The Church of What's Happening Now: The New Testament - #735 - Robert Iler

Episode Date: November 12, 2019

Robert Iler, an actor best known for playing the role of A.J. on HBO's, "The Soprano's" and cohost of the new podcast "Pajama Pants" along with Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Kassem G, joins Joey Diaz and Lee Syatt LIVE in studio.  This podcast is brought to you by: Stance Socks - Stance has all styles of socks in tons of amazing designs including MLB, Star Wars and Quentin Tarantino. Go to www.stance.com/church and you'll get a free pair of socks with any purchase.    MyBookie.ag -  Use code promo Church to get a 100% match on your first deposit up to $1,000. 

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promo code church when creating your account to claim your bonus. You play, you win, you get paid. Kick this motherfucker, Emilie. Oh shit. It's Tuesday morning. It's a beautiful day to be alive. Robert Eiler, Uncle Joey,

and the fucking Christ killing. Ready to run. What's the story, Robin? going on man thanks for having me fuck all right it's great to just see like I told you

when you walked in it's like watching somebody grow up in front of your eyes and now you're this man you know when I booked the movie I went back

and revisited the series in the beginning and last night we were talking on the phone it was like I was watching you just being I remember the episode when

you locked the fucking window and she couldn't get back in that's like episode maybe three or something or something I only remember and Edie took out the machine gun and you locked the fucking laundry room so she couldn't back in that might be the pilot that could be the pilot might be the pilot you were just a little young kid

that's 12 years old how long were you acting before that so I started I was six years old walking down the street uh with my dad and some guy came up to my dad and said hey your son should do auditions or you know they didn't know I was going to be fucking short and looked the way I do but they were like, you should be a little model or, you know, do whatever. So my dad and my mom, uh, but my mom mainly started taking me on auditions for commercials and shit like that. And I booked, uh, like Pizza Hut, AT&T, uh, like a whole IBM. Like I booked all these commercials.

And then my grandmother passed away. I broke my arm. All this weird stuff kind of happened in my life. And my mom, or we, she decided, I guess, to, for me to stop, uh, for a few years. And my manager, who's still. my manager today, which is almost 30 years later, this guy Jeff Mitchell, he's fucking amazing. He would call every couple weeks, couple months or whatever, and say, hey, you know, he should get back in, he should get back in. And, you know, we'd be like, no, no, no.

And then finally when we said yes, I went audition and got sopranos. When you got the call, it was like five out of ten people who have, you know, become regulars and went on to go on the show. The first time you got the call, I was in New York. and I got a call one day and they go hey you're dropping off tapes I had this mediocre agent at the manager at the time so he goes you gotta drop a tape off

for global entertainment somewhere else and there's this show the fucking sopranos and I'm like again I'm not an opera singer yeah like that's the first thing I thought of yeah so guess what I dropped two tapes off and I didn't drop the soprano tape off

really oh the pilot I was in New York like in April or March and they were looking and I didn't drop it off and when I see different characters in the show getting interviewed especially that pilot they were like

you know soprano we're not singers I think Jamie had the same reaction exactly yeah a couple of people how was your when you went and did you even know what you were walking into

no well I mean nobody knew you know it wasn't a thing yet it was just a show on HBO which at the time was not a good thing you know you wanted to be fucking CBS or NBC or one of of these things. And, uh, but what's funny is everybody who's on the show thought it was a thing about singers and everything. And then when they told them, no, it's not singers. It's about Italian,

uh, like mafia shit. They were relieved or with me. I was like, oh, that's even worse. You know, I probably got a better chance of being a fucking sing because I'm a little Irish kid. I got freckles on my face. And, uh, every kid in the audition was like, you know, slipped back hair with the fucking leather jacket. And they were all trying to play up the Italian thing. And I remember my mom was even saying, like, why did you even send him on this? You know, he's, he's, he didn't look like everyone else at the fucking audition. And every time I cursed in the audition, David Chase laughed every time. And the auditions, then the callbacks, then the next one, the next one, he just kept laughing.

And I guess that's, uh, that's how I got the job. I kept, I got David to laugh over and over. So you were, you were 12, you said? I was 12 years old. When you're that old, like, that young exactly like is it like a dream or are you just there and is it fun like what is it like because when you're at an adult you're like oh this is my my dream you're 12 years old you're in sixth grade or something it's uh yeah you're just kind of doing it you're just kind of go like

i remember doing the pilot and being upset and james coming over me like what's your fucking why you pouting and i was like all my friends are at camp you know like it was summer camp And I was like, I want to be with my friends at camp and not here with a bunch of fucking 30-year-olds, you know, sitting around drinking cappuccino or, you know, whatever they're doing. Like, I had a great time. But in my head, I'm like, man, I want to be with other 12-year-olds and 13-year-olds. And I want to be, you know, getting my dick wet for the first time and seeing fucking what's going on instead of sitting around here. But it was, you know, thank God, obviously, you know, because it was the greatest, it was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. How many days were you on the pilot for?

I don't know. If I had to guess, I would say three weeks, two weeks, it could be two weeks, could be a month. Honestly, I have no idea. I know towards the end, they started doing some episodes that would take like six weeks because it just got so. Like, if we did an episode where the whole family was there and we're all sitting around the table and like, you know, the cousin or the, it would take a full day for a minute and a half scene because there's eight people. You got the wide shots. You got the closeups. You got to there.

You got to match the food. No, you didn't eat with that hand. You ate with the other hand. You didn't know. You didn't eat fucking, you weren't eating pasta at that point. You were eating fucking salad. You were doing it. And you got a match.

And then when they finally get your take, they go, all right, everybody go away for 45 minutes. And we'd all go outside. You'd smoking cigarettes, bullshit, and laughing. And they would be setting up the lights and the cameras and everything getting ready for the next person's close up. And then the next friend, they had to go around and do eight of those. Then they do a wide shot. Then they do two shots. So two people in each thing.

And there were times where we would have one dinner scene and you'd show up at six in the morning. Go till whatever time at night And then you'd be showing up the next day again To eat the same fucking cold Chinese food for You know 12 hours and sit but it was It never I mean maybe twice For first for certain reasons did it ever feel like work to me Now so you shoot the pilot

You go home you go back to your life Yeah totally Think about it you're 12 You're looking to get your little balls licked What yeah well Pop pop pop up how long do you get the call Well what actually happened was it didn't happen like that. What happened was I got the pilot and everybody in my family goes,

he's going to be famous. You're going to be on a fucking TV show and you're going to be famous. This is it. This is the beginning. And then we went to shoot the pilot and people like Tony Serico would be like, we fucking, you know, we do five of these every year. We'll never see each other again. And he just fucking shot all my dreams down. I went back, fucking 12 years old, back to my family who we were broke, like broke and telling them, yeah, you know, what we thought this was. He's not. He's a guy. They do these all the time. It's a show for HBO. People were talking, this is a fucking show for HBO. What do you think it's going to be a fucking, you know, a big deal? So I remember going back and telling my family breaking the news to them, no, this isn't the big thing, you know?

And then they called and said, we're going to do a season. And we did the season. And then I remember, it never really hit me, honestly, until I got a phone call. And they said, there's a billboard with you on it in Times Square. and we fucking my family got in the car and we drove into fucking Times Square we're driving through the traffic and we're looking around and we're looking around and somebody's like there it is and he'll look up

and my face was on the fucking billboard in Times Square and I was like oh shit I heard the premier party was at a pizza place in the village I think so it might have been at Johns like a small like HBO didn't even think it was really gonna do anything you know like they had it in a pizza ball or something

yeah but by the way For then, it was like, this is like I was fucking broken. I thought it was the great. I'm that fucking free pizza. Everybody's fucking, I mean, it was amazing. You know, I thought it was incredible. But HBO, I think about the shit, you know, it's just crazy. Like, I think when I was 16, because we were talking about where I grew up on 92nd Street and Second Avenue in New York.

And I would be on a Thursday, I'd be in the park with my friends on a, you know, 16 years old, like drinking 40s, smoking blunts. getting into fucking trouble and shit. And then on Friday, I'd be flying first class on fucking HBO's dime to L.A. to stay in the nicest hotel in fucking L.A. On Saturday, Sunday, whatever, I'd be on the red carpet of the fucking awards. There'd be fucking, you know, Tom Hanks and this one and people talking to you in that. And by Monday, I'd be back in the fucking park drinking a 40s, smoking a blonde. And it was, and the crazy thing is, is now I look at it and I go, this sounds insane.

where at the time I was like Yeah no I went on I was in LA this weekend Yeah fucking I met Tom Hanks you know Fucking I met all the cast of friends I met all the we were all sitting together and having a drink And yeah they were great you know I could fucking like There used to be this homeless guy who we'd pay to buy us fucking Uh alcohol like we could get beer but it was hard to get like hard alcohol

And I remember like I'd be fucking telling the homeless guy about how I was hanging out with like Ray Romano the night before you know and it's just fucking it was I think about it now and I go that's the craziest shit ever but at the time it was totally normal you know I'd fucking I'd send HBO back the fucking tuxedo that I rent that they rented from wherever for me and then I'd leave my apartment and I'd go to the park

and be drinking smoking you know three hours later just like with my buddies hanging out it wasn't odd to me at all like I just thought yeah this is life you know this is what's going on I saw how many episodes before this fucking

thing just because I didn't I had no idea I was I'm a comic I'm on the fucking road and people asking me have you watched this show the soprano and I'm like no but fuck I was supposed to read to that show right you didn't drop the tape so the first time I ever seen it was I was in Cleveland and I went back to the room but like a grandma blow and it was on the midnight showing because they would always have like a six o'clock in California and nine o'clock and New York, and you could watch it again that night. Right. And it was like maybe episode five.

