The Church of What's Happening Now: The New Testament - #590 - Joey Diaz and Lee Syatt: Hours before Joey shoots his Netflix special
Episode Date: June 4, 2018Joey Diaz talks with Lee Syatt about what it's like for him to be so close to shooting his special for Netflix. They talk about his comedy career, how his preparation has changed over the years, and ...why he is ready for this day. This podcast is brought to you by: ZipRecruiter - post your job to 200+ job sites with a single click for free at www.ziprecruiter.com/church Onnit.com - Use Promo code CHURCH for a 10% discount at checkout.
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Who's better
than Uncle Joey
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Nobody.
Fucking crack
that Whipley.
Monday,
June 4th.
Oh shit.
Church of what's
happening now.
Las Vegas.
Oh shit.
Viva.
Here we go.
Monday morning
motherfuckers.
Live it.
Learn it.
Here we go.
Oh shit.
Oh shit.
It's a ho-hum day.
Monday to 4th.
We're in Las Vegas.
I'm taping my Netflix special.
Thanks to you fucking savages.
Thank you for the support.
Thank you for everything the last couple of years.
From Bob Lillenghis to Bobby Sharon to fucking Tammy to Lauren.
I mean, just the support's been overwhelming.
Thank you very much.
Leon, I mean, you know.
The Sharon's.
The Sharon's.
He called today, too.
So thank you very much.
I mean, you guys have been.
great and this is it since uh i walked into wait watches december 9th thinking about this
netflix specialist if i got it i didn't want to walk on there all fucking big and shit and uh this
so this thing started december 9th i was told in december that i would know by the end of january
well to my surprise i didn't find out though fucking may so that just goes to show you how crazy is
businesses but I'm very fortunate I'm thanking Netflix for giving me the opportunity
and you know what man it's crazy because all along I thought I was prepared and not
till last week that I realized I wasn't fucking as prepared as I thought I was so these
last two weeks have been a little I just been out there banging you know for for months
you do 45 to an hour on the road and you're developing new material you're getting
rid of shit but for this special I got to tell you something no matter what goes down
tonight. I really, really try. Because it's the first time my life I wrote on the computer.
So I always writing a notebook. But my wife got me this iPad and I started writing on the
computer now, one of the apps there. So the whole act has been put up on a computer and you get to
eliminate lines and this and that. Plus you got to remember that I go up in front of a podcast
audience. So you guys know me. So you understand the jokes. So for the last two weeks, I've been
going up in front of fucking audiences that didn't know me.
Like, that's why I avoided the comedy store.
Because I didn't want, and I wouldn't let Jack Jr.
Junior put my name on the fucking list.
And I wouldn't do a lot of things.
And I would go to Flappers, cold, you know, which is a tough audience.
It's Burbank.
Then I used to our material at that point of the show.
So it let me see a lot of deficiencies in my act.
Like a couple nights ago, I bombed at the fucking improv on Thursday,
on Thursday night, you know.
And then I did the store, sat.
and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, but it's been a fucking great journey.
I know one thing that no matter what goes down tonight, I was prepared.
The only thing that could happen is something inside, or I get anxiety, or I fucking panic, which, who the fuck knows?
But it's funny, man, I was watching, I don't want that much sports.
I just don't commit to a sport because I got a lot of shit on my plate.
But I did tape.
For some reason, something made me tape Game 7 of Boston against Cleveland.
Oh, yeah.
And I was, I've never been a big fan of LeBron James, but after all these years, I finally got what he did that electrifies audiences.
And I also watched game one against Golden State the other night, Thursday night.
Why do you think he gets so much hate?
I mean, I hate, as an opposing fan, I hate playing him because he's so good.
I think he gets fouls called that I don't think are fouls.
but he gets more hate than I think Kobe and Michael do.
I never gave him public hate.
Like, I just never, you know, I'm a Julius Irving fan.
So I go take it back that deep.
I'm that loyal.
But you have to evolve.
And I love Michael Jordan.
I always was a Michael Jordan fan.
This guy was just a harder pill to swallow.
I don't know why.
And game seven of Boston, I saw something that I haven't seen in 20 years.
I saw a guy
Changed the tide of a game
Well didn't he not come out for most of the game?
Yeah, like then when he came out
Everything he did was perfect
To break down the Celtics
Like they were down O and 2 weren't they?
Yeah, yeah absolutely
And he'd slowly by slowly
Dismantled the Celtics
One by one
You know game one
He had 40 something points, 50 points
They're following him
They're hanging all over him
He's got two people
on him. He's banging shit with two people on him mostly.
It's crazy. It's fucking crazy how he
dominates the fucking game.
And don't get me wrong. I like the Golden State guys too.
You know, they're great. Like, I've been watching basketball
for years, so I enjoy it.
But just to see,
he really doesn't have a great, great team around him.
So it's all him.
Yeah. So it's all him.
And I read an interesting article. It kind of goes to what
you've been doing this week, he spends a million and a half dollars a year on just his body
between a chef, all the treatments he does, everything. It was a, it came out a couple of months ago,
but he spends $1.5 million a year. He's 33 years old and has been doing it for, uh, I think 15 seasons.
I think we see 03, something like that. So it's pretty, he has personal chefs, cryotherapy,
hyperbaric chambers, the leg boots, he has trainers.
So, yeah, it's pretty, it was an interesting read.
And I've seen you do it this week, just really, like, there's a workout.
I saw you do the kickboxing circuit training one that blew me away.
Like, I saw people my age, but who are in shape struggling with that work.
It was like a 15 station circuit training.
It was crazy.
Listen, man.
I went on the road early with Rogan, and one thing he always did on the road was work out.
I used to say, is he crazy?
And I'd see Ari walking around with weird shorts on and then dunk, and he would make everybody work out.
And I'm the only guy that wouldn't go downstairs.
He would bias the fucking gym, you know, like, guys, come down, let's do a workout.
And I go, yeah, sure, I'd be in my room smoking cigarettes.
I wish I would have known how much that helps your mind.
That's part of the control.
that's part of your on-stage control
is learning how to dictate your mind,
how to take your mind from one place to another.
You know, I was telling you guys, in 95 and 94,
I would, when I was living in Boulder
and really, really on top of my comedy game,
yeah, I was addicted to Coke,
and yeah, I was having problems with my ex-wife,
but boy, was I on top of my comedy game,
notebooks and fucking this and that,
in analytics and goals and, you know,
but I wasn't doing it.
the main thing. I was doing drugs. I wasn't taking care of myself. For you to move forward,
you have to take care of yourself. There's no health. There's no movement.
There was something, and I'm sure he didn't come up with it, but I follow your eye on
on Instagram, and he said something to the effect of, like, we stay ready so we don't have to get
ready, essentially. And I thought that was an interesting way to put it. You know, for years,
I dropped the ball. For years, I dropped the ball.
years I dropped the ball. I miss roles, I missed auditions, whether it wasn't for addictions or not being
in shape or being too big. You know, they really liked me on CSI, New York, but I was a bit too big.
And, you know, if they would have known about me, were they able to put me on a diet, they said
they would have had me lose weight. They really wanted a comedic thing. In the beginning of New York
CSI something, I got a call years ago. It had to be like 2004. They called me and I read and I was
huffing and puffing in the fucking room just from reading.
