The Commercial Break - TCB Infomercial: Billy Gardell

Episode Date: February 19, 2026

Billy Gardell joins The Commercial Break for a candid, funny, and surprisingly heartfelt conversation about stand-up, sitcom fame, and reinventing yourself in midlife. From grinding it out in comedy clubs to starring in two hit network shows, Billy reflects on the long road from blue-collar comic to household name.We talk about the discipline behind his major health transformation, how success can amplify anxiety instead of quiet it, and why stand-up has always been his anchor—even at the height of television fame. Billy opens up about addiction patterns, gratitude, staying grounded in Hollywood, and what it really means to evolve without losing who you are.It’s equal parts hilarious and honest—stories from the road, behind-the-scenes insights from network TV, and a few life lessons that don’t feel like life lessons. Just real talk from a comic who’s lived it. All things Billy: Here  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

on this episode of the commercial break. As Chrissy and I gear up to do more episodes per week after we said we were going to do less episodes per week, I'm going to ease you into the whiplash with one of our more recent and final interviews for season number seven. The prestigious title of Prime Time Television Star has long since gone out the door. With the emergence of Netflix and Amazon, Prime and Pluto, Disney Plus, and HBO Minus. Primetime TV just doesn't hit like it used to, but go back just a just up. about a decade, and primetime television stars were some of the most famous people on earth. From Friends to Seinfeld, cheers, and all the way back to Mash, having millions of people

set an appointment to watch you do your thing in front of a live studio audience, put you in the upper echel of fame and talent. Billy Gardell didn't do that once, he did that twice. He was the star of IHeart Abashola, but you will probably best know him from his lead character, Mike, from the show Mike and Molly, where coincidentally, he shared the screen with a little known actress named Melissa McCarthy. I'm telling you, there was a time when Mike and Molly was everywhere. Fast forward, a decade after Mike and Molly left the air, you can still find it in reruns, and we found Billy Gardell slimmer, wiser, and funnier than he has ever been. Sometimes a guest is exactly what you expect, sometimes a guest is nothing like you expect, and sometimes a guest

is just everything you'd hope to expect. Don't let anyone tell you Billy Gardell is past his prime or less funny because there's less of him. Neither of those things is true. And listen to this interview. You'll find out for yourself. I'll be back at the end. Enjoy our talk.

The next episode of the commercial break starts now. Billy's here with us now. Chrisie, hi, Billy. How are you? Where are you? Well, hello. I am in my house in Los Angeles, California. Los Angeles, but have you long lived there?

Are you a long time, Los Angeles president? I have been here. I'm originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, so I still consider myself a yinser, but I've lived in Chicago, New York, Orlando, Atlanta, worked all over the country, but I settled out here about 1996. And why did you travel so much? Like, why so many places, just as you were following the dream, you moved from place to place? That's kind of where my stand-up career led me, like I started in Orlando and then worked all the gigs in kind of Florida back in the late 80s.

I started in 87, and then I moved up to Atlanta and kind of branched into working all the southeastern states, you know, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Virginia. And then made my way up to New York for a little bit and did the Northeast Corridor. And then Chicago worked to Midwest states. and then finally made my way out here and about 25 years doing overnight success. That's what I usually tell. Well, we've talked to so many people, and I say this a lot on the show.

An overnight success never happens overnight. There's 95% of the time. I mean, unless you're just some social media, you know, flu. Well, I'm going to say until this internet slot machine came along. Yeah, you actually had what you did before you got good and got picked. Yeah, you just told the story. I mean, you told the story of how people, have traditionally had to do it, which is

go out there and work the crowds until you have an audience large enough to be paying attention to. You had to break into television in some way too. Nowadays, TV is the smaller component. Internet is the bigger component. And I'm in awe of what some of these guys have done through the Internet. It's amazing.

So are we. And we have them on. I know. We're like, holy shit. I mean, I genuinely mean like the landscape and entertainment and what we, what God bless you, what we find in, you know, how our viewerships shift every year. And then now what it is, it's, it's so different. You just don't know what's going to catch or why it's going to catch.

And so I think the odds are kind of good for young artists, you know, with the internet. But the other side of it is there's everybody's doing it. whatever that 15 minutes of fame saying was that that's very true it says in the future everybody will have 15 minutes of fame that was Andy Warhol and he was right we're here yeah we're here we're in the moment right and you know like you said when you got on when you were on Mike and Molly that's like a huge phenomenal success where millions and millions of people are tuning in every week in syndication rolling and rolling and rolling that is now so less likely to happen to somebody to have that captive audience every week after week after week.

No, that'll never happen again. That kind of television viewership will never happen again, just because, one, the Internet has taken over all of mass media, and that's okay. That's just what the game changes. You evolve with the game or you just get out of the game. But the idea of us all watching something at the same time again and talk about it on Monday, those days are long gone.

