The Checkup with Doctor Mike - Convincing Anjelah Johnson-Reyes To Go To The Doctor

Episode Date: January 31, 2023

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes is a stand up comedian you know from Mad TV and her early YouTube virality for her impression of a day at the nail salon. I was exited to sit down with her an discuss her health, her comedic style, and her relationship with doctors, which turns out to be pretty complicated. Like many out there, Anjelah has not had the best success when visiting traditional doctors to treat her ailments, and as such she has grown a little wary of their advice. I recognize there are plenty of doctors out there who don't put their relationship with a patient first, so I wanted to work with Anjelah on battling some of this doctor stigma and see if we could get her to come around on some traditional medicine. I was so happy with this discussion and think Anjelah is a total rock star! Let me know down below if you'd had issues with traditional doctors in the past and if you have any questions I can answer to clear things up for you. Follow Anjelah: IG: https://www.instagram.com/anjelahjohnson/ Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/anjelahjohnson Executive Producer and Host: Dr. Mike Varshavski Produced by Dan Owens and Sam Bowers Art by Caroline Weigum CONTACT: [e-mail]

A lot of times we're doing what we think we're supposed to be doing so we can be good people. Good members of society. Good members of society. You want to be on the good side of history. And I think sometimes we overshoot it. Like good side was right here. You should have to be right here. You went way over there.

And now it's like, I don't know, what can I say that's not going to offend you? So excited to welcome to the podcast, Angela Johnson Reyes, rock star of a comedian, coming off a hundred city tour selling out from Mad TV back in the day and had that huge YouTube viral sensation about nail salons. We have an amazing conversation about modern health care, her distrust and doctors, even touching upon alternative medicine, things that I maybe even push back against. I think you're really going to enjoy it. Let me know down in the comments. Let's get started.

I love the fact that you're very hydrated. Thank you. Tell me about why you carry 64 ounces of wood as if you're going into the desert. I love drinking water. If I have one of the tumblers with no straw, I'll never drink it. I will never take the time to take the cap off, take a drink, it's too much work. But with a straw, I just go slurp it all day long.

And yeah, and my lips always get chapped in the winter. So I'm like, I need some hydration at all times. I'm saying it like I'm judging you, but in reality it's the thing that I recommend to people. Because they're like, I need an app on my phone that will make sure. should remind me to drink water. I'm like, just have a thing with you that you could just sip on. Yeah. So you're already doing the thing.

It's good to sip. It's because it's easy. Yeah. And then I'm always thirsty. Yeah. But I just was surprised by the size. Well, because then you don't have to refill as much. That's true.

That's true. Do you have a beverage of choice? Like, what's your hydration source? Sparkling water. But not right now because it makes me burp. And I don't want to burp in the interview. Same, same, same. But why?

Why don't I want to burp? Yeah. I'm an avid burper, okay? Avid? Is this an acid reflux thing? It is. Okay. And please help me with that.

And I don't realize I'm burping until like three burps in. And then I realize I'm with people. And I'm like, oh, sorry about that, everybody. Like, it just, it happens. And then so, but I love sparkling with Topochico is the best. I think Pellegrino is the best. Why? Because you don't like bubbles?

I don't like a sharp. bubble. Okay, that's what it is. Because then it makes you burp. That's my favorite part. Like, I want it to sting going down my throat. Or a pillagrina. Do you like really cold water?

Yes. Oh, I hate cold water. Oh, my God. I have to have cold water. Oh, that's right. It hurts. Yeah. I have perfect teeth.

This is so messed up. Like, how are you going to talk about having good teeth? I had braces three times. I had braces twice and it did not help. So maybe I should have gone for the third. Yeah. That's what I had the real metal braces. twice, and then I did Envisaline.

No, wait, did I have those ones? I did one of them, whatever. I had Envisaline, I think, a couple times, and then the metal braces. And I broke my retainer like the month after I got them. Are you still wearing the retainer at night? My Envisaline, yeah. Wow, you're consistent like that.

Well, as soon as I see my teeth shifting, I'm like, no, where's my retainer? Fair, fair. I can't do a fifth time. Because I can't do the retainer thing at night. I don't know why. Do you have to? Absolutely.

So I had Envisaline. as well. That failed because I didn't wear my retainer. So then I got regular braces. Uh-huh. And then that failed because I'm just a bad human. And now I just, you know, I just tear all my teeth out and put fake ones in. But so you still have to wear a retainer when you have the dentist recommends it. I fight against it. Why? They're in place. Doctors make bad patients. They're in place. They're done. Yeah. No, no, they're not done. They're constantly shifting. Really? Yeah. Even Benazis. Huh? Yeah. Because it's not like I have a bridge. which like a bridge that holds it in place.

I have individual veneers. Oh, okay. That's when you get senior citizen level and you can just take them all out at the same time. Like my dad had to have one of his teeth pulled. So he got like a bridge of three. So it looks like there's three teeth, but really that middle one is just for show.

Oh, you know what's funny? My cousin also has that, but that's because he did a lot of drugs growing up and he lost all his teeth. I hope my dad didn't do a lot of drugs. No, my cousin did it explain a lot of problems. Yeah. Sometimes he'll take him out and he has like just teeth.

Oh, he could take him. So they're dentures. Yeah. Oh, no. This thing is like a crown thing. Oh, no, no. This is like hanging in there. Oh, no, no, no.

We grew up in the hood. He got, that's all he could afford. Okay. We kind of got off topic. But, okay, so you love Topochiko. I love Pellegrino. You mentioned something about acid reflux. This is a health podcast.

Yeah. Is that your biggest health problem? Oh, biggest. Hmm. You know what? I would say it's pretty up there. I think growing up, always had a stomach ache, like after I would eat things. And then my mom and my, do I want to

say growing up, maybe not growing up. I think my adult years. So like when I moved out on my own was in my 20s, I'm 40 now. Okay. So I think in my adult years, me so much. Thank you. I would, anything I would eat, it would be like, oh, my stomach hurts. And it lasts for like, you know, half hour or whatever. And then my mom, my sister would be like, I don't think your stomach is supposed to hurt after you eat all the time. Um, but I love like spicy food and I mean, I'm Mexican, right? So I love all the like salsa and like all the sauces. Give me all the sauce. Um, like flame and hot Cheetos. Like it's, it's bad. Um, my diet has improved. And now that I, um, am more health conscious, I, I can feel when I've eaten something that my body does not agree

with and I've learned to avoid certain things and I've learned to just know like my stomach's gonna hurt but I enjoy this you know. Is it the flaming Cheetos? Like what's the um sometimes flaming Cheetos sometimes honestly it's saucy foods tomatoes tomatoes all all the saucy stuff um carbs like noodles and stuff sometimes that's unusual yeah sometimes is it a gluten issue maybe I don't know but I did a food sensitivity thing, gluten was not on there. I'm not a fan of those sensitivity things. Oh, really? Eggs were on there. Egg whites, mostly.

I've never heard that. So sensitive and, again, those sensitivity tests are terrible. But like, what did they tell you based off the test? So there was a high, a medium, and mild sensitivity. And egg whites were, I had nothing in the high, in the medium was egg whites and in the mild was egg yolks. But what happened was that I was going through a year of really bad, not acne, but red bumps. Well, I have rosacea. Well, that's like rosacea acne is like a category. Into my neck.

Like it was like little bumps but not pimples. And I couldn't figure out what it was. Is it my hormones changing? Is it my diet, all the things? So I went a whole year. I did dermatologist. I did different like the. natural path doctors that give you, like, all these different herbs to, like, clean your gut

and, like, all that kind of stuff. And then, um, I was doing different topicals, changing all of my regimen. And then I did a food sensitivity test. And then I cut eggs out. And then my skin cleared up. Wow. Okay. Yeah. So when it works, it works. Yeah, I guess so. So it was eggs and poppy seed, which is weird, because I rarely have poppy seed unless it's like snuck in there. I know, Darn. You've heard that, right, by the way, why I say heroin, that if you eat enough poppy seeds, you might test positive. Yeah, like police can't eat poppy seed muffins or something like that.

Oh, is that true? I didn't know that. I mean, it was a rumor I had heard because if they do a drug test and it's like, oh, you're on heroin. No, I just eat poppy seed muffins every morning, you know? Okay, I didn't know that cops were allowed to eat poppies and muffins. I mean, that could just be a rumor, but I remember hearing that. But yeah, so I just started incorporating eggs.

again recently but not a lot like maybe like once every couple weeks I'll have like and will you get a breakout no I haven't noticed so I've been like space but I did notice I ate eggs three days in a row one day and my whole neck started breaking out really okay so your body doesn't like eggs for some reason yeah interesting but you can eat chicken yeah which is basically an egg yeah I can eat chicken um and yeah but I'm not like I won't die I just break out. Well, okay, that's a win. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. I wonder what exactly about the ed component is happening there because the reason I don't like the food sensitivity test is whatever the result on those tests come out to be, it's not what always happens clinically, meaning like let's say this thing flags for bread. But when you eat bread, you're fine. I throw the test out because the test doesn't mean anything. I treat you, not the lab value. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So a food sensitivity test or allergy test even without a history is useless. And a lot of times these places will test for a million things, not ask you a single question. And they'd be like, you can't ever have this food. But you're like, I've been eating this food my whole life and fine. Yeah. You get what I'm saying, right? Yeah, totally, totally. But also, I feel like our donor bodies change.

