The Digression Sessions - Ep. 115 - Daniel Friedman & Alex Braslavsky

Episode Date: April 22, 2014

Follow us on Twitter: @BetterRobotJosh - Josh Kuderna @MichaelMoran10 - Michael Moran 10 @DigSeshPod - Podcast @SweepAlex - Alex Braslavsky @DannnFriedmannn - Daniel Friedman Good Set, Guys Hola DigHeads! On this week’s episode, Josh sits down with his good buddies and cohosts of Chucklestorm – Alex Braslavsky & Dan Friedman! Checkout Chucklestorm.com!!! Josh, Dan, and Alex discuss the next Chucklestorm which is May 28th at the Ottobar, the delicate tight rope walk of providing some constructive criticism to fellow comedians or people in general, doing improv with the Baltimore Improv Group, the tarpit that is Linkedin, murder mystery dinner theater, city and state pride, and more! Thanks for all the love Dig Heads! If you can swing it please drop our asses a few bones via the “Donate” button on the website. Also please subscribe to Digression Sessions on Stitcher and iTunes. Thanks everyone! We love you!

Oh, I'm not saying for on air like to know this is this is it this is we're live started Welcome to digression session. It's your favorite pair of earbuds Me josh kederner and i'm mike moran. We have identical voices bud light Welcome to the Digression Sessions podcast. Hey, everybody. I'm Josh Koderna. And I'm Mike Moran. And you're listening to the Digression Sessions podcast,

a Baltimore-based comedy talk show hosted by two young, handsome stand-up comedians slash improvisers. Join us every week as we journey through the world of comedy and the bizarreness of existence. As we interview local and non-local comedians, writers, musicians, and anyone else we find creative and interesting. Yes. Who's the guest this week? The lovely and talented Dan Friedman and Alex Broslovsky on this

show. I do improv with these guys in the Baltimore Improv Group and we also co-host a show together called Chuckle Storm. And the next Chuckle Storm is happening in Baltimore, Maryland May 28th. That's Wednesday May 28th at 8pm at the

Auto Bar here in Baltimore. And you can check out ChuckleStorm on Facebook. Find their Facebook page. I don't know what to call that, but there's a group page. So yeah, find that. Like it. That way you can stay up to date on all

kinds of shows. Dan and Alex have been hosting the show for several years. It started out as a stand-up show. Now it's kind of morphed into something a little bit more. It's a talk show. Still has stand-up, but there'll be some guests like musicians. Like we've had Jen Wozner of Y.O.A.K.E. been on the show. Mickey Freeland.

You know, it's all kinds of stuff. There's music. There's live sketch. Still stand-up and then interviews as well. So come on out to that. Like I said, the next one is May 28th at the Auto Bar, 8 p.m. Alex and Dan are super, super funny guys. We were having a writing session.

And then Daylon Morrison, past guest and super funny comedian, was supposed to be on the show. And he could not make it. So these guys stepped up to the plate and we did ourselves a little episode. And I hope you guys enjoy it. Other shows coming up for me, Josh Cunt and Candy Coderna. Let's see, April 23rd, Wednesday, April 23rd, I'll be at Coco Lane in Ellicott City telling some jokes. Thursday, April 24th, I will be at RFD in DC telling some jokes. Both of those shows are free. Then Friday, April 25th, I have two shows. I'll be doing improv at the Meadow Mill Theater around 8 p.m.

And then after that show, I'll be doing some stand-up along with Mike Moran at Super Comedy, which is at the Yellow Sign Theater here in Baltimore. Umar Khan and Stavros Halkias co-host that. And that show, it's going to be a lot ofros Halkias co-host that. And that show, it's going to be a lot of fun. So come on out to that. And then Sunday, what is that, the 27th, I'll be in D.C. at Chief Ike's Mambo Room doing the mashup show where we're going to have three really funny improvisers,

three really funny stand-ups, and then three improv troops. And they're going to improvise off of, they're going to get paired up with a stand-up and then three improv troops and they're going to improvise off of they're going to get paired up with a stand-up and then do improv based off of that and it's based off of their sets and it's going to be a lot of fun so that's a free show too so come out to that

you can find all of the times and dates of upcoming shows and prices and all that stuff at digressionsessions.com slash calendar. So please check that out. And before we get into the episode, I just want to say thank you again to all those that are listening. We really appreciate it. And yeah, come see us live, guys. We really appreciate it. You can find us on Twitter. I am at Better Robot Josh. Mike is

at Michael Moran 10. And the podcast is at Dig Sesh Pod. Thank you so... Oh, I fucked up right at the end. Thank you so much for listening, and we love you. Okay, okay. Hi. Josh Kaderna here. Manning this episode by myself. No Mike Moran.

Josh Manning. I'm the forgotten Manning brother. There's Peyton, that other guy, and me. So two forgotten. Yep, yep. Josh Kaderna here. No Mike Moran. Only one half of your favorite pair of ear buds. But I brought a couple other buds along. Dalen and Morrison. Dalen Morrison, how are you guys? Hey.

Great to be here. Good. Dalen, I want to thank you for joining me. I thank you, Dalen. Uh-oh. Jesus. I'm Morrison. This is why we rehearse, guys.

Come on. No, Dalen Morrison, past guest, was supposed to be on the show. He recently had a baby. He's done some other stuff. Wanted to talk about that. And we were going to have more, but then he couldn't make it, so I rounded up a couple of assholes named Alex Broslowski and Daniel Friedman. How are you guys?

I'm getting over a cold. Yeah, I'm in the midst of getting one, I think. I'm healthy. Nice. So we got a good range of health going on here. Yeah. You're sick. I'm kind of in between. Dan, you're just a perfect model of health over there. He's not, though. He's shining.

He's allergic to a lot of things. Like what? Cats, dogs, pollen. There happens to be a dog on the floor that fought with a cat that was covered in pollen earlier. Yeah, and if we could, let's start this episode off right.

I'm going to call this guy out. Why don't you go right to the microphone? I'm going to call this guy out. Call him out. Get right on it. You know, early on, I've known him for a while. How long are we talking here? Let's see, maybe five years? I'd say a little longer, maybe. Five and a half, six. And early on, it was just kind of a worry about him losing his life being around these environmental things.

