The Digression Sessions - Ep. 155 - Greer Barnes, Randolph Terrance, & Ricki Sofer!

Episode Date: April 29, 2015

Hola Digheads! This week Josh interviews Randolph Terrance and Greer Barnes! Randolph actually becomes defacto cohost for a bit while Josh tends to his stand up duties. Big ups! And the funny Ricki Sofer stops by for a sec! Greer has been in the game a long time and is extremely funny and nice. He garners just as much respect as Louis CK or Dave Attell. Randolph is also hilarious and hosts a podcast called Three Guys On alongside fellow comedians Andy Kline and TIm Miller. Check that shit out on iTunes and Stitcher! Please do the Dig Sesh a solid and subscribe to and rate us on iTunes, or Stitcher! Say hi onTwitter and Facebook.

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 for the uh uh chris you can sit down though if you want outside all right this mic that mic you're gonna hold it like that it's the mic you're talking to sorry this is my first podcast uh-huh going well. You're doing really great.

Thank you. What's up with your phone? Why is it curved like that? I curved it. In your pocket? Yeah, I just naturally took that shape after a while. It was hot, you know. Melted into my leg.

Looks good. Thank you. It's a curved phone. Come on. What? It's better that way. Like the TVs they're trying to sell now that are curved? Yeah.

Penises, TVs, phones. Haven't you heard? Ladies, everything good has curve. I don't know about talking to you with braces in. Why? I just don't know if it'll work. I just think, I don't know if the podcast is going to work with you having braces.

Alright, well, you're out. Why are these? This doesn't plug in anything. I just think I don't know if the podcast is going to work with you having races. All right. Well, you're out. What are you doing over there? Focus on what's important. Sorry. Like Greer Barnes. Yeah. He's the guest on this week's podcast.

Kind of. What? One of the many Michael Moran. Longtime veteran. Very funny guy. Greer Barnes. I was working with him this past weekend at McGoobies. How'd it go? It was good, man.

There were good shows. I did the Thursday night show, which was the open mic contest, and I hosted that. Nice. And the thing where, like, at the beginning of McGoobie shows, from the booth in the back, like, over the PA, the back like over the over the pa it's like all right we've got a great show mcgoobies are you ready and like all these lights go off right everybody's like yeah this crowd nothing really silence weird why they're all there to see their friends and family theoretically no still they should be making more yeah really

what's what's going on Yeah, it was so weird. And then I just go up there and I'm like, hey, you like pants? They're like, fuck you, faggot. I was like, I have braces. They're like, I'll kill you. I was like, okay, you're next comedian. Tough crowd. But other than that, yeah, they were a good show.

They eventually came around. It was fun. And then Randolph Terrence was the feature. So he's predominantly on this episode. So I was going to try to do two episodes, but then we just kind of ran out of time. Yeah, ran out of tape. Ran out of digital tape. There's not enough of that stuff hanging around. So, yeah, I started out interviewing Randolph, who's a very funny comedian based out of arlington

and uh he has a podcast michael called three guys on tim miller and andy klein they put out episodes every monday and thursday good good stuff double dipping yeah they do it right they do it right um so we do it wrong so real wrong we try to do every monday and even that's tough even that's tough uh so so yeah so check that out and then uh yeah so this was fun so i talked to randolph kind of about his trajectory kind of into stand-up and then we get greer's take on like when he first started and the first time he did stand up he was on mescaline wow Wow. So, yeah, it was some good stories. And then Greer was traveling with this lady named Ricky Sofer, who was also very funny. So she was doing guest spots all weekend. So make sure you check out all them peeps.

And I hope you guys enjoy the episode. Yeah, Saturday night show was during the first riot. Yeah. And so that was fun. Wait, there was a riot on Saturday? Yeah. You didn't know that i knew well i thought i thought there was like fear of a riot but no no real rioting no there was definitely rioting it was more of a proto riot what like the pre-riot warm-up it was definitely a riot either way it's like more of a riot tailgate what what are you talking about no i don't know you're probably right uh yeah the 7-11

by amanda got smashed uh a store like two spots down got held up at gunpoint um even the spot next to them was about to be robbed like a guy came in and uh i think he had a knife oh wow and he went up to uh he went up to like the hostess and pulled his knife out. Oh, shit. The hostess was like, oh, no, I don't have money here. I don't have money. So then he goes over to the bar, and the bartender just blurts out like, we don't have cash registers here. This is a purely accredited bar. Yeah, he goes, we don't have cash registers. It confused the guy, and then everybody else kind of turned around and was getting into it, too.

Wow. And he just ran away. Wow, I guess confusion is the way to go in situations like that this isn't a cash register place like wait this is a we barter here that's it it's paypal only bro that's all it is get out of here we don't have cash registers here yeah the guy had to like think about it for a second wow two ladies you better like hope you get a really dumb criminal in a situation like that like i'm gonna kill you first for saying that um wow so yeah that was saturday night and it was like wow jesus christ so that's when i i thought everything was gonna be over but yeah um yeah we'll talk about that in the uh the next podcast but jesus christ on a crutch anyway this was uh

this is a good podcast and uh randolph and greer actually finish out the podcast because i had to go host the uh the second show there's there's no members of the digression sessions at the end of this randolph takes over wow takes over at the end it's like all right i gotta go this has turned into like one of those bands where there's no original members left like yep it was leonard skinnered yeah your brother is like in it the brother of the original singer okay so yeah this was thanks for listening to Slash's

Snake Pit what was the name of his band? isn't that the name of Slash's band? yeah that's one of his side bands do they play Guns N' Roses songs, though? I think so. I think they probably do a few. They probably all do, right?

I think he had a bunch of side bands. Yeah. All right. Well, yeah, make sure you check out all these guys on the various social media outlets. Greer Barnes, Zach Greer Barnes 1. Where did that come from? Slash's Snake Pit thing.

Because we were talking about like weird offshoot bands and that type of thing. Yeah, but that's not like, it's not like it's Guns N' Roses with like they replaced everybody. There is a version of that and it's called Guns N' Roses. That's the real Guns N' Roses.

I'm sorry. I'll take my Guns N' Roses with Buckethead, please. Can I get a side of Buckethead with that? Yeah, so follow all those guys and make sure you listen to Three Guys On. Great podcast. So now let's plug some of our stuff.

Follow me on Twitter and Instagram. I'm at Josh Coderna. Our website is digressionsessions.com. That has all of our past and future episodes. We're on iTunes, Stitcher, Thunder... It has our future episodes on it, too. Those are on there, yeah. That's crazy.

Yeah, just click on the tab. And then check out the rest of Thunder Grunt. And if you go to calendar that has all of our upcoming dates. And we've got a few for you right now. Michael, what do you got? Let's see. The 6th of May, Population 6

will be doing Improv at the Mercury. 8 o'clock. Okay. In Baltimore. The 9th, I'll be performing stand-up at Zizimo's on the Avenue at Baltimore. I think that's the 10.30 show. Is that right? Don't look at Chris Hudson. He doesn't know.

This is going to be a good one. The 13th, Nick Oldershaw and I will be performing with the band Soft Peaks at the Auto Bar. We'll be doing stand-up between their sets. They're a good band. I'd check them out if I were you. All right.

That'll be interesting. And yeah, that's about it for now. Okay. Very nice. On the 6th, I'll be at the Baltimore Theater Project opening up the show Foreplay. Doing a little bit of stand-up there. On the 8th, I may be doing stand-up at our mash-up show, but I don't think so anymore.

But go to that at the Mercury Theater in Baltimore. We got three stand-ups, three improv troops. It's always a good show. Am I hosting that? Yeah, you're hosting that. Okay. You'll be there. Moran will be there.

Yeah, I'll be there. On the 12th, I have therapy at 10'll be there uh on the 12th i have therapy at 10 30 and then on may 15th and 16th i'll be at the harrisburg comedy zone hosting some shows up there so come check those out people and will therapy be solo or yeah you might be an opener yeah i i think i'm gonna try to see how long I can go. Okay. Can you just like drop a good word for me? Yeah, yeah. You want to do a guest spot? Please.

Yeah, just about your feelings? Yes. Yeah, we can do that. We can do that. I got some pull with my therapist. I think we can do that. Cool. All right.