They do. So I think maybe what I'm sensitive to in this season of my life, I might not be next season. and I wasn't last season. Like, eggs did eat, I used to eat eggs all the time. Eggs and bacon for breakfast, like chorizo and eggs. Like, that was growing up, never had an issue. So I feel like my body's changing and I don't know. Yeah, I think it's about quantity of how much we're eating of those foods and then our bodies adjust.

Also, when we're younger, we may have some allergies that we grow out of. Right. Like most kids, and this is for adults, they come into my office and they say I have a penicillin allergy. like 90% of true penicillin allergy that kids have, they grow out of as adults. And here we are not using the best antibiotic with the known side effects that are really safe. Oh my gosh, my husband is allergic to penicillin, but that was from childhood. 90% it's going to be safe. Oh my gosh, I should tell them to go try it.

Well, don't tell them to go try it, do it, do it. This isn't a party game. Thinks can go wrong. Take a swig of some. Bubble gum flavored penicillum. No, just go to an allergist and they'll just tell you instantly. They'll do a little test. I did an allergy test one time, a long time ago, and they poke you for all those things.

They're just hell of pox. Nothing. They're like, oh, you're great. I'm like, oh, all these pokes for nothing. Well, that's good. Yeah, I guess. Piece of mind. Sure, it's peace of mind.

Were you having an allergic reaction? Like, okay, what's it going to be? And they're like, nothing. I'm like, oh. Why did you get that test done? I forget why. I think it was maybe something with my stomach. again, like in my 20s and, like, growing, being like,

God, the stomach has been a source for you. Yeah, like, I burp a lot, and I'd be like, oh, my stomach hurt. And then it goes away. Do you ever feel full earlier than you think you should? Like, that's called early satiety. Do you do it? Sometimes, okay, so there will be times where I'd be like, okay, if I eat slower, then I'll be okay.

Like, let me just not scarf down my food. Let me just eat slower. But I notice if I eat slower, I don't eat as much. Got it. There's a term that we use in medicine that kind of is representative, catch-all term, if you will, called dyspepsia. Sounds delicious. It's not. It's the exact opposite.

It's like that I'm comfortable feeling that you're describing while eating and swallowing. That's my problem. If you were older, we would jump right away and do an endoscopy. What's that? Camera in the mouth. Oh. Because it could be something serious. It could be, most commonly, it's caused by a bacteria in most people called H. Pylori.

Have you heard of this bacteria? Yeah, uh-huh. You have it? Yeah, I don't know if I have it, but I remember going to the natural path doctor and them talking about it. And I came back from, I think it was Mexico, and I had like real bad stomach things happening. And so he gave me all these different like herbs. Yeah. I'm trying to remember the names of them.

But then it went away. I'm taking all these random herbs and I'm like, okay, great. I'm so skeptical of that kind of stuff. It works for me. I mean... Yeah. Like, does it work? Or does it mask the symptoms and then the problem is just festering? No, because I was like, I couldn't hold the food down.

I was having diarrhea, like all the things. And then it goes away. I'm curious, what led you to your decision to go the natural pathway? I don't love, like, antibiotics unless I have to. Well, okay, no one loves, I mean, do people love antibiotics? Well, for, I started learning about my gut health. Okay. And my microbiome.

Okay. Tell me more. Okay. I like this. So I started learning about my microbiome and how my gut brain is correlated to my mental brain. I love it. And the thoughts, right? Yes.

And good bacteria and bad bacteria and your immune system and your gut. And I started learning about. So far, 100% accurate. All of this kind of stuff. And so, um, my gut was not great. And so when I started doing the naturopath doctors, because I had learned that the antibiotics kind of wrecks your gut.

Were the regular doctors recommending antibiotics at that point? Like why did you assume that you were going to have to go either antibiotics or naturopath? So, like, when I, oh, you got a virus in Mexico, we gave you this antibiotic. That's not right. Well, yeah, a lot of things. I remember one time I went to the doctor and for something else, like some other kind of virus. And I was like, yeah, you know, I'm taking, you know, my vitamin C, my zinc, my D.

And she's like, that doesn't work. None of that's even proven. And I was like, oh, we don't think the same. I'm going to go see somebody else. Like I love some Western medicine, but I'm going to need you to at least admit that vitamin C is healthy for you. Vitamin C is healthy for you. Okay. Extra vitamin C doesn't do anything.

Okay, but it's good for you. Extra is not good for you. But vitamin C is good for you. Correct. And isn't good for you? Yeah. All those things are important and you can't really live without them. But once you have the basic amounts, taking extra in supplemental form doesn't change outcomes.

I'll tell it to you this way. Let's say we're building this hotel and I'm like, you know what? I need you to speed this up, Angela. Like, this is ridiculous. This is slow. So I'm going to send you all the materials needed to complete this, and you better speed it up. You're going to be like, but it doesn't matter if you send all the materials and extra materials. I still have the rate limiting step of building this thing.

Okay. That's what our body is like. So you're giving the body all this extra material. It's like, no, no, no, we're using it. Like, there's no more we can use. You can't hire extra hands. No, the body's limited. Okay.

Yeah, it's not sad. Because it would be great if we could. Yeah. That's what the problem is in the marketing of all these things. Like vitamin C is crucial to your immune health. Without it, you develop scurvy. Vitamin D is crucial to your immune health, your bone health. Without it, you have brittle bones, like childhood diseases.

Yeah. But once you have the basic needs accounted for, taking mega doses from the company that promises miracles is where it becomes problems. So that's where doctors mess up because they say it doesn't work. Well, you're like, vitamin D works. It does, but extra doesn't. Yeah, okay. Maybe she should have clarified.

Yeah. And it also, a lot of doctors, especially these days, are quick to prescribe something like an antibiotic, even when it's not appropriate. Maybe not even because they're a bad doctor. Well, they are kind of bad doctors, but they've become bad doctors. Because let's say you come into my office with a virus. And like an upper respiratory virus. And I tell you, hey, look, I think this is a virus because it's happening in your nose, in your lungs, in your throat, and your sinus. It's everywhere. clearly not a bacterial infection, which would be just like a sinus problem or just a lung problem or a strep throat. So I think this is a virus. Go home, sleep, hydrate, eat some fruits and vegetables. You'll be fine in five days. You leave and you're like, I just paid this doctor. They didn't even give me nothing. And I have a trip to Cancun and I want to be in my bathing suit. I need antibiotics. So doctors feel like they have to prescribe in order to get a good review on Yelp. My friend just went to the doctor last month

And she was like having this like cold virus or whatever She said I don't know I don't feel good my throat kind of hurts She went she's like it's not strip It's not this but they gave me a Z pack Just in case and I was like What does that mean? What is just in case? Like this may help you

I don't know what it is but here this may help you And then guess what? It was COVID I could have said that She got her test like two days later She's like oh my God I'm positive for COVID And I was like oh my God put your freaking mouth mask on and get away from me. And Garrett the Z-Pack out. Yeah. So dumb. So that's why the system has broken doctors. But you need a doctor who will stand their ground and say, you don't need

antibiotics. Yes. Yeah, yeah. I would appreciate that. So then you would trust your doctor more if they were more like that. I feel like I would trust my doctor more if not only they were like, hey, it could be this, da-da-da-da, oh, we tested this and you need this antibiotic. But also, are you eating your fruits and vegetables? Are you eating healthy? No, they don't care. Can we call them out? Yeah.

You know what I mean? Like I would love, I would fully trust my doctor if they were like, yes, all these medicines are great, but also your fruits and vegetables. What's your diet like? Are you exercising? That sucks. That's not happening. That kind of like natural.

Let's use what our body and our natural medicine that's out there, you know? Let's use that as well. Well. Is your doctor a DO, MD? Sorry. I think so. I don't know. Okay. Well, there's two types of doctors in the U.S. that are allowed to be physicians. Okay. MDs and Dio's. So MDs like the traditional medical school. Yeah, what's a D.O? A D.O is also medical school. Same four years, same residency, same specialties.

Like, I happen to be a D.O. Okay. The biggest difference between the two and the education is that the Dio philosophy, understands that you don't look at just a disease. You look at the whole person, number one, because the person is not just a diabetic. There are a mom who has three kids, who has to be at work,

who has acid reflux, who has diabetes, you know what I'm saying. And then that the body heals itself. We do nothing. We suck. We can either facilitate the body doing its own thing in healing or we can mess it up and get in the way and start causing problems.

Yeah, I like this. I need a DO. Do you have availability? I do. Okay. But you're in New York, right? I will give you my cell phone and you're available at all times. So much. The co-pay is really expensive. Damienet.

I charge 1,000 followers and a shout-out per. I charge two tags, infeed posts. I love that you know, infeed. Can we talk about Roset for a second? Yeah, let's talk about Rosetia. I have had Rosie Chia. cheeks since I was young, like teenager status. And I, um, went to the doctor when I was 17. And I remember being in the doctor's office waiting because I was like, I have rosatia.