Cats, I thought he was going to die. Dogs, I thought he was going to die. Trees, I thought he was going to die. Trees. Some trees. I thought he was going to die. Dogs, I thought he was going to die. Trees, I thought he was going to die. Trees. And as the years have gone by, he's been around cats, he's been around dogs, and he's totally fine. No. You heard it here. You heard it here first.

Sometimes I do have to leave because my throat starts to get tight. So that's happened before when we've been with one another in a room with a dog or a cat. Name one time. When we were riding in this particular house. You said your throat got tight? I had to leave because this little dog was making me feel a little scratchy and not able to breathe fully.

Does your vagina also feel tight? It gets tight. Okay, good. Now that would be if a woman was allergic to things And her vagina got really tight It's not necessarily a bad thing But it could be very scary

Some guy's just covering his lady in pet dander I can't even imagine what that must be like for a woman Just can't even Now let's cut to a commercial of that Now we don't have anything prepared, guys. Come on. We're flying by the seat of our pants here. Alex and Dan.

You could insert it in post. No, I'm not going to do that. I don't have time for that. You know what post is, though, right? Like the cereal company? Editing. Editing. Editing.

That's what I was going to say. Yeah. Editing. Editing. Editing. And how much editing do you do? Do you mind if I turn the tables and ask you questions? Yeah.

I feel like we did this last time, but I lost the episode. Well, I want to say, wait, for the listeners real quick, Alex and Dan co-hosted Chuckle Storm for a long time. Yeah, still do. Still do. Still do. Local show. What's changed? I'm in the mix now, co-hosting a little bit, being the Paul Schaefer to your guys, David Letterman.

I mean, which is soon to change, might be your Paul Dinello to your Stephen Colbert, you know. Is he? Nah. Nah, but that would be cool, right? That would be cool. That would be amazing. What a tease that was. I know.

And he could just say Paul and, you know, people who stuck around with Letterman, they could still get. Paul Dinello still looks like Paul Schaefer. Shaves his head. Tiny yellow sunglasses and yellow suits plays the keyboard ah yeah still called steven colbert dave good one dave um what was i gonna say here um no chuckle storm which is um uh local show here in baltimore which is more of a it's like a variety show started out as a straight upup stand-up show, right? A showcase, yeah. And now it's kind of formed into a talk

show, which is a lot of fun. It's the only one of its kind in Baltimore. And we've got one coming up in a bit, May 28th. Yeah, Wednesday, May 28th. So everybody come out to that. It's only $5. There's going to be stand-up, live sketch. 2014, some sideshow. 2014. Some There's going to be stand-up, live sketch. 2014. Some sideshow.

2014. Stuff. Yeah. Some dude's going to be hammering nails into his nipples. Yeah. Hold on. Which grosses you out? I don't enjoy that.

I don't enjoy the body. I don't know why you don't. I don't know. Let's put some hooks in him. Hey, come on. Don't. Don't hang me from the ceiling. Don't do that.

How did that start? How do you test that? Hanging, like suspension from hooks? Yeah. How did that trend start? Yeah. I think it started in third world cultures. It's like a weird spiritual thing.

Yeah, because you don't have any kind of spirituality, do you? Some. Really? Yeah. I mean, I got a scented candle. Does that help? No. It's a honeysuckle.

Oh. Is that like the end of that candle? Has it gotten so low? It's pretty low. It can still... Hold on. Sorry. I have to grab the charger here.

Vamp for a second, guys. This is how you get third place in the city paper contest hey happy to be there hold on i gotta gotta charge my phone you gotta charge my phone and also we come in here yeah and you don't want people hearing this but i'm gonna i'm gonna put it out there because i'm a man of the people and oh i forgot to say it in your intro to alex proslavsky man of the people man of the people thank Man of the people. Thank you. That's strike two. Strike three, he gives us headphones, and he says, oh, one of these headphones doesn't work. It's like, why don't you just get working headphones?

It's easy. Well, listen, I would love to. I mean, it's just we don't have a lot of money. So if you go to digressionsessions.com, there's a donate button there, guys. And if you could donate any amount, we can get some new headphones. Just give people your address and have them mail you working headphones. Has anybody ever donated? Yeah, we've got

a bunch of donations. Really? A bunch? Yeah, you get dollars, five dollars here and there. How much would you say you've accumulated over the course of the website being live? Put it out there. Give it a number. Maybe like 60 or 70 bucks. That's pretty good. What do you do with that money? It goes towards hosting services and the rest just goes right up my nose.

Wait, you're the host, so your services? No, like to host the podcast and get an RSS feed. Jeez, I didn't know I was going to be in the hot seat on this one. I thought we were just going to have a little fun. Your butt is warm, isn't it? I have a warm tuchus. No, but having the podcast and pay for an RSS feed and all that stuff costs money. Yeah, I'm sure there's costs.

And website fees. I'm sure of it. I'm not an idiot. I know. I am positive. It's all good. Yeah, I know. So who are these people that donate?

Are they always people you recognize? Are there any strangers? Some that I recognize. Vernon Marr, mayor. He donated $25, I think, which is pretty awesome. That's a reasonable amount. But what's wrong with him? That he likes the show.

He's a good man. Does he have a lot of money? I mean, you know. He must if he's donating. Vernon, if you're listening, call in. Four days ago, call in. 410-255-6964. Yeah.

And then, no, some random people. We get listeners all over the place. It's great. Good. Good. What is happening here? I invite you guys over. You're like, yeah, who pays for this shit?

You guys are dickheads. They're not paying. They're donating. Let's be semantics. Jesus Christ. I just can't get anything right. I hate you guys. Well, that's okay.

The feeling's mutual. Hey, well, Dan and Alex. Alex, you were going to ask a question. Was that the question? I think he did. Was that it? I think so. Okay, okay.

I'll probably have more. Sure. It's your turn now, Josh. I'm very curious, but I want to see how curious you are. I'm curious. Well, let's see. What are you curious about? Well, I want to know, guys.

So, Chuckle Storm started what? Three years ago? Three and a half years ago. Almost three and a half. No, no, no. Like, yeah, we're two months away from four years. Which is wild. I mean, yeah, I guess it's wild.

