The Commercial Break - TCB Infomercial: Rory Scovel

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

TCB Infomercial - Episode #718: The very funny and multi-talented actor and comedian, Rory Scovel, joins Bryan & Krissy to discuss life, love and the pursuit of the improv! It's a deep dive into the world and perspective of Rory. Championed and produced by Conan O'Brien, his most recent HBO MAX special gained mainstream attention and critical acclaim. Plus, Rory helped Bryan deal with vicious roosters in the North of Spain! (It will all make sense once you hear it). RORY SCORVEL'S LINKS: Follow Rory on Instagram Watch "Religion, Sex and a Few Things in Between " on Max Rory Scovel's tour dates Watch EP #718 on YouTube! Text us or leave us a voicemail: [phone]TCB FOLLOW US: Instagram:  @thecommercialbreak Youtube: youtube.com/thecommercialbreak TikTok: @tcbpodcast Website: www.tcbpodcast.com CREDITS: Hosts: Bryan Green & Krissy Hoadley Executive Producer: Bryan Green Producer: Astrid B. Green Voice Over: Rachel McGrath To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I still don't know what's in the vaccine and I'll never know what's in the vaccine. I'm not so stupid, I'm gonna go sit down to find out how fucking dumb I am. Yeah, I got the vaccine. Yes, I got all the boosters. If it saves my life, fine. If it kills me, great. But the last thing you will ever see me do is Google, what's in the vaccine? And then sit there and pretend as though I understand the words that I'm reading.

Whoa, Glorbasaur, whoa, whoa, whoa, actually whoa. Actually that is like a big deal. I didn't know we were there yet with Glorbasaur. Glad that's in there, but I'll tell you what, that Tetra-Tran-Aranizine, that's got me wondering who's really in charge. On this episode of The Commercial Break. The start of that show was when Amazon was getting into streaming shows.

And I remember this was absurd to everybody because everyone's like, Amazon is where I buy packages. Yeah. They were going to now do TV, so it seemed crazy. But they decided to do this competition where they would give all these applicants a certain amount of money to make a pilot. They would post all the pilots and whoever got the most views, the top two would like

get a show. And so these guys came up with this show. They hired me to play the principal. These are my friends on the lowest budget shooting something at a high school in Denver. And I didn't take it seriously at all. The next episode of the Commercial Break starts now. It's 2.30 in the morning! Oh yeah, cats and kittens, welcome back to The Commercial Break. I'm Brian Green.

This is my dear friend and the co-host of this show, Kristen Joy Holdley. Best of you. Best of you, Brian. Best of you out there in the podcast universe. Thanks for joining us at the TCB Infomercial Tuesday with Rory Scovell I am so excited to have him here with us today this has been a long time in the making I asked a long time ago for this for Rory to show up and he did not did not he did not and now he is here and I am very excited because one of my favorite television shows of all time is a show called

Those Who Can't television show that had a brief run on TRU TV three or four seasons I think and now you can't even find it. We were just looking for it you can't find it. It's crazy but it is one of those. He's also been on physical. He's been in a lot of Babylon. He's been in a lot of television programs. He's done a lot of stand-up and he is known as an improvisational comic of He's like on the top of the mountain as far as improv comedy is concerned. He's always down there lago We're going to lago darling We're going to lago to see Rory and Conan and maybe catch a little Jean mayor of a lago. I

Wish I was in LA so I could go to lago. I know we'd be down there Yeah, just to say you're going to Largo. I'm going to Largo, darling. I'm going to Largo. Meet me at Largo. Meet me at Largo. And you think, like, Largo is this magical place with, like, palm trees growing in the middle of it and, you know, a pool where they have girls in one-piece bathing suits and bathing caps.

You know, Largo seems like a magical place. But then you look at it, it looks like a dining hall. It's like a magical place, but then you look at it, it looks like a dining hall. But Largo, if you go to their Instagram, anybody who's anybody is at Largo. And I saw during the pandemic, COVID, I saw Rory was at Largo a lot. So he must be, you know, he must be good because everyone's there. Everyone's showing up at Largo. Every comic we've had on this show, maybe with the notable exception of just a few,

as I've seen their picture at Largo over the last six months. It's insane. And then some we haven't had, like Conan. Right, well, they do music and stand-up. They're known for a lot of things. So anyway, so Rory is a very diverse, very well-rounded actor and comedian, and I just couldn't be more excited. This is like a personal.

Yes. It's a personal, I'm personally fanboying just a little bit because Those Who Can't is great. And you can't find it anywhere. So I implore you, the listener, to write into TruTV or whoever owns the rights, I think it's TruTV, to- Release. Release the hounds.

Release the Those Who can'ts. Oh, and Rory has a special that came out about a year ago to much value, I think it was like kind of all over the place. A lot of press about it. Religion, sex, and a few things in between is now streaming on Max plus minus HBO plus minus. It's on that HBO, that Discovery TLC. But it's on that app. Discovery TLC. Yeah, that Discovery TLC. But it's on that app.

I watched it over the last couple of days. I thought it was brilliant. It really is very funny. Brilliant. He's also on tour. Yeah, he's also on tour. So all the links in the show notes to all of that, get tickets to his tour,

and all of his Instagram, his TikTok, all of his social handies, oh, his handies. I'm thinking about that auto blow toy. That and Shandy. You know his Instagram is tick-tock all of his social handies I'm thinking about that auto blow Right before this we got pitched a device, you know for us to Let me break down the fourth wall for the 50,000 time on this show We it takes a lot of work to book this show and Astrid and the great team at CTB book the show, the guests on the show.

But that doesn't mean that we also don't get pitched a lot of guests outside of that kind of circle of trust that we have, so to speak, the tree of trust, the nest, the safe nest. And we get pitched so many guests through our general mailbox, like PR people just throwing auto-generated emails, I'm sure, out there. And we got the most interesting one about an hour ago, the creator and owner of the Auto Blow Machine,

which is, I guess, the world's best auto-masturbator. I'm sure Rory's gonna love this intro to his PCP info. But the auto blow machine is one of these, it's a huge contraption. It almost looks like a humidifier. Yes, it's like mine. It's like a small VW bus, but this one you have to plug into the wall.

At least mine was chargeable. You can take it off the plug, but this one you plug into the wall and then you sit it on yourself and then it just like does its thing, auto-blowing you to completion. It's auto-blowing you to completion. And there's a, you can sync it with real live porn movies.

So there's some porn movies where you can, I guess, like Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon and Wizard of Oz, you can start it both at the credits and then it'll auto blow you to completion, just like the movie. There's something for everyone. So anyway, probably not going to have that guy on as a guest, but maybe, I don't know, maybe that's what we should do. Maybe that's where we get our, I'm going to tell them, I say, if I get 30% of any sales that come from the commercial break, I'll probably be a millionaire after that episode. Everyone's going to be like, I got an autoblow, a TCB autoblow.

We could do a collab. Yeah, we could do a collab, a TCB collab with the autoblow, a TCB autoblow. A TCB. We could do a collab. Yeah, we could do a collab, a TCB collab with the autoblow guy. Well, I mean, it does tie in with the EPMs. It does. Listen, it's not above us to have. It's not like I'm saying we're too good

to have the autoblow guy on. We're not. It's just, can we actually have a conversation with the autoblow guy without getting electrocuted. That's all I'm saying. I don't trust something you got to plug in. I just don't. I'm not putting that thing on my dick.

