. They're doing a documentary about the Comedy Store, which is going to be out on Showtime. The wonderful, the lovely, the salt of the earth, Detroit, the pride of Detroit, Mr. Mike Binder. Hey, you guys, thanks for having me on. I love this podcast, and I'm honored to be on with you guys.

I really am. And yes, we are friends. We are good buddies. That is the nicest thing you've ever said. You're just really in a nice mood. I can tell you're proud of this project and you should be because the clips that I've seen of it,

how deep you went into this thing. I'm going to try to talk about it without ruining any, ruining any, some of the surprises, some of the pictures, some of the footage you have, like if you're a comedy nerd, which I am,

and you've been, you know, knowing about the Comedy Store for all of these decades, this is the documentary for you. I mean, this is the Ken Burns version as far as I'm concerned. We worked on this for two and a half years and I really had no plans of ever doing anything like this.

I never planned on doing a documentary. This was an incoming call. I was out swimming in Malibu and I got a call from my old friend Mike Tolan. He said, Peter Shore and I want you to do the ultimate comedy store documentary. And I didn't even think about it. I usually have over the years have said

no to everything about stand-up comedy and movies about stand-up comedy even being involved with that I'm Dying Up Here which I was a character in the book I was in the book a lot and I just I've always said no about the comedy store and stand-up and and I just went yes like that which was so rare for me because I just instantly knew that was the right way to tell the comedy store story with the real stories and real comedians and I knew how many great stories there were and I didn't know how much work it was going to be and how much emotion and how hard it was going to be but I said yes instantly and it just came together instantly why do you think you said yes so quickly and after having said no to stand up uh related things for so long i just said why

i said yes to bill were you like jesus christ i thought you said but but for some reason this thing I just said yes to. He does that. I thought you just said all throughout the years, I always said no. This is the perfect Bill Burt interview ever. I thought he just said, but the second he asked me, I just said yes. I said yes because I knew this was the perfect way to do it because I knew there were so many great stories. Sorry, I was just picturing you in the surf in Malibu and I got carried away with the fantasy.

Yeah, I got it too, Mike. Mike, you threw a fucking curveball when you said I'm swimming in Malibu. Bill and I just immediately went to triathlon training. I did, and I'm like, this guy's living the life. He's out there in the bubbles swimming with the dolphins. Hey, you want to do a documentary? One of the biggest – No, I go out there for the cool water, you know.

Mike, why do you go out into the ocean in Malibu? For the cool water. I think that's – All right, let's flip – you ask the questions okay let me i'll let me tell you how our interviews always go bill feels bad that we have you here and he wants to get you out on time so and i like to make a meal out of it and i'm going to start with my meal make a meal freshman year in college my freshman year in college jeff Hartley came into my dorm room and said, we got to watch this fucking movie.

So it's about these kids that run drugs into Canada, out of Canada. And it's fucking amazing. More importantly, the soundtrack is fucking killer. And that's your movie. Uh, and I didn't know this until this morning.

It was crossing the bridge. And then from that, unknowingly, we became Mike Binder fans. This is the fucking bizarrest reality now that I know you, is then Indian Summer comes out. Jeff Hartley is like, dude, if we like Crossing the Bridge, we're going to love Indian Summer. I've watched so many of your movies not knowing they're you whatever motifs you have for instance kevin costner hard drinking

ex-baseball player in uh in uh upside anger that is i love that character i love that character what is it when you i want to go to your before we get in too much about the store, when you create characters for your movies, like these hero characters in Crossing the Bridge and in Black and White, like Kevin Costner is a fucking ideal. Are you drawing them from something you had growing up? Because I feel like running drugs from Canada is something you would have done from Detroit.

Yeah, they're all based. Everything I've done in my life is based on something in my life everything i've never done any there's only one movie in my i've ever done that is not based from me and that was blank man with damon wayne's which was something that basically killed my career for a long time are you serious but but But I had a great, it was the best. Black Man was such a great fucking movie. I saw that in the movie theaters. Yeah, and it was, by the way, I loved it.

And I did it because I love Damon and my agent. And I had just come off a high on a movie that did well. And my agent said, don't do this. It's going to kill your career. And I was like why i'm working with a friend it's his movie it's like producing a buddy's album and they went no it's not so in this business if you had you just had a hit movie all it takes is one bad one and then then they put you on the bench oh you go to jail so fast in this business well what if what how many movies

do you need hit movies how much money do you need to make them i've never done by the way i've never had a question my christ i only got halfway through it go ahead finish my question how many hit movies can you make where you can actually have a flop and not get put on the bench uh you have to have a lot of hits but i what i was going to say is you'd never use the word hit with mike binder i've never had a hit i because i'm i'm just you know it's like burt burt's watched a bunch of my movies he didn't even know the titles. He didn't even know I did them. It's crazy, Mike.

You're right. I mean, you're dead serious. I've watched the majority of movies you've ever made. And I did – and by the way, I'm friends with you because I like you. But like – and I love the project you're on. This morning I was like, I know Mike's done Mike with the Man with a Married Man. I know he's done some stuff that I'm familiar with I know you I knew that you and Kevin

Costner were close I knew that like black and white or maybe like and then I'm like going through I'm like every one of his fucking movies I've were like what was the what was the what was the the Irishman song in crossing the braids that you used

the Morris Morrison What was the Irishman song in Crossing the Bridge that you used? The Morris Morrison. Oh, Van Morrison. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What was that song? Into the Mystic. Into the Mystic, bro. That was, that defines my freshman year.

We listened, we bought that fucking, we bought, we started getting into Van Morrison because of that goddamn movie. Because the guy gets his fucking finger shot off or cut off, right? I mean, I'm like, my freshman year, we must have watched that movie a hundred fucking times. My movies, and again, my movies have never lost money. They've always been made

for a price. They've always made money. But even like when I said a movie that did really well and opened strong for and had a couple good weekends you know and it makes 30 million dollars it's not enough to be a hit in the in that in that business you know but so if then i come out and then i did this movie with damon at Then I come out and then I did this movie with Damon at Columbia, which was Sony. And they made it for the one thing I go over there and they're making it for like thirty five million dollars. And I'm thinking, this is too expensive. Why are they spending so much money on this movie?

I was making, you know, six million, seven million dollar movies, you know, $6 million, $7 million movies. You know, there's too much. And, you know, that movie came out. They spent a fortune advertising it, and it made nothing. And boom, I go to jail, you know, which is fine. Listen. How many people go to jail on a flop? The lead? The director?

Does it stop there? Like, who's left holding the bag? Who's the Alex Cora? In this movie, in this situation, just the director. Yeah, because Damon Wayans went on to make three more, four more flops right after that. You're right. You're right. I took the bullet, and he wrote it and produced it and started it, four more flops right after that. You're right. You're right. Just the, I,

I took the bullet and he wrote it and produced it and started it. It was his movie. And I'm telling my agent beforehand, no, I'm not going to take it. I won't. It's his movie. I'm not going to take the hit for it. And then my agents are going and my manager going,

no, that's not what's going to happen. And I, the truth is, even though I say, Hey, I've always, that, that wasn't from my life. I did want to do it because I loved Batman as a kid. Yeah. And I thought, okay, it's, this is kind of like a spoof on Batman, you know, but I've tried to keep really everything I do.