That's a long time. It's not crazy. Which is wild. I mean, yeah, I guess it's wild. That's a long time. It's not crazy. It's wild. Maybe. Do you know any four-year-olds in your life? Like little children? I think I ran into one today. Yeah?

Yeah. You've been doing that since she was conceived? Jesus. Conceived? Yeah. Or birth. Well, I guess it would be if someone was three years old In three months It would be since They were conceived

Paradise Yeah you're right Yeah Yeah Alright Four years is a while What was the plan With Chuckle Storm

In the first place guys Let's hear it Let's hear it Well you know I'll Let's be honest here I mean we're just We're just

Hey wait Have you been anything But honest Well okay The whole Daylon Morrison thing That was just a goof We're just going for it Have you been anything but honest? Well, okay The whole Dalen Morrison thing That was just a goof I'm not but honest Okay, you're just goofing

But originally Anyway, what's it like having a baby now? Originally We were going to The goal was to make it Like a parody show Some anti-comedy You're above it all The goal was to make it like a parody show. Uh-huh. Some anti-comedy.

You're above it all. Too cool for the school. I think it was like a mock comedy show. I think... Well, even Chuckle Storm, the name is like... Yes. Okay, so that was the next thing I was going to say was we were trying to think of like the hackiest name we possibly could. The first thing we thought of was Chuckle Storm.

It landed. and so it was like it was like it was like it was funny to us that the name of the show that we're hosting is called chuckle storm because you know it could be like the giggle barn or whatever and and so it was like yeah it's just a goofy name and then as you know we've been doing it for four years and as the time progressed you know people would like say oh, that's a pretty bad name. And then we started to take ownership of it. It's like, no, it's not. It's a great name.

You don't even know. Yeah. For those listening, Alex made a fist. It's a great name. The Chuckle Store. I mean, the listeners can tell what I'm doing.

I'm sorry. The big heads out there. Hey, don't call them big heads. Do you have somebody in mind that is your number one fan? Is that a Vernon guy? No Vernon's up there

You know I mean Each fan is Is there anybody With each episode That's like Great ep Or bad ep

Just someone No We haven't got bad ep I don't think You've never gotten bad ep? No Which I mean

If people want to give comments On iTunes That say it's bad, go for it. Okay. Well, let's go there. Yeah. If somebody just comes out and says, like, hey, I listened to the, throw out a name of a guest. Alex Broslowski.

Another name. Ben O'Brien. Okay. Ben O'Brien. Funny Wham City guy. Uh-huh. If somebody didn't like the Ben o'brien episode and they were just like hey didn't really like that ben o'brien episode yeah are you thinking oh that

person's kind of a dick for saying that um let's be honest i mean maybe yeah you know they say bad press is good press yeah right but it's not really press just somebody telling but it is but it is press it's on itunes people see that as comments I just meant somebody Like texting you Or letting Some random person Got my phone number Like Kaderna

Not your best Somebody you know Somebody A friend or family I would appreciate that As long as they're being honest If Versus like

Hey that sucked Or if they actually had like Maybe next time Do this Or what I think Didn't work about the episode You know Well I mean Here's the thing Here's why next time do this or what I think didn't work about the episode, you know. Well, I mean, here's the thing.

Here's why I mentioned it. Here's what I struggled with. Because I hated the Ben O'Brien episode. No, I really liked that one. Raw meat. The guy eats raw meat. That's pretty interesting. He does.

You know, like, you go to shows. You go to, like, plays or whatever, any kind of live experience. I do that. I'm mainly thinking, thinking like theater right now. And if somebody comes up to you afterwards, like somebody in the show, and they say like, oh, what'd you think? And I want to say, if I didn't like the show,

I want to say, oh, I didn't like it. But you can't say that. No, you have to be like, oh, it was good. It was good. Nice job. And stand-up comedians, they come up to you, and they're like, hey, man. What'd you think?

You have to, well, even if they don't say, what do you think? It feels like you have to say, I really like your set or good set or whatever. I think there's an art to it, though. Right away, you don't want to say, that sucked. You're like, hey, man. Yeah, good. Maybe you're talking about it.

They'll be like, oh, yeah, but right here, you could have or something like that. I say just start with that. Hey, right here you could have or something like that. I say just start with that. Yeah. Hey, man, you could have done some stuff differently. I don't know if it would have been better, but you could have done it differently. But it was a good set. There is the rule of not giving advice unless somebody asks for it.

I was about to say, if it's solicited versus people coming up to you like, yeah, right there, what was going on with blah, blah? Yeah, I saw it the other day that a comic went up to another comic like yeah the end is just missing something on this one bit and it's cringeworthy right and you're just like he didn't ask you for that you know maybe he thinks it's great or you know but if somebody was like honestly tell me what you thought then i think you should be honest with them but the the the whole thing of saying good set even though you didn't feel like it was a good set. Yeah, I think we all do it. It depends how tight you are with the person.

You're pretty good at it. You're pretty good at saying good set and not feeling that way. So I guess what I'm telling everybody listening, if you're a comedian and you see Josh after the show and he says good set, he doesn't mean it. It was not a good set. Oh, no, no, no.

That is not true. Alright, whatever you say. Hey guys, good podcast. This podcast is going to ruin your friendship. Good podcast. I don't do that. I say good set when I usually mean it. You know? What do you say when somebody has a bad set?

Hey man, bad set. Put out the dab. Bad set set? Hey, man, bad set. Put out the dap. Fist pound? Bad set. Bad set, man. You just keep repeating that. Bad set, bad set, bad set. Bad, bad, bad set. Bad set. I think I avoid people when

I just can't bring myself to say... Just say nothing at all. What do you mean you say nothing at all? You just said you try to avoid people that had bad sets. So you just don't want to say anything to them. That's what I mean.

Okay, we're on the same page. But I think it hurts me. What hurts you? Lying to them or having to tell them it was bad? Either way. Okay. I think it hurts my relationships with people yeah i mean yeah i mean there's a difference between being honest and being a dick about it i think so give me the give me the former give me the being honest

part um let's role play here okay so i just had a really bad set focus on some of the positive first okay okay if there's some positive. Can we set up a scenario? So I just performed, and I'm not much of a stand-up comedian. Yeah, I'll say. Yeah, fair. And I had a bad set. Had some laughs here and there, but overall it was just kind of...