I'm sorry. It's just not happening. I don't, I'd like to hide what I'm doing my thing because I don't even want to see me. I was talking to somebody a couple months ago and they were like, yeah, it's kind of weird. You know, you're in the mirror doing your thing. And I'm like, in the mirror, you're doing the mirror. You're watching yourself. In the mirror.

That's gross. I feel bad for Astrid. I like to turn the lights off. So at least she doesn't have to look at this while she's trying to auto blow herself to completion. Oh. Good times. Anyways, back to Rory. Anyway, back to Rory. Rory's here.

Rory's on tour. He's got that special. He's been in physical. He's been in those who can't, which you cannot watch anywhere. So I don't know why I'm talking about it. Well, it got you through, it was your emotional support video series

that got you through in Spain. My Northwest Spain adventure with the Airbnb that had no air conditioning, chickens, and no internet or television. Which, hey, listen, I'm sure that for some people that's like, you know, that's the best thing that ever happened. Yeah, that's the best thing that ever happened.

But for me, it was the worst thing that ever happened because I was like, wait, I gotta sit around with my extended family and talk with no distraction? And no Waffle House around for you to escape to. I think we were there for about a day and a half, two days if I recall the story, before we took off to a hotel in town. I think I remember you coming back and saying that.

Couldn't do it. Couldn't do it. We left the rest of the family there and Astrid's like, I already know. I came to her and I'm like, honey, and she goes, I already know. I booked a hotel. And I'm like, all right, yeah. But those who can't, I downloaded it onto my phone while holding my phone up in the middle of the street

trying to get my neighbors internet. In Spain, while the chickens were coming after me, I didn't even know chickens were nocturnal. That's the weirdest thing. Is that, do chickens- I pictured them like roosting down for the evening. Oh, oh, oh. Wawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawawaw They were like roosting down for the evening. And their little house. Yeah, and then all of a sudden,

like the wifi waves are going through their brains and they're like, They were chasing you. They thought it was morning time. They thought, oh, this guy's here to feed us. And I said, no, I'm here to looking for internet. Get off my leg, get away. They're scary when they're that big.

Well, it was a rooster actually. And he was not happy that I was hanging out near his- N-Ow. Ladies, yeah, he was defending the N-Ow. I said, listen, it doesn't even work for human women, so it's not gonna work for chickens. Don't worry about it, I'm good. I'm just looking for some true TV comedy,

that's what I'm looking for. Yes. So let's do this. So before we get way far off track, check out Rory's special. If he's coming close, get some tickets to his tour. We got lots to discuss with him. So let's do this. Why don't we take a break, Chrissy?

And when we get back through the magic of tele-podcasting, you and I will have Rory right here in our, in my living room, essentially. Well bam! Well bam! Well bam! I wish I could do that, but I'm too throaty today to do, well bam! It sounds real now. It's like, ha ha ha!

We're on our 10th fake spring around here and the pollen is starting to snow pollen in Atlanta because it rained over the weekend and it was warm and now it's cold. So what happens? The trees jizz pollen directly into my sinuses and then I've got a tree semen based infection in my nose. That's what happens. Sock puppet like Ari, sock puppet.

That was funny. That was funny. That was funny. All right. We'll talk lots more about all that jazz when we get back with our good friend, our good friend, with hopefully our friend, Ari Scoville. We'll be back. Hey, it's Rachel, your new voice of God here on TCB. And just like you, I'm wondering just how much longer this podcast can continue. Let's all rejoice that another episode has made it to your ears, and I'll rejoice that my check is in the mail. Speaking of mail, get your free TCB sticker in the mail by going to tcbpodcast.com and

visiting the Contact Us page. You can also find the entire Commercial Break Library, audio and video, just in case you wanna look at Chrissy, at tcbpodcast.com. Want your voice to be on an episode of the show? Leave us a message at 212-433-3TCB. That's 212-433-3822. Tell us how much you love us,

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Listen to and follow the women's hoop show and Odyssey podcast available now wherever you get your podcasts. And Rory's here with us now. Thank you for your time. Very grateful to have you here with us today. Yeah, thanks for having me. Where in the world are you located? I am in Denver, Colorado.

Oh, my oh hi. As of, I don't know, six months or something. I love Denver. Yeah, how do you like Denver? Love it, absolutely love it, a lot. You are originally from Greenville, South Carolina, is that right? Yeah, right around the corner from where we are.

We're here in Atlanta. I'm up there all the time. Yeah, Greenville has become quite a little pocket of cool. Yeah, and I didn't know that. I went and saw Pearl Jam there maybe like seven or eight years ago, and we spent a couple days in Greenville and just kind of darted around from here to there.

And I thought, what a cool fucking city that I have never thought twice about living an hour and a half away. And. You know, it's now very, it's very popular. It's always on the list of top 10 mid, mid sized cities in the country, which has not been a good thing for them because it has now flooded the city and now real estate is crazy in a

negative way. If anyone grew up there is like, I'm going to buy a house now. It's like, well. $700,000. That price is substantially higher. The fact that you guys can't stop advertising how great of a city you are. Yeah, but we see that. We see the commercials all the time.

I think I saw a billboard one time. It was like, Greenville is second Atlanta and we don't want it. Or Greenville is Atlanta number two. We don't want it or something along those lines. It was like, it was like the Greenville tourism board said, please don't come. We're not interested in your bullshit. You know what? We're not great after all. Right.

We're bad. We are the armpit of Atlanta. Don't bother. It's a great jaunt. If you, I mean, if you live here in Atlanta, you can go an hour and a half away, but I do understand places like Asheville and Charleston and, you know, these places, Charleston has always been a tourist city, but Charleston also is just like overrun with tourists, like every other tourist town in the world in places like Greenville, which are like these tertiary cities, they get inundated with human beings

that go there for the weekend. And then they decide since I can now work from home, let me go live there. And then people like Rory's family have to pay $850,000 for a thousand square foot dump shack. And people are like, fuck, what happened? This used to be $100,000. Your parents still live there? I mean, your family still live there?

I've got a lot of family there and I've got, I'm one of seven siblings. Jesus. Oh wow. And so the three oldest all moved away. My older sister lives in Virginia, I live in Denver, and then my sister just after me lives in Seattle. Okay. So one of seven. So what are your, how did you grow up? Do you grow up Catholic, Christian? Catholic. Catholic. Had to be Catholic. Had to be Catholic.

It has to be. I want to make the assumption, but I wanted to make the assumption. Jim the Gaffigan has the best joke ever. And it's such an old classic of his. I mean, before he was wildly famous, it was just always like, whenever someone says how many kids they have, they always say Catholic. Yeah. And I've already assumed that. Yeah. So my mother passed away when I was really young and it was me and my older sister.

My dad remarried when I was six or seven and then I have five half siblings. Okay. Jesus, like a little Brady Bunch situation going on. We're an army. We're a Brady Bunch army. Yeah. Okay. And so where do you fit in the group? Second oldest. Second oldest.

Of all seven. Of all seven. Wow. That's gotta be, so I'm one of four. My mom was one of eight, good Catholic upbringing. My mom wanted more. My dad, I think, understood that this is it. This is the limit. I don't have any, I don't know how many more credit cards I can. Oh, right. Yeah, he's like, the money isn't increasing just because the people are. That's right. That's right. And we're all going to Catholic school, like little good Catholic children. We're all going to Catholic school. Did you go to Catholic school all your life?

