The Digression Sessions - Ep. 260 - Ben O'Brien - FIXED AUDIO - (@benfobrien)

Episode Date: July 25, 2018

FIXED AUDIO - Hola Digheads, on this week's episode, Josh and Umar sit down with comedian, director, writer, actor - Ben O'Brien! Ben is a founding member of Wham City, who have made shorts for Adult Swim, and are touring the West Coast soon!  The boys catch up with their old bud on this one. Enjoy! Follow the podcast and Josh Kuderna and Umar Khan, on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! Josh - @JoshKuderna on Twitter and @JoshKuderna on Instagram The Pod - @DigSeshPod on Twitter The Pod's Facebook page - Dig Sesh on Facebook Thanks for listening, all! Do the pod a favor and rate and review the pod on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, Laughable, Stitcher, & Spotify plz!

Tage Network. That's a Gotti. But like if someone has a LaCroix at their house, I'm going to go for that over 10. Yeah, I feel like it just became a really big thing. Like I thought LaCroix was like incredible way people are like, oh, my God. Oh, yeah. The hype for things is unbelievable. This kind of tastes like soda filtered through cardboard a little bit.

Yeah. Apparently, it is all natural. All natural? Yeah. You're not even checking the levels. That's how we do this? We never check. No checking the levels.

You just look at the lines. Can you even control levels with just that? Yeah, of course. Oh, I don't fucking know things. We're between the 12 and the 6. Damn. This is one of the things I teach my students how to use. Yeah, you got to put that mic.

It's a nice little Zoom recorder. Do you teach them to put the mic to their... Glue it to their... To their soup cooler? Right here. Oh, right here? Yeah. Glue it right there.

No, I don't tell them that because that doesn't make... That wouldn't make sense. It's not like a podcasting class. It's not? What is it? I teach beginner film at Micah. I'm doing a pre-college course. Holy shit.

It's my favorite. It's my favorite, favorite thing to teach. Yeah, so you are Ben O'Brien. Ben O'Brien. You are Ben O'Brien. That's me. And you've been on the podcast a few times. That's right. This is maybe my fourth time

Holy shit Including a live pod with me and Fonazo Oh maybe this is my fifth time Wow Oh my god at the Fringe Festival Was it there? No It was like 10 people

A wind up for Thundergrunt Maybe you said one thing Yeah Maybe Was that for Thundergrunt at wind up? No this was at Baltimore Improv Group When they were at the Sharing a spot with Single Carrot. Yes, I was there.

I remember that. That was really fun. You guys were great. Yeah. Thank you. I need to go back and listen to that. The one thing I said was fantastic. You were fantastic.

I do remember you had one good line. Not one, but one great line. I would love that. I never think I do very good on podcasts or talking. You're good at it. You were playing with coils on the table. Oh, that one know i think maybe i've done this five or six probably yeah the coils one was fun yes the one what i'm talking about is the like when there was 10 a 10 person panel yeah that was a bit much that was a wind up and that's like when like

yeah basically only like mark maron had done a live podcast i'm like that's how you do it you have five people on stage and then like it's just awkward because then you're like what what do you do they're like no nothing and then the people listening at home are like yeah live podcasting is really hard because there's you know like right now nothing we're saying is funny so but if you're just i'm glad yeah if you're having this fucking conversation in front of people and they're just staring at you would know that feedback that we're used to it would be unnerving no no hopefully but hopefully the idea is that it like charges you it super charges you that there's people watching you yeah but then i think it kind of makes for a inauthentic podcast

because then you're kind of going for the jokes a little more than just conversation you know but but on the flip side of that then there's the like podcast when you're just alone in a room talking with people and you're going for jokes is also kind of inauthentic hey i don't know that's i don't know yeah i mean what's more authentic than uh talking into microphones you know in a living. We've been over this. Say knock, knock. We're going for jokes here. Say who's there. Glue that thing to your lip.

Thank you. Sorry, sorry, sorry. So Ben O'Brien of Wham City fame. I'm eating ice cream. Munch that ice cream. I was going to ask you what you've been up to, but I was going to save it for the pod because that's where... Are we on the pod right now? We're on. This is it. Oh, cool.

Cool. This is it. I really appreciate how... No struck. How we... Yeah, we... I'm so fucking on good time. This has been like a...

Yeah, we blended into this pod. Like, we were just having a conversation, and then all of a sudden, it was just, bam, we were on it. I didn't even notice. We just eased right into it. Yeah, do you teach that, motherfucker? Yeah, what's going on? What's going on with me?

How, motherfucker? Do I teach... Go off, kink. i would never let us let us let me and josh do a podcast like seminar just one class yeah i totally would i like no i like i mean i like doing shit with them that like is actually relevant to something they might be actually doing oh yeah so so yeah quick little backstory you were in baltimore for a while with wham city then you guys relocated to la it's that it's like that's the that's the that's what would be on like the wikipedia page but it's actually much more complicated yeah that's a folklore right yeah yeah you were in new orleans yeah yeah yeah i'm i'm gonna be moving la in a little bit probably,

maybe a little sooner than I thought. But, yeah, everybody kind of headed over. Alan and Robbie are in L.A. Cricket's heading there in August. And then I'm kind of straggling along. They've been there for a couple years though, right? No. No?

Probably. They moved last November. Okay, okay. So almost one year, I guess, in like eight, nine months. So they're doing all right. It's funny when you hear about stuff and then you're like, what was that, like, I don't know, 2005? Yeah, right.

It's been nine months. You're like, oh, okay. I feel like it's the other way around for me. I'm like, everything feels like it just happened. Man, I feel like you guys are going to crush it there. I hope so. You guys are going to get to perform at Largo so soon. I don't know. Yeah. I just feel like you guys seem perfect for crush it there. I hope so. You guys are going to get to perform at Largo so soon. I don't know.

Yeah. I just feel like you guys seem perfect for that venue. Largo? Yeah. I don't know anything. Largo on the Coronet? I honestly. They're like a cool venue.

They do music and that's where a lot of alt comedy kind of was. But now they have everyone there. But they also do weirder stuff. I'd love to. I'd love to. I mean, we're kind of in just a funny place all all around it's one of those transitional moments in a lot of levels you know like uh definitely career career career wise like when you have to when you live in one place for a while you're all set up you got your like you're very comfortable yeah and

then when you have to when you move someplace for a group or for a job it like forces you to recommit to it in a new way like you have to you have to be like okay this is still a thing in my life i want to do that i'm gonna move myself across the country specifically for it you guys are gonna have to like i mean because you guys built a huge name for yourselves here and like i remember like back in 2010 when i first started doing you guys had the biggest you probably had the biggest comedy show it was a new and chuckle storm just getting on the open mic was a big deal it's like whoa was it i don't i mean it was funny though because we started out so sideways like yeah i didn't know any i didn't even know there was a comedy scene in baltimore when we started doing

shows and having no one make it popular it's like man these guys don't even care i was so outside of it i had i was so naive yeah so fun i was like anyone can do comedy and everyone's funny like and we had this like yeah that was the attitude anyone can do it i was like and we would just get people you get your friends i would ask anyone to do it anyone that i thought could do it would do it yeah and that was like what was crazy like your friends you just like get your friends to do it and then so a traditional stand-up but i also was not good at this point but i remember doing your show and uh it did very i did very mediocre but at that point i was consistently had been doing well and i just remember like hating yeah just hating your crowd i was like fuck them they're just here to see their fucking friends

it's true they are yeah it's so annoying that's the problem though because the the gimmick that we had which i didn't even realize what i was doing like it was just so. Well, that's the problem, though, because the gimmick that we had, which I didn't even realize what I was doing. Like, it was just so we just were just whatever. We were just doing whatever. And what we were doing, though, is like comics don't bring anybody. Yeah. Because they perform every night. Right.

So they don't, you know, their friends go see you the first one or two times you do it. And then they never come again. It's like a huge. Yeah. It's an open mic. They're like no exactly right unless you really beg them but you guys did pay i think you were my first one of my first paid shows we did pay we we felt like it would be weird we made money so we felt like it

would be weird yeah yeah no i remember it was like i remember it was like 37 i was like holy shit we're doing like 10 minutes of comedy jesus. I was like, God damn. It feels good to be able to pay people anything, you know. Yeah. And it feels wrong also to like take money

from a show if you're not going to give it to other people. Yeah. Oh, yeah. People do it. They're called all the time.

Improv. Oh. Damn. Shots fired. Oops. Did I just whisper that? No, it's fine. I mean,

they know that. They know. Yeah. Well,, they know that. They know. Yeah. Well, they're comedy. Just comedy theaters and stuff in general. No, I don't. I mean, I know. You know.

I know. It's fine. I know what you're saying. You don't want to step on any toes. I don't want to step on any toes, but hey, I'm leaving. Yeah. Right. Also, L.A. Benny's like, you know, I mean, all theaters are cool.

I don't know. All theaters are good. All theaters are good. Yeah. But it's always so funny to see that improv argument and how quickly it peters out it's like why don't you pay your performers like well there's just so many people and they're like yeah and they're like oh okay yeah i get that i mean i get that but there's other aspects to it too but we don't have to get into it i don't want

i don't want to feel i don't you know if we're in mixed company right now yeah i don't want to get into it what's mixed company it means like you know i don't you know he does improv oh no you not really he's trying to say i'm mixed oh shit dude this guy's done you've been performing a while no i haven't no i haven't done improv in a minute um but yeah no um yeah most theaters i don't think they do pay no but they're well any theater that any comedy theater whatever that's trying to make money does not like their business model does not involve paying people in any way at any point yeah and it's all about classes and stuff which like yes and it's and then when they have shows it's like we have a 615 show a 620 show and you have

to be out before the 620 show you know what i mean yeah they're really intense about all that stuff and you don't get paid so it's just like even if even if it's a one-person show a lot of times you won't right um because they have such big overhead but then i think it just kind of i don't know i don't think that it's always like they're trying to do something good i think and stuff but there's sometimes where like comedy classes can kind of leave a bad taste in your mouth a little bit. Did you take any? No, I've never done that.