I only do things I absolutely love and and I can really just get crazy about you know and and you know the comedy store thing I've just I unless I can really really get nuts and like you know the thing is it's like I have to bug people you know and if like even as with my movies if I write a script and I send it to Kevin Costner I send it to Ben Affleck or Adam Sandler and they don't want to do it I go okay I'm not going to push anybody to do a role because the last thing you want is an actor on a set who doesn't believe in a role. But with this comedy store, you know,

there were people like Michael Keaton and I'm trying to think who else, maybe Whoopi, a few other people that, you know, at first, I don't want to do that. And I would just say, no, no, you have to do this. You're going to be so glad you did it. And you're going to be so bummed if you didn't do it. Because I knew that I would have been bummed if I didn't do it. So this was a different kind of thing, you know, and I just had to stay passionate for two and a half years. And it was, believe me, and Bill, you know,

because I would call you and whine to you about some of the craziness. And there's a lot of personalities and comedians. The Comedy Store, it's like herding cats. And, you know, one thing has never changed is, you know, the personalities of the comedy store are the same thing. You know, when I brought Letterman and Leno and Michael Keaton and all the Richard Lewis and everyone back and the people I tried to get, Whoopi and, you know, Elaine Boosler, everything's the exact same.

Nobody's changed. It was like everybody, you know, Letterman was great. He was so glad he was back. And then, you know, two hours later, he was mad at me again, you know, you know, and, and Leno was, you know, everything's the same. And your guys' generation, you guys are all great, fucking wonderful people. But by the same token, you can piss someone off so fast, it's unbelievable how mad you can get somebody for the slightest thing. And it's just like when I was there, which that was my high school, basically. So two and a half years of that, it gets draining.

But you got to keep your passion up. Here's a question I've had for a long time. As far as all of those guys that you just mentioned, you know, we're running the store, we're down the store, we're the comedy store during their time. And over the years, as time goes by, like 99% of that class moves on and just eventually just stops going to the store. It's like, oh man, I haven't been here in 10, 20 years and stuff like that. Sometimes I sit there and I think to myself,

like, was there a time when I was supposed to leave? Because when I start now, at this point, I've been doing standup for 28 years. And I think back to all the people I hung out with when, and that were down the store or whatever club I'm at in just the late 90s. I feel like there's me and like three other people left. And now that Rogan's in Austin, Texas, I, you know, I just was curious as to,

I've always had a fear that if I stopped going down to the store, I was immediately going to start aging in dog years as a comedian. And I was going to be like basically being, I have Bill Clinton, you know, with this Monica Lewinsky. What's up with this? You just feel like if you stay away from there for like three years, all of a sudden you're going to go in there and it'd be like you're doing material that would have worked on the Borscht belt.

So I was wondering what gave you that feeling of like, you've always sort of said like the comedy store was high school. I knew where I was going. Like how come you weren't afraid to go to step off, so to speak, into other areas of the business? It's a really good question. And it's- Yeah! Hear that, Bert? Every once in a while. It's really funny because, you know, it's a double-edged sword because you need to step off. You need to step away.

There's some guys that stay too long, but I also think the guys that step away do it at their own expense because as you and I know there's several we know several very very big comics that I've brought back recently and we've hung with them and they don't feel like they're they have a contemporary sense of comedy. And as a result, their comedy feels stale. Yeah. And I feel that because I've come back and gotten to know all you guys and even a group even younger than you, I feel very, not that I'm funny or funnier, but I just.

No, not at all. No. Hey. You're poor. I'm funny or funnier but I know not at all no you got me there but but but but you do need to be around to be current to be unto understand and if you go away and you're not at the store or the improv, or if you're not aware of what's going on, even more every year, you know, comedy has gotten so fractional and so niche that, you know, when I talk to Letterman and Leno and Lewis and Dreesen, and they don't, and myself, I don't, didn't know about you guys you know i i gotta tell you bert you know how i found out about bill oh my buddy who built my house who is my old buddy he's

building my house and he's telling me about this guy on youtube this is long before bill was bill he keeps telling me about this guy on YouTube, Bill Burr, showing me these clips. He goes, how are you like Mr. Comedy and you don't know Bill Burr? I go, okay, fuck off, you know? And he keeps going, showing me Bill, and this is my best buddy. He keeps showing me this Bill Burr shit. And he's funny, but Bill Burr, he's on YouTube.

How big could he be and then we're down in New Orleans Kevin and I and we're casting this role and we're in the hotel he's up there and in his room and I'm in my room and we're having trouble casting this role. It's a really good role. And I see, he comes on Conan. And I go, that's the YouTube guy that, and he comes on Conan and he's killing on Conan. I call Costner up in his room, turn on Conan.

While I'm watching the game. Turn on Conan. I want you to see this guy. So the two of us on our phones are watching this guy on Conan, and he's killing. We go, this is the guy that should be your buddy and be your law partner. And we're laughing. We're laughing.

We're like, who is he? I said, he's a comedian. He's on YouTube. I guess he's a comedian. He's on YouTube. I guess he's a real big comedian, getting big. He's really funny. And I guess he's done some acting. I'm looking him up on IMDb. You know, he did a part in Breaking Bad.

Well, let's get him. He's good. He said, he goes, do you want to read him? I said, no, let's's get him. He's good. He said, he goes, do you want to read him? I said, no, let's just get him. Yeah, that was like the first time I never had to like read. I don't like to read. I just said, this guy obviously fucking knows what he's doing. Let's just get him here.

Turns out he's with Michael Rotenberg, who was my manager for 20 years. Or with the same management company. Yeah, Dave Beck. So I go, let's just fucking get him here. But the fact is, I didn't even fuck, I didn't know anybody at that point. I didn't know you. I didn't know Sebastian. I didn't know Rogan. I didn't know anybody at that point. I didn't know you. I didn't know Sebastian. I didn't know Rogan. I didn't know Whitney.

I just didn't know. So I'm a yud-yud. So then I get there, and I know everybody within two months. I know of, right? And then I'm interviewing Leno and talking to Leno on the phone and he doesn't know anybody he and he's had shows but oh yeah I know I know I know oh yeah I'm a binder you know let's be honest they got a fucking podcast and they got this and they got but what does that do good for them I go Jay they're selling out amphitheaters okay they're no not really I go, Jay, they're selling out amphitheaters, okay?

No, not really. I go, yeah, no, really. No, really. And I talked to Letterman about it. He's going, I've never heard of any of these guys. Well, they've been on your show. They have? Yeah.

You know, and I talked to- The friends at both of them, they did like 6,000 shows. I get it, but I'm just saying. And you talk to Rogan and you talk to Rogan and you know, he don't, other than Leno and Letterman, there was nothing at the comedy store before him. He has no idea about me. He doesn't know. There's no idea about any comedians

I get there and I'm telling Peter Shore you know the whole story about how when I got in a fight with his mother and she took down my my neon sign on the wall which he knew and to be nice, he puts my sign back up on the wall because, you know, I did an HBO special and George Carlin produced it. Right. And Mitzi wanted to produce it. She took my neon sign down and she took my name off the wall. And Rogan has a shit fit, apparently. Why the fuck is this guy producing this documentary. Why the fuck is this guy producing this documentary? Why the fuck is this guy got his, you put a neon

sign up for this fucking guy I've never heard of? It's like he doesn't know anything about me. The new guys know nothing about the old guys other than Leno and Letterman and Leno and Letterman know nothing about the new guys and I'm the guy in the middle that knows the two things. Right.

And which is kind of an interesting place to be. And you realize that that's the way it is. You know, the generations, as much as everybody adores the store, the generations and talks about how great the store is comics are so fucking narcissistic and so into themselves in their world that they i'm interviewing this comic annie letterman and i'm realizing she has no idea of any comedians other than herself. I'm going, I'm talking about, I'm talking about David Brenner, Richard Pryor.

