The Digression Sessions - Ep. 130 - Joseph Leland Malinski (@JoeyMalinski)

Episode Date: September 1, 2014

Bang a Rang! Follow Us On Twitter! @JoeyMalinski – Joey Malinski @BetterRobotJosh – Josh Kuderna @MichaelMoran10 – Mike Moran @DigSeshPod – For Podcast Updates! Hola DigHeads! On this week���s episode, Josh sits down in his backyard to talk to director, editor, actor, storyteller, and overall damn good guy – Joey Malinski! Joey’s production company is Across the Bridge. And you should check out all of his work. He’s amazing. And he grew up on the same island with Josh! Joey gave Josh a shot to “act” in a great short that Joey recently did called First Promise which you can see at ATBproductions.com! Josh talks to Joey about how he got his start, working at Def Jam, and of course, God. Thanks for listening! If you can swing it please drop our asses a few bones via the “Donate” button on DigressionSessions.com! Also please subscribe to Digression Sessions on Stitcher and iTunes. And check out our podcast network, Thunder Grunt! Thanks everyone! We love you!

hey everybody i'm josh kaderna 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 mr joseph leland malinsky boom he is the guest on this week's program he is a director an actor editor uh raconteur uh very uh very interesting guy very nice guy and tour uh i was hoping you wouldn't question me on that i think he's in a band with uh jack white gotcha um i raconteur. I was hoping you wouldn't question me on that. I think he's in a band with Jack White.

Gotcha. Raconteur, it's like in the vein of a renaissance man, I think. Okay. I think. I think. Let's start that over. Okay. I'm sorry.

No, I'm sorry. I just want to just get it out. I don't know if that's... You want to just... Yeah. No, no, no. You can join me. You can join me. You can join me.

Joseph Leland Malinsky is the guest on this week's program. He is a director, editor, actor, raconteur. Mike, do you have any comment on that? Wow. That's awesome. That's good. He does all that and raconteur. He is a very talented guy.

And you can check out Joey's work at atbproductions.com His production company is called Across the Bridge, which is a reference to the Bay Bridge here in Maryland because he grew up on Kent Island. Oh, wow. What about it?

I heard something about Kent Island. Nothing good, huh? Nothing good about Kent Island. Kent Island is a very small island. It, huh? Nothing good about Ken Island. Ken Island is, it's a very small island. It's only 13 miles long, I think, maybe like nine miles wide, maybe. I don't know. Sounds like a pretty big island, but sorry. Here I am trying to downplay Ken Island. I'm glad you're here. But no, we both grew up in the same spot and Joey's a little bit older than me and we never really hung out. And we had like friends of friends but sure when i finally moved to baltimore he had uh ended up in baltimore as well and then i ran into him it's like oh holy shit and now we're

neighbors we live like four or five houses down from each other malta more malta more right but uh joey uh he traveled for a while he went to san diego he was in new york he worked for def jam really record company. That's awesome. Yeah, he did some behind-the-scenes footage stuff for Kanye, and he worked with a bunch of different people at Def Jam. Is he still at Def Jam? No, I don't think he's been there a while.

But, yeah, he did some stuff, like some Wu-Tang, some promos and stuff like that. So, yeah, we talk about that, how he got into film and all that type of thing thing he's a he's a really talented guy and i just did a short film with him too so we talk all about that as well and uh you can check out that at atbproductions.com i will it's called the first promise so enjoy that this is joey and i sitting in the uh sitting in my backyard just talking shop it was uh it was a nice chat and uh we talk about god too he's a believer really yeah oh yeah yeah but he's not like a stringent jerk about it he just believes there's there's something else going on that meets the eye which i think is different than most of our digression sessions guests who just believe in nothing yeah a lot of atheists on the pod yeah yeah well um but hey i i uh i enjoyed it he joey's a he's a really good guy. So enjoy that.

All right. Before we get into that, though, Mike wants to get out of the car. We just recorded our first car cast. We got some stuff to plug. Got some shows coming up, right? Mike, do you know your shows? My show's coming up. All right.

My show's coming up. Let's see here. Mike is actively trying to get out of the car. Let's go. No, I'll plug a couple of mine, and then you can go to digressionsessions.com slash calendar or mikemorancomedy.com. Yeah, go to that. And that'll have all of Mike's upcoming dates.

Wait, that was rude of me, wasn't it? Go to both, I meant. Yeah, go to that. Go to both. So this Friday, I'll be in D.C. I'll be a guest on a live podcast of you me them everyone and uh or you me them everybody i'm sorry for blanking on that but i'll be at the wonderland ballroom at 8 p.m in dc the day after uh september 6th that's saturday i'll be at zissimo's doing uh doing some improv with michael johnson in a duo we call Johnson and Joshson.

Yes. And September 13th, that's Saturday, I will be at the Auto Bar in Baltimore, Maryland, upstairs, featuring for a nice stand-up show there called The Second Saturday Shit Show. Shit Show. So I will be there. You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram

at BetterRobotJosh. Michael? Michael Moran, 10. On the Twitters. Look for me in Skeptic Magazine. Yes. I should get on Instagram, shouldn't I? Just do it.

I don't even know what it is really. This guy. Yeah, you're like an old man when it comes to technology. I swear to God. Where do I put in the quarter? I used to, we would text back and forth and like an answer to your text, like the day before you'd be like,

what's the place again? Mike, scroll up. Or there'll be like Facebook. There'll be Facebook conversations, like threads day before you're like what's the place again mike scroll up or there'll be like facebook there'll be facebook conversations like threads and you're like people have been talking for like 20 minutes and my age goes all right what are we talking no but doesn't that happen to you though like where it's like you scroll to the time yeah but a lot of times my devices are so shitty that i can't do it how do i. What do you have? How do I? My Game Boy won't go up. My sundial's broken, you bastards.

What are we talking about? That weird Asian thing where you move the beads to count. It doesn't. Weird Asian. Whoa. We got to end this intro before he gets racist. Jesus Christ. No.

It's called a calculator, Michael. A calculator. I haven't been able to check a single voicemail on my phone that I've had for like five months. I'm not surprised. I'm really not. What do we really need voicemail anymore? You just text the person that called you. Yeah, or that person calls you back.

Yeah. I think the only person to really leave me voicemails is my dad, pretty much. And most of those, are you sleeping? Then I'll hang up. What? All right. So I think that's it for this rambling intro we have uh mr cory cohen in the car do you want to say he's a dig head he's a fan of the show hey guys excellent that's it yeah uh yeah we just did a car our first podcast in the car coming back from frederick maryland which will uh release uh probably as a special episode sometime this week.

Thank you to everybody for listening. Like I said, check out Joey's page. If you're trying to make stuff with Joey, he's into it. He's one of those guys that's really inspiring. He wants to build up his city. We don't have to be a New Yorker LA. Unlike us

who are desperately trying to get out of here. He's like, yeah, there's enough talent here in Baltimore and there's all the tools to get stuff out. Yeah, no, I really agree. I have no plans on leaving. I want to be here

until singularity happens. And then I can just go anywhere. Virtual reality. But yeah, Joey's a really great guy and this is a really fun podcast. And yeah, that's it. Thank you to everybody

for listening. Thanks, everyone. We love you. We love you. Hey, we got a live show coming up. Sneaky stuff. We got our first fun podcast. And yeah, that's it. Thank you to everybody for listening. Thanks, everyone. We love you. We love you. Hey, we got a live show coming up. Sneaky stuff. We got our first live podcast,

9-26, September 26th at the Wind Up Space. It's going to be a Thunder Grunt night. The whole network will be represented there in some facet. And Thunder Grunt

is our podcast network. That is our podcast network. When you say it's going to be a Thunder Grunt night, it just sounds like... They know what it means. They know what it means. There's going to be a rumbling in my belly. And that's a thunder grunt night. It just sounds like... They know what it means. There's going to be a rumbling in my belly and that's a thunder grunt night.

Yeah. We really run out of steam. Sorry, I'm a little shabby. We really run out of steam. We ate a couple thunder grunts. I'm kind of surprised we've lasted this long. On this intro? Yeah, and for just tonight in general.

Yeah, we got started like six hours ago. All right, everybody. All right. Love you guys. Bye. Love you. Bye-bye. All right.

Joey. What's going on? Malinsky. Hey, buddy. What's going on? Malinsky. Hey, buddy. How's it going? Good. Thanks for coming by. Not a problem, neighbor.

Hey, neighbor. This is a nice day to be neighbors, huh? Chilling out here. Now we're podcasting in my backyard. This is my first podcast. Really? Yeah. Just take it slow.