Oh, my God. I almost taught one. I mean, it's cool. And I was like, what the fuck am I doing? I shouldn't do this. I enjoyed taking improv classes. No, that's different. It's like you need people and you need a community to do that kind of thing. Yeah. But then sometimes it can be, I think,

very on the line of being exploitative of people who are, I don't know. You know what I mean? It's a weird thing to teach, but improv makes a lot of sense. Improv is one of those things. Stand-up is the dirtiest, nastiest thing. Stand-up is dirty, yeah.

If anyone's going to be like, take a stand-up course. Yeah, I'll teach you all you need to know. There's nothing you can teach anyone. It's unreal to teach someone how to do comedy. It doesn't make – yeah, especially stand-up because it's so personal. I mean, if you pay me enough, I'll pretend like I can fucking do it. Come to the Creative Alliance for my workshop.

Yeah, exactly, exactly. They were going to charge, like, an insane amount because for what I was asking them, I was like, I won't do it for anything less than this. And so they're like, well, yeah, we can do that. But then the class would have been like 300 some dollars. Yeah, that's a lot. That's a lot. You were telling me about it, though.

Yours would have been pretty. Mine was very. Yeah, it would be like three days a week. Open mics every night that we meet. And then like I watched, they record their sets and they listen and they edit we edit together and then they do one more mic without me that week and then they send me the footage so it would be a lot of work but i think that's you that's like so i'm not teaching them how to do jokes i'm teaching them how to be a stand-up like you got to go to these mics this

is how you take over like like edit jokes actually doing it on their own at that yeah too and you're just kind of motivating them but and then and then this way like you know i can show them like the scene and where to go and stuff like that but right it's still just like oh just go fucking do it there's no one to teach you anything yeah it's kind of you know yeah just i mean i feel that's kind of true about everything, though, these days. It's like I feel that way a little bit. Just do it. Teaching film is – I love doing it, and I feel like I'm good at it, and my students get something out of it. But also, I'm always kind of – they ask me so many questions. I'm like, Google it.

I'm like, it's on YouTube. Oh, my God. It's just a fucking – I'm not kidding. Dude. That's what you have to learn. If my kid told me in front of them i'm like so what do you learn in that school micah where i pay forty thousand dollars a year for yeah uh google it bitch i'd be like you're getting the fuck out of that school i'm suing the school

i'm suing ben o'brien i feel like if they ask me a question and i'm like you i would i think about it i'm like i could tell you but the way that i would figure this out yeah just be youtubing it and that's what you should do. You should learn to do that. That's how you make anything is you look up on YouTube and a little kid teaches you how to do it. I was going to say, they're always the youngest. Young British child teaches you how to use Adobe Premiere. Hello.

Good to see you again. It's your boy, Matt. I'm going to show you how to use the vocoder on GarageBand. All right. Let's do it. It's so weird. And it's a well-edited video, too. They made it themselves. These people are fucking saints.

They're great. Most of these people are making no money off these videos. They're just doing it to make something. What do they get out of it? I guess they feel like they're helping. They are saints. Yeah, because there's adults that do it, too. Yeah.

Like, if shit's fucked up with my car, I'll look on YouTube. Yeah. Here's how you identify the problem. Yeah, because there's adults that do it too. Yeah. Like if shit's fucked up with my car, I'll look on YouTube. Yeah. Here's how you identify the problem. Yeah, yeah. I think there's something like it's also the thing that drives me nuts about these YouTube videos is that it's like the video title is like learn how to set the levels in Adobe Premiere. And then it's like two minutes of like, yeah, like, hey, guys.

And they have like their own little intro. It's like you don't need to brand it don't need to brand it okay like yeah but they totally are you just started right with just like here's how you do it this is how you do it like all the views i've been watching youtube just like tv it's unreal how good some youtube channels are ridiculous but yeah a lot of those videos too where they're instructional or whatever they're i hate everybody's like what's up? It's your boy. It's like, no, you're not.

Just show me the thing. I love how he said, they're really good. And you said HD. HD? I don't even watch them on HD. Really? I watch the Bon Appetit channel. Oh, my God.

You definitely watch it in HD. Is that HD? Yes. What's funny is everything's in HD. There's nothing. What? All of it? No.

We have HD cameras on our phones. That's why I'm laughing at you. Okay, well, Jesus. It's not impressive whatsoever. It's actually impressive to me to not shoot something in HD. Unbelievable. He hasn't been there yet. A hard-working man like me.

Wait until he actually gets there. I already got palm trees on those shirts. This is my one fun shirt. I have one fun shirt, it's still like gray. Yeah. Nice. Yeah, for the listener at home, Ben looks like a fun captain.

Wow, thank you. You got a beard. Yeah, you got the... I do have a beard now. You got the button-up shirt with some leaves on it. That's right. A fun...

What is that? A bike week hat? Yeah, Harley Davidson. Harley Davidson. Yeah. I don't ride bikes. That's what you call them when you're in it. You call them bikes.

So what kind of bike you got? I actually have a bike. It's just a bike. Yeah. But a bicycle. Okay, cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not a motorbike.

Sure, sure. How the fuck did we get here when we were just on YouTube channels? Oh, you made fun of it for HD. Which is funny. It is funny to be like, you made fun of it for HD. Which is funny. It is funny to be like, yeah, they're all HD now. It was amazing. I think there's like a specific HD channel on YouTube, and all those videos are HD.

I think I've seen that. No. I'm beginning to think neither of you understand what HD is. I don't really know what HD is. It's just super clear picture, right? That's all it is. I don't mean to be this way, but I'm honestly blown away by it. Wow. High definition. Are you

thinking 4K? No. That would be more impressive. You're like, oh yeah, they're all 4K. I didn't say that. I said they're all HD. There are some shitty videos, though. What I'm saying is some people will upload footage of a band or something like that. And it doesn't look good it's like shot vertical yeah if somebody's filming a show just for you no you're absolutely it looks just like oh yeah no they use like real

camera like you know they shoot movies with the thing that freaks me out just about that and about the world and i think why is one of the reasons that like it's hard for me to do stand-up oh god is it okay yeah if i if i get a little anti-semitic no i'm just kidding um hey you've been on cumtown so it's true it's true unfortunately wait you didn't use your last name though right no i mean everyone figures it out yeah i'm just worried because i teach at micah you know yeah my students google me yeah always so i was like don't mention it in the thing and you know so anyway i wonder why they uh google all the time they google i mean they know how to google. I wonder why they Google all the time.

They Google. I mean, they know how to Google people. Because you yell at them too. They know how to Google people. They don't know how to Google questions. Yeah. They don't know how to use it for you. Because they didn't grow up with Ask G. They ask.

They never say, who is Ben Roble? This is what I feel like. I want to get this rant out. Yeah. Get it out. Get it. About stand-up. It might not be funny.

It's just about the world. Oh, geez. That like, you look at these YouTube videos, just like everything, Twitter, stand up. Everybody is trying. Everybody truly is trying to like have a brand, like have everyone feels like they have to monetize everything. Yes. Stand out and have a channel and have it.

Yeah. Infinitely in every single aspect. It's like, well well even social media anymore organic colleges now you have now you have a blog and right what it's like every single profession across the board is now like yeah everybody's trying to be these like stars of it yeah it freaks me out and it's like it's creepy and but people are making their life content you know what i mean like their life is content now and they all talk as if they are branding it's so weird like everyone's like i'm gonna post these workout

like videos or like yeah i don't know just like like anytime anyone now like and you know i've been guilty of it like for sure we all make food you do anything whatever it's just like having an instagram page and i support you fall into that but it's like the reason that i think it's weird is because like i feel like i'm at the i was at the age where when i decided what i wanted to do i had no idea that everyone else on earth was also deciding oh yeah and so when i showed up it was like oh everybody is trying to do this but i feel like now it's like people get into it having grown up with this being the norm that everybody's just like yeah you have a brand yeah like people who are like not even trying to sell anything or make money they're just like yeah it's my brand but

it's like what are you yeah just it's weird i think it's gonna it's reaching a critical mat like i think like social media we are starting to feel like the negative impacts of it and i think it's already like like facebook's on the decline um people i don't know does anyone even fucking use twitter anymore i just sure i don't know i don't know but i feel like it seems like people just don't use it anymore it's like but i think that's a generational like bias like we look at it and we see oh because young people are yeah yeah yeah but they're like they just grew up with like they take it all for granted like yeah there's fewer people using facebook but it's there's still like a billion people using it yeah like twitter is huge because

instagram is probably because of donald trump yeah that's true um and news too like breaking news on twitter that shit bums me out though like the little like uh search thing where it's trending yeah when you see someone's name show up there you're like fuck what happened i woke up the other morning and then uh i was going through all my social media as i do when i first wake up which is probably not a healthy everyone does it it's gross but i opened twitter and it said um god it said um mgm suing victims of shooting. I was like, what? The huge shooting in Las Vegas, the MGM is suing

the families of the victims. What? They can't sue MGM for damages. It's because some accountant was like, this makes more sense monetarily, so you don't have to pay insurance or something like that. They're like, alright.

A spreadsheet told us to do it. Monetarily. So you don't have to pay insurance or something like that. And they're like, all right. Wow. My spreadsheet told us to do it. Yeah. So, yeah. Holy shit. You don't have to have a

heart or be humans. But I look at that first thing in the morning. It's like, whew, that is dark. Yeah. It is a nightmare.

I do. I mean, it does. It does skew negative though. Right. Yeah. News and stuff.

But boy, boy, is it wild out there. Dude, Facebook is just like old people now. i feel like yeah definitely i gotta get the fuck but there's social media too but dude it's it's like it's a scary it's there's something scary about pulling off of facebook there's just something scary about well they also try to like guilt you when you try to quit oh really like there's like a screen that pops up. It's like, hey, your friends are going to miss you.

It like shows you pictures of like the people you like share. That is some psycho shit. Yeah. And they're like, you don't have to delete it. You can just like, you know, deactivate it for a couple weeks. And that's what they do too. Even if you try to delete it, it's still there. Yeah.