I did kindergarten through eighth grade, as did all seven of us. Geez. And then my older sister and I are the only two that then went to a private Episcopalian high school. I went there until I basically failed 10th grade. My dad was like, this is so expensive, what are we doing? And then he went to public high school and was immediately on the high honor roll. Jared Liesveld Well, yeah, because, so when I was, I lived in Chicago, born in Chicago, and I go to Catholic grade school there. And for those of you that

aren't Catholic, you may not understand that the archdiocese, at least when I went to school, and I'm sure maybe Rory too, the archdiocese will fund, they will fund some of your education if you are Catholic and you attend one of their archdiocese churches, right? So like here in Atlanta. So when we were in Chicago, the education was mostly free. I think they paid a couple hundred dollars a month for whatever, and then the uniforms, and then the, and then the, and then the, but when we got here, my dad was just like,

I just moved here, I have a new job, I don't know how long I'm gonna have the job. I gotta, I'm sorry guys, you're gonna have to go. Yeah. Sixth grade, you're gonna have to do middle school, out of the frying pan, into the fire. The difference between the two educations was, and I went to one of the nicest suburban middle schools

in the country, and I felt like I was getting eaten up by a big flower. I mean, like a big dragon. It was crazy how much different the attitudes, moods, and just having 700 children in your grade was, right? So, when I go, then we go back to Catholic school after sixth grade, because my dad realized that we were, the black eye that I had for the entire year was probably not good for my confidence, so my dad found a way to get it done. And here's the point, we get to sixth grade, we get to seventh grade in the private school back in Catholic school, and within three months, the teachers are like, we've actually got to hold them back a grade because I don't think they learned much in that sixth grade.

You just, there's a difference between the edge, the speed at which they educate you when there's 15 kids in the class versus 500. Oh, true. Yeah, it's intense. And so you, you hit high honor roll in the public school. Yeah, I mean, I, I was ADHD, still ADHD, I don't know if it stops,

but, or maybe it does, maybe we're learning now that our diets contribute heavily to that. But I was diagnosed in high school and I could not have been a more obvious case. And they put me on Ritalin to start and it messed with my appetite. So then they put me on Adderall and this is, you know, this is the 90s when it's like-

The go-go 90s. Yeah, the ADHD of it all is kind of new to this world of something that someone has. And even still, someone would just say, well, you're choosing to not pay attention. And what's so funny or interesting about that is that the person with ADHD myself was always being told that by an adult

where I was like, oh yeah, I must not be choosing to pay attention as opposed to arguing on my own behalf of it must be something beyond a choice. I'm so excited. Jared Yeah, it's like a continuation of the Catholic guilt. It's like, and I mean, we know this uniquely as Catholics going to Catholic school, but you are not applying yourself. You are not focused. You cannot sit still. And it's like, in your head, you're thinking, what is this original sin that I'm born with that I can't sit here and pay attention? Yeah. Well, I think you buy into it because the way your brain works is that if there's something

you're even slightly interested in, you almost crush at it. Yes. So hard because you're in it. Yeah. And if you're not even interested even a little bit, you can't fake it. You cannot turn your brain on to retain any information. So it's always interesting to me to be like, you're choosing to not pay attention. It's like, well, I wouldn't choose to fail 10th grade. Yeah, exactly.

I don't want to choose to walk into a test and always panic, not knowing what to do. Anyways, going back, they put me on Adderall and I immediately start just soaring. My grades are incredible. But the downside is that, probably to surprise to no one, is that I would go home and do my homework and then I would just sit in my room, surprise to no one is that I would go home and do my homework and then I would just sit in my room, like in a chair with just my mind, zero stimulation and just spiral out into deep thought about anything existential.

Oh man, you go, yeah. Yeah. In a way where deep personal thought like that can be healthy, but the adderall wouldn't release me from it. I would just be sort of stuck in that and it would depress me. And then before college, I took myself off of it. And I sometimes think that there's just predetermined choices. I don't know why I took myself off of it, but I had an instinct that this was not good for me. And I took myself off of the thing that was making my grades.

Yes. Incredible. And I was like, no. You know, I feel like you and I have a very similar story because I also, in 11th grade, I had, there was a lot of trouble. There was some family strife, but I also was one of those kids who was diagnosed with ADHD. I have a twin brother. And I think what happened is, is that me and my twin brother kind of suffered

the same fates in a lot of situations because they didn't, there weren't that many twins and they didn't know what else to do. If you're ADHD, you can't not do this and you have to do this and we'll all go together and we're just doing it that way. And they put me on Adderall, Ritalin, excuse me. They put me on Ritalin and it made me so anxious

and I would sweat up a storm. You know, you're already, I'm already, I'm already Irish so I'm schvitzing all over the plane. I got these huge armpit stains, but then I'm wearing these coats in the middle of winter just to cover these armpit stains. But I would go to class and I would just be so intensely focused on something and so nervous at the same time about everything.

And so it didn't last long. I was on that for maybe two or three months. And when I took it off, I found a way to kind of focus in on things. But yeah, but these kids, they're on really intense stimulants. I also took myself off of mainly cocaineants. I also took myself off of, mainly cocaine is mainly what I took myself off of. It's essentially meth. I mean, it's kind of meth. And then you, nowadays you take everything with a grain of salt because someone is feeding you real science and then someone's feeding you fake

science. And you're like, just give me the truth. I'll do it if you just tell me the thing to do. But I saw some study about kids being fed healthier foods and that's a contributing factor. I've also listened to podcasts talking about how trauma is a contributing factor to ADHD. So I don't know what any of it is, but I will say eating healthier. I'm finally able to read a book without reading each page five times. Oh my God. Isn't that the worst? Isn't that the worst? I got into that phase in my thirties too. You had to read it each time. Do you find as you're getting older, that you're paying more attention to the, I think it's like, kind of like the

butterfly effect. Like I don't know that all of these things are connected, but I feel like if one thing is affecting one thing, then it must be affecting the I think it's like kind of like the butterfly effect. Like I don't know that all of these things are connected, but I feel like if one thing is affecting one thing, then it must be affecting the other. In other words, it all kind of is interconnected. So if you're eating better and you're addressing past traumas or situations in your life that may be locked inside your head or weighing you down emotionally,

if you take care of those things, address those things, it can only improve everything a little bit more, right? Oh, I agree a million percent. I think that foundation is healthy eating and then getting a healthy sleep. Sleep, yeah. And so many contributing factors that we're starting to learn are massive contributors to just a healthier life. And yet for some reason, there are people out there that pretend as though we

fully understand the human experience and that none of that stuff can be true. And they would rather defend horrific eating habits and chemicals in our food. And they look at you as though you're lumped in with people who come up with wild conspiracy theories and you're not. It's like, yeah, if you have a food company and you don't wanna pay a lot of money, you might cut corners. Cutting corners we now know can sometimes lead to cancer.

It's like, yeah, that's right. Idea, it's just someone wanted to save money and at the time they didn't know that it would be detrimental to our health. Correct. And just because we know it now doesn't mean we're conspiracy theorists. It means, hey, let's just try to write the path here. And instead of doing that, some people would rather go, no, McDonald's is an American tradition. People are, I think they get stuck in their heads and they get stuck in their ways. And I think also, and you, I know you know this,

because I watch your special and I, I sense that you're onto this, is that the tribalism is so strong that if you, everything is about one or the other, black or white, when everything's really gray, it's like, if you believe in eating healthy, then you must be one of these health conspiracy nuts who believes every, you know, big McDonald's is a big conspiracy to keep us all fat and ugly and weighed down. But, and you voted for that girl or you voted for this guy, but that's not the truth.