Like something's going on here. The doctor walks in the room, hasn't even met me, hasn't even looked at me. He walks in the room and he goes, you don't have rosatia. You're too young. And I go, oh, okay, because it really looks like rosatia. And he, like, looked quickly. He's like, no, you're too young. You're probably just, you know, your showers are too hot. You're blah, blah, but all the things. I've had my whole life rosy cheeks.

And then I started seeing the blood vessels. And it probably wasn't until these past maybe five years that now I get the rosacea pimples. And I am having a flare up on this side right here. My makeup is awesome. Yeah. The Sephora. He's doing a good job. Oh, my God.

I'll show you a video because I sent a video to my friend who's a dermatologist. And I was like, girl, what do I do? But so like this side, it's like you see my blood vessels and now I'm getting bumps. And I'm like, what the heck is going on with my rosacea? And like sometimes I don't know what my flurps are for this. Well, not being a dermatologist makes it a little bit trickier. But there are specific treatments for different types of acne. Like if you have rosacea type acne, there's better treatments than.

then if you have inflammatory acne or cystic acne. So it depends on your type of acne. And any doctor that comes in without looking at you telling you you don't have something is already a piece of shit. So I'm sorry that happened to you. Yeah. And now I'm starting to sort of get the understanding of why you're leading towards a naturopathic approach because you're like, these people don't listen to me.

So I'm going to go to someone who actually thinks my body is healing itself. Yes, yes. What is rosacea? Why do we get it? Okay, so we have different skin types. Some people will get sun damage and get pigmentation in their skin. Some people will have increased vascularity, which means that they have more blood vessels, which can look like rosacea.

Some people will have swelling of those blood vessels so that they become more visible, which would also present as rosacea. For me, I also have vascular skin, and there's good dermatologists that you can go to, and they have specific cameras that will photograph your face and show you what type are what skin type predominance you have. And it's like really fancy technology that actually is beneficial because you get to learn about your skin type

and what product you should use. Like, do you use any retinal-based products? I don't. Should I? No, because that can make rosaceous symptoms worse. Do you use any drying products like salicylic acid? No. I used two teenage years. Those things can make rosatia worse.

Which is interesting because if you have acne and you're coming in with a rosacea type acne and you're like, what should I do? And your doctor's like, use some salicylic acids over the case. counter. Yeah. And then it makes it worse. You're like,

what the hell is this doctor doing? Oh, yeah. I used to have such good skin. Like, I mean, you have great skin. Thank you. You're blessed. Thank you. I had skin with no, um, scarring.

Like no pimple scarring or anything. And like being in the entertainment industry, anytime I would be somewhere and I had to get my makeup done, that was always like, oh, you have such great skin. I'm like, thank you so much. You're like at 8 a.m. This is such a nice thing to hear. Thank you. And then as I started getting older.

And I was dealing with, like, acne, but, like, my food stuff that I was talking about, and I started getting scarring and, like, where it would be, like, a dark spot or even just, like, scarring. Yeah. And I was like, oh, my gosh, like, my skin is changing it. It used to be, like, super clear. And now I always have, like, a rosacea patch or, like, whatever random, like, pimples, but just bumps. Yeah, I don't know, maybe it all has to do with.

You know what also is annoying? What? Your mental health plays a role in your skin health. Oh. And I'm going to do like a holistic view of everything you've told me so far. Okay. Do you know what organ is impacted first when we're stressed, anxious, nervous? Your skin?

Stomach. Oh, your stomach. That makes sense. So you have a skin issue. Uh-huh. You have a stomach issue. Uh-huh. Is there an anxiety component to everything?

Oh, my God. I mean, however, let's talk about this, too. I struggle with anxiety my whole life. And a year ago, I started taking these supplements that are focused on your gut health and talking about the gut health and the mental health. So like a probiotic? Yeah, so it's pre-probiotics, phytobiotics, fiber, like fiber supplement, different natural.

um herbs and stuff right and i it was when i was struggling with my skin and i was talking to my friend and she's like oh i started taking these supplements and it helped my skin you should take it so i was like okay cool so i i order like a introductory pack of these supplements and the first day i took the supplements i noticed my anxiety was down because it was a travel day and And any day it's time as a traveling, I travel for a living, being a touring comedian. I remember I was at LAX and I was walking through the airport and I felt light. I didn't feel heavy, anxious, elephant on my chest, my throat locked up. I didn't feel it.

And I wasn't skipping through the airport like, oh my God, I'm in such a good mood. I just felt I was aware that I was not having anxiety through the airport. I was like, oh, this is interesting. I wonder if it's the supplements I took, but it can't be working that fast. I just took it today for the first time I'm talking myself out of it, right? Then I take it again the next day, and I feel the same kind of thing, and take it in the next day. And now this is kind of from somebody who anxiety has held me back from so many things, so many opportunities. Hey, you got invited to this event, blah, blah, blah.

I make up any excuse not to go just because I have anxiety, all the things. Hey, you got this audition for this really big project. I'm going to wait until the very last minute because anxiety has just choked me. up until the very last minute to learn my lines and do this audition. So I'm noticing I'm feeling super light. And then on the third day, felt it again. I called my friend. I was like, hey, because I just took it for my skin. I didn't even realize this was like a whole mental health component thing. And I was like, hey, what's going on? Like, why do I feel good taking this? And then she started explaining everything about like gut health, your mental health, whatever. And

And ever since then, it was July of 2021 that I started taking this. My anxiety has been night and day different from my whole life. I've never felt this kind of freedom before. I took a sabbatical of touring. I came off the road. I canceled every show and everything. I was like, I can't. I was, like, about to have a mental breakdown.

I came off the road and, you know, this was after a long tour. Now, this past year, 2022 has been the biggest year of my career thus far. I launched a book earlier this year. A hundred cities, like traveling all over the place. And it was the first year that I had fun touring that I enjoy. I've been touring for 15 years. And I actually enjoyed it. I enjoyed going to the next city and the,

the next city and my husband and I were having conversation like a couple weeks ago and he's like it's so interesting because he also doesn't like believe the oh that's woo-woo stuff right is what he thinks and he's like it's so interesting to me that this year you've traveled the most you're busier you're this has like been your busiest year but it didn't deplete you like I normally see you by this time, you're stressed, you're crying. You're like, I don't want to do it anymore. I'm done, like, all the things. And I'm planning for the next one already.

He's like, it's so weird to me that this year didn't deplete you, like it normally does. And I'm like, because I didn't have anxiety this year. I didn't struggle with it. I didn't get depressed three days before my show while I'm packing to go to the next city, you know? Like, I didn't have to deal with all of that mental stress. because I've been taking these supplements that have been helping me.

Curious, why you don't give credit to your sabbatical for giving you this lack of anxiety. I did. I did as well. I was like, it's this as well as I took a break. I came off. I replenished. I refreshed. Like I unplugged. I did all of the things that my body needed to help me get back up and keep going. sure um but so that was the 2020 was my sabbatical i came off before covid like i had planned it and everything and then all of a sudden the whole world went on a sabbatical as well it's crazy um so it went through all of 2020 sabbatical and then it's 2021 i start touring again it was a whole whole thing i was up for this big huge movie like real big movie the it was like these a list actors and i was like these a list actors and i was

was going to be like right in the middle of them i couldn't believe i was even up for this part and it was like the director wants you the other actors have like signed off on you because they're both producers on the movie as well and they're like you're you're you're they put a pin in you they're holding on to you they just need the executive of the studio to approve you so i was on hold for this movie for three months and i'm like planning all the things like okay like we got to cancel the rest of my show dates because i'm going to go film this movie well whoa I'm on hold for like three months. I'm like, hey, when are they going to confirm me?

Because I got to cancel these shows, you know. And at the last minute, the executive said no to me. And they booked somebody else. Do you know why? He didn't get me. He didn't get my comedy. He didn't. He's like, I don't see what you guys see.

And he picked somebody else. And so that I end up touring the rest of the year, writing my new material. And everything happens for a reason. It's a whole different podcast. But that year, this is 2021, I'm dealing with a lot of emotional anxiety and stress, not getting that role. Now I'm going on the road. It's after COVID. So it's like touring is like still kind of scary because it's like, I don't know.

Do, you know, are we wearing a mask in the comedy club? Like, how does this work now? So it was a lot. It was very emotional up and down roller coaster. So my anxiety was going crazy even after the sabbatical. And to talk about that too. I remember my husband being like, you just took a sabbatical. You're not supposed to be stressed anymore.

Like, what is this, right? And I'm like, I don't know. Maybe the sabbatical didn't work. But then in July, I start taking these supplements. And for the rest of the year, it literally changes my, the way I operated in my life, in the midst of stressful situations, in the midst of touring, in the midst of all of that. So I do believe it was the sabbatical. It was the rest.

It was the unplugging. and it was whatever I was taking to work on my gut health and make sure I'm taking my probiotics and all of these things was really having effect on my mental health. Was that the promise from the probiotic company? So they are, they do talk about mental health. It's mainly mental health is their thing. Really?