So I'm off of it. The biggest reason. reason well kind of then some then someone in like india or somewhere like my email to create their own account or someplace where it's probably banned where the the like alphabet is squiggly and you're like ah keep it you deserve it and so i was like i don't think it's a couple of squiggly alphabet countries i'm comfortable with this. And so I signed in and just changed their password. Nice. And so now I have no friends, but technically I have a page just to keep up.

How does it feel to be on Facebook? Literally, it feels nothing. Really? I got off of it. It was like, oh, my God, all these pictures. And I've been on here for 10 years. And it's like, is this going to be weird? And I did it.

And I literally never thought about it. So you just delete Facebook. Yeah, I'm off of it. No,, all these pictures. And I've been on here for 10 years. And it's like, is this going to be weird? And I did it. And I literally never thought about it. So you just delete Facebook. Yeah, yeah. I'm off of it. It's gone. No, but I mean, all the pictures are gone. Everything's gone. I'm not saying like, was there like a sense of relief or nothing?

Yeah, I definitely feel better. Yeah, I definitely feel better. But then I just kind of like filled in that hole with Twitter, which is worse. Oh, shit. Twitter. I don't know. Twitter has a deeper dark side. Yes.

But also, it's less personal. So it's just different. It's like it feels bad. But it's more fun for me to go on there because most of the people that follow me, I do not know. So it's like it's not my family. It's not whoever. That's cool. So I just I say really stupid, vulgar shit and it doesn't matter.

I didn't know. Except my students still find it. See, I really did not know that because Twitter is just so unfun to me because it just always feels like screaming into an empty room if you're not

famous for sure you know or if you're trying to get the retweets you're making it your job

essentially like banking tweets as well it's just like okay I gotta release this at 9am east coast time

when you start thinking about it too much it gets depressing I try not to think too much about it ever since Facebook changed their algorithm you get way When you start thinking about it too much, it gets depressing. I try not to think too much about it.

Ever since Facebook changed their algorithm, you get way less likes now. Yeah, yeah. Because only your friends. And you're just like, damn. Yeah. I had those conversations where it's like, man, we're still funny, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on. Yeah, we're like, what the fuck?

Or we'll get like 30 likes. I mean, for an adjusted algorithm, it's like 100 before the algorithm. You know what I mean? What I'll say about being a comedian, though, is that social media makes the most sense for you. Twitter doesn't feel as bad because it was so much better when everyone

was just trying to make jokes. I know! All those dumb puns on Facebook and everything. For Twitter to be just funny because it is because that's what you, when you make jokes, you send it,

you're like, hey, people think this is funny, who cares? Next thing, people think this is funny, you know, it's like that is, like you're already

trying to pander anyway. So it's not as soul sucking. It's not like drop the, like I hate all the drop the mic shit. Like I'm going to say this thing, it's easily going to get like 10,000 pictures because it's like.

And so many people steal tweets as well. Oh yeah. Like one tweet will get popular and then you can all like it's search basically oh people just tweet the same shit yeah yeah yeah and then there's also because i had one really viral tweet and there's this like there's this like uh web that it like gets pulled it gets sucked into this vortex and it gets reposted on all of these instagram like if it gets big enough it gets reposted on all of these Instagram. If it gets big enough, it gets reposted on all

of these different Instagram pages. They just steal it. And then fat Jewish facsimiles. There's tons of Instagram accounts that just steal people's content. That's so weird. They'll be like, oh, it's from this person on Twitter, but you get literally no followers from it. And then they're like, hey,

buy vibrators from adamandeve.com. And they sell advertising. That's awesome money on their Instagram of your content. Holy shit, man. That is the economy of jokes these days. The best you can hope for is that you give someone else

content that they can make. A little bit of money selling vibrators. Yeah, god damn. I'm just happy to help out and be a part of the team. Comedy is stupid. It's real dumb. Real dumb. Oh, well, let's stick with Ben.

Yeah, let's get out of this social media. Let's do it. Well, yeah, so the whole reason I was bringing up that you're moving all about. So you're back in Baltimore for three weeks? Three weeks, yeah. Just a few more days, actually. I'm almost done. Yeah, okay.

So you're teaching a course at MICA. And what's the exact course? It's called Video, Film, and Cinema or something like that. I don't know. The names of it are always weird. It's just basically Video 101. Oh, cool, cool, cool. For high school students.

So it's pre-college. So it's like an intensive camp. It's super fun. Uh-huh. That sounds cool shit. They're completely captive they come in every day for like six hours and they have to do the work and they're like they haven't really had this experience they're meeting people that you know i mean they're they're like they're they

want to be inspired by art at that age and stuff and so you know and i keep things really super fun and like high energy and so like it's just such a blast nice we actually create like a good bond like i still talk like those are the students i keep in touch with generally how many are in your class um only eight oh good that's very manageable yeah yeah yeah so they're shooting their finals right now so i'm basically just sitting around oh waiting waiting for them you ever could shoot something and you're like oh god damn it i have to tell somebody about this because it's like no i've been very lucky with everything it's my fun dance yeah well because like as a school psychologist like sometimes people will bring me like like stuff kids have written they're like do you think i'm like no dude it's totally fine like

i don't know i'm like dude it's fine you've never been a fucking kid everybody's really paranoid i think because of like shootings that's true yeah this whole idea of like the troubled kid and i definitely like i've been very lucky i mean i tell them straight up like you can you know i'm not going to censor you the only thing you can't do is do any sort of nudity yeah or like hate speech or whatever right that's fair because you're minors for the nudity and that's illegal and i would get like two very trouble but here's the thing okay like set this scenario let's say somebody ignores that advice does it you watch it you have to like oh entrapment how do you report this without looking like a creep i uh i would probably um because we watch it in class together, so I would stop it probably. And then probably, and they also, I'm lucky because they have like TAs and shit that actually,

like they're counselors, they're camp counselors that deal with any real disciplinary thing. But I would probably let them know that it happened or, you know, let someone know that it happened. But yeah. You'd have to probably an adult right away yeah no no i'm terrified of that i would i would be like i would almost be filming yourself watching movies i would literally scream dude i was hanging out with uh uh i forgot where this was like some lift driver was oh no it was paul yeah paul was saying how like they'll leave babies

so yeah he was like well he would also pick up kids from school too but yeah so he was a lift driver and then he'd get a uh like a not a call or whatever it is but like somebody would be at the school and he thought he'd be picking up some woman and then just a kid would get him by himself and be like what's up he's like oh okay and it's like a high school kid yeah like a 15-year-old kid. My kids get Ubers. I didn't think about how weird that would be. Yeah, I don't know if that... Is there a problem with that?

There's not a problem, but it's just... I think there's a problem with that. But there's an underage kid and you're with an adult. It's just a little weird. And you didn't think that's who you were picking up.

Or, yeah, like a woman will get in with like a baby and then be like, can you stop at 7-Eleven? And then get out and do her thing. Leave the baby in the car. Leave the baby in the car with him. Yeah, yeah.

I like to treat my students like they're responsible. I like to trust them, give them trust, and make a big deal out of it. Because they don't get a lot of trust. So they really, generally, I mean, like I said, I've been very lucky. But they generally, I think, regard that highly. So they don't want to let me down.

So they've never done anything horrible. And if you're taking that class you want to be there like an intensive it's like very yeah it's not like some kids like man i hate yeah it's not it's not just random kids yeah yeah it's probably kids who want to be there kids that really creep me out i love them i love them they're fine do they get better is there is a bell curve there? I just find when you're dealing... I mean, you work in the public sector. Sure. You work in... We both work with the public in a certain way.

So you kind of know this, that a random set of 10 people, two of them... Yes. One, definitely. Sure. Two, probably. Are going to be like, you just have no idea what's going on in their head there's a guy and they probably could be sociopaths or something there's a guy just stay positive there's a guy that i work with uh we had a weird like uh breakfast thing where management brought in like coffee and bagels and we're all supposed to sit

around a table and like talk and be like, hey, here's a fun fact about me that you might not know. What? You have to go around the room and it's like, what are we doing? That makes sense to me. Like team building. That's a very non-profit thing to do too.

Yeah, so it gets to this one guy and he's very mild-mannered, speaks very slowly, just very in his own lane. He goes, one thing you might not know about me is i uh collect sabers what the fuck is that sword of course you collect those sabers person i collect sabers oh my god does he have like long hair and no short hair old man obsessed with swords would be a little bit more outgoing yeah but. But I guess it kind of makes sense.

Yeah, but it's really the opposite. It's so crazy. I'm so mild-mannered, but I could... Dude, Karen, my girlfriend, is taking an improv class. Is she really? With Big? Yeah, with Catherine Carlson. Oh, nice.

Yeah, and that was my teacher. She's an amazing teacher. Yeah, I was in a troupe with her for years. Yeah, Gus. But she was telling me, there are some fucking weirdos especially improv 101 yeah that attracts all the weird oh my god the weirdest person that's like speaking of people in the office that are like you know people are like wow you're a lot you're you're a little uh you're fun huh he's like i guess i should do improv they all show up we had this guy

clem um and uh he would show up i guess straight from work in like business attire and then take his shoes off yeah and just do improv in his socks we're like you don't have to do that he's like no i want to we're like you really and he's like i want to somebody told me a story did we talk about this maybe this might have been on the podcast but it it's just... No, I think I told you over the phone. Yeah. I text. Oh, so this guy Clem, though, he was in a scene. And Catherine was actually the instructor.

And it was just a two-person scene. And Clem walks out and then another girl in the class walks out. She makes the choice to start digging. And then she's kind of looking around. It's a strong choice. right she's like looking around looking looking a little sketchy getting in the dig and uh she just goes i'm gonna get out of here tonight and clem is like half-heartedly like pretending to dig too and then when he goes to talk he just drops it like not intentionally but it's i love that improv thing where somebody has

a cigarette and all of a sudden they're in the end. So he does that with the shovel and he just points at it. He goes, you can't do that. You're a slave. Oh, buddy. Buddy. Oh, shit. Catherine's like, okay, time out. Time out.