Yeah, this is a fictional scenario. Yeah. And now I've gotten off stage, and I make a beeline towards you. You don't even say I've been Alex Wieslowski. Josh! Help me! What did you think? Yeah.

Uh-huh. And now the scenario started. So, okay, so the scenario starts. You have to say something It's like Hey Josh What did you think of my set? No no no

We're leaving that out We're leaving that out Okay alright It's just like Hey Josh That was fun Oh yeah man Looked like you were having fun

Yeah It's interesting dude Comedy Yeah yeah it is interesting. I mean, you got some laughs. What do you mean by that? I mean, you know, you got some laughs. There were some rough patches, but you got some laughs.

Were there rough patches? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I didn't notice any rough patches. You didn't notice any? No. Can you give me an example? I don't think you should have said that thing about black people. Why?

I thought that's like the funniest part of my set. No, no, no, no. Josh, what are you doing right now? Nah. I never want to talk to you again. Oh, all right. Well, you asked. We've been best friends since middle school.

I was trying to tell you. No, that's not even true. What? I feel like I met you maybe four years ago. not even true. We have a bit... What? I feel like I met you like maybe four years ago. You're acting like such a black person right now. Whoa, see, this is what I'm talking about. End scene.

Yes! Okay, I get it now. I see. Good scenario. Good scenario. I see how you do it. Okay. I mean... Got it.

I feel like most people, especially if they're not assholes, and not everybody's going to have a good set all the time, but you should still be nice to them. There's a difference between being honest and being a dick. Just be like, man, what happened up there? Because everybody's going to have a bad set. As long as you're getting up there and you're actually trying and you're not an asshole up there, I think good on you.

Yeah, and I also wonder, maybe we should just never even discuss what happened up there. I like discussing it, though. Yeah, so I'll record all my sets, and I won't listen to it that night. I'm trying to get better about that, but trying to listen to it on the way home, it's just like, ugh.

Even if I think I had a good set, I always feel like there's something more that I could you beat yourself up yep yep but i try to listen the next day review the wreckage and then uh you know that's the only way you learn though and yeah yeah i i enjoy it but i feel i feel for the most part though like that is a cool one of the cool things about being in a smaller scene is that you can get to know people and get more comfortable with them and uh so like when you're going like going to a mic and actually have like friends there this way it's not complete strangers and you have to be like yeah good good set like you can go a little more in depth right that's all i'm saying guys that's all i'm saying is that. That's all I'm saying. That's fair. Is that all right?

That's enough. Stop it. That's enough. Well, this has been Aggression Sessions. So, yeah, so you guys both dabble in stand-up. But mostly you guys are on the actor side of things, right? A little bit. Doing some improv.

Improv. True. You guys copied me pretty hard on that. I was a member of the Baltimore Improv Group before you guys. me pretty hard on that i was a member of the baltimore improv group before you guys i don't think so i don't think you were i think we were there no no alex and i actually founded big so i don't what year 1985 no that's impossible yeah you guys were not even born well it doesn't matter our parents well he just lied then he said that you guys founded it you don't know what you guys means? Yes, I do.

What does it mean? It's inferring to you guys, the people present in the room. Why? What do you mean, why? What the fuck's happening on this podcast? Should we roleplay this? Let's do it. You're Dan and Alex, and we're Josh.

We'll just do What just happened here Yeah Okay It's like Hey you guys copied me On You know I was the first one In big ever

So when you guys came later Okay time out That's not what I said Okay Alright Are we timing out already We're timing out Cause that

We barely got started I know Well you fucked it up I'll be honest with you What happened up there You fucked up No I was just Emulating you

No God Alright, let's try it again But can we please Okay, let's start Alright, here we go Go ahead I want to welcome you guys to my house

You guys are guests on my show My bedroom's just a little bit dirty right now It's a little messy It's mainly little messy. It's mainly my girlfriend's stuff, not mine. And I want to say that I'm a little upset because if you recall, I was in

big for a long, long time. Very long. And then you guys showed up and ruined it. We're in first. Hey! Time out! Time out, motherfuckers! up and ruined it. We burn first. Hey. Hey now. Time out. Time out, motherfucker. Time out.

My parents are... Remember that when you guys said that? You guys fucking remember that? We timed out and you kept going. You don't do that. I didn't ask for your fucking advice. I didn't solicit critiques from you fucking idiots. Chuckle storm.

Take that, comedy scene. Fuck you guys. How about that? How do you guys feel about cursing in front of children? Are they soliciting my cursing? Let's say there's a show and there's 150 people there. It's like a comedy show. Comedy show. 150 people, two It's like a comedy show. Comedy show.

150 people, two of which are kids. What age are we talking? Let's say 10 years old. Both of them. Are you comfortable with cursing? Yeah. You know, I gotta do my cunt bit.

Can't close without my cunt bit. Just in general, should kids hear cursing? Sure. Tastefully. Tasteful cursing. Give me an example of tasteful cursing. Let's role play this.

God damn it. Hey, excuse me. My son's right here. I'm sorry. Hey, what did you just say? Don't worry about it, Billy. Okay, Idammit. Hey, excuse me, my son's right here. Ah, shit, I'm sorry. Hey, what did you just say? Don't worry about it, Billy. Okay, I won't. Sorry about that.

Hey, can I talk to you for a second? Yeah. Billy, can you go grab some ice cream for the two of us? Yeah, what flavors? Surprise me. Okay. Okay. I have to kind of go.

I just cut my finger. I just need to get a band-aid. I understand, but you just cursed in front of my son. Well, I didn't see him go. I just cut my finger. I just need to get a band-aid. I understand, but you just cursed in front of my son. Well, I didn't see him there. I'm sorry. Yeah, I'm back. I have two cups of water. I said surprise me, and the guy just gave me two cups of water.

Billy, you don't ask the guy to surprise you. It's just you surprised your mother. Oh. Okay, look, I gotta go. No, don't. I have to get out of here. I want you to apologize to my son. For what?

Apologize to me. For what? For cursing. You don't curse, ma'am? You've never cursed in front of your son? I've never cursed in front of my son. Billy, is that true? Yeah.