That is so Annie Letterman. That is so Annie Letterman. I'm going, she goes, I have no idea who you're talking about. And I got this, I film, I go, you really, I'm filming you. You're telling me you don't know these people's name? She goes, I have no idea who you're talking. Joan Rivers, I know. You know, I knew a comic, the late 90s. I was hanging out with her and we were going to go do something.

Swang by my place and I was grabbing my coat and i had like vhs tapes this is how long ago it was and i had richard prior um the the classic one down in long beach live in concert she goes oh you're richard prior fan i'm just like i'm a comedian i mean we're comedians and she was a comic too. She goes, remember, she goes, yeah, I got to get around to watching that. And it just struck me as so funny that, I mean, I guess you don't have to watch it, but that would just be like, I'm trying to think of another analogy, like, you know, you're a basketball player and you never stop to watch Gordon. Right. Just to see, you know, analyze him, learn about him,

see what his mentality was, what he achieved, what you can learn from that. And I just, I never forgot that. Like I got to get around to watching that. I just, I looked at her for like half a second. I was just like. But my point is, I was giving the point is, that when you leave the store,

if you're not in touch or you're not playing at these clubs, you don't really stay in touch with what's coming up. You lose a big part of a sense of comedy. And that does hurt you as a comedian. I think it way hurts you if you're an older comic. That's my point. Yeah. That hurts you way more than like,

but you can be a young comic and not know the people before you. Yes. But you're just, you're in the thing that's been developed because of them. So you just sort of learn by like, I think like assimilation or something. It's a weird, it's a weird line because if you know too much about the older comics,

you start inevitably emulating them and doing their tones and doing their intonations and their cadence. So like there are guys that are like big students of the older guys and you can just hear it in their acts. And you got to love people that don't that that don't know anything about anything and just are doing because they love it but at the same time i i think it's almost like uh like that you feel like you created something not knowing that people have been doing this well before you and and the thing that you think you stepped on you're like oh that that's wendy

liebman's thing you didn't know that that you didn't come up with the uh saying the wrong thing at the end of the set that's wendy liebman's thing you know like or those type of things you got to go like yeah you're doing you're doing what's his name's act and you're like wait i created this you're like well you should have watched you know there's also a thing that if too much time goes by by the time they watch the person, that's amazing. So many people have taken from them that it doesn't seem like, I mean, the amount of younger guys

who have told me the Beatles are overrated. Yeah, Richard Pryor, he did the black guys do this, white guys do that. It's like, well, he did a little more than that. Yeah, that's right. A little more than that. But I always's right. A little more than that. But I always say to the Beatles people, I go, all right, you know, fair enough.

But you will not find a musician of any caliber that would ever say that. It's just like, but I understand what they're talking about. Because if you go back, I mean, their catalog is now over 50 years old. They broke up 50 years ago. So really trying to get people to go back. I mean, that was like people trying to tell me to listen to Benny Goodman and it wasn't in stereo or Count Basie. And I'm listening to ACDC going like, well, what does this have to do with that?

There is, I don't know. It's a tough. I'll tell you the analogy, or this may be a mis-analogy, but I remember one time I was at the Improv and Adam Sandler... I just talked to Rob Schneider about this. Adam Sandler came in to do stand-up, and he hadn't done stand-up in forever. Everyone's

losing their fucking minds. He brings up a notebook. He's in gym shorts with sneakers and black socks. I mean, really not... Did not plan on going...'t felt like he didn't want playing on going on stage i'm sitting next to a guy who we would all deem as a cunt right just a real bad comic and and adam sandler is kind of figuring it out on stage but he's fumbling and he's doing a little bit of the bobby boucher voice and he's like he's just a little all over the place and this guy who I

wish I could just say his fucking name was like dude fucking Sandler sucks and just walks out and I went oh wow you're you're you're missing the entire scope of this business like I'm watching Michael Jordan take cuts at a fucking batting practice right now. This is not what he does right now, but this is what he's doing right now, and I will watch all of it. And then at the end, Sandler did this great bit about his wife, about he's not a big physical contact intimacy guy. And then he got a bulldog, and his wife's like, and he's cuddled with the bulldog playing with his balls.

And he's like, and she called him on it and it was a great like no voice just adam sandler talking about his relationship with his wife and his dog and you're and i'm sitting there going oh this is if he had just done stand-up that's it no movies he would have taken something like this and blown it in and then you realize this is something he's going to say tonight, and then he's going to go in and make a movie tomorrow. And he's like – but I remember that kind of person that just was like, oh, Adam Sandler sucks, and walks out. I'm like, you'll never be good at this job.

You'll never – you don't have what it takes because you've got to be interested in all of it. I believe. I believe. I'm not shitting on Annie Letterman at all. No, no, no. That wasn't, no. That's not what Annie Letterman was talking about because Annie Letterman first of all is a

fucking great joke writer. Yes, she is. And second of all she loves the process of stand-up. That's not what I'm talking about. She just does she's charting her own course. Which is not the problem. But what you're talking about is the process.

And when I was a kid, and Bill and I have talked about this, I was just so lucky because I was there as a doorman every night when Pryor would come in and work out all his classic albums and concert things. And I was there. The DNA of the store was built on Pryor going up and failing, you know, and flailing and finding his material. And what you're talking, that guy that walked out,

he is not a comic. He doesn't understand that it's like great comedy is jazz. You know, it's like finding it and playing it. And, you know, what I think the guys that have gone on to be great after Pryor and after is Adam and Bill and Jim Carrey and just like that'll go up there and dig and force something out of it and find it and take it out of their lives and and and that's what the documentary to me what I was looking for is to figure it out to show the audience that it isn't just okay here's a joke it's like here's something that I took from here and and I it took time to find you know and Sandler is a great example of that you're right because you know he he went away from it

for a long time but when he came back to it 100 fresh is such a good special you know he he's got he's still that little boy but it's man man boy he's he's still it's such a he's he's to me i just liked it because it was there was so much shit going on in stand-up at that time with all these people flipping out about every single joke it seemed and trying to cancel people. And he came out, and I just reminded, when I watched his special, it's like, yes, being a comedian is fun. It's fun. Be silly and be over the top and just go out and make people laugh.

And I just thought that when I watched his special aside from it just being like laughing out loud hilarious I just remember just saying like he's having a he's just having a great time yeah he's out there he's he's he's just doing it he's in the moment I love that it jumped around from different ones and I don't know i was at that i i actually watched that right before i taped my last one and that was the thing that i was trying to remember like just remember to have fun when you go up there he he has joy of he has a joy of everything he does and he works so he's got a great work ethic you know he he i really, I do not. I do not. Yes, you do. Yeah, you do. Your work ethic,

part of your brand is playing a dumb dumb and you're not. People on, I know what you're up to. You work your ass off. You work your ass off. I am going back on the road. Burr is currently on the road, and the new flavors from Bud Light Seltzer are here. Three great new flavors from Bud Light and their new remix VP starting this September. Grapefruit Bill, Pineapple Bill, and Cranberry. What do they call that where you grow up? Every time they get a new flavor, you go on the road just to go try it out and rub it in my face dude there is

no better feeling this is a this is a horrific branding thing for Bud Light Seltzer but when someone when you get a case of Bud Light Seltzer like a 12-pack and you and a buddy got to tear through them before they get warm that's a hot summer night feeling right there i will tell you they are refreshing seltzer with natural ingredients and no artificial flavors a hundred calories with less than one gram of sugar and what i love and i love it because i read it here and if you watch the commercials that they're playing on tv during football you'll hear it there a five-step filtration process for quality taste and a clean finish i had a bed light seltzer in the sauna the other night bill all right they're refreshing it's like you

know what it's like it's like getting like a just a fizzy water but with a little extra uh confidence in it does that make sense yeah no the whole thing. My mouth waters when you read this stuff. Just please get through the copy. Has a familiar Bud Light easy drinking name for those looking for an approachable brand for their first hard seltzer. Made from real cane sugar. Made with real sugar.