You can evolve. Like we can evolve and not believe that, you know, 5G waves are going to activate the COVID vaccine and send us all to hell, but that eating, not eating McDonald's every day for lunch is probably not good for us. There is a middle space there where you can believe those two things can be true at the same time. Yeah, it's about, I think, you know, there's certain things you can, if someone says, look, 5G is these waves out in the world that cause cancer, you can go, all right, well, I don't know what you want

me to do about that. But if there is something to be done about that, I could probably on a local communal level, start to defend the fact that I think there should be accountability for local politicians and government employees on the most local district level and then regional and then statewide. And then eventually you go, well, if that accountability has grown into a beautiful

flower, then more than likely we'll get to hear the truth about what 5G is doing. It's true. Yeah, it's true. Because we will have unmuddied the waters. But instead, to your point, people get very tribalistic and they don't realize how driven they are by their own egos that they can't put it away. And the irony is that a lot of them are deeply religious. And I think that's supposed to teach you to get rid of your ego. I think it is, you know, but you did this special on HBO on Max, it's streaming now on Max.

It's brilliant. It's really good. Thank you. You're welcome. And you go right at it right from the beginning. You, you, you hit right at the, the kind of the gut of religion. What is your, where are you now in,

where are you now in kind of your evolution about religion? You grew up Catholic, went to Catholic school, just like I did, something turned me off big time about the theocracy and some of the idiocracy. And I was just having this conversation with my dad yesterday, but, which was not a comfortable conversation, but, because he said that Conclave, the movie,

was Hollywood pushing a liberal agenda on it. And I was like, Dad, anyway, I said, Dad, you know the Catholic Church has been a hiding ground, literally a place for gay men and women to go hide for years. And the fact that the pope might or might not understand that is not a Hollywood conspiracy that's been written. It's the truth. But anyway, where do you stand in religion as an adult? I don't adhere to it and it isn't because I despise it. I think that a lot of

early education, going to church, being taught about Jesus from a child standpoint, I learned a lot about Jesus. And my perception was this is the blueprint of what everyone is supposed to try to, you know, aspire to, is to behave this way and to treat others this way. And I think anything beyond that is just so unnecessary. It's also wildly outdated. That one element of how to be a person is universal and eternal. That will never change. All the other minutia has nothing to do with anything. It has literally zero importance to educating people to simply conduct themselves respectfully and to treat others respectfully. You don't need the rest of it. And so, I think from what I can gather, watching, listening to modern Christianity, and this extends probably to other religions,

I just know Christianity. But to me, the modern version of it has lost sight of that. And the only reason I say that is because of the people who tell me they're Christian, and then I see their actions. The words can always be the words, but that was another thing we learned as a kid. The words don't matter. It's all the actions. And so, that's all I'm going off of is a politician or a political leader or a religious leader or people who locally want to go out and be religious and be sort of street evangelicals, just listening to them, feeling them, sensing what energy they're putting beyond what they're saying, I'm sorry, I'm like, that just to me doesn't line up with Jesus and it doesn't line up with improving the world or opening people's eyes. And so, sadly, I think

religion is really kind of a communal club. It's another great example that we as humans crave community. It's unfortunate that it's now been tainted. Yeah, it's so tainted and it adds to the tribalism. And now it's political, which is just crazy to me, because that was my dad as a kid, I don't know, maybe your parents were like this also. My dad, I remember this specifically during one of the elections, like the first Clinton election, second Clinton election, when I was aware enough that an election was happening

and I asked my dad, who did you vote for? And he looked at me and he said, you never ask somebody that question. He said, you never ask somebody that question. He's my fucking father. He wouldn't tell me who he voted for, which was insane. But I long for those, I long for the day. Yeah, right.

For the day when you didn't. But you know, you are, I think you are, you and I think a lot alike about this. And I know Chrissy does too, because we've talked a lot about it on the show. It's like religion in and of itself is not the evil creature. It is, it can be a conduit to such great things, but it can also be a conduit to money, power, and violence. And it has been throughout history. If you look, it's probably done a little bit more bad than it has good,

but it really begins and ends with, do unto others. That's it. And that story's been told, that story was told seven times before Jesus Christ supposedly even walked on the earth, this kind of the same story. And I love that you wrap in this new special, it's not new now, but it's been out for about what, a year?

A year, about a year. Yeah. It's so good, and you rap this in such a hilarious package, but it's pointed and it's satirical and it's improvisational, I would imagine, at moments. And it's just really good, it's really sharp, and you go at it and the audience seems to be with you because it's hard to defend, it's hard to knock common sense.

Like it's just hard to knock common sense. Yeah it's just hard to knock common sense. Yeah, I'm addicted to it. Me too. My earliest days of doing standup, I just always was drawn to hypocrisy, even my own. And I gotta say, like, you can become a better person through your craft if I'm gonna go on stage and talk about other people's hypocrisies that I'm confronted by my own. And I have to say also, if I'm gonna go on stage and talk about other people's hypocrisies, that I'm confronted by my own. And I have to say also, if I'm gonna go on stage and talk about someone else's behavior, then I have to confront my own past behavior. Reconcile, do I think I'm an improved person now? I think a lot of people just want to be born into a world where they go, this is what I was

taught and this is who I am and this is how it is. Yeah. It's wildly bland and incredibly boring. I think it's wildly more interesting for someone to go, I have made many mistakes. And you go, well, then who are you now? Because if you're past those mistakes, then you're living a real human life. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Also, if you can come to those terms and say, I didn't used to treat people well. If you come to those terms and go, I used to, I mean, these aren't specific to me, but I did grow up in South Carolina. I did used to make inappropriate jokes

that were maybe racial or misogynistic. And maybe I didn't have respect for women the same way in college where I was just like being a college guy. I know when you use this as an example, people think, well, what did you do, Rory? I just mean I wasn't a gentleman. I just mean that I didn't look at women to be like, oh, we're all equals in this way. And I don't look now at that space in my life.

Yeah, I wish I wasn't like that. But I don't look at it with embarrassment or shame because that is what led me to where I am now, where I'm not that way. Yes. And I can have a different perspective of it. And I just think we have a lot of people that think they've lost if they admit that they weren't right the whole time. Yeah. Yes. True.

And they don't understand that you can't bring other people towards something that's a little more peaceful if you can't even see your faults. That's right. And I think people think, well, I don't want to have faults. It's like, it's the most common thing we all, every single person, varying degrees of these faults. And it's like, you know, obviously when you have faults that are, we're now talking about the law, that's a different story.