That's really true? She doesn't say anything bad. Don't question my son. How do you know what bad words are, then? Oh, just friends at school sometimes say things that... We let him hang around a bad crowd. So what's the difference?

What's the difference? I respect you. You're a grown man. He respects you and what you do. Billy, you don't respect your friends? I think that's a larger problem. My friends are big jerks. But why are you letting them hang out with big jerks? Friends are more influential on a young kid's life more so than his parents.

Because they're kids. They're the cool kids. They're just trying to find their way like I am. Of course. We all are. So why can't I? You're old. You found your way in life already.

You know what? Fuck you. What? Hey, sir. Yeah, no. No, Billy, you're coming with me. I'm going to kidnap your fucking kid. Don't you do that.

You're a fucking dumb kid. Bye, Mom. Billy? Let's go, Billy. You're making this easy on him. Don't you do that. Your fucking dumb kid. Bye, Mom. Billy. Let's go, Billy. You're making this easy on him. This time. And scene. Yay!

Woo! Wow. Glad we're all members of the Baltimore Improv Group. Right? I know. I know. Good stuff. So, no.

You guys primarily got into acting first, right? Yeah. We went to school, the same school for the same theater program. Uh-huh, uh-huh. UMBC, University of Maryland, Baltimore County. And then comedy, you guys just happened to be just funny guys. And then we're like, hey, let's put this funny thing together. I was always interested in it.

I think that was my jam, my bag. Uh-huh, your jelly. And acting came second. And then just trying to find ways to mix the two. Word. Same here. Okay. That answers that.

We'll have two cups of wine. I like that you guys are excited about it. I like that. We love it. Love it. We're having a great time making money and meeting a lot of people. It's a lot of networking. That is true.

LinkedIn. Shout out to LinkedIn. Shout out to LinkedIn, the most useless website on the planet. Get a lot of emails like so-and-so has a LinkedIn. And then also they email everybody. If you change one thing in your profile they'll update

I work at Hopkins Jesus I'm not bragging Johns Hopkins Johns and there was like an error or like some mistake it was like combined two positions I had or something like that.

And I erased one just to make it clearer. It sent an email out to every single one of my connections on there that I got like a new job. Congratulate Alex Breslovsky on his new job at Johns Hopkins University. Well, it just makes them hate you. Like, hey, look at Alex. New job, huh? It's the same job I've had. Hey!

Over a year. What's going on there? Congratulate Alex on the same job he's had for the past several years. Great job. That would be great if they did that. Great job, buddy. Great job. Still has it.

Great job. Yeah. So, yeah. So, you're doing the murder mystery stuff, Alex. I do that. do you like that i mean that has a big improv element to it right yeah i mean well it's it's uh it's very interactive so uh yeah so what what it is it's like dinner theater kind of right yeah well we have uh so it's your typical murder mystery somebody dies and i'm selling it hard

it's your typical murder mystery oh so somebody dies and I'm selling it hard. What's your typical murder mystery? Oh. So somebody dies and there's a bunch of suspects, most of which are audience members. So they're suspects and then we give them stuff to like information about themselves, like about the suspect

that they're playing. You're black. Your daughter curses. Is that a stereotype you're making? What? Your black daughter curses? A lot of black girls, you know? Dan just said it.

No, I'm just putting your two and two together. No, don't put my two and two together. That's four. It's a racist four. Hi, we're the racist fantastic four. Jesus. What's going on out there? So, you know, they, you know, they're not, most of them, if not all of them, are not actors.

These audience members. And so they just kind of have to figure out how to play those parts. Yeah. And then they'll just end up, there's a lot of improvising. So we, like, go over to them and, them and kind of interview them just so everybody knows. And in character, right? In character. And they'll say, they usually say crazy shit,

and then it's just kind of like interacting with them and seeing what they come up with. That does have to be pretty good. People that aren't used to acting or improvising, it probably just comes out of them, just random things. Yeah, and they're there with their partner or their family and seeing your dad play a milkman or something. Yeah, a milkman.

Did I tell you that people that I work with, two of my managers, I think, probably saw you in a show? Oh, really? Yeah, they're like, yeah, we went to a murder mystery in a Greek town. They might have seen me. And I was like, oh, yeah, my buddy was there. They're like, oh, yeah. Get back to work.

Shut the fuck up. You have no friends. You have to work through the weekend. You have to work for everybody. You're coming in on Saturday. You friendless piece of shit. You're all fired. What else would you be doing?

This is a government job. You make a lot of money. Get out of here. You're fired. This is a government job. You make a lot of money. Get out of here. You're fired. Do the dig heads know that you make a lot of money at work? The people you're asking donations for? He doesn't need them. He's a rich boy.

He's a rich man. He's from Richmond, Virginia. Josh Katerna. Don't solicit any advice from him, guys. Josh Katerna. Don't solicit any advice from him, guys. Josh Katerna. Come to the stage. Telling you you had a good set, Josh Katerna.

God forbid I be positive and say, hey, man. No, I think it's great. I think you're a very positive guy, and I think it's helping you out to be that positive. There's nothing wrong with being a good guy. Why can't more people be good guys? Right?

Right. I just think. That didn't seem sincere. Did not seem sincere. Right. Dan's a nice guy. I'm so nice. Dan is a sweetheart. Thank you.

He is. He's a good man. I'm kind of nice, right? You can be. You have your moments. You do. I have my nice moments. You do.

Anyway, Dan. Oh, wait. were you going to give me an example? Of when you're nice? Yeah. Give me an example of when I'm nice. I want to hear how nice I am. That's what most nice people say, too. Tell me how great I am. Dan, help me out here.

You've known Alex for a while. This is like an anti-roast. I met this sweet son of a bitch four years ago. I swear to God. If I'm a bear, build a bear, you guys. Okay, so we're going to shove some cotton in there. Going to put a little message in a heart. Please don't do that.

That huge cotton hose they have. No, please don't do that. Put that up to your butt and just shoot it in there. Dan, what's one of the nicest things Alex has ever done for you? The nicest thing?

Not done for you, but in general. Hi, Amanda. Cameo. Edit that out. In post. You know what post is now. It's editing.