Real cane sugar for a higher price. Yeah, when I was boozing, there wasn't any real sugar. It was all that horrific stuff. And if you're drinking this fall, watching football outdoors on a big screen in your backyard with your friends, you don't have to worry about them getting warm. They're going to stay nice and cold for fall, watching much-anticipated football or just sitting by a bonfire. To get it delivered right to your door, you barely even have to leave the couch.

Find a retailer near you at BudLight.com slash BillBurt. BudLight.com slash BillBurt. Drink responsibly. Enjoy responsibly. All right. And lastly, but not leastly, it's my bookie. How the fuck you doing? I love Mondays and Sundays.

You know why? Two words, NFL action. I love Sundays almost as much as Brady used to love Sundays in New England. Oh, they're killing me. Now he's in Tampa, where the only thing he's got to be excited about is that Florida sunshine. I would put pause on that because the Bucs covered yesterday. Did they win?

Yeah, they won and they covered. And Green Bay covered. I covered all mine yesterday. I went. Did they win? Yeah, they won and they covered and Green Bay covered. I covered all mine yesterday. I went four and one. I'll tell you what. And Andrew, Andrew hit a 10 way thing there. All right. I'll tell you. I'll tell you what, though. My book, he's got the whole online betting thing figured out. You sign up, you make a deposit and they'll match you dollar for dollar. So you got some extra cash to play with. Plus, they got all kinds of cash prizes, prize contests and free bets. Tuned in late, didn't place your bet on time, no problem. Don't even sweat it because they let you bet the game

live so you can analyze the game and then make your picks. If nothing else, you got to check out the website because they got $100,000 super contest and it runs the entire NFL season. You pick five games against the spread each week. You score the most points by the end of the season and you're going to walk away with $25,000. But that's not it. Every four weeks, the player with the top score wins five grand. Five Gs, everybody. My book, he's giving it away. If you trust your intuition, you can make a lot of money and have a lot of fun. So sign up with my bookie today and get your deposit matched all the way up to a thousand bucks. It'll be easiest money you ever make in your life. All you got to do to claim the deposit bonus is to use the promo code billbert b-i-l-l-b-e-r-t winning season is finally here

and it's only at my bookie what i what i only thing i love about burt when i burt's phone his cell phone for me is where i send my texts to get stamina i I send Bert a text, and I'll send Bert a text, hey, how's Wednesday at 5.15? Nine months later at 11 o'clock at night, I'll hear my phone buzz. How about 6.15? What the fuck? And I know that's just because the guys just you you've got so much

going on and you you work i know how hard you work well here's here's a weird question that i that i i want to pose and i don't know if you cover this in the documentary at all i've only seen two episodes i I've seen the first one and then the fourth one. The guys like Sandler, like yourself, like Letterman, like Leno, like Jim Carey, like Damon, stand-up as an occupation wasn't an option. You had to be able to pivot and get into movies, producing, writing, directing, hosting. You had to pivot. Whereas, like, for me and Bill, I say Chappelle, I'm just saying me, Bill, Chappelle, Rogan,

Segura, like Joey Diaz, our group, Bobby Kelly, it's just stand-up is the occupation. And we never learned how to, we never needed to learn how to pivot. I think Bill and I are a little older than, say, a Segura, who literally has never pivoted from stand-up. He does a podcast. Maybe he's acted in a couple things, but definitely not his passion. And not forced on him.

He can make millions of dollars just doing stand-up. What, like, does that, do you know what I'm saying like we never had to be forced to learn how to write and direct I totally agree with you and I think that is that is such a great thing observation because I've always said, oh, well, you know, I wasn't that great of a standup. But I do think if I was in your class, I would still be doing standup and I would be a lot better at it than I think. You know, when I was doing standup, even though I gave it up, I got a half hour HBO special out of nowhere. And I wrote a complete half hour in about three weeks about getting married and, and, and the wedding and this and that. It recorded in Chicago and it was, I killed, it was great. You know, and I put it together and then just didn't do stand up again for a year, you know, and I'm just saying, you know what I'm saying?

But if, if I were doing it now, I would force myself to, but at the time it was just, it was so, there were so many masters, you know, getting on the tonight show and getting on this show. were so many masters, you know, getting on The Tonight Show and getting on this show. Whereas I would have loved to be able to do my own show and my own podcast and my own thing. It just, I love, I love independence, you know. So I started in independent movies and making smaller movies.

And I love control. That's what I mean yeah you know and i 100 understand that because you know what the funny thing is about now is i look at a lot of the opportunities that i get that i would not have got during your era because there just weren't that many nearly as many opportunities i mean the fact now that there can be one person that can have like they're on two different shows at the same time like it's like deon sanders type shit that you're doing in this business and what i found the crazy thing is like when you do it it's so much easier now to get a TV show because there's so many slots and so much bandwidth to fill up. But the weird thing is because now there's so many slices of pie, it's like you have to keep doing stand-up because you don't really make crazy money doing a TV show. And then the weird thing is, is it takes just as long to make it.

So you're still doing just as much work for something that you probably wouldn't have been doing. So I guess in a way it's like, I don't know, but there's definitely days, you know, like when I'm doing like F is for family on the days when it's working, it's like, oh man, this is, this is the greatest. But the days, you know, put the script in, the table read doesn't go well. There's a bunch of notes. You just got to pull out like the liver of the script and have the whole thing on the respiratory. Those are the days when I sit there and I just think like, I should just be in Des Moines at a Penguins right now. Knock out four shows, go have a beer and smoke a cigar. What am I slamming my head again? Then of course course, we get the thing.

We go into the booth, and it's funny and all of that. That's funny, Bill. Actually, when I look at a cigar who just sort of does the podcast, I know he's in Steve Bernstein's movie and does great in it, but when I look at that, I definitely, on my busier days, trying to write a movie script and just that you can't get that one line. It's not bridging the gap. I definitely I always think that it's like or I could just do my shit jokes for an hour. Well, it makes sense because you stand up, you start and you're so in control.

And then, like for me, for eight years, i did one pilot after another for the networks and they and they are serious and they would own you for so long and they and you know and then you know but and you just want to be in control you know but i think today it's a great time to be a comedian, but you have to have patience. And I think a lot of these guys, people don't have patience that they don't realize it takes a long time to build a following, to have a podcast grow and to have a following on the road. These guys, they want what you guys have

now. It's just like you're not going to have that. In defense of them though, we were always like that. I remember I used to think that I was ready to be passed at the store and I wasn't. The amount of

years that I thought I was ready to be in just the laughs and try to figure out how to. I think part of being young is you do want everything right now. You know, Bert says that in a great way in the doc. He says I would told him I said I'm so ready for that for just for laughs. What are you talking about? You know, and it's so I know that feeling, you laughs. What are you talking about? You know, and it's,

it's so, I know that feeling, you know, looking at the lineup. I'm just as funny as this. I could do this person. Yeah. You start doing that shit.