So I didn't, they rarely, I don't even know that they talk about skin, clearing up. My friend just, when she was taking it, her skin cleared up. And she got off her, um, she was on acutane. She got off her acutane. She was on adderol. She got off her adoral, like all kinds of stuff. And, um, so I was taking it for my skin. I was like, girl, I need help. Like, I didn't even think about my mental health. I was just like, oh, I used to get compliments. And now I don't help. Like total vein. Um, and that's how it started for me. But they are a mental.

wellness company. This sounds miraculous, though. It really is. I mean, it's just, it's hard for me to wrap my head around it as a scientist. I get it. That there's, because I believe in, it's not even a believe, there's facts behind the gut-brain connection and that if we don't have the proper balance of good bacteria, bad bacteria, as you said earlier, we're going to have dysfunctions, whether it's GI stuff with

diarrhea or mental health stuff with cravings for sugar. But then the fact that on one day you could take a bacteria supplement and prebiotic, which just means fiber, basically, because that's what the food is that we need to feed the good bacteria, then your mindset changes that day and lasts with no side effects that long. It doesn't make a lot of sense medically. So I have to just put that out there in the nicest way, not doubting that all this happened. And I completely hear that. And I think I could say, oh, placebo effect, had I been taking these for my anxiety and mental health, but I didn't even think that's why I was taking the met. I thought I was taking this for my skin.

And then I just felt good. And I was like, that's weird. I feel like I'm in a good mood. And then I called her confused and was like, hey. What if it comes out that there's an anti- hydropressin in there. Yeah. You know, like how hydroxycut got into the whole thing with like a fedra being in it.

Oh, yeah. Remember hydroxy cut? I forgot about hydroxy cut. We used to take hydroxy cut. No, really? Who's we? Yeah, me and my 20, me and my girlfriends, we all lived together. And we would be like, a hydroxy cut for the night.

Let's go out. Like all the things. So that's a problem. That was our drug, yeah. But I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with the supplement. But speaking of the placebo effect, read a really cool research article by accident. There's a device that people wear for migraines on their forehead. It treats specific types of migraines that come as a result of overstimulation

of the trigeminal nerve. It's called the cephali device. And when I first saw it on TikTok, I was pretty skeptical. I'm like, let me look into the research of it. And there's actually decent research that it works in specific situations. When they tested it, they tested it against one device that was actually working and stimulating this nerve and one that was doing nothing but it made the same sounds and made the same light

so they needed a control group and the people that had the device but it wasn't doing anything it was off basically 30% of them improved their migraine symptoms the real device was like 60% improvement so like clearly that's superior

to the placebo effect but the placebo effect is so real did you ever see the documentary called Heal? It was on Netflix I don't know if it's still there maybe I probably watch all the medical stuff out there. Oh, my God.

Is it like the power of the mind and healing? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But they interview, same kind of story you just shared. It was a guy who's an engineer or scientist for Big Pharma and he makes medicine. And he said the same thing. He's like, you know, we had 100 people. We give them this medicine. And you get the placebo.

You don't, whatever. And he's like 50% of the people who got the placebo got better. Got better. because they just thought they were taking the medicine. And then that's what he was talking about, the power of the mind and all of that. But it was so interesting to think how our mind is connected to our health. So much so.

Yeah. So much. That's why in treating your skin, treating the anxiety component, whether it was placebo or not, will inevitably treat your skin. Because that could be a trigger for your skin. So I could see how that totally comes about.

And for me, why I like the placebo, like a lot of doctors are like, oh, that's placebo, that's bullshit. Well, hold on a second. Are there any negatives to taking these probiotics? Probably not if they're just probiotics. So if they're giving you the results you need, I'm fine with it. My thing is over-promising things where patients then, like, let's say they have a real problem that we have a real solution for and they don't go for that solution.

That's where I start getting upset. And I've actually changed the way I practice because of this placebo effect. Whereas before, let's say I had one option that may work for a patient's condition. And I know that's the only legitimate treatment I can give them. Before I bake, I would give them the 100% clear on. You know, it doesn't work all the time, but the times that it works, it's great. Yeah. I now say, I think this is the treatment for you.

I think this will work very well for you. And I hype it up, not being dishonest, just being passionate about it. And it gives better results. Yeah. I fully believe that. Do you believe that's ethical? That's how you, I mean, if your heart's intention is to, is the betterment of this person and you're not getting a commission from this. By the way, that doesn't exist.

So like, I wish people like knew that. That's great. It's illegal, meaning you can't get commissue. from prescribed it used to happen now no more okay well that's good news so I would say then it is ethical because you you don't benefit from them taking this medicine but you know that they will so it's just in the way that you word it's like therapy sandwich when you talk to somebody you like give them the positive the negative and then the positive again and then they then they'll actually receive the negative thing that they need to work on because they heard some

positive first and they're like, thank you. Oh, really? Oh, man, now I'm stuck on this negative thing. But here's another positive thing. Like, oh, okay, thanks again. You know what I mean? Like, that's not unethical. That's just you know how to communicate. Yeah, it's also knowing your patient. So, like, this is, I'm only doing this with patients that I know for a long period of time. And I know how they react to certain pieces of news. And I've struggled with it because you want to be as transparent as honest as possible. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there's just times where I know highlighting every negative impact of a potential treatment will just derail the whole plan and not because it's, I'm trying to make them go for a treatment. I just know that knowing

that a 0.2% chance of something happening is not worthwhile information. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So like balancing that is really difficult and knowing how many shit experiences people have like the ones you're having with your doctors. I'm like, God, if I say this to all doctors to practice, this way. They're going to take advantage of this. Yeah. So how do you do that? I don't know what the right line is. I mean, it's like... You hope people are ethical. Yeah, exactly. And people are not sometimes. It's unfortunate.

Yeah. And then we have to weed them out as patients. Who's been a medical person in your life that's been nice to you or that you're grateful for, if anybody? I have a joke in my fourth, third hour special. In my third hour special, in my third hour special. She has six. Just kidding.

In my third hour special, I have a joke where I say, my cousin, June, is my primary doctor. And this is truth. Well, she didn't go to medical school. She just works front desk out of doctor's office. And she overhears a lot. So, and she wears scrubs. Oh, she wears scrubs.

So. And I've heard you. say like anyone can buy scrubs so like yeah exactly exactly so that's that's that's my that's my that was my joke was she's my primary doctor but she's still it's so funny because she's still the one that i will like text randomly if i'm not feeling well and she'll be like okay um are you taking like your b complex you know and that's like even if i know like i have actual people that i can reach out to with like degrees and stuff, but there's something comforting about just, like, reaching out to her and she'd be like, well, do some hot tea and lemon. It's like all the mom stuff, you know?

It's the caring stuff. Yeah. Yeah. She has really good bedside manner for a non-doctor. Like, she's really, really good at that part. For a non-doctor, doctors probably have some of the worst bedside manners. Okay, but real medical. Well, can I address June? Yeah, please. June, I love you. You're a great person. You have great bedside manner. But people like June can be some of the most dangerous people in that case, potentially worse than bad doctors. And I'll say this, why. It's not because the advice that they're giving is wrong or that the information they heard is wrong. It's a little bit of information, knowledge is dangerous because you don't have a good sense of triaging of when it could be something bad.

And that's the biggest thing you learn getting clinical practice of times to say it really doesn't matter what you do here like whether you take antibiotics or teeth like it doesn't matter and then there's times like wait there's something happening here

that really requires attention and my antennas perk up and when you don't have enough knowledge to know when you're wrong you're a nuclear weapon I totally get that luckily I don't reach out to June for serious topics

I usually make an appointment Do I have You're a serious answer to your question Somebody in the medical field That I am grateful for Right And admire I mean you might not have anybody

Yeah I wonder It's because we haven't started texting yet about Yeah that's like you'll ask me in Next time I'm on your podcast And I will give you a good shout out Yeah our next checkup That's what this is Yeah, because I don't, I can't think of, I don't, I don't have doctors in my family.

You know what I mean? Like, we don't have doctors in our family. I don't, yeah. I feel like I have friends who have doctors in their family. And I'll be like, hey, can you ask your cousin? You have your cousin? Like, I'm breaking out a lot right here. Can you ask your cousin?

But yeah, I don't know that I. have. But I bet you there is somebody. Do you have a good primary care doctor? Um, no, because I just go to whoever is available at my. This is the source. Okay. So that's where we need to start. Okay. Forget about dermatologists. Forget about your skin. You need a quarterback. Okay. Have you seen a football team without a good quarterback, Raiders? Oh, look who did research. Oh. I went to medical school. I don't know, who's your quarterback when you guys won the Super Bowl? Rich Gannon, we didn't win. We lost because of Rich Gannon.

Oh, you lost. Oh, well, see? The lesson that we learned was Rich. Didn't he coach at one point, too? Oh, I don't know. He was our quarterback, though, and he threw like four interceptions. Football fact checker. Did he coach? Did not coach?