Right. Yes. I'm talking about faults where people just go socially, I could have been a better person. I could have been more respectful. I could have defended someone at a time when they needed to be defended and instead, I decided to join the side of the bully or I decided to talk to people like that, you know? I think people just don't want to admit that at some point they were kind of a bad person. Yeah, I'm, I'm happy to admit that I was, I would much rather spend time with a person who was a real

shithead, but is a, but is now becoming self aware, has become self aware and is doing their best than to spend a time with someone who's pious, but won't give up the idea that they're ever wrong. And because that is the worst sin, quote unquote to me, is our right fighters. Like, okay, man, you know, at all expenses, you have to be right, but maybe you are wrong. Maybe you are wrong. And you know what the biggest lesson that I've learned, I think over the, in my marriage,

and I learned this and I think it's the most valuable lesson I have ever learned. It is not the, the top of the mountain is not always to be right. You have to learn which hills to die on and you can always evolve. Your thought can always evolve. You don't always have to be right. You don't always have to hold on to the idea that this is the way it always will be. The only thing that ever changed, the only thing that never changes is that everything always changes. And I would like to think we all learned that lesson at some point, but man, do I know a whole lot of fucking people who just don't. They just

don't. They're just so stuck. And that's okay. That's also their lot. And so let them carry on with it. I'm going to be wrong a lot more than I'm ever gonna be right, but I'm also quick to admit when I'm wrong. This whole podcast, all thousand hours of it, is a testament to how wrong Brian is. There's a lot of examples. I can be right. And I think conversely, a lot of people are quick to say, this person was wrong,

and we can never allow them back in the circle. Yeah, that's true too. Kick them out, right? And I think, and I agree, there are some things that have been, we've talked about this ad nauseum on this show, but you know, Harvey Weinstein, probably never coming back in the circle. Those are just things you can't, that are hard to forgive and you don't want to be around that character. But some people, sometimes you say stuff and then years later you realize that was a real shitty thing I said. And if you can learn from it, okay, come back, you know, all right,

come back, you're all right, you're okay, cool. Yeah. Yeah. I think a lot of people don't realize the currency of, of, uh, genuinely showing remorse and asking forgiveness. Yeah. Well, it's hard to see. I don't understand the admission of like when this is such a great example, and it's not

mine, but when you like are at someone's house and you knock something over, you break it and you immediately take ownership and try to make it right by going, oh, I'll pay, I'll, you know, I did this. I'll clean it up. I'll pay for it. Yeah. I think people don't understand like more than likely the person's just like, oh, it's fine. Like they almost feel bad that you did this. And it's just because you nearly took accountability. You said, yeah, I shouldn't have, whatever I did, I knocked this thing. I spilled my drink or whatever. These are minimal things, but still in a world of anything, we're all human. We have the ability to read each other. Some people are forfeiting that ability. I don't know how, but a lot of us can instinctually

feel each other's energy. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. You're full of shit. Yeah. And I think that's, it's hard to see sometimes when it's wrapped up in PR spin and, you know, statements or just, you know, I guess now we just

break the rules and don't apologize. And I don't know, I don't want to get into anything all political. And I love what you just say, in a world where everyone is wrong. Rory Schoen. Hey, we wanted to ask you about something because we just got fascinated. We went down a whole rabbit hole. What is going on at Largo? Why is Largo the coolest place that's ever been?

I saw you a lot at Largo during the COVID. Yeah, Largo is just, I mean, it's no surprise. It's just an awesome space. I wish that smaller room was open again. Maybe it is now, I don't know, but that smaller room was great. The large room was great. I think it's just Flannie that whole crew. Got some history. Know how to book it. They know how to bring in cool music. They know how to bring in comedy. And also they are proof that you can have three comics go up and then bring on the saddest singer songwriter. Yeah.

It won't ruin the show. The audience will enjoy this flavor and then they'll go right back to laughing. Yeah, Largo just, I think, pushes that out there more. So the magic is in the booking because I mean, if you go to their Instagram page and you just scroll through any given night, it's like, oh, that, that person, that person. Every person we've had on this show is that Largo. Yeah. Yeah. I think they built that reputation where if you're a comic, it's fun to perform there.

Yeah. And they take care of you and it's a great space. And I think if you're a musician, you know, you gotta think like if, Beck, for instance, is there a lot. Oh, really? Nice. When you think about someone, Beck, it's like, well, Beck wants to do shows

that aren't show shows. Yeah, yeah. But like work on his craft. It's like Largo just happens to be that great sort of, I don't want to minimize it by calling it an open mic, but it is a place to go experiment as a proven artist where you can still go, all right, this is a fun show, but I'm going to try a song I've never done. And that crowd is going to go crazy loving it. Whereas if Beck goes out and does a tour, the audience probably doesn't want to

hear, Hey, here's a song I've never done. Right. Here's, here's a 15 minute jazz improvisational piece. I made up in my head when I was taking mushrooms last night. Here you go. Yeah. It's, it's, it seems like a magic room because everybody is there and everybody wants to be there.

And it's like, it just feels like a re, I've never been, but then you look at it, it's rather unassuming altogether. Right? And then you see everybody who's there. It's like John C. Reilly dressed up as a 1930s, you know, prairie men singing opera. It's like, that's just the weirdest shit that's going on there. It's great. They have a cool vibe.

You have, you have done so much. So I think you're pretty well known for your improvisational skills. You've got now stand-up specials, Netflix, most recently on Mac. Did you produce that with Conan O'Brien? Is that right, Team Coco? Yeah.

Well, how was that experience? It's great. Conan has been very supportive for a wildly long time. Uh, he is great. How did, how did you guys get connected? I did his show. I did his show with John Doar, um, over 12 years ago, something like that.

The television show. Yeah. Okay. We just went on Conan's, uh, you know, Conan. Yeah. And, uh, we did the double booking kind of sketch bit and it crushed and I was blown away that Conan and we did the double booking kind of sketch bit and it crushed and I was blown away

that Conan even allowed that to be on the show. Yeah, that's crazy. It's such a risk as a joke. And then he let us come back and do another thing and that also worked. And I think after that, he was just like, I think you and John are funny. I think you individually are funny.

I think that you guys try to push the envelope and John are funny. I think you individually are funny. I think that you guys, you know, try to push the envelope and do something different. And so, yeah, all my appearances, he just got behind it and let me try weird stuff. And then I toured with him for a few dates when he was not allowed to be, not, I mean, he was not allowed to be on TV, but when he was trying to do standup.

Yeah. Yeah, and that was a wild period of time for TV, but when he was trying to do stand up. Yeah. Yeah. And that was a wild period of time for him, by the way, that kind of in-between space for Conan. He came to Atlanta and literally 50,000 people showed up at the Turner campus. It was crazy. And they, and everybody went nuts. So it must be nice to have a guy like Conan, who has, you know, was really revered and respected.

We love Conan. Everyone loves Conan, right? Conan's one of those guys. It's hard to root against Conan. It must be nice to have that kind of mentorship of someone who has done it, been there, been knocked down, gotten back up. He's really made a name for himself.

But you've done the standup, you've done the improvisational, you've done sketch comedy, you've done the standup, you've done the improvisational, you've done sketch comedy, you've done television comedy. You did physical, which was a great role, I think. We were just talking about that before you came on. Is it coming back or no, it's done? No, three seasons and done.

Three and done, three and done. I feel like there was a lot of unanswered stuff. I know, in the middle of shooting the third season is when Apple was like this is it so Annie Weissman The genius yeah, later show creator head writer showrunner Quickly figured out a way to try to have some kind of closure For the audience, but I'm pretty sure her vision was a five season arc run Yeah, I could yeah, and I think it was gonna go to a such a different place, but you're suddenly told,

Hey, you've got six more episodes or whatever it was. And so she had to pivot. Wrap it up. Yeah. It's really unfortunate. I think, uh, you know, I couldn't sit here and tell you, Oh, did this lose money? It's Apple. So I don't even know if they understand how to lose money.

oh, did this lose money? It's Apple. So I don't even know if they understand how to lose money. Right. But I think a lot of times nowadays, people on that side of the table, on that side of the camera, don't factor in that maybe all these audiences are owed a little bit of closure to these stories.