You're going to be fine. I'll ease into it. Yeah, of course uh joey you directed me in uh a short short film a hit with everybody it's taking america by storm yes it did called the first promise and uh thank you for putting me in it appreciate it for being in it man yeah it was a lot of fun um Yeah, so you're a director, and it's just crazy that we both grew up on the same island. Exactly. Ken Island. Ken Island.

And then didn't really hang out, and then years later met in Baltimore. Yeah. And then when I was coming over to go through the scripts, you were like, hey, this is my address. And I was like, no shit, I'm moving right there. And your response was, fuck you. I'm moving four houses down. And I was like, no, I really am. And I was like, no shit, I'm moving right there. And your response was, fuck you. I'm moving four houses down. And I was like, no, I really am. And you're like, nah.

I was like, yeah. So now we're neighbors. Neighbors. Making art now and again. Drinking a home brew in the backyard. Things are going good. Life is grand, man. Yeah.

So I wanted to talk to you not only about what we did, but all of your other stories. You worked at Def Jam for a bit. You were in San Diego. Yep. Because there's so many of my friends that are comedians first and then do other stuff to shoot other things or edit some stuff or music. But essentially, you're just directing and acting a little bit too. Sure.

I just love telling stories so i think it's a storyteller uh-huh and then like when i was younger i knew i wanted to tell stories and it's like what's the best way to do it right and i was like put the video camera on there and uh-huh when you're a kid you don't go behind the camera behind the camera is not the fun part in front of the camera like being stupid is what you really want to do yeah until you realize that you have to learn yeah what the hell to do behind the camera. When did you start doing that? I worked with my buddy Billy, I don't know, young.

As soon as we could do a video project in school, so like fifth grade. Wow. We weren't even in the same classes. We would just make videos, whatever. It doesn't even matter. We're like, yes, let's do it. With what, like school video cameras and stuff? No, Billy had an eight millimeter camera, and then that's how we went.

I would do anything I could with video. I used to shoot, when I was in middle school, I would shoot the Queen Anne's County High School basketball games and give them to Mr. Hackett to cut up. Mr. Hackett. For those listening, Mr. Hackett is a legendary teacher at Ken Island High School. Probable cokehead. I think that was his thing definite cokehead and definite did a lot of uh

touching his mouth and like kind of like uh that fidgety kind of thing when i was in high school i actually taught the class i had a ground grade book really everything and then mr hackett gave me a b what even though i taught the class what he would be like all right let's uh you know today's good and then he would drive away and go dunkin donuts and then leave for the whole like 90 minutes and come back and just assume you did like a b a b job yeah and then he was like yeah that's a b run in the class you know i'd give myself an a maybe uh maybe if you had gone to like a panera or something, you would have done better. All right, yeah, so you're editing all that stuff.

I want to tell one more thing about high school and film. We'll talk all about it. Independent Film Study was a class I made when I was in 12th grade. I actually went to the principal. At a principal time, I forget his name, black guy, Mr. Bennett, I think, or something like that. Anyway, he wasn't very present either. I snuck it by him. I was like like this is the class i've already taken all the film classes this is the class and he was like go ahead had two people in it no teacher who are the two me and david bronze i don't know him no teacher and all i did was make videos and you could still take it to this day i remember my nieces it had it in her like you know

the book that you pick your classes from you can take independent film study wow i essentially created a class at my high school and now it's just on the books they're like uh yeah just let it roll i don't i don't know last time i've seen i looked checked out the book it wasn't there but uh but one time it was so oh okay well uh well that was the thing too and like in high school instead of doing announcements over a pa it switched to video announcements which is pretty cool. But yeah, looking back, I wish I would have got more involved with that. I was like, oh, that's interesting. And now that I'm like doing a bunch of comedy stuff and sketches and stuff, like I wish I would have that knowledge of how to edit and all that. But even just shooting like quick stuff for Vine or Instagram, I'm like, oh, I like this. Now,

if we get the perspective of like me and you walking and then i'll shoot it for my pov and that's all just for like six seconds so i like imagine like doing that just for like a longer thing you know yeah it's definitely fun i think it's i think it's the you know still the best way i think video games have kind of taken over as the best way to tell a story because you're immersed in it but there's definitely no comedy in video game not enough oh yeah like grand theft auto has some it gets pretty dark it's pretty dark yeah it's about killing and fucking bitches and shit well i mean that's what we're all about you know what i'm saying that's ken island yeah well yeah i mean ken island too is just its own animal it's just such it is an actual island here in maryland it's about what like 13 miles long yeah not very and not very

wide either no it'd be uh more than five miles long no where i was at it's way tiny yeah so what year did you graduate 2001 ah okay 2004 yeah so there was a little bit of a divide there you'd have been a freshman i remember the year i remember the class under me i was like damn these kids are bad like like you know when i was a freshman i would be scared of the seniors and they i wouldn't say shit yeah you know i remember being going up to a freshman they're like no fuck you dude like oh shit like yeah sorry bro yeah i always imagine yeah there was always that too it's like teachers and stuff like once you get the ninth grade they're not gonna take this they're not gonna you know like you you think you're gonna chew gum in high school good luck

they said it every year like college is gonna be hard never was nothing was hard yeah and i never ran into that bully thing either like seniors i think i felt that way and then you're like oh they don't give a shit you know like you it's it's like you have to be on their level or at least in their world for you to even rate you know you're like oh that's just some's just some asshole in a Slipknot shirt, which is who I was. Yeah, no wonder we didn't hang out. What? No, I'm just kidding. The double drummer is pretty dope.

Come on. They're pretty good. They wore masks and all that. That was fun. Yeah. No, I was a huge metal kid for a while and then kind of transitioned out of that. I was angry. Not too angry, I guess.

What did they tell you angry about on Ken Island? My life is too good. I'm too close to the beach. I don't know. Like divorced parents and all that stuff. Just usual teenage stuff. Gotcha. That was a noise I made a lot.

Where's my Slipknot album? All right. So what happens after high school? where do you go from there i uh went to community college i will skip over that i changed my name in in about the last year last semester my community college and then drove across country uh-huh when i got to san diego i had 180 in my wallet the first month rent paid okay and no job uh-huh it's why did you do that because i wanted to go set up residency in california to go to school there i knew i was gonna try to make movies i thought la was gonna be it uh-huh so i moved to san diego to set up residency and but san diego

is not very close to la is it not about 90 minutes okay i was like if i figured i had to live somewhere i didn't like la at all yeah it's a dump um really i still think it's, I was like, if I figured I had to live somewhere, I didn't like LA at all. Yeah. Like, it's a dump. Really? I still think it's a dump. You got to tell my girlfriend that. It's a dump. She's like, yeah, let's move to LA. Everybody's like, well, once you live there for two years, it's great.

Well, no, if it takes me two years to like a place, fuck that. Well, it sounds like you're just getting used to a dump. Yeah, yeah. It's like, yeah, I like this dump. It's pretty nice. Oh, and the traffic is just, it's awful. But you get used to it after two years. But San Diego's gorgeous.

And when I moved across the country I didn't know I knew zero people out there So I found my person off the internet And the first guy I was going to live with Was this creepy guy And he was like Yeah I have a two bedroom place

You'll have your own room Rent was cheap And then like three weeks before I leave He was like Well it's actually not It's not a two bedroom You'll have your own place you'll have like a you know a chinese wall whatever there's like barriers are like beads no it's like folding oh okay i got like sliding kind of door tissue paper thing and then at the end he was like with like two weeks to go he was like

actually there's really no other room you'll be living in the living room i was like all right i'm peacing out from this guy there's no bed It's just a couch that you and I can share on. And there are cameras set up, but they're not recording anything. Not at all. But yeah. So then I luckily scrambled around and got this, I think, 42 or 46-year-old Taiwanese woman. And it turns out she was a hooker.

Oh. So yeah, red light district okay she literally had a red light in every room and then uh so that was interesting she was really committed she was committed yeah um she said she worked at a jewelry place but uh that was a nice little story she sometimes she had johns come over oh my god one night really yeah one night i was sleeping maybe the first weekend i brought a chick over when I went across. And she was like, you know, obviously she stayed for a couple days. And she was like, the walls are thin, Joey. The walls are thin.

Oh, no. And damn were they thin. One night, knock on my window on my bedroom. She's like, Shandy, wake up. Her name was Shandy. Shandy. I love this woman, by the way, so I feel bad talking about her. But she's like, Shandy, wake up.

She is a big fan of the show, too. Yeah, exactly. And I'm like, I look out, and there's two big, huge black guys. And I'm like, uh-oh. I'm like, Shandy's next window over. So she lets them in, and the first thing I hear is, I'm only here to get my dick sucked. And then bang-a-rang.