Well, that's it for this intro here. And I hope you guys enjoy this episode. And we're going to release another episode. I mean, me, me you and Alex did an episode where he basically talked about the legal system for a while and so that'll be out okay yeah yeah okay yeah you were there yeah it was Bush still in office yeah yeah yeah it was a good time we were all avoiding the doid remember oh I remember remember that pesky noid yeah still doing it for the nookie at

that point I believe and okay all right well Still doing it for the nookie at that point, I believe. Uh-huh. And, okay. All right, well, that's it. So let's all enjoy this episode. Greer Barnes, Ricky Sofer, and Randolph Terrence. And thank you, guys. Love you.

Love you. Yeah. Sideways, fireside chat. Randolph Terrence here with your weekly dick jokes, America. Fireside Chat. What do you got there, a little bourbon? Yeah. A little bourbon?

Four roses. Take my shoe picture. For my, are we recording now? No, this is it. You know how it goes. Yeah, I'll take mine. But am I going to include it? Maybe.

I think you should. You know, this is the raw this is it. This is the green room conversation. I think you should. Randolph is taking his my obligatory picture. His post-show selfie

that he has to take. It's my shoes. I always take a picture of my shoes. I don't know why. It's kind of a thing I started. Those are nice shoes. You got some gray. Is that leather? They're leather. They better fucking be. Is that leather?

Money I spend on these motherfuckers. I just ruined you for the podcast listeners. Is that a Birkenstock? Do you rock up there? Is that a Jesus sandal? Are those the Crocs I've been hearing about? I'm a Scientologist. It's a great start to the pod. It's all Jesus sandals for me.

Shout out to L. Ron. He's the reason I'm here. Did you see how bad his fucking teeth were? Oh, my God. Did you notice that? That's all I could catch. This is a divine being, but yet he had fucking brushes. Here's the thing.

Here's why you notice teeth. You're wearing braces. Nobody's noticed. I recently got my teeth. Not recently, but when you have teeth issues in your head you see it in other people yeah i've got a mouth full of metal and i even looked at him and i was like damn questioned his fucking teeth how is that possible how did not one of y'all question his teeth maybe that's how scientology started like man your bottom row is fucked he's like oh yeah i'm a god

how about that i didn't understand that at all i was like i'm not following you have you seen your mouth you can't even take care of yourself yeah dude he was nuts when he was all fat and he had his sailor uniform on. What god is fat with bad teeth? He's a balding redhead. He's failing on every level. He's failing on every level. He's a redhead so he can't go in the sun. He has bad teeth.

He already has no soul. I'm not following you anywhere. You know, a divine being. Are you fucking serious? Have you seen Jesus? He was ripped. He was fucking in shape. Even when he was dead, you're like, damn, a divine being. You fucking serious? Have you seen Jesus? He was ripped. He was fucking in shape. Even when he was dead, you're like, damn, he looks good.

He's fucking following you. Get out of here. Muhammad was a warrior, and this is what you're bringing to this fucking thing? Jesus Christ. Yeah, Bill Burr has that great bit. He's like, look, I know all religion's crazy, but your guy's name is ron that's hilarious his name's ron yeah i listen in fact i listened to that last night on the way home oh it's so good on my phone so yeah he's got a social security number footage of him stubbing his toe like but yeah that documentary man that was crazy like i watching that i was, and I was like, oh, this will be kind of fun.

Sort of like the jinx. It's really dark and kind of fucked up, but it's still entertaining. You know what I mean? It's still a bummer. People got murdered. But with Scientology, it's like, oh, this is dark. It's hilarious. This is really, yeah.

I don't know, man. It kind of scared me a little bit with those prisons and those work camps and all that stuff. I was like, Jesus Christ, dude. I don't know if that was someone well yeah he did do that and i think i'm trying to i'm trying to clean up ron i don't know if that was wrong hey man don't defame my boy ron okay he's got bad teeth but i don't know if he opened a prison camp yeah it was uh i like how travolta was gonna leave yeah and they whatever they got on him he's like i guess i'm gonna say yeah because yeah all that stuff you say and you're like uh when you're audited i i prefer I like how Travolta was going to leave. Yeah. And whatever they got on him, he's like, I guess I'm going to stay. Yeah.

Because, yeah, all that stuff you say when you're audited. I prefer to call that a deposition. Yeah. Kind of a deposition. But about the perverted shit you like to do sexually. Yeah. Exactly. And it's like.

What do you like to do? You like to do what? Also, my thing is that's all they got on you is like, he's gay. Like, we know. Leave. Yeah. But, I mean, look how long it took Bruce. Oh, yeah. Come on. That was just last night. do what also my thing is that's all they got on you is like he's gay like we know leave but i mean look how long it took bruce oh yeah come on that was just last night bruce that was that was like the super bowl everybody was watching bruce yeah everybody was talking about today uh-huh you know hey good for him that's how i felt yeah good for him yeah you know i'm just happy he got away from

that fucking shrew who came out today and said, no, I support him. I'm like, bitch, we watched the special. Yeah. We didn't have shit to say. No. Everybody else in his life were some soldiers. They were all like, we support. We support him.

All the kids, his first two wives. Yeah. We support him and everything. She was the only one who didn't say shit. Oh, yeah. I mean, she's just like, I think like you said last night, she's just a pimp. She's like, hey, you should do a sex tape. Hey, you should model.

Let's get those lips full. Like, what the fuck? Yeah, and now she's getting destroyed. So she came out today and said, the woman who interviewed him, they never asked me what I thought. Really? I'm supposed to believe that. They asked literally everybody in his life except his wife? And that's the first question they would ask.

Like, how do you feel about this? Like, it's not like they'd be like, oh, yeah they would ask like how do you feel about this like it's not like they'd be like oh yeah we forgot how do you feel about it like they wouldn't ask you 19 other questions yeah no they reached out to you and you didn't answer them back you fucking cunt i don't like people i people think i'm stupid i hate that right right like fucking stupid i would have said something but they didn't ask like i'm sure they didn't yeah diane sawyer forgot to ask you that. Yeah, I just forgot. Been a journalist for what?

Is there anybody we need to ask about Bruce? We covered everybody, right? Did we talk to the people at Wheaties? Yeah, we talked to everybody. We got Kanye's opinion. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. All right, we're good.

We're good. That's a wrap. We didn't talk to Lamar Odom. In his candy addiction or whatever. What a weird thing to be an adult. To be like, man, I just can't put down now or later. That's because he's a crackhead. Oh.

Crackheads like candy. Oh, do they? I didn't know that. I know that's a thing. Like alcoholics, when they get sober, they love sugar. Yeah. Because the way your body breaks down alcohol, it turns into sugar. I have bad sugar zones.

Bad. You got the sugars? Bad. I have bad sugar jones bad you got the sugars bad i have bad sugar jones really yeah i didn't know that bad i gotta try to keep it at a distance but i want to eat fucking sugar all the fucking time well it has to be tough with the cakes with your daughter in the house like that's yeah i don't deny her of it i know but i mean it's slower down but having it just sit in the house like – Yeah, well, like my wife came home with all these new Oreos, double stuffed. They're – I don't know, whatever the fucking cream was. It was like strawberry and –

Yeah, they're doing like the rainbow stuff in there. Yeah. Just more icing. Yeah, it's like a burger. Fuck. That should be the slogan for the cookies like new double stuff oreos that's funny i'm gonna say that on stage that's fucking hilarious that's fucking hilarious don draper that's how he's pitching it double stuff oreos

that's what everybody says because they're like i know i gotta eat them i mean fuck what are you gonna do and they made the package easier to get to now you can open it up and you can close it back up it's like a resealable package jesus orios knows what they're up against like here you go you animals you have to you barely have to open it get to it yeah i'm i'm not too bad with sugar i try to avoid that stuff well plus now having braces for like one week i can't get that shit stuck in my teeth. It would fucking kill me, man. Yeah, and my teeth hurt.

Yeah. Yeah, it's a goddamn mess. Yeah, I have big gaps in my teeth, so I have to constantly floss and shit like that. Get stuck in there? Yeah, so I have to constantly be flossing and stuff like that. Constantly. I'm constantly flossing. Yeah, I just had to get into floss.