Comes in the scene like, Clem, you can't ever say somebody's a slave. And he just goes, why not? I thought it was good. That's a slave and he just goes why not i thought it was good that's a really good improv rule dude oh my god avoid cancer well speaking of this isn't what uh what karen told me but uh i ran into a buddy this guy michael faulkner he's a local filmmaker and uh and he we're talking about improv and he was was like, yeah, one time Josh was filling in for the teacher. So Josh filled in one class for the teacher. And Michael said he was doing some scene where he pretended to be like an intellectually disabled or mentally handicapped person. Mr. Josh did this.

No, no, no. No, Josh is a teacher. This guy Michael is a student. He's pretending to be like a mentally retarded person. And Josh stops the scene. And Michael's like, he's like, don't do that. And then Michael goes, yeah, but I saw, I forgot some actor, blah, blah, blah. Do it.

And Josh is like, yeah, you're not that person. I don't even remember doing that. That's so funny. But Karen was telling me about some of the cats in her class. So she was embarrassed because when they were introducing themselves, you say a little spiel. Yeah. And this one girl started.

Why are you doing improv? Yeah. I just want to have fun. And whatever. Some people try to make it funny. And then so one girl started, and she said something about being hospitalized, Shepard Pratt. And Karen thought she was kidding, so she laughed. Well, she was just trying pratt and karen thought she was kidding so

she laughed well she was just trying to yes oh man and then the next girl is also like hospitalized at shepherd pratt and karen loses yeah were they like together and they're doing it like as like yes i think so yeah yeah turn it around yeah yeah. And then she said there's this one muscly black dude, a college football player, who's there. And she's like, why is this guy here? And he's like, I'm just really anxious. It's just like that picture, that image. Right. And then she said there's this one old dude, and he's so weird.

So he stopped the whole class and he was like can i ask a question and katherine you know because she's trying to be positive she's like yeah sure and then he just goes like why is it weird like um this black woman at work she came in when she had a different hairstyle she had a changed her like and she's like why is it weird for me to say i like your wig like stopped an improv class to ask this question about hair or something or no just out of nowhere he's not like hey this is my chance there's a bunch of women here let me ask them and they have to explain to a grown man why you can't comment on black woman's hair and call it a wig. God, and then they had to be like, alright, now we're playing freeze. Yeah. What the fuck?

Nice wig. Hey, nice wig. No, like, I like your new wig because he was like, it's a wig, it's fake hair, you know, why can't I call it a wig? And she's like, why do you want to call it a wig? Right. And how do you get to that age you're like, you're like, maybe in your 60s 50s whatever like

that it's insulting to call someone's you know to point out that someone has a wig i don't know maybe he thought he was being nice i don't know god damn it just doesn't understand but then then i mean we're gonna be that way too i'm already halfway there right when i first heard about cis i was like that sounds kind of gay Of course not really About what? Cis? Oh like cisgender I was like what?

I still don't understand most of it Like cis just means you are What people perceive you as You identify with the biological gender You were born with Yeah I was like well yeah Let's have a little workshop right now

About trans inclusivity. Let's do it. Dude. No, no. Absolutely not. You know, I'm all for it. Absolutely not the right person to do that. But me either.

Just three cis guys. Just talking about it. Yeah, three cis. Oh, my God. That would be hilarious. Three cis boys. So, yeah. So, let's get back to Ben O'Brien.

Me. So, yeah. So, in Baltimore for a while. And then you went to New Orleans was the next stop. Yeah. I was in New Orleans for a little while. Yeah. What are you doing down there?

Collecting koozies? Just having a good time. It was just been a weird time. Yeah. I was just down in New Orleans collecting koozies. Having fun. And honestly, just like kind of down there because I had an opportunity to be down there and stuff.

And like, it was in a relationship with a very wonderful close friend of mine. Didn't quite work out. Bleep this part out. But so I'm kind of, it's kind of all up in the air.

Don't make it sound worse. Beep. We're kind of up in the air. So my life's kind of up in the air right now again. Had a really weird year and a half. So I'm kind of, it's kind of all up in the air right now again. Um, had a really weird year and a half. So I'm kind of like some, I'm homeless, I guess. Wow. Um, not like, you know, you look great. Not, oh, thank you.

Yeah. Yeah. Not like, you know, I'm not the poster child of homelessness. I just don't have, I just like, don't know where I'm going to go. If you were, sign me up. Thank you. Yeah. Um, a technicality homeless, but, um, so yeah, I'm going, you know yeah i'm going you know i'm around i'm like i'm just traveling a lot this year um

we got a tour another tour coming up at the end of august into september on the west coast nice so i'm probably gonna drive out there and just like put all my shit in a storage unit and then just kind of bum around for you homeless again yeah yeah be homeless again like bum around in la for a little while because we also have we did this project last year called cry of man which was this live call-in soap opera on adult swim streaming so like you know you're you're acting on and people can call in and talk to the actors in the soap opera while it's happening oh i like that yeah it was wild and fun and they brought us back to do another one. So we're going to do it again for three weeks in Atlanta. Nice.

In October. Cool, cool. That's where Adult Swim is based, right? Atlanta? Yeah, they're in Atlanta. Yeah, yeah. That's their base. And so we're going to be there.

So it's like I'm doing a lot of these big projects, which is great. And I'm happy about that. But it also like I just don't have like a real home right now, which is weird to be 33 at that point. But I'm accepting it. But you're doing things. Yeah, I'm doing things. I feel good about it.

Bumping around, like staying on couches, being like, I'm just trying to work it out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're literally teaching a course at a college. Yeah, and it's like, your life sometimes just falls apart,

and there's nothing you can do about that. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Well, that's all the time we have. Yeah, good night, everybody. And scene. Sometimes your life falls apart. Have a good night. There's nothing you can do night, everybody. And scene. Sometimes your life falls apart.

Have a good night. There's nothing you can do. You're not doing anything wrong. It just falls apart. Yeah. Damn, that's like a great opening to a one-man show. Sometimes your life just falls apart, and you can't do anything about it. Yeah.

I can't wait to see your one-man play or one-man show, 33 Koozies. Every chapter is about how I got a different koozie. It's like a whole metaphor for my life. It's great. Eat, pray, koozie. That would probably do pretty well. What is it? Eat, pray, love.

No, it's koozie, koozie, koozie. Eat, pray, koozie. Yep, that's what it was. Eat, pray, koozie, koozie, koozie. Koozie, koozie, koozie. Koozie. All right. Damn, so your life's... Are you coming back up okay i'm i think i'm yeah i'm

in the clear i think at this point i think i've gone through all the so yeah most of the horrible things so breakups are never breakups never good but generally without generally yeah but without getting into the details was that what kind of spurned or fomented you moving well i originally moved to new orleans because i i broke up with a long-term girlfriend right so then but then it was like my plan was like i'm gonna be single you know i gotta like fucking get over this and just like chill do my own thing for a while but then i like just ended up having very strong feelings for a friend of mine and we had kind of an opportunity to give it a try and then um so we did we gave it a try and it was really fun and it was really great and then i just kind of had to admit that

like it wasn't working for me on a certain level and dang and and cut it off but um but we're still back we're still friends like fuck and it's still going on we're still working it out we're still talking um yeah yeah this is sad This is kind of intense podcast stuff. So maybe, you know, sorry, guys. No, it's not. No, they don't. Yeah, totally. So we're dealing with it.

It's hard. It sucks. It really, really sucks. That shit happens, man. But it's good to, you know, not be, I was just kind of pushing myself too hard, you know, to like make everything work because I like this person so much. Like that was the thing about it was like that made it so compelling was like it wasn't even just that I love this person.

I was like, I just liked, I just like her so much you know she's so great and i still do and it's just like some it's like they say you know sometimes love just isn't enough all right good night everybody all right 33 that's how i end the one yeah yeah yeah sometimes love is just not enough that's a fucking great yeah and it hurts and it feels terrible it's true it's also like you know you know that i know kind of like okay i'm gonna get to a good place yeah now and i'm it's gonna be good i'm gonna build my own stability i need to get some steady work like i've been doing the freelance thing for like 10 years yeah which i think in itself can be super stressful probably right right? Just kind of feast or famine. Absolutely. Not knowing what's going on. Last year, I made $40,000.

And that was the most I've literally ever made in my entire life by a lot. And then this year, I'm making $25,000. Wow. And it's like I can't fluctuate that much. Wow. I need steady. It's good. I'm very proud of the fact that I've been able to be a working artist and scrape by for so long.

But I'm in my almost mid-30s. Yeah. like i need to just i don't really care as much anymore i just want money so what did you think your path was gonna be like what did you think your path is gonna be you know when you were young like like because like with comedy it's like you know you want to be a stand up maybe do some acting but like with – What I'm doing? Yeah, you're doing so much sketch. It's hard for me to even say because your perception of the world changes so much as you get older, from your early 20s to your 30s, that it's like – it just took me a while to just want the shit that the kids in high school had when they were like 23. There's so many kids that just were like,

I'm just going to stay in my hometown and get this totally great job and marry my high school had when they were like 23. Like, like, like there's so many kids that just like, we're like, I'm just going to stay in like my hometown and like get this totally great job. And yeah, I guess like, so when you started college and you were like, I'm going to major in film. No, no, I did.

I did graphic design. Oh, okay. I just wanted to do art because it was the thing that I was like, the only thing I was even that drawn to, but I didn't really even know. I had no idea what I was doing in college. No,

I mean, I liked it. I kind of wanted to, I didn't really believe know i had no idea what i was doing in college the entire thing like a performer no i mean i liked it i kind of wanted to i didn't really believe in myself so i did so i was like i'm gonna be a graphic designer i'm gonna marry my girlfriend and we're gonna have a kid and that's what i'm gonna get a cool glasses and then i started doing video and i like that so so much good glasses great glasses yeah yeah design people absolutely sure like warby parker like yeah yeah yeah yeah i mean that's kind of like you're kind of advertising your design skills you're like look what i do with my face look how i'm framing my eyes yeah um and yeah so then i was kind of like you know what i kind of want to just be an artist and be like i'd always dreamed of kind of being in like an art scene and

being an art collective and then that kind of became an opportunity so i did that you guys crushed that and then for a while it was just like i just want to make art in the art scene yeah all of a sudden we had these bigger opportunities so i was like okay i want i want to do that and then it was like once you have those big opportunities and it kind of opens up this whole other world you're like well okay i don't think i want to do that but then it's like our our thing is like we've been at a specific level wham city yeah we've been at like this certain level for a while now, like especially with our video stuff where like we do, I'm very proud of the stuff we do. People like it, but it doesn't make money and it doesn't come steady. So it's like, so I don't, you know, unedited

footage of a bear. I made probably $6,000 and I worked on it for five months. So, you know what I mean? It's like, that's like what it's been like. So it's like people think you're working with, you know, networks and stuff that you're set and it's like, absolutely not. It's like we're the adjuncts. We're adjuncts of TV and stuff. So it's like...