Two at the same time. The worst part was I just moved there, so I didn't have any money. I got my first paycheck uh-huh and uh so happy because i've been living off like ramen noodles and water and literally cut weight i was down to 175 i'm a fat guy fatter guy so like chunkier guy so it was nice and then um it was nice starving for a bit yeah it was nice i'm in good shape and then i bought all this like lunch meat and my plan was gonna watch i'm gonna meet this big ass fucking hoagie and watch football uh-huh and that night they ate everything the the same two guys same two guys so i woke up and they're still on my couch i go in i wake up all my lunch meat eating wow i was trying to imagine how that situation could have got worse and yeah that

was so pissed they just bangeded the worst part about that just like yeah banging shandy i was all right yeah you're like all right we can bang around a little bit but i'm gonna get my sandwich after yeah they ate all your food eat all my food wow i bought like the good lunch me too like i had like you know salami every all the meats all the like you know i'm making a good one any capicolaola? I don't even know what that is. Me either. I'm pretty sure it's a meat. I think it's somewhere in some type of Italian something or other.

Anyway, so how long did you live with her then? I lived with her for I think nine months. Wow, that's a long time to be living with an active prostitute. Well, most of her work was done downtown. National Boulevard or something like that. Shut up. But every once in a while, she'll bring people over. A couple ODs in the house.

Woo. Yeah. First OD, I was really concerned about it. I was like, holy shit, dude. Yeah. You know, I called the cops. The second time, I was just like, all right, Shandy, your boy's down again. I'm going to work.

You're just stepping over him out the door. Out the door. And we're talking heroin overdoses? I don't know what it was. I didn't, I don't, you know, I wasn't into drugs, so I don't know what that was, but. Right, it was. Something to put you down and you have something, you know, like. Yeah.

Evulsions. Coming out of your mouth and stuff. Eyes rolled back. I only know if, I don't know, you know, if it's considered an OD, but maybe. I mean, they're down. Probably. Yeah. Yeah.

Amanda and I, my girlfriend, we went for a run today around hamden and uh we had to it was like an obstacle course with like this group of four grizzled hamdenites just on that nod that like heroin like kind of lean yeah it's like wow it's like 12 30 and you're just out and about oh it's crazy yeah anyway so so nine months go by and then what happens after that and are you like shooting stuff while you're not shooting i've wrote a lot during those years i knew i didn't have any equipment so from like 18 to 22 i just wrote okay i have like countless stuff and that's actually how i how um my wife fell in love with me she read my writing was like this is some good stuff oh there you go she believed in me at that point uh-huh to make it i don't know but yeah so the way you say it like that is is the uh the belief

isn't there anymore you're like at that point yeah at that point she believed i don't know she's still holding on i married her so she's yeah she's stuck so yeah exactly you got her yeah no don't worry about it now don't worry about that uh-huh confidence levels there but so um but then um i found out that uh san diego san die State, which I never went to LA, San Diego State wouldn't take any of my credits from Maryland. So I was like, but they didn't tell me that until I was already enrolled. Of course. Already paid, yeah, everything.

So at that point, I was like, screw California. My buddy was working in New York, and he's like, I can get you a job. Come out. And I just went and worked in production. Nice. Yeah. So I started reality TV shows. Then I worked for VH1 kind of style, like VH1 Live with Josh Stone and

that's where the vegetables. Oh, okay. Yeah. When they had that concert series. Yeah, concert series. Like storyteller type stuff? Yeah, it was before that. Oh, okay.

But I never really seen it. I can't say I watched it, but I definitely worked on it. And then I moved to commercial work where I did just production, working my way up and trying to figure out what the hell production is. Work on some highest level shit you can work on. Work with Wally Pfister, who's shot Batman. Oh, okay. He's the director assistant for his commercial work on some of level shit you can work on work with wally fister who's shot batman oh okay i was his director assistant for his commercial work on some of the east coast stuff nice which is pretty cool wally fister sounds like a like a gay club i'll be honest with you

yeah it does i've never been there it's not bad you shouldn't yeah they're gonna open one here in woodbury um so yeah while while you're in New York, was the job that he was talking about working at Def Jam, or that just came about? That came about after the, you know, you can, what happens is in production, in the commercial world, moving up is kind of hard because it's all unionized. Okay. So, like, you can only get to a certain point, and then you have to be put into the union. Whether or not you're going to an art department, production, first AD, whatever you want. Yeah. It's hard to move up in commercials. have to go kind of independent around okay and i

wasn't creating anything i was just working yeah and um so i decided to start creating and then um my buddy had an in at def jam um for the content manager guy ran a blog site and then worked at def jam um my first day there they called me in and said, you have an hour. You have these kids. It's for Wu-Tang. Go. What? Yeah, so I basically told a little story about this other kid,

like a kid stealing a CD from another kid, and that was like the spot. And they liked it, and from there I got to work on some editing for The Dream behind the scenes and Rihanna. Who else? And then we shot some stuff for The Dream, like promos. Yeah, yeah. And then eventually it ended with an unreleased documentary for Kanye West.

Oh, really? Yeah, for his runaway. All right, well, let's circle back to this, like, you have an hour. What did they want? Like a promo thing? Yeah, but they didn't really tell me. And this is kind of how the whole situation at Def Jam went. I'm not going to try to mouth the bad mouth because I still have connects that are there.

Yeah, sure. But, I mean, I think you could speak about your experience without throwing shade. So, I think it was more of like a test than it was an actual assignment. They're like, you know, these are the kids. And the kids were like the president's kids, and people high up in Def Jam. So they want video of their cute little kids, and they were cute.

They were adorable kids. Yeah, how old are we talking? Probably three to, the oldest probably was eight. Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, and they're adorable little kids. And Wu-Tang just had that album where they came back together, and Rick Cordero did the you know seven style music video for him and it was a good album and uh so they're trying for

more online promo and trying to get it for cheap gotcha so I busted that out and it did well and then I actually the next job after that I edited a promo that got taken off the air quickly for the roots really we did like some like controversial like you know it was like kind of like black right stuff oh and uh yeah questlove tweeted it out and it did well for like that splash and then it got taken off the internet because of like copyrights and shit but oh but it was cool why it lasted like it was it went viral and it was cool interesting yeah so that's cool you got to work with them though yeah i've actually i work with them i work with the roots twice really

music video i was in helping out in the art department on one of their uh-huh so that was cool they cool guys yeah they're all good guys yeah i feel like yeah no they're out there they're all right they're good guys yeah for real i mean they're one of the probably the nicest bands and in the hip-hop i don't yeah i don't know i don't think anybody has a bad thing to say about the root that is true nobody's like Nobody's like, man, Quest loves a dick. The reason I said it like that is because I didn't have that much interaction with them one-on-one. Right. And it's more in a professional context, too, instead of hanging.

So, yeah. So, the thing at Def Jam goes well. So, then they're like, all right. So, we're going to keep you around to do some promo stuff. Is that primarily what you were doing there? Yeah, primarily. promo stuff is that primarily what you were doing there yeah primarily i was working co uh both along with the blog this life files.com blog or the life files.com or whatever it is right um so i was splitting content with them so i got the interview naz and i got the interview ice cube and

then wow while we're doing that we're doing they're paying me through def jam so it's kind of like dual like you work for me i work for you kind of thing okay so yeah um and are you super excited while all that's happening because you're you're a hip hop guy i'm a hip hop guy i was i wasn't i was a hip hop guy but i was not as much as i i should have been now like during that time i became a hip hop guy i remember they told me i'm gonna go shoot cnn and i was like okay cool thinking it's i don't know what the hell that is in the news or whatever yeah and it's you know component noriega which i had no idea that i would have thought yeah you're doing like behind the scenes with wolf blitzer or something so i show up and like yeah

like oh i'm like oh yeah yeah i should have done some research on it like yeah yeah hey fellas i know who you are and what we're doing um so but i mean that has to feel pretty good though i mean like you're kind of in san diego trying to figure it out and then you're in um so but i mean that has to feel pretty good though i mean like you're kind of in san diego trying to figure it out and then you're in new york in the mix there was a lot of like struggle in between that yeah like yeah that so and i'm still struggling like that hip-hop world didn't pay well so it's like my the you know i it's good for my real and you know good for my ego but not necessarily for for right yeah at the end of the next step well so it sounds like too like it sounds like it was pretty like by the seat of