You'll drive yourself crazy. Oh, it's, it's, I think, I think it's funny. I feel like Bill and I, I bridge gap is the wrong term,

but I think that we are tethered a tad bit to the old school, more so than the younger generation that we know at the store. I feel like we came up in the get a tight 10, get a sitcom, get a holding deal, get a sitcom uh get a holding deal get a development deal only only seven white guys get to be famous a year one black guy you know like one chick no gays like like i feel like that was the old system of going to studios but i feel like we were at the tail end of it where you seem like you might have been at the salad days of it Mike where you showed up and everyone's

like let's do a sitcom let's do a deal just give me a price point real quick I know this is catty but like when you were signing deals to do sitcoms for development deals what were they paying like $500,000 no you want to know

what's really funny i'll tell you i'll tell you what's really funny i did uh i i wrote an executive produced the only time i ever did this ever about i'd say about maybe 2007, Fox asked me to do a show for them. And I created a pilot for a sitcom called Two Dollar Beer. And I hired a bunch of these young, funny guys to play an ensemble sitcom. And I shot it at Fox. It was a half-hour show show and I couldn't believe. So they, we had, we put all these guys under contract and it was like a guys in Detroit all

hanging out like, you know, a master or friends or whatever. Right. Yeah. They got $40,000 for the pilot, you know? And it blew my mind because in 1977, I did a sitcom for Norman Lear for ABC. And I got $40,000. Okay? So it's like they're getting the same thing 40 years later?

Yeah. Well, no, it did go up. It was almost like NBA contracts, and then there was like the Kevin Garnett deal, and then they were like, all alright, what are we doing here? No, it went in the late 90s. You're talking about

a holding deal. That wasn't a holding deal. No, I'm talking holding deal. $25,000. My per episode, my first sitcom deal I signed, it was $35,000 for the pilot, $35,000 for the pilot, $25,000 an episode.

Yeah, that's episode. A holding deal is a different thing. These were just fees. Yeah, $40,000 for the pilot, and I think it was $25,000 an episode. And it was the same thing 40 years later.

I was like, what and it's like in new york you got you got like you know 10 bucks for a spot during the week and 50 bucks on the weekend for like 30 years 25 years and everything else had gone up i remember they were so mad when we asked for more money and then when they finally agreed to bump it up, all they did was they just booked less comics on the show and made you do more time. So then they had like one less spot, which saved them the 50 they were already paying.

They actually were making more money. And by then, comics at that point had broken up again. Well, we were all together. Let's get more money. And by then comics at that point had broken up again. Well, we were all together. Let's get more money. They go, okay, 75 a spot. And when they did that little switch on us, and I think Ted tried to get us all together again. It just, we just, ah, you know, whatever. I'm funny enough. I'll get the spot. This shouldn't be that many spots. It was no loyalty. enough i'll get the spot this shouldn't be that many spots because if you wait you know

there's no loyalty here was the great thing about this in 77 the studio and network executives were probably getting like a million bucks a year wow that's a lot yeah Yeah, back then. But then, in this time here in 2007, they were getting like $15 to $20 million a year. So their fees had gone way the hell up. God. And the actors had stayed the exact same. You know, it was just like, that's the world. I sometimes wonder, like, my big white whale has always been a multi-cam

like i've always wanted to do a multi-cam i just feel like it's so it's so what i would enjoy doing showing up to a set having a big nuclear family coming in pitching jokes pitching ideas putting it up in front of a live studio audience having fun and then i wonder if i'm like uh i'm like you know when you're like you look back at your childhood and you're like man i just want to play little league again and then you get there and you're like oh all the dads are alcoholics and we don't get to keep our uniforms this sucks like i wonder if like i like multi-cam i'm, I'm like, I can get more money doing a podcast. You'd be great at it, but it's a ship that's – it's an old vessel. You'd be great at it, Bert, but you – first of all, they're not that funny.

You'd find out – You know what it is? And you know why that is? It's because there's a live studio audience there and i think people get nervous they get nervous about groans and that because there's always been like a governor on how funny you're allowed to be if you're on a sitcom versus a one camera shoot like the office or something like some of the jokes that they did on the office if if that was a sitcom same time same people same writers they wouldn't do those jokes if they

bill if they did the one where if they did think about it on a live studio audience if they did the joke where michael and dwight show up with two asian chicks and they can't tell them apart and they have to draw lines on their arms to figure out which one you imagine in a live studio. Honestly, it was like, I can't tell them apart. They'd be like, what the fuck?

Yeah. And plus with all like the political correctness stuff, but that's also why everybody loves Raymond Seinfeld all the way back to Mary Tyler Moore show. How great those were, um, that they were able to do that. And the stuff they talked about all

in the family. Cheers was another great one. If you can get on a great one, dude, like that's the gig. Just for the people at home, this is the gig. It's like Monday's the table read. You actually want to be an actor on it, dude, because if you're a producer, you're going to be there all day. Monday, right? You go in, you do the table read. If it goes well, you're a producer you're going to be there all day monday right you go in you do the table read if it goes well you do a little bit of blocking if it tanks you don't even block because they know you're going to rewrite it tuesday rehearse network run through or the producer run through and then wednesday was the network run through thursday's blocking friday you shoot the show you do it again next week and then you're off for a week. It's amazing. I love it. You know, you know, you want, I'll tell you, but it's, it's just, there's, it's, it's a world that doesn't

exist anymore. The great ones, you know, my first job, you want to know my first really cool job was when I was a kid, I played Andy Kaufman's character all day long for him on taxi. I played Andy Kaufman's character all day long for him on Taxi. Okay? Yeah. He didn't rehearse. He didn't rehearse. He didn't like to rehearse,

and he didn't get along with a couple of the people in the cast. So they had auditions for Latke, and a lot of people thought, well, is he leaving? And I just said, thank you very much. Yes, yes I get it yes no I understand and I got the job because I had the same manager and I got I had a sad contract I was 18 years old and I worked I, I rehearsed with the actors all week long. And on Friday, I'd meet with Andy, with the model of the set,

and I'd show him, okay, and here you're doing this, and here you're doing that. And you gotta remember, Latka was only in like four scenes an episode. Right? So it was kind of easy. But the actors were so pissed that he got to do that, an episode, right? So it was kind of easy. But the actors were so pissed

that he got to do that that they took it out on me. They were like mad at me. Except for Mary Lou Henner and Danny DeVito were great to me and Judd Hirsch was good to me.

And Tony, actually Tony Danza was cool to me. But a couple of them were like, fuck you. Jeff Conway was a cunt, huh? Oh, he was a cunt you kind of named the whole cast except one guy

oh did I there were a few others but but but I was a cunt too because I was a young kid and I was hired in a kite and I was a comedian

and I was at clubs all night and I was like I would be late and I was a comedian, and I was at clubs all night, and I was like, I would be late. And Jim Burroughs would say to me, Mike, you can't be fucking late. First of all, you're not really in the show, and they're pissed off that you're here. They don't want to wait for Andy's understudy, okay? And I was getting $2,000 a week at 18 years old. Okay. At 18 years old, late seventies. I mean, it's amazing. And, and I was getting reruns money, rerun money.

So it was a great job, but, um, and I was fucking late. I was smoking cigarettes outside the fucking door they'd all see me and they were all health freaks and you know i was a stoner comedian you know and but it was it was great robin was doing mark and mindy there and you know michael keaton was doing his show and it was i couldn't believe it you know but I was just a kid. And, and, but that was, those were magic times and they were great. Like you say, they show up at 11, they'd be done at four. And then they'd work one day of a shoot day. But today,

the first of all, when they do even the multi cameras, they do 10 episodes for Netflix. There's no backend. It's nowhere near the job you got. You know, you got, if you wanted to do, really wanted to do a show, you do your own show. You put it up your own, on your own thing and own it. You know? Hey, what was, let's,

let's go back to your documentary here for a second. What was your favorite aspect? Was there any favorite, like, there's so many stories down there. There's so much history. What was some of the things that you learned? Because I remember, like, I just, from my generation, I had always heard about the strike and all of that. And Bert, I was there the day he was interviewing, I think it was Driesen.