Right, right, right. For them, you're almost filler. Yeah, exactly. We are. And we are. We're experimental. You know what I mean? So it's like we're on the fringes.

Yeah, and I've seen interviews with Eric Andre where he's like, yeah, Adult Swim's cool. They pay us in Domino's coupons. But it's nice. And he's like one of their dudes. So I'm sure he's not even. But even at that level, that's not even where we are. He's at the level that we're trying to get.

Right. There's a huge gap between steps two and three. Sure. And we're trying to get to that next step. But even if you get there, then it's still not like, and now we're rolling in the dough. Well, for like,

just to talk more money, because I like to talk. Let's do it. Yeah. It's like, so for the, for the one off 15 minute stuff, I think the writing fee we had for like two or three writers was like 700 bucks a piece or something.

Damn. And when you jump up, like I sold a pilot to them that didn't end up getting made but you make seventeen thousand dollars just to write a 15 minute pilot once you're up that second now does that get chopped up with taxes so that's not or yeah absolutely yeah you get you know 30 gets taken off for we'll get into the taxes but um but yeah yeah so of course taxes but yeah still it's like more than 10 times as much right that's unreal and we've signed a few contracts like because when we were working with you know on these like bigger projects that

didn't end up panning out like we've lost a lot of big projects um but like in the contracts it's like to you in the contract they list the tiers and and even at the lowest tier you know we would each be making like a hundred thousand dollars or something. Okay, that's pretty sick. So it's like, it's just like such a, it's a much different level and what we're at is like we are just, we are like artists

struggling to make stuff. But you're at the precipice because you're getting these deals thrown at you. We've been at the precipice for a while. That's the strange thing about this era

is that it's like, it keeps us on the line because it's like that carrot. You know what I mean? It's like we're so close. We working with these people we're getting meetings with people and we're still not like we we still don't have health insurance we're still like yeah you know not going out to eat and like you know what i mean like we're still like living right similarly to how we were living when we were like 25 and then it can be a thing too where it's like uh god it

must just be so like almost not like black mirror not that dark but where it's like, God, it must just be so like almost not like Black Mirror, not that dark, but where it's like, well, we want you to do another 15 minute one off. And it's like, that's great. But can we get to the next? And it's hard because it's demoralizing. There's gatekeepers at every step. And the more money you make, the harder it is. And the more people, there's more hands in the pot because there's more money involved yeah yeah so they're like gonna you know and it's hard because we're weird and we make strange things and stuff so it's like people have to that's why the adult swim streaming thing loves

us because it's a format in which they they want to experiment they don't understand it yet so they're like trying to get people in to just play with the format and like more content so we're gonna have like a regular monthly show or bi-weekly show well that's exciting in la on the streaming network supposedly that's awesome yeah and again i don't know what that's gonna bring in i'm just a sleepy boy i'm just saying i'm just trying to explain here the grind no i love oh it's crazy i love this picture of it because it's like it is hard and i know a lot of people that are in similar positions where it's like they are great they're working really hard and we're all just like getting these tiny yeah we're getting similarly sized tiny deals and it's hard to jump to that second level but yeah is it enough to just like it just keeps moving the needle a little bit so you're like all right you're hooked all right yeah absolutely i mean like going and that's gone through its own set of you know ups

and downs for me of like sometimes i'm just like i can't do this anymore i can't live this this is insane you know what i mean like i can't do that i'm in my 30s which feels really different and so it's like so that's why i'm like i'm actually happy because i'm working on this thing with audible and so i made this audio series. Oh, really? And so again, it's like, it's kind of like the underdog. So it's kind of like, you know what I mean? They appreciate us a little bit more, I think.

Oh, cool. You know, because they're wanting something kind of experimental or some interesting kind of audio series. Yeah, they seem to be doing a lot. Yeah. So, and that's going really well. And I had a lot of fun directing it. So, hopefully, I'm going to be able to get to do that more. But, I mean, honestly, I'm going to try to get there and try to find something steady.

I like to direct. I like to work with people. I would direct sketch comedy, even live sketch comedy. I just like to work with actors. I like to teach. So, I'm just going to try to keep doing that kind of stuff. Good. Yeah.

And just trying to find something steady. I don't give a shit really anymore. Really? What it is? You are moving to L.A. No you are moving to la that seems like i'm excited about life but it's like i don't care what you end up doing yeah i'm not i'm not like it has to be this or that because honestly if you look at the the scope of like people's comedy careers yeah like no one it's like people don't like even successful people like what happens is like it's like sometimes i'm just like i look at somebody who's working really hard i'm like what are you trying to do like are you hoping that if you get to a certain point like these producers and these people

that make stuff are gonna let you be like the the ugly idiot in like eight movies in the next 10 years yeah kind of a joke yeah. I think you're kind of a joke after that. And that's like comedy. That's the comedy career. Omar and I were going to ask you if you would read our script called Ugly Idiot. Yeah. But I guess it's kind of a cameo.

As long as I can have a cameo. Yes. But really, I mean, that is like what comedy careers, what successful comedy careers are like. Like Harlan Williams? Yes. Yeah. Like he has a successful comedy career.

Yeah. Sure. Sinbad has a successful career, but they become, you know what I mean? It's like, there's just not enough room for him. Because no one gives a shit about stand-up. It's like, the movies is what everyone's known for. Yeah, that's true. Movies, but I mean, I think it's really-

Because Sinbad is a revered comic. Yeah. He's a great comic. He's at like a different level, I think, though. He's like one of the more famous comedians probably of all time. But he's the butt of jokes. Yes. Do you know what I mean?

Yeah. That's the weird thing about it. Yeah. And it's like, I feel like people want, i feel like stand-up wise it's like brian regan bill burr like people who just write their own checks just just do like performances that is awesome yeah right that's great but even bill burr but it's doing the animated show so i feel like everybody always wants to kind of do something do something a little more for sure and they should everybody should be expanding i think but yeah i so so that's why i i guess i don't mean to be like

so negative about the world of comedy but i'm trying to be realistic yeah i mean josh and i yeah all we do is all we do is you're crushed it's us you're crushing we're just like we're like oh boy this is what are we doing because i you know like it felt like like i was we i just had this conversation over text with our buddy ramin who's a funny comic yeah probably one of the funniest in the in the dmv yeah and uh you know you see people get stuff you get jealous you talk to each other about it and uh but i think i'm at that point like sometimes like i get but sometimes like recently i've been seeing people get stuff i'm'm like, good. Good for them. That's the best way to be. They're going for it. I'm not.

You know? Yeah. Because it's just like everything feels impossible. But also, you also start to get stuff when you don't care as well. And it's not the stuff that you thought it would be. So it's kind of cool. You can't plan it. Yeah.

It's refreshing to hear you say that. So it's like if you ended up directing live sketch or something, you'd be great right or if it's like you end up a writer on a tv show it's like that wasn't your goal you were like submitting packets every day there is something they always say have like a clear goal and there is something about having a vague goal that's pretty good yeah i think i think so too but i but you're doing the right thing i always look at it as like just keep moving forward like just keep progressing working on your art and something's even just like i look up to people who do stand up regularly and get spots and like headline and that even if it's on a small level because it's like so hard it's so hard it's fucking nuts and

it's still amazing to even get to that point because there's so many people doing it it's so hard to be funny consistently it's such a's so hard to be funny consistently. It's such an intense field. It's so hard to sell tickets. And it's like any level of success in that I feel like feels really good. And it's also a thing that feels really good to do. I love stand-up in terms of in the moment when you're doing one. That's one of the best and most rewarding feelings of all time. And if you can get that, that's huge.

Yeah, it's incredible. But that's it. That's what I'm saying saying it's like find the thing that you enjoy doing stop fucking worrying about it so much and just chill just like i just want to find something that's steady i don't care yeah i know what i like doing i know what i'm good at at this point i know what i'm not good at and and so it's just like i just want to do something where i feel like i'm doing something i'm good at and like can make like i would say a billion i would say yeah well yeah as much money as possible well i think it's cool that you don't really want that much money like you're just being you know realistic yeah yeah but um yeah i i think that's the way to go about it too is that you're just like well i'm just gonna keep doing my the

stuff that i'm good at and something's gonna happen i mean yeah yeah like focusing more on developing your own craft yeah and it's not like you're going out to L.A. and you're like, I'm going to try sketch for the first time. Yeah, yeah. I'm so excited. I might try to. I like acting. I might try to do some just for fun, but I wouldn't ever go out there being like, I'm going to make it as a man.

Ben becomes like a huge soap opera star. Yeah, that'd be great. I would be fucking an accidental soap opera star. Yeah. But it's scary how thirsty people are. Yes. Dude, I worked with a thirsty guy this weekend at Magoobie's. soap opera star yeah but it is it's scary how thirsty people are yes dude i worked i worked with a thirsty guy this weekend at mcgoobies and uh even the headliner just like i don't like that

i don't like operators that's what he was he was like just disingenuous he was like yeah man we should exchange numbers and contacts and stuff and i was like why do you like well he was also he told me he was telling the crowd because there's comment cards. He was like, write that I was better than the headliner. Well, I don't know if he specifically said that, but he was like, yeah, write on the comment card. Like, if they liked him, like, yeah, write on the comment card that you like me. But that I should headline. Well, I don't know.