And I was like, what the fuck is this? And I was coked up, so I really couldn't absorb. You know, my feet didn't, but I knew I got to watch this shit again. Yeah. And from there on, I started watching it. And it was by, yeah, by like the eighth episode, right? Once that was it, you guys were off and fucking running. Honestly, I don't remember it ever not being huge from the day I saw that billboard until

You know now if I go to a mall in Jersey, it's fucking they go nuts, you know, it's still crazy But out when I'm living my normal life, it's I think there's something about when I do with my fucking facial hair or the way I shave or don't shave sometimes or my hair that there's some days where it's like people I see people staring at me and pointing at me and coming up to me and ask me and then there's some days where nobody fucking You know, you go a full day And nobody even looks at you And nobody It's great But yeah, there was Because you think about it right

Eight episodes in would be two months So to look back and try and remember Like a two month period Where it wasn't big But from what I remember As soon as the fucking pilot went It was just It was fireworks

It was crazy Everybody Everybody loved it You know And I was telling David I don't know You know You got Bon Jovi

You got Bruce Springsteen, you know, you got Queen Latifah, you got fucking naughty by nature. I come out here in 1997. I signed with an agent and she goes, I need a bio.

And I wrote from New Jersey. And this is Bruce Springsteen is all right, 97. We got Bruce Springsteen, we got Bon Jo, we've got all these fucking people, New Jersey. And I'll never forget her calling me and saying, listen, I'm changing that Jersey to New York didn't you say you went to grammar school in New York and I go yeah she goes I

want you to change it to hell's kitchen or something she goes it's not cool to be from Jersey she goes it's just not if people really don't and I told David that I go once this show it everything changed now you could put that you were from Jersey yeah people are like oh shit like it was that much of an impact like it was that much of an impact. And after that, it was off and fucking running. Yeah. Is it bigger in Jersey than it is in New York?

I mean, it's the fucking... It represents them. It's the Bible in New Jersey. And they bought it hook, line, and sinker, because that's your life in Jersey. Wow. Like, I can't... I can't go into a deli in Jersey

and get back in the car without somebody known. We're like, in New York, I could, you know, whatever... But, you know, what's funny, too, is, like, a lot of people come up to me in New York, and they're like, Did we go to school together or did we? And I'm like, you're fucking 58. Like, did we go to school together?

You know what I mean? Like, people always say they don't know where they, you know, people are like, did you, were you on the fucking softball team and this? And I'm like, no. And I don't tell them, you know, why they fucking know me. But I just, and they look and they go, oh, man, my, you know, I got somebody on my team look just like, you know, they can't recall where they know me from. But in Jersey, and they don't, they don't look at me like, where do I know you from in

Jersey you know the second they see you because I think that there's a lot of people in places where they go oh I did watch sopranos 10 years ago where anybody who likes sopranos lives in Jersey has not gone 10 years without watching sopranos no no they fucking it's like it was you know it was they're like oh it's fucking you know too I watched I rewatch the whole thing uh just two months ago you know and they fucking it's great man they they love it it's great it's crazy to say that my career started because of the soprano because before the Sopranos I had booked a pilot for CBS as a Puerto Rican bartending in the Bronx was called Bronx County and I booked basketball I was a ref yeah yeah and then you

know I was going out for big time auditions but I didn't have the chops but then I went in for mad TV for the soprano sketch right the first time they did it and that blew the fuck up yeah like Will Sassau was a great Tony Soprano yeah we had a great time of And then we were going to do it again. And you know, the Sopranos kind of stopped us. Really? I guess Jamie Lynn was going to host. Oh, wow.

And they were going to let Jamie do a sketch with us. But I guess the Soprano was like, uh-uh, she could host. But she ain't doing no fucking sketch, so we canceled the sketch. But after the sketch, you have to remember that mob culture just blew up. Yeah. Commercials. You know, I shot maybe four commercials a year, and I would walk in and book the thing. I knew when I walked in.

I was looking at the thing because I looked just like pussy. Yeah. You know, I looked just like them. Pens oil. Fucking Sears had a mafia garage commercial. I did a battery commercial for fucking somebody where we're digging the body up and you left the lights on to dig at night.

Right. We went to start the car and the car didn't start. And they're like, if you were to use this battery, these mobs is. I mean, I shot 20 nationals that we'd shoot. get paid for and then they go, nah, the Italian American Foundation made them pull it.

Bud Light, I did one with, what's his name? At the end, they ran over his head. Frank Vincent? Frank Vincent. We got taken off.

I think his lasted the most, not everybody's. Like four of us did different mafia commercials. It was amazing, the amount of mob action that was in this town. I did a movie. You got nothing.

It was all mob stuff that was just short films that paid. They would pay me, even though they had no budget, they would pay me because I looked like Vincent passed off. Yeah, of course. It was fucking crazy. And then I went to New York. I was doing the New York Comedy Festival and George Jan's assistant was in the audience. And she came up to me and she goes, are you busy tomorrow? You have to meet this lady.

She's going to want to see you. For sure. And I went outside. I was supposed to go to Buffalo. She walked up to me, Georgine walking. She goes, can you leave a business card upstairs? Because we're looking for guys like you. And I go, I'm your 11 o'clock.

And we started talking. I read for Gigi. I read for Sheripa's part. I read for the cop who's opening up a pizza place now. The federal cop that used to him, I just bumped into him. He's opening up a pizza place. Out here? In Brooklyn.

He's going back to Brooklyn. I read for that role. and David Chase's note was Keep sending me Everything that you do So then when Puss Got killed off the Sopranos He was going to do a show called the Mezos

About two gay mobsters Really? He was developing it ABC got cold feet And got rid of the project They resold it to Fox I did this short film And then I sent that to Georgie

And then she called me in for Puss's brother Who was supposed to have four episodes Right But they sent it the sides to the comedy store. I was doing Spider-Man, too. I was at Sony. So in those days, you got, you had to be home

to turn the fucking fax machine. Yeah. So I went to the store, got the sides, and the girl spoke to Sharra. And I think Sharra by mistake, said my friends were auditioning for this thing because Domerera,

and they called it lack of confidentiality agreement. Really? So we got fucking snapped. Get out of here. Yeah. that you know what's funny is like I hear first of all I think a reason why we like I don't have social media I don't do any of the fucking Twitter Instagram Facebook I got nothing and like I think about it now and I think about how I think you know like I see these shows like stranger things on Netflix or whatever show and it's like we're here now look we're we're eating the fucking this is what we're eating this is what we're doing here's where we're standing oh look here's the and I think the reason I want of the reason I think the reason I one of the reasons

one of the many why Sopranos was so good is there was none of that. You never saw us sitting around fucking smoking cigarettes laughing in our pajamas because that's what we would do. You know, they would say you got a fucking hour or when we would do rethrus, we would sit around it. There were no pictures of us anywhere. If you weren't watching me as fucking A.J. and Jim is Tony and everybody, like, you know, she, to people, she was Carmela. She wasn't putting up Instagram videos every five minutes going, oh, we're in the kids.

kitchen now, we're getting ready to shoot this scene. And I think that it just takes away from the intensity of like how, like, I think people watch this show, especially in New York, New Jersey, and they were like, no, that's Carmela, that's Tony. That's not, right now, today I think it's like people know so much more about the fucking celebrities and then, oh, here's, I'm not, I'm having lunch with fucking Jake and, you know, and we're here. And it just, I think there's like, and I think that's why now everything is shifting to fucking podcasts and actually knowing who people are instead of these I just think like the intensity of that like I remember somebody coming up to me once and asking if Tony hit me and I was like what do you mean and they're like well does he has he ever like

given you a real beaten I go you you you watch the show whatever is whatever he doesn't hit me when the cameras aren't on like what are you talking about and they just like they couldn't even understand what I was trying to say. Like, they were just so fucking caught up and, like, they saw me in the street and they wanted to know if Tony, like, beat me. And I was like, it's whatever, whatever you see. Like, I don't even know how they answer this. This guy asking me this question, you know what I mean?

Where now it's like they would see us fucking on Instagram every day, you know, hugging each other and laughing and this. And they would never ask that question because they would know, you know, they would be like, oh, yeah, I saw you and Tony went to go get fucking, you know, a chicken, fix. the other day and they would they would never ask something like that now were you going to school one when you shot the pilot I mean when you you were going to grandma school obviously yeah so I was going I went to school up until about maybe one or two seasons in and then I was working so much that I would show up to school and I wouldn't know what the

fuck they were talking about so then I just kind of stopped going and I leaned more towards the fucking kids who were in the park drinking and smoking and that kind of thing and then I ended up stopped going to school and HBO got me a homeschool tutor for me to finish out and get a high school diploma. So I was just every day, I would go to school. What I started doing was I was so they let's say I'd work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday you have off. I would sleep until 11 and I'd go to school lunch would be at like 11.30. I'd go wait outside of my school for everybody to come out for lunch and then I would try and convince people to stay out and not go back in and hang with me and go to the park and fucking drink a 40 or smoke or do whatever and then uh sometimes i would sometimes i would end up

like having a few beers at lunch would be like i'll fucking go back i'll go back in yeah let's go say hi to mr fucking whatever and it was just you know a lot of times i i shouldn't have i probably should have been walking back in there but uh yeah that was probably i probably gave up on school around like 14 i would say wow yeah and then no high school would really accept me because uh my absence was so high you know I had like a my day's absent was higher than my average in school so my average was like a 56 and my day's absent was like 58 or some shit like that I forget the numbers but uh so all these schools would just see that and be like no no and then I remember some amazing fucking school called me I forget if it was like Baruch or like one of these schools and they go listen

it was the head of the school the woman calls my my cell phone and she goes or she called my home phone I guess because I was like I was young so she she calls my home phone and She goes, I want to ask you, I'll accept you into this school. If you promise me, when you're not working, you'll give it your all. And you'll be the best student you could be in the school. And so you don't have to go to a fucking MLK or whatever school in New York that you're going to have to go to. I'll let you in this school. But you have to promise me.