You know, now you see something and you go, did you see? And someone goes, no, I didn't see that. And they have to look it up. And there's just a lot of stuff, man. There's a lot of moving parts. Yeah, I think we discussed this a little bit before we started the interview. But there is this kind of double-edged sword where one is now you don't have to wait. You can find your audience, right?

There is an audience out there for almost everybody. If you have a lick of talent or a good idea or one joke that hits, then people can find you or you can find them. but there is no mass media attention anymore. And the audience is so fragmented. And you have to rely on the algorithm to get you there. And that may not happen for everyone who's talented. There's kind of like no, there's no farm team anymore, right? Like you were, how long were you here in Atlanta?

We're in Atlanta, by the way. How long did you were you here? I lived in Atlanta for about, I want to say four years before I headed up to Chicago. I lived in Marietta right outside of the city, which I just loved. I lived off of Delc Road. Oh, yeah. I've lived off of Delc Road. Of course, I've lived everywhere.

There was a great little barbecue joint in my neighborhood, and you could get a two-bedroom apartment for 700 bucks. And it was a different time, you know. Did you live in Atlanta during the Olympics? Is that kind of during that time period? I don't. What were the Olympics? Were they 96? No, I left.

I left. I left right before that. That's when I headed for L.A. I had actually left for Chicago in like 94 and then headed to L.A. in 96, I think. How did you come upon Mike and Molly? Excuse me for not knowing the story, but how did you come up? No, it's okay. How did you come upon Mike and Molly? I'm interested to hear this. Well, my thing is I've always, that was my goal when I set up. I was always a sitcom fan. I'd watch him with my dad. And so when I was young, when I was very young, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, I was, wanted to be a stand-up. I knew that right away. I knew that at like nine years old. And then I wanted that to lead me to a sitcom because that was what I was interested in. And I was lucky enough to get to do two of them. You know, I did Mike and Molly. And then Chuck Lorry came up with another idea and said, I think you're right for this one too, which is unheard of. You know, that's two

super bowl. But Mike and Molly was, it was at a weird time. And I was at a place where I was actually thinking about leaving Los Angeles and moving back to my hometown of Pittsburgh. And maybe jumping on the radio there and having a good life just doing that. And I was kind of at my ropes end out here. And I told my friend who was going to put me on the radio show, Randy Baumann from WDVE, that I said, I'm going to ride out one more pilot season. And that used to be a time out here where there'd be like a three-month stretch where they'd order 50 pilots. And to give you a perspective, nowadays they order five. I mean, it's really shrunk down. But you would try to get on a pilot and hope it got picked up. So I said, I'm going to ride out one more pilot season. And I only got,

I want to say, I remember it as six. It might have been four auditions the whole three months. And the last one was Mike and Molly. It was literally a Hail Mary and the end zone, literally. And this changed your life basically overnight. Oh. Yeah. I mean, I had no idea. At the time. At the time. I think it was really the last classic sitcom. That's why I'm really proud of Mike and Molly. I think that was the last really classic become one of those, you know, dinnertime shows or shows before you go to bed that you would watch.

And it ran, you know, Mike and Molly ran in syndication from 2016 to this year. And so it was an unbelievably historical run. I don't know that you'll ever see anything do that again. And then working with that cast, I mean, Melissa McCarty. and Reno Wilson and Ronald Reed and Lou Mastillo and Suzie Kurtz and Katie Mixin and Nambi, I mean, we had this wonderful team where there wasn't a weak link on the team. And then we had Chuck Lorry and his writing staff, which was the best in the business. We got directed by Jimmy Burroughs, who directed friends and Cheers and Taxi and Mary Tyler Moore.

So we had this historical collaboration of really amazing television people. And at the time, Peter Roth was running Warner Brothers, just one of the last great television man ever to do it. So I got to really be the caboose on the tail end of television, which was pretty amazing. That really is. Yeah, I was thinking about this morning when I was thinking about interviewing you, is Mike and Molly is part of that group or maybe one of the last kind of traditional, huge success in syndication for a long time.

Sitcoms. They're not, they don't exist anymore. I don't see them on television. And that's not to say maybe one or two of them might not pop up in the future, but it's just not the same. When you get Mike and Molly, like you start walking out on the streets of Los Angeles. Are you instantaneously recognized after a couple of weeks of the show kind of? It was actually after the first season, you could feel it changed. Like everywhere I went, I got recognized after the first season, you know.

And everybody would yell Mike in public, which was funny to make it to say, Mike. Hey, how are you? And then Bob Hart-Sabashola came on, and there was a pocket of people calling me Bob. So at this point, I'll answer to just about anything. Yeah. But yeah, it was wild. And I had such great, there's such great fans from Mike and Molly. They were always very cool fans and just enjoyed the show so much.