I was really excited. I'm like, man, I'll get a
reoccurring and shit. And they were like, no, no, no,
no, no. Years later, I found out what happened?
The fuck is wrong with this? It's like a spirit bottle.
But years late, I found out what the
fuck was happening. And it was
that for that audition, I was a bit too
fucking heavy. That the producers really liked me.
They were going to add a comedic flair
to the show. But when I got there,
Joey was a bit too fucking heavy, had brown
bags under his eyes.
So I threw away years of not taking care of myself in this town.
Now I got a daughter.
I'm going into the latter years.
What's my day consist of?
Whatever I make it.
I don't have a schedule.
So I could basically sleep till 10, get up, eat a fucking breakfast, whatever, do what I want.
No, it's got to be more militarized.
I got to be accounted for my daytime.
It's really hard.
Some people get up and go to work in the morning.
What's most people do?
I don't do that.
So if I'm not on a schedule, I'm killing myself to live.
I'm just spinning my fucking wheels.
So there's days I have to be there at nine to really zap me,
which a Monday morning, what would you rather be doing at night?
You want to get the first workout out of the fucking way.
Done, done.
The thing I dread the most is getting up and going to work out.
I'm going to have a heart attack.
Somebody's going to punch me in the fucking nose.
and I can't do comedy for two days.
There's always an excuse you give yourself.
I didn't sleep enough.
My blood pressure is too high.
I give myself all those excuses.
Then I go to the closet and I open it up and I put my gear on.
Because I'm putting my gear on.
I go, okay, I'll go down there today.
You know, I don't want to do any of this shit.
I'd rather be watching narcos smoking dope myself.
But you have to, it's all contributes into the package.
Remember I was telling you one time that what contributes,
to you being you.
Like your whole day
is contributed to you being you.
What do you mean by?
Like what you do is who you are?
Yeah, like stand up.
Like, so, you know, there's days
I don't have to be there until 11.
So I'll leave the house at 8.30.
I'll get to the coffee shop at 8.30
and order three eggs, two eggs with wheat toast.
And I'll sit there.
In the first 45 minutes, I just eat breakfast.
So at 9.15, I'm ready to fucking write.
And I'll sit there until 10.25.
then I run home, take a piss, put on a ghee, and go there.
So now I know when I come back, I have to do something else at 1.30.
Once I get home, I got to jump on something else because either I got 515 swimming with mercy
or I got 415 ballet on Wednesday.
Did you ever do it as part of a group with other comedians or you prefer to do it alone?
What's that?
Do your work throughout the writing process.
I think that the writing process in the beginning you should hook up with comedians or you're held accountable.
like one night with one guy and one day with another guy
just so you have one night training and one day training.
And you just both write your own material and maybe run it past?
Yeah, run it past each other.
What do you think of this?
I think this.
But if you get three or four guys and go to an old diner every Wednesday to 1.30,
that always works too.
Okay.
Or if you get a bunch of guys and get together somewhere before you go out that night.
So it's fresh in your mind?
Fresh in your mind.
But so what changes when you're writing a special that now you prefer to do it alone?
I've always written alone.
Okay.
So for me, to have outside people, it's just I can't sit down with four fucking people at this point in the game.
Got it.
I can sit down with four people to get critique from you.
What do you think?
What do you think?
And that's what I've been doing.
I got you.
I got Theo Vaughn.
I got fucking Tony Hinchcliff on Saturday night.
You know, I'm bouncing shit off people.
I've been working with people.
People come up to me and go, hey, da-da-da-da-da-da.
You just said to me the line with the Murder Burger's line.
All these little lines are one minute.
They're either adding a minute or cutting out a minute.
So I'm seeing the big picture.
You know, it's not that I'm an ego-type guy that I can't write.
I've never written before people before.
Like, I've never sat down with five people.
It's just something I never did.
Well, I always hated in school.
I never liked group projects.
Not that I was ever the smartest guy,
but I didn't like when someone wasn't doing their part of the project,
and I would get nervous or anxious about how the grade was going to be.
So that's why I kind of enjoy stand-up,
because you're the only one writing your thing.
But I can see where it's also, like I went to two new mics last week.
I went to a mic outside of the house,
and I went to the Burbank VFW, which I hadn't been to.
And even though I'm a one-man band, I need, like, one day these guys will be running shows at the improv or the comedy, and I'll need to know who they are to get on these shows.
So it's kind of a, it's a weird mix, I think.
Well, I don't know anything about having a show at the improv.
I don't think that deep into it.
I mean, you're the Mexican shows you went to.
You're always getting on stage no matter what.
There's a level when you commit to it in your mind that you're just getting on stages.
It doesn't matter.
at a point and you're just looking for sets every night.
It don't matter. You're a whore.
Right. It don't matter. And it's so weird how
one day you actually, I've been talking about today at Jiu-Jitsu,
how one day you realize you've been doing something for 20 years.
It really changes in your head when the realization of that comes.
Whether you're at a job for 20 years, it could be,
I'm talking about even fucking general shit.
Like you get up one day when you're 18 and go,
I'm not going to go to college.
I'm gonna go up the corner to that gas station.
And one day he promotes you to assistant manager.
One day he promotes you to manager.
And he puts you in charge of tires.
And one day you've been there for 20 fucking years.
The realization fucking hits you.
Once the fuck, like the first goal is 10.
Like once you've been somewhere for 10 years,
that has to fucking dawn on you a little bit.
It has to bother you a little bit and it has to excite you a little bit.
Both of those, it has to be a hot and spicy.
set like a bittersweet feeling.
Why would it be bitter?
Because I've been here for 10 fucking years.
What am I doing with my life?
Okay.
I wanted to own a motorcycle shop by the time I was 30.
Right, yeah.
Do you know what I'm saying?
Like, that's why it's a bittersweet, no matter what happens.
Even if you've been somewhere for 10 years and you're doing great and you get the medical
package and, you know, you get five days off a year paid, you're still going to go home
and go, can I be doing better?
If you have a heartbeat, every day you wake up and say to yourself, can't, you
I'd be doing better?
Just if you have a heartbeat.
Can I just be doing a little bit better?
Why am I struggling to pay my credit card bills?
Why do I have to move now to save on rent?
Why am I considering a roommate?
Every three months, you should consider where the fuck you stand.
I did, even when I was making $8,000 a fucking year doing stand-up comedy.
$8,000 a fucking year.
That's $800 a month.
If that.
Yeah, but $800 a month to someone like me sounds amazing doing comedy.
Oh, doing stand-up, absolutely, just off stand-up.
Right, yeah.
No other work.
Every once in a while I'd go to, I'd get my security thing hit.
Because every six months when you're doing comedy, you're like, wait a second, what am I doing my life?
I'm not bringing any money in.
You know, there's nothing going into the savings.
There's definitely nothing going into the 401K.
There's definitely nothing going into my Social Security.
So I better get a job just to add to my service security.
So if this shit ends, I still get.
I still get Social Security, something.
You know,
it's, social security is built up,
how much you work and how much you're making.
Oh, yeah, absolutely, yeah.
And you weren't paying taxes for like nine years.
No, no.