their pants kind of style like hey shoot this in an hour and you're like so am i signing a contract or am i guaranteed money here yeah and you know they paid for the majority yeah they didn't pay every time but uh-huh most of the time they did. And yeah, I think that's why I moved back to Maryland is because it was ghetto. It was not set up right. Like they didn't, yeah, it was too much in the air. And Def Jam is like one of the biggest labels around, not only for hip hop, but just, I mean, they've been around so long, you'd think they would have their shit together. I think they do with their top line the top you know if you're if you're directing a music video for kanye are you doing this are you doing that like yeah they have it they have a straight there but

i was down in the lowly internet world like yeah they don't even care like they yeah it's just you know and that that too must have been like the beginning of youtube catching on and stuff too so they probably didn't even understand like was, YouTube's big. The video was huge. They didn't have a good outlet for their own content, so they needed other people. This is still dependent on other outlets, which I thought was funny to me. They didn't have a good channel for themselves. They did produce a lot of content, and I was glad to be in. My first day through the building, once again, this is is kind of sad i don't know who this person was but like dj khaled was there and

i got introduced to dj khaled and i'm like okay cool and like when you when you put the word dj in front of you i kind of lose respect well i think it was so like superfluous at that point it was just everywhere like yeah i'm a dj okay yeah so so is this guy and the guy that's making my hot dog dj hot dog so i was like okay i like nodded it didn't even like didn't even like stop a stop and walk like i was just like okay there yeah that's dj caligari and then like later like he's a you know he's a genius and all he does is win apparently so yeah well uh maybe you inspired him you know he's like you know what i'm losing right now that guy doesn't know who i am i gotta win i acted like i did i gave him the oh yeah yeah dj collin oh very cool uh so tell me

about this uh unreleased kanye thing yeah um documentary for his um his movie the runaway which he did for his my dark twisted fantasy album okay he made a movie uh supposed to be eight hundred thousand dollars with hype williams helping him direct yeah balloons over 1.2 million at the end of it oh it's a pretty good piece of content he wanted to make a basically a movie for his album right he did and i think it's i think it's pretty good for a first-time filmmaker so it's like an extended music video basically that's what his movie is. And I did a documentary about the making of. At this point in his career, he was putting out Good Friday. So he would make a track every Friday.

So I got to see him make all these tracks. Because the guy that was shooting it was traveling with him. So I got to see him make a track in four hours. Okay, it's like live or you would see that footage? I would see the footage, yeah. But I mean, the guy's rolling most of the time so it's like yeah to see you know just to see his mind work and just the usual stuff like listen to a beat trying different bass drums and putting everything together and all that stuff yeah just to see but I mean he was literally touring the

world pre-premiering his movie in like Japan and you know Tokyo and then he went to France and went to like Paris Fashion Week was in like yeah weird fashion stuff yeah and then uh make a movie make a music in between that like yeah workaholic and uh i was you know i respected him a lot after that well it's good he needs i hope he hears this because he needs an ego boost yeah that guy does and that album is one of my favorite albums of all time his most recent one no? No, no. My Dark Twisted Fantasy. Oh, okay, okay. His most recent ones, I hated it the first time I listened to it. I can't say hate it now because it's got some bangers on it. Yeah, I'm not too familiar with his stuff.

I listened to some of that record. It just sounds very unpolished, and I think he was trying to go for that. Yeah, what he wanted to do was he wanted to make the drums sound right. So he concentrated on the drums on the album. And to me, the drums are banging on that album. But when he talks to God and puts himself as a God, a little bit too far. A little bit, a little bit.

No, I like it when dudes refer to each other as God. Like Nas used to do, like, what up, God? I like that. But now I heard that Rick Rubin he did some interview it might have been with pitchfork or somebody but he said kanye came to him like a week before it was supposed to come out yes it was like hey do you want to hear some of what i'm working on and he thought it was like do you want to hear the final product basically like we're almost done and he said he played him like he had something like 30 hours of music and it was it was something like he didn't play it

like all of it it was like yeah here's what i got and it was just kind of a mess and he had like a week to refine it rick rubin said he had like a week to refine it and then didn't and then kanye like bailed out early yeah or like his chick thing or whatever right yeah to go to paris or paris and that's why i was like when the album came out and i it sounded like that i'm like you need to get back in the booth kanye you need to work harder yeah that's it yeah that out and it sounded like that, I'm like, you need to get back in the booth, Kanye. You need to work a little harder. Yeah, that's why it's like, no, it's raw. It's like, or are you lazy? Or are you lazy?

Yeah. But I can't doubt his lyrics on some of the ones were pretty smart. All right. I'll give it to him. I'll give it to him. So why wasn't it released, this behind-the-scenes thing? Lawyers took it over. Kanye gave it the green light.

It was supposed to go out with the album. Uh-huh. Kanye did give it the green light at one point, and then we didn't have enough, like, the person that shot it, and we didn't have enough, like, signatures of, like, permissions, and then there's, like, we blurred out all the faces, and then once we blurred out the faces, Kanye was like, I don't know. Now it's like half the video was blurred out. So is this just, like, dude just hanging in the studio and stuff like that?

No, it's following him. Like, a lot of times it would be like people that we would never be able to get the get the release for like he goes to a premiere in france and there's like 40 people you know like the whole stadium oh you know whatever not stadium but like a whole theater of people and then like people ask questions and we put the people that ask questions in the dock like we never know who those people are okay so they're not like actors or celebrities. Yeah, they're not like actors. Yeah. So, like, that stuff, you know.

So, potentially, if they saw it on the internet, they'd be like, oh, I never agreed to be. He agreed to. And with Kanye being such a, like, polarizing figure, they're going to go after him. Anything you can. Yeah. But one thing that just went popular on the internet

was Kanye helping out a rapper on the street, like, listening to him and giving him advice. One of my favorite parts in the documentary that got cut out was this kid coming up to him, and he raps to him, and Kanye listens to the whole thing and gives him notes. It's one of those beautiful, beautiful parts, and that had to go into the doc, and it didn't make it. But people always make him out to asshole, but when it's about art right a different different opinion yeah and i i love i mean yeah you definitely can't say that he's talented with what he does in the studio and i love all the behind the scenes stuff if anything comes on tv or i see anything online even if it's a band that i don't like you know what i mean they're like oh so and so in the studio or i have to watch that stuff i just love

to see that creative process. Like the Storyteller Show on VH1, they have another one with classic records or whatever, and they show the making of it. Oh, I love that stuff. Yeah, yeah. So even if it's Fleetwood Mac, who I kind of like, but I'm like, yeah, let me see how they made Rumors. Yeah, exactly.

I love that stuff. So that sucks that it couldn't get released. The newest one I did was for the rapper Future. Mm-hmm. I didn't know who the hell he was he probably nobody does yeah i i think i i've heard of him when you said the dream i was like is that the other guy yeah no the dream made like a umbrella from rihanna he's the one that made that he's the one that's his song oh yeah he's had mad hits for beyonce like he's a huge producer gotcha he's not he's a writer producer of me gotcha not a rapper give him a record because he's that big of a producer right right right like i've made you

enough money yeah it's my turn now it's my turn to not make any money but to be get my ego straight at least kiss my ring for a second would you so the the future one got released same director as did the um the kanye one i was saying same editor and that's out um there's this future compared to kanye it's kind of like a different different zone yeah but i mean it's it has some big people in it like uh pharrell's in it pharrell uh tj collard uh yeah put your t yep yep whiz and who else there's some like record label producer oh la reed is i mean la reed signed yeah so he's he's big in it yeah yeah it's yeah all these like huge people being like you are the future man you you you know you are but this it's a similar style shooting which is like it's a little bit not not yeah man i'm not gonna cut

down on that i wish i shot it is all i got right right right yeah it has to be frustrating as a director when all that stuff comes in you're like oh, oh, I wish we had this thing. I'm a good editor, but I'm a better editor and director when it's my shit. Right, right, right. The thing that we did, that's what everybody's saying. I'll couch it with like, now I'm not the best actor, but Joey killed it. It's like Abby and Joey are really good, and Joey did a great job. So everybody's like, oh my God, it looks so good. Yeah, it looks like it.

I was trying to go for something simple i'm wanting something simple and real and like yeah kind of raw kind of raw didn't want to light it if i didn't have to and um also because we were on a time crunch time crunch i edited in four days yeah and uh shot it mostly in one night one night like 10 p.m to like 4 a.m yeah and. And then the next day I moved. Yeah, damn. I woke up at 7.30 to do a podcast with Jason Weems. And then we did that. And then we just packed and moved all day. I remember Abby is the one that suggested you. Oh.