Like, I have the water pick now, so I'm doing that. Yeah, you can't get in there. Yeah, it's a fucking mess man how many years you have to wear these year and a half to two for those who don't know josh josh's mouth is 13 yeah his body is a grown-up but his mouth is 13 well his body's like 17 so you know i'm trying to meet in the middle i'm trying to get there i was like you know i can't grow a beard still get carded or rated r movies. Why don't I get the braces? Dude, I get carded at the liquor store.

Oh, that's right. I'm 46, man. That's a compliment, though. What the fuck are you doing? Are you fucking serious? People, you don't look 46. Well, you're right. I don't look 46.

You know what else I don't look? 20. When I walked in this liquor store, did I walk in with with that looked like i had no confidence i looked like i was sneaking did i walk up with a gallon bottle of vodka in a plastic hey uh you guys have burnettes i walked right to the section of shit that i wanted i'm asking you what's on sale man i'm calm yeah you weren't trying to mask it with other stuff like now you want to call me yeah now see that i see that as a compliment you know the guy thought you were born in what 90 90 something i don't know what the fuck he thought but 93 he thought you were born in

like i'm thinking i'm black so i'm always gonna think this is some racial shit dude is this are you complimenting me or are you being racist? Come on, man. Get a goddamn bourbon. I like that you're calm about it, too. Just like, come on. Oh, you get calm after a while. What's happening here?

Come on, man. You see my screen saver? He's on my phone. Let me see where your head is at. Let me see. This is my lock screen. Do you recognize that? Randolph is showing me a burning cross.

I'd love to know. I'm just kidding. No, I don't know who that is. Okay, I'll play it for you. All right. I'm seeing the black power fist, though. Yeah. I got that.

He's got on his head what they call a koofy. Is that what that is? Yeah, that is a koofy. See? I'm doing all right. Well, you got that part down. Yeah. Yeah.

Not too bad. You got that down. It's this, which I'm guessing you've never seen. Just vamp a little bit. Just vamp, just fill a little time. So, yeah, we're sitting in the green room here at Magoobies. That's CB4. You've never seen CB4?

Remember that though. That was dead. That was dead Mike from CB4. That was his solo stuff after he left. That was the whole song. That was pretty great. I was about to say, is it just on a loop? But no, that's the whole song. I think I put a tweet up one day that said, I put that song up. I said, here's what runs through my mind sometimes.

Just hear the drums coming just because i'm black y'all um yeah so you talk about you talk about that a lot in your your act too a lot of race stuff which i don't know if i i don't know if it's a lot i don't know man i know not a lot set out i didn't set out to do it right i just do yeah i mean you while you're just talking about your life you know raising raising a daughter in arlington which is pretty yuppie pretty white very white i like you telling the audience you're like i live in arlington i mean like you guys are white but they're past you're way past nothing

like this is baltimore yeah yeah this like rich suburb of D.C. Yeah. I don't know if I, it's not really a conscious decision as much as it's just, that's what I talk about and I just try to make it funny, you know. Hey man, keep trying. No, I'm trying. No, you do. I'm working.

I'm working on it. I absolutely do. And how long have you been doing stand-up? 16 years. 16, damn. And where'd you start san antonio texas uh-huh center comedy club actually i didn't start at river center comedy club i started uh i had a roommate quinn who was who had been doing santa so for like a year i wrote jokes with quinn really yeah we were always just funny like you guys were like joking around with each other yeah but i wasn't the funniest in the group.

Right. Quinn was the funniest. Quinn was the funny one. Right. I was entertaining, I guess, but I wasn't the funniest one in the group. I never had any thought about doing stand-up or anything even remotely even close to it. Right. If I knew what I know now, I would have studied drama in college.

If I knew then what I know now, but. Yeah, I didn't do any of that stuff either yeah like thinking about now i'm like i should have done all that yeah i was like that stuff's for nerds yeah i'm going home yeah yeah snacks simpsons is on six and they're rehearsing all night so i gotta get home like yeah yeah i wish i would have done any of that stuff i know i should have done it too and i'm there's a whole there's a whole nother world for that they don't teach kids about as far as like performing and stuff unless somebody in your family is a performer yeah you're probably not gonna know about it i've i've decided this unless somebody in particular a black family performing is a hard sell to a black black i don't want to say intellectuals

but to black black families are about you go to school and you get a dream, you get a good, you get that good job. That job. Yeah. You're not going to school to fuck around and play Romeo and Juliet. Even though we all, yeah, exactly. Unless you've got somebody in your family that's a performer, it's a tough sell. But then on the other side, they always want the kids to perform for the adults. Right.

So it's this weird little dichotomy, but there comes a time when you're like, all right, now you got to get serious about your life. it's tough out here now right as far as like school they say like that every time you just kind of do that job you know yeah i didn't know anybody black that was in drama now think about it right anybody and this is in texas yeah yeah so that's an even harder sell yeah there's a lot of lot of us in band. I was in band. Uh-huh. What did you play? A bass clarinet. The licorice stick.

You still play? No. No? No. I play bass now. Oh, really? I play added. You play added?

Yeah. I just pawned one of my old basses. I didn't want it anymore. Really? Well, I have an acoustic that I can amp up. Uh-huh. I have an Ibanez. An Ibanez? Ibanez are nice.

That I can amp up. So I was like, I got this fucking Fender. Fenders are nice though. I've had it for like 14 years. I just took it to the pawn shop. The guy was like, what do you want for it? I was like, just give me some fucking money, man. Take it. I'm not coming back. Are you pawning it? I was like, no. I don't want it anymore.

Give me that money. Okay, so you're in Texas. And then had your friend been doing stand-up for a while? Yeah, he had been doing stand-up for a couple of years. We lived together for a couple of years. I went to a show with him. And this guy got booed. I remember this dude did 15 minutes.

They started booing like one minute in. And they booed him for 14 minutes. And after that, weirdly that put the seed in my head. Cause I was like, I'm funnier than that guy. And the boo guy. They booed the shit out of him.

I think it would go the other way where it's like, Oh, that's terrifying. Yeah. No, we were in the back like, Oh, this is fantastic.

Like we were, cause he was fucking bad. So you had that comic mindset from the beginning yeah i guess so because we were all giggling our asses off because that's always the worst is when you don't hear anybody else laughing but if you hear comics laughing usually not a good sign tim miller yeah because he'll have that you're not doing well that's the canary in the coal mine at your set i just heard the cackle this is not going well doing well no that's the canary in the coal mine at your set. You're not doing well. I just heard the cackle. This is not going well.

You're not doing well. No. That was how that went. Uh-huh. And then I started really starting writing. And then he was doing a Thanksgiving show. And he was like, why don't you come and open? Just write five minutes of material.

So it was kind of like a guest spot. But I wrote my act out word for word. Uh-huh. Put my little suit on. Went down to this club. It's a club called Midtown in San Antonio, Texas. It's on the east side of San Antonio where all black people live. He had to be 30 just to get in the club.

Damn. It was older black people who just went just to kick it. He was doing like a special show. Do we have to turn the sound up so you can hear? No, we're good. I'm timing. He's 25 minutes in. So he was doing a special show, and I just went in and went on.

It went okay. Didn't go bad. Didn't go good, but it went okay. Went well enough to. Well enough that the guy, they did an open mic on Tuesdays. Oh. And the guy who ran the open mic was like, why don't you come back on Tuesday and just do some time. So I went back out there on Tuesday night. And I did another set.

Same set. I was going to say, same written out stuff. Yeah, same thing. And then Quinn was opening for Shang. Do you know who Shang Forbes is? Yeah. He does my goobies. Yeah, Quinn was opening for him.

Uh-huh. Shang must have been doing stand-up for over 30 years, I would think. Yeah. This was like 16 years ago. Right. So he was opening for Shang, and I'm listening to the radio. I was working in a mailroom at this

independent research firm, and I heard on the radio and Shang Ford, Quinn Hudson, also a special guest, Randolph T., because I was Randolph T. then. That was a name I just pulled out of the air. Because people can't say my last name.

Terrence was too much. No. Sturdivant is my last name. Oh. Is Terrence your middle name? Yeah. People can't say Sturdivant at all. So I was like, all right.