I go, I can't do that. Because I was like, I'll be lying if I tell you that that's what I'm going to do. I go, I know where I'm at right now. I'm not going to all of a sudden flip a switch and be shit. And she was like, well, thank you for being honest with me. and then I went to like a pretty shitty school and I and you know that was probably ninth grade and I just never really showed up you know I showed up every now and then to I don't even know why honestly you know there were just some days where I probably wake up and be like I feel like going to see everybody and fucking

hanging out on there but I never even like I don't even remember getting fucking grades or them to like it was like I wasn't there you know and it was like there were a few people in the school who were cool and kind of understood like you're you know because sopranos was fucking huge. at that time you know so they kind of understood and I just yeah after I would say like I never stepped foot back in school after probably the age of 15 that's like that's like season three season yeah yeah ish like around there and then they got me a tutor but then what happened was somewhere around like 16 17 I really started going out and partying and then the school just fucking it's it kept slip it's like I would show up to to see her at my

Even like my it would be a struggle for me to get to my kitchen table because I'd be fucking hung over I'd be feeling like shit and by like the second hour and she's telling asking me these questions and this and my head hurts and I'm just thinking about you know the fucking girl from last night and then I'm just like I don't you know I mean you were living the life man it was you were on the best show on television You know you were shooting fucking crazy hours How many months would you shoot it would it takes a shoot a season? So I sometimes it was six but towards the end it was more like nine I think It started becoming more and more, maybe like A. But then we did, I think that I have such a bad memory, but for this, I think we started doing like less episodes as the show went on. But they, they just became, I don't know, it just, I remember taking so long at the end.

It was so, and I remember like, they, sometimes they would come to us and say, hey, listen, you know, you got two, you're not in the next episode. You know, you got fucking two weeks off. And I remember people like Edy, if she had very little work or wasn't in an episode, would be upset. Like, they would tell me I had two weeks off. I would be trying to hold in my, from fucking, you know, fist pumping and fucking, you know, being all excited. Because I was like, oh, shit, I can go party. I could just go fucking hang out with my friends for two weeks. And I know I got this fucking, the greatest show in the fucking, I have the greatest show to come back to.

And then I'd be like, all right, you know, I'll see you guys on the, call me when you need me. And then I would just go and fucking hang out with my friends. And I'd get to call. like, all right, the script for episode four is out. You're in it. And I would just fucking go. But like, it never felt like work. Working with James and Edy and Jamie,

and that they were so fucking good. And every, like, you sit and you watch E.D. Falco do a scene. And then you're like, I just fucking, I'm getting paid to be here. It gets the craziest. And the way that I grew up, like, I grew up really poor. And basically, I kind of had the thing where it was like, if you do everything right, you'll get your grandfather's job.

If you do everything right, if you don't fuck up, if you do good in school, you could take his job, which he was like the super of a building. And then you'll fucking, you know, in our neighborhood,

he had the fucking great job. He had Lizi, you know. He would fucking go into work at like 6 a.m. or whatever, fix shit in the building. And then at noon, he would go to the bar to have like a sandwich and a beer

and then he just wouldn't go back to work. He would just end up, you know, drink it. Hey, if you need me, and I'll be down at the bar. be a block away. But things were fucking cooler back then. You know, this is like the late 80s, early 90s where shit was just, people weren't watching every movie maker. You didn't have a cell phone.

They couldn't get to you. So they'd be like, oh, where's Bobby? And they'd be like, oh, he's, you know, yeah, we don't know, we'll tell him tomorrow. And then he would fuck, but he showed up every day, 6 a.m. Fix it because he only worked a block away, you know. And then he was the super of our building too. So we got to live in our building rent free. So there was, there were a bunch of us living in a one bedroom. And there was no door on the bed. So it was just like a bedroom with the door open, the kitchen and the living room. And we were just all fucking in there. So it's like to then jump to like you said, now this, you're on the fucking best show

every day. Like I, this show could have stopped that season three and I would have been the fucking success story of, you know, like it still would have been like, oh my God, this, you know, he did the greatest thing. And the fact that I went on seven seasons and people argue it's the best show ever and all the shit. It's crazy to think of how it all turned out. When you were shooting this, while you were shooting these,

what did you think of David? I love David. I always love David because, I mean, I looked at him as, he's the reason I'm here. You know what I mean? Like, he's the guy who gave me this fucking, this thing. You know, like, I was fat, and yet I could still get girls because it was like, oh, shit, he's on a fucking,

TV, you know, like, I just, I love David. I love the way he was. I always thought he was a fucking, you know, who 13 year old me? What do I know? But I always thought he was just some fucking genius and he was, he was the best. He was funny. He was always super nice to me. He, I remember one time where like I was 18 years old and we were shooting a scene and it was me, James Eadie and probably Jamie. I don't remember if Jamie was there, but we were in the kitchen doing whatever. And I just remember like turning my head and seeing David walk on to set and he went to go watch like on the monitor or whatever and I remember like feeling nervous and that was the first time I was like oh shit yeah that's my that's the boss you know like that because I never I never when we when we went to

go do the pilot there was no giant celebrity there was nobody who was saying oh my god can we can you believe blah boss here can we get pictures with it we were all sitting in the same fucking we'd all sit outside laughing bullshitting there was nobody was from California so nobody was You know, you would hear things about people being like, I want the biggest trailer. I want to, there was none of that. We wouldn't even, sometimes we've had trailers on set and we wouldn't even go over there. We'd be sitting in the basement of the house that we were shooting and just fucking laughing, making fun of each other, making fun of people, doing whatever. You know, we had, it was always just us sitting around having the best time.

When did you stop going off the reservation? Like you booked it when you were 12. Booked when I was 12. When you were like, when did you start party? And when did you get the green light? So when I was like 11 or 12, I think I was 12, I first smoked weed. Welcome to New York City. Yeah, I know.

Welcome to New York fucking city. You know what I talk about all the time, which what makes kids from New York City different than anywhere else? It's like, let's say fucking Tom lives upstate and he tells his parents, I'm going to Ricky's house. When he goes to Ricky's house, you know who he's going to see. He's going to see Ricky's mom, Ricky's dad. And that's it. He's going to see three people.

When I used to tell my mom, hey, I'm going to Rex's house, I could see 400 people on my way from here to just going a few blocks to my friend's place. You know, so you have to learn. You have to be always looking at like, what the fuck is this person up to? What are they the, we're like, I remember when I was like 16-ish, I was doing stupid shit and got in a little trouble and got moved into my dad's out of the city for a little bit. And I remember talking to 16-year-old's upstate and being like, where are you? What do you mean your mom's going to drive us to the mall? Like, I don't, I can't even, that sounds like, fuck it. I'd rather sit downstairs and fucking stare at the wall than sit in a car where your mom

while she drives us to the fucking mall, you know, because it was like, by the time I was 12, it was like we'd be hanging out in fucking staircases and smoking weed and drinking and that. So it was around 12, 13, 14, I was drinking smoking weed and that kind of stuff, but it was still just fun, you know? It was like, hey, let's go, meet over here and this. And then probably like 15, 60s. became like, oh, you know, somebody would, because we didn't have money to do other shit, you know? And then around 15, 16, it would be like, oh, somebody said they could get us fucking ecstasy, you know, so we would save up and try and get it.

But then I was probably able to, I just had a little more money and everything, but around 17, end of 16, 17, I started going out to clubs in New York and really partying and just getting whatever the fuck I wanted for free. Like people would just come up to me with a fucking handshake or, but it's also around the time where I got arrested. and I was in the paper for fucking weed and this. So people knew, you know, so people would come out to me and just handshake with a fucking bag of weed. And then around 17, it became blow. And I started doing blow. And then from 18 to 22, I was doing blow every fucking time I drank, every time.

And then I would, so I would binge drink. I would drink for three days, just doing blow, staying up, fucking party and everything. And then I would chill for three or four days, just smoke weed, take fucking painkillers, just kind of like stay in. And then at 22 or maybe 23, I stopped drinking for a year to stop doing Coke. Because I couldn't stop without. I'd be like, okay, I'm not doing fucking Coke anymore. And then it would be three days later. We'd be somewhere with the fucking windows painted black and we would just be going for fucking three days, party and everything.

And like, I think that the difference with me was like, I didn't have a job. have responsibilities. So it was never like, like I, like, you know, you do those impression of those people all the time. And it's like that, like I would meet people. They'd be like, I had the craziest night with you. We were out till seven a seven a.m. And I'd be like, what do you? Like, I don't even like, you know, people think of crazy nights is I'm staying out until seven am because they have responsibilities. They got a fucking job. They got of this. I was 18. I had my own apartment. I would get nine months off from sopranos at a time. And I would just go, all right, I'm going to go out and I'm going to drink. And one fucking night led into nine months. And all of a

I'd be getting that call. Like, all right, we're starting up again. I'd be like, oh, shit, I just, all I did was fucking do Coke and drink and go party for, yeah, for the entire time. And then something in me, I don't know what it was. I just, let's say I had to work on Wednesday. I wouldn't even drink that Friday before. Just in case, if I drank that Friday, started fucking doing blow, it turned into Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Then I wanted to sleep for fucking 24 hours.

And I woke up and I just, I didn't know my lines or I didn't. So, like, whenever I would have to work, I would. I would stop partying or drinking or anything for a long time before. You know? And then as soon as we would fucking, all right, you got two weeks off or wrap a season, that was it. And it was just like you were saying, we never know what's bad, you know? We never know we have a problem. So it's like I went from taking three percocets a day to all of a sudden taking 15.