And I didn't think about it. No, actually, yeah, she might have been. I can't remember now. But I know that my buddy suggested Abby because I was writing with Abby but didn't really think of her as as the lead because when you're like i was just wasn't thinking that way right and then um i think she suggested you and i was like when i heard it i was like yeah because ken island can island i'll take that and then i've been trying the story is about me and my wife's first date which is yeah crazy you know self-indulgent or whatever but i also wanted a person so when i was casting my essentially myself yeah i was very particular and i was like there first date, which is crazy, you know, self-indulgent or whatever. But I also wanted a person.

So when I was casting essentially myself, I was very particular and I was like, there was not a guy out here that I wanted to play that role. Right. And then not that it ended up as anything like me on camera, but. The story, like the essence of it. Yeah, at least like that you're a good guy and that you came from Ken Island i was like yeah i can definitely feel comfortable even if we failed right i would have been happy with that that working because like yeah i literally didn't find a guy like they're either no offense to you too good looking like i don't want that guy's like fucking a model josh you're not a

model i'm sorry oh thank you you're a comedian thank you it's a good thing i'm sitting down yeah you did good though hey thank you no it was uh yeah it was it was a lot of fun that was like my first time uh doing like semi-serious stuff i mean for the most part serious oh it's uh critics like my dad have said uh um it left him saying so you're doing chick flicks now nice i want to do chick flicks i i didn't think it was like a chick flick it was uh you know it's like no it's like serious he's like i was waiting for the jokes it's like no no no because i think he's so used to me doing like comedy and stuff he's like no it's good it's just a chick flick it's like a three minute chick flick it is a three minute my dream is to make the wedding singer

my dream is to make like uh hung or not, no, 40 year old. No, what's the one? What's the one we knocked up? Knocked up. Oh, okay. I thought I was knocked up. Yeah. Where it's a male driven comedy.

Right. Like you can take your wife or girlfriend to this movie that you won't hate. Yeah, yeah. Because otherwise it's like The Vow or some ridiculous shit. Right, right. Like it's like, it's super sweet at its core, but like it has some funny stuff throughout like there will be some dick jokes there's gonna be some drinking yeah some drugs right joey's playing fetch with my dog because we're a professional podcast no no you don't have to apologize we are recording in my backyard so that's just how we do it um

yeah no i thought it was really cool and people that i've showed it to, they're like, hey, you did a decent job. And it's like, oh, thanks. My one friend is like, you're a good physical actor. It's like, okay, so just when I say words, it's a problem. Yeah, I got some compliments on it. And it was originally for a contest. Yeah, it was for Project Greenlight. Yeah.

So in that contest, you're trying to become a director for a studio film. So I wanted to be able to teach a show that I could direct. So directing the actors was part of what I wanted to do. Or showcase that I could. And bring a performance. I know you're a performer, but I didn't know how much on-screen acting ability you had. So it was fun to try to do that yeah just for us just to be uh just lumps of clay like the clay show what do we do because in my past i've

i did a lot of like corporate video and i found that i i never got the performances out that i wanted and i don't know if it was the content or my ability so i was really kind of scared that i might not be able to direct i might be an editor oh so this was a kind of a challenge to myself to see can i can i get a real performance can i get a real emotion out of a film interesting and um i think i did it yeah i think it's great so people can see it's on vimeo it's on youtube but you're uh i'm sure you probably want people to go to your website the TheATB.tv. There it is. And that's across the bridge.

Yeah, across the bridge. Which is a reference again to Ken Island. Ken Island, damn. That Bay Bridge. It's across the bridge. Ken Island is when you're going to Ocean City, right when you get across the bridge. That's how I describe it to everybody too.

And everybody's been to our island. But they don't know it. In Maryland, yeah. They just don't know it. They're just like, Ken Island. Is that like St. Michael's? Or like, no. Like, have you been to Ocean City? The toy Munster's presenting Joey right now

says marry me on it, I think. Or be mine. Is that what it says? Oh, I was going to say marry me. I don't know. Your wife doesn't need to know. Not in this. It's be mine.

Yeah. Well. Oh, no. Almost over the fence. Which, yeah, I brought you back here, too, to show off our fence. We got a fence, you know? We got a fence. That's a nice fence, which I brought you back here to to show off our fence. We got we got a fence. You know, we got a nice fence. Yeah.

I'm anti fence. I'm I'm more pro community. You want to break break down the fences. Connect me. Privacy. But this is nice. It doesn't feel too trapped. No, no, it's decent.

There's like a birdhouse there, you know. Yeah. So other stuff that you've worked on besides the great film with me and Abby. What were some highlights along the way? Highlights? Yeah. I'm trying to think. I would say the Wally Fister thing was probably one of my highlights because he was directing a commercial, which he's normally a shooter.

Now he went on to direct Transcendence with Johnny Depp, so he is a director now. But he was the first director I've ever seen shoot and direct at the same time. And he put the camera on his shoulder. Yeah. It was just badass. That is a crazy thing to learn, too, that that stuff's so separate. When it gets to that huge level, director's just more like uh you know the dp's

doing all like the hard work of like like lighting and seeing how stuff works with like color and all the stuff that i thought a director did and the directors and it's some it stretches between the two like david fincher is very controlling and he'll he'll be on that side a little bit more than some directors some directors are just actor directors and really worry about like i don't know judd abatel personally or nothing. Like, I've never been on set. But I imagine he's more worried about the performances and the comedic timing than he is about, like, he knows he hires somebody to make sure it looks right.

Right. You know what I'm saying? Less so than, like, I want a really cool lighting scheme here. Exactly. That type of thing. Like, yeah. Let's shoot for, like, an hour to get two minutes of dialogue just to get it right. Yeah.

But, like, I think, like, Louis C.K. directs his stuff, I believe. Yeah, and edits too. Does he edit? He writes edits. Some of the editing, he does less of it since the inception of it, but I know the first two seasons he did all of it. I believe it because it doesn't look that good. The shooting of it, it looks like he's a comedian shooting his own stuff

that he can't express what exactly he needs right i found myself being that same way like sometimes it's easier for me just to grab the camera interesting then explain what i'm trying to do yeah but right i am not the best shooter by any means really there's people that are like yeah there's always like i would love to hire out my dp every time just with good dps oh yeah it's like right amazing right right that just has to make your job way easier so you just have to point the camera like oh this looks amazing yeah look that's what i wanted yeah i think you did a really good job i keep bringing it back to what we did but i i just thought it was so cool i mean we shot it pretty much in like six hours we did some pickup stuff like a couple days later but yeah it was pretty much like uh it was you and another

guy doing sound yeah and uh he had a maze yeah get a sound guy yeah so it's like just attached to zoom the same thing we're recording on now like put it on like a broomstick basically that was my biggest flaw i remember going into my wife was like make sure you hire a sound guy i'm like i am but i'm so bad with logistics and no because we didn't know when we were shooting until way late yeah and like i couldn't i can't put people on hold and then right not don't even know when we're shooting well there's a deadline for project green light too which ended up fucking us in the end which sucked yeah and uh whatever i can tell that story if we want yeah go so yeah i was done 90 of the

script of the short like i showed every i showed josh and abby yeah and a couple other people like 90 of it done on tuesday it's due friday yeah no i was thrilled when you're like this is like the bottom of what it is it's only going to get better i was like just submit that yeah and then uh my wife uh got sick and had a blood clot in her leg that moved to her lung and was in the hospital for a couple days yeah which you know is scary and my my concentration went away from the film and onto my wife which is fine well you know which is you know fine but like um yeah and the right thing to do yeah and i knew and i knew i had the film done so i wasn't worried about like i was like okay i don't get to have it as polished as I want it to be, yada, yada.

But I was confident doing it. It was due Friday, so Friday morning I finished the audio and uploaded it. It says successful upload, but it didn't give me a confirmation email. And I uploaded it again. Same thing. So I was like, okay, they don't give you confirmation emails in this whacked out system. And then it never went through. So Friday, Saturday morning I checked on facebook and it says like hey guys we're having issues with the upload it make sure you hit

this extra button to make sure it goes through but then that was posted like friday midday i just didn't see it yeah and then uh i actually had my wife sign up because she came home from the hospital friday night and i had her sign up to be a judge so I could see what my film was doing and you couldn't choose your film you could only randomly give you 10 films as a judge so I figured okay my film's in the world it's uploaded

it's somewhere somebody's voting on it but then it didn't happen I bet that happened to so many people it happened to a decent amount of people and like you said it's such a big project green light and this is the year they're bringing back to hbo so i'm sure just tons of people applied so if you're just like uh excuse me excuse me uh we got enough yeah like oh yeah we're gonna choose from the thousands of ones

one of these is gonna be good we're all right we're all right but yeah no it still turned out really great so so i added 20 seconds to it to make sure the uh i liked it better with at 320 than i did at three minutes so yeah that's where it sits now the audio is still a little but yeah it happens i think most people like it that aren't in the know for that stuff don't really realize it like some people like if i say something like oh it's like a little wonky here like oh okay i hear it but other people are like oh it's good like i don't even think they notice i'm not yeah i wasn't too worried about it but yeah no i had a had a few friends too like oh why didn't you guys kiss and it's like well we didn't know each other like it was uh it was an interesting i would have to say that josh and

abby's uh i had this one moment that i let him i let it sit a lot of times yeah where you at the very end of the film like in my mind the guy walks away in the end of the film and then that's how i originally rescripted it but we changed the ending yeah and then so they got they had to have this awkward moment yeah i met and um where they meet up and like kind of being like a lovey-dovey and they were lovey-dovey good the whole way like the chemistry was there in my opinion yeah but the end it got super duper duper awkward yeah it got really yeah with where it would actually get intimate it was not not happening with these well because we we've done like open mics and stuff together but like you

know we're fine but we've never like hung out so we weren't like i think if we were like close friends it'd be like ah you know what i mean we could do this, but I think she just started a new relationship with a guy too. So I think she's like six weeks in. So it's probably like, I don't know if I should be, you know? Yeah. And same here.