And like all of the bad blood from the strike, what it was, starts to kind of bubble up during the interview. And I was standing outside there listening to them talking about this stuff that happened 40 years ago. No, no, it wasn't about this. It was about this. No, they were trying to take out Mitzi. No, but, and it got into like this heated argument. And I was just sitting there like as a comic going like, wow, I always heard that it drove a wedge in between the comics.

And I was never quite the same after that. So to hear that blew my mind. So I was wondering, was there anything that when you went to do it, cause you go so far back at the store, was there anything that you learned while you were making this, that you were like, wow,

I never knew. I always thought it was like this. I didn't know it was like that. Well, I didn't know about the whole Rogan and Mencia thing. Oh, wow. Oh yeah. That was, i didn't realize how deep that was i didn't realize how bad things got at the store i didn't realize i didn't know that whole story really i didn't really realize you know when I started doing the doc, I'd go there.

I knew Rogan was a big guy there. Adam introduces me to him. I go, hey, can you do an interview? He says, yeah. And he goes, yeah, you can't film my act. I said, okay, no problem. You know, he goes, I'm doing a Netflix special. And right away, I just pissed him off one night. I go, hey, can I film your act?

He goes, no, I finished my special. I go, yeah, well, you said it could. And he just fucking jumped down my throat and we got off on a bad thing. And I said, okay, well. This is a reoccurring story in Mike's life. Yeah, but it's also in Rogan's life too. He always bugs people in the beginning

and then in the end they love him. But same thing with Rogan. Rogan's life, too. He always bugs people in the beginning, and then in the end, they love him. But same thing with Rogan. Rogan and I were talking the other day. He goes, you know, you piss people off, Mike. I go, hey, Joe, coming from you, who's pissed people off more than you? Okay? So anyway, I said, Joe. Joe just signed a $100,000 deal to piss people off.

$100 million. $100,000. $100,000 deal to piss people off. $100 million. $100 million. So anyway, so I think, okay, I'll just do it without him. It's not a problem. I'll do the doc without him. And then I get to a point, I start hearing, I realize I can't do this thing without Joe Rogan. Yeah.

I cannot tell the Comedy Store story. Joe, it's like I can't tell it without Richard Pryor. The early story, I've got to tell Richard Pryor because he's the DNA of the first part. But as a reporter, I'm hunting around, and the story I hunt to is a story I didn't really understand that Joe saved the fucking store. No, he did.

Because I remember when that stuff was going down, I was still on the East Coast. And I remember seeing that and hearing those stories, that when this particular comic would come in, like you'd have to stop doing your act. I know. And I just remember thinking like, because I remember how toxic that place was

when I left LA in the late 90s. I just remember thinking like, I am so glad I am not in that scene. That was horrible. And he took the bullet. He took the bullet and where the other guy was and where Joe was, he was past Joe.

So they actually went after Joe because all this town cares about his money. I think Joe lost his agent. Yes. Because he had the same agent as the other guy. Yeah. And then they said, you have to apologize to him. You know, Joe. Joe's like, I'm not fucking apologizing.

Oh, my God. He said, no. See, so you you're saying so i didn't know that any of this i had to get into that and i'm interviewing all these people from different sides and they're telling me the story and and now this guy fucking doesn't dig me and and you know fucking he's mad at me because i pissed off Annie Letterman over something and this, and he's mad at me this, and he's not talking. And I just, I said, okay. And my ego's up on a line and I'm not talking to him. And I got to figure out how do I do this without interviewing Joe.

The documentary within the documentary. Mike going around pissing people off. So exactly. Which, by the way, is my hobby, as you know. Yeah. You know, I don't have a lot of side things. So, I, uh, so, and then I just figured, I don't know how I'm gonna do it.

And then one night at about 11, he texts me. He goes, hey, Mike, it's Joe. I think we got off to a wrong start, but I think we should be friends. And let's go, you know. So I go, okay. Fuck, Joe. You know, look, man,

I fucking got a lot of respect for you and I need you to be in this thing. I hadn't talked to him for a year or asked him to do anything for a year. And I go, okay, let me know. So you and I are at the store one Saturday night, and he texts me, he says, hey, and I haven't told you about any of this.

I just kept wanting to keep you out of it. And he texts me. He goes, hey, I'm going to be up at the store in a little bit if you're there. I go, well, I'm here with Bill, but we're about to leave. But I'll stick around. He goes, yeah, okay. So I hang out. I'm smoking a cigar in the back.

He goes, hey, I'm in the back of the main room if you want to come back and have a talk. I'm in the dressing room. I go, yeah, come back. He goes, I'm way in the back of the main room if you want to come back and have a talk. I'm in the dressing room. I go, yeah, come back. He goes, I'm way in the back. So I go in the back. I go in the back, and he's taking a fucking shit. He's on the toilet shitting. And I go, what are you fucking doing?

He goes, and he stands up. He goes, hey, hey, hey, man, I'm fucking shit. I go, what'd you tell him? He just texted me to come back. And I go, sorry, is that a mind fucking? Did he learn this from one of his interviews? I start laughing. You go out, and he's laughing.

He goes, sorry, man, I didn't think he'd come that fast he goes i'm on this fucking beef thing and i fucking i had to shit real quick i didn't think he'd come that fast and i'm laughing my ass off and you know uh you know he's such a busy guy and i'm again it's going back to i'm in this situation where i gotta bug people to do these things which is never how i make my movies i never in my movies i i just either want you i only want people that love to be in the movie. And so finally, I'm bugging him, saying, hey, Joe, if we're going to do this, I really want to do a piece on you, but we've got to do it. So he has me come down to do the podcast, and it fucking goes great.

Oh, dude, you've got to see the clip of it. It's amazing. Sorry, I set a plug in my laptop. It was going to die. I watched the Rogan episode. It was fucking awesome. Yeah. Is that episode four?

Yeah, yeah. Episode four. And he's just great. And it's to the point where, and then he's in five, too, which you're going really like but i i'm at the point now where i cannot imagine having done this without joe i just he's he's just he is the store right now he is the current day i mean i'll talk well as someone myself who was not a store regular, did not go to the store, knew it was super toxic, and especially around the Mark Mancia times,

everyone at the improv knew if he showed up, you just disappeared off, or you didn't do your good stuff. Or you just go, ah, that's it for me, and just walk off stage. And the store was somewhere where I was like, that's just, and then when they did that to Rogan, every comic was like, fuck the store. Every comic was like, man,

that's bullshit that they do that. And then Joe literally being put, like we talked about being put in a timeout and then building himself back up the time when he came back to the store, it meant that the store was a safe place. Like this, you weren't getting fucked at the store. Everything came back to the store it meant that the store was a safe place like this you weren't getting fucked at the store everything was fair at the store if the promoters were doing a show everyone was paid evenly at the store like joe really i mean he wouldn't like me saying this but he really regulated the fairness of every aspect of that of that of that club in that just his being there meant everyone had to be above bar and be like, we're going to be safe with this.