How many interceptions did he throw in that Super Bowl? I'm not an encyclopedia. Oh, okay. It was like four, I think. It was a ridiculous amount for any, for even a preseason game, it was a ridiculous amount. And this was the Super Bowl. He's going to fact check it right now on his computer. Anyway, so you need a good quarterback for your health. Because, you know, you're having an acne situation. I can decide, is this a situation that is treatable with things that are within my purview? Or should I kick this into high gear to a specialist? And who's a good specialist that's actually going to. to care and listen. Yeah.

And not just care and listen and report to you what to do. Yeah. Because how many times have you gone to a specialist? They tell you some stuff. You're like, what the fuck did they say? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. They're going to report to me because I'm consulting them. Right.

And then I will translate it to you because we have such a good relationship. How do you find a primary doctor who cares and you're not just, when I get my primary doctor appointments, which is whoever is available, they have like 15 minutes. Yeah, that's terrible. And they're just like stacked and stacked. That's terrible. And I remember one time I came in for, I guess I do have just a lot of negative experiences. I came in and I forget what issue I was there for.

And while I was there, I was like, oh, you know what? While I'm here, let me talk to you about this. I have this like bump on my skin. Like, I don't know. And she's like, you have to make another appointment. She told me I had to make another appointment. I was there with her. And she's like, you have to make another appointment for that.

And I was like, but can you just look real quick? Like, is it? They do that. But that means you don't have a good relationship. Okay, we've zoomed out further than the anxiety. So first we started with the skin, the stomach, then we're like, oh, let's zoom out a little anxiety. Yeah.

We're zooming out further. Yeah. We need to repair your relationship with the health care system. We do. By starting with a good primary care doctor. Who doesn't rush you out the door? Please. Who listens, who treats you as a whole, who understands what your likes and dislikes are about

taking certain medications. Yes. This is what you need. Oh, I will tell you one good experience. Oh, okay, I'm excited. With a doctor. Yes, and this was at that same office where whoever you get, you get, right? This doctor, I came in for something, and she actually recommended a probiotic, which I thought was interesting.

Was it for traveler's diarrhea? I don't remember. But she had the little cardboard of it. It was like from Whole Foods or something. She had it like in her pocket and she showed it to me. She's like, this is one I take and it's really good. And I remember thinking, like, I love that she just promoted like a, not a medicine to take, but like something that felt natural.

Okay. Because coming from her world, somebody like that embracing both worlds, I felt good about. I was like, I appreciate that. Thank you. You probably can't wait. No, no, I don't. This is, this is your view of us. that you think there's a dichotomy between natural and medical.

And there is no dichotomy. It's all part of the same thing. As long as it's factual. So probiotics have uses. I prescribe probiotics. There are conditions that probiotics work very well for. There's also times where we don't know what's going on. We've ruled out all the dangerous things.

And we say, let's just try probiotics because it's very low risk. And maybe it will work because there's something we don't know. So I absolutely do prescribe things like that. It's where it gets into trouble for me is when it starts becoming over-promising in those things. So natural doesn't always mean safe. Cyanide, arsenic, natural. Oh, not safe. Not safe.

There's mushrooms out there that you eat, you will die. Natural. Yeah. And there's mushrooms that you eat that you will have a really great evening. I learned out from my toxicology. professors. So it's the dose that makes the poison. Natural doesn't always mean healthy. A doctor that prescribes probiotics does not mean that they're evil. So it just needs to be more holistic and appropriate. So I hate that the medical community has impressed this view upon you that if we

prescribe probiotics, we're the good guys. And if we don't, we're the bad guys. Because that's not an accurate representation of what science should be. It should be as long as it's proven for this, or if it's not, I'm being honest with you and telling you that it's not, but here's why I'm willing to try it. Yeah. The idea is that we get on the same page. I would like you. And you haven't been on the same page with the medical system. Listen,

I'm willing to forgive you. Please. I'm the medical system. Here, we're going to do something that I do with mental health stuff. Yeah, therapy. I have wronged you. And I apologize. Thank you, Dad. Sorry. Oh, okay.

We just went somewhere different. Let's talk about dad. We got real deep. That's great. Okay. But yeah, it's our fault. The medical system has wronged you. I forgive you.

Thank you. As long as you promise to be better. Like, don't be the abusive boyfriend who's like, let me smack you up and just say I'm sorry and then smack you up again. Honestly, the medical system is a lot like that. Dang it. But that's why you need a protector. Yeah. And that protector is a really good PCP.

I'm not talking about the drug. I knew you were going to go to the drug. I told you why I was friend, right? I told you about my childhood. Primary care provider. Oh, okay. Different. That's what we need.

You need a guardian. Yeah. And they will guard you and recommend things and translate the science and get you on the right path and find what works for you. If you have any recommendations here in Los Angeles, please let me out. Okay, I am going to make that my mission. Thank you. Yes. I've never done chess impressions, but I feel like I'll be really good at it.

Really? Why? Because I watch it on TV all the time. No. I feel like that's a movement that a cheerleader can get down. Probably. But like I feel like I've seen it in so many TV shows and movies all the time that I'm like, I'm like waiting for my moment to be called into action. Like, oh no.

This man's time and a heart check. Let's play the game. I got it. Humans down. Okay. What do you do? Call for help, first of all. Great start.

Yes. Most people miss that. No, no, no. They start thinking that they're going to become medical school. I know. I am no doctor. I'm going to call for help. I'm going to say call 911.

I'm going to go into action. Okay. Once you've called for help. By the way, how do you call for help? Show me. I'm going to. tell somebody to call 911. I'm going to look for security.

Get security. I'm going to start assigning people jobs. This is amazing. I'm sorry. Signing people's job. You call 911. Call 911 and they don't give the job to anything. No, no, no.

You got it. You got eye contact. Let me know. I saw you. I see you. Call 911. Get security. Have you seen my act?

This is what I do on stage. Oh, I love it. I love it. Oh, my God. We're on the same page. Okay. So you call for help. Now this person,

Apple, Mr. Apple, is down. Now I'm going to ask if there is a doctor or anyone. in the medical field. Who knows how to do this? There's no one. It's just you and the person that's calling for help. Now it's me and all my training from Law & Order SVU. Yeah. And Gray's Anatomy, by the way, doesn't do chest compressions.

And I always yell at the show. No, because it's like crime shows when they're like the first ones on the scene. They're like, they have to jump in. Like, you got to do what you got to do. So all my training from my TV shows is going to come into play. And then I'd be like, well, I guess I'm the only one here. I'm going to give it a shot. And then I'm going to start doing.

my, I think like this. You're positioning your hands for chest compression. Yeah. Are you going to check if the person is alive? Oh, I should start there first. What if they're awake? I'm going to check. I'm going to check.

And you're like, they're like, no, I'm feeling like at it. You have great skin and this feels nice. This is how it works. You're going to feel a lot better after this. Like, what's your assessment going to be like? Oh. Okay. Are they breathing?

Good question. I'm going to start there. Let's say they're not. Okay, they're not breathing. Maybe check for a pulse. Okay. No pulse. Okay.

No pulse. Right away. Now I'm going in for compression. You're going in for chest compression. Right. I'm not wasting no time. Every second is crucial. And you're going to position your hands over the chest.

How fast are you pumping? Just like I see it in TV. Like, one thousand, two in thousand, three one thousand. Okay. So a hundred per minute. Okay, is that it? To the tune of staying alive. I've never been trained for this. Have you heard the song? No. Staying alive. Oh yeah. Yeah. So to that beat. That, I was like, wait, that song is about just compression. It could be. It should be. It should be the national anthem for. But that's what is. Staying alive. Yeah. Yes. Oh, that's great. So you got to keep to that beat. How deep

Where are you going? Okay, see in the movies, they don't be faking it real good. No, they're not. No, they just, like, be, like, moving their elbows. Yeah, that's not good. You got it. You got to get in there. You got to get in there.

Like, they need to be bruised. They need to be, like, listen. Broken rib. This is going to hurt tomorrow, but you're going to have it tomorrow, thanks to me. Wow, that's a powerful line. Deep, right? You should write for the American Heart Association. So, two inches deep.

Okay, two inches deep. deep. Two inches deep. Good to know. If you break a rip. That's this, right? Is that the length of your thumb? I don't know.

Have you measured your thumb? It's about that. Well, because I feel like they say like that's it. Yeah, two inches. I mean, that might be two and a half. A little less than that. So yeah, you got to be moving the chest. And do you know what the goal of doing chest compressions is?

Is it to get the heart started again? No. Okay. To stimulate blood moving? Yeah. Is it? Yeah. So basically the heart's not beating, right?

And blood in the body still has some residual oxygen in it. So if you squeeze the heart by pushing the chest, you're actually moving the blood around and delivering some oxygen. Oh, bless God. Okay. So you're actually just buying time for the first responders to get there and potentially to restart the heart. Oh, with their... Most of time, no. Oh, okay.

So that's where, like, Gray's anatomy starts messing people up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because if someone's flatline, right? We call it acystily, you don't shock. I have a question. Yeah. How long is a good amount of time to do chest compressions before you're like, this didn't work? Until help arrives.