And it's like you don't go, oh shit on Tuesday, I took four. And now I'm taking five. And then it became to the point where I would have a fucking percocet on my nightstand because I would wake. up and I would just fucking feel like shit and I would take the percocet and I didn't even drink water with him I would just put them in the back of my teeth and chew them and I would just fucking lay there and then 15 minutes later I'd be like all right you know I could fucking get out of bed now and function and then I would stay home for three or four days smoking weed taking percocet's taking Xanax watching TV playing online poker doing whatever and then I would get the call like hey

we're going out tonight you know it's blah blah's birthday or the and that would be a Friday Saturday, Sunday, just drinking, party, and but like, I'm so grateful. I look back now that it all happened because it's the reason why if I meet some chick today and I get married and everything, I could tell her, like, listen, I'm not going

anywhere. You're not going to, I'm not going to be one these assholes who all of a sudden took a fucking business trip to Vegas with his friends and now he discovered fucking blow and hookers and it, like, I know what I... You went through it. Yeah, I know what I want. You know, I know what I want in life. It's not that, because even though I

stopped doing blow. So I stopped doing blow when I was about 23 or 22, whatever, so I stopped drinking for a year. So I go back to drinking, I go, if I ever do blow again, that's it. I'm never drinking again. And about six months into that, I found Molly. And I was like, all right, well, it's not blow. And then I would just fucking stay up for days. I just replaced Molly with blow. And I would just stay up for fucking three days doing Molly, nonstop. And you just, you know, you, you, you just start to be around a lot of people.

that you shouldn't be around you know and a lot and especially with my quick it goes by you don't even one minute you don't even know you're not with Lee in the next minute it's maximus you don't even know what the fuck happens with fucking pills and yep and you're in yeah that's what people don't understand you're in how was it once the show ended uh you know I wasn't sad about it at all I wasn't saying you're ready to move on I don't even think for me there was any sort of like transition like it was like on Monday we're doing the show David said hey we're not doing anymore okay because it was like on one hand I guess I just thought in my head like

well I don't have to work I don't have to take those times off from partying anymore you know I don't have to fucking clear my head for a fucking three days before I go to work I don't have to do it now it's just hang out my friends so my manager when I was like 22 23 uh was like you you gotta keep working out so problem's ending and I was like give me six months or however long I said you know give me a year I just want to hang out with my friends and I want to fucking party and I want to do nothing and And then that turned into six, seven years of just fucking nonstop partying. And like, people would always just talk about, like, how do you, how do you fucking drink so much and party so much?

It's like, because then I could go sleep for 20 hours if I want, you know? Like, I don't have fucking kids with toys banging them in my head, waking me up in the morning. I don't have a wife. I don't have any fucking responsibilities. If I don't feel good, I want to sleep for 20 hours and then take percocet for three days. And I just had no. And when I went to seek help, what he told me was the reason why I was having that anxiety, he thinks, is because I was just like, when you see a fucking piece of like lint floating in the air, he's like, that's how you were. You didn't know what was going.

And even though you enjoyed that, your body couldn't fucking handle it. Your brain couldn't handle it. You couldn't. You needed some kind of anchor. You needed that thing that was going to stop you and make you clear your head for three days and go to work. And that you couldn't just be that piece of whatever. floating around when did you get sober so when I was a 28 my 28th birthday I went out and I took like 35 mollies and I was fucking out of my mind like I was just I went to go see

a concert and I was in fucking Madison Square Garden so I I I show up to my friend's place and I go I'm gonna take five mollies and we're gonna go to this fucking concert and we're gonna have a good time so let's say the concert's at 10 I'm making up times. I don't remember times. Let's say it comes at 10. At 7 o'clock, I take five mollies and I'm fucking drinking tequila and hanging out. So now all of a sudden it's 9.30 and I'm like, you know what? It's my birthday. And I kind of

had in my head like, I'm going to chill out after this. I'm going to, but I always did. You know, I always had that thing with percocets. I'd be fucking taking percocets every day for a year and every night I would get in bed and be like, all right, tomorrow we're not going to take the fucking percassets. Or we're going to take three instead of taking fucking 12. We're going to, and then the next day

it would just, you just fall back into that routine. You forget. You wake up. You fucking chew one. Then all of a sudden, an hour later, you take another one. Then you're fucking popping Xanax and this. So, uh, we're about to leave for the concert. And I go, you know what? I'm going to take five more fucking Mollies and just be off my fucking ass at this concert. And I go, there's nobody going to be looking at me. It's going to be fucking dark. I had like sunglasses on and a fucking, you know, a scarf. And I'm all fucking, you know, I'm like, we're going to have a fucking ball. And it was like a DJ. So I was like, everybody's going to be off their fucking ass. Then we'll go on party after.

So I take five mollies and then I took like a bottle like this and it was a ginger ale and I put tequila in it and I cracked five mollies in there. And I was like in case I'm in the concert and I feel like it's going down. Because at the time I wasn't some guy who 10 mollies fucking, you know, ended my life like some dad from fucking, you know, the suburbs. I was already taken numbers like that, you know, if not a little less, but it was my birthday. I was like, I'm going to take a little more. So I got this ginger ale full with tequila. the Molly and I'm walking into the concert and I'm fucking like my teeth are fucking chattering I'm I'm fucking I'm feeling good but I'm loving I'm with fucking two of my best

friends I'm on top of the world everything's great but it's now when I think about it like I was fucking rocked and I get to the front of the line and some guy who looked like a cop but he's probably just a security guy he's like hey and he sees me and in your head for that one second you just go oh it's all over you know you don't know why you just go oh shit he knows or something and I and he goes you can't bring that in and I had the fucking ginger rail in my hand with the tequila. And I was so relieved that he just said, you can't bring that in and not you're fucking

coming with me or you're under or whatever. I unscrewed the fucking tequila with the five mollies, drank that and walked into Madison Square Garden. And I was, so I'm on 15 mollies in maybe four hours, something like that. And I'm in there and I'm just fucking

rocked. Like I remember walking through the fucking hallways and people have on the fucking glowing fucking lights thing. And I remember like getting to our seats and people were also fucked up at our seats. So they're like high-fiving this. And I'm saying, it's my birthday. So I'm saying to these people, thank you for coming. And they're looking at me like, thank you for come. Like, thank you for coming to my birthday. Like, I think somewhere in my head, I thought it was my fucking birthday party, the Madison Square Garden with fucking 20, whatever,

40,000 people, however. And I had a great night that night. We fucking party. We stay at the concert. Everything's amazing. And so that's a Friday, like Saturday, Sunday, I'm still up. I'm taking Molly every, like, hour, you know, taking a little, taking a little. I go to bed. I wake up. And I remember, like, it was probably four days after that. I was supposed to go to a birthday dinner. And I remember being, like, I can't get out of bed.

Like, I remember being, like, just feeling cold and feeling, like, shit and awful. And I was like, I think I might have done it this time. Like, I might, there might be no coming back from where I am. Like, I would fucking hear something in my hallway and get sketched out. Like, I was just super. I was fucked up. And I remember saying I got to go to the doctor because I couldn't eat anything. I would eat, I would throw up.

I'd eat, I'd throw up. It was just over and over. So I go to the doctor and he's like, when's the last time you ate a fucking vegetable? And I'm like, I don't know, you got chicken fried rice. They got peas in the fucking chicken fried rice. I eat, I eat that. He goes, you got to stop what you're doing right now. He goes, you got to stop drinking for a while.

He goes, you got to eat some fucking vegetables. You got to try doing some fucking kind of exercise. I hadn't done exercise in, I don't know, six, seven. years, like any sort of, like even like a walking on a tread, you know, like I would, I actually had a treadmill in my living room because sometimes I would get fat, like I would gain fucking 20 pounds, and I'd get on the treadmill on incline and watch a fucking TV show or whatever. But like, besides walking, I had done nothing for so long. And he's like, you got to do this, you got to do that.

So that week, I remember, I left his office and I went to a place that made fucking vegetable juices. And he goes, go get just all vegetable juice. So I go, all right, I drank that and I felt high. Like I felt Because my body had no fucking nutrients for seven days But also like I just I felt good

Like I was like holy shit Like I could keep this down My body I haven't had vegetables And who knows how long I feel real good I went to like the park the next day I meet up with my friend

And he's like yeah We're gonna start fucking doing yoga You should start So I start doing the fucking yoga and that And I'm still Taking the Percocets And the Xanax and everything But I was like

I made the decision then That I was gonna stop doing Molly And stop drinking And that was seven years ago. I haven't been drunk since then, but I was at a dinner like four years ago and somebody gave me a vodka soda by mistake. And I thought it was a soda. I just said club soda. And the guy thought it was vodka club soda because everybody I was with is partying.

And when I took a sip of it, I realized there was vodka in it. And I remember people like freaking out and it was this whole big thing. And I became obsessed with like not liking the fact that I, I was that guy. Like I like, oh no, we don't know what could have. He's, he has no control over the, he's, who knows what would happen if he drank that this? So I called up my best friend. So I'm 34 now.

I met him in preschool, like 30 years. The name is Rex. He's the fucking greatest guy. And I go, I need you to come with me to dinner. And we're going to open a bottle of wine. And I'm going to have four or five sips of a glass of wine. I just need to know what's going to have. If I, I have to live my life differently.

if for so i just felt this way like if i drink these five sips of wine and it leads to a fucking crazy night of partying and this and i know i'm never going to drink again whatever but i just need i need for myself to know because i was laying in bed at night like what if that sip that i took was too big what if i what if there was more alcohol what if there was more vodka in that fucking glass than then then there was what if that was straight vodka and i took a sip would i have fucking falling off so i just i wanted to know for me and i went to meet my boy and we had to fucking couple of sip of wine

and I that was it it was over I was like okay now I know I'm not so weak

or you know and I'm not trying to say that anybody who can't somebody can't do that that they're weak I just wanted to know am I this week

for around alcohol if I have four sips is it gonna take over my fucking mind and make me do things you know just make me fall back

into that same person I was I really I couldn't shake that not knowing thing and uh Yeah, so it's been seven years and there probably have been three instances where at dinner I took a couple of sips of wine.

Otherwise, I haven't had a single drink. I haven't, I mean, I haven't been drunk. I haven't touched Molly or Coke has been around the same. Like Coke was like 23 and I'm 34, so 11, 12 years, something like that. And then Perkissettes is less. Perkissettes is like four or five years, maybe five years. Xanax took me a long time to get off. Xanax is a fucking bitch.

For me, everything was easy compared to Z. Like, people talk about opiates. And I guess, obviously, the withdrawal from, you know, something like heroin is a lot rougher than percocet's. But what I had to deal with with the benzos is like a fucking, it's just the worst night. Because... How long was the process?