And I'm very, very grateful for all of that that happened to me. And then, you know, I did my second show, and I took some time to get healthy. And when I did, I stopped doing stand-up for about three years. It was when COVID had first hit, too. So we were working without an audience. And I was heavy. And I had some other medical stuff going on. And I thought, I better get it together here so this thing doesn't get me because

it was that first wave. And so I made a change. I got healthy. I did not do social media like they told me to start in 2013 because I thought, what? What are you talking about? I'm on TV. Either did I. Either did we.

Basically, I basically. Basically, I came out of Mike and Molly, or I came out of Bob Hart-Sabishola, unrecognizable with no social media. Yeah. So what a great place to start. I got right where I want to. I mean, to point out the obvious, Billy, you look like a different human being. I mean, you're bringing it up.

Yeah. You know, when you look at pictures after, you look at Mike and Molly or you look at Bob, and then you look a couple years later, you look just like a different human being. human being. It's one of the most stark transitions I have seen in my personal life in Hollywood. You look great. I don't look bad for the wear and tear that I've been through. I always say, I went from a young Jackie Gleason to an old Paul Newman. So that's fine of world happened for me. What's weird, though, is, you know, people who just knew me from Mike and Mollis see me nowadays, and they go, my God, he's aged. And I'm like, well, I've lost 170 pounds. I'm going to have a few wrinkles.

and that was 15 years ago. Yeah. But, you know, it's funny how people picture you in their head from what they know you from. So this has been about reintroducing myself to just wanting to get back to stand-up. Yeah. And a stand-up is such a big part of the story arc here, right? It's a majority of the first part of your career, and then you have these huge television. It gave me everything.

Yeah, it gave me everything. It opened the doors for everything I've been able to achieve in my career. Was it hard to, you said you had to take a break. from stand-up, get healthy. First of all, was it hard to get healthy? Was that a hard transition for you to make? Or did COVID and whatever other medical issues you're going through really kick you in the ass?

And you said, okay, this is it. I got to do this. Yeah, I think at the end, that forced my hand to do something extreme. I had, you know, I had had that thing that a lot of heavy people suffer with where you lose 30 pounds and then you gain 35. You lose 30 pounds and you gain 35.

And, you know, for people on a smaller weight journey, that happens to them too, where they, you know, lose five, gain 10. And it's a hard thing to do. But I got to the point where I was up to 379 and it hurt to exercise. So I was like, I need to do something drastic so I can move. I need a window of opportunity. So what I did was I elected to have bariatric surgery. And I did that. And I followed every single rule they gave me.

and I lost the weight successfully. I hired a nutritionist so that I could kind of get the mental part of this time because that's really what it is. It's not your portions and what you're eating. That stuff all plays into it, but the real change comes between your ears. If you're not ready to mentally change everything, nothing will stick. And I finally found something for me that would stick. I don't tell anybody what they should do, but I do tell people if they're going to have this surgery,

make sure you study about what you have to do on the other side of it to maintain it because it's still just a window. One and four people go back to being heavy after this surgery. So I've been very blessed that way. Yeah, I think I've known some people who have had the bariatric surgery. We've known some people who have been on the weight loss medications, and we've known people who have just kind of, you know, bit the belt and exercise their way to a health yourself.

Even when you're, even when you don't, wouldn't think of somebody as having a weight problem, that journey is so hard. Try and lose five pounds at 40 something years old and keep it off. It's so impossibly difficult because your mind plays tricks on you. And this is not. When your body wants to go back to what it was. This is not heroin for gin and time. No. Yeah. It's not something you stop doing. You still have to be eating. So you have to retrain, at least I had to retrain my brain on my. my relationship with food. And my nutritionist, a woman named Terry Eublich, really changed the way I thought about food, how I reacted to food, what I used food to comfort, what I used food to celebrate. And she really started making me look at food as fuel. And what kind of fuel do you want to put in there? And you have to have a different relationship with that. And so once I started to get that, I was able to maintain the loss of weight that I had. Let me ask you a little bit of a deeper question. Does being in entertainment, does that, is there a mental block somewhere where if I'd lose this weight, I may not be seen as the same person.

Like, you're not, you don't look like the same person, right? But was there ever like a mental block? Like, oh, if I lose this weight, then I'm going to lose the role. Yeah, this is the thing that made me famous. You know, that happened to me and that's happening now. I'm literally, you know, reintroducing myself as a stand up. And a lot of people didn't know I did stand up even when I was on TV, which was weird. I did everything backwards.

I got a sitcom then. You know what I mean? Yeah. But I did have those thoughts, and there is some truth to that. But I look at the positive, which means I can start to go out for roles. I wouldn't have been able to go out for before, which is kind of happening now, which is nice. And I did have to reintroduce myself to the industry, and now I'm an older person. So I have to look for those kind of roles as well.

But what was going on with my health superseded all that. Like I have a wife for me. I have a wife and a kid. And I was like, what is the point of if I keep working, but I'm, and then I just dropped dead somewhere. Because I was like, I was overweight. I was a smoker at the time, sleep apnea, asthma, type two diabetes at the time. And so, you know, I was a walk in time bomb.