Well, they just. I just was Randolph T. I was like, that's a good name. And I heard my name. And I called Quinn. He was like, yeah, welcome to show business. You're going to do a guest spot on the show. Just be up there. Nice. So I was like, that's a good name. And I heard my name, and I called Quinn. He was like, yeah, welcome to show business. You're going to do a guest spot on the show. Just be up there.

Nice. So I was teaching karate that day. So I taught my karate class, and then I went up. And I did the same seven minutes. But this time, this kid went up before me, and he got booed in front of me. Bad. That one scared me because I was following this kid now. Right. Now you're not a spectator. You're in the me. Bad. That one scared me because I was following this kid now. Right, now you're not a spectator.

You're in the game. Yeah, that one scared me. But this place where it was, whenever there's a black show, there's no black comedy clubs. They're always in like a lounge or a holiday inn. A hotel, yeah.

A hotel. A ballroom. This one was in a ballroom above a restaurant and they wouldn't let the people go through the restaurant. They had to go up like a fire escape, emergency exit type thing. This wasn't a ballroom above a restaurant. And they wouldn't let the people go through the restaurant. They had to go up like a fire escape

emergency exit type thing. So all these people were in the steep. So they had to like climb up a ladder just to get to the show. It was just these steep ass metal steps.

People were on line outside. When I came pulling up people were already waiting. So when I went in when I got on stage after this kid gets booed the first thing I said was

hey give yourselves a hand for getting up that steep-ass flight of stairs. And Dad destroyed him. Right. And from there, I fucking killed. Nice. For seven minutes. I killed. So you just got them on your side immediately.

Killed, yeah, immediately. And I killed. Mm-hmm. And I was with the same act. Right. But I just had more energy. And a little confidence, too. So even at that point, now, mind you, this is from Sunday to Tuesday to Thursday of the same week.

Yeah. So even from that point, I was still like, I mean. Right. All right. Like a hobby you're kind of fucking around with. And then I went back on that Tuesday to do the open mic again, and I didn't do well. Because did you do the open mic again and i didn't do well uh because did you do the same stuff yeah at that point i was trying i was actually starting to think about okay i gotta try

to write new stuff i had no idea how to write a joke right about that fucking book oh uh the comedy bible yeah yeah fucking book and i threw this shit away what i wish somebody told me about franklin ajay's book comic insights that's the book i recommend the comics oh i've never heard of that exactly it's the kind of shit like you. Oh, I've never heard of that. Franklin Ajay. Yeah, exactly. It's the kind of shit like you got to be in the know. You're right. Franklin Ajay, people. Okay.

F-A-J-A-Y-E. Franklin Ajay, Comic Insights. Comic Insights. Okay. That's a good book to read. It has interviews with other comedians. It's like an older comic talking to a younger comic. There's no exercise to do or anything like that.

Right, right. Like write every day. You should probably think about something like this or something like that. That's a good exercise to do anything like that right right like right every day but you probably think about something like this something like that you know i like that i like that yeah my dad just got me lenny bruce's uh autobiography yeah yeah that's another good one richard priors is sue oh yeah autobiography that he did oh i need to check that out yeah lenny bruce it's always just so interesting like when you hear about what he did like he's just performing he's like hey uh fuck this and they're like whoa you're going to jail like can you imagine like yeah what he's did what he was doing was actually pretty tamed compared to like what's happening now and

you're like god that poor guy then he got ruined by it yeah it's very tame it was nothing yeah yeah yeah he's just by our standards right by our standards but yeah it was mostly just like hey black guys got bigger dicks and they're're like, that's it. You're going to jail. Yeah, we're done. Done. Done. That Jew, he's talking about black dicks. Get him out of there.

I did that for a couple of months, just off and on. I was doing it on Tuesdays, getting my ass handed to me. Not bad. But sometimes I would win, sometimes I would lose. But I would just keep going out.

And then I got booked on it. I did a two-night swing. But I would just keep going out. And then I got booked on. I did a two night swing. My first away thing was two nights. It was one night in Amarillo and one night in Lubbock. No, not Lubbock. Odessa. Where that Friday Night Lights, that town.

That town, Odessa. We did Friday there and then we did Saturday in Amarillo. So DeSa went okay. Amarillo, we got there. It was in a theater. It was like a 1,500 seat theater. Damn. This cat Derek Ellis was headlining.

There was a lot of comics on the bill. There was like a singing act on the bill. We had radio. We had really nice hotel rooms. I was making no money. I made like 50 bucks for the spot. Were you just excited still? Like, I'm kind of on the road.

We got a hotel. Yeah, at that time, yeah. I was like, that was 29. Yeah. That's kind of late to start. Yes, very much. Yeah. Everything I've started, I started late to win.

Everything that I've become, that I'm doing air quotes good at, I started late. I started martial arts, I was 18. Most people, I started at like nine. Yeah, exactly.

I started martial arts, I was 18. I started boxing. I was in my mid to late 20s. I started boxing. Most people started at like nine. My body's starting to slow down. I should box.

Yeah, exactly. Now's the time. And I'm bad Yeah, exactly. Now's the time. And I'm bent eyes. Yeah. Now's the time. It takes longer to heal. Where are the gloves at? Everything I started.

Muay Thai kickboxing I started late. Everything I got done I started late. Yeah. You know? Uh-huh. Now when I'm a personal trainer. Right. You know?

Yeah. I drive myself. I run seven miles. My feet hurt all the time now. So I just think I started a little late. Yeah. So I drive myself. Like, I run seven miles. My feet hurt all the time now. So I just think that started on my leg. Yeah. So I guess I was right on cue. Yeah, I mean, yeah, you got a pattern here.

Yeah, with stand-up. This had to be in the hopper a while, that's all. Yeah, dude. Yeah, so we went to that show in Amarillo, and they took us around. And so this theater was full, and we were backstage, and I went to look out. And my boy, A.D. Snipes goes don't look out there man because do not look out there

really just when they call your name just go on a stage and do your act and I went on that stage and I have never to this day killed the way I killed

for seven that was the first time I'd ever even I've ever really killed really for seven minutes straight like waves of laughter were coming at

me just waves like 1500 people theater uh-huh and just ah just waves of laughter coming at me that was that was it i was like this is the shit holy shit uh-huh because again on that next tuesday i got my ass handed to me again at midtown at the shitty open mic by a very uh disapproving older black crowd who's like we're not even listening to you which is the worst they don't got my ass handed to me again at midtown at the shitty open mic by a very uh disapproving older black crowd who's like we're not even listening to you which is the worst they don't even boo you they just don't right yeah don't listen at all you're not even worth a boo yeah carry on their own conversation uh-huh you know and i got that and i didn't care i was like i don't give a shit right i don't give a shit a sold-out house in amarillo just fucking was carrying me around and fucking uh-huh this is our new man

he's a new mayor um that's interesting because i i feel like most people when they start out they live set to set just like sure that went great and i feel great about it but this one sucked i'm i'm horrible again yeah i went through that yeah but in the beginning you had that thing with like the 1500 where you're like you've seen the top of the mountain and you're like okay i know where it's at i've never even had that feeling again and i've had great sets but that particular feeling i've never had that feeling again really yeah not even when doing 45 in front of chris catan 45 at the avalon theater in eastern maryland no oh yeah how did easton treat you oh it's fine they want me to come back again.

Oh, good. Good. Yeah. That's like. I told him, I said, I need about six months. Are you going to hear the same act? Right. Yeah.

Yeah. A lot of the same gray hairs coming out to those shows. Yeah. I need about six months. But I mean, all you see is 60. I sold it out. Yeah. It's a cool spot.

I had 20 bucks I had. Yeah. I was like, I need a door deal the next time I come. Yeah. Hook me up. Yeah. That's a cool spot. That's like a half hour from where I grew up.

Oh, nice. Yeah, yeah. Nice. It was fun to go to. Yeah, I did that show with Ramin, and my family came out, and for some reason I was just kind of nervous. And I was like, hey, guys, do you like pants? Okay, I'll see you later.

You didn't put that out of your mind. I know, yeah. So that's the most recent show where I'm like, all right, I just got to chill, chill the hell out. Yeah, you got to put that, you can't worry about that. What time is the next show? 9.45. So how long?