So who don't, you know, when you're making, listen,
always remember the feds knew exactly that I was making.
People were, whatever, M44 in you.
What's that shit?
1099.
1099 in you and fucking, you know,
you don't give a fuck, you just rip them up and shit.
You rip them up and get them back to the mailman.
Yeah.
Shub this up your.
I ain't paying this fucking shit
hilariously
how you just
you love comedy that much
without thinking about the consequences
if it wasn't for my wife
I would have never gone to the IRS building
and squared with them you still wouldn't have done it
fuck no she talked me into it she scared
this shit out of me oh my god Joey
and it was painless they were the nicest
people I've ever done business with
well you didn't owe them like
three million huh it's not like you owe them
three million luckily no
but they still fucking gave me a hefty
fucking number. It was
still, it was six years. I had
to pay that shit off. Six
years, a lot of fucking years, Jack.
Yeah. Dude, that's
I probably overpay
my taxes just because I
have no interest in going to jail.
Like, I'm very, I don't, I'm very
conservative
with like the deductions. I don't do meals
and stuff. Not for nothing, Lee. Nobody's interested
in going to jail. Some people don't
walk around and go, you know what, I'm going to beat the
government so they get me.
Dude, some people are.
talk to them, they're doing their taxes,
and they take off every meal and stuff.
And it just, that seems risky to me.
Every time you go to subway to say, oh, I was writing or something.
Well, someday they don't get fucking knocked up,
but it's just really weird how working out, writing, making you,
like, for years I did comedy, I didn't fucking sit down.
I didn't sit, when I read that thing in Stephen King
to force yourself to sit down two, three hours a day,
I never even thought of that shit.
And for the first month, you're like, what am I doing with my life?
Why am I sitting here?
Why the fucking, I remember so many times in 1998.
Like, I just drove by where I lived.
It was on Moore Park and up the block from McDonald's, right there, right, right down the block from that church.
Okay.
Like Vineland?
Did that?
Vineland.
Vineland and Moore Park, I lived in 1998.
I got stuck on that block the other than I was looking.
into the building thinking about when I lived there and how I would sit in that little balcony
and I would sit out there in the afternoon thinking I was like fucking Stephen King but nothing the
notebook will be wide open after two hours I was basically just getting sun and thinking about dumb
shit and I remember like licking like having the pen in my mouth and like two nights before I was
snorting coke with that pen so now my mouth would get numb and I'm like what the fuck's
going on here why am I in the mouth numb because I'd be writing with the pen I was snorting
and Coke with two nights earlier.
It was just crazy.
But nothing was getting out.
I didn't figure it out until like 2007,
when I started writing on Myspace,
that I was writing a little better.
And because of my writing that blog,
my improv skills had improved on stage,
I was a lot more sharper on stage.
Yeah, I was, you can always tell,
or at least one of the differences I noticed
between someone at my level and someone,
And even at Di Agostino's level, 10 years in, something like that, it gets more and more refined.
And there's less, like, I've heard people call it fat or waste.
The words are more important.
Right.
You look at the words that'll fucking knock down the tomb instead of, it's weird how even storytelling,
you have to cut the fat down and cut the fat down and cut the fat down and cut.
That's what I'm trying.
Listen, I'm trying to take an hour's worth of material and cut it into 28 minutes.
So I went a little overboard at first.
I had too many fucking punch lines and no segways.
It was just a machine gun rally that I was failing at.
I couldn't even keep up the tempo.
So I was going to ask you earlier, is there,
and I think you just kind of answered it,
is there a difference between writing a 30 as opposed to a 60?
Absolutely.
Could you make this 30, just expanded a little bit more and do it in 60?
Is that what you were saying earlier?
So it could be the same set, but you're just condemning it?
Talking more, you're giving more facts.
you're going into a different story.
You could slow them down a little bit with a story
while they're dropping checks.
You know, there's all the psychology to it.
It's just not fucking going up there.
I didn't know this.
Nobody knows these things.
Nobody knows these things.
Nobody knows I can't explain to you what it's like to drop a check.
Like, I just went to Jersey.
And they do it all weird in Jersey.
They do it different at the Stress Factory.
How do they do it?
They don't drop checks to you get off the stage.
Do you like that?
No, because it throws my timing off.
I'm waiting for them to drop those fucking checks
so I can take it out home.
See, that's really interesting
because literally every other comic I've ever heard.
That's part of the game.
Loves that, but you build it into your set.
Yes, that's a check drop story.
There's not a check drop story.
There's just a momentum that builds at that point.
I know I've got 10 to 15 minutes, 12 minutes,
and my material has to be deadly because I'll lose them.
And I can't get mad at the club for that.
I get mad at myself for that.
A lot of comics will run off stage.
I can't believe they drop checks to them.
That's what they do.
This is a business.
There's a business.
I don't know if you know this.
This ain't no fucking artistic fucking...
Go sell out of theater if you want that shit.
But tonight, this is a comedy club.
In Jersey, they don't drop the checks.
That throws your timing off.
You don't know where the fuck you go.
Oh, my God.
I never even thought about that.
That's like Monday...
Tonight.
Tonight, I'm not going to be able to...
They're just dropping checks.
They're not dropping checks.
They give you two drinks before you go on stage, before the show starts.
And is it, are you taking into account?
Because this isn't a comic club, it's more like, do you write differently if you think you're going to be in a theater?
No, no, no, no.
I've got to be funny.
Doesn't really matter what room.
Okay.
I don't give a fuck about it.
That's what kills comedians.
Okay.
That's a killer right there.
Just be funny.
Don't wait about the room.
Don't worry about the color.
Well, it's a theater.
Don't worry about it.
Okay.
Just be funny.
I can't explain to you what goes into a theater.
One goes into a rock room and what goes into a comedy room.
There's differences and noises and sounds and different effects.
If they picked it, it's because it's going to be like the cheetah.
When you're in a theater and it's 6,000 people, 4,000 people,
yeah, your timing goes a little bit because your energy has to go out
and then it has to come back in.
So you have to be very careful.
or you don't step on your own lines.
Interesting.
And because...
But don't worry about that until you're doing 6,000 chases.
Right, no.
But what I was more thinking about
is I was talking with some of the comedians
about a bomb I had,
and what I didn't do was I didn't adapt
to whatever...
No, you never adapt to the room.
You're in a learning position right now.
But aren't I supposed...
No, no, all you have to do is be funny.
Okay, you don't know.
And then as you go through,
you'll learn what rooms do what.
But I don't ever want you to go into a room predetermined.
I want you to learn the room.
And if you bomb, that's part of the game.
Okay.
You took a chance.
But I meant more like, to expand on it,
if you do your first joke and they don't respond the way you think,
would you adapt your material then?
No, keep going.
Okay.
Pound of them and believe in your material.
And then later on make changes.
but what happens is sometimes you get too confident in your material.
You throw out one line.
They don't laugh.
You got a steam roll.
That means you didn't say it right.
That means you got too cocky on the joke.
That means you got too cocky on the punch line.
There was a look on your face.
Maybe the fucking shirt you're wearing.
There's so many fucking variables.
When you go out there, you got 30 seconds to make somebody like you.
Do you know how rough that is without opening up your mouth?