It's also Adam. When Adam came in and the old guard left, and Adam came in and turned out to be this guy that, like, sort of a throwback, I would say, that loved stand up, like to develop people, like to give new people shots. I mean, you have to have that person in power combined with you need sort of a stand up like a sheriff. You know what I mean? I was just talking, I was working with Tony V this whole week and we were talking about the Boston comedy scene, you know,

when I came up in it and there was like this bar, this level of quality that you had to be at, or these headliners would not work with you. And if you stole a joke, you had to leave town because it was going to be like, there was a famous story of a comic did one of Lenny Clark's bits and Lenny went in and broke the guy's jaw and then that was the tone it was like a hockey game the tone was set tone was set no parallel thought you get a couple parallel thoughts to get out of town

there's something else about Joe that I think is a throwback to the Pryors and the Lenos and those guys from my era, which, and you guys are, you know, he's kind of like this working class, hard working motherfucker. And you guys, to me, like Neil Brennan said, you know, the hardest working guys win in comedy. And there's an intensity about Rogan that I fucking, I understand. You know, it's just, and I think when you see the clips of Mencia and you see the clips, and I remember there were guys like that that you just

felt that they just were coming in and doing their shit and doing as little just kind of having fun with it but getting away with as little work as possible almost you know and that kind of guy resents the fuck out of that about anyone taking shortcuts. Do you know what I'm saying? And I just feel like, like, I remember, I'll tell you who else was a hardworking motherfucker in his day. Eddie Murphy. Really? Eddie Murphy was such a hardworking guy and had such a clarity about where he was going.

Hey, tell him that story you told me when you did that gig with him. Eddie was opening for Mike. Eddie was opening for me. I was maybe 21 and he was 17 or something. At the comic strips they had a place in Florida for. Maybe he was 16 and I was 20. I don't know. But he just,

we're at the bar. He goes, hey, you know, I'm going to be the biggest comedian ever. Yeah. Oh, cool. Cool, Eddie. He goes, no, no.

I'm telling you, like fast too, like in two years, I'm going to be the Beatles of comedy. Yeah, cool, Eddie. Cool. No, no. I'm serious you, like fast, too. Like in two years, I'm going to be the Beatles of comedy. Yeah, cool, Eddie, cool. No, no, I'm serious. You're going to be telling people this. He goes, I'm going to make it fast, like movies, TV, fucking huge.

Yeah, I know, buddy. I know you are. And it was like, and you'd see it in his eyes, you know. He knew. It was like God put it in there in his ear, and he just told him, don't worry about anything. Just go do it. And I've seen that before.

I think Howie Mandel knew he was going to just go pop. Really? And I think that confidence sometimes happens, but I also think it's that hard work. Hey, I can also tell you 20 dudes who said that to me drunk at a bar that are nothing. Yeah, yeah, that's one thing. You're right.

I drink a lot. You run into that statement. I can also tell you there's a bunch of guys who that should have happened to, but they didn't believe it yeah yeah self-sabotage and everything because there was a there was a couple of people that i saw on the way up there was three of them and um i was just like they're just going to be the biggest thing ever yeah and the only guy that I saw that got through was Kevin Hart because Kevin had it knew it and then did the work and he was the only one and then when he did that I was looking at the other guys it's like oh this guy isn't writing oh this, this person, you know, doesn't do the schmooze thing well or whatever.

And it's just a little flaw in your game can add like seven, eight years to your sentence out on the road. That's interesting, Bill. That's very accurate. I remember seeing Kevin when he started and going, he had the most versatile Hollywood game in that he was funny as fuck on stage like hilarious on stage so likable off stage and wasn't getting fucked up and chasing pussy he was just like go there work drive back to Philly

go there work drive back to Philly go there work like he, drive back to Philly, go there, work. Like he, he was focused. And then, and then, I mean, I don't know. He wasn't the funniest comic at the beginning. It took him a little while to figure it out with him. It wasn't necessarily his standup. He went and he was testing for a pilot. I think it was that freaks and geeks, some Judd Apatow thing. And he was, and he was still doing a spot that night at the uh the comedy cellar and i remember thinking like you're not gonna go home and study the lines he goes nah man he goes i feel pretty confident about it and i was like thinking like wow man i wish i felt like that when i was going to network and then he just booked it

and then i was just like oh he's one of those guys but anyway there's some guys where it's just like, oh, he's one of those guys. But Eddie was one of those guys. There's some guys where it's just like they can go up late night at the club where they're comfortable and they're comfortable, and then they get in a new situation, and then they have to go through the whole journey again. Then there's other people. Once they get comfortable here, they can just walk on all levels at that level. There's very few people that I ever saw like that.

Kevin was like that. Eddie was different, though. Eddie was like, if you even look at some of his early stuff at the comic strip, he just walked on stage. It wasn't like a drunk guy at a party. It was like, I guess I'm telling it wrong because i was like going i think he's right i'm just i'm just too insecure to i'm here i'm like i'm like kind of like i wish i had that confidence i wish i had that confidence yeah any of that growing up and i was

i think i was successful a lot quicker than anyone in this business I got my first deal six months into doing stand-up but I eat when I got the deal I remember feeling like I don't deserve it I don't and then I got the TV show and I was like there's better guys than me and like in my whole it wasn't until recently where I made a decision to say no I deserve to have a tour bus. I deserve to be working. I deserve to be selling tickets. I deserve to book sitcoms. I remember there was comics used to trash Kevin Hart saying

he didn't deserve what he was getting, and he would just be going like, why? I went in and I auditioned. I booked it. You didn't. What, because you did the road longer than me? Yeah. Be better in your auditions.

There's a great moment in the documentary. And then I couldn't say be better in your auditions there's a great moment in the documentary say anything it was great there's a great moment in the documentary jim carrey and damon waynes are standing there talking in the in the in the parking lot and and uh damon says i remember you used to get standing ovations and the comics were so jealous they'd go he didn't really deserve that he goes he goes and i'd say they're standing they deserve you do he deserved it i identified with what jim carrey and that that conversation so much i identified with that because there is a weird thing that happens where you go, uh,

like, well, shit, I'm getting all this success. I want to be humble. I want to be, I want to be like, I don't want to be the fucking guy shows up in a hundred thousand dollar car and

been like, yo, that's what's up. Cause to watch that guy fail is so enjoyable for other comics to watch him come back down. You want to be humble. But at the same time, I had a really difficult time, probably 19 years of going, I deserve success.

Where you go, I deserve it. There's nothing braggy about it, but I've worked really hard. I deserve to be here. Yes, I do take my shirt off on stage yes that can look like a cheat code but that is what makes me comfortable to do the thing i do and fuck you suck my dick i did it just like that i really identified with that part with the jim carrey part that jim yeah but by the same token one of my favorite parts i committed is letterman says to me and he again he doesn't know a lot about you guys.

He goes, there's this one guy, and I think he says, I don't know his name, but he takes his shirt off in the middle of his act, and I'm thinking, this is not going to be funny. And it turns out to be the guy's funniest. And I sent you that clip. You sent me the clip, yeah. And he goes, I think he says, I'm like, this is not going to be funny. And, you know, it's so funny that his.

Mike, I can recite it to you if you want me to tell you what he said. I can tell you everything he said. I've watched that clip a million times. And then like a half an hour in, I'm laughing, and I forget his shirt's off. I'm like, wait, this isn't supposed to be – I sent it to my – you sent it to me. I sent it to my dad, and my dad goes, buddy, is he talking about you? And I was like, yeah, dad. Ow, I just stabbed myself in the leg.

I was like, yeah, dad. He fucking – and he's like, he's talking about you. That is the greatest clip i've ever gotten in my life okay now here's that now listen bill this is what kind of this is what i this is fucking classic bird chrysler i send him the greatest clip i've ever gotten in my life a year later he sends me back buddy that was the greatest clip i've ever gotten in my life i you know you think if you send the guy the greatest clip the next morning you go dude that fucking blew me away a year later oh the way. Did he say anything else? Out of curiosity, let's help Bert out here. What is the expiration on oh, by the way?