It's only 5 to 9. Yeah, so how long has he been up? All right, he's been up there about 35 minutes. What else you got for me? We're against the clock, so. Oh, yeah, yeah. Wait, what do you mean? I said you wouldn't.

Let's go. Oh. I'm sorry. I was checking the time. No, I don't want to, you know? I said you wouldn't. Let's go. Oh. I'm sorry. I was checking the time. No, I don't want to. You know, that's my fault. I'm talking. No.

Well, you're the guest on the podcast. You should be talking. Yeah. I'm talking on my own damn podcast. ThreeGuysOn. www.three, the word threeguyson.com. Hey, now. Tim Miller.

He lives. He lives. He hates that. He does. He hates that he does i think it's so great because it's uh it came from uh mark maron's podcast right yeah we saw from mark maron and then uh haywood kind of brought it up we've actually stopped using those timmy he's just yeah it's hilarious yeah because i was listening to the podcast when he was on he was like he's like why am i supposed

to listen you guys are shitting on me with that it's hilarious yeah it's funny just because mark was talking about his cat like boomer lives and then now your co-host it's a lot it's the same it's like an alley cat i love tim though man he's he's awesome funny dude um okay so what are we talking about okay so we can continue this too we're gonna have to break in a little bit but just starting out doing comedy so the like the huge the huge show is enough to kind of like that's what locked you in right yeah i i suppose or maybe it was just in me and i didn't know i don't know what what tells somebody that this is what you're supposed to be doing i don't i don't like the talking cliches either like this is what i just knew when i go on stage i hate those people.

And the people remember everything, too. Like, I was nine, and I was in the parking lot. You know what I mean? Like, they just know every detail. It was 62 degrees, and I'll never forget. I just had my boys rolling. You know, like, no. I think at some point you have to decide, are you a comic?

Are you a comedian, or are you not? If you are, you are. If you're not, you're not. Mm-hmm. Comedy is the one thing that anybody can call themselves. They can do it one set and say, I am a comedian. I'm like, no, you're not. No, no. No, you're not.

Do you go through, like, when did you know, like, all right, this is what I'm going to be doing? Like, I'm going to be a comedian. You know what I mean? No. You just kind of just kept gaining steam, kind of going in that direction? For like four years I started at this mainstream room called

mainstream means white. This room in San Antonio called River Center Comedy Club. I went down there. I think I've been in the center for about three or four months and I went down there and I did some time on that room.

And they invited me to come back. So they had a midnight show. There was really no open mics in Antonio. I'm clocking them. He's got two. He has two minutes? He's got his time. He's been up there 37.

I'll go out there. Yeah, well, believe me. Okay, I'm headed out there. We'll be back. We'll be back. All right, we're back after these messages from our sponsors. We're back. Audible.com.

Audible. Slash Big Old Dicks for 10% off. We're joined now by the beautiful Ricky. Ricky, what's your last name? Ricky. Ricky Sofer. Ricky Sofer. I said Sofer.

Yeah. Yeah. I was like, yeah, you can hop in for a sec. I don't have four mics. Say hello to the people, Ricky. Ricky's doing some guest spots tonight or this weekend here at Magoobies. Are you broadcasting live, or this is recorded? This is live.

You see the camera? No, this is for a podcast. No, there's some website you can do it live. I know, yeah. No, I don't have that technology yet. I'm doing okay, though, that we can podcast in a green room. Can't go live yet, but Rome wasn't built in a day. Somebody asked us about that on our podcast.

What was the question that you had? Oh, so kind of talking about whether you wrestled with self-doubt and that type of thing early on. Do you still? Right now, yeah. Do you think every comic has that? That's kind of the equalizer where it's like i'm a piece of shit they're lying to you right or they're not good right

so what do you what do you do to get yourself out of that hole uh i reach out to uh different comics that i look at as mentors i have a i have one that i'm really that i'm really close to that i reach out to him and i ask him whenever I have a question or something like that. I ask him questions about stuff like that. Other than that, there's not a whole hell of a lot. You still got to believe that you're good at this. I hate my act right now. That's the big thing.

Really? Because I know you're working on writing new stuff. So I was going to say, does that help? Does that give you like that kick where you're like, okay, maybe I can do this? Here's a kernel of hope right here. Yeah, it's just trying to find, and again, I'm going to start saying words that I don't like, trying to find my most authentic voice. Uh-huh.

You understand? Right. It's like, I know what the nuts and bolts of comedy are now. Nuts and bolts, what? Nuts and bolts. I know how to write. We're talking nuts bolts of comedy are now. Nuts and bolts, what? Nuts and bolts. I know how to write. We're talking nuts and bolts in the morning. Nuts and bolts.

I know how to write a joke and stuff like that. Yeah. But now it's like talking with some sort of, I don't know. Making it unique to you. It just sounds like a bunch of horse shit to say. I want it to be unique. It just sounds like horse shit, but it's the truth. say. I want it to be unique. It just sounds like horse shit, but it's the truth. Yeah, I want it to be honest and real, but funny.

Yeah. My truest self. So we're kind of just talking about this self. Like this motherfucker here is about to get on the line. Grip arms. What we want to do when we get out there, because I don't even know if I should say this But we've said these jokes a thousand times

Yeah But which each crowd you get in front of The crowds look at us And they think we're coming up with that shit Right then and there And that's the way you have to make it seem Like yep I'm just off the top of my head just talking

You know It's all coming of my head just talking you know just kind of it's all coming together here yeah and wouldn't you know this relates to this other thing i've been thinking about yes yeah yeah and yeah that's that's a big part of it like when i first started they're like yeah you're okay but you have to sell your jokes and i didn't realize that's a part of it like you are kind of an actor at the same time like exactly here's something where it's like the other day meanwhile Meanwhile, it was six years ago. Yes. I'll tell you my Greer Barnes story.

Then I'm going to pull back and let you guys talk. Oh, no. You can hang on. I moved to New York maybe nine years ago. I lived in New York for two years. Probably about nine years ago I lived in New York for two years. Can I stop you real quick just to have a through line for our conversation? How long had you been doing comedy in Texas?

Were you in Texas and then you went to New York? No, I was in Texas. Then we moved up here. Oh, okay. I moved to D.C. I lived in D.C. twice. Right. I lived in Alexandria the first time.

Lived there for a year. Then my wife got a job. My wife's job transfer her to New York she was running the Sephora on Fifth Avenue right so we were living in in Astoria and she was running this she was running that one on Fifth Avenue so I was like fine we're moving to New York so we moved to New York we moved to New York mm-hmm we were there for a month we got married we went back Texas and got married we were already gonna get married it's just all the timing worked

out that we moved New York and back test we got married and We went back to Texas and got married. We were already going to get married. It's just all the timing worked out that we moved to New York. We got married and then we were right back in New York. So we lived in New York for the first two years of our marriage. We lived in New York. But we had already been together for like, shit, six years, I think, at that point. Yeah. And at that time, I had been doing stand-up maybe seven years.

So for the first six months of us living in new york i was going to shitty open mics i was on the road i was doing steve you know you remember a cat named steve bicks who booked these shitty one-nighters and up and down to pennsylvania turnpike steve you've worked for yeah you're lucky you know how to work for that oh god and i worked these shitty one-nighters that he paid really good right i would have did them yeah that's why i did them. He paid like $250 for the headline. Shitty fucking

truck stops. Like sports bars and shit. He put like two together. So you come home with like $500 on a weekend. And I did those. And then I got passed at the Broadway. And I was hosting at the Broadway a lot during the week. And that's where I met you the

first time. How many years ago was that? This was about nine years ago. I met you there because you were always at the Broadway. I remember Gina was there all the time. She's still there. She's still there. Gina Savage.

She's there all the time. We were always there together but i was just young at that time i mean i'm damn near your age but young in the game i'm a spry 37 and uh gary used to give me real good advice and uh we used to talk about baseball we used to talk about baseball and i think i told you what we talked one time about the Negro Leagues, how long it took for the Negro Leagues to end from Jackie Robinson to the end of the Negro Leagues. I think we had that conversation at Caroline's at the bar we were talking about.

And you were like, what you know about baseball? I think I know everything and I don't. That's a good way to approach a conversation. You don't know shit. I was like, grandma, what's your age? You don't look it. I know a couple things. Neither do you.