My resting heartbeat at one point was like 136. That's sitting still. Yeah. And so I knew that, okay, you've had this success and you've been blessed, but now if you don't get healthy, you're not going to be around to guide your son and annoy your wife. And I love both of those. They've been a two favorite things. You say, you like me, take great joy at annoying your wife. And we've got to stick around for that, Billy.

That's the favorite person to annoy. My favorite person. Well, they say congratulations on the, on, you know, getting to a point in the journey where you're feeling good because that is an. immense accomplishment. And you're right. Anything else pales in comparison. If you're not around to enjoy the success, then what does the success matters? Exactly. Are you finding it hard to reintroduce yourself? I mean, you're right about something. When you're older and when you look different, Hollywood is not... Very fickle. It's very fickle. It's not skinned. Once they stamp you in to what you are. Like, you're the overweight guy, the blue collar guy, or whatever that is.

They see that you've made money off that. So they want you to continue to be that thing. That's just, that's just a map. But you also have to be brave enough to, whether it's a health change or the kind of roles you take or the kind of art you do, whatever you want to present. If you want to go to that next thing, there's always going to be a period of transition where you just have to trust that your talent is going to push you through to the next thing. Like I, I, I, I, I, The other example I could give was in the club settings back in the day, there was the MC who did 10 minutes and made the announcements. They were usually a local act.

Then there was a feature act who would do 25 to 30 minutes. And then you hopefully transitioned up into being a headliner and you would close the show. Well, in the days where I was transferring from feature act to headliner, my manager at the time said, you know, we're going to tell all these clubs, you're only coming back if you headline. Half of them are going to say yes. the other half of them are going to say no, you've got to figure out what to do for the weeks that you're off because if we go back on one, all of them will go back. So we have to be able to say no.

So I jumped on a paint truck and was painting houses half the time and headlining half the time until I could get my calendar full of headlining dates. So it's kind of that same thing where you go, yeah, okay, it's going to take a few people to go, no, wow, it looks different. We don't know what we can do until you see that one person that goes, you know what, I want to try him in this because I think it would be a different look for him. And then you gravitate to that and you hopefully move forward as an artist. How difficult has it been to get? So now you're taking this, you're taking this stand up on the road.

You're going and doing theaters, which is already great, right? So you're doing theaters. It's not like you're, you know, sitting in 100-person seat room. No, I went back to the clubs for the first year and a half. Yeah, tell me about that. I went back to the clubs. And I started even before that, I just started going back to open mic night because I hadn't done it in three years. And it's like a golf swing stand up. The longer you stay off stage, the worse it gets.

And I had this big hang up in my head like you have to deliver. You were on TV. If people recognize you, you can't go away with a bad show. And if you do that, you never give yourself room to improve. So I had to remind myself, it's just Tuesday. It's an open mic night. There's 18 people here. Go up there and do your jokes. It didn't matter. So in a way, it was kind of, it was cathartic because I was able to let go of all of what I thought I should be and walk into what I want to be next, you know? This is a metamorphosis. You know, there's like, there is a, I think it's a Buddhist philosophy that every seven years you just like you transform as a person, you're a caterpillar, you whatever, you're going through one of these stages like live and in real time. And that is never easy. We've all done it.

But it's so inspiring. Yeah, but it's inspiring because, you know, this guy, you're, what is it, 12 million people every week watching you? How many people were watching an average? Yeah, we were between, we were between 11 and 13 million a week on Mike and Molly, and we were between 6 and 7 million a week on Bob Hart's because that's when the real transition to the internet was really starting. And it's funny, too.

I never, you know, I've always been on Monday night on television. which is the toughest night of the week of survival. Like if we were on Friday nights, I'd still be on. No one would know. But Monday night was like, you're fighting, you were fighting dancing with the stars and Monday night football. And I mean, you really had to be good to survive. And so those lessons taught me some perseverance too.

And I just think you have to keep growing. I mean, if you're not continually growing, if at some point you think you've reached boss level, I just think you're done. Yeah. I think you have to keep growing, pushing yourself. I do think that is the death knell of a lot of entertainers and musicians is that they do think they reach boss level and they stop pushing themselves to make that next leap, to make that next evolution. It's the bands or the musicians or the entertainers or the comedians, whatever, that you see that keep evolving. Like Carlin and Chappelle or whoever, right, they are not afraid to be the next thing.

Yeah. Because it's... Well, I think they just stay very authentic. And the more authentic you are, the more I think you can, you connect with people. If you just stay authentic. That's true. And when you're doing these open mic nights, back to this, when you're doing these open mic nights, there's 18 people in front of you.