I look like a fucking criminal.
Really?
You're a five foot two guy that looks like another.
dumpy, dumpy, and I look like a fucking fat fucking criminal.
Like this guy could be in the mafia or something like this.
So that's their first thing.
They're reading you from that.
There's so many variables.
But you don't need to do or die.
All you need to do is go up there and be funny,
especially at your level.
You're a thinker, and that thinking gets in your way
in all aspects of your life.
You think too much.
And about shit that don't fucking matter.
That doesn't even matter to what has to do with you
or what you need to do.
That's the worst thing.
When you become a comic, you have to let all that shit go.
The other than I was walking into the store on Monday night.
You were calling me about Friday.
Like I gave a fuck Sunday night, at 10.20 at night.
All right, Tiena.
Who gives a fuck?
It's Friday.
But it was relentless in your head.
It was relentless, I could see.
And you have to let all this shit go if you become a really good comic.
That shit, that safety net in your mind has to disappear.
year. It's really important, very important that you let yourself go. And that's what some people
don't have. And that's what some people, while they never succeed, because they never let themselves go.
And they questioned everything. Go up there and be free. That's why you didn't become a doctor or a
lawyer. You became a comic. Right now, you're in a comic zone. Why think? You've been doing
comedy for six months. Right.
And you ask like electronic
engineering questions on comedy.
Just learn what you're
doing for two years.
Just get out there for two years
and then
that's when I really start to hit you.
Don't get absorbed.
You know, it's like,
right now, you're a poor
guy that hangs out with rich friends.
Do you ever have that feeling
when you hang out with rich friends
and you're like, what the fuck are you doing?
And they're like ordering lobster tails and three drinks and the table wine for that chick over there.
And you don't know who's going to pay.
You don't know if they're going to make you pay.
You don't know where the fuck you stand.
Right now you have rich friends.
You have Theo Vaughn and Sam Tripoli and Rogan talks to you about this.
And different people talk to you about this.
But this is why I want you to always remember that you're you and they're them.
And what you're going to get away with and they get away with is two different fucking things.
and that's why I don't like comedy in Los Angeles
because you don't have these situations
if you're in Boston or Michigan or Texas or Florida
you're not next to Lewis C.K.
and fucking Whitney Cummings and these people.
So it to you, you look at it at a higher level.
Do you know what I'm saying?
Like I see where I could go?
Yeah.
Right now you're rubbing elbows with these guys.
a lot of comics at the six-month level
don't have these opportunities.
Most of them don't, yeah.
So I want you to always remember your place
where you are.
You know, always remember where you are
and where they are.
I've seen too many comics come to this town,
come up to the fucking store,
and right away they forget who the fuck they are.
Because four comics talk to them.
How many comics I've seen bounced out of the fucking store over the years?
Do you have any fucking idea?
Because they've gone up there,
And I've said this a thousand times about everything
That you don't go where you don't belong
You don't go where you don't belong
You know you go, you look
And you absorb and you buggy
And you keep in the back of your mind
That that's where you want to end up
But right now
If I go up to end dabble
If for some reason I talk to a girl
And I end up fucking her in the ass in the bathroom
Now I fuck up my chances at the comedy store in 10 years
So you don't even want to go down there
Like you come down with me, your family.
We've been doing the podcast.
You get a lot of friends down there.
But other nights, you stay clear of it.
You go to this place.
You go to that place.
I've been, I mean, I was asking these questions, mainly just as interested with, like, the process you just went through.
But you're, even though I wasn't trying to be like that.
No.
You're absolutely right that I do overthink everything.
No, you overthinking with comedy.
It's not going to work for you.
You can't overthink it.
overthink your joke and commit to it and go home.
That's why that notebook is so important.
It's June 1st.
I'm going to start it tonight.
It's so important.
It's so important because to think something and to read it off paper,
it's two different things.
When you call me up and you go, I eat a bag of dicks,
and when you see it on paper, it's completely different.
It hits your soul.
It's like somebody's sticking a toothpick in your fucking soul and your heart.
that's the pain you get.
Like it juggles your heart a little bit.
When you see a bad joke?
When you read that you bombed.
Oh.
And then you look back at the end of the month.
And then you actually figure out how many bombs you had
and how many medium sets you had and how many good sets you had.
Like the percentages are crazy.
What it does to your mind once you really commit to it.
And it just becomes like going to summer camp for comedy.
And it's like going to summer camp for anything.
Whether it's football camp, basketball camp,
baseball camp
you know the last five weeks
I went to basketball camp
when I was in the eighth grade
and that's what I've been doing the last five weeks
I've had to be accountable
for all my days
I've had a fucking new comedy
for those days I've gone
from the fourth wall
to the comedy store main room
you know what I'm saying like I've covered
everything along the way from the ha ha
to flappers
to the improv I've been everywhere
except the laugh factory so instead of if i'm so instead of worrying about what situation you put
yourself in every possible situation every possible so whatever happens tonight happens and you'll be
ready for yes and to top it off i also got on stage to stay loose i had a couple people calling me up
and that were close to me and they've said over the years especially at the store and they go hey i heard
you got a netflix special not for nothing when i was watching the night they were laughing at
at this. And I think you wanted to laugh at this. But this is what they were laughing at.
And I was like, wow, thank you for letting me know.
And is there a reason why, I mean, I know you're probably just busy, but do you think this
will change how you work even when you don't have a special coming up? Like, should you keep
this rate up? Well, I learned from the mistakes I've made. Like I've told you, I enjoy doing
stand-up comedy. There's people who really enjoy doing carpentry.
You know what they hate doing me? Dealing with people and selling that carpentry.
Right. They just like making their stuff. They're just like making their stuff. I'm one of those
guys. Once it becomes a professional level where I have to make a living off it, some weekends
bother me, some shit bothers me about it, but I continue to do it. I'm a comedian.
This is the fucking nest I made. In 27 years, this is the nest I made. All these sets you're doing
that you're not getting paid for? You'll get paid for them.
Just keep doing.
Don't doubt.
Don't think it.
Why?
When is my ship going to come in?
It's coming in.
All you need to do right now is to watch guys like Dean Delray.
Watch what they're doing.
Watch what Dean.
Watch what Kay Quigley's doing.
And watch what Theo Vaughn's doing.
These are the next guys in the rotation.
I can't see anybody else in the rotation but those three people right now.
and I've seen them get themselves there.
So now, in a way,
reminds me of what I did
to get myself in those positions.
For them, I congratulate them
because they did it with stand-up.
I didn't do it with stand-up.
I got into movies
until I got into a big fucking movie.
And now that put people on notice
that this guy could do some damage.
I better treat him a different way,
give him different deals.
But I think a lot of people
Or so have heard when they get big movies
Like maybe if they're doing stand-up
They stop doing stand-up
If like let's say your life had gone a separate way
And after the longest yard
You kept doing big huge movies
Do you think you'd still be doing stand-up right now?
Yes. Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Because you missed the freedom.
Listen, don't get me wrong
I love doing a movie and all that shit
But the freedom from stand-up
especially now, it's so overwhelming.
A freedom that I've worked hard to get.
Like I didn't have this freedom in the beginning.
Now I have this freedom.
So now that I have this freedom, it's pretty hard to fucking do anything else.