But he said that to me. Like, he said to me a couple of times that he should be headlining. And he said he was like, you know, if I come back and headline, I'll have you open for me. And I was like, cool, man. Yeah, it's like, ah thanks miss but it was funny because then when he was on stage me and the headliner uh the headliner was like i don't like that guy he has too much of a uh like you know like trying too hard kind of personality and he was like he was like dude he was like there's there's so many features like road features like him where they're super ambitious.

They're trying to make all the right moves, but they're just going to die on the road. It's so naive. He's making money. It's short-sighted. He's making some money, but this weekend he made $500. He had to do his own flight, own hotel, so he's walking away with probably nothing. Didn't you say he's from Seattle too? Yeah. Yeah.

So he's flying all the way across the country. But he has no idea that... And he's like... Well, he sold, God, I hope he does not listen. He won't listen to this. He sold. What did you do, man? Hey, give me a call, email me, hit me up. Yeah. Let's exchange some contacts.

He's trying to get into acting, writing, whatever. He's very hungry. But it was just like, he sold, there's something called Dry Bar Comedy. It's like the Netflix for Mormons. That's what that is dry bar is like i've been seeing that on so so i've been seeing that on uh on facebook yeah local comic robert mac has a video on yes it has like two million so the deal is they'll shoot they'll they'll they'll give you like eleven hundred dollars you shoot an hour for them it It has to be all clean. And then they put them on Facebook.

Yeah. And they put up clips on Facebook, and then you can buy it at their site. And their videos get like 1.5, 2 million, 4 million views. Robert Mack had 2 million views on Zubit. So that's why people do it. Wow. And he's not a clean comic, but he does it. And then, but like even that doesn't matter yeah that's

what people just don't get it's like it doesn't like he can do i couldn't tell you the amount of times this past weekend he mentioned that he had a video with 1.5 million views yeah he's like and like i self-produce shows like you know i go to portland hundred people come out so like end of the night we're splitting 800 bucks i'm like that's not that much money like that's not a lot you're he's 33 years old i'm like that's not a lot of money that was my paycheck yeah i told him that i was like i was like dude i'm not gonna lie if maybe five years ago you told me that i'd be like wow that's cool but now that sounds like misery yeah wow yeah that's the difference and that's the scary part about comedy like you see these people like and him he's not

anywhere close to like no where i would be jealous of but even people where you think they've achieved like you're like holy shit that person's crushing it people have done cone and they have comedy central records netflix some people have netflix hours nothing happens they're broke don't have a job the thing too is like that freaks freaks me out is someone was talking to me about how I have a friend who's a writer on Colbert. Holy shit. And he was talking about he got there and he's like, this is the job I've wanted my whole life.

I'm done. Yeah. And there's people that get that job and they're like, I need to get in front of the camera. I'm just trying to leverage this into something else. Oh, my God. Same thing with SNL. It's like you think SNL is like an ending point. But for people, it's like, oh, then I got to get out.

That's a stepping. They're like, how do I get a weekend update? Yeah, it can mean nothing. It can mean nothing. And it's the same thing with everything. And that, I think, is like, that's why I mean it's naive. It's like when you see a little bit of it, you kind of see the whole thing and you're like, you get a taste of it and you're like, no. And it sucks.

And it's a really disheartening feeling. People don't realize that being famous is a nightmare. That's what it seems like. It's like the worst fucking scenario in a lot of ways. But I guess I would say, taking it back, I would say Hannibal Buress probably has a cool career. Eric Andre. There are people who have cool careers that I could see other people being like oh that's what they have

is they're just sometimes like what career yeah but they're also very honest and stuff so they don't have like when we're talking about the branding thing their brand is just like i'm just open yeah they're singular voices as they say right yeah right so it's not like they have like something to lose really yeah you're not out there like purporting yourself to be something that you're not it seems like they're just they kind of do it at their own like they got to a level they wanted and they kind of do it at their own pace now where it's like they're they're not like clawing first yeah yeah yeah and that seems cool like we're just like i guess i'll go but even then they still gotta do all the shit they gotta go do morning radio and you know i mean themselves

and it's hard as shit to get a netflix special you know like you still have to be relevant so yeah yeah i don't know yeah no it's uh yeah back to the disheartening thing like it always it sucks man you gotta go to some positive it's because you work like for me it's been a huge bummer you yeah you've been you know i've been doing comedy for eight years and i thought these last two years well as i was telling ramin is like yeah you know man like these last two years i well, as I was telling Ramin, it's like, you know, man, like, these last two years, I really thought, like, I was on to something. Like, I was killing, getting booked, like, hitting all these little goals I had for myself. And I was like, and that's why I was like, fuck it. You know, I'll record this special.

And you just, like, there's all this, like, energy. And, like, I got this, I got, like, a chance to have this cool-ass show in Baltimore. And, like, you know, you're working with people that you admire and it's still then you just realize like oh still i have accomplished like in the grand scheme of show business nothing do you know what i mean like literally nothing and there's still people jealous of you yeah yes people really hate me yeah every level that you're at there's always more mountain to climb so there's a thing where you think you've like reached the precipice you're like i'm at snl and you're like but i'm not but it gets to the point where it feels impossible and you when you get that like

when you see the little picture of it it really ruins it for you it does i mean that behind the curtain forces you to think about it differently yeah forces you to like actually understand trying to like okay well what do i want you think the whole time it's like this huge party yeah no i mean and then you're like oh my god these people are so fucking miserable neurotic yeah they're so crazy first weekend i hosted at mcgoobies i was so excited to be hosting out of like comedy club and the headliner he was cool uh his name was nick griffin, he's a great dude. Yeah, I looked him up before the weekend just to be like, I didn't know as a host if you had to be like, oh, do you want to promote your latest album?

It's called Pants and Snacks or whatever. So I was going through all his credits. He had been on Letterman 13 times. And I was like, how have I never heard of this guy? But he was just very mild mannered and kind of kept to himself. Wasn't a jerk or like standoffish. Just seemed like very mild manner and kind of kept to himself wasn't a jerk or like standoffish just seemed like you know he was just wanted to kind of chill and uh i went up and did my set and then i had all this energy i'm sure and came back to the

green room while the feature was on and so i was like chatting with him a little bit and uh he wasn't really making eye contact and was just kind of like rubbing his neck and like looking down and i was like so are you doing like a run of shows after this are you like doing another weekend and he's like yeah i'll be out there for a few weeks and going to connecticut and uh yeah i'm doing some stuff and it was like man how many weekends are you out like a year he's like like 45 or something like it was in the 40s geez i go wow that's a lot do you like it and he breaks from looking at the floor it looks me dead in the eye and goes i hate it yeah because because my first uh weekend of hosting shows he goes i hate it that and that's amazing because i just remember

like wanting to be able to host at clubs and now like i'm in the sometimes i host sometimes i feature yeah and i will i will say it is you learn a lot it's a great experience to have it's always the least fun i have doing comedy like almost always just being working a club bitch or featuring featuring featuring is a lot of fun yeah you have to get to that point like it um speaking of improv that's kind of what it taught me is that you really have to you have to walk that line between caring and not caring absolutely if you care too much you're kind of like strangling the thing and the crowd feels it like this guy wants it too much but if you don't care if you don't care it's like well we're not gonna give up he doesn't give a shit but if you kind of walk the line you're like i'm talented but it's whatever they're like yeah yeah i just mean like you think it's this whole different thing than it is at the club if you had that vibe you'd be like

i fucking love this you know yeah true like the same way you are at gin and jokes right if you could have that vibe featuring you'd be like this is the best yeah yeah that's the thing about comedy that is so tiring is having to earn those vibes yeah you know i mean every difference level like you have to you have and you have to keep it up because they go away yeah yep it's a muscle yeah yeah i didn't do it for a while now i'm starting to do it i was trying to do these open mics in new orleans and they haven't they have a david i want to say a cute little comedy scene but that feels a little kind of that seems so condescending it's a cute little but i heard they have a good scene they are they do have a good scene it's, there's a lot of pretty funny people.

I did Hell Yes Fest once and then when I was down there over the summer, I did, what's the one that has ice cream? It's not Church Night, but it's something like Church Night. I don't know.

Ice cream. Ice cream. Yeah, it's at a bar and they're like, there's free ice cream. There's always free food. Yeah,

that's awesome. What? He's like, yeah, we have a gumbo and free ice cream. That's New Orleans though. It's like, yeah, we have a gumbo and free ice cream. That's New Orleans though. It's like happy hour things.

Fuck. But they'll bring out just these like stockpots. That's dope. With audio though. I hope it sounds good. And it's the most important. Are we recording?

Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. Sorry. Sorry. Ben was doing open mics. Splishity splash.

Getting back into the grind. I just wasn't, my heart wasn't in it and it was just like, you know how open mics can feel bad I haven't experienced that I've never experienced that it happens sometimes

it's one of those situations where it's like cause you know open mics this was the dynamic that I was in it was like if you're known by everyone there and you go in and you do like just okay everybody laughs really hard. Not even really hard.

And if no one knows you and you do pretty good, no one laughs at all. Or if you show one momentary sign of weakness where you're just like... I was at the office. They're like, this guy sucks. Stuttering ass bitch. We don't know you. You suck. I'm not familiar with you. They're like, this guy sucks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't look at me. Stuttering ass bitch. We don't know you. Yeah, we don't know you. And you suck. I'm not familiar with you.

You're weak. Yeah, that happened when I was at, I was supposed to headline, I was headlining a show in Lancaster or Lancaster. Lancaster, yeah. Lancaster. They take that shit really seriously. All these people, they're very young into comedy and all their friends were there and they're talking and yeah, they were laughing so hard for their friends and uh

yeah and it was and i was like clearly i was better than a lot a lot of these just like they've been doing it for like maybe eight months and just getting nothing and like i just know they were like fuck man fuck this guy like why is he headlining i should be headlining right i crushed yeah yeah that's the problem with open mics they're not. It's not really the finger on the pulse of anything. Right. You're not really getting any good feedback. Yeah, and if you're in a smaller scene like New Orleans, they all know each other too.

It's weird. So then you feel like the outsider. Yeah. Like inside jokes. But it's weird because, you know, like they do work in the sense of helping you build that. That muscle. That muscle.