It's like, I don't, you know, and then, yeah, no, that's so totally weird. I,

that's why another reason I, like, I didn't want to push it there. Cause like, it is a free movie that is like, you know, right. As a couple of friends helping me out.

I don't, yeah. And you guys, you guys didn't make out right. I'm i'm gonna let's do that again from different angles that was great but let's do it one more time one more time i'm gonna turn the camera on this time i was out of focus on that one for 30 minutes um yeah no which led to uh i might have talked about this on the last podcast but like i was gonna put my hands like behind her head and like kind of pull her in oh yeah and then i was like that too much and then like i just stalled halfway and just rested my hands on her shoulders i think

i did i send you that screenshot of you doing that i think i did as a joke oh you might have yeah you sent me a bunch of yeah because that was my favorite watch and playback of that it was ridiculous it was so funny because you were shooting that with a long lens so it means you were further away right so you're like 50 feet away and you go what's with the grandma hands it's like dude i don't know i don't know what i'm doing it's funny just like i love you tap tap tap that's awesome meanwhile you're like this is not the story of me and my wife. No. Act like you're in love, you dickheads.

Not at that point. I was still playing a little game, but a month later, I break up with her. Really? I break up with her because I was scared of love. Oh, come on. To be honest with you. Yeah. Scared of love?

I thought I loved. I mean, I fell in love with her. I was like, holy shit, I'm 21. I am not ready for this. I can't be in love. I can't be in love yet. I have mad poontang to hit. And that's what you told her?

I did not tell her, but. Not in those words? Not those words. But I broke up with her. Uh-huh. Yeah. And so, like, so the whole story of it, too, is, like, you have to, like, convince her to, like, go on a date with you.

No, I got her on the date fine. I was 21 jaeger blasters in holy shit what is a jaeger blaster jaeger blaster is a shot of jaeger and uh some rum i mean a shot of jaeger and red bull okay but these were like at a at a bar so they're not putting on full shots or like you know they probably splash yeah like those little plastic cups yeah there's like dime a tap Little like medicine That's exactly what it was Yeah And so I was 21 of those in

Oh my god And I was racing my buddy Richie And he beat me He had like 23 at least And No one wins in that scenario

By the way I can't even Like I don't even remember Most of the night Monsa leave him alone I didn't remember What she looked like And then

I set up a date with her The next day And I was like Asking my buddy I was like You know buddy. I was like, you know. All they kept saying was like, she's not like anything you ever dated before because I was dating like blonde chicks. It's California, man. And I tried some Asians, but

there's a noise that that laugh got me. Because when I was on Canada Island, there was like two Asians in our high school and I was like, oh, they're so hot because there's like two of them. Right, right, right. And there's a hundred million of them and I was like, i'd be a little more a little more racist on against them she'll leave you alone eventually if you ignore sorry no that's right for the listeners uh months won't leave joey alone because she's a spoiled baby anyway i'm sorry so i met i text

her and i was like yo meet me here and meet me there and i got there early because i was like i don't know who this girl is you seriously didn't remember what she looked like? Couldn't remember what she looked like. How much did you just black out? I blacked out. I remember moments of the night. I remember her up on the dance floor. I remember whispering in her ear.

I remember telling her the truth. Because at this point in my career in California, like in Maryland, your wit and your humor kills. Uh-huh. Like, girls eat that shit up. Like, honesty and humor works. And I was, I never had a problem with chicks. Right. Went to California, totally different story. Really? Like, that did not work forever. It was hard. What? It was hard. And then, like,

I was a dickbag for, like, three weeks, and it was crushing. Oh, okay. And I was like, I'm never being that dickbag again. Like, you know, I was like, I'm never gonna do it gonna do it right so like she she liked the honest game and i was like oh damn i like this and your honest game is like i was 21 and i have no idea what in my brain it's it's pure game like it's pure perfect but i don't know what it really was sure um so yeah i couldn't remember and i was remember be like don't be her don't be her seeing these seeing these chicks pass and then my solar was like please be her and it was no but then i took her

to a i wanted to wanted to go get um coffee and the coffee shop i drive 20 minutes to go to is closed wow so you're like so denny's or uh my second date i took her to benihana uh-huh and she hates crowds oh so that was that was a failure too so i'm over two at this point yeah so then yeah so you're just fucking up all along the way you finally she acquiesces and you're like now i'm done yeah well yeah then i really felt because at this point i'm still trying to win her over right and then i without the thought of like it actually happening right right still like you know i was used to being in control of the relationship and not like i don't know i don't know how you were but growing up or any time before this any girl i dated like i found out within the first two days i didn't like her yeah i would date her for like a month

or maybe two months or six months or whatever but like i never liked any of them right yeah yeah i mean i guess just being so young like i was just so excited i was like yeah you're excited but yeah like i don't like this i don't like the way she does this or this or this list goes on just immediately and you're like all right but i'll stick it out yeah i mean there's right there's You're excited, but I don't like the way she does this or this or this. The list goes on and on and on. Just immediately, and you're like, all right, but I'll stick it out. Yeah, I mean, there's rewards to doing that. Yeah. Like what?

I don't know. Okay. All right. Okay. But yeah, that week, too, yeah, where we were going to submit it to Project Greenlight, and then I wanted to see the cut and then you're like well you know my wife's in the hospital like oh i'm the worst person alive like it's kind of a life and death situation bye my my lovely lady's leaving bye um

yeah so it was like i was telling abby too she was like it's kind of like a seinfeld situation you guys are in the hospital and just yeah, so can we see the cut? I respected that. And I wanted to. My wife actually was probably the most disappointed that I didn't get it. She told me when she went in the hospital the first day that I have to finish the film. I actually think I let her down more than anybody. It's my stupidity.

My wife is my double check. My wife is my sanity. I am an idiot when it comes to 90 of life i'm genius in 10 uh 90 right and she's the one that keeps me sane so without her this is just another reason yeah like it with that with her there we would be fine because you would make me know like just like you know do it so yeah no she seems great and just in the few interactions i've had with her it's like all right sign this release you're gonna get a release for that you're like oh yeah i should do that yeah so how long have you guys been together now uh almost 10 years

wow yeah since 21 since that day had that one month off or whatever wow so yeah so you guys met in San Diego, go to New York. Yep. Five and a half years in New York. Wow. Yep. What was... We lived in Bushwick.

We lived in the ghetto, way out in Bushwick. The Calb stop on the L, if anybody knows. And then we moved to the Graham stop on the L. Is that even a stop? I can't even... We were on the Graham.

I can't even believe we can't remember. Montrose stop on the L. Montrose. That sounds familiar. I'm really bad with New York. I'm like a country? I can't even believe we can't remember. Mantra stop on the L. I'm really bad with New York. I'm like a country bumpkin when I go to New York. I'm like, look at all the buildings. I just follow my friends around on the train. I love New York. It's a good place. It's a rat race. It's constant sprinting.

Seems really hard. As far as people I just know from comedy that go there, they just get really overwhelmed. Going from here to where it's like, it's tough enough to try like make a name like in like east coast like dc baltimore virginia kind of around here and then you go to new york you're like oh everybody else is doing this too and they've been doing it for the longest time like a friend of mine uh this guy ben rosen who he had on the show um he did he was doing pretty good when he like he's from around here he moved to new york he's doing really well he got a job at buzzfeed he's doing great and then uh he was going up at the gotham

comedy club and uh he was hosting some stuff and then he asked the owner he was like hey i'd like to like regularly like be here once a week and he's like uh the owner is like well there's about like uh nine thousand people ahead of you that have been asking for the same thing and it's not not like that i don't like you it's just there's so many more people like and they all want to do the same thing it's just so that's what we're doing here in baltimore now yeah let's kick some ass here i'm ready that's why i moved that's one of the reasons why i moved back is to make original content here right and we don't need new york we don't we would like to be there because it has a direct outlet, but we don't need it. Yeah.

