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, 2018

Joey 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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Starting point is 00:00:00 Greetings from Podcastville. The church of what's happened now is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Are you hiring? Every business needs great people and the better way to find them, something better than posting your job online and just praying for the right people to see it. ZipRecruiter knew there was a smarter way, so they built a platform that finds the right job candidates for you.
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Starting point is 00:01:33 and press in church. Bam! And get 10% off delivered right to your fucking house. Who's better
Starting point is 00:01:38 than Uncle Joey and the Christ killer? Nobody. Fucking crack that Whipley. Monday, June 4th.
Starting point is 00:01:54 Oh shit. Church of what's happening now. Las Vegas. Oh shit. Viva. Here we go. Monday morning
Starting point is 00:02:31 motherfuckers. Live it. Learn it. Here we go. Oh shit. Oh shit. It's a ho-hum day. Monday to 4th.
Starting point is 00:02:50 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.
Starting point is 00:03:08 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
Starting point is 00:03:28 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
Starting point is 00:04:08 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.
Starting point is 00:04:44 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.
Starting point is 00:05:04 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.
Starting point is 00:05:34 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.
Starting point is 00:06:10 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.
Starting point is 00:06:25 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?
Starting point is 00:06:46 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
Starting point is 00:06:59 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,
Starting point is 00:07:20 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,
Starting point is 00:08:00 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.
Starting point is 00:08:30 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.
Starting point is 00:08:59 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,
Starting point is 00:09:20 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
Starting point is 00:09:52 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.
Starting point is 00:10:33 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.
Starting point is 00:10:52 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?
Starting point is 00:11:09 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?
Starting point is 00:11:31 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.
Starting point is 00:11:54 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.
Starting point is 00:12:10 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
Starting point is 00:12:30 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
Starting point is 00:12:45 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
Starting point is 00:13:10 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?
Starting point is 00:13:35 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?
Starting point is 00:13:54 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?
Starting point is 00:14:13 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.
Starting point is 00:14:27 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.
Starting point is 00:14:50 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.
Starting point is 00:15:17 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.
Starting point is 00:15:49 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.
Starting point is 00:16:15 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.
Starting point is 00:16:33 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.
Starting point is 00:16:57 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.
Starting point is 00:17:10 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?
Starting point is 00:17:35 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.
Starting point is 00:17:56 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.
Starting point is 00:18:17 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.
Starting point is 00:18:32 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,
Starting point is 00:18:48 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
Starting point is 00:19:01 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
Starting point is 00:19:16 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.
Starting point is 00:19:33 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
Starting point is 00:19:48 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.
Starting point is 00:20:06 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?
Starting point is 00:20:31 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.
Starting point is 00:20:50 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.
Starting point is 00:21:26 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.
Starting point is 00:21:46 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,
Starting point is 00:22:11 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,
Starting point is 00:22:33 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.
Starting point is 00:22:56 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.
Starting point is 00:23:12 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
Starting point is 00:23:25 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.
Starting point is 00:23:42 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.
Starting point is 00:24:01 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.
Starting point is 00:24:16 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.
Starting point is 00:24:32 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.
Starting point is 00:24:49 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.
Starting point is 00:24:58 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.
Starting point is 00:25:24 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
Starting point is 00:25:37 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.
Starting point is 00:25:52 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,
Starting point is 00:26:11 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.
Starting point is 00:26:29 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.
Starting point is 00:26:43 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.
Starting point is 00:27:03 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.
Starting point is 00:27:19 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.
Starting point is 00:27:39 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
Starting point is 00:28:01 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.
Starting point is 00:28:34 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
Starting point is 00:28:50 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.
Starting point is 00:29:13 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.
Starting point is 00:29:43 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.
Starting point is 00:29:59 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.
Starting point is 00:30:17 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
Starting point is 00:30:37 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
Starting point is 00:30:56 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.
Starting point is 00:31:16 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.
Starting point is 00:31:34 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.
Starting point is 00:31:56 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.
Starting point is 00:32:11 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
Starting point is 00:32:31 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
Starting point is 00:32:47 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
Starting point is 00:33:19 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.
Starting point is 00:34:04 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.
Starting point is 00:34:30 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.
Starting point is 00:34:47 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.
Starting point is 00:35:08 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
Starting point is 00:35:24 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.
Starting point is 00:35:40 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.
Starting point is 00:35:58 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?
Starting point is 00:36:19 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.
Starting point is 00:36:43 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.
Starting point is 00:37:07 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,
Starting point is 00:37:27 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.
Starting point is 00:37:42 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
Starting point is 00:38:15 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.
Starting point is 00:38:32 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.
Starting point is 00:38:47 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.