Okay. So I was recently two weeks ago in Las Vegas. I had a show. Don't tell me someone went down in your show. Not in my show, but I have had people go down to my show. It was day after my show, we're on our way to the Jabalaki show. and we're walking through the casino and all these security guards go running past us.

We're like, oh, somebody must try to rob somebody, right? And then we come around the corner and there's a man laying there on the floor. And it's not the EMTs. It's the security guards that are trying to help. And so they're like backing people away and this one security guard starts doing chest compressions. And we're like, oh, man, this is very sad.

And so we kind of like walk around and it's right in front of the theater that we're supposed to walk into. So we have like no choice but to be like right by it. we are waiting in line to get into our show they're doing chest compressions we get into the show we find our seats and we're like oh where's the restroom they're like

it's back outside so then we walk back outside they're still doing chest compressions and I was like why has help not arrived I don't know oh so as we're walking out you see the guy coming with with a bag like an EMT bag right okay good somebody's coming right so then we go to the bathroom it's three of us and then we're done

we're walking back they're still doing chest compressions on the guy and I was like something's wrong here. Yeah that's why that's why I was like I don't think he's alive I don't know what's happening. Well you're not alive if you're doing chest compressions that person's dead but like that they should have already gotten the person hooked up they should be

giving medications. Yeah it was too long it was too long and then we walked into our show and was just like praying for the guy you're heartless I understand listen I was going to jump in with my TV knowledge but you're like I rather I think, I think the guy with the bag has the cure in that bag.

Although, I don't think so because you're spending a lot of time to do it. Yeah. So that was my question. I was like, I wonder how long. Well, okay, so like an advanced cardiac life support, which is like what we do, like you have basic life support, which is the basic CPR stuff. And then you have advanced cardiac life support to figure out why this person's heart's not beating or is it beating irregularly, what's going on. And the goal of it is to, if the heart has stopped to reset it, if the heart is, if the heart is not beating effectively to reset it.

And when we shock, the reason why we don't shock flatline, meaning when the person's is the paddles, they don't start the heart. People think it's like a car. You don't start the heart. It's not. It actually stops the heart, interrupts, and has it naturally restarts the heart. The heart itself. So it's actually a sense of signal to interrupt the heart's natural beating.

Like your heart's wigging out. So we're like. So like stop it and then it restarts normally, hopefully. So when you flatline, what do you do? Medicine. Epinephrine, adrenaline. And you hope that the heart restarts naturally. Like when you're out on the street and some guys overdosing and you're like,

well, that's different. That's Narcan. Oh, okay. I'm assuming. I'm assuming that's an opioid. I was watching NCIS Hawaii the other day. And there was like, fentanyl. You watch a lot of angry, evil TV shows.

You were kind of the original OG you. viral sensation. For stand-up, yeah, for sure. Because now, like, I'm on YouTube, but that's my main job. So I'm curious being an OG. Let me tell you, I wish I had anything to do with that and made money. But that was somebody else put my video up. No way.

So someone got rich off your joke? I made no money off of that. Wow. It was wild. And now, I mean, YouTube has changed since 2007. Was there even monetization in 2007? I don't know. I don't know.

But it's definitely changed since then. So I don't, I'm not even a good gauge of like what it was like back then because I wasn't a YouTuber. But I'm sure your life got significantly impacted by the virality of your. Oh, my life changed. But as far as being on YouTube and like a YouTuber, I still don't quite understand how YouTube works. but my life change in the sense of it propelled me into being a touring comedian and people heard of me

and they wanted tickets to my show so people were requesting me so I would go and open for another comedian because I was brand new but people came to see me and it was very uncomfortable for the comedian that you were opening for

yes wow yeah so I really did you then start doing it on your own I only opened three times. Who did you open for? I opened for Tom Rhodes, who is the best. Sweetest, loveliest human being. He was the first person that I opened for.

That was in San Francisco at Copse Comedy Club. Second person was Al Madrigal at the Brea Improv. And the third person was Steve Trevino at the Houston. improv. Okay. And then after that, I started doing my own shows. But I remember, um, I didn't know like protocol about like touring. Like headliners will go to the radio stations and do radio interviews to promote their show and sell tickets. They had me doing radio with the headliner. I didn't know that that's like a slap in the face. Like how rude, right? I didn't know. They just said, hey, we're picking you up at 7 a.m. to take you to the radio station. I'm like, okay. But that's not your

Right. And I was so brand new in the industry. So I had a lot to learn. But luckily, Tom Rhodes was my first. And he was very generous, very gracious, and just kind of helped me. And he understood at the time his tickets were selling whatever they were selling. And all of a sudden his show was doing really well. And he understood something's, this is, this is, new YouTube thing is a thing and she's that's why they're coming right like and he was very like I get it but he still got to reap the blessings he was the one with the door deal I was just getting my flat fee for being an opener comedian you know but yeah so I'm very grateful for that experience Al Madrigal what I remember he was lovely I remember being in the green room with him and I'm brand new and he was like all right we're all going to try a new joke tonight everybody I have to try something new. It was very challenging to, like, not get comfortable in, like, this is my, my 15 minutes

that I do, and that's it. And he's like, nope, we're all trying something new. Wow. And I remember being, like, encouraged by that, like, oh, cool, yeah, all right, let's do it. It was very cool. And in this journey of virality, what are the negatives? I mean, people think they own you, you know? Which people?

Fans. Oh. Like dance for us type thing? Yeah, like you owe me this. You, um, like, um, they feel like they can say and do whatever they want. And even now it's interesting because this was like back in 2007, but I feel like people have an entitlement. Not everybody.

There's just certain people who have an entitlement. to a celebrity who's viral and they will say certain things and, you know, from... Like commentary, criticism? What are they saying? Like, um, recently I had somebody that was like, hey, I went to your show and the chairs were so uncomfortable. You need to address this with the theater. If you really care, about your fans, you should address this. And I was like,

I don't have, I don't have any control over the type of seats. Well, you could at least say something. Wow. And I was like, okay. You know, like there's just, like if you care about us type of thing.

And that's not everybody. That's just random, like, okay, sure. And then there's just like, you know, if I'm getting a little, fluffy because I'm eating all the club food late at night and then they're just like is she pregnant? I think she looks pregnant

and like oh my God I was thinking the same thing and then sometimes I'll chime in and be like no just enjoying my life but thanks for noticing what about privacy was that like the first time in your life that you're like bye privacy oh so this is a good one

so nobody teaches you how to be famous first of all there's no handbook maybe there is now but I don't know at the time there was no handbook how do you be famous this is MySpace days okay so this is YouTube and MySpace that's all we had who is your one MySpace person that stands out in your memory like a friend like famous person that you're like oh that's the MySpace for me it was like Tom Dane Cook teal tequila oh yeah Tila tequila

I don't know why those people that's so funny yeah your top eight So this is MySpace days. My video starts going viral on YouTube. Like going viral is a brand new term. You know, it's like brand new. Yeah. People didn't even know what that was. I wake up one day and I have thousands of messages on Myspace from all over the world.

And I'm like, what the hell happened? What do you feel in that moment? Overwhelmed. Happy overwhelmed or sad overwhelmed or nervous? All of it. All of it. It was like, oh my gosh. Somebody in Australia knows who I am.

Do you start answering them? So I start replying. Oh, my God. I don't know that you don't have to reply to every person who messages you. So at this point, I'm spending hours. So you're being a normal person trying to answer, like a text that you got from your friend. Exactly. I'm seeing there for hours replying to people.

And I'm like, oh my gosh, this is overwhelming. Like, I don't know how to do this. How do people have time for this not knowing they don't? They don't do it. Yeah. Well, then I was like so smart. And I was like, oh my gosh. just going to have like a sentence that's like thank you so much for the support blah blah blah

copy paste and now I just start copy pasting right I think I'm so smart and then this girl replies back to me she goes is this a robot because you already said this to me and I was like oh shit sorry no I'm just I don't know how to do this I'm brand new at being famous sorry about that like I don't want to offend people and then I remember when things really kind of hit me I would post on my my space when I was doing a show and at this point I have 15 minutes of material at most like I'm brand new and I'm doing like this bar over here um and at this this night I had a show at lucky strike bowling alley in the back room so in the back room of lucky strike bowling alley they would do little comedy shows okay and somebody booked me for a night there so I'm doing like 10 minutes

there well I put it on my my space page oh maybe at lucky strike whatever I show up and I'm waiting in the back of the room and I'm waiting for my set and there's a group of people and they're like hey we came to see you and I'm like huh and they're like yeah we drove in from San Bernardino which is like an hour it's Friday night traffic right they're like yeah we drove in from San Bernardino to come see you and I was like how did you know I was here and they go on your MySpace page you posted that you had a show here so we came to to see you. And that was the first time I realized I had fans who wanted to come and see me in person. And I was like, whoa, thank you. And then I immediately feel bad. And I was like,

oh, but I'm just doing 10 minutes. Like, it's not that much. And you drove so far. Like, oh, sorry. And they're like, no, we wanted to see you. We're happy. We came here for this. Yeah. It was wild. It was so, I learned a lot. I had to learn a lot. Yeah. Managing that and making those mistakes is just, it's part of the process. Like you said, there's no school for this. No. It's unnatural. Yeah.