Being able to bond. But literally now it just feels like a waste of time even though i know it's good for me it's like but you're just like you get to a point you're like dude fuck just want to be developing these jokes that's how i feel i just want to know if these jokes are good and it's like you know what like you know fuck it like this mic this isn't going anywhere i don't need to like yeah feel bad for the next like four hours I've bombed so many times. Well, you got really good at stand-up. For a second, I feel like.

Yeah. You were always funny, but I think you kind of poo-pooed stand-up a little bit. Not even outwardly, but I think it was more like, look at me, I'm kind of doing stand-up. Kind of not in a faux way, but I don't think you were all the way in.

A little anti-comedy-ish. Yeah, that i mean it's my roots yes yeah i'm not knocking you for it but i'm saying it was really cool to see you kind of put your head down and actually like go for it and like i developed material yeah you did and you had a good act you did my you did gin and jokes you crushed i i had a lot of fun in gin yeah it was a great crowd yeah dude yeah um yeah yeah yeah I mean I developed some jokes I felt proud of and then I kind of just hit a wall I mean I still love it and I still but it does like I was telling Umar before we started recording it was just it takes so much emotional energy yeah and it's hard for me to do both things and I've also just had like a really crazy year and I just was like I can't I can't go to open mics anymore i can't put in that kind of time and then like i just lost it i lost the yeah heart for it and i was really proud of

what i had done so i was just kind of like i'm just gonna take a break for a while yeah that's smart sometimes i jump back in and and have a good show every now and then but right and also you know but i've still been doing like the i've been acting a lot and performing a lot and a lot of the like yeah so you're still presentational style comedy with with wham city and touring and stuff so it feels good yeah you still got your creative juices but yeah i like having the i do like having the experience though too it does help with actually stand-up is what made me a good actor damn it's like what made me learn how to actually be able to act i think that makes sense that's why you see so many people like a hannibal burris will pop up in a movie because essentially you are acting.

You're like, here's this thing I just thought of. Who don't realize that. I mean, I feel like I've done one scene in a movie. It was horrific. I auditioned everybody I know for this like audible thing. Everyone I know that's an actor that has like, that could have played a part.

I don't want you guys to think. Right. No, that's cool. So we should probably wrap up. I mean, no shade. Delicious episode. I'm not going to say who, but I auditioned a lot of people and I'm like, these people are super, super funny and stuff.

And then they just didn't quite have that. And it's like you're acting on stage. Sometimes we think people don't realize that what they're doing is developing an ability to act like themselves in a very unnatural situation. Like that's what you're doing. You're learning how to completely deconstruct yourself and recreate it in a situation that's unnatural. To be on.

To be yourself. Yeah. And if you just think about that and I feel like you develop that, you can parlay that into being able to act. I don't even think of it that way because i just think of like i attach my emotions it seems like like like a lot of my jokes come you know like i'm like mad at something or a self-deprecating thing or so but so it's like i have like you know i'm like a ranty person and so like i'm just when i'm like oh yeah this is why i tell this joke because it pisses me off about this thing. I wouldn't say that's all your act.

Not all my act. Not like a Louis Black over here. No, no, no, no, no. But like it just feels like you're living that in that moment. But that's acting. Oh. Even being able to say a joke. Yeah.

Twice like you've said it like 10 times like you've said it the first time. That's acting. Right. I guess that's true. Being able to be fresh with a joke you've told a like like 10 times like yeah first time that's acting right i guess that's true yeah be fresh with a joke yeah a hundred times yeah or yeah that is an incredibly difficult skill and that is like everything that you're trying to learn when you're doing stand right and acting like you're excited too yeah it's kind of like faking it till you make it yeah be excited that you're up there that was a thing that took me a long time to learn where i was like i know my joke's funny whatever it's like why didn't this work it was like oh because i just wasn't excited yeah speaking to rami and yeah it was like i hosted one time at this uh this bar in uh in arlington that i host like every other week or something like that and uh it's rami's room but he's not always there and

then one week he was there and my hosting set was kind of like blah and uh i was like yeah i don't know what the fuck he needs like buddy you just look like you still had some work on you basically because i came right from baltimore set up the room and i go up there i'm like hey how you guys doing let's get the show started he's like your energy was just you know if you're not giving them energy they're not going to give it back yeah like they it's not like they're like it's josh kaderna he's hilarious like hey jesus christ okay well fine fuck you guys and they're like yeah fuck you um we've talked a lot of comedy oh god should we wrap this up with a new topic yeah um

let's what so you were i meant it's in the public sector i mean the government sector yeah i mean that's the public get you fired that's technically what can you say that's technically the public sector right now that will get you fired that's a big thing right now, and I think it could get you a lot of publicity. Really? Yeah, getting fired from your job for saying something. Are there any government employees whose ethnicity is pretty... Annoying? No.

That's what I thought you were going for. From a squiggly alphabet? Did you want to let it out? I was going to say you don't really know one way or the other. Maybe you make a little... Well, I don't know. You run into a lot of different people in the public sector, but I'd have to say my favorite government employee is Donald Trump.

Oh, wow. Donald J. Trump. The J stands for justice. He's great, dude. I love that guy. That's cool. Yep. People don't talk about him, really.

No, not really people need to do more people gotta start paying attention to this guy because he's a little wily right and speaking to put your name out there he doesn't really do it no no he stays he stays on he's a quiet guy i feel like he would get more press if he kind of absolutely met them have do you see what he tweeted to the president of Iran? Yeah. God damn. That was a new... That's unreal. That was at 11.30 p.m. on a Sunday.

Yeah, and then all the people who work for him were like, no, no, no, no, no, no, we're not going to take military action against Iran. Also, in the same speech, apparently the guy said, if America were to act against Iran, it would be the greatest war of all time and then the next sentence was like but if there were to be peace it could be the greatest piece of all time yeah so all she heard was that first part he's like fuck that and fuck you what yeah oh my god what well obviously and this is what terrifies me about it actually is that i think his plan is like wartime presidents get locked in. And their approval ratings go up.

You think he's that nuts? Wow. I think he's pretty. Did you see the tweet? Yeah. No, he is nuts. It's pretty nuts. I think he seems like he's just trying to fake this machismo about him all the time.

Yeah. And when that's where like yeah but then you know that would extend into be like now we're at war yeah i don't think he'd care i think he'd be excited if we went to war yeah who knows if you would think if he can even president for whatever nsa agent is listening yeah he's dope he's dope that would be awesome if you had an nsa following be a bummer that like you know know, it's like they have, okay, so they put agents on every podcast and every agent that gets our podcast, like,

come on, man, I didn't let, don't make me do this shit again. Like, no one wants to listen to our podcast. And I have to hear about the Baltimore open mic scene

one more time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm gonna fucking hang myself. Yeah, we get it. You guys aren't that into comedy anymore.

Oh, oh, Common Ground is slow at making sandwiches. Okay. You guys talk about that a lot? sandwiches okay yeah except your yuppies yeah we had started with this yeah we get it woodberry kitchen is nice but maybe the owner is a piece of shit who knows a little overpriced yeah a lot for the environment i got a steak there on sunday

night though great food best steak let me say this again uh no uh no i saw your picture yeah yeah yeah yeah it was her birthday it's a birthday what do you want to say about common ground yeah Best day of my life. Let me say this again. No. Oh, I saw your picture. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was her birthday. It was her birthday. What do you want to say about Common Ground? Yeah, let's go out on this. Common Ground. I had a smoothie there once.

It was fucking good. They always let me put my flyers up. Yeah, they're good. Good people. Small place. Weird. I think Baltimore has some really, I hate saying this. I hate talking shit, but some bad food.

Yeah. Bad food scene in comparison to other cities. Yeah. New Orleans, very good. Very good. Very good. but still not even as good as la or new york yeah right right chicago yeah amazing ethnic foods um offensive to say no i don't think so you said the word ethnic is offensive it's okay you said squiggly but what if i told an ethnic person i like their wig is that okay i think it's a sign of respect, actually. Nice. Wait, was there a but?

You were going to say, I hate to be naked. But I like Common Ground. I think Common Ground's okay. Yeah, they make good Sammies. You know what else I'm going to say? I went to BRD two days in a row. The fuck is BRD? Oh, Bird, the fried chicken place.

Yeah, that chicken sandwich is one of the best chicken sandwiches I've ever had in my life. Your dad hated it. Remember? Yeah.'s uh my girlfriend doesn't like it he's a tough nut to crack my brother said it's his one of his yeah for real just basically with the sauce fried chicken and pickles who knew that was such a good fucking combo when i saw them putting on there a little light went off yeah i was like okay yeah i've never had that like mayo whatever yeah yeah me yeah me and mike here we went there uh on a friday night and got dinner there and that was the first time i had it and then this past friday no a few weeks ago but yeah it was a friday and then i think sunday she was like can we go to warby parker and i was like if you go buy me a bird sandwich yeah

she just likes to go to warby Parker well she wanted to look around yeah that's fun she's gonna try no but she's getting sunglasses but yeah she's gonna go try more but I was like on the way down if you buy me a bird sandwich yeah yeah yeah so I got bird sandwich like two out of three days and God damn it was good. Hot damn. That carrot slaw. Damn, yeah. That slaw. That slaw. Anyway, yeah, I had that and I was like, you know, I always shit on Baltimore food, but it was really good. There's some good spots. Yeah, there are good spots.

I think Clovell is like amazing. Clovell's great. Clovell stands out. That is my go-to if someone's out of town. For sure. Take them to Clovell. The drinks, the ambiance, my God, you can't beat it. Yeah.

It's a standout. Brittany Harlan, she figured it out. She really did. Crushing it over there. Do you know her? Kind of. Not really. Not really.

If she saw me, she'd be like, who? She's probably so rich. Oh, definitely. I don't know. Probably not. It's probably hard. She's got two pretty successful spots. Yeah.