Yeah, you can't.
Now, what about the other way?
I met you right after you had been considering working at a car dealership.
Let's say that had happened.
Do you think you'd still be doing spots?
Yeah, I was always going to do spots.
Wow.
Even if I quit, I was going to quit.
If you listen to the story, I wasn't going on the road.
Interesting.
That was it.
I was still going to do spots around town and still audition and still work on movies and TV for my insurance.
I just didn't think it was a future on the road.
I'm not a big fan of the Ralphie Mae Road, the Richard Jenny Road.
I'm not a lot of big fan about that.
I'm not a big fan of what the road does to you at certain ages,
what it doesn't do to you, what's needed.
You know, I respect the Rogan Road, how he did it.
You know, the first 12 or 15 or whatever years of him being here,
he was on a TV show.
Knock him if you want.
It kept him a man that he didn't have to go on the road every week.
And it's so great because that's all I want right now.
I know I'm not ready for, but I'm saying that's my goal to do the road.
That's it.
No, that's what I.
I tell you, I did it.
I did it.
Like, what I wanted in 95, I started to succeed in 96,
which was going on the road as much as I could.
And it didn't matter where.
I go to Alco Nevada.
I would go anywhere.
You don't look at it that way.
You don't look at it as a fucking dead end place
until you get to a higher place.
And you go, I'll never go back there again.
You know, and it's just the natural...
Progression?
Evolution.
progression of it's not that you're being a bad person you just decide when i can't go back there and
host a fucking bikini thing i can't go back there and follow the asthma bowl a bunch of people
with gas masks on you know you go to alco navad it's a bunch of people with oxygen mask on they're
fucking 80 years old oh my god they were smoking pot for since 19 since 1920 and now i don't know
i'm just uh you just grow out of certain places and you go i'm not going to perform there you know
there's times i go to clubs now and i go i'm not coming back here
Wow.
I don't like how they did this.
I don't like how they did that, you know.
I want to do things a little differently,
so this doesn't work for me.
When I come to do comedy,
I don't want to have those doubts in my mind.
That's why when I go on the road,
I don't do podcast and nothing like that.
I just want to focus on stand-up.
You know, last Friday in LA,
they called me on Thursday with an audition,
and I refused it.
Because I didn't want to learn nine pages of dialogue.
Right before you shoot.
Yeah.
I don't want to learn nine pages of dialogue.
I don't really give a fuck about June 15th.
As a matter of fact, I'm out of town, June 15th.
So I don't want to be, I don't even want to fucking compromise those dates.
I'm going away with my family to celebrate so.
That's it.
You know.
No, I'm happy I did what I did the last one.
I'm going to take some time off.
Really?
Yeah, because I tell you what, when I shut the C-Sysot special, you keep working.
They keep going on the road with that material.
And you're just burning yourself out.
You just burn yourself out.
That's it.
You know, last night I did three spots.
The night before that, I did two.
You know, last week I was in Jersey.
I was in Tempe.
You know, the weeks before that.
And I've been everywhere.
It's not like I've taken a night off.
It's like I've been fucking going rough.
I've been going so rough lately.
It disrupted my sleep pattern.
Like I've been staying up until 2, 1.30.
You know, like it fucked me up that way.
But I don't give a fuck.
You need to do this from time to time.
I'm going to take two weeks off.
Then I'm going to fucking get to some comedy Thursday, Friday,
and then Saturday I'm going to go to the Colusa Casino.
Tremendous.
A little something for you, Lee.
Thank you for that.
It's so nice.
And then I'm taking two more weeks off.
No, then I'll start writing.
The seven weeks I'm staying in is basically to finish the proposal for the book.
It's time we get that finished now.
So you'll still be writing with something different?
Yeah, still be writing and still be going back and forth between the book and comedy.
Okay, but just not performing as much.
Not performing as much.
Oh, okay.
And then once, like a week before Vegas, I'm really starting again back into the system.
I have 15 new minutes to try.
Now we're down to seven or eight.
I got some bits I didn't use on this 30 minutes.
You know what I'm saying?
So I'll be doing that.
And then the next thing I'm working on is immigrant mentality.
after the book, which I already have 15 minutes for immigrant mentality
because I couldn't use it for this.
I didn't know which boat to jump on.
So I have jokes for immigrant mentality.
I can use on this special, but I'd be wasting my time.
Okay.
A year and a half ago, something like that,
day of CISO special versus day of Netflix,
how does it feel differently?
It's like being in the ABA and then going to the NBA.
Wow.
It's like being in the USFL and then going.
into the NFL. I'm very fortunate that I'm going to be there. I'm very fortunate that I got the
opportunity. So this is why, you know, this is why I wanted to be a little better than I did
before for C-So. I'm happy this is a dirty special. I could say some degenerate shit that I've done,
you know what I'm saying? I'm happy they call degenerate so I can do some of that material.
It's time to get that out there, you know, talking about the kidnapping.
talk about fucking, you know,
I'm no Harvey Weinstein, all this shit, you know.
So that's it.
I'm just excitedly.
Fuck yeah, bro.
We listen, man.
Go to any improv, go anywhere.
There's no pictures of me.
There's no pictures of me nowhere.
I was not the fucking guy
that were putting their money on.
So, yeah, this feels tremendous.
From that perspective.
Now when I see him, I can look him in the eye and go,
ha, ha, ha, ha.
Remember, Cogucker?
When you told Ralphie Mae why it was Joe Brum?
bringing Ari and Joe Diaz on the road with you.
I love to see that guy today.
I love to see punks like him today.
You know what I'm saying?
To remind him, give him a hug.
Like, don't worry about nothing.
I'll let you suck my nuts and get back.
I'll work your club soon, all right?
But I'm not that type of person.
I would not throw nobody under the bus.
People make fucking mistakes.
I made done to him.
You know, so I'm very fortunate that I'm here.
So it's very humbled.
There you go.
You figured it out, cock-sick.
It's Monday, June 4th, sure I'm fucking excitedly.
I want to be around to pick up the pieces when somebody breaks your heart.
Some, somebody twice as smart as I.
Let me give some shoutouts real quick.
My man, Sammy Sosa, little Haitian hippie, getting baked.
with Lori. I love you. I get I got the bread. I got everything. The fucking cookies. I got
everything. I love you. Thank you. Because I lost the note. You gave me. I must have put it in my pocket
and my wife washed it. But I love getting baked with Lori, Charles, Edward, cheese, Lucas Welsh,
Super Cherry, and Patrick. I don't know what the fuck your last name is, but you know I love
he Cox. I don't forget the Calusa Casino. June 16th, one night only. I don't know who the
feature act is.
yet, but I'll let you fucking people know.
But that's it, brother. I feel happy.
I feel fortunate.
What I started in that little apartment in Boulder,
what I went through, it was all worth it.
I'm just really happy, man.
It's, and I'm not saying I'm accepted.
I'm just happy. I get to shoot 30 minutes.
Who gives a fuck about anything else?
You seem more relaxed than last time?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Not like a...
Well, Lee, I've also,
beside working out,
beside hanging at home with the family,
beside doing the podcast,
I also went back to church.
You know, I went back to church a few times,
early morning,
just to get,
just to bring me back.