Years. You know, it was a really long time because I was taking something like, roughly three mill i would take like a bar and a half every day maybe like a little bit more and but it just became which is not that i in my head i don't think anything is a lot you know but i i feel like that's not a lot but it became six years of doing that every day or seven years or something and so i had to go see a specialist because i couldn't shake it on like the percocets i figured out on my own the drink and i was like i'm just you know done everything when with the benzos i couldn't even, I couldn't figure out how to even lessen my dose. And I'm going to tell you what the guy

told me. Obviously, anybody out there, don't take my fucking advice. I'm no doctor. I'm just telling you what he told me, which was the first thing you have to do is get yourself on a schedule. Because your brain, when you're not on Xanax, it's up here, then you take your Xanax and it's here. And sometimes you don't take it for three hours. So it gets, he's like, you have to get on a regular thing. So if you say, uh, two hours after I wake up, I take my first Xanax. Then I take one every three hours and I take the exact same amount. So I was like, oh, so that was my first step. My first meeting, he goes, just start doing that. I go, okay, no problem. Next time I came to see him, he's like, all right, once you get comfortable with that, he's like, you're going to go

less and less, super slow over and over. So you're going to go from taking 0.5, 6 times a day to take in, you know, half of a point two, or however you want to do it. So he gave me, for the first time of my life, I had a prescription for fucking Xanax, which is crazy. Like, it took me quitting to to finally get a prescription. I was just getting them on the street, you know? And so he goes, Because I'm taking the bars. He goes, well, I'll give you milligrams so that it's easier for you to quit. Because if you have a bar, it's hard to make 0.25 out of a bar or 0.37, whatever you want to do. So he gives me these 0.2.5s.

So I start taking like 1.5.5.5s every 3 hours or whatever it is. And then going to, and then once I got really low on the milligrams, he goes, right, now start spacing it into every 4 hours instead of every 3 hours, you're taking. taking it and then you're going to only do it three times a damn it so um i mean this was years of a process how did it affect your sleep uh it wasn't too bad because i always kept that one at night like right before bed the the problem became what really took me a long time too was the idea of having none right like the idea of lessening it was something i really wanted to do so it was kind of it wasn't too hard it was like okay trying to quit on my own was fucking insane like i said

to you earlier. The feeling, the only way I can describe it is like if you're trying to quit Xanax for me, it's like if your biggest fear is heights and somebody takes you skydiving and right when they open the fucking door to that plane and they turn to you and go, are you ready? And the way that you feel right there looking out however many thousands of feet up, that's how I felt sitting on my couch watching TV. Like it was just all day that fucking rattling fear of, it was a fucking bitch to open my front door. It was a bitch to get into the fucking elevator like everything was just it was fucking it was torture trying to quit on my own well what he told me to do made it a lot easier and then uh my sleep didn't really get affected until it was time for

to to not do any at all so what happened was this guy told me uh you're gonna have to eventually not do any and i just couldn't i couldn't do it like i was like i can't not take that one in the middle of the day and that one at night. Like, I feel like I'm holding on too tight to it. I don't know what to do. So he's like, when you're ready, you know, the same way you did this, when you're ready, when you're ready. So I had to come out to L.A. for a little bit. I come out, and this guy was, this guy was a specialist and he charged $300 to go see him. And after I saw him a bunch, I was like, listen, I can't afford to come see you anymore. So he's like, well, what I'll do is I'll charge you $150 to come see me. So I'm like, okay. So I'm paying the $150 to see him. But I'm also getting the

Xanax from him. So in my head, I'm like, well, that's, I'm saving this amount of money by not buying the fucking Zanx, right? So he tells me, I'm going to LA for a while. So I come back from L.A., however long I was gone, and we have our first meeting, and my bill shows up, and it's $300. And I was like, oh, this guy forgot that we're on a fucking $150 schedule. So I hit him up. I go, hey, remember, it's 150, not 300. And he was like, oh, no, well, you didn't see me for a while. You were in L.A. Now that you're back, it's 300. And I was like, what do you mean? We agreed on 150, when were you going to tell me those? And I don't know if it's the fucking Irish in me,

if it's the addict in me, what the fuck it is? But I was like, fuck this. I was like, I'm not taking that Xanax tonight. I don't care if I fucking feel like I'm falling out of a plane. I don't care if I feel like I'm fucking, I can't sleep for fucking three days. I don't give a fuck. I'm never seeing this dude again. And I'm not

restarting this shit with somebody else. And I remember three days later, I'd never touched a Xanax ever again. So you've been sober for how long of that? So like I said to you there's times where like I hurt myself in the gym and I'm like I'll smoke a joint at night or take a fucking hit up a bowl Oh yeah, that's how I feel, but I also I don't like to say I'm sober and then somebody sees me fucking buying weed at the store and yeah Yeah, my thing was the alcohol too. Yeah, I could do one drink two drinks when I was 20

Once I did three seven comfort an alcohol in an orange shoes you could rape me Yep yeah yeah yeah I'm telling you the truth yeah yeah when I was 20 the first one I could control the second one I can control but the third one we're going to Washington Square Park we're coping eight volumes for $10 then we're going to 135

pick up an eight ball and then we're going to stop at 181 and pick up some fucking F-66 Express and we're shooting over to George Washington Bridge so for me today reefer is my teddy bear yeah that is my teddy bear I can look he's both in the eye right now

and we'll tell you I don't even think I get that I'm not a high anymore. Right. I get up in the morning and I do, you know, eight bongs at fucking seven. Well, yeah, I've seen the fucking video. I know what you're up to. Yeah, and I do it to get an appetite. Yeah, exactly, yep. If I don't smoke in the morning, I won't be fucking hungry. Yep. It's a drag to eat. So if I smoke, I'll do a protein shake, something. Yeah. Just so I don't go out and then get sick while I'm driving. Right. Because if I don't eat, I'll get sick while I'm driving. Right. I don't consider weed at all. Yeah. I'm

But by the way, there's some people who do, and they can't smoke good because they feel like that's a fucking domino. Absolutely. Yeah. It's a trigger. Absolutely. And I get that. For me, I needed to keep me off. Look, they do sober October.

Yeah, yeah. And I spoke to Joe about it. I'm going to be strictly honest with you. Do you know when I went off the most in my life when I was told? See, I'm Cuban. And being Cuban is almost as bad as being fucking Irish. Okay. Almost as stubborn.

being fucking Irish. We're even more stubborn than you guys. If you said to me, Joey, I don't, like when you want to see the doctor, because I think you should quit with everything. Yeah. That's one thing. When you went on probation,

and they told you you couldn't smoke, that's what eats my craw. Yeah. The rule is the one I'll break. So if you come to me tomorrow and go, look, I'm going to start testing you once a month. You know, we're going to test you for whatever. I'm going to smoke.

It's when you say to me, like, yes, They got up. I didn't smoke till last night. Yeah. I got up yesterday morning and whatever, fucking Omaha, and I didn't have papers. I had the weed, but I didn't smoke, and I got home, and I got busy. And last night, 9 o'clock, I smoked. Yeah.

And I was happy. I got a little hungry, whatever, you know. But that's my teddy bear. Yeah. Alcohol, let me tell you some, I never liked it. I'll drink it to be social. I'll drink it to. Jesus Christ, there's nothing worse in the world

in staying there with a cold with a lime and fail. that you drink on fucking Cuba Libre like I have a fag. Okay, nothing bothers me more than that. To have a fucking, either you're drinking or you're fucking not. Yeah. If you're not drinking, go to home because you're making me fucking depressed. It's like when Christopher didn't toast Fawley,

he toasted him at war and he goes, what are he trying to jinx me? You know? If you're not going to drink, go home. Do me a favor. You know those people that go to the bar? I'm here to drink a club song. I just go home. You're making everybody get depressed.

I always, I grew up in the 70s, Robert, where every TV show, if you watch any TV show from the 70, when you walked in a person's house, they had a cart, a liquor cart, with two bottles, no label. You didn't know where you were drinking. It's like, hi, let me get a scotch.

No, they poured and gave it to you. It was brown, that's it. It was brown. Yeah. Right. It could be whatever, and you drank it. Right. Now we got pussies.

Now people are like, well, it's got eight calories. Right. You know, in the 70s, boom, bombs a hoar. I wish I could do that. Yeah. I wish. Me too. three places every day and just have a drink.

We can give a drink. Get a tequila, boom, and then not again. Like maybe, like at six, have another one. Right. Maybe go to a comedy store and have another one. You know how many times I go to a comedy store? I'm like, tonight I'm drinking. Right.

Get a fucking margarita. How long has it been since you've tasted alcohol? Saturday night. Okay, yeah, yeah. I had two shots of Yeagermeister on stage. Friday night. But again, it doesn't do nothing to me. Yeah.

I had two doubles of Yeager, and it's just, for me, it's like, I just went over my weight watcher points with sugar. That's what I think. So it was the blow. It was all the blow. That was my world. I love the blow, the pill, and the alcohol combination. The pill, like downers? Oh, yeah.

Yeah. I don't like no. No way. No speed. No, what's that shit? Adel, overall. Yeah, I took that once, and I remember, I was like, I don't even, I just feel like I can't sleep. That was it.

I didn't, like, for me, Perkis. Like I said earlier, I loved fucking Percocet. I loved drinking. I loved doing this shit. But probably, I mean, there's a chance that Coke is like the thing I did the most of. And like, I never even liked it. You know what I mean? Like, I remember there were times where I'd wake up next to a girl and see her doing fucking wake up doing coke.

And I'm like, oh my God. Like, what the fuck is? But then, you know, I would think that was disgusting and not want to be around her. And then 10 hours later, I'd be like, where's that fucking girl's number? You know, like, I'd be looking to fucking get because I would be fucking six drinks in. And like, I got to a point where I would drink a bottle of tequila before I'd go out, before I would leave my apartment. So I would, I had like those red fucking plastic cups in my apartment and I'd fill it with, like, I would be sitting on my couch feeling like shit. And I'd be like, all right, I'm going to fill a fucking cup up with tequila, drink it.

And then by somewhere around the second one, when I'm fucking smoking that cigarette and I'm just, I put a fucking song on and I start fucking feel good. And then I get, I had a place in the shower for my fucking cup of tequila. And I'd be in the fucking shower to it. And then by somewhere around the fucking fourth one, maybe, I'd start hitting people up. All right, where are we going? What time are you coming to fucking pick me up? Am I meeting you there? And by the time that there was a little bit left in that bottle, I was ready to fucking go out.