Roll up, motherfucker. I feel it, though. I don't look it. He's always going to be good advice about just write these shows baby boy keep writing your shows keep working so when I found out I was working with Greer I was like that's fantastic

he's going to come full circle he won't know it but you know it'll be meaningful to me and then I had heard that you had opened for you had opened for Louie at the Garden on those Garden shows. Yeah, two shows, right? Did you work with Chappelle on his Garden shows?

Or was he on his Radio City shows? Nah, I was supposed to do his Radio City show. I didn't do it. Because a whole bunch of Dave is fucking the best dude, yo. Because he'll be like, Dave would be here and be like, yo, I'm going to the garden tomorrow. Come through. And when he says come through, he means that he's going to throw you up for five, ten minutes. Wow.

You know, like that's how he is. He's really generous with that. Yeah. Yeah. I heard some stories. I was listening to some other podcasts you were on. Like, he'll be like, hey, we're going to going to Disney World tomorrow? Yeah. And I was like, dude, I ain't got no money. He's like, I ain't asking you that.

Do you want to go to Disney World? We have to go to private jet with the Disney World. Okay. And then, yeah, you're going out on tours where he's blowing up. I mean, because he's always been like, he's never not been the Dave Chappelle. You were doing shows of like

5,000, like 10,000 people, right? Yeah. Yeah. Especially when I went with him on this tour. That was the best. I remember one time, dude. What's Mariah Carey's

husband's name? Oh, Nick Cannon? Nick Cannon. Nick Cannon, who's a stand-up comic all of a sudden. Mrs. Mariah Carey. And he's in somebody's spot.

Yes, man. I forgot where we were. I think we were in Iowa. I'm not sure where we were, but I opened up and these fucking kids were brilliant, dude. It was like a fantastic fucking show. Mustafa at the time was Dave's

manager. I see him at the edge of the stage and he's got a piece of paper in his hand. So I'm doing this joke, and I casually walk over. I take the piece of paper out of his hand as I'm finishing the joke, punchline, boom, 5,000 people fucking dying. And the paper says, yo, Nick Cannon's going to go up for five minutes. And I'm like, oh, all right, cool. So I drop another joke, and I'm like, hey, look, guys, we got a special guest. You know, Nick Cannon's going to come up.

Nick Cannon. Ah! Yeah. 35 seconds, 40 seconds into it, they were like, ah, boo, get the fuck up. Bring Greer back. Bring Greer back. This is one of those I states Yes man

This though Because that means white people You know how bad You got to suck Dude To get white folks To do some shit like that He was horrible

Bring back the other black guy He was horrible How can you be that bad So quick Because he didn't put the time In that we have Yeah This is an art form

Totally And a lot of people Are just like, oh, yeah, I'm a comic now. Like, even a dude from Kid and Play. What's his name? Kid? I don't know.

What is his name? Mr. Kid. All of a sudden, he's a comedian now. And I'm like, really? Yeah. Okay, so I don't get it, dude. Because I never saw you on the circuit. Right.

You know? And we all put in some hard time i know dude that opens for him really does like long sets in front of him back home in texas he's open for him so his his open slash feature set would be very long and then kid only has to close up a little bit of time but that's the thing we were talking about the other day with the stevos of the world? It always comes back to Stevo,

but Screech. Probably the most egregious example. Screech, too. Screech, Bruh Man, Bruh Man. You really?

Bruh Man's a stand-up comic now, and he's the kicker, though. I remember Bruh Man, I think he sold out Caroline's. You know Bruh Man. And all he had was that Martin.

One little thing, that one little Bruh Man thing, and you know brother man all he had was Martin one little thing that one little brother man thing and you know all right whatever good luck with that so have you seen a lot of that throughout the years just these guys don't like you know I see a lot of people who you know they've had something else that got them over the top, and then it's like, yo, stand-up comedy, easy. No, it's not. This is something that takes years. Determination, skill. Yeah.

You have to really, it's in you. It's innate, I believe. Can stand-up comedy be taught? Not taught, but you can learn some things. But it has to be in you. You have to have that. You have to engage them. The audience, like you said, that selling of a joke,

basically what that person was telling you was that act. When you get up on that stage, it's yours. You control it those people and barry katz actually his ex uh girlfriend god bless i think she passed away uh she told me one day because i was in my head when i was young comic i was in my head completely doubting everything about myself and she saw that and she was like great what's the's the matter? And I was like, I don't know. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't know how to do this or whatever. And she was like, no, bullshit.

Like, this is yours. When you step up on that stage, it's your stage. These people come here for you to bring them into your world. So to this day, I still tell that to young comics. Like, you know, it's yours.

Like, they came here for you to bring them into your world. And that was really cool of you on Thursday. They did the kind of open mic thing here, and you went out and closed the show, and a couple guys didn't do so hot, and it was really cool of you to kind of take some time and be like, I used to be there. I was that dude, like that last guy that went up. I think his name is...

Calvin or Alvin. We're going to say his name. Okay. I think it was Calvin or Alvin. It was tough for me because literally the last two guys were Calvin and Alvin. So I forget which one was which. Don't say they were twins. No, no, no.

That would be so bad. He didn't do well. And as I was sitting there watching it, all I could think about was, like, I walked and went through that exact same thing he went through. So I was like, I got to say something to this kid. Yeah. Got to let him know. No, it was so cool. You literally unplugged the microphone and you're still showing, like,

even if the mic doesn't work, everyone's still paying attention. Exactly. You just got to kind of be in the moment. Project your voice. Oh, you did this on stage? Yeah, he did it stage yeah he did it on thursday like he was talking to the kid from the stage and kind of saying like hey man i've been there yeah just chill though keep going yeah it hurts take that hurt and i guarantee you you're determined to want to get up there again right if you're feeling like okay i'm done then you're done and i asked him and i was like

you want to do it again he's like yeah and i was like boom you're good yeah you know yeah you're done. And I asked him, and I was like, you want to do it again? He's like, yeah. And I was like, boom, you're good. Yeah. You know? Yeah. You're good then. Yeah. Because bombing is going to happen. Bombing is part of stand-up.

And it always happens. We were talking earlier about the worst thing is in a room full of older, mature black people who don't listen to you, who are having their own conversations. Yeah. Yeah. That's the absolute. Yeah. That's.

Soul killer. Yeah. Oh, no. That's spirit. Spirit destroyer. That's the absolute soul killer. Oh, no. Spirit destroyer. That's the soul killer. A bunch of older-ass black people who are not listening to you, who have now turned sideways and are having a conversation. Maybe they're playing dominoes.

Right, right. This is in a club. Break out to a spades game. They pulled out dominoes, and they're like domino Right This is on a clock Break out into a spades game They pulled out dominoes And they're like What the fuck Slam Did somebody just domino

I did not listen to you That's That hurts your soul Yeah When you're not even worthy Of a boo Yeah I'm not gonna waste the energy

On you Is he still up there Okay Okay And then he just Oh god Yeah Yeah

So Greer Did you start in New York Yeah Yeah I'm from New York Born Greer, did you start in New York? Yeah, yeah. I'm from New York, born and raised. Right. Yeah, I started in New York. First time I actually went up on,

actually the first time I ever performed was on the street on 77th and Columbus Avenue. This is a crazy story. I don't even know how to tell this. Me and my boys, we were, it was in the summer. We were walking down Columbus Avenue. I think we were actually on a tab of mescaline. And there were these two white dudes on the corner. They had a mouse amp and two mics.

And they had a crowd of about 70 people. Me and my brothers, we were walking down. They said something. Crowd started laughing. I said something back. Crowd started laughing. They said something. Crowd started laughing. I down they said something crowd started laughing i said something back crowd started laughing they said something crowd started laughing i said something again crowd started laughing they spoke to each other and homeboy walked up to me and grabbed me by the front of my shirt and pulled me out in the middle of this thing and gave me the mic and they both walked off to the side and at the time all i had was an eddie murphy impression like that was it but i i remember making them laugh

that sounds so surreal you're tripping on mescaline and like you're pretending to be eddie murphy on the street did y'all hear that with the dog you know oh yeah oh dude i can't even get my voice out that high. That's amazing. Wow. And then from there you're like, all right, I'm going to go. Yo, and they told me to meet them out there every Friday and Saturday for that entire summer, and I did. And, like, the last week, which was, like, in August, they took me to the side and they were like, hey, Greer, you know, you're great. We already have an Eddie Murphy.