Oh, here it is. Forget about it. He can't say oh, by the way, and you haven't talked to a guy for a year. That should start with hey, sorry, buddy. Here's my other favorite thing in the documentary. And this is so funny to me. It's on Rogan's show. They're talking and Bert says, you know what?

They're talking about the comedy store. And Bert says, you know what would be so great? If somebody did a documentary about the comedy store. I would love to see one. And Ari Shaffir says, yeah, Mike Binder's doing one. He's been working on it for like two years. And Burt goes, wait a minute. I'm in that.

I'm in that. He interviewed me for that that and I've seen some clips of it I'm in that I can't believe I just said that and so in the doc I go I have made such an impression on this guy's life like you sent me a clip of David Letterman telling me he thought I was funny do you realize you just you're the messenger in that and it as soon as I got that I went I need to spread the word of this I said I I you got lost in the wash and I just texted my mom my dad my sisters my wife's dad my wife's mom like I texted everyone and then at the end i'm just i'm like oh yeah and like a month later two months later it wasn't a year but it was probably definitely six months i was like shit i gotta thank mike for that i cannot make an impression on this guy

he can't remember that he was in my documentary he's seen five of my movies he can't remember the title he can't remember it's like I'm like an invisible guy hovering around him. That's how Bert is. That's just the way Bert is. It's not malicious. I'm a barracuda. I know. No, he's the best.

He's the best. I just. I flew over his house in a helicopter, and the video was about what a wacky dad he is. I'm up there risking my life flying in this fucking hybrid fucking, this shared airspace between, I'm not going to say where, and I'm fucking trying to do that while I keep my head on a swivel looking for this fucking news helicopter. And then I watch the video and it's all about him.

It's not even about his kids. It ends with him with a big smile it's how bert is it's hysterical but i have to say i have to say the thing that you did to promote your special with the band oh i love that oh yeah i looked at that and I thought, this is such a perfect example of having your own world, doing your own thing, bringing it on. I just loved it. It's just, you know, that's why when you say, I'd do a four-camera sitcom or something,

you don't need that, man. You're the boss. You're your own company,'re you're you're the boss you're your own company you know you the boss of your own company you know and when you say you don't work hard dude you hired an entire like a 40 piece orchestra it's not easy and then i don't know how many takes you did but you were running you were running like there was wolves chasing you and i know you know, I'm a few years older than you, but I know the amount of Bengay required

after three takes of that. That was brilliant. That was brilliant. I showed that to my wife. I was like, look at this. This guy, I remember saying, I said to my wife, I go, come here, look at Bert. I go, Bert gets the internet.

He gets it. He gets the internet. I would have just been sitting there, so I got a couple of shows, come out. Have you guys seen the stuff that Kevin James is doing right now? Oh, it's fucking great. It's genius. It's genius.

It makes me think, God god what's coming next you know there's no reason anybody has to work for the the corporations or for anybody else everybody has to be their own boss and just make their own tell that to as many young kids as possible because i know agencies are trying to start like podcast networks. They're trying to reinsert themselves between you and the money coming at you. They're trying to remain relevant. So you want to talk about abuse and power, the shit that they're going to say to these young kids. We'll help you develop a podcast. We'll get you on our network. Your money will come to you through us with our name in the upper right left-hand corner.

And that's when you're done. You're done. The money goes to them first. Forget it. Forget it. The piece that, you know, Bert, the slug, where you talk about it in the doc, about when Joe and Bill came to you. It really was an interesting little slug how those guys talk to you and how

you took that. And what you've done with that now is to me, golden, you know, and you take that to your band thing and, and you're dancing. And, and, and then I love what I've heard about how you took, said COVID. I don't care. I'm going to do drive-ins. You know? You know? A smart comic can't be stopped.

That's a great fucking, that's a great, that should be a T-shirt. I think there should be an unless after it. There's a lot of potholes to step in now. Sometimes they just create a pothole. All right, well, I got the kiddos I got to get back to. I'm out here on the road with my family here. I want to thank everybody who came out to my shows. I did 10 shows last week, two shows a night, Tuesday, Tuesday, Saturday.

Are you done now, Bill? No, I got another six shows out here in Jersey. Then I'm done. I don't know what I got to do. What are you doing? What kind of shows are you doing? I got this

space heater and a couple of plates that I spit in the end of the straw. I'm a fucking comedian, Mike. No, no. What's the venue look like? Oh, I did everything. I literally did a patch of grass behind a motel, did two shows there,

had a woman come out of her house screaming at me that she shouldn't have to listen to that filth. Then I did. I was on the sort of stage making fun of what I thought was her house. And it turned out she lived on the other side. And the guy who owned the house I was making fun of was sitting there listening to the show, enjoying it. So I felt bad, but he didn't pay either. So anyway, then I did a farm in Morris, Connecticut that literally looked like Woodstock, you know, like, I don't

know, 24 hours before the bands were going to get there because it was like just people spread out and really sat it safely. Then I did Ridgefield, Connecticut. I did six shows at that one. Then I did two shows in Ridgefield, Connecticut, which was under a tent, but it was open on the side in this town. Fell in love with Connecticut, and now I'm down here in New Jersey, a couple blocks from the ocean, and I'm doing some shows here tonight. So it's been great, and my act, the final show I did Saturday night, wire to wire, I fucking murdered like the old days because so much of my set, the connective tissue was, and what else did I used to talk about?

Oh, freckles going back over the thing. I just made me trying to remember what I said next a part of the show. And by the time I got to Saturday night, like I didn't have to look at my set list i just burned through i mean you know i did had done my act nine times so um i feel like i'm back to where i was and uh i'm gonna start doing more of these and i'm hoping a bunch of promoters on the west coast are seeing what the way that they're doing them here and down south

as the winter months are coming. But I don't give a shit. Those people in Minnesota are tough. If they want to come out and stand in the cold in November, I'll go. I don't give a shit. I'll do a fucking – I will definitely do an ice lake and a heartbeat. See what he did? He just piggybacked on my goodwill to Minnesota.

He upped it, and now he went to an ice lake. This motherfucker, I'm telling you, you got to watch out for him. Hey, Hot Summer Nights tour goes back on the road. He's trying to win the race. I go back out on the road next week. I'm out for 21 days. That's awesome. God bless you.

All right, Mike Binder. I really appreciate you guys having me on. I love your podcast. And you guys are both such. I love you, Mike. I love your podcast. And you guys are both such great energy for the doc. I really appreciate it so much. What is the actual, is it called the store? The comedy store. The comedy store.

It's called the comedy store. All right. So it's on Showtime. It airs this Sunday night. And actually, I think we're going to watch it at the comedy store Sunday night out in the back if you guys are around. I might have to come by. I have a cigar. Yeah, we're going to watch it at the Comedy Store Sunday night out in the back if you guys are around. I might have to come by. I have a cigar.

Yeah, we're going to smoke a cigar and watch it. Anyway, I love you guys. You're awesome. I love you too, Mike. And Andrew, you're the best. Thank you, buddy. All right. All right, Mike.

Congratulations on this thing. I think it's right up there with anything you've ever done. I can't say enough about it. It's on Showtime this Sunday, which will be October the 4th. And by the way, this will be the one thing

that Bert knows the title of of my things. The Comedy Store. The Comedy Store. All right, Mike. Love you, you brother thanks for coming on brother thank you