I'd put it in a ginger ale bottle or a water bottle, whatever. I would drink it in the cab or in my friend's car. So, like, I have friends who I've been friends with for 10 years who think I'm the most social, like, only love to fucking talk to the fucking talk. fucking wall and this where because they only saw me outside of my apartment after drinking a fucking bottle of tequila you know where other like then i have other friends who like lived in my neighborhood who have known me since i was fucking six years old who were like oh robble sit in his fucking crib for you know six seven days two weeks like there's times where he just doesn't come

out where i have friends who friends that i knew from going out and from clubs would would if you told them that i'm that way they would be like you don't know rob he's nothing like that because I wasn't because as soon as you start drinking, I'd want to, I'm, I think a lot of my problem, my problem was like being around people, you know, and as soon, I would be, if I was sober, like if you put me right now sober, standing in a fucking nightclub, I want to blow my brains out. So that's why I would have a fucking bottle of tequila and there's nowhere I want it to be more than the club because nobody's fucking talking to you, you're just dancing. Everybody, I know that guy's got Molly, that guy's got fucking blow that. And nobody like,

when it, when it came to percocets and weed and shit like that, I always had to put money up to get them. Where when it came to fucking Coke and Molly, the amount of money, if, like, if you put the amount that I did compared to the amount of money

that I spent on it, it would be, nobody would believe how that's possible because you just go out to clubs in New York and everyone's got it. Everybody's giving it to you. Oh, hey, you want some fucking,

Molly, here's this, and then all of a sudden, you're in somebody's apartment for fucking three days and there's a fucking plate of just a mound of fucking, that one's Coke,

that one's ketamine, that one's fucking Molly. And you're just fucking hanging. And girls are coming through. You're laughing. You're fucking partying. Music's on. The neighbors are fucking complaining, banging on the walls.

And you're just, you're having the time. You've smoked 140 cigarettes. You don't, you're fucking in the, oh, I love, what is this chair made out of? You know, you're just fucking everything's, it's amazing. And then three days later, I'd be the guy who's not leaving his couch for 10 days. And if you told those people that that's how I was, they'd be like, no, that's not, that's not Rob. He's, he always wants to fucking, you know, he would be the fucking head of the, the Thanksgiving Day parade throwing a, fucking baton in the air because that's how it was when I was drinking. I always wanted to

fucking party more more. No, let's not go to bed. Let's this. We're like when I would be on fucking pills in my apartment, I didn't even want more than two people in there because I'd start to get fucking crazy. Like, oh, where are they, you know, where is he ashen? Where is he that, you know, like that whole thing. Where when I was, if I had drinks in it, it would be like, yeah, you could put that out on my fucking forehead. Like you could fucking throw cigarettes on my floor. Like, I don't, you know, you just, it's crazy how it, how it all fucking works. Who's Robert Island today? I go to the gym five days a week.

I eat super clean, more reliable, you know? Like I used to be, like I remember there were things from my family just not showing up. When you're addicted, you have no. When I was addicted, I was not. I could tell you I'll be there Friday. Good luck. Right. I don't know how I'm going to feel.

What's going to happen Thursday night? So there's no. I've totally a thousand times. I was still doing coke. This podcast would not. be intact because there's just no way you can't control your life yeah and there was no you're gonna go and then you know Friday you'd want to do it and then fucking Monday you'd hate it you know you'd be like I don't want to fucking be sitting in that room and they or like you fucking

have it's just do you want to act today how do you feel about or you're done I don't enjoy the I hate fucking reading scripts I hate auditioning I hate that whole part of it so it's like I wouldn't like I thought for a long time I was passionate about acting, but really I was passionate about doing Sopranos. I loved it. I would like I stopped fucking drink it for it. I stopped doing drugs. Like whatever when that time would come and it was never like fuck I got to stop this. It was like no, this is how it works. Like I get to do this like I loved doing that work. I loved hanging out with those guys. I loved all of it where now like the idea of like some agent is going to send you fucking four scripts and you're going to sit in your apartment and fucking

read them and maybe like that works. And like I don't want to do a TV show because I don't like the, what they might tell you you're doing in a year. It might, it's totally unpredictable where it's like, I have all of these like things I do. You know, if they were like, you're going to be fucking, uh, smoking or you're going to be fucking, you know, smoking a cigarette or we want you to eat this one. And I don't want to be a difficult guy who's like, hey, actually, I don't eat that anymore. I won't smoke a cigarette. I don't want to be fucking doing this and that. So, uh, that's like, I love fucking you. I love Joe Rogan. I love the fucking Bobby Lee, Tom Sigora. So that's, I moved out here.

start a podcast and hopefully that'll be that'll be the thing that I'm doing now. First off I gotta be honest with you. How the fuck do you follow this around? Oh it's crazy. How do you go into a CBS show today and

fucking bum fuck Johnny director comes up to you and says for this thing how it's you worked with the best you came from an environment that was healthy. Listen last not ashamed to say this about two years ago

I did two episodes of a show for Greg Garcia first one was great I walked in I was the second scene up and I left the second time I went to shoot the same show I had the first scene up and basically the last scene at 10 o'clock at night so you're there from 9 in the morning you do your one hour and then you wait

being in that room with no windows made me crazy. I love Greg and I acted like a fucking asshole. Yeah. And when I left there that night, I went home and I blamed on the anxiety and the no windows. But really what it was, it was like, I just don't think I want to do this anymore. Yeah. When I got the call for the soprano movie that I put the audition on tape, I didn't think about it again. When they called and made the offer, I was thinking about not taking it. I heard you talk about it.

Tom Pop, I had to come in and say, take the fuck. knocking thing when I was there just being after the first day of watching what David Chase was about like I was trying to improvise yeah and somebody came over and they're like knock at all yeah and I remember there's all this air you know that's when it all came to me I went I were left there went right back to the room rolled the three joints one outside smoked one and I think I worked a day that I have like four days off for those four days I just immersed myself with the episodes just to see his style yeah and the second day I went in there I was like now I'm ready mentally for David Chase this is something

that I've never seen before yeah and I've been a comic for years you know I've worked with some great directors at that moment he blew everybody out once I saw what he did that first scene I shot yeah I was like I'm paying attention to this guy to the fucking letter from now on. If he says sneeze, I will sneeze. I didn't eat nothing in that movie either,

by the way, because I hate that shit too. They asked me to smoke a cigar. I think I smoked one of them, but once, like right now, somebody offered me a mob movie a few weeks ago,

and I was like, no. But see, what, the thing is, is a lot of what people don't understand this industry is like,

if you're putting all of your shit aside, all this shit, you want to do or how I really want to be and I got to fucking focus on this thing and I got to what but you know it's something that you think is going to be fucking incredible it's different than trying to put your whole fucking life aside changing the person you are everything for some show that might be okay and while you're shooting it you're like nobody watches this yeah when they come up to you and go excuse me when the script he comes up to you and says all right the word is the

instead of ah yeah does it really matter you got to be retarded to watch this fucking show. Who gives a fuck between the and a. And what was great about Sopranos with us is you know, by season four or five people would be like, how did you prepare to go? It's like you walk into the Sopranos kitchen

and you see Jim pacing and sweating and you see Eadie banging her nail. You know, she had those fake nails and she'd be banging them on the fucking counting. That's it. You're there. You know, where like we were a fucking some sort of a family, you know? As soon as you went back in,

It was all the things were there. There was the place where you sat and you had your thing. And like, they never told us any of that stuff. Like, you got to stay this. You got to stay on script. You have to do this. But we would see it when other people would come in. You know, so we would hear, you know, like, we would do something off and nobody would say anything.

But then they would make like one word wrong and somebody to come over to them. And then we would find out later like you, you know, you're sitting around, you're having a drink. And they go, oh, yeah, they told me like, you know, I said this instead of that or this instead of that. And then you're going, man, not only am I getting paid. to fucking work on the best show ever but I also have some sort of fucking seniority where these people like I I could fucking they don't come up to you and tell you hey you know you fucked it like of course the director would come up to you and give you direction and tell you shit like but nobody ever said hey you put the

fucking you said the instead of then but they would say it to fucking other people you know and you see that a lot you see people come in for three days and they're fucking shaken and people are all nervous and like oh we heard that that people are real strict around here and then we would tell them nah nobody's fucking strict around here everybody's cool so then they'd get all loose and people would come over you know and be like hey you said the instead of then and they'd look at us like I thought you said

and we'd be like hey I don't know yeah it's fucking yeah it's nuts what did you learn from Jim so much you know I mean just from the acting that I learned from watching him you know because I've talked about before where like I don't think I was ever

a great actor, but I think the actor I was from season one until the end, I think I did grow. Yes, you grew dramatically. Yeah, thank you. You grew dramatically. And I think it was from James and Edie watching them. I mean, it was like,

I felt like I was watching the two like greatest actors I've ever seen all the time. Like, you just show up and you see what they do and you see why they do certain things and how they, like, you know, like, it would be more so like you'd watch Edy

and then she'd fucking come by and in the scene she would just come and like rub her nails on my back or like something like that and it would be those things where I go oh shit that's she was she was there she wasn't what's the next fucking line or where do I put this down she saw the fucking look on my

face and felt like she needed to put her fucking you know nails on my back and let me nothing it's it's but really what I learned from him also I think in L.A. especially or there's a lot of like this outward like we support whatever you know we we support your decision too and standing from the fucking rooftop and screaming how good of a person you are what

you support and i remember i don't remember if jim had passed away already or what but i remember my manager coming up to me and telling me like you know he calls me and i'm like for what do you mean he calls you and he's like he calls me and he tells me not to tell you that he calls me but he asks how you're doing what type of people you're hanging out with what you're paying for fucking rent like to make sure that you're not you know spending fucking 10 grand on some penhouse in new york city being an asshole and he wants to know all this stuff about you and he told me not to tell you and i think that's the opposite of a lot of like this bullshit of like we love each other and you know there were never like you know like you see now instagram and this shit of like

we're so close and we're so the rip john we're the spoilt. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you're like, what the fuck? And that's the thing is like, there would be fucking some people from there, there was a thing that you felt on the show where it's like, you know why the reason is nobody's a fucking asshole on set? Nobody's an asshole on the show.