Even like medically speaking, it's not natural to have to interact with thousands of people. It's impossible to be able to gauge nuance of conversation when you're having that many conversation. So like you're just bound to mess up. And these days, like young kids are going viral. It's problematic. I don't like using that term, but that's problematic. Yeah.

I agree. Do you feel that? Oh, I fully, fully feel that because you don't have the tools to sustain where you are, to handle where you are the amount of comments and criticism that are now going to come in

because people are just ruthless on the internet. Like, especially when you're young and you just were doing like a TikTok dance and like all the things. And for some reason, you're going viral. And now they're saying all these things about you

And you're like, oh, shoot, I was just in my room in Columbus, Ohio. Yeah. Sorry for existing, you know. Yeah. And the highs and lows of it all. Like, you're on top of the world. You're like, I'm better than everybody. And then all of a sudden, no one cares.

Yeah. How do you handle the highs and lows? I remind myself, I'm right where I'm supposed to be at all times. What does that mean? So when life is like, this journey of life, is like a roller coaster, right? Sometimes you're on the up. Sure.

Sometimes you're down. Sometimes you're loop dittily loo, all the things, right? So to me, in the same way the sun, right, it's daytime. Then it's nighttime. The earth, we rotate, right? Daytime, night time. There's seasons for everything. You can't be high all the time.

You can't be on top of the world all the time. There's a time when you're in create mode. There's a time when you're in perform mode. There's a time when you're in hibernate and rest mode. There's a time when you're in live and go experience. life so that you have something to say because if you're just in work hustle hustle hustle what's your point of view what's your perspective you haven't even lived an experience to that you can create something that connects with other humans who are living life if you're not living life

what do you have to connect with them about right so when you're in a season of rest or of living life you are not you're probably not at this top place where you're promoting your new book. You're promoting your new TV show because that's not the season you're in. You're in the season of down here. So that's somebody else's turn. Somebody else gets their turn to be up top. And it's up to us to understand that this is how it works and celebrate those people,

celebrate our friends who are there, support them, understanding that you're right where you're supposed to be. And one day something's going to pop off. And next thing you know, you're here. And your friend is going to remember the support that you gave and they're going to throw the support back to you if they're a healthy human being, you know. But a lot of times people are competitive in the industry

and think that it's like mind, mind, get, get, get. And don't think with the attitude of there's enough for everybody, just wait your turn. It's your season. It's your time. But we can't always be at the top. Yeah. And I think when you understand that,

you embrace those low moments when you remind yourself, I'm right where I'm supposed to be. What do I need in this season of life? What do I need to learn from not getting all the phone calls? Hey, we want you on this. We want you here. We want you there. Your phone's not ringing all the time. Okay. So instead of being like, oh, why is it not ringing? Where do I need to focus my energy so that I'm utilizing this time best? I need to be resting. Oh, then let me get off social media for a little bit because that's just going to keep me comparing myself to people who are in their season where they're supposed to be. And I'm going to be envying that and wanting that when I'm not supposed to be there.

I'm going to waste all of this season that I'm supposed to be in rest. I'm supposed to be in live. I'm supposed to be in whatever this season is for me. So you've got to just understand where you're at and remind yourself, I'm right where I'm supposed to be. So what do I need here? Wow. That's probably the wisest explanation of that that I've ever heard.

Oh, thank you. Seriously, because practically all of that makes sense. And I've thought some of those things, but I've never heard it put so eloquently. Well, thank you. It's very true in that people constantly want the high because the high is addicting. And they forget that you need the low to feel the high. We forget that the human mind is a contrast system that we know when something is really hot because we're comparing it to something that's cold.

Right. So that kind of balance is really important. You basically painted a very clear picture of what balance should look like in someone's life, especially in someone's life who's in the public eye. Right. It just doesn't always go according to that plan. Of course. For a lot of people.

Because we have egos. Egos, drives, whether healthy or unhealthy, it gets clouded. Because the feeling of being on stage, the high of having people calling you, as you said, versus the high of, the low of maybe not getting the calls and going and writing and spending that time, isn't there's always rewarding? Yeah. But is that time when you are quote unquote in the low rewarding for you? It's a constant alignment with truth because what happens is you get in your ego, you get in your, nobody's calling me, nobody cares about me anymore. I've fallen off, like.

Insecurities, creepers. insecurities, all the things, just like, oh, I'm done, I'm a husband, all the things, whatever you could think, right? So it's in those moments that you got to realign with the truth and remind yourself. No, I'm right where I'm supposed to be. You're doing cognitive behavioral therapy at yourself. Do you go to therapy? I do. Is that what they teach you in therapy? I have been in therapy over the years and done different types of therapy, so it probably is. And now I just subconsciously do it. Do it. Yeah. But, yeah. But, Because you're talking back to your irrational thoughts.

Oh, yeah. I do a lot of self-talk. Good. For sure. And I do a lot of journaling for sure. Very helpful for me. I have stacks and stacks of journals. But it's you don't just remain healthy the whole time when you're in your low season.

You're like, oh, I'm right where I'm supposed to be. Like every day, you know? It's like it's a constant coming back into alignment. Like you have good days. You're like, oh, I'm resting and right where I'm supposed to be, blah, blah, blah. And then you see something on social media. your friend just book this movie and you're like oh shit and then you like go down a path of like doubting yourself and whatever why not me right all those things and everyone paints

the picture of everything rosy all the time because no one posts their low moments exactly exactly and then if you do post your low moment then somebody's like oh she's trying to get attention blah blah all the things so it's just a whole a whole trap but then you just bring it back in to truth and be like oh actually no that's good for you you're right where you're supposed to be this is part of your journey this is part of your story where i'm at this is part of my story i there's something in this for me there's an ingredient in this for my my whole recipe that if i skip this season i skip the season of low i'm missing out on whatever character lesson that i needed here. I'm missing out on whatever was going to build me up and strengthen me so that when

I get to this season and I am on top, I do have the character and the strength to maintain where I'm at. Yeah. Speaking of your story, what's your take on comedy changing over the last decade when it comes to humor? Have you ever been shocked by people saying, oh, you shouldn't say this or you shouldn't say that? I recently spoke with Cal Penn. He did the huge movie. Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. And I was asking him how he felt making certain jokes being a gay man himself. So I'm curious what your take is

on how Hollywood has changed in terms of comedy over the years. I think it's always great to evolve. Okay. Because as humans, we have to evolve. And for the better. But I think a lot of times we overshoot it or miss the mark

and it can be a dangerous place for art when we become this high and mighty and righteous evolved person. Like, yes, we evolve, but then also... If we give ourselves credit for evolving too highly. There's like, we're humans. And we have stereotypes. We have, there's, it's so complicated.

The world and humanity is so complicated and intricate and colorful. And I feel like we're trying to make everything black and white so we don't hurt feelings. And so we don't get to a dangerous place. And I understand that we don't want to get to a dangerous place. and we don't want to hurt feelings. But at the same time,

we're taking all the color out of humanity in our storytelling, in our joke telling because we're so evolved. And it's like the more evolved we get, the more our art gets boring. And also you say evolved,

like it's almost like a fake evolution. Like you're doing the motion of it's not that it's not real, it's performative. Is that kind of? I feel like we're doing what we think we're supposed to be doing. Okay.

So it's like, there, I, it's so intricate that I don't want to just like sound bite, you know, oh, it's this. I feel like, um, a lot of times we're doing what we think we're supposed to be doing

so we can be, good people. Good members of society. You want to be on the good side of history. And I think sometimes we overshoot it. Like good side was right here. You just had to be right here. You went way over there. And now it's like, I don't know, what can I say that's not going to offend you? You know what I mean? So it's tough. It's tough because especially in the field of creativity where you have to push boundaries, I don't envy the fact that you constantly on the edge of saying something wrong something wrong, especially in the field of stand-up where, like, oh, man, you're free-flowing. You're doing a lot of improv.

Yeah. So that's why I'm just curious how you handle that because it's not an easy task having those types of situations, especially these days, like with Chappelle and everybody. Do you support Chappelle and his, I guess, support a free speech? I do. Yeah. I think I admire the comedians out there. who say what they want and don't care.

And they're just like, this is my point of view. This is where I'm at. And if you want to cancel me, cancel me. I feel like I care too much about what people think, which is not great. Like, I wish I had more of that. But I do admire the people who really are just say what they want to say. and I feel like for me I don't like offending people

and it irks me if I the word disappointed is like a trigger word for me it doesn't carry as much weight anymore because I've heard it so much throughout my career but in the beginning if somebody left me a comment and was like oh I went to your show and I was so disappointed

it wasn't as good as I thought it like went deep into my soul And I was like, oh, I hate disappointing people. Oh, my God. And then now, if I get a comment that's like, oh, I went to your show and I was disappointed. You're funny or online, whatever. I am so aware that I'm not for everybody. And I know.