It's when you eat cereal and editing. Editing. Editing. One of the nicest things Alex has done. Nicest things. Not necessarily for you, but maybe you've witnessed him do something nice for somebody. We had a good friend in college, a mutual friend, had a bit of a meltdown once.

And Alex did a nice job of bringing him back down. Oh, right. To a mellow level. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Forgot about that. He was very caring.

Uh-huh. It was a side of Alex I don't see often. That was a crazy moment. Let's circle back. You say you don't see it very often. I hadn't seen that side of Alex very often. Oh. It was almost like Big Brother type of actions.

Like CBS's Big Brother. Yes. You guys got together. There were cameras everywhere. Everywhere. Look, Dan's a bit of a bad boy, so I have to play that other Big Brother role and set him straight. Really? This other guy was having a bit of a meltdown.

So I heard. Kind of a crazy story. He's a bit of a Christian guy. Uh-huh. Very Christian guy. Hey, it's Easter as we record Right 420

Shout out Yeah shout out And he He never drank before This was in college Uh huh Right He took a shot

Uh huh And like Peer pressure Just like took a shot And just the pressure Of having like a pastor father And all that stuff Like he was just like

So hard on himself He started like He just like snapped Wait for one shot Yeah Took one shot Whoa His first shot ever I mean it wasn't like He was just so hard on himself that he just snapped. Wait, for one shot? Yeah. For his first shot ever. It wasn't because he was drunk.

It was just the pressure and the guilt. The fact that he had succumbed to peer pressure or something like that. Alcohol, yeah. Because he told himself that he would never do that. And he just had... It was wild. He flipped out. So what did you do?

You're like, hey, pussy bitch. Yeah, it's a side of Alex I've never seen before. He's never said pussy bitch before. It was nice. I've said pussy, I've said bitch, but it was pussy bitch. Never together. I'm going to blow my nose real quick.

All right, well, whatever. Well, okay. I appreciate niceness. I think nice is good. You sound very sincere. No, I... But... I think you're a pussy-ass bitch

if you think so. I don't like pussy bitches. I think... Oh, he's getting choked up. He's going to cry. He's going to cry. Oh, my God. My dad was a bastard.

I think you can be... Uh-huh. I just think... I'll be great if this went on for 45 minutes. Sorry. I just think that you can be courteous. You can be reasonable. Into the microphone. I think you can be courteous, you can be reasonable. Into the microphone.

You can be courteous and reasonable, but I think sometimes... But you can never be both. I think we should be honest. I think we should be direct with people. Yeah, let's agree. I agree. And I think sometimes niceness gets in the way of that. It can.

And I think sometimes it's overvalued. I think sometimes people value overvalued. I think sometimes people value niceness over substance. I'll tell you this. Niceness in the short term, great. Not that great in the long term, right? What do you mean by that? Now, I think what you're saying

is what you were kind of getting on me before, saying good set to somebody, maybe when they didn't have the best set, you think is detrimental because you're saying... And let me say, I do that too. i'm a hypocrite i i yeah i because it like it pains me to to like

well also it's like do you want to be that guy at open mics who's like hey man woof you know just be like hey good you know and then if they if they go but if you go you know if they go on beyond that if they say like oh yeah i just couldn't get this thing, they'll be like, oh, yeah, I think you should blah, blah or whatever. Which, I mean, that's what I like. But I think what you're saying is like honesty would help somebody in the long run while it sucks in the short term to hear like that something didn't go as well. But if you actually try to work on it and take that criticism and use it towards something beneficial, then it's better in the long run. I think you said it beautifully.

Hey, thanks, man. Any criticism? You pussy bitch! Ah! Ah! Ah! Yeah, just because we all know what it feels like to not have a good set.

You know, you keep saying it in like a – you're describing it in very objective terms. What do you mean? To be subjective? It is a subjective thing. I think I have a different sense of humor than this guy or this girl or this guy. Yeah, get out of here. All three of you, get the fuck out of here. Because we have different senses of humor.

We just can't be in the same room together. I think different things make me laugh than some other people would say that. Alex is motioning to turn it off. Can you pour coffee on the laptop? I'm getting sincere and I'm lost in my sincerity. Can you turn the computer off, please?

Yeah, you know what I'm saying. No, I don't. We don't all agree on what's funny. Of course not. No, nobody does. Exactly. So, there's people out there. There's comedians. There's comedians.

There's improvisers. Anybody involved in comedy that do a great job and they make people laugh. Not your cup of tea. It's not my cup of tea. And the same goes for stuff I think is funny and I put out there. They might not find it funny. Right. Might.

Yeah. Might. of funny right might yeah might so um you know somebody gets off stage and uh it's it's hard to um bridge that divide in oh okay so that's kind of different i i think if um if if there's somebody that i that i like and maybe their comedy's uh not my cup of tea either but you know they're they're being uh um faithful, I think, is cool. I like that. Even if it's not like my type of humor or comedy, but they're actually, you know what I mean? It's something they actually enjoy.

Like, you know, there's certain brands of comedy that I don't like, but the crowd likes it. They like what they're doing. I think any type of honesty on stage, not honesty being like, I'm breaking it down, man. This is how the world works. But like Brian Regan, that type of kind of silly stuff, that's actually what he likes to do. And so it's more power to him. But I mean, nobody can say anything about him because he's able to get huge crowds. Like a lot of people like his stuff.

Right, right. But then, you know, when you're that high up, you'll find a ton of people hating on you. Oh, yeah. Dane Cook, everybody hated him. Yeah, I think it was just his arrogance, though. Like part of his bravado on stage and stuff. Where do people notice that? Oh, on stage?

Yeah. His on-stage persona? Yeah. I think that may be bothered. What about Anthony Jesselnik? Definitely some jealousy, I think. Did you date a girl named Daphne? Daphne.

It was Daphne. She was deaf. I was not very nice. Deaf Steph. I was not nice to her. That would be difficult, dating was deaf. I was not very nice. Deaf Steph. I was not nice to her. That would be difficult, dating a deaf girl. Would it be deaf-ical? That's not a word.

It shows over. Not a word. Not a word. Try playing that in Scrabble. I'd challenge it. I will. I'll play anybody. Words with friends, bring it.