She's doing good. Well, it's great to have Clavel, a restaurant, and then a cocktail bar right down the street. And that's essentially the waiting room for Clavel. So it's like, while my one restaurant is too busy, go wait at my other restaurant. And both are just packed. I waited in line like we were in a Portlandia sketch to get into Clavel for a happy hour on Friday. Clavel's really good. Their tacos are good they're great it's

fucking dope it's nice yeah all right now on the other no i'm just kidding i don't need to go negative uh okay uh yeah let's uh let's yeah let's wrap it up i would like to go longer but uh i'm i could but yeah yeah sleepiness is important it was great seeing you man it's awesome talking with you guys i feel like I could keep going for like hours, honestly. Yeah. Catching up. It's fun. I've missed you, fella.

Yeah, man. The scene misses you. Yeah. I miss it. Really? It's different now. I mean, every time you come, comedy scenes change constantly. But I miss the glory days.

Yeah. What were the glory days for you? There's a couple different glory days. The first one was when I started with Mason doing the comedy. Yes, I remember that. I had no idea what I was doing. The naive time when comedy was magic and everybody could do it, and I had no preconceptions or notions.

And then I think when Stav was in the mix, you and Stav were doing your show. That was a really fun time. That was so fun. I went to D.C. with Stav all the time. That was super fun time that was so fun to dc we stop all the time that was super do you think it was fun because we were excited about it yeah we were all still you know kind of like getting into it because nothing about the scenes that i'm sure it's different right but like yeah i just like looking back on the days i've never had so much

excitement you know like just there was like because your your goals and your milestones were lower yeah just getting people to laugh was still yeah it felt so doing different like i remember when stav and i when we did our first super comedy and we just packed this place yeah and you did you were on that show and it was just everyone killed and i had just never been a part of a show like that and i remember dude i could remember passing out the flyers that you guys made yeah like yeah every month it was a pretty big deal and i couldn't like i couldn't imagine it getting like any better than that it was crazy really though no and that's it like that is really that's what i've realized that's like that's such an achievement really but

you don't look at it as an achievement right you're like oh i gotta get that out of the way and get on the next yeah yeah if looking back on like, yeah, you got to hang out with your friends, do a really good show, have a few beers, go home. Make a little money. Yeah. Go home, eat a pizza. You know? It's a good night.

It's a good night. It's a good night. And absolutely, I completely agree. And it's like, I find that some of the best shows of all time are these DIY, small, packed little venues. The energy's just good. You just feel good. They're excited to be there. Yeah, everyone has a good time.

And then, you know, when it's really good is after the show when everybody's still smiling. Yeah. It's really good. And it's kind of winding down. You're getting drinks. Yeah, we'd all go hang out at Club Charles.

That's the glory days. God, that was so fun. Yeah, I remember fucking doing the mashup show at the Baltimore Improv Group Theater, and that was where we'd have three stand-ups and then three troupes. So then they would improvise off of the stand-ups material. So they would go up and do seven minutes and then improvise off of that.

And the first night we did it, it was just like fucking packed and electric. Doug Powell closed it out. I remember, that was a great night. We went down to club charles afterwards and i was in such a good mood and then sam from future islands was there i was like what a night yeah man i really like your shit yeah that was like that yeah there was nothing better than that yeah and we i wasn't even making money but no the thing is that's still fun yes like if i know i would still do that that's fine It just feels different now

because like Gin and Jokes almost just feels like a job where it's so fun on stage but there's not that camaraderie. There's a little bit of a distance you have. There's way more of a distance from the audience. And the performers too. The performers.

Because then it's just like you just book your friends, right? And now it's like, well, you want to put on the best show you can. But that's people with credits. That's the thing though. Out of towners. Is that like, that is kind of the best place is when it's just, well, you want to put on the best show you can. But that's people with credits. That's the thing though. Out of towners. Is that like,

that is kind of the best place is when you're, it's just your friends and you and having fun and everybody wants to get beyond that and then it's like, you don't realize how one,

privileged in a way we are and also just like how successful that is and how fun that is and how it doesn't necessarily have to even be more than that. Yeah. How lucky you are

just to have that shit happening and at the same time, you're like, how do I get more? Yeah, exactly. And then you get more and you're like this sucks this whole thing my friend dan always talks about that with bands he's like there's there's a point in bands where it's like you get to this certain level and it's super fun every show is packed with people you've met like you've been touring with for years like at these like little shows and they're starting

to get really you're starting to get big yeah and then you like sign to a label and you play one venue bigger and all of a sudden it's like so lonely. So like you don't hang out with anybody. You don't stay at people's houses. You don't interact with the audience. You don't get to see the city. And you're not even making as much money because the venues take a bigger cut and they take a cut of the merch.

It's a bigger venue and they're not quite packing it out yet. So there's this like moment where he's like, you're just like, the fuck? Yeah. You're like, can I go back? I think about that a lot. Because I don't think people put in perspective like you got into like music the fuck? Yeah. You're like, can I go back? I think about that a lot. Because I don't think people put in perspective, you got into music or comedy or whatever, just to fucking do the thing you like doing

and have fun doing it with your friends. And you're doing that. You're doing it. A lot of people can't get there. Let's all just touch our heart chakras together. Let's do it. Mine's open. Is yours open?

It's so open. Nice. Umar, is your heart chakra open? Yeah, it's open.'s open that we're like is yours open it's so open okay nice umar is your heart yeah it's open okay all right i was in arizona all right all right we're gonna go have some tantric sex yeah you're the guy in the uh meditation class like let's go yeah i'm a shocker come on i'm trying to fuck lady my dick shock yeah you know what i'm saying what's up lady. My dick's shocked. You know what I'm saying? What's up with these clothes? It's still on? Yeah, Ben, what would you like to plug?

Where should people find you on the internets? Google me. No, I mean, you know, check out the videos we've made. Check out Wham City Comedy, AB Video Solutions. Those are Googleable words. Google those words. You know, whatever. Contact me. Steal my identity. fuck yeah uh all that shit yes you know dm me for my social security number whatever you

want i'll get to you um we've got some stuff coming we're going on tour at the end of august yes on the west coast west coast um and then uh we've got we're releasing two big things in october so keep on the lookout for all that shit. And that's it, I guess. Sweet. And thank you guys for having me. It's been a blast. Dude, any dang time, man.

Cool. I love you, fella. And yeah, speaking of the scene, you guys are such a big part of it. And even as you guys got a little more cachet and were bigger names around here, you were always super cool. Thank you. Yeah. You're a good dude, man.

Thanks, man. Umar, what do you got to plug? Joe Squared for Thursday in August. I think that's August 2nd. Carmen Lynch is coming down. She's been on all the late nights. Great. That's Jen and Jokes.

Yeah, she's super funny. Oh, next Thursday. No, this Thursday. Will it be out? Yeah, yeah. This Thursday I'm on Chris Hudson's show, Everything Will Be Okay, five-year anniversary. Hell yeah. Abby Rosenquist from new york who's

super funny is headlining and i don't know other shit just follow me yeah yeah so yeah what are you on uh twitter and the gram uh on the gram umar khan 821 it's my birthday not like a blink way too thing and then i thought it was yeah for a long time yeah i love like i love them i think i'm gonna start me and my friend eric starting a Blink podcast. Anyway, because I've been listening to one, and I was like, I can do a way better job. It's like how people get into comedy. I completely believe that you would be the number one Blink-18. Yeah. I think I can do a great job at it.

I can see that. As long as you don't get too heated. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No. Because no one's going to be calling you like – literally, I did a show, and someone made a joke. It was some like show it was a trivia thing so like the audience tried to stump us on on a topic that we get to choose right so they ask a question that's a good idea yeah i was i went into it drunk specific ignorance and umar had blink 182 of course

yeah and he was like dude i i mean I can't even see myself getting anything wrong. Like, this is crazy. Honestly, it's like unfair. But people have their phones and they're Googling. Yeah. They're asking the most specific shit. Basically, they're like, how much did Travis Barker's company make in the third quarter? Yeah, so weird.

Fiscal quarter of FY2009 or something. But then but then like you know like i knew i was gonna get jokes but it was just like non-stop at my expense i was drunk and then the last thing that like fucking did it for me was uh actually one of our friends yeah yeah was like um uh something about like uh so when did you know you were gay when did you know you were gay because you like blink because you like it was like a blink 182 you like them you're gay yeah so like a question and i just was like what the fuck like why is that funny and i was like if i was a stand-up comic you know because we got the crown and i told that like you guys laugh right now but that would be homophobic so you guys she's equating like a gay and i just went on this crazy

angry rant i was like i was like, fuck you guys. It's not funny. And if I would have made that joke and it was just it was a bad book. It was like wrong. Yeah, it was. It was a bad night. Anyway. Yeah.

Just anyway. Follow them. Follow me, guys. Yeah. I'm on all the all the social medias. The evil social media is at Josh Kaderna. Let's see. This is out on Wednesday. Tomorrow, the 25th. I'll be social medias at Josh Kaderna. Let's see. This is out on Wednesday, tomorrow the 25th.

I'll be at Maddie's in D.C. Closing that out. On the 26th, I'll be at the D.C. Draft House hosting Speechless with Ahmed. It's an improvised PowerPoint show. You'd be really good at that. I don't think I would, actually. I've thought about that. You'd be good.

I don't think I would. We'll get you on next time. No, don't. Next time. Oh, that was another rough night I had. I'm not a good improv guy, and it seems like I'd be good at that think I would. We'll get you on next time. Oh, that was another rough night I had. I'm not a good improv guy, and it seems like I'd be good at that because I do funny PowerPoints, but no. Okay. All right.

Well, come out. Hey, we've sold 50 tickets already for this. I'm very excited. That's awesome. Pre-sales are the best. It's fucking crazy. Especially because some shows we have like 15 people. I'm like, here we go.

Double digits people. Literally the word 50 presales gets me. A little bit of blood down there. It's the best. And then on my band's playing on Friday in Metropolitan at Annapolis on the 27th at 8 p.m. Come out to that. And on the third, you and I will be at the Comedy Loft in D.C., Umar. I forgot about that. Cool. Nice. Yeah. and I'll be at the comedy loft in DC Omar I forgot about that

yeah so I'll be there Omar maybe we'll be I'll be there okay all right but Ben thank you so much for the podcast man all right David Koechner take us out And... We'll be right back. Oh yeah, oh yeah