I guess maybe not looking the same as you did on TV may play in your favor in this sense. Like maybe it takes some people a minute to realize, oh, that guy, that's that, that's Bob or that's Mike. Yeah, I would get that a little bit after the shows. During the show, it was a huge transition because they didn't recognize me, which means I was getting an honest, honest reaction. And so you had to dig down to actually do the job well. And then the other thing was I had to get used to being this size on stage. I used to take up so much more air, no pun intended.

But like I had a bigger energy on stage. I went from the guy that used to be like, get out of the way to, I'm sorry, did I bump you? So I had to. It was like going from a minivan to a coop. You know what I mean? I had to, it was just different movements, different everything. But then I found my feet. And it really came back to me, and I'm grateful for it.

I bet when you lose that much weight, you have to learn how to maneuver differently. One of my dear- Everything, I fell down twice. When I got to my goal weight, I've fallen down twice. It took a corner too fast. Wasn't used to the equilibrium, went right over like a Fred Flint. Yeah. No, that's real.

They used to say you're going to have ghost weight and your equilibrium's going to be off a little bit. And I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I literally walked around the corner to talk to my wife fell down midday. sentence twice. It's the little things that I'm sure add up over time when you're like, wow, life is so drastically different than it was before. So now you've got this, so what are you, you're touring with a brand new hour or an hour you've been cutting for the last two or three years, right? Yeah, I'm probably at about, actually, I'm probably at about 45 minutes new and 15 minutes greatest hits because there's a few things that the fans that do remember me like to hear.

And I think I've made a nice blend of that. And, you know, I'm always been a guy who kind of talks about what's happening in his life. And once I figure out my four quarters, I always look at my hours like football, first quarter, second quarter, third quarter, fourth quarter. Once I figure out what those four things are, I start writing for those things. And the first one is, you know, obviously I talk about my weight loss in that journey because there's some funny stuff in there. And I, you know, I refer to it as the elephant that's no longer in the room. And then the second quarter, I talk about being married for 25 years and actually having a great marriage. And it's not free and it's not easy.

You've got to fight for it. But boy, if you get to that spot, it's pretty magical. And I think that's a nice message. Beautiful. I'm proud of that. You should have been married 25. I really am grateful for my relationship with my wife. I realize these days that she stood beside me in front of me or behind me, no matter what I needed, my whole journey.

So it's about her now. And then the third quarter is about, I talk about my son who's 22. And I try to talk to this generation and root for them because I think it's low-hanging fruit to just rip on these kids. I think they're dealing with so much more than we had to deal with. They don't have the freedoms we had. They don't have the imagination we had. They don't have the drive we have because they've got this machine telling them that everybody's doing better than them 24 hours a day and they're worthless. So I go the other way.

I root for the kids. And then the last 15 minutes is really an homage to my father, who was my biggest fan. And he passed a few years back from lung cancer, and it took me a minute to start being able to write about that. But when I did, I think I found something pretty healing through that whole journey. I'm sorry to hear about your father passing. I know that's okay, man. He's with me. He's with us right now.

My wife always says you're just a hack rip-off for your father. There must be There must be some truth to that in all great comics Is that they're taking 100 Yeah, they're taking away their experiences I like how you're rooting for the young kids Because as a guy

And as a guy who has young kids Like young kids, right? Yeah, I see how incredibly What do you have? How old do you have? I've got three of them, all of them under the age of 10 years old. So, and I got two girls and a boy

and they are the love of my life. There are two things in my life that I'm realizing are the most difficult and rewarding things ever, and they are equal in both. That is my marriage that's now 10 years in and raising children in this day and age. They're equally rewarding and challenging. And if you know that that's what you want to do,

and I respect people who know they don't want children, but if that is the journey you want to take, which is what I wanted to take, then I'm not going to be a hypocrite with him and I'm going to try to guide them to the best of my ability because you got to remember, these kids are going through all the adolescents that we went through, the fears of adolescence, who am I going to be? Is anyone going to love me? Where am I going to live? What am I going to do? And then you add social media and then you add the political environment of this world. And then you add

the cost of living to this world. And then you add the environment. And then you add the brink of war everywhere. I mean, you wonder why these kids are a little shell shocked. They have to deal with all that. And we overcompensated for them and raised a generation of house cats, they're not prepared for this mess. So we've got to step up with some accountability to this, you know? I love what you're saying. And it makes me, like, I'm hearing what you're saying and I'm realizing as I'm guiding my own children. I've been realizing this for the last couple of years is that this is the most difficult fucking time to be a human being.

And I cannot imagine being an adolescent. And with all, I grew up in the, in the golden circle of the 1980s and 90s where everything. Me too. Yeah. It was great. I could run. Yeah, I could sneak out of my house at night and not, you know, be afraid of being arrested for terrorism or shot, you know, whatever it was. It was just a different time.

Yeah. Exactly. These kids can't leave the house without fear of some shit. And that is got to be crippling. And the phone has made them anti-communal. Yeah. It gives the illusion of everybody being connected, but in truth, it's not. It separates us all. And then it puts you in a little bubble and you talk in your echo chamber and they talk in their echo chamber.