So that's why ATB is here. For real. Yeah. I want to make content. I mean, yeah, it's a lot easier, too. I mean, you're going to get your stuff out there. There's more access to people. It's the interwebs.

We don't need the outlet. We don't have a distribution channel here. We don't have an outlet, but we can make one. Mm-hmm. So I think we have the talent here. That said, I'll be moving to la in the next week oh yeah well eventually i do think about that just because i was like i was born in maryland i've lived in maryland my whole life like i want to at least try to move somewhere oh yeah you've

never been anywhere no i mean i've like i've been out places, but I've never lived anywhere else. Gotcha. Yeah, you have to do that. There is that itch there, but that whole rat race aspect really scares me. Yeah, if you're going, yeah, I don't know. But yeah. I don't know, man. But yeah, I'll be here for a bit. I know. Amanda has a year left of school, and then we have to kind of figure out,

like, all right, what are we going to do? I'm 27 now i'll be 28 soon so it's like you know i don't want to be like 35 and be like all right i'm gonna go make it you know and like even for me thinking about like quote unquote making it it's just being able to get paid to do what you want to do sure so now i'm just trying to save up my uh my cubicle money for when the the dark days probably come of living in the ghetto of Bushwick or way out there like you guys did. So yeah, it's scary stuff.

I think it's coming. I think it's here. I think it's coming. For Baltimore? I do. There's enough stuff going on. We got enough stuff. We have enough talent.

Between here and D.C., there's a lot of stuff going on. D.C. is a little more organized than we are. But I don't think it has the character that we do. Yeah. Yeah. D.C. is definitely a little more widespread. It's kind of like what we were talking about in New York, that type of vibe. That type of vibe.

Yeah. Rat race stuff. That's great. Yeah? Yeah. So what are you liking about the Baltimore scene in general, like arts? I think it's just our people as character i think we have a character to baltimore to maryland that is can be resemble anywhere in the country yeah other than new

york and la like i think we represent the country because we're we're regular people yeah and part of us we have a chip on our shoulder and part of us don't give a crap don't want to be that yeah which i think a lot of people relate to we're not quite south but we can easily go that route we can easily go there so it's not like we you know baltimore's not quite that south but it is that south too so we can go either way and i think that's i think that's cool i think it's like to me growing up i was a fan of like roseanne and living color like marry with children like regular like disgruntled families i mean the simpsons obviously but like right you know and then i love seinfeld but that's that is new york that is still upper crust like i'd rather be the regular regular people and i

think we can create that content out of here yeah and i think we have the backdrop i think we have the the talent i think we have you know it's just a matter of making it and having an outlet yeah yeah so i yeah and i'm i would love to be a part of it so that hey count me in for whatever but we gotta have an organizer i'm not the organizer i know you need somebody well it's at least you're the guy shooting and editing stuff too because most people are like yeah i'll edit it you know but i also am focused on nine million other things yeah like me doing like stand-up improv podcast full-time job and like yeah let me uh let me edit this in two years yeah i can yeah i can cut quick and we can get stuff out quick it's just i need people together yeah i know i know and not in their own vision

the problem with people is they always have their own vision so when we meet up it's their vision too so it's like not that that's a problem but like it is a problem when you're going for your when you don't when there's not a group there's a whole bunch of individuals together it's yeah you don't want to just be like a cog in the in the system like okay now shoot exactly how i planned it yeah yeah more of a collaborative it's a collaborative thing and i'm glad you said the thing about roseanne because i love roseanne that was one of my favorite shows which i feel like doesn't get enough respect i don't know i i love it it was in season reruns forever dude i know but i mean like just from people that i talked to like one of the first vacations that amanda and i went on um we're at the hotel and we turned the tv on

and roseanne was on we're like oh roseanne and then it turned out to be like a roseanne marathon we're like hell fucking yeah and then we went back we bought every like all the dvds and stuff people like why do you own roseanne dvds because it's fucking great it's good man like what are you what are you talking about it's good i related to that character like you know dan has a working man job my dad was a carpenter like uh-huh my mom was a waitress and then hurt her back like so she you know so it's like you know to me it related to that i related so much that and then you know married children same way and living color same way, and Living Color, same way. Yeah, yeah. Married to Children is more of like a heightened kind of character.

Yeah, you heightened it a little bit. But Roseanne was definitely like what we were talking about, like the honesty kind of thing was there. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. I think they were in Chicago. But it didn't feel like Chicago to me. It felt like down the street.

So is that, what is, like, what's your ultimate dream as far as, like, what you're doing? Because you're independent. Yep. You work from home. I work from home. And because, yeah, you were working with a production company here. A digital agency, yep. Yeah, yeah.

And then you cut ties with that. And you're like, oh, I'm just going to do my own thing. Do my own thing. So how is that going? Like, what's the plan there? Like, if you had your druthers, everything your way i'd be telling stories however i don't i never really put a put a um time limit like i've always wanted to make movies obviously because i was the best you could do but i've never i don't have like oh i need to make movies i'll make a webcast i'll make a web

webisode i'll make a tv show i'll make whatever i just want to tell stories and i want to tell them in in the realest way I can from the heart. Right. I think what I do better than most people is tell a story from the heart. And I think I can bring out reality and characters. Right. And still keeping comedy, you know, not at the forefront, but like right behind truth. Mm-hmm. Because I think God is comedian.

I believe in God. That's right. Yeah. I wanted to talk about that too. You're probably one of my only religious friends. Yeah. And when you say religious, I don't say I'm religious.

I mean, I do go to church and I do read the Bible and that kind of thing. But religion is always scary to me because it gets too much negative. So I use it as a guidance to my life and I try to talk to God as much as I can. But if you're going to pin me down to the Bible, I think there's some weird shit in there.

There's one point, I remember I was doing drama when I was in eighth grade, and they had me play Jonah, which is a guy that's lived in a whale. And I'm like, whoa, that's bullshit. I remember the first time I read the Bible, I got to Noah, and they gave you the specs for the ark. And I'm like, hmm, that's not a big enough boat. So at eight years old old you can have a rational

thought that's bigger than the bible so right but as far as not believing in god i i do i do find that weird that people wouldn't believe that there's something bigger than you whether or not you call it god or not i think that's i think that is a little bit self-centered that there's more going on than meets the eye basically not that we aren't it yeah yeah the way even how big the universe is like there has to be something bigger than us oh yeah yeah so we are such a small spec so there has to be at least alien something going on out there right i'll take aliens yeah now now when you say god like do you see that as one entity um i i limited down to that because i would like to have a connection with it. So if you guys,

if anybody believes in like thought process and how you can self project your own dreams and achieve them. Yeah. I really, as far as like doing comedy and stuff like that, I really kind of started believing all that stuff. Like you, like even started out when doing like improv,

if you have it in your mind, like I'm going to do a shitty show, I'm nervous. It's not going to go well. There it is. And then you, that comes to fruition, but versus like, and it in your mind like i'm gonna do a shitty show i'm nervous it's not gonna go well there it is and then you that comes to fruition but versus like and it's not just like bs like be positive it's more like make these things a reality like see yourself doing it and then this way you can manifest that versus like oh everything sucks it's like yeah then everything's

gonna suck right it's the same it's the same thought but i get to put it to i think it's a positive because i get to put it to something where i can hope for a response uh-huh and i believe in the connection between the heart and the mind yeah is there's a there's a there's a a spirit is a feeling you can actually tap into interesting so so like we're saying like uh what heart and mind is something like that i don't know. Connecting what you actually want to do in life as far as purpose. Purpose, you get to choose what you want to do, but you don't get to choose your own path. Gotcha.

You can't force anything, so that's the tricky line. I'm just saying listening to a lot of people, a lot of rational thought thinkers think with their brain, and they kind of get rid of the heart in that process but i i use all my major decisions have been done by the heart when they haven't even made sense right a lot of times yeah that's scary that's super scary but it's awesome in the same way but that's paid off for you i think so do you think it's like something you kind of have to hone, like a muscle? Yeah, 100%. Tuning into that type of thing? You have to turn off your ability to be vulnerable. You have to be super vulnerable.

Same thing with one of my big things that I would love to be is I would love to be on stage. I would love to be able to act. I would love to be able to improv. But that's my biggest fear. Weird. Yeah. So that's where I clam up and can't move. Why is that?