It's been a complete different.
I stopped chewing the nicotine gum
because I was feeling fucking shitty
and I'm off that eight days now.
You know, no, no methadone,
no nothing.
I just quit.
I should be irritated,
Because of that, I'm not irritated because of that.
I'm 55.
I've been in prison.
You know, so many things have happened,
and now I got the opportunity to be on fucking Netflix.
The biggest showcase for comics,
somebody fucked up.
Somebody fucked up.
Somebody fucked up.
But they didn't.
Somebody just worked hard.
Somebody outworked a person who didn't want me to be on there.
So I outworked that person.
It took 27 fucking years.
Should I be ashamed of myself?
Maybe at times.
But no, this is just to let people know not to give up.
Don't give up.
Don't give up.
Who gives a fuck?
Who could criticize you?
Nobody.
They criticize you when you're in jail, when you're tweeting dumb shit, or when you're
whatever, but they can't criticize you when you're doing the right things.
And you're trying to do the right things.
I compare my life to 30, 25 years ago.
It's two different fucking people.
It's two different people.
It's horrifying.
It's horrifying that comedy changed me for the better.
Like I said it before,
the thing I was scared to do the most
turned out to change my fucking life.
Like a fucking fountain of youth.
I don't fucking know.
This comedy was what you were scared to do the most?
Please.
We've discussed this before.
That the thing that is going to change your life
is the thing that we're usually scared of the most
because we're scared of change.
Nobody wants their life to change.
Nobody, even though we really fucking do deep down inside.
Everybody wants to have a boat and have a jet and fucking hang out with Johnny Uber
and fucking, you know, get their dick sucked.
But it ain't that easy.
It ain't that easy.
Sometimes if you get it, it doesn't taste as good if somebody just gives it to you.
Life doesn't taste good when somebody just gives it to you.
I see people who get shit giving to them all the time and they don't appreciate it.
I appreciate every step of this fucking journey.
I appreciate every fucking memory.
I appreciate every time,
you know,
every time I drive past that fucking graham station,
I fucking laugh about a new story,
whether it's getting the blowjob on the way to Buffalo
from the stripper who was,
the cops were looking for a rock chester.
You know,
I mean,
I think a story is when the bus stopped for a 20-minute break
and I would have to go around the building
and smoke a joint
and get a subway sandwich for a fucking that's all that was open
and the guy had filthy hands at the subway station
and you could see the lice in his eyebrow you know
just the filthiest fucking guy working who works a train a bus station subway
right some guy that's just missing an eyeball he's just barely homeless you know
and just no gloves he's got no gloves but you're so hungry you're like just
use your hands i know you took a shit you know what I'm saying
and you're eating that fucking turkey baloney and that
you know,
co-cut special.
Well,
what do you think,
pick a time,
I was going to say,
what do you think
open mic or Joey would say
if,
like,
you could time travel
and be like,
hey,
we got a special
on Netflix and 20,
we got a,
yeah,
special.
Now,
let me ask you this.
Is Netflix
the equivalent
of an HBO special?
To me,
from what the way you,
because I didn't grow up
with HBO special
like you did,
but the way
that you describe it
where it is the,
the ultimate prize,
I think so.
I mean, obviously we have friends with specials and other platforms, and it's great to have them there, but Netflix has, what is it?
I think it's 100 million subscribers.
I think that's what they just came out with, maybe even more than that now.
I think more people probably are watching Netflix than cable now.
I would love to see the numbers, they'll never show up, but based off of a TV station special and a,
Netflix streaming special. I would
bet more people watch it
to me.
At least the people, especially the people that you
really care about, you're not
really looking for
like the Elder General, like
the Seinfeld fans, maybe you are.
But I think that
for the relevant
comedy fans, yeah, they're on Netflix.
You know, I didn't know
until recently that. And I'm very impressed by it.
Don't get me wrong. I'm very impressed
by people who are just comedy fans.
I've met more comedy fans the last three or four years
that I admire what they do
because they're comedy fans the way I was a music fan.
Oh, yeah.
And I really like that.
I really, really, really like that.
Like that makes my dick hard, you know,
that people really do.
You know, I'm a kind of, listen, I'm a fan of laughing.
I'm a fan of fucking laughing.
If it has something to do with laughing,
I want to laugh.
We all want to laugh, all want to laugh.
asses off. That's why we're fans of television shows, certain whatever, videos. We want to laugh.
And it's great when you find someone new. Like, we were talking about Netflix, what Ali Wong,
I had never heard about her. And then last year, her first special came out. And now,
I watched her second one immediately because I was like, oh, I loved her last one. It's,
it opens the door. It not only opens the door for you guys to get fans and to get people who
like you, but like someone like Nate Bargotsie, who's in the South, like a Southern guy. I saw his
30 minute and it blew me away. It was like, I would, I might not ever get to see him. And as it gets
more accessible to shoot specials, like the guy, it would be interesting for me to watch the guys
that you talk about that don't leave Denver. Like, maybe I love them. It's just, it opened up the world
to comedy that you might never see.
You know, it's, you hear about all these things
are Comedy Central, and I personally have nothing against Comedy Central.
They weren't going to change my life or whatever.
But, you know, if you're a consumer
and you're watching Netflix and you're watching Comedy Central,
you kind of lost faith in Comedy Central.
Like, one thing I learned from watching you is,
I remember who you were a fan of when you,
before you started doing comedy
and who you were a fan of today.
Once you got on stage, everything changed.
Once you got on stage four or five times,
you get to see behind the curtain a little bit,
and that guy just ain't that funny anymore.
You get to see guys that talk about their lives,
and that guy just ain't that fucking funny no more.
And I know it goes the other way.
It goes the other way from people to meet.
You know, that's the way life is.
I'm not ever angry at that.
but it's so weird that once you get on stage
those people aren't that funny to you
I like I said
you know I like watching Netflix specials
I really do don't get me wrong I really do
but when I sit at the store on a Tuesday night
I'm stoned in the back and I'm watching Ron White
that's as good as it gets
for 20 minutes that's as good as it gets
like live comedy to me
recently
recently, especially after I saw Dean Del Rey on stage singing ACDC,
like live conominy to me has really come back to me,
like has made me a fan as a fucking 27-year-old veteran fucking comic.
Well, it blows me away, and I think what this is doing,
because I've been going a comedy show since I was in high school.
I remember going to where you go in New York, Gotham.
We were on a college trip, my mom, my brother, and I went, and I was a teenager.
I've always loved it.
And then I see on Facebook,
we're friends with a lot of these podcast people,
and they'll post,
they'll be like 28, 30,
just going to my first comedy show.
And to me, I'm like,
how could you not have been to a comedy show before?
But I think it's opening up
to these people who never even would have considered it
to go see live comedy
and experience.
Because it is different.
It's the difference between going to a movie theater
and having a great crowd,
opening weekend versus going seeing a comedy by yourself a couple weeks ago i went to see a play
remember i told you i don't even know maybe i went to see a one-man show about letney close let me
and it was so crazy how i learned i really learned and me i love theater like i love watching it's
just bad fucking theater in l like you know and i don't want to pay two hundred dollars
for a ticket at the pantages theater that's not a lot that's a production i'm talking about a
shitty fucking theater
in Hollywood
that you have to go downstairs
and you get bit by mosquitoes and shit
and it's B-Y-O-B and people are drinking
in there and you could smell marijuana
and three people doing a scene
from a fucking
something on stage that looks like it got
bombed like a state
looks like something and fucking
who fights the Jews all the time?