Because if you are, David can kill you. David could end it all. You want to come in and act like you're a fucking big shot because you, you won some fucking award last year or you, or people are telling you your, your character is the best, your character's the best. And you want to come in and request some kind of fucking trailer or that it's like somebody will put fucking two bullets in your head in the fucking show and you're not on the show anymore. So nobody ever, if anything, we'd all be in fucking one person's camper, you know, sitting around, laugh. And there was no.

And I think a lot of that was also Jim. Jim never let it. If anybody's going to be asking for shit, it's him. And he never did. He never said, hey, I want this or this thing. So everybody kind of, you know, you follow. You follow the violence. on the show. He said an example.

Yeah, for sure. And I got to tell you something about Edy. I always knew Eadie was a good actress. But when she became, when I saw her as a dangerous actress, was when Jim got shot. That scene when she's crying in the hallway, she takes you there. She's unbelievable.

She fucking took me there. She took me there. Like I know, it's like when Sean Penn, when he finds out his daughter's dead in that movie. What's that? Mystic River. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The noise he makes, that's somebody who lost somebody.

That's a tough recreation noise to make. You know, Edy had her moments. I think, and I could say this. Listen, I miss Charles Bronson. Look at that picture. Look at him. The second guy I miss is James Gamblefinney. Never met him.

Never met him. I can tell you that I miss him on TV. That movie he made with Hardy. Towards the end. Okay, the game? Was that it? Something like that? Yeah.

I remember seeing him there and going, how much do I fucking miss him from the Sopranos? Like, the Sopranos could have still kept going. And I think it would have lost no fans. Yeah. You know, you were on one of the greatest TV shows of all time. I mean, not no bullshit fucking friends or fucking. I'm talking about a show that changed the fabric of society.

you know, Ricky and fucking Desi type shit, whatever his name is. Desi and Lucy like shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't have HBO growing up, but I remember the night that the finale aired, and I literally heard, I was living in Boston. What year did the finale

year? Ten years after so, I guess, 1990, 2009, I guess. I was living in Boston, and I knew my friends were watching it, and I heard people when black, I heard people go, ah! Like, I literally heard people. I'll never forget that.

They thought the cable went out. A lot of people thought their cable went out. And I was like, what's going on? I'll never forget that. For sure. And then I went on Facebook and I was like, oh, shit. And then I, the one thing I wanted to ask you was, because it happens a lot, but, like, you went from a kid and then towards the end of the show, because I watched it later, you weren't like, your character was not the most liked character. At all, yeah.

What is that? Did people start hating you, or did people have a weird reaction to you when you were like not as much of like a, oh, he's not that little kid anymore? You know what's funny? I feel like that's more like an online culture thing where people are like, fuck you, you suck. Like walking around in New York City, nobody ever fucking says that shit, you know? People are just happy to see you and they want to tell you they love the show and this. So like, I mean, there were definitely people who would tell me like, man, I fucking hate your character. And I'm like, yeah, and especially people who would meet me, like, hanging out and partying, they'd be like, man, I hate your character, but you're fucking nothing like that, you know, piece of shit or that little fucking nerd or whatever.

But I remember, like, doing interviews and saying, I get it because I see it. Like, I want to smack him in the face sometimes. Like, I want to fucking grab them and be like, what are you, you know, like, you fuck. But that's the, that's the whole fucking point of, you know, that's what people want to. That's the shit that, you know, that Tony sees himself that he fucking hates about himself, you know, that fucking. you had some great scenes Robert the scene when she gets hammered and he brings her back

and you're like go upstairs AJ and you're like she's doing ecstasy but I gotta go upstairs he chases you up when you put the fucking thing under the crook of your arm when you were gonna go to the military academy and you had to come down

oh you sold it Robert you sold me you're like you had this look on your face like you want to fucking shoot yourself Yeah, yeah. You sold it. There was so many scenes when you went after, you know, Carrado, when you went after him,

when he caught you outside. Yeah. That was a fucking tremendous scene with you and Jim. What he told you about, you know, you always say you're a hypocrite. Fucking Michael. You know what's funny? It's crazy that you brought that up.

That's the only scene I ever felt I did good. That is a beautiful scene. That's the only scene I ever fucking. No, no. That was like, you know, you were seasoned by then. and you were used to him, but that was a beautiful scene. That was a real father and son scene. But you had all when you're changing the flat.

That's a fucking great scene. I don't remember that. And he goes, AJ, you loved your uncle Jackie or some shit? And then he goes, what do you know about me? And you were like hesitant. You're like, I don't know, whatever the kids say, it was to. I don't remember that at all. Yeah, he's changing the flat.

like drying his sweat off and you're just a little kid and he goes hey j what do you know about me and you're like i don't know it's his uncle jackie's stole money from the unions or something like that he goes you know your uncle jacky loved you like all those scenes you sold robert you sold thank you yeah that oh the crack oh that's a crack home right right you hit the black neighborhood and that all those scenes you know even jamie lynn yeah jami's fucking great when they went up to booting and he fucking chokes the guy and he's talking to her in the car and he's like, you know what I do?

It was, if you've noticed, I'm surprised that they even did the Irishman because... I haven't seen it yet. You saw it? No, not yet because... Three and a half hours. I know. Three hours. It's good. It's good for your asshole. Yeah. To sit every once in a while, you know what I'm saying?

But it was such a show that covered so many, like the mob world could never recover. again. The mafia genre and movies never really took off again for 10 years. Well, it's hard to, when we had 10 years to develop a character, it's hard to then have to do it in fucking two hours, you know, when you're fucking, when you, when you, when you've been watching a show for fucking five years and then that six seasons coming on and you got everybody in the fucking living room and the static from the HBO comes up, it's hard to recreate that

because how do you get people excited to walk it, to turn on the fucking TV? You know, now everybody's so fucking, everybody's a critic, thumbs up, thumbs down. I like that. I don't like that. If you don't like the show, get the fuck out of the room. That's how the Sopranos was. It was like, we're going to watch Sopranos. If you don't like it, get the fuck out.

There wasn't no, you know, oh, I don't give it fucking four tomatoes or whatever people are fucking. Yeah, it's like people were just, and every, and that was the thing. It's like, I think a lot of people in Jersey just fucking loved it for what it was. You know, there was this book I was fucking reading about the, uh, the man. mastery of love. And it talks about, I'm reading a lot of these books now because I'm all fucking, you know, I'm trying to get my life together and be a fucking adult and care about people. And the, uh, what it says is like, you know, it's like, let's say you say like, I love New York. When you think about New York, you love it and that's it. You don't try and fucking change it,

you know, where with people you go, yeah, I like that person, but they fucking, you know, they do this. I don't like that. It's like, you just have to fucking accept it. And I think that's what people in fucking jersey did. They were just, you could, you could, they, they didn't go, oh, well, I like it, but, you know, he wouldn't wear his hat like that. It was just, we are fucking, we love the show. We're all in. They never came up with the, like, I feel like now these fucking movies are made, and every fucking person on the internet is like, you, in that third, they shouldn't have ended it that way or that, I mean, obviously people hated, some people hated the ending of Sopranos, but besides that, I never heard anybody call out to me and try and fucking critique it or say,

you know, how come, why didn't why didn't they do it this way or that? People just, I love the show. You know, that's what people would say. Two of the shows that spawned from the Sopranos were Breaking Bad, obviously, and Sons of Anarchy. There's a threat that somebody sent me one time

about Sons of Anarchy, because Jack Teller wears sneakers. Right. He wears white sneakers. Bikers fucking hated it. Well, somebody came up to James Gannelfini, who was a legit, fucking, but like, we'd meet these guys all the time who'd come up to you and go,

hey, hey, you know, what you do on that show? That's what I do in real life. So you're, you've made it to fucking 40 by going around telling people you don't know that, like us, like you're just fucking really, you know? So you meet a lot of people who pretend to fucking do whatever. But Jim met one guy who was legit and he didn't, he didn't say any, I'm doing that. He came over to him and he goes, hey, he goes, uh, wise guy. He goes, he would never wear shorts.

Don't do that. Don't wear the shorts. And then I remember Jim went, I think Jim went to David and told him. He's like, I know, I felt what this guy was saying. I think Carmine Lupitazi went to James, Tony. On the show? And he goes, I heard that John went up the house for barbecue last week. And he goes, yeah, why?

He goes, a boss never wore his shorts. And he turns around. And James is like, what the fuck is he saying? Yeah. Because David, David would take shit. You know, like I, David's a fucking genius. He doesn't need me to do anything. But there were times in your life where you'd show up and I'm fucking, you know,

there was a time where I was crazy about like Slayer and Pantera and just fucking smoking weed and listening to heavy metal and going to concerts. And then the next episode I was fucking skateboarding and listening to fucking Pantera and this. And it was like, you know, so he would take shit from his own life, but also from fucking hanging out with it. Like there were, there were shit that he took from Tony Serico that took, like if you watch Tony Serrico for fucking three days, you're coming up with. You know, like we would go away on a trip

at Tony's Rigo for three days and you're just it. He would come up to us on red carpets and he would have a travel bottle of obsession. He always smelled like obsession and he would pour it in his hand and then smack you like on the face on both sides and you would just fucking reek. Reek the entire night for and people, you know, you're meeting celebrities and they're coming to give you a hug or a cat

and they're like, geez, this fucking guy smells like a fucking bottle of colonna. And then actresses would also come up to us and tell us he hugged me and I smelled like him for the, the rest of the night, you know? And there was so much shit that he, like, I remember one time we were doing, like, I think the DVDs were coming out and like the whiz wanted us to sign DVDs. So the first couple of people come up and the guy's talking to me, you know, oh, how are you? How's the, so blah, blah, he's talking to me for like five minutes or whatever.