As opposed to deciding to abruptly end them. It's unfortunate for just the craft of storytelling. And it's like, hey, maybe you as executives should be doing a better job of not getting involved in buying a show in the first place. If you don't think it can execute a full story to begin with. And I don't mean go eight seasons.

I think we get a little carried away with that too. Sure. Right. But ending things on three, like is- I think ending on three is tough. I think, you know, maybe look at some of these shows and go, all right, four to five, like buy a show where you think there's a story to be told for four to five seasons.

And I mean that in terms of something like physical where these aren't just episodes, you know? I go sell a comedy that's just a funny, stupid comedy with not so much weight to the lives of these characters. Well, that's a different show when it abruptly ends. Nobody needs that kind of exposure. That's right, yeah, no one's emotionally connected. I mean, they might like it.

Yeah. They might like it, but they're not emotionally connected. I wanted to know how it ends. It's like, well, no one's emotionally connected. I mean, they might like it, yeah. They might like it, but they're not emotionally connected. I wanted to know how it ends. It's like, well, you probably don't, you're just going to miss the laughter. Right. But, you know, a show like Physical, it's like, you know, why not give it at least a fourth season so she can wrap it up a little more eloquently?

I think this is the downside, and I think there's a lot of downsides, but I think this is the downside, and I think there's a lot of downsides, but I think this is the, the wonderful part about Prestige TV and the ability to throw, just throw cash at creative ideas and allow them to manifest themselves in beautiful ways is great. But the downside is once the press gets out there and physical is great and everybody watched physical and they see a bump in subscribers, we're going to season two, but then it doesn't happen again in season two.

It's just like, guys, sorry, we gotta let that go. And so you get these kind of, there are so many great shows, Netflix, Hulu, Apple, Amazon, that have three and done. That's it, three and done. Because I think that's the natural arc of subscriber acquisition due to the show is like once the press fades out,

it's like what are you gonna do? To also fill you in, it's after that third season is when you have to renegotiate contracts. Ah. They'd rather not pay us actors more money. And so instead they go, let's just end the show. Ah, and we save that money and go start another show. Yeah.

And then at season three we'll end that show. And so it's unfortunate because it's art that is storytelling, human nature storytelling is our most natural human thing, I think, in terms of our connections. Of course, definitely. And instead of supporting it, it's just like, well, we don't wanna pay you more money. It sounds stupid. You've already changed everything where your profits are more than

they used to be. Yeah. You're paying us less than we used to make. Right. And also streaming has absolutely destroyed what used to be where someone could just go be on a show for a couple of seasons and actually do great with royalties. Right. But instead.

It's one paycheck and done. Residuals, I mean. Yeah, residuals, yeah. But instead, that doesn't exist anymore. And it's kind of one and done, and get out of our face, and you're like, all right. And also things just, there's so much content now. It's tough.

I gotta say, I'm fortunate to be a stand-up comic, but living in the world we live in now economically, I don't know how sustainable all this stuff actually is. I don't see it either. I don't see it either. I think it's, Chrissy and I have talked about this and I kind of take this contrarian stance

that Netflix broke something that was not broken. We may not have loved everything about it, but the kind of the way that cable carried television shows into our homes and allowed good television to stay around, you know, there was something there. And now, yes, we have endless choices. It's just flooded. There's no disc.

The discovery is hard. If your show's not getting a bunch of press, it's just going to get buried. You know, the story arcs last for a season, maybe two, maybe three. And it's just really tough as the viewer, because you get emotionally. Imagine if Severance ended tomorrow.

We'd all go throwing our heads through a wall. Well, physical was good, and there's not a lot of closure around it. As is those who can't. And that was one of my favorite television shows of all time. So here's the story. I go, I was lucky enough to take a big long trip in Spain.

My wife is Venezuelan and Spanish and we have family in Spain. So we said, let's go spend a month in Spain. Let's take the kids, they're young. We're gonna go spend a month in Spain. And we traveled all around and we get to the north of Spain and my wife had rented an Airbnb that really ended up being like a working chicken farm.

It was, we were in the middle of the Andalusian mountains or wherever the hell we were. And we are on this like live chicken farm. And the Airbnb, I said, honey, the only thing I need is I need internet so that I can make sure that the show is running and that, you know, we get communication from the network and stuff like that. And she says, oh, don't worry, every Airbnb we're going to get has internet. But when we get there, the internet is coming from the owner of the house lives two doors down,

which is like half a mile away. And she has internet that she then sends to like, you know, it's, it's like a wireless router. So if certain parts of the house, you might or might not be able to connect, depending on what day or time, or if the chickens are out, if they're not, or whatever. So I had downloaded.

I had watched a couple of episodes of Those Who Can't, and I downloaded all the seasons onto my phone through TruTV, or I think it was TruTV. And I, the way that I did that is in the middle of the night, I snuck out of the front of the house and the chickens followed me and tried to peck at me. They followed me and I went up to the other house and I started downloading your episodes.

And you kept me sane through a good portion of this trip, which I really wanted to go insane. We're in the middle of nowhere, nothing to do. The kids are going crazy. The chickens are shitting everywhere and trying to kill my kids. And I watched your show and I loved it. I just wish there was so much more of it.

That experience, was that a great experience making that television show? And so many comedians came on that show. Yeah, absolutely. Those three guys, Adam and Ben and Andrew, it was, it's so funny that the, the start of that show was when Amazon was getting into streaming shows. And I remember this was absurd to everybody because everyone's like Amazon is where I buy packages. And yet they were going to now do TV. So it seemed crazy, but they decided to do this

competition where they would give all these applicants a certain amount of money to make a pilot. They would post all the pilots and whoever got the most views, the top two would get a show. Yeah. And so these guys came up with this show. They hired me to play the principal. These are my friends on the lowest budget shooting something at a high school in Denver.

And I didn't take it seriously at all. I showed up to wear the most ridiculous clothes. I, I'll try to find a picture to send you guys. Yeah, please. Yeah. Like, uh, for the pilot that was never used. Okay. But I had them, uh, straight iron my hair.

And I had like kind of longer hair and it was like so creepy looking at a big beard. And I didn't take one scene seriously. I set the lines, but I just kept trying to get them to break and we'd come up with stuff and we'd just keep shooting. But at no point did it feel like a job. Then they did the competition. They ended up getting either the most views or the second highest views. But Amazon just wanted to pick the two shows that had a celebrity on it. Yeah.

So it didn't matter, the view thing never mattered. It never mattered. They just wanted someone attached to the project. Right. And so it kind of died and everybody was heartbroken to be like, oh, we kind of did win the thing we were told to win and nothing came of it. True TV comes along, kind of a brand new platform,

and they decide to buy it from Amazon, which is probably, I don't know, the cheapest. $10. And then they made it and they're like, do you want to come on and be the principal? It's now going to be an official 10 episode, I don't know how many episodes we did that first season. And I was like, yeah. I just kind of kept doing the same thing.