We could use a Greer Barnes. And that just shattered my whole stance. Like whatever I thought I was standing on just shattered. So I just fell. Bang. And I had to find out who I was. Right. Because I couldn't be walking up on stage with the same hand movements and sounds and shit.

And like, nah, i had to i had to find my voice but you know eddie murphy was the one eddie murphy and richard pryor were the ones who really influenced influenced me so but yeah it's shattering but still also it's inspiring at the same time like no you can do it yourself right yeah like find your voice right you know who are you how long did it take you to kind of find that like it's really great watching you as far as like what you're saying like how i learn how to do stand-up like different guys techniques and that type of thing like you'll talk very quiet you kind of hold the mic away kind of the same thing where you unplug the mic like everybody it forces everybody to listen you know like where did you

did that just come along the way um yeah sort of kind of as you see that's the thing about these young comics young comics have to be they have to get in front of like real crowds you know and when you're doing open mics you're usually around other comedians so you're not going to get you know the the essence of like a real crowd so that could be very discouraging for a comedian yeah where they'll almost doubt themselves but don't forget you're not in front of a an actual audience you're in front of other people who are trying to do the exact same thing you're doing yeah i try to think about like you're doing magic for other magicians like yeah we know how to cut the lady in half yeah yeah yeah i'm sorry yeah yeah yeah so and then getting up in front of different audiences

Is that how you kind of just developed Yeah and not to mention when I was doing it Man like there were actual Audiences you know There was none of this BS about Bring two paying customers You know you gotta pay Five dollars that's one of the things that really

Fucking pulls my short And curlies A comic paying to get on stage Paying another comic pay $5. That's one of the things that really fucking pulls my short and curlies. A comic paying to get on stage. Paying another comic. Yes. That's the work. Just an open mic.

Meanwhile, here's this guy who's obviously a businessman. I got this spot and I know 14 comics that want to go up. Each one of y'all give me $5. Yeah.

And they will so that they can get up. Yeah. You know? Yeah. I can name a comic's name right now. Yeah. I could name a comic's name right now. I could too.

I could name four of them. Let me stop here. When I was there. Yeah, not cool. I remember a comic one time. I was hosting at the Broadway and there was a guy who runs a show in that little world cafe.

Uh-huh. You know the guy. okay i know you know and uh i was downstairs hosting and he people would come down to a spot and they would run up there into a spot and i told him i said hey man if you ever have an open spot because of the headlines on stage as a host you got 20 minutes now because there's like three 20s and there's a couple of little guest spots. But the 20s, no one gets off early in New York City. So I would start my watch,

especially during football season, I would start my watch and I would just leave. And I could come back in the 19th minute and they'd still be on stage. I'd get in the light and they'd get off. No one gets off early. You don't have to worry about that. So I would tell them, I'd say, hey, man, I can come upstairs and do what this one told me well oh yeah you need to hand out flyers in the

yeah Times Square who would do a spot right you could hit I said no I can't do that yeah man shit on me yeah I can't do that. Okay. I'm not going to do that. Yeah, give me those flyers. I'll go right now. I'll go right now. Beat it, dummy. You understand. You know I introduced you earlier.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that means I know a little bit about how to do this. Yeah. That's why they're paying me money to do this. Exactly. I think I'm beyond the flyer point.

Are you fucking kidding me with this? People come do my show. They go, well, I'm not going to be one of them. Count me out. Give me a stack of 500 flyers. What? Yeah. That's where the advantages of starting to stand up older.

Yeah, you got a little respect there. And I started standing up when I was 29 turning 30. I had a little respect of self at that point. A little respect of self at that point. Yeah, you've been around for a minute one of the advantages yeah if that's me i'd be like okay sir do you want me to laminate him first yeah just you know i don't want him to smear doing that shit fuck out of here man yeah so what uh for grier so starting in new york was that did you understand like how serious it was to be doing comedy in new york or was it

just like i'm just doing it that's where i've always lived you know what i mean like guys for us like here like baltimore it's like oh you're going to new york you know like it's well uh i i stand-up comedy when i started stand-up comedy dude i used to see all these guys who are big names right now they were all i used to see them all the time jay vatel who's one of my fucking all-time favorites yeah i used to see david tell it the open mics all the time David tell who's one of my fucking all-time favorites Yeah, I used to see David tell it the open mics all the time and Dave was brilliant He would have his flashcards with him sometime he'd have stuff written from his for from his elbow all the way to the top of his Hand things just written down on either side of his arm, right? You know the palm of his hand the back of his hand

Dave Dave was Dave and he was funny then. Just a technician from the beginning. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. And he was definitely a major inspiration growing up, watching him. When I would see Dave, I'd be like, oh, yeah, I'm watching him. Because you're like, oh, this dude's serious. Yes, man.

He was a badass. He was a badass then. Yeah. I'm talking like 20-some odd years ago. Yeah. He was a badass then. He's so good. Yeah talking like 20 some odd years ago yeah he was a badass he's so good yeah yeah yeah yeah but then he's another guy like we were talking about if you ever hear him on if you ever hear him on a podcast he's like i'm shit i suck david tell

is the reason why i stopped doing impressions i used to do a lot of impressions uh-huh and one day i saw david tell go up on stage and he was just fucking smashing joke, joke, joke, joke, joke, joke. And I was like, whoop. I was just like, jokes. No more impressions with jokes. No, no, no, no, no. Just jokes. And I can't do any of my impressions anymore.

Really? Yeah. I remember you on Def Jam doing impressions. Yeah, I used to do all those. De Niro and all those dudes. That was before I was even thinking about doing stand-up. I remember you on Def Jam doing impressions. Yeah, I used to do all those. De Niro and all those dudes. That was before I was even thinking about doing stand-up. I saw you. I was looking at some clips online.

Yeah, you had like the 90s style jacket on Def Jam and stuff. That was cool. I hated that shit. Like round glasses. Who was that that brought me up, dude? He called, oh my God, I forgot the name of that dude. Oh, I didn't see. I just saw the clip.

George Wallace. He brought you up. George Wallace brought me up on stage. He's like's like welcome to the stage grime baines and that fucking threw me off that rocked me up so much right grime baines grime baines that's what he called boss man's here no that's cool what's up andrew yeah oh yeah so that that that was uh that was really disturbing oh hearing that like okay him like yeah him uh saying my name wrong yeah like you know and it's like whoa and then i think i had to wear some shit that they gave us all to wear and like on the rack there was like a few things left on the rack and it was like the most

unattractive shit ever oh because everybody already got to it so you just got the leftover yeah and i had you know and i had to wear this and i had overalls on it and those were mine but the shirt under it was not and it was it was horrendous I hope nobody ever sees that Def Jam piece. I've seen it. I hope nobody ever sees that. Take it off the internet. God. As a matter of fact, was it on YouTube?

Yeah. Yeah, I can get it off. You got me flashing back to the overall days. I used to love overalls. What? Overalls. Kind of like early 90s. Some denim ones and some black ones. I think I gave my black ones to a girl.

Your black overalls? She must have been special at the time. Those are some black ones. I think I gave my black ones to a girl. Your black overalls? She must have been special at the time. Those are some serious things. I think this black girl took off with my overalls. San Antonio, Texas. I was a very slim man. I was a very slim man. You're still slim.

I still am. Still slim. Still slim. I just have to work hard at it now. Greer, on that note, so let's just get ready for the show. We're going to start in like five minutes. Can I ask Greer one that you might want to use for this? Yeah.

Go. I saw you in the Costner movie where he was the pitcher. Kevin Costner was the pitcher. Right. Yeah, for Love of the Game. He was the right fielder. You were the magical Negro in that. Yeah.

Because you helped him. For those who don't know what magical Negroes are, we save white people from themselves a lot. And you saved them from yourself. I saved his perfect game. It was funny because my, yeah, I was watching it with my mother. I think my mother-in-law was in the house.