And there's a line of fucking hundreds of people, but I'm not going to tell this guy like, hey, you can't talk. We got to do all these people. So I just sit there and I answer his questions or whatever. And he walks away and Tony Serrico fucking puts his hand up. to the guy who's sending people our way and he puts his hand up and he looks to me he goes rob it sign him and send him and he would do shit he had these one-liners all the time that if you just stayed around him enough the shit that he would say and i know there's there's got to be i didn't watch a show

so i don't know what polly walnut says on the show but i guarantee you there's a percentage of that shit that just when david would be around tony serico because you'd hear him say stuff and it was fucking hilarious. He was so he was unbelievable. He came to my fucking confirmation in real life in the fucking what is that three breasted

fucking double breasted suit with the fuck yeah the hair fucking slick back with an envelope full of money like there was no it was crazy man we were and people people who were in my family were at my confirmation and they're like that's you know that's Polly Walnuts

you know nobody's going oh my God there's fucking torrent they're like there's fucking polly walnuts and then you had people who were the opposite of who they were on the show like fucking edie you know you meet edie somewhere and she's just like super just nice woman with her dog and she's like really friendly and understanding really friendly yeah and just so like sweet and this and then she'd go into the hair and makeup camper and come out to whatever hours later with the fucking long nails and the big hair and the the uh like uh armani fucking matching outfit with the gold chains and you're like holy shit that's the op like tony serico wouldn't let people do his hair he came with his own shit done he wouldn't sit he he he would sit

in that hair makeup chair if there's someone new he'd be like there's a rule in this place you don't touch this and pointed his hair he's like you don't fucking touch my hair you know it was it was crazy man it wasn't like like you said it was like if i don't know what my life would have been like now if if i did got some fucking like disney show when i was 11 and i i don't know Yeah, no. Because people meet me and Jamie sometimes together and they're like, God, what was it? Like, it must have been so crazy. And it's like the cool part was we lived our life because no fucking 15 year old knew what Sopranos was.

I could go fucking walk around and hang out with people my age all day. Nobody would say a fucking word. Nobody said anything. And then as soon as we'd be, we'd go to a fucking store. And then somebody would be like, hey, aren't you, you're over there on the fucking cover of the fucking TV guide? And you're just like, eh, you know, yeah, let's go back to the fucking park. fucking, I still, sometimes I still can't, you know, that I'm like, we got paid to be on what people say is the fucking best show. There's times where I still, I wake up in the morning and I'm like, I just think about how fucking grateful I am for it and how, you know, I told you when we spoke on the phone last night, I, there's no doubt in my mind, David Chase saved my life.

There's no doubt in my mind. Because I know the first time I took a fucking percasset what it felt like. And if, if I didn't have, when I quit doing fucking drugs and all that shit, if I didn't have. this on the other side if I didn't have like I fucking just moved out to LA started a podcast I got a fucking apartment I did all this stuff because sopranos you know it's like all this freedom that I have and this kind of thing where it's like if I didn't have that if I had my fucking grandfather's job and I don't I don't know it wouldn't I don't think it'd be good I could be wrong but I just I know you know there's times where you're fucking taking 15 percocets a day

and somebody fucking who's giving you those percocets goes You know, heroin is fucking a lot cheaper, and it's not as... But I would go, well, I got checks coming in, you know. I'll stick with the fucking Percocet thanks. Where, who knows what would have happened if fucking, you know, some... When I, if I was fucking 18 and had my grandfather's job or fucking whatever, I dropped out of school and fucking hated my life. And somebody said, hey, you know, heroin's fucking cheaper.

I might have been like, yeah, well, I only got fucking 10 bucks on me. So I guess that's what we're doing tonight. And I might not. I have no idea. But I just... What's the name of the park? That's called pajama pants. It's you and Jamie.

Me, Jamie Lennon, our friend Cassum. And I just wanted to be like this. I wanted to be shit you talk about in fucking pajama pan. Your pajamas and fucking sitting around and laughing and telling old stories, making new stories. And we're about 10 episodes in. And I'm so fucking happy to be doing it because it's like I found in later years with me and Jamie, we always kept in touch. But every time we would see each other, it would be catching up. you know and then by the time you're done fucking catching up with somebody and then you leave and then you see them a month or three months later and then you're catching up again so it's so nice to see guaranteed to see like i went to her house last sunday to watch football and like we're hanging out and stuff but to guarantee every week i know i'm gonna see her for an hour or however long we fucking talk for and bullshit and we could really get back into each other's lives like i was living in new york that i moved to Vegas and she was always out here and she's got her kids and everything and like we're like a family you know she's like a sister to me and her

not being in my life, I felt like something was missing. And it's great to have her back in. And it's also great to be telling her these kind of stories because there's a lot of them that she doesn't know. Because she's so innocent and so fucking amazing and sweet that I would never tell her like back in the day. Like, yeah, I'm on fucking day three of fucking doing blow

in some place with fucking garbage bags on the windows. And, you know, we haven't lent. And I would just say to her like, yeah, you know, I've been partying a little, you know, like nothing. I didn't want her to feel bad. I didn't want to put anything in her head. So now when I sit and we have microphones and I fucking tell her these stories and we get her real reactions for the first time.

And we're just, there's a little bit of therapy in it. There's fucking great catching up. There's, we just laughing. It's everything. And then it's like we had like Drea de Mateo on. So it's like getting to catch up with her and talk about the fucking soprano stories and this. But then just, you know, there's some episodes where we go 30 minutes without mention sopranos. It's just, it's all.

I love it. I'm so happy I moved here. I hope this is like the next chapter in my life. You know, I hope that's, you know, you say like, who are you now? I hope it's a healthy guy who's moving in the right direction and has a fucking podcast. That's, you know, that'll be keeping me, keeping me going. Because like I said to you, it's people tell you, you got to do something creative. You got to do something creative.

And you're living in New York and you're like, every, walking down the street, going to the deli, ordering a coffee, then going to meet my friend in fucking Washington. Square Park and then you walk in here and then go and taking a fucking boxing class. I don't feel anything's fucking missing. And then I lived in Vegas for two years and I felt like my fucking all of my organs were out of my fucking butt. Like I was like, I just felt like I was again, maybe that piece of fucking lint floating in the air.

Like I was just like, man, there's, and I would meet people at the poker table who never didn't know Sopranos anything and they would just hear me fucking talking to somebody and be like, oh man, you should fucking write a book or, you know, you should do so. So, like, it pushed me back into thinking, like, yeah, I do have to do something creative because it also gives me, there is a part of my life that I feel like is missing when I'm not doing it, you know? And you go and Vegas was just, you know, I took up gambling for a long time. And the last 10 years, basically, all I've been doing is playing poker. And I fucking loved it. And I just, I hit a wall.

I got to the point where I was like, I can't go sit at a table with eight strangers every day anymore. Like I, now that I'm so, like I used to just take percocets and you could fucking, you sit anywhere, you know? I could sit on a fucking tarmac in a plane for six hours and people would be like, oh, we got to get off this plane. And I'd be like, why? You know, we're fucking going to be the same as I'm sitting in my lip. But now that I'm sober and when I'm sitting on that fucking in that table with eight strangers and they're talking about stupid shit that makes me want to fucking flip the table over and you, and by the way, one day, it's fine. But when it's your life and you're going, all right, it's fucking Monday. It's time to go play poker.

and you're like, oh my God, I got to go sit with these guys for fucking eight hours, and it's just torture. And I stopped enjoying the game. I stopped study. Like, I was always studying poker and I was part of these like poker academies and I was really fucking into it. And I love doing it and I was making money and this. And I just saw it all falling away because I couldn't handle being around these people every day. And it's like why I don't want to do a TV show because it's unknown. You know, I'm going to sit at a table with eight people.

I don't know what the fuck they're going to be talking about. Some people are fucking, it's just you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, You're hearing the same stories over and over and the same kinds of pen. They're talking about their night last night in Vega. And I just hit a wall, you know? So I called up Jamie and I called my friend Kasum. And hopefully this is the next chapter of my life.

Well, man, you got an open fucking door here. Anytime you want to come up and talk shit, your family here. Yeah, you're the first person to have me on their podcast since I got shown. I really appreciate you having me. I cost a girl for you. Thank you. If you want. I would love that.

You know, if you want to stop by. the improv tomorrow and say hello to Joe. For sure, yeah. I'd love to shake your hand. That's awesome, yeah. You want to do. But yeah, man, I'm a big fan. I'm happy that you got your life together.

Listen, you're on the best show of all fucking time. You made your mark, and you're like Tony Montana. You made your mark and you enforced it. Yeah. Let me read some. Man, do not forget. Thanks again, then. Miami sold out, but Town Hall, December 6th, they added a second.

show and I still got motherfucking tickets. Real quick, let me ask you something. We're in the middle of football season, all right? You like winning money, you like betting sports. I'll tell you where I put my money down. You ready? Mybooky.orgie. If you're trying to bet on the NFL, MMA, UFC, Chinese ping pong, whatever the fuck, my bookies got it. They got the better incentives and more lines than any other sportsbook, period. I've told you once, I'll tell you again. This year, a super contest. $100 to enter. You pick five teams a week

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because if they're not Stance, they're not socks. I want to thank Stance. I want to thank my bookie. I want to thank my main man, Robert Iler. I want to thank the Christ kill, but most importantly, I want to thank you cock suckers for always having my back and the whole thing. Do not forget, December 6, 1030, tickets still available,

and that's it and that's that. I want to thank you again, brother. You're a fucking G. I want to thank you again, my little savage. And like I said, most importantly, you motherfuckers at the house. See you Thursday, morning. and tip-top magoose. Stay black.

Kick that fucking meal week. You don't... I want to be around to pick up the pieces when somebody breaks your heart. Some, somebody twice as smart as I. A somebody who will swear to be true.

As you used to do with me Who leave you to learn That misery loves company Wait and see To see how he does it When he breaks your heart to bits Let's see if a puzzle fits So

Fine when I'll discover that revenge is sweet as I seat when somebody breaks your heart like you