What's your username? Put it out there. I believe it's Better Robot Josh. It might just be Better Robot. Try all of those until you bring it. What's your username? Put it out there. I believe it's Better Robot Josh. It might just be Better Robot. Try all of those until you get it. Okay. Great. Great.

Great. So let's see. So we're talking comedy and stuff. And then, Dan, you dabble and do some stand-up kind of, like some faux self-help kind of presentations. Yeah, I do character stuff. yeah yeah and do you i'm guessing you like that do you want to do you want to branch out from that and try doing more stand-up i have tried like straight up more straight up stand-up i enjoy it i haven't done it a lot but i do like it

um but i do i do like character stuff also yeah. I'm doing... You're good at it. Well, thank you. You're very funny. Thank you. See? See that? Was that so wrong, being nice? Huh?

Because you didn't mean it. I do mean it. Dan is super funny. I knew you were going to get into the Baltimore Improv Group the second I saw your showcase. I was like, yeah, that guy is... We have such low standards. I'm sure he'll get in. Woof, woof. Woof, woof.

Okay. So that stand-up just kind of lower on the agenda. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Okay, players. Okay. What would Moran add to this conversation?

He would... How would this whole thing change if he were here? I think he would offer his perspective on matters. Yeah? Yeah. I think he would say probably the same thing in the same vein as us, saying where you appreciate constructive criticism but you got

to kind of choose your right time to throw that in there especially if i you know and we know enough that like i was talking to one comedian and he said he doesn't record his sets and i was like well why not he's like i mean what do you record your set for he's like well you know if i riff on something i want to remember it or if something doesn't go well, I want to know how to change it. And he's like, yeah, no, if something doesn't go well,

I know it doesn't go well and I'm not going to, and that feeling sucks and I'm not going to forget that feeling. So like, we all know when something doesn't go well, you know,

unless you're like completely delusional, like, whoo, really killed it up there. There are a lot of delusional people in comedy. Yeah. There are a lot. But, you know, I'm not really.ional people in comedy. There are a lot. But I'm not really...

Three people in this room. You have to be, though. You have to be a little bit delusional. Or else you'd quit, right? Like Patton Oswalt said, you just suck for years and then you kind of figure it out. But if you weren't delusional

in those first few years, you would just quit. There's a lot of bombing in the beginning. Yeah. And, yeah, yeah. Is this too,

this is too boring comedy talk. Is this too boring? let's spice it up. For us or for the listeners? I don't know. For you guys. A little bit of both. A little bit of both. I'll be honest with you.

Who cares? I'm bored. I'm bored. We're all blowing our noses. We're all kind of sick No, I'm not We're all Well, you might be Because you're so healthy

Yeah Thank you We'll get the dog back in here Thanks, okay I will get her tail up your nose Yeah, that throat looks a little too wide right now Yeah, it does Wide load

Too open That's what I'm seeing Anything else you guys want to talk about? I feel like we could wrap it up here About 120 We're at 120 right now? Uh-huh No Yeah Didn't feel like we could wrap it up here about 120 we're at 120 right now uh-huh no yeah didn't feel like it i know see that's a good show it doesn't oh i see 120 oh an hour 20 yes yes yeah we cut out a lot of stuff this was an hour 20 minutes what is it what are we at right

now 45 about um i have a lot of things I want to talk about. Do you? Yeah. Well, we'll save it for next time. Dan, Alex. No, Alex, go ahead. What do you want to talk about? What are we doing with our lives?

In general? Yeah. I don't know. I like your idea of a mass exodus to a cool city, though. Like all the cool people we hang out with. Don't put it out there because uh you know we're talking about delusional people there's gonna be people that listen to this we're not saying what city oh they don't know we're going to Duluth Minnesota oh so I like that idea

of like hey uh move to a different city on uh you know, let's say... April 1st. April 1st, 2015. And if you happen to see us there, you're not delusional. If you're there by yourself, you're delusional. Nobody likes you. It's a new game show that takes years to develop. You're delusional. Well, listen.

I will. I have been this whole time. I feel like I've already become the villain of this episode. You made yourself the villain. Have I? Yeah. How's that? Well, you either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

And I've lived long enough? Yep. You're old. You're an old villain. I'm only the second long enough. Yep. You're old. You're an old villain. I'm only the second oldest in this room. Well, yeah. Okay.

All right. So shouldn't you be a villain? I should, but I'm not. Josh is dead. Josh is dead. I'm dead. Who's controlling this podcast? I'm a fucking ghost.

Alex just pushed a button on the board and nothing happened. Nothing happened. I thought it would make a sound effect it's all good okay it's all good what was I talking about?

oh yeah you were talking about delusional people moving to a new city oh okay you're the villain of this podcast I was going to say That I can't connect with Like city pride

City pride So I like Baltimore Yeah I think there's a lot of cool things here I get kind of turned off When people deem it to be an incredible city. Yeah, you're going a little too far.

I think people go a little too far with that. There was an outrage maybe a month or two ago about this article Baltimore, You're Breaking My Heart. I don't want to get too far into it. But I wrote it. But I wrote it. And nobody gave me any praise for writing a beautiful article.

I was being honest for once. No, I think it's cool to have a certain amount of pride in your city because then that's going to reflect in how you live, how you treat other people, you know? Like, as far as, like, Baltimore's, like, music and arts and comedy scene, I think it's cool to take pride in that type of stuff. Like actually making the city a little bit better. But I feel like... Versus like, I like the Ravens. Oh, man. Which I do like the Ravens.

And I connected to that. I connected to being a sports fan. That does give people a connection, though. Like if the Ravens are doing well, they're like, yeah. But we won the Super Bowl last year. And you watch this celebration. a connection though like the ravens are doing well they're like yeah yeah but you know you want like we won the super bowl last year and you watch this like the celebration two years ago and people are celebrating it's so interesting watching like a championship celebration like people are just going crazy people in the streets it's like you had nothing to do with that right yeah yeah and i

i like watching the games and I get into it and I want them to win, but there's this interesting dynamic of we had no part in this and we're just like, yeah, we're the best! Baltimore is number one, the greatest city in America because these guys

that were paid millions of dollars were hired and they got coached. And most of them aren't even from Baltimore. They're just people from other cities and colleges that were paid millions of dollars were hired. And most of them aren't even from Baltimore. They're just people from other cities and colleges that were paying a lot of money to represent our city, the greatest city in America. It's just a super drug-specific guy

with his shirt off. I mean, they do get paid a lot. And we didn't have anything to do with it. I think, yeah, I feel like I don't have any... There's no organization or any kind of thing that I am that associated with or that loyal to. So you got religion. You got sports.