Like we had to go, you know, in the late 80s, early 90s, like you said, I imagine we're about the same age. I just look older. But that time was a time of freedom where you did, you had to go find things to do with your friends. And you had to go find your friends, you know. but you had to be in movement. And there were places that were communal. Like I, you know, I hate that they never got the experience. Let's go hang out at the mall. Oh, I was going to say the mall.

And then, you know, let's go to a place where we're all hanging. And I love, too, that music was in the air back then. Like, you know, in the 80s and 90s, you know, you'd be in a mosh pit Friday night and you'd be seeing, you know, 10,000 maniacs on Sunday. It didn't matter if it was good. it was good. And you went with the vibe of what it was. You weren't just stuck in this one little thing, this place that felt like it had no exit. And so I try to open my kid's mind to the possibility of that. Wow. I want to be your kid. I know. I'm sure he's got some counterpoints. Oh, I know he does. The tribalism, I think, the tribalism and the separation of idea and thought,

But, you know, I say this often. When I was a kid, and maybe your dad was like this, too. When I grew up in Chicago, I was born in Chicago and spent, you know, majority of my life here in Atlanta. I remember asking my dad after a presidential election who he voted for, and the table went silent. He literally put his utensils down and said, you never ask someone who they voted for. That's my business. No. Not yours.

My dad, would not tell me who voted. No. My dad used to drink at a bar in Pittsburgh. that has a sign over the bar to this day that says no religion or politics discussed at the bar or you will be asked to leave. Yeah. Because they knew. They knew that we were supposed to respect each other's opinions.

We weren't supposed to be at each other's throats. Yeah. And I don't know where we lost that. My dad taught me a very cool thing about voting. He said, never listen to the politician and never listen to just the news. And that was back when all the news has had one story. Now it's whatever you want to watch. But his thing was go find out who your local representatives are and who you want for president.

Go back and look online at government.org and look at their voting record. And does that line up with things you believe? Okay, if you believe, do you believe in health care? Do you believe in Medicaid? Do you believe in Social Security? Do you believe in social programs to help the less fortunate? Do you understand how there's programs work? Do your investigation and then look at, did this person vote for higher wages in my area?

Did this person vote for lower taxes in my area? Because they're going to say whatever they're going to say. But you cannot hide from a documented vote. And he said, inform your opinion that way. And I always tried to think that because I think it was very smart. Very smart. I'm given a piece of advice to all of the younger folks who listen to this show. And I know there's some.

go see Billy when he's out on tour because this guy's I'm moving for you kids they need somebody to read for them they really do because you're right about this is that every comic every show every you know and God bless the daily shows and all that I love them but they do take low blows at the generation because they see them as lazy

It's an easy shot. Yeah it's an easy shot to say these kids today you know okay yeah but how about we work on a solution. The solution can be funny as well, you know. There you go. And we have to laugh at ourselves, but until we take accountability, we can't change anything. And look, we were the parents from Gen X. So no one was watching us. We were feral cats. We were literally thrown out of the house at 17. And good luck to you. And so no one was supervising. So of course, the natural reaction was going to be to overcompensate and tell these kids how wonderful they were. And we messed that up. They didn't

mess that up. We messed that up. And so I think we have to own a little bit of that. And that always comes from open conversation. True. I appreciate it. I could probably talk to you for now about parenting. Okay, tell us about, but I want to get to something before we. Yeah, your new project. Yeah, tell us about your new Amazon movie. Well, it's not, we released it. It was released about a year ago. And we did it in the art house theaters, kind of grassroots. And from there, it was picked up by Apple, 2B, and I don't even know what 2B is. I probably shouldn't say that. And what's the other one?

It's on Prime. But it's called The Vortex, and it's about a comedian who's working at the MGM casino in the 80s. And there was actual a real fire there in 1987, and they don't know how it started. And in this movie, this gambling addict, Pete Finnegan, this guy I play, has kind of a spiritual awakening and a choice he's going to have to make to either stop or not stop. And it may or may not connect to the fire. There's a little artistic liberty there, but it's a good story. Christopher Titus is in it, who's another comedian buddy of mine.

I like that. And my buddy, Joey O'Connell and a lot of great character actors. And we did this thing for a shoestring. And, you know, those are the projects that, you know, sometimes you do it out of the love of the game and something cool happens. And we've gotten a lot of nice reviews. and it is now a piece of tape. Like this is what we're talking about earlier. Like, I have to prove to the industry

I can do something different. So now here is a piece of proof because I did it out of the love of the game. The reward was, here's an example of what I can do as a dramatic actor. And so it becomes a useful sales tool. And it was just from wanting

to do something different that came. I like Christopher tight. I like the idea of this movie. I like the thought that it's... I love... Christy and I were just talking about this the other day. I like television shows. and movies that have one foot on the ground.