And I just got a comment like that recently. It was this past summer. And that particular show, like I know when I feel good at a show and I was like, that was a great show. So it's interesting to me How so many people in the audience will have a great time Like this was fun Yeah That was so entertaining

This was great I can't wait to come see our next show And then other people who sat right next to them Are walking out going I can't believe I spent money on this You know like it's wild to think But everybody's different And to get to that point where you can accept

That not everyone is going to like you And that's okay That's a lot It takes a lot of work on yourself to get to that place. It's very evolved. Yeah. It's very evolved. No, but it's true because it's hard to get there.

It is. It's easy to have the negativity bias of doom scrolling on Reddit late at night and being like, oh, poppy number 48-06 hates me. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's sad because there's 99 other comments on there that are celebrating you. Why are you looking at this one? That's the one that you'll remember. But that's kind of the negativity bias that's allowed us to survive as a species.

Sure. So I can't hate on it as a doctor too much. Right, right. But I understand why we need to retrain ourselves a bit and have some of the journaling, positive self-talk, speaking back to our rational thoughts. And that's what therapy essentially is. It's a treatment for modern day anxiety. Yeah. And we all need it.

It's a shame that we don't all have access to it because of our health. healthcare system sucks. Back to that. Yeah. Again, I forgive you. I'm sorry. I will fix it with this YouTube channel. I will fix it. No, serious, that's why I started the YouTube channel because I was like, okay, if we can maybe improve the line of communication somewhat with maybe some health literacy or transparency, maybe we can do better. So that was the goal. I love that. Good for you. So far, 10% of the way there. Well, I like it. It's 10% more than where we were. Exactly.

All right. So let's do lightning ground. This is the fun stuff. Oh, scared. Okay. These are really hard questions. Ready? Okay.

How nervous are you? I'm ready. These are really hard. How long do you do chest compressions? Oh, uh, I just learned this one. You ready? Yeah. What's one thing you would do if I as a doctor could guarantee you suffer no medical

consequences? what's one thing I would do if I if you guaranteed I would suffer no medical consequences I am your savior this is a hard question

you could do anything I love that this is lightning round and there's no lightning no there's nothing lightning about this question I would do so okay I don't know why this is the first thing

that comes to my mind but I love food obviously even when it makes me upset stomach spicy eggs sometimes food is so good but I get full and I'm like oh I wish I had a whole second stomach so I could keep eating this

so you would gorge I would want a whole second stomach so I could eat more food but be able to like take it out when I wanted like maybe you don't absorb the nutrients not the nutrients but like the nutrients but like the fat, the bad stuff. Like, I don't want to be on my 600 pound life, you know, because I voluntarily added a second stomach. Just a kind of stomach that will allow me to eat

all the good food. Oh, so like a nutrient stomach. I mean, nutrient. Like a healthy nutrient stomach. No. A vitamin stomach. No, a junk food stomach. But that only absorbs vitamins from the junk food. Okay, yeah, I like that. Okay. Cows have four stomachs. See? I don't know why I said that. Sometimes I say medical things. I don't even know if that's medical. Okay, so we'll get you another stomach that you can enjoy yummy foods and only get the good stuff from them. Love that. Love that. Have you ever almost died? Maybe. Maybe. You're unsure.

Yeah, maybe. I, um, yeah. Maybe. I, um, I came out with a book earlier this year. It's called Who Do I Think I Am? Stories of Chola Wishes and Caviar Dreams. Link down below. Click right there. And in one of my chapters I talked about growing up, and I started doing drugs and I was real young.

I was like 12 years old and I started doing drugs. Yeah. And there was this one night, we binged and we did a lot of drugs. And I thought I was overdosing. Not sure if I was. But my hands closed up and they like went to my body. and I like couldn't move and I was like having a hard time breathing

and I was like 12 I don't know what I was doing and I was scared to tell my mom and I remember we just told my mom that oh I just started my period I have cramps like so I could go like sleep it off in the room and stuff

and I eventually got better but that is dangerous that's how my dad's brother died that way he overdosed but they told his mom oh he's not feeling good he's gonna go sleep in the back shed and so let him go sleep in the back shed

but then he died so it's not great at all So maybe, or maybe I wasn't. So would you say as a message to parents listening, if your child is acting weird, try not be judgmental? Try not to be judgmental. Ask questions in a non-judgmental way. Let them know that you're there. Afterwards.

Be friend. Be home girl in that moment and ask all the questions. I didn't want to get in trouble. I didn't want all of those things. Yeah. Wow. Okay. Well, I'm glad you made it through that experience. We do. Do you have a guilty pleasure that you spend too much money on? Money? No. I don't like to spend money.

No guilty pleasures at all? My guilty pleasures is like watching crime shows, like spending money. Or probiotic supplements. Yeah, junk food, I guess. What's your go-to junk food? Flaming Cheetos? Yeah, Flaming Hot Cheetos. But, okay, so I guess this. Like when I'm someplace, I know I can't eat a lot of food. But if I want, I want to try that, I want to try that, I want to try that, and I'll just get the things and I'll try them all, but I won't eat them all. It's just because I want to try it. That's a good guilty pleasure. I understand that. Did you ever suffer any cheerleading injuries? I did. Which ones? I dislocated my elbow. I fell out of a stunt. And now to this day, I cannot touch my shoulder. On the left side there. Wow.

What if I push it? Limited range of motion. Okay. So some scar tissues hanging out in there in that joint. How does that impact your life? It doesn't. Okay. Was that with the Raiders? I don't love around doing this a lot. No, no. I was All-Star.

All-Star? Listen, I was real good. Do you get voted on for that? Stunts, tumbling, all that kind of stuff. So I was in a stunt and I fell out and I put my arm down and went, oh. But no broke. No broken bone.

I think it was a little fracture, but it dislocated. Okay. Well, I'm glad that you survived that. as well. When you're on the road, I know it's hard to eat healthy. What's your diet and exercise like on the road? Okay, so I will go to the gym in the hotel, and I do Pilates videos on YouTube. Love my Pilates videos.

And then I enjoy myself on the road. We go to a restaurant, I want the mac and cheese, I want whatever they're known for. I want the good thing. But then we'll make healthy choices. Like, okay, we know we're going to go ham tonight. Let's do a salad. Let's do a salmon for lunch. Okay.

Because later I'm going to do this. Yeah. Okay. You've played a variety of characters on Mad TV. Which one of your characters would live the longest and shortest life? Unquikwe. Would live the longest or shortest? Both.

Both. She's legendary, so she's going to live forever. But she's also going to get. herself into trouble. What is the unhealthy component of Bonquiqui's? She has no filter. She says whatever she wants to say. Oh, so it's like a Yeah, yeah, yeah. Somebody's going to get her. I feel

the pain. What's one thing your body does that not everybody else's body does? It's one thing my body does that not everybody else's body does. I mean, I don't know everybody else's body.

You could say pass. I mean, no, I want to answer the question, but is it a trick question? No. I don't know. Like some people can do like cool things with their body. Oh, like contour or... Well, yeah, that's like a common one. Or you can do something with their tongue, like the clover leaf thing.

Darn, I have no body tricks. Okay. A non-tricky body. I can burp real easily. Eructation. Yeah. That's the medical term. But I'm not, I can't do like, on cue, just do a big, loud burp.

I just know that all day I have like little burp. When I'm on stage performing, here's, here's fun, something money. I always burp on stage. But they don't hear it. No. I'll wait till they laugh and I move them. And you can, what? Anybody who's come to my show, watch my throat when I'm not saying words.

Wow. When you're laughing, watch my throat because I guarantee you, I just burped a little bit. Wow. That's why you can never wear one of those TED mics. No. The pop star mics. No, no, no. Because they would know.

You'll know for sure I'm burping. Wow. Yeah. Okay, last one. Biggest regret. Biggest regret. Go back. You could change anything.

I also talk about this in my book. Link below. When I was younger, I was a real super Christian. Like, I wanted to do all the things perfectly, for Christians. And I was offered a role in a movie. And they were like, we would love to have you in this movie. Which one of these characters do you like?

Like, it was like one of those, right? Read the script. And I remember I met with the director, or was it the producer? And they were like, did you respond to any of these characters? And I remember I loved it, but there was like a couple dick jokes in it. And I was like, I wouldn't even say dick joke. then. I wouldn't even say the word dick. And I remember being like very high horse righteous and was like, no, I'm not going to be in a crude comedy like this where they say

these kinds of jokes and I'm going to pass and I'm not going to do it. And it wasn't even a crude movie. It was actually a very lovely movie called Pitch Perfect. But I was a good Christian. Wow. Oh, so dumb. I can see why that's a regret. Yeah. But you are where you're supposed to be. Exactly.

That's what I learned from this conversation. So thank you for that. You're welcome. I hope you learned something medically. I did. I did. I learned that not all doctors are bad. Okay.

That's a good takeaway. We both learned equal, valuable points. And I will give you my cell, and you can text me with any medical. question. Thank you for coming on. Get ready for pictures. Get ready for pictures. You have no idea what people text me. Oh my God. Partners genitals.

Yeah. Hey. And these are celebrities and they're sending partners genitals. I'm like, you should not send this to people. Because I'm not your actual doctor. Yeah. So there's no HIPAA here. Yeah. Yeah. That's true. But I keep HIPAA. Okay. That's good. I'm going to send you some pictures.