Palestine it looks like a stage in Palestine
that got bombed by somebody
was on stage playing the ukulele or some
shit
You know, there used to be these little fucking theaters in Hollywood.
They used to be one on, by across the street from Hollywood High School,
they were all over Hollywood.
And that night before stand-up, I would zip into them.
Like, I would go to acting classes with different students that would do those.
To me, they were off-off Broadway type plays, and they were better than the productions.
Like, I see the work.
Like, I would see the work.
And that's how I feel about.
live stand-up, even though I'm about to shoot a fucking Netflix special.
Like, that's what fucked me up on this special.
That it was completely different than me doing a show at the comedy store or whatever.
This is going to be seen by people who have never fucking seen me before.
That know me from YouTube or a podcast.
And not even that.
They're just going to see who's coming up on, you know,
they're going to see this show called the degenerates.
They're going to read up and they're going to watch these comics,
Maybe they've never seen Christina.
So now it's a different platform.
Believe it or not, your first five or four minutes have to be describing who the fuck you are.
Yeah, it could be their first introduction to you.
So you have to describe it.
So it changes a lot of things.
I'm trying to fucking hold on to this as much as I can.
So I'm happy it's a dirty show.
I'm happy I'm shooting for Netflix.
And to be honestly, I'm just all around happy.
That's awesome.
I'm happy because I don't know if I could even tell you people it was my dream.
I'm just happy that I'm not fucking robbed anymore.
I'm happy that I have a wife and a child.
So I filled that gap in my fucking heart.
I'm happy that we do this podcast, you know, and it succeeded.
Six years we've been on and we've never missed a fucking podcast.
And, you know, remember Paul T. Murray?
I remember the name.
He came on the podcast, guy from Boston.
Oh, yeah.
He was a director.
You know, he passed away Tuesday.
Oh.
And anytime somebody passes you, it makes you think about your life and where you stand.
Somebody who's close to you or whatever.
He directed me in two films.
One film was the film that changed my life, you know.
And when I found out he died there, that I felt bad because on that movie, I went off.
I went off on that movie
because I stopped doing blow
I was off blow like the fifth day
and they were the easiest target
and I went off one day about the table
the food table
because we had to work on a Sunday
and I didn't mind that they sent us out to lunch
on Friday and Saturday
but on Sunday have something here for us
have some class
it costs you 50 bucks
you know what I'm saying
like I felt it that way
like we're working on Sunday
at least when we get off the stage
have some chili
I don't care if you go buy
it's 10 cans of dinty
more and put in the crock pot and just give us that with white bread it's better than us
getting the car and it gives us the family environment you know what I'm saying they didn't do that
and I got pissed off and I kind of went off on Palti and uh this was this had to be 2007 when I got
off the blow but he understood you know he came over to me later like a man he goes you pro
you're right these producers are cheap fucks they're going to get a table full of food right now
because I told them we'll call after and see let's call after and seven
and see if this is acceptable.
A fucking banana and a peach and some date nuts and shit.
Nah, bitch.
They had those things.
What do you call those things?
Those nuts that you bite into the crew nuts, whatever the fuck.
That's all they have.
Peanuts?
No, the other nuts.
Walnuts?
No.
Pistachios?
No.
The ones that come in the bag that whatever, they're like 65 calories and they have all different flavors now.
It don't matter.
That's what they had.
And, you know, even though all that stuff, I feel a little guilty.
but I don't even know what the point was here.
I'm still in the fucking game, Lee.
I'm 55 years old.
I could have been a thousand things.
Just to understand that I'm still in this fucking comedy game.
And all I can think about, Lee, is 1995, the last seven weeks.
What was that?
Was that?
Was 1995?
1995.
The year that I had to make
fucking a thousand decisions.
And I had a living room not bigger than this
fucking studio. It wasn't any
bigger than this studio. And there was
a basement apartment with a window
like above the door that
had three feet of light and there was
another window on that side.
And then I had a bedroom and I had a
wooden, I had a metal shower
just a fucking stand-up shower
and the toilet and
there was maybe a mirror on the fucking wall.
There was no mice.
It was clean.
There was no animals or anything like that in there.
It was a clean apartment, but it just defines sadness.
I never cooked in that apartment.
I lived in that apartment for two years.
I never cooked a fucking meal in there.
Not once.
The refrigerator had water, soda, and beer.
That fat, what's that called?
Fat, what's that?
Fat tire?
Fat tire.
That's all.
I drank in those days.
I had fat dye and did cocaine.
That's it.
But that apartment was also where I would fucking come down off cocaine and think about all
this shit that I didn't have going on and think about all this shit I wanted, but somewhere
in my life, I thought it would never fucking happen.
So I've been thinking about that apartment lately and all the doubts that I had there.
And I say it all the time.
I'll never forget writing my goals.
down at that apartment.
I'm just breaking down and crying.
I would cry in that apartment
three, four nights a week, like a
fucking, like a fucking kid.
Because I never thought that I would put
this shit together.
And at that time, I wanted it so bad.
I wanted it more.
And I wasn't talking about success.
I just wanted to be good at standing.
That was where,
that's where I did,
my mindset was very good.
I just wanted to be funny.
I didn't want to be on TV.
I didn't want to be on movies.
I didn't think about my future.
I didn't think about HBO specials.
I thought about nothing.
But just wanting to be funny.
What is the fucking equation to becoming funny?
Oh, getting on stage as much as you can't.
Sacrificing whatever the fuck you think is important to get funny.
sacrificing jobs and women and kids
and different things that normal people would not do
for this dream.
That's what I'm happy about this week.
I think about that fucking apartment.
And I think about getting on a plane
and going back there and feeling the inside of that apartment.
And what it feels like today, if it's still even there,
you know, they probably turn it into something
or ripped the walls down.
But just that corner, you know, when you...
When I heard about Joe Rogan and Stephen Tyler,
and they talk about the Comedy Storm being at that studio
when they went for music and where Leonard Skinner, and Little Richard
and the Allman brothers played, I thought about that apartment.
And I thought about what it had seen out of me.
Like, I was there for two years, and it was a good me and a bad me.
Like, it was a bad me addiction to drugs, doing coke when they blew up.
that fucking thing in Oklahoma City like I was there I was in there with the
Brides de Vittians I was there when fucking in that apartment with Kirk Cobain shot
himself I was also there when fell on black days the sound garden super unknown
came out I was in that apartment for some good and some bad things I had a lot of
pain in that apartment come up I had a lot of anger issues with my ex-wife come up
you know that's the apartment where it was 95 so I was
I was born in 63, so I was 32 fucking years old.
You know what I felt like paying 400 a month rent at 32 fucking years old
and a dirty fucking apartment, like a little stingy apartment?
I felt like I had no life.
Like there was no life.
There was no air conditioning in that apartment.
There was nothing like that.
You know, there was no sleep apnea machine.