Like sometimes some of these television shows, they take so many liberties. Like I was talking about Jack Ryan, which I love. I love Jack Ryan. I love Krasinski in this role. I think he's great. But now on to the fourth season,

it's like, you know, fantastical. They're shooting guns all over the place, but every bullet misses him, right? And it's like sometimes I wish that they would just put one foot in reality. So I like the idea that this is surrounding an actual event.

There was a fun of it. You got to remember. too what you're going in for. Like you got to keep yourself in the right gear. Like you want that grounded stuff. You got to look for that. And then you got to remember sometimes stuff is just popcorn. Absolutely. Yeah. Good popcorn. Absolutely. And that stuff's

good popcorn stuff. I'm still watching it. I still love John. But I'm just, I just wish that a bullet would hit somebody every once a lot. It would make some more sense. There's firefights pretty good. They do. And his hair is perfect every time. And it's like,

come on, man. Is your hair really going to look like? A lot of If I had that hair, I'd make sure it was perfect every time. Amen. I would take another season of Jack Ryan. It's really good. So the vortex. Yeah, so the vortex. Yes. This, for those of you that don't know, this fire is real. It actually did happen. And it was a bad fire, right? Didn't some people pass away?

Yeah, I think 700 people lost their lives in that fire. Yeah, and they could never figure out how it started. All the fire inspectors and stuff, they could never figure out how that fire started. I watched the document. about this a couple years ago, maybe back during the pandemic. And, you know, the theory was something about, you know, somewhere in catering or something like that, but they never did come to a conclusion. The fire inspectors didn't. And a lot of people, you know, got stuck in the hotel because they didn't think there was a fire. The like fire alarm, am I right about this? The fire alarm went off. Then they turned it off. A lot of people, a lot of people thought that,

at least the stuff I read, a lot of people thought it was like, oh, they're testing the fire alarm. Right. Fault alarm. And it was scary. So you hear an alarm, go anyway. So here is why this is interesting that you're making a movie about this, because I remember watching that documentary. Then I go to a conference in Denver. And I'm in this hotel, and I'm on like the seventh, eighth,

whatever it is, up there. Not jumpable, right? Right. And it's three o'clock in the morning, and the fire alarm is just blaring. It's going off. I jump out of bed. And I get this scary sensation that I need to be making my way to the exit. where normally I would think to myself, eh, it's just they're just, the alarm went off for. Someone pulled it, you know, someone's smoking in the room or whatever. And I remember getting up, getting dressed and going downstairs. And ended up being nothing. But I went downstairs because I had watched that documentary about all of those people who also assumed that it was fire. So when you're taking on the serious role, now you're doing this, you're doing this on a shoestering budget with friends. Do they do this? Is this part made for you?

or did you have to go and audition for the part? No, the guy directed to the film Richard Zellnaker is a gentleman I've known for a long time, and he said, listen, man, I got this idea for this movie, and we have just enough to make the movie, but we're barely going to be able to pay anybody. Would you read the script, and if it's something you're interested in, would you let me know? So I read it, and I thought, I can play this guy.

And like I said, sometimes you have to bet on yourself for no money to end up making money later. or to show that you can do another thing. So like I said, my whole motivation going in there was, let me show the industry that I'm able to do this kind of acting. And so that was my whole goal for that. So it wasn't like anybody needing money off the movie. At least the actors didn't.

I'm sure the producers find a way to do that. Producer Max is always better than acting. And I heard a guy tell him a long time ago, he said, you go to an actor's house, you see a picture of them with another famous person. You go to a producer's house, you see a Monet. Yeah, exactly. But I went into that knowing that I wasn't doing it to make money. I was doing it because I wanted to keep evolving as an actor.

That was why I did it. Yeah. Well, congratulations on that success. I'm excited to watch it. Tell us a little. I said I'm excited to watch it. Yeah, actually, I do want to watch it now. So tell me a little bit about your tour of these theaters.

Starts at the end of this month, right, January? Yes. I start the end of January and then we're out like two theaters, one Friday, one Saturday, and then we do one weekend in February and then March and April. It's every weekend until the end of April. Wow. Is it difficult? Yeah, you are grinding a little bit.

Yeah, you are grinding. But that's what being a stand-of-comics all about, right? It's like you. It is. These days, the travel's a little harder on me, but other than that, it's great. Yeah. Well, you're doing it's smart. You do Friday and Saturday.

You take the week off. That's it. Yeah, I got, well, I'm like an old baseball player. I need four days rest. Yeah. I hear you. You're a starting pitcher. I don't know of them.

I'm probably middle relief these days, but I still need my four days. Well, hey, I find you to be a terribly enjoyable human being to talk to you are. Absolutely. You guys were a treat, man. Are you kidding? Thank you. Billy Gardell, watch its movie Vortex, now available on 2B, Prime, and Apple. And then I will put links in the show notes so that you can buy tickets.