I mean, why do you think that is? I don't know why. Really? I haven't figured that one out. Wow. Because when I tap into it, I love it. Yeah. It's the best thing that I've ever felt.

Uh-huh. No, it's just like pure, just endorphins right to your everything. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. But the fear prior to that it's the scariest thing i've ever fucking felt do you think you're afraid of the the opposite of that like you go up there put it all in the line and people are like yeah and not like it is that where the fear comes from i i wouldn't say they're their reaction i would say my criticism

of myself right but some of that is definitely involved with if the crowd didn't like you or whatever. Like the response wasn't what you thought it was going to be, you know? Yeah, I buy that. I buy that. I don't think I'm even at that fear yet. Really? I think that's the second fear. Oh, okay.

I think my first fear is me. Oh, okay. And the second fear is them. And I think them, because I used to be able to do it. Uh-huh. And I used to love it. So it's like now it's just like the ability to to tap into it it's like it's like when you're asked to step up to the plate like before i get caught up i'm like all right i'm gonna i'm gonna leave now guys right

yeah no that is a weird feeling like even like being comfortable doing comedy and then going to a show where you don't expect to go up though you want to go up you're like oh i'm not like mentally but i mean you you get over it but it is a weird juxtaposition we're kind of like whiplash of like all right you because you have to get in that mind state where it is like exhausting in a way because you're using your brain in a different way than you normally would where you're what you're saying and where your brain is are two different spots so like you're like okay the next thing that i need to move on to wow i'm saying this but now like or you're saying and where your brain is are two different spots so like you're like okay the next thing that i need to move on to wow i'm saying this but now like or you're reading stuff in the room or this joke got a reaction from that guy which is going to feed into this next thing so

i'm going to call that back and all this stuff i like that but meanwhile you're like blah blah blah blah blah but back like in the back of your brain is like way ahead of that anytime i've my old job i used to do presentations and i hated it i couldn't do it and it was so scared like i wouldn't sleep the night before and it's the same thing and i would rush through everything my speed was just yeah and so like i've had a i don't know i've had a hard time with that i think yeah i think it's just through repetition probably just doing that doing it over and over but yeah you've been in front of the camera a bit. Yeah, I've done that. That's what I'm saying. I love it, but I just fear it.

Really? Yeah. Yeah, it's weird. Like what we were saying about the kissing stuff. Just be natural. Once you hit record or anything, like with this podcast, I'm sure our conversation would be different if we didn't know it was being recorded. You know what I mean?

With just the camera, you're like, okay, now walk. And you're like, is this how I normally, like, do I normally have my arms moving or should they be at my side? Well, that's one thing I want to tell you. You got to go internal with the acting. Yeah. You got to go. It can't be here.

That's what you never did. You never took it downstairs. Yeah. You got to go down. Yeah. And you got to, maybe, and I believe the comedy part, but you got to like wipe that first wall away. Yeah. And it's got to be seen through the eyes.

Yeah. It's tough to not be self-conscious. It's really, see the calculation on it. When you were yourself, when I was like, don't worry about what I'm saying. Yeah. Do you. Yeah. That was when it was the best.

Yeah. That's when it felt like, okay, I can actually say it how I would say it. Yeah. Yeah. Which, yeah, that was a lot of fun. Like the whole thing was so fun just shooting that entire time. Like, all right, now we're going to go here and do this and not get permits or anything and just shoot whatever. Yeah.

Oh, we'll wrap this thing up soon. But just another quick story about shooting. When we were doing some of the first scenes it was on uh it was on a campus and like the campus police came over and uh he was like telling us to disperse basically but he was watching lonely island videos in his car yeah i was like dude i'm doing what you're watching like you have to let me stay like yeah just give me another 30 minutes yeah he's like all right all right he's like all right i was like, if I come back and you're still here. Yeah.

Then I'll call the real police, I guess. Yeah, then I'll have to do a job. I'll show you my flashlight, which has a lot of batteries in it. Exactly. Okay. All right. So I'm trying to think of how to wrap this up because we've got a lot of stuff going on here. So with Across the Bridge, the ultimate goal is just to keep doing what you're doing. Like there's a very thing.

Like you said, like a movie maybe, but. Yeah, yeah. I'm trying to do life, sports, comedy, music in Baltimore. Interesting. And not necessarily Baltimore, but I'm trying to do that as a channel. Yeah. I want to become the content channel for baltimore but i need content creators right so have people gotten in touch with

you since this video um a couple people yeah um i have to sit down with them and really understand the ideas before i commit i won't commit to anything because it's it's a big chunk of my life yeah so time consuming consumption is a problem yeah i still have to make a living yeah and editing is just a monster i'm sure yeah so if i if you're an editor uh-huh i need your help yeah if you're a good editor uh-huh and if you're not a good editor i can teach you to be a good editor right if there's something there joey will mold you he's a molder i'm a molder if anything i'm a grinder yeah if you don't believe in the grind then i don't know who the hell i hate people that don't believe in the grind like working hard you mean work hard yeah work harder than the next guy that's why i knew when i went with the new york and like there was 10 000 people at least as good

as me if not better and then some of them have trust funds i was like oh shit i better work hard yeah it's scary yeah it's scary man. Well, I think this is good, man. We talked for like an hour. Anything you want to touch on? Nope. No? Watch the film. Uh-huh. Go to the website.

Uh-huh. One more time with the website. TheATB.tv. There it is. There's a bunch of stuff up there. Your reel is amazing. My reel's up there. The culmination of all of your efforts over the years.

Yep. Which is really good. Which you said uh most people don't believe it's yours which is yeah it's tough which is a compliment and also a slate at the same time exactly like no you're like what do you show them here a bunch of so you cut up a whole bunch of people's videos great no no it's mine i did this all that i did this uh twitter or anything like that you want to put out um? I'm on Twitter. Joey Malinsky. There he is. That's me.

Follow him, folks. I don't really do that. I mean, I do it, but I really just like, hey, if I need to get somebody's attention, you're not going to see a tweet from me. Right, right. Something smart. Yeah. All right. So fingers crossed for some witty stuff coming from Joey.

Yeah. And then my YouTube is Across the Bridge MD. There it is. But I think if you search my name, you probably get it. Maybe. Yeah. I. And then my YouTube is Across the Bridge MD. There it is. But I think if you search my name, you probably get it. Maybe. Yeah. I don't know how the internet works.

It's a problem of mine. Speaking of, how's your internet from Comcast here? Fine? I want to drop them because I lost my whole year. You know,

you're on one like cheaper plan and then it's up like 60 bucks. What? So I'm like freaking out. How's your cable? Do you have Xfinity? My cable's expensive. They offer you one package. Yeah. yeah it's up like 60 bucks what so i'm like freaking out how's your cable do you have xfinity people's expensive they offer you one package yeah and it's expensive as shit right now we're doing 100 bucks for internet cable and a phone line my last bill was like 190 holy shit and then i had no my last bill was over 200 because i've rented um some movies

oh my dad's here and i'm renting movies oh that's right yeah dad my God. Because her dad's here, and I'm renting movies. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Dad's in the house. Yeah, dad's in the house. He hasn't gone outside yet. What? He's going to Target. Uh-huh. And then, I don't know.

That's about it. Target and maybe Walmart. Oh, my God. So you're like, yeah, I'll do a podcast. I can get out of the house. Yeah. I'm going to. I'm happy to go to the game tonight.

Right, right, right. Yeah. Yeah, we can talk about the internet and cable off of this, but our cable hasn't worked once like i mean it works in like spurts for a few hours it's crap man it's bullshit pissed off about it yeah i tried to cancel one of our things and the guy is like how about i just give you free hbo for six months and i was like okay yeah we just we just lost hbo to get down to the price because like i was like yeah you gotta cut this down. That was way too much.

All right. Well, that's how I like to end every episode, talking about cable and internet packages. But thank you for joining me, Joey. Thank you for having me, man. So yeah, check out all of Joey's stuff, mainly that short he just did. Check that out first. The First Promise.

Check out The First Promise. You can find me on the internet. It's Josh Katerna. I'm at BetterRobotJosh on Twitter. Our website is digressionsessions.com. That has all the past and future episodes. The calendar section, digressionsessions.com slash calendar has all of our live upcoming dates, stand-up, improv, and all that stuff.

And I think that's it. Give us a rating on iTunes, Stitcher. I need a lot of love. We have a Facebook page. I need to feel validated big hole to fill here people all right i just can't be listening to slipknot all the time to get out all my aggression um with that said i love you and goodbye good yeah good We'll be right back. Thank you. Bye. Thank you.