I was like, my friends are my just kind of kept doing the same thing. I was like, my friends are my bosses, and I'm not taking anything seriously. I say all of that to say that the reason why it was so fun and why I loved it is because at that point, I was too inexperienced to let doubt or expectations seep in that I just had fun as an artist. And I look back now and I go, man, I wish I could somehow get back to that mental state when I step on set, even if it's a dramatic scene that has no jokes. I wish I could get back to fucking play. Just, yeah. And explore.

Yeah. Don't put up these expectations and don't feel like, I mean, a lot of scenes I step into, you know, in something like Babylon, where it's like, here's all these stars. I walk in going, don't be the guy who gets past the ball and dribbles it out of bat. Right. And that's no way to be.

Yeah, well, yeah. You know, the guy goes, when I catch it, I'm shooting it. Yeah. And that's the mind frame you have to have to like really soar. And yeah, I look back fondly at that show because I unknowingly was in that head space. Well, this'll probably be the 300th time

I've said this on the commercial break, but watch that television show. It is so fucking funny. It is one of the funniest television shows that I honestly have ever seen. I loved it from the first episode. Send me that picture because as a fan boy, I'm gonna print it and I'll put it here in the studio.

I'm gonna find it, I'm gonna text Adam because even as I told that story, I was like, oh, I don't know where that picture is and I would actually love to see that because I looked psychotic. And I think that's a fun part about the show. Really, honestly, I mean, all the guys areotic. And I think that's a fun part about the show. Really, honestly, I mean, all the guys are good.

Benny's great, Adam's great, when you... But you are a scene stealer in that show. It's like every time you come out, you want more of the principle, because it's just so funny. And I can only imagine how many takes some of this took, because if I was standing there, there would have been breaking all over the place, for sure. See, what is your favorite thing to do?

Is it like, are you still in love with improv? Are you feeling stand-up is where your place is? You're kind of versatile. You're one of those few who are doing all, I mean, I guess there's a number of people out there who do it, but not to great effect. You've now been in a great television show, had a great special, been in comedy TV, what is your, where does

your heart lie? You know, it's interesting. I don't know how long you want this answer to be, but it could be. Well, I got all day. This could be wildly lengthy. Go. I will say as someone who started to stand up, but also wanted to act and be in stuff,

I don't know that I ever thought I'd get as far as I currently have gotten in any of the things that I've done. Like I thought it was great just to get to be in a few commercials when I lived in New York City. I thought, oh wow, people will see that. Like you're sort of driven by, I want people to see that I did succeed at standup. Specifically when you say people,

it's like family and friends that you grew up with. Sure. You're like, hey, I chose a different path and I wanna show you it worked out. So you're driven to sort of prove that you think you're good enough to do these things, to be an actor and maybe be in something, to be a standup and do it.

And I think something happens where you get to a point and you realize while that might've been a good motivating factor early on, it also shouldn't be a motivating factor in general as an artist because you don't create anything new and you also don't necessarily put anything out there that's wildly personal or vulnerable or has the potential to fail because you're specifically trying to succeed to show other people you succeeded.

And again, I think that is a fine motivating factor early on. But then eventually you go, well, who am I doing this for? And you sort of reconfigure who you think you are as an artist. So myself now 44, going through the thing I just described, you know, I think for a while I wanted my dad to notice me doing this. I wanted him to be like, oh wow, my son is funny

and accomplish these things. And I think that was my dad's, I think that's how he felt. My dad passed away during COVID and I kind of thought standup was done. And I kind of thought most things were done as we all sort of thought things may be done. But then his standup came back, I thought I wouldn't do it. And then I went back to it and I gotta say,

going back to something like that is a strange thing when you are only now realizing you were sort of doing it for one audience member. It changes you when you realize you don't have that audience member anymore and you go, well then what is it that I'm trying to do and for who and what am I trying to say? And it's one reason I'm so proud of that special

you just watched, the one on Max, because it's probably the one that I worked the hardest at and applied myself the most. But today at 44, I realized I have done a little bit in acting and I've tried to do some in acting and I've gotten enough flavor in acting that I think if I really applied myself, I think I could get really good at acting. Yeah. Believe that I could. I don't know it, but the suspicion is there. And in standup, I do already know in my soul that I'm very good at standup. I know it. I just know it. And I think I've also only gotten so far in standup,

because I like acting and I like standup. And so I think I've given each half attention. And so I think that half attention success on both sides shows me, man, if I really would just kind of maybe commit to one, I could maybe really soar. And so today, as I sit here talking to you, my brain is in standup mode. Yeah. However, I know that at the end of April, I will be going back to start shooting other stuff that I've been fortunate enough to be cast in. And I'd like to think that maybe when I go back to shoot, while also doing standup, I'll go, well, let's not just do enough.

Let's try to be, you know, remarkable. Yes. Even if I'm only saying a couple things in the scene and I don't carry much weight, let's care more than we used to. That's my hope for you. My hope for you is you go back to your time with the guys, those who can't, and you free yourself and you focus and you say, I'm going to be the scene stealer, I'm going to be the guy who shoots the ball.

Because I think you're really talented. You're very good at standup. You have a, you are a natural storyteller. I call you a tendril comic, and this is a complete comic, a compliment. And here's, here's why. You're a storyteller, but there are tendrils. You go here, you go there, you bring it back.

You go here, you go there, you bring it back. It's my favorite kind of storyteller, is someone who knows how to take a left turn and then get back on the road at some point, but in between we're gonna have a little laughs with this absurdity, with this craziness. I mean, I don't know if you intended this in your special, but there's a whole part where you're

like, let me get back to what I'm doing. You pull out a piece of paper, you turn around and you do three and a half minutes with this piece of paper, two and a half minutes with this piece of paper. And I just thought it was brilliant. Was that improvised? No. No, it wasn't. Okay.

It was. It was. It was improvised. It wasn't intentional is what I mean to say. That was the second show. So for your listeners who maybe don't know this was the second show. So, you know, for your listeners who maybe don't know this, when you shoot a special, you shoot two or more shows for reasons of one camera didn't work during one of them. You know, it's to cover yourself. Also, what if the

audience sucks during one of them? Someone sneezed when I was telling my joke. Yeah, yeah, the whole thing. Yeah. And so you shoot at least two. And the first one I did really well. I forgot one joke and I got off stage between, you know, setting up the next show. And I said to the whole, you know, team that was in my green room, I said, I think we got it. Like that felt good. I just got to remember to do this one joke

on the next show. And everybody in the green room was like, we got it. That was a great show. Yeah. And so I'm standing behind that curtain. They're about to start the song and I'm about to walk out to do the second show. And I just, as I try to do, I try to clear my head. And the one thought that popped in my head was like, you got it. You already got it. So why have any fear? Why care about perfection? Let's go out and really just fuck around."

And I went out and I fucked around so hard that I forgot where I was in the act. And that's why I did naturally have to pull that paper out. Yeah. And I gotta say, when I turned around away from the audience, I was furious at myself because all I could think was, what am I fucking doing? I'm shooting a thing and here I am losing the momentum of the crowd that I'm gonna have to get back. And for whatever reason, my brain was like,

the crowd doesn't know that this isn't in the show. They don't know that I don't do this every time. So let's pretend I do this every time. And then I stood up and I go, all right, then my biggest, oh, fuck moment is I just, to your point, I got to get us back to the main road, but let's not pretend as though I've never taken this left before. Let's take this left and every second act as though this was all part of the gig. Yeah, I will say that final special

is mostly the second show. Oh, that's crazy. Very, very little of the first show. If there's anything you see from the first show, it's because maybe one or two jokes were better, but also it's just for camera sake. Yeah, just the way you cut it. Yeah.