If he's coming close, go see him. Don't let your age dissuade you from seeing Billy. If you're 20 years old, he's got some good advice for you. He's literally. Yeah, I'm on your side. Yeah, he's on your side. And you need somebody on your side. That's why, I was talking with someone about this.

Maybe it was you, Chrissy. That's why all of these dad accounts that are popping up all over the place where these older gentlemen are giving advice to the younger generation are so incredibly popular. Because I think a lot of kids, they feel. lost and probably, you know, babying small children, babying children through life maybe wasn't the best idea, right? No, it wasn't. And I also find, too, that here's a good dad tip. I don't have a dad thing, but I mean, like, I wish I had that.

Maybe you should. Well, my son said I should do one called Ask Pops. Maybe you should. I will give you a good piece of advice as father to father, especially when you're at the 10-year-old spot. as they get into their teens, share your experience, not your opinion. In other words, it's much easier for them to feel like they're included and they have a choice when you use words like I instead of you.

When you say, I went through that, this is how I felt. This is what I did. And that gives them the ability to, one, choose for themselves to recognize that three, feel like they're included and not just being lectured. Because if you wag your finger at your kid too much, they just roll their eyes and go play games. Yeah, it turns them off. Yeah. But it's like my wife said, if I share all my teenage experiences, I was a real idiot. So my kids wound up in jail.

You got to edit. You got to edit some of that Jenny. Yeah. Yeah, dad smoked a doobie every once in a while, but I was not arrested at a strip club with a bag of whatever. No, I'm kidding. All right. Billy, you're welcome back any time. Thanks so much, right.

I would love to come back. You know, I always watch the podcasts that I'm coming on, and I enjoy you guys. You guys are good. And I appreciate you having me. I really do. Thank you. It's been really enjoyable. I'm super glad that we got this done.

Thank you to Billy. All the links in the show notes. We're rooting for you. Let's go. Talk to you soon. Thanks, guys. Okay. Okay, you're probably wondering why I, Rachel, have taken over the voice duties at TCV.

It's pretty simple. Astrid asked me to shut Brian up, even for a minute. Well, lovely Astrid, your wish is my command. Do you want to help Astrid too? You know you do. Leave a message for her, or me or Chrissy, at 212-4333-3-TCB. That's 212-433-3822. You can be on the show too. Mm-hmm. Just call and say something. Anything. Or text us and we'll text you're right back. Promise. Then head over to TCB Podcast.com, and get your free sticker. It's your constitutional right to a sticker, and we must abide. You get the point.

Follow us on Instagram at the commercial break and watch all the episodes on video at YouTube.com slash the commercial break. Best to you. And Astrid, especially Astrid. I mean, what happened? I don't know what I expected, but I don't know what happened.

I felt like my dad, my best friend, and my brother all showed up in the same human being and his name was Billy Gardell. And yes, he looks completely different. But it was a life-saving opportunity. He took it, good for him. May we all be blessed with many years of Billy Gardell's health, his wisdom, and his wealth.

I'll take his money, that's for sure. All right, all the links are in the show notes below. So just go there. And you can go to, I think it's Billy Gardell.com. It is Billygardell.com. You can go there. He's, of course, doing a few shows. He's going to be in Iowa.

I see here in Napa, California, Las Vegas, Eugene, Oregon. He'll be doing both small and big venues. So if you can, go get your tickets. Young kids, young kids, do not be afraid to go see Billy Gardell. You might learn something. And we all need to learn something. He's rooting for you. He's on tour.

He's got the new movie. Do it all. See it all. And then, of course, Mike and Molly, I heart Abashola. I think those are both in syndication. on one of the many streaming platforms we are all currently struggling to pay for. I don't know about you,

but we're going to have to make some tough decisions pretty soon. Am I going to keep BBC on Prime? Or am I going to have to let go of Pluto Plus? I don't know yet, but I will make those decisions soon, and I will keep you posted. Okay? All right, okay. All right, now let's talk about the commercial break for a minute. If you would like to join the commercial break,

live during a recording Tuesdays and Thursdays. Right at about 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, we go live on YouTube.com slash the commercial break. You can get in there, you can jump in, you can do some commenting. We do now have the ability to bring people into the show on video. So I imagine we will start that, if not next week, the week after that. We'd love to have you come and be a part of the show. A lot of you have now texted in about the new TCB Classic

that will start running on. Tuesdays. So if you have an idea for a TCB classic, let me know and roll your dice. Who knows? You could be one that I talk about on air right here at the commercial break on Instagram and TCB Podcast.com for all the audio, all the video, and your free sticker. Okay, no, Chrissy. I guess that's all I'm going to do for today, but I will say that I love you. Best to you and best to you out there in the podcast universe. Until next time, I will say, I do say, I must say, goodbye. If you got a softy in your brain,

you're going to have a softy in your pants. You know what I'm saying?