She had it on. And you popped up. I was like, with my mother. I think my mother-in-law was now she had it on and there was you popped up You know my audition for that film was I had to go to Central Park I was with this guy who was he had a bag of balls and a bat Uh-huh, and there's another dude with a. And I had to flag fly balls in the outfield. And this dude was hitting fly balls out to us. And the guy with the camera, he caught like 30 seconds because the camera went dead. But then there was this catch, dude. I made a catch.

I was shocked. I made a catch over the top like this like i the ball was over my head and i caught it you know what i mean and i was like oh this is gonna be looking this is gonna look good on film and then the guy i can't remember his name but he was literally in the meeting with these people and he was like no the guy can play because they were going to get somebody else and he's like i'm telling you he can play he can play so yeah yeah i can't remember his name but thanks a lot if you ever hear that because they were going to get somebody else. And he's like, I'm telling you he can play. He can play. So, yeah.

I can't remember his name, but thanks a lot if you ever hear this. What's the name of that movie? For Love of the Game. The Love of the Game. Yeah, he's pitching a perfect game. He's remembering all this that's going on in his life. Got to be the magical one. He was.

Here was the magical hero. At least he didn't die. Ha, ha, ha. He didn't miss the ball and get hit in the head and die right there on the field. There's actually a scene in the movie where a ball does hit me in the head and goes over the wall for a home run. See? Yeah.

See? So is that your retribution? Yeah, basically, that was my retribution, exactly. Pulling that catch out of my ass. That's great. Randolph, do you want to talk to Greer more or do you want to put it on pause? Do you want me to do something while you're up there? I mean, it's up to you, man.

Just tell me how to cut it off. I'll ask her some questions. This button right here. Just hit stop right here. Which one? This one right here. Whenever you're done, just hit that. This is for your podcast.

God bless you. Yes. Ricky, grab the mic. Josh runs away. Come on, Ricky. Come get some. Ricky, don't lose that number. Maybe we should stop it because she's got to go up right now.

Oh, that's right. You got to go. So no mic for you. Yeah, we're going to have to finish this after. We can do a few minutes. We are in Baltimore. That was the owner. Yeah, that's the owner of

Magoobies. The owner. Agile, badass, awesome dude. Where do you see yourself going stand-up wise? That's a good question. Stand-up wise, dude?

Just stand-up or performance. Have you been in any more movies? Nah, I haven't been in any more movies. You've done television? I've done a couple stand-up things. I know you been in any more movies? Nah, I haven't been in any more movies. You haven't done television? I've done a couple stand-up things.

I know you've written for television and stuff like that. No, actually, I've had hands in stuff. I ain't really write nothing. Like, Greg Barnes wrote this. No. Yeah. I may have said some things at meetings, and they'd be like, that's a great line. Use that.

Where do you see yourself going? Such a general question to ask stand-up comics, because usually we only just see ourselves going to the stage. Dude, I actually want to. My ultimate goal is to act. That's what I want to do. But you've done it. You've been in a movie with Costner. Yeah, that's a lot.

The Richmond. One movie. Did you get an agent off that? I have no idea how that process even works. Did you go to other auditions or anything? I know, dude. I thought that was going to do something for me. It didn't.

That movie is what, like 12 years old or whatever? Yeah, I suppose. I haven't been in anything else. Yeah. Actually, I was on the Chappelle show and I did some sketches on the Chappelle show. Fist of Cups? Yeah. Actually, I was on the Chappelle show, and I did some sketches on the Chappelle show. Fist of Cups. Yeah. Yeah, I was in some of that.

Hilarious sketch. Yeah. And you never, I know they have open casting calls and stuff like that. Yeah, but see, open casting calls, like, I mean, not to be cocky or anything, but, like, I don't want to get on a line with 500 other people. You don't want to fuck with, like, Rick Younger? Rick Younger, that's my man. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I mean, you know what?

Rick Younger and I actually, see, he signed with Innovative Artists, I think. Yeah. And I was freelancing with them. And Innovative Artists only sent me out on voiceover stuff. Ah, well, you can do voiceover. You know, and I did, and the thing about it, I never booked anything. I got a bunch of callbacks and callbacks are the worst

because they start getting you to think like, damn, I could possibly get this and this is going to be a nationwide thing and da, da, da, da, and nothing.

Yeah, so. No, we hired Dennis Haysburg. Yeah, right. Again. What did I audition for,

man? I think, who was it? I think they gave it to like Ice Cube or everything I auditioned for, dude, there was some big name that got it. And I was for, man? Who was it? I think they gave it to Ice Cube or everything I auditioned for, dude, there was some big name that got it. And I was like, well, that was probably your first choice anyway.

So why waste, you know? So they can have somebody to get his money down. I guess. We got another guy already lined up. He's going to take less money. Like that Thor video game. It was a Thor video game That I did a voiceover for

And they wanted Idris Elba Yeah You know So I went in there With my English accent and all Did my whole thing You know But then they

You know They gave it to him They played that English accent I said hey man listen We got a dude That can do an Ingersoll accent. Right. And we could give him less than half the money.

Less than half this shit. Which still would have been a lot. I suggest you take what the fuck we're offering you. Okay. But see, what it is is names sell. Yeah. You know what I mean? And Idris Elba's a badass.

Yeah. So you've never wanted to move out to L.A.? Was you acting or has this all been stand- man that whole la dance that's that's a tough road and i take my hat off to people who make that jump but for me to do that it would be like starting all over and at my age i am not starting all over you're fairly entrenched i know you just got a write-up louis named you as one of his yeah louis louis ck has been a badass dude i've known him for years he's always been a great dude with me great guy yeah and yeah uh i didn't even somebody texted me dude did you read the hollywood reporter i was like i don't have access to the hollywood reporter anyway louis ck named seven

top comedians that josh should look for in america And I was like, okay. He was like, yeah, you're one of them. I was like, oh, all right. Yeah, Louis. You, Nick. Yeah, Nick DiPaolo, Marina Franklin, Keith Robinson. Yeah, yeah. Keith. Yeah, man.

It's a very diverse crowd. Robert Kelly, too, as well, right? Yeah, Bob Kelly. Who's another great friend of mine. He puts people down. Yeah, man. Buddy Miner was one of them on the road, too. Ted Alexandro. Yeah, Ted, yes. That's another good friend of mine. He puts people down. Yeah, man. Buddy Mind opens for him on the road, too. Ted Alexandro.

Yeah, Ted, yes. That's another good friend of Ted Alexandro. Brilliant. Dude, he's really fucking intelligent, yo. I know. He's fucking an activist. He's a badass. I know.

I tell people all the time, I know two really, really smart joke writers, and he's one of them. Yes, man. Yes, he is, dude. Really is a activist ass. And you know, it's so so beautiful and that's why i say comedians need to watch like he's real soft-spoken yeah when he does his stuff and his jokes go boom yeah you know so yeah you don't have to be all right find your voice you know so what is uh

as we wrap this up what would be something that you would have to say to young comedians? Young comedians, it has to be, you better know that you want to do it, you know, because there are a lot of people that we started with when I started that are no longer doing it, you know, and only those who really feel it do it. Don't be afraid. Be very fucking afraid because it's tough it's not an easy thing to do I know we make it look easy watch your

favorite people that you like to watch and through that you you'll you'll find your voice you know what would you say to comedians who've been doing it for let's say 15 16 years who are opening for a guy named Greer Barnes in Baltimore what would you say to that comedian if you open to any of those type of comedians if you open

for me if you open for me we're in the same boat which means that you are obviously really fucking funny

keep going just keep going you know and somebody I hope somebody asks your ass this question in two years what would you say Really fucking funny. Keep going. Just keep going. You know? And somebody, I hope somebody asks you this question in two years. What would you say

to a comic who is opening for a guy like I'm going to say, I'm going to say, Group Arts told me to tell you that if you're opening for me,

you're in the same fucking book that I am. Right, right, right. You're funny. Pay it forward. Pay it forward. You're going to tell somebody else that.

That's it. You're good. You're good. You're going to tell somebody else. You're bad. All right, Josh. We're wrapping this up. Yes. Randolph Terrace. Korea Barnes. That has been Ricky. So far.

Standing over there very quietly. And I'm going to push the off button now. So long, everybody. Holla. We'll see you next time. Thank you. you