Yeah, wow. It's so good. I just the way you cut it. Yeah. Yeah, wow, it's so good. I highly, you watch it. It's religion, sex, and some other things, right? Isn't that what it's called? Everything in between. What is it, I'm sorry? Religion, sex, and everything in between.

And everything in between. On math. And a few things. A few things in between. It'll be in the show notes. We'll all communicate. It'll be in the show notes. Which, those few things are everything.

Are everything, yeah, it felt like everything. When I say Tindral comic, that's the Tindral comic, you should have started with that. A few things and religion and sex. Rory Scoville, I got a million other questions, so I hope you come back. I really am grateful for your time. Oh, and Rory is now going until April. How many, how many shows are you doing?

So I've got, I'm starting to put a lot of dates together. I gotta say, I put the special out that we were just talking about in late February, a year ago of 2024. And so I'm trying to get better at getting a new hour faster. I'm very slow about it. And a lot of that is, honestly, it's not a work ethic. I'm like, oh, let's just go have fun on stage and let's not worry about a product. But I'm now realizing things are going so fast. You really got to get to that product a little faster. I don't think you have to get to it as fast as people do get to it.

I think that's a little too quick for me, but I could stand to speed it up a little bit. So right now, if you were to come see me on the road, you'll be watching someone who is in the early phases of this hour. Okay. It's a good hour. I love it. Hopefully in the fall, I will go out on an official tour with this hour more hammered together as like a show, which will probably admittedly have less improv, but if you're someone who likes me and you like seeing me do improv, you should come see me right after I put out a special for about eight months.

Right. Are you coming near Atlanta? I will. I save Atlanta when it's, like for instance- When it's time to go home. I would come to Atlanta. I would wait for the fall because I'd rather come save Atlanta when it's like, for instance, When it's time to go home. I would come to Atlanta, I would wait for the fall because I'd rather come to Atlanta and go, here guys, I'm bringing you like the show.

The good show. Okay, well then when in fall, when you come to Atlanta, we will come see you. I will put links in the show notes as we always do to Rory's all of his pertinent stuff, the special, how to get tickets. We really appreciate you being here today. You are a smart, kind, empathetic, self-aware human being

who also happens to be hilarious. I appreciate that a lot and I appreciate you guys. Yeah, coming from a mediocre comedy podcast host, now you can go die in peace. Brian said it. You have reached it. You made it. The pinnacle of your career, my friend.

We often say here, when you come to the commercial break, you're either on your way up or on your way down. I'll let you figure out which one it is. Thank you, Rory. We really appreciate it. Let me do something Brian has never done. Be brief. Follow us on Instagram at The Commercial Break. Text or call us, 212-433-3TCB. That's 212-433-3822. Visit our website, tcbpodcast.com, for all the audio, video, and your free sticker. Then watch all the videos at youtube.com slash The Commercial Break. And finally, share the show. It's the best gift you could give a few aging podcasters. See, Brian? That really wasn't that difficult, now was it? You're welcome.

Ah, Rory, I really like that guy. Oh my God. I really like that guy. We got a good dose of all kinds of stuff. Laughs, philosophy. Laughs, philosophy. Life. Catechism. Diets, everything.

Auto blows. We didn't get to the auto blow, but maybe nextatechism, diets, everything. Auto blows. We didn't get to the auto blow, but maybe next time when he comes around, we'll talk to Rory about auto blow. Yeah, that is my favorite type of conversation. I find that we have a lot of those around here actually, is when, what you may not, what you didn't see actually, what you won't see in that cut is that when we, you know,

we stopped and went during the commercial break, we talked to him and said, okay, goodbye, thank you very much and all that other stuff. And we, you know, we stopped and went during the commercial break, we talked to him and say, okay, goodbye. Thank you very much. And all that other stuff. And he said, yeah, I really liked the way you guys approached that because you just sit and have a conversation. It's relaxed. It's, and I said, yeah, because you know, the, this is your life type of interview.

So many people do that. And I find it's, it's overdone. Like there are some people who are really good at that. Howard Stern, really good at that. 60 minutes, really good at that. Brian and Chrissy good at that. 60 Minutes, really good at that. Brian and Chrissy, we can't focus on anything for more than two minutes, so you might as well just have a conversation like you're talking to a friend.

Yeah, like you're talking to the chef at the counter with a martini. There you go, that's when you get all the good juicy information. That's when you learn that the bread on your table is gonna be the croutons and the salad tomorrow. And trust me, no one wants that shit. No one, Chrissy. All right.

But I enjoyed that. I did too. I hope he comes back. He will. He'll be back. I have a feeling. I have a feeling that's one of the few that say they want to come back and will actually come back. Good. Or maybe I'm wrong. I've been wrong before. I could be wrong again. I don't know. All right. RoryScoville.com. That's

where you get all the tickets to his tour. I'm sure that all of his special information is up there, but need not even go to his website. You just click on the links below in the show notes. All the information will be there. I'll put all the pertinent details and we'll repeat that throughout the week so that if you, you know, if you didn't hop on board on Tuesday, you can go on Friday and check it out in the show notes that's how we do it in case you haven't picked up on that little pattern. It's Rory week. It's Rory week here at the commercial break and we sure are grateful for his time just a nice guy just a nice guy. I know live out in Denver too. I love Denver or Colorado. I love

every state I'm all about it. Every state. North and South Dakota, East and West Montana. They're all wonderful. I love them. West Virginia, regular Virginia. I love them all. I've been to all of them. All 48 contiguous states I have visited. Did you know that? I have stepped foot in all 48 contiguous states and I think that is an accomplishment that every American should try. Now I know that it takes a lot of time to do that and not everybody is you know a college dropout with a bad cocaine problem but if you if you do get there in life just keep driving that's all I gotta say do a big circle it'll be okay. Just go on tour with your favorite band. Yeah. Oh we didn't even ask him about

Mike Gordon. Damn it. We didn't even ask him how he got up with the guy from Fish. Yeah. Oh, that was like the most interesting question we had. Leave it to us. Who has ADHD, him or us? I think we're both. I think between the two of us, we couldn't figure it out. But it was an interesting conversation.

Hope you enjoyed it as much as we do. So go to the show notes, click on his links, go see him, watch his special, you know. TCBpodcast.com, that's where you get more information about Chrissy and I, all the show notes, all the audio, all the video, right there at one location. You can also get your free TCB swag. We'll send you a sticker if you give us your physical address. Asher will send you one. Take about a week or two to get there.

No muss, no fuss. Add the commercial break on Instagram. TCB podcast on TikTok. YouTube.com slash the commercial break. And two one two four three three. Three TCB. Questions, comments, concerns, content, ideas, or leave us a voicemail

and be the next voice of the commercial break. Okay, Chrissy, that's all I can do for now. I think so. I'll tell you that I love you. And I love you. I'll say best to you. Best to you. And best to you out there in the podcast universe until next time.

We will say, we do say, and we must say. Goodbye! With the Fizz loyalty program, you get rewarded just for having a mobile plan. You know, for texting and stuff. And if you're not getting rewards like extra data and dollars off with your mobile plan, you're not with Fizz. Switch today. Conditions apply. Details at fizz.ca. Hey, are you in the mood for something new? Why not fly with Air Transat to an eclectic music scene? A vibrant nightlife.

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