You got cities. Politics. School. I went to college. I don't like, yeah. That always amazes me actually when you watch

college games and like the arenas are packed and people are like painting their chests and stuff. It's like, you probably have

like econ, whatever, 101 with one of these guys and you're like, yeah, fuck yeah, man. Yeah,

you know, like that dude's, he's your age and you know, you guys aren't friends or. Like, that dude, he's your age. And, you know, you guys aren't friends or anything, but it's just weird. Right. Or when older people are really into college sports. Yeah, like, I went there 40 years ago. Yeah, like, 50-year-old dudes are like, come on, these 17-year-olds aren't playing well enough.

It's like, what are you focusing on? Yeah, and, like, who are we rooting for? You know, like, rooting for. Sounds like a political campaign. Who are we rooting for? Rooting for? Sounds like a political campaign. Who are we rooting for? Especially with college teams, we're rooting for these specific players, but then they leave, and every few years, it's a brand new batch. So we're rooting for the team itself, or we're rooting for the administrators.

Come on, administrators. I remember I used to follow baseball, and there was a trade that happened. And I saw that trade, and I was like, there's no way that's going to work out for our team. And it did not work out. It was a terrible trade. And it's like, well, who am I rooting for? Am I rooting for the general manager, too? I'm rooting for him to work out a It was a terrible trade. It's like, who am I rooting for? Am I rooting for the general manager too? I'm rooting for him to

work out a great deal. Make a good move, man. I'm rooting for the scouts to find the right players in a Texas high school. The big phone number one that says, go scouts. I don't know what I'm doing. What am I doing? I have no idea what I'm doing.

I'm rooting for sports am I doing? I have no idea what I'm doing. Rooting for... Oh, my rooting... Sports... It's just confusing. Yeah. So with the Ravens, whatever happens on Sunday isn't going to affect my Monday, really.

But it does for a lot of people. A lot of people. Yeah, yeah. It's like, God damn. People, their Facebook profile is Ravens logo and everything. It's like,

go Ray Rice. Way to avoid that jail trial. That's what I'm talking about. I wanted to say that exactly. Go Ray Rice. But in really cool font. All right, guys. Well, this is coming to a close.

Okay. All right. This is it. We went too far, didn't we? A little too far. Going to have to cut some of that out. Well, this is coming to a close. Okay. All right. This is it. We went too far, didn't we? A little too far. Going to have to cut some of that out. Well, I want to thank everybody for listening. I want to thank you guys for doing this show.

What would you guys like to promote beyond Chuckle Storm at the Auto Bar, Baltimore, Maryland? Right. May 28, 2014. 8 p.m. Five Bones. Yeah. May 2, I'm opening up for the Wham City

comedy tour at the Metro Gallery 8 o'clock I've got a new lecture I'll be doing there you go yeah so that's happening

that'll be a good show yeah go ahead I was going to say a part of the child is going to be there she is Stavros very nice

and I'd like to promote I'm doing an episodic improvised series called Season 1. Yes, yes. Improvised series here. Four Saturday nights in a row. We're going to make shit up and it's going to continue the story each week. It's like a sitcom. Right. Is it going to have a comedic slant to it?

Are you guys going to have props and stuff? I think there will be some props. We're going to bring in Carrot Top to make some cool Michael Jackson related props. Kim Kardashian and Nicole Smith. Very nice.

That's going to be starting what Saturday? This upcoming Saturday. I don't even know when this is dropping. Sometime during this week of the 21st. So let's say the 26th through middle of May. I don't know. Okay, so four Saturdays in a row starting April 26th. Meadow Mill Theater.

10 p.m. 10 p.m. Pay what you will. Nice. You just pay. Danpm. 10pm. Pay what you will. Nice. You just pay. Dan is a cheapo. Whatever pennies are in my pocket, you'll get them.

Take them out. Pay it. And then you can have a seat. Take it out. Pay it. Have a seat. Everybody gets a seat. Everybody who pays gets a seat. That's great. But if you don't pay, because pay what you will. You gotta let them in. I guess we do. But if you don't pay, because pay what you will. You got to let them in. I guess we do, but they won't be watching the show.

I'm sorry to ask the tough questions. They're in the theater, but they're not watching. They're just listening. Their backs are turned to you. Okay, cool. Yeah, that's going to be really fun. Also, me, on April 25th, I'll be doing an improv show. Dan, you'll be there too. I will also be there Friday night. Yeah!

Same theater that Alex mentioned, the Meadowmill Theater in Hamden, right? Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Worldwide pants. Sit, Ubu, sit. Bad robot.

Better robot. Yeah. Bad robot. Better robot. Yeah. You know. So April 25th, I'll be doing improv at 8 o'clock at the Meadowville Theater. Then at 10 o'clock, I'll be doing stand-up for Super Comedy with Stavros Halkias, who we mentioned before, and Umar Khan. It's their show they'll be co-hosting. When do we mention Stavros? He's going to be at the...

He'll be opening the Web City Night. Pay attention. Oh, sorry. Jesus. Good set, guys. I paid attention. I hung on every word.

Good set. So yeah, we're doing that. And then go to digressionsessions.com slash calendar for all upcoming dates as well as past and future episodes.

So many dates. It's like a calendar. You get to see all the dates that are coming past and future episodes. So many dates. It's like a calendar. You get to see all the dates that are coming up this year. I'm telling you, April and May, they're going to be busy. Going to be busy. Busy, busy. Many days in both those months. Many days. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah Yeah Oh yeah Oh yeah That was loud Thanks Josh Hey No this is how we end

Every episode We say Alright here's how It's gonna go Keep it crispy Nope I'm gonna say I'm gonna say

If you like somebody Then you guys are gonna say Tell somebody Ready If you like somebody Tell somebody Perfect Thanks guys tell somebody. Ready? If you like somebody, tell somebody. Perfect.

Thanks, guys.