There was a bench, a couch, and a bed that took up the whole fucking room.
And you expected to be further along?
No, I didn't expect...
At that time, I was doing comedy four years.
I knew that it was going to take time.
Oh, I just meant in your life.
At this point?
You didn't expect that to be your situation when you turned 32?
No, not at all.
I just wanted it to go away like a bad dream.
I knew that if I could stay with comedy until I was about 37 or 38,
that something might happen.
And I was right.
I didn't have no...
I had no nothing about nothing.
I could be honest with you and the church family and say there was no movies.
I wasn't doing it for none of that shit.
I was doing it to just be fucking funny.
That's a big thing.
That's all that was on my mind.
I didn't think of head shots.
I didn't think of nothing.
I played it along the way.
I didn't get head shots until 96 in Seattle.
And what year was that?
96 in Seattle.
Well, no.
What year of comedy?
Five years.
Wow.
five fucking years
I'm in a weird position
because I hear
I try to follow your advice
I'm not perfect
but I try to follow what you tell me
and then I hear
people at my level talking
saying things that I've heard you say
is the wrong thing to do
but I don't
I don't really speak up because
like they've been doing comedy longer than me
so I'm like I don't really feel like it's my place
to speak up
but I listen to what you say, and I don't, I try, I don't go to the store.
I don't do a lot of the things that I, that you, I try to.
No, no, you're very good, you're very good.
But I don't, it's, you're right, it's like having, being poor with rich friends,
and I almost can't tell my other poor friends the ways to make money.
Because I, it's, I'm very lucky, because I don't, I see the path that I want to take,
and I see the other thing that you've shown me is
like comics who maybe got stuck
in year 8 but they're in year 15
but they didn't progress past a certain point
because they were doing this or that
and it's even though it's very intimidating
for me to think like you were saying at the beginning of the podcast
to be doing it 10 years
it's
I think I think it's like I have a map
where I feel like a lot of other
the people don't have anything.
My map has pieces missing, but at least I have something where some people are just starting
out with a blank piece of paper.
They don't have any sort of guidance.
It's, uh, I respect you for what you're doing.
And I have to forget sometimes that, you know what, man, he's starting out.
Don't fuck with him.
Let him do what he's supposed to be doing, you know, which is just getting on stage and finding
out who he is. I can't do that for you. I can't do that for you. That's something that you have to do.
And I love it when comics come up to me and they go, I've been doing comedy for five years and I let them talk.
Because that was me. I thought I was ready also. They're not ready. I know they're not ready.
We were talking earlier about how you're feeling this week. And you mentioned not doing stuff before you're ready.
Do you think you're ready for tonight?
Like do you, if you...
Fuck yeah.
Yeah.
Fuck yeah.
Yeah.
At every level.
And every...
There's no doubt.
I've earned it.
I've written it.
I've worked the road.
I've done everything to make sure that when tonight came, it would be a success.
What happens tonight, I can't control.
All I can do is leave my heart up on the stage for 30 minutes.
That's basically it.
That's it.
Well, congratulations, buddy.
Thank you, brother.
We'll be back fucking Wednesday, ready to go.
Listen, I want to thank you people for following us the last couple of years.
Without you guys checking us, we wouldn't have gotten so far.
So I want to thank the church family.
I want to thank Scott Cunningham and everybody on the page.
And listen, man, it's been a great fucking journey.
And you've all been part of it.
So let's see what happens.
Let's continue this fucking journey.
We'll learn something tonight.
And we'll keep this fucking boat of sale.
happy that you guys have stayed on the ship and I'm happy that you're about to see this,
that this is all about hard work, guys.
Nothing.
Nobody could help you.
You can get a light shown on you from time to time and then you have to fucking navigate
the ship, you know?
It's like I was talking about the beginning about LeBron James.
He controls his own destiny, man.
And you know what?
And he's good at it and he works hard.
He spends money in himself.
Whether he spends money and that, he's always had the same work ethic.
even when he didn't have the $1.5 million,
or he wouldn't be where he'd be today.
Even when he didn't have the $1.5 million,
he took care of himself in other ways that we didn't.
That's something I didn't do for years.
That's something to learn from.
No matter what occupation you choose,
you have to take care of yourself.
I didn't take care of myself.
And this is why today I'm so fucking on it.
I'm drinking compocha juice to fucking getting sun,
to sleeping, to drinking tons of water.
water to eating fish to eat a little bit of meat to eat vegetables to eat fruit at all
fucking goes into the same fucking hole but you just knowing that you're putting the work in
always helps you along the line always gives you more confidence so yeah i'm ready i'm fucking
ready we'll see you guys wednesday i don't forget the 16th of june i'm at calusa casino
that's it it's a slow month the 12 and 13th of july i'm in las vegas at
At the South Point and the 25th and 26, I'm with the wise guys in Utah.
It's a slow month.
It's my Burbank tour.
But listen, let me ask you people a question.
Are you hiring posting your position to job sites and waiting and waiting for the right people to see it?
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But what I'm gonna do is this right now
The Church of What's Happened now
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Gratiss, nothing
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Just go to ZipRecruiter.com slash church
Again, that's ziprecruiter.com slash church
And get a free shot at it
That's right, free
Again, ziprecruiter.com slash church
ZipRecruiter.
The smartest way to hire.
Like I told you in the beginning,
listen, I'm a big guy.
You're looking for a ghee.
You're looking for shin guards,
whatever you need.
Fuji Sports.com has the answer.
They got a new guy in the 2.0 BJJ Sakai.
S-E-K-A-I.
But if that's not the ghee for you, I get it.
They got geese of all sizes, prices,
but the most important thing is you get a quality buy at every level.
from the all-around geese to the lightweight geese,
like the Separito, the Sakai, and the elemental.
Listen, you cannot go wrong.
They put the stuff.
My geese are fresh.
They smell good.
The Fuji's been around, like I said, since Jesus left Chicago.
If anybody knows geese, it's fucking Fuji.
They know mats, they know geese, they know everything.
So do me a favor.
Go to fujisports.com right now and press in church
and get the best quality for your dough,
which is the most important thing.
That's what I do here is.
Get you the best geese for your meaters.
You follow me?
Go to Fujisports.com right now and press in.
Church.
Boom.
And don't forget, UFC 225 from Chicago.
We're doing it right here at the office.
What are we doing on?
Luggeley.
Sportsbooth.TV, but it'll also be, I think, on your periscope.
But the best experience is on sports booth, they have the stats.
It's going to be there's no, the big benefit of sports booth is there's no lag between the fight.
That's like maybe a one second.
It's less than one second.
When you go to other places, it can be up to 10 seconds.
All right.
There you have it, Coxuckers.
Free, you go watch the fights with us.
We'll talk a little bit in Spanish.
We'll eat some fucking pizza.
The whole fucking thing.
June 9th, I don't know what time it starts, but we'll be here.
And then June 16th, I'll see it at the Calusa Casino.
Guys, thank you for all the support.
Thank you, Lee, for all the support.
Can't wait to see the boys tonight.
Danny Brown, Georgie, Steve Simone is here.
Kay Quigley.
We're going to have a great time.
Thank you guys.
We'll see you Wednesday.
Have a great fucking day.
Stay black.
Love you.