Starting point is 00:39:05 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.
Starting point is 00:39:22 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.
Starting point is 00:39:35 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,
Starting point is 00:39:52 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.
Starting point is 00:40:14 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.
Starting point is 00:40:36 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.
Starting point is 00:40:54 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.
Starting point is 00:41:19 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.
Starting point is 00:41:57 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
Starting point is 00:42:09 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.
Starting point is 00:42:23 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.
Starting point is 00:42:38 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.
Starting point is 00:43:02 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
Starting point is 00:43:55 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.
Starting point is 00:44:20 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,
Starting point is 00:44:37 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.
Starting point is 00:44:51 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.
Starting point is 00:45:04 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.
Starting point is 00:45:24 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.
Starting point is 00:45:41 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.
Starting point is 00:45:56 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.
Starting point is 00:46:15 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.
Starting point is 00:46:31 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.
Starting point is 00:46:56 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
Starting point is 00:47:18 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
Starting point is 00:47:34 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,
Starting point is 00:48:00 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,
Starting point is 00:48:08 like, you could time travel and be like, hey, we got a special on Netflix and 20, we got a, yeah,
Starting point is 00:48:15 special. Now, let me ask you this. Is Netflix the equivalent of an HBO special? To me, from what the way you,
Starting point is 00:48:21 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.
Starting point is 00:48:29 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.
Starting point is 00:49:05 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.
Starting point is 00:49:22 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.
Starting point is 00:49:42 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.
Starting point is 00:49:57 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
Starting point is 00:50:42 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,
Starting point is 00:51:19 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,
Starting point is 00:51:42 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
Starting point is 00:52:01 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
Starting point is 00:52:22 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.
Starting point is 00:52:51 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,
Starting point is 00:53:08 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,
Starting point is 00:53:27 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
Starting point is 00:53:59 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
Starting point is 00:54:15 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.
Starting point is 00:54:36 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.
Starting point is 00:55:01 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.
Starting point is 00:55:25 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.
Starting point is 00:55:50 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.
Starting point is 00:56:22 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.
Starting point is 00:56:39 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
Starting point is 00:56:58 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
Starting point is 00:57:11 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
Starting point is 00:57:26 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.
Starting point is 00:57:57 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.
Starting point is 00:58:08 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.
Starting point is 00:58:27 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.
Starting point is 00:58:48 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
Starting point is 00:59:09 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.
Starting point is 00:59:22 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?
Starting point is 00:59:45 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
Starting point is 00:59:59 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
Starting point is 01:00:24 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.
Starting point is 01:00:42 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.
Starting point is 01:00:58 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.
Starting point is 01:01:25 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...
Starting point is 01:01:45 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
Starting point is 01:02:20 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?
Starting point is 01:02:57 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...
Starting point is 01:03:18 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,
Starting point is 01:03:36 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.
Starting point is 01:04:01 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.
Starting point is 01:04:17 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
Starting point is 01:04:32 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
Starting point is 01:04:49 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,
Starting point is 01:05:21 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
Starting point is 01:05:44 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.
Starting point is 01:06:11 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?
Starting point is 01:06:53 Like do you, if you... Fuck yeah. Yeah. Fuck yeah. Yeah. At every level. And every... There's no doubt.
Starting point is 01:07:01 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.
Starting point is 01:07:21 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.
Starting point is 01:07:41 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.
Starting point is 01:07:59 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.
Starting point is 01:08:16 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,
Starting point is 01:08:36 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
Starting point is 01:09:09 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? Listen, it's a challenge to find great talent and how they went about did not work.
Starting point is 01:09:41 Listen, ZipRecruiter knows there was a smarter way, so they built a platform that finds the right job candidates for you. ZipRecruiter learns what you're looking for, identifies the people with the right experience, and invites them to apply to your job. These invitations have revolutionized how you find your next hire. In fact, 80% of employers who post a job on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate through the site in just one day. That's right, one day, one day. And ZipRecruiter doesn't stop there. They even spotlight the strongest applications so you receive, so you never, ever miss a great match. The right candidates are out there
Starting point is 01:10:20 ZipRecruiter is how you find them Now business of all sizes Trust ZipRecruiter for their hiring needs But what I'm gonna do is this right now The Church of What's Happened now Can try ZipRecruiter for free Gratiss, nothing Ugats
Starting point is 01:10:35 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,
Starting point is 01:10:53 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.
Starting point is 01:11:10 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.
Starting point is 01:11:27 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.
Starting point is 01:11:43 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?
Starting point is 01:11:55 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.
Starting point is 01:12:15 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.
Starting point is 01:12:30 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.
Starting point is 01:12:43 Stay black. Love you.

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