The Digression Sessions - Ep. 271 - Jason Weems! (@jweemscomedy)

Episode Date: November 5, 2018

Hola Digheads, on this week's episode, Josh and Umar sit down with the great Baltimore based comedian, Jason Weems! Jason died this past year for 5 minutes after an asthma attack on stage in Philadelphia, but he lived to tell the tale! And it shares it here on the cast.  Jason is an undeniable talent and he's filming his next special entitled "Unknown" on 12/1/18 at Centerstage in Baltimore.  You can get tickets here! Follow the podcast and Josh Kuderna and Umar Khan, on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram! See them live too! 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 coddy. Club soda. Club soda. All right. Check, check, check. Mic check. You're all good. Check, check, test. You got a dent in this mic. What have you been doing? Fucking it. Nice. Cool.

You forced my hand, Umar. I'm fucking it. All right? Now everyone knows. Listen. We got sitting across from me at the table like a very, I feel like we're having a performance review for Jason Weems. We're at the long dining room table of Omar Khan's palatial estate in Hanford.

The villa. It is lovely. Thank you. Lovely backsplash. It's very tasteful. You wouldn't think that I would live here, right? Right. Like when you were coming.

Shiny bricks. Yeah, there's some very tasteful exposed brick that they shellacked. They shellacked that. Under cabinet lighting. Oh, yeah. Pa yeah, that's a good stuff. And it's built in. It's not like the sticky ones that you get off of like QVC.

You just push it up. Don't give me lights unless I could push them. Push them up, right. You know what I'm saying? We're still in the process of hanging art, but paid way too much money for this little ass Baltimore laser cut map out of wood. We're really painting a picture for the listeners at home.

We're on some NPR shit. We got some behind weems. We got some vegetable and succulent art. Next to that, a tasteful nude of Umar's mom. Black and white. Very tasteful. Very nice. She was the queen of Pakistan.

Amen. Amen. Or whatever white. Very tasteful. Very nice. She was the queen of Pakistan. Amen. Amen. Or whatever Muslims say. All right. Strong start. Strong start. We got Weems. We got Jason Weems here.

Weems. What's up, guys? He's got a show to promote. What are you doing? What do you got going on? So, December 1st, 2018. Got two shows that we're filming. New special called Unknown. So, for people that don't know i died last year yeah may 3rd 2017 and we're gonna get into that

but i'm having a rough day too right our water got cut off and i haven't showered today so what i want to say is we're all going through something right right right i almost canceled this because i almost went to the hospital did you really i? I thought I was going to faint again. Yeah. We'll get to that too. We'll get to that as well. But first, let's start with me. I haven't had water since 10 a.m. That's crazy. That's like five hours.

This is the second time that water made. Remember when we first moved in? Yeah. So it has been last night. It was just like a geyser, like a sewer. Like the shooting. Yeah. Like just out of the intersection.

And it's like, should somebody do something about yeah so luckily i see uh a baltimore truck pull-ups got like the yellow lights guy gets out puts two traffic cones around it drives away stay away from the water it's like that'll do it every time i talk shit about this city and people give me shit, I'm like, where do you live? Right. Where do you live that you just don't experience utter stupidity day after day? I work in the school system. It's the same thing. I'm just picturing the guys like I went above and beyond. I was going to do one cone. One cone.

But I saw. I doubled up on them. Yeah. Because I care about the community. You understand? Right. And then so I helped my buddy move today. Then I came back and they have our whole

intersection of our block blocked off so i can't like my car was blocked in there's dudes out there and i was like hey uh what's the time frame on getting water he's like could be an hour could be tomorrow i don't know man yeah cool good customer service then i went inside i was looking and there's a dude just on like a sewer lid but it's on the road off of the hole and he was just spinning on it just trying to like spin himself like a room i'm it's on the road off of the hole and he was just spinning on it just trying to like spin himself like a room i'm like well they're on top of it so it's got that guy's job is kind of like a comics job where it's like all you have to do is point out problems but not fix anything all right that's been my time look at your pants good night all right fam Good night. Hey, fam, this water is fucked up, huh? Right.

Y'all don't have water. Good night. Absolutely. Jesus. Yeah. All right. But before we get into it, I just want to paint a picture of who Weems is. Okay.

Because when I started, man, I remember I used to do shows, and I would be one of the five-minute spots. You were always headlining. And dude, you've just been crushing it since I've met you, which was eight years ago. Eight years, yeah. Everyone hands down in the scene holds such high regard for you. You're so funny. Any room that if everyone else is struggling, you go up and you will just annihilate.

It's unreal. It's crazy. And the text conversations, too, if it's a shitty room somebody goes to another room they're like how is it like it's all right how do weems do it's like he crushed yeah well of course he crushed yeah yeah you're always the outlier it's like yeah it's a shitty room weems crushed yeah of course like i remember we i went i took my girl and i was like dude we gotta go see this guy weems uh-huh this was last year do you remember monument city brewing that show i do oh my that was quenland room right yeah yeah yeah that's here in the city right yeah so it's like you know it's a it's like kind of away from

everything right and everyone before him i mean it's not a room set up to do comedy and there's like eight people there and it's a brewery so i'm sure it's big, open, cavernous. Perfect for comedy. And everyone just eating it so hard. And Weems goes up. And it's just nuts. You were crushing for a half an hour. And then he started doing material.

Yeah. We were dying laughing. It was so crazy. Yeah. And I was just like, wow, if I could do that one day, that'd be amazing. That's huge, man. Thank you. Everybody feels that way.

Everyone, yeah. It's crazy. It's an undeniable... He's a gold standard. He's a gold standard, I would say. You did gin and jokes. You did an hour of no jokes. Just insane riffing. Oh oh my god that was crazy yeah and so yeah i do ragtime like twice a month usually and you're down there a lot you've

been down there a lot preparing for this show right coming up and yeah every time i see you it's always always a good show it's never like weems ugh, Weems is here. It's like, thank God. Yeah, yeah. I try to have fun with it. I try to, for me, once I had my kids, I wasn't going out as much to open mics and stuff. Yeah. So when I would get on stage, I wouldn't want to do the same jokes that I had been doing. Yeah, you got to make it count now. Yeah, so I would always just go up and just start working off whatever i was feeling in the moment whatever was happening in the room right then and then it just became so fun for me

because i didn't know what i was gonna say yeah and it's like you know it's like a faucet like once you get it to like all the way open it's like shit just keeps coming out and out is that gonna be on the poster for jason waves faucet just keeps coming out yeah it's like a brain dump yeah yeah but it it's a it's a good way to put yourself in the moment too because with stand-up it's so easy for it to become rote and then you're saying it but you're kind of like a robot like yeah the words are coming out of your mouth but inside you're like all right if i can i get taco bell after this show you know like yeah do i have enough time so riffing especially in the moment on what's going on really puts you back put you back in it yeah right kind of remind you why you started

it because like you said it's easy just had those night switch like done i'm on autopilot yeah and get defeated like i would say most people would get defeated by like a bad room you know and you're just like fuck it let's just do the 20 minutes get the money and go right but yeah like you were like no fuck this i'm putting on a show which is crazy because so many times you're just like these people don't deserve a show right right and i may even feel that sometimes because there are times when i'm just like you know you go you go there, you know, you feel like, okay, I'm going to do an hour, whatever. You may have a plan in your head and then you get there and like you said, the room sucks and the crowd's not there or then I'm laughing. But there's something about when I grab the mic.

It's like almost a commitment. It's like I'm up here now. Yeah. And I got to show somebody, you know. Yeah. Why I'm up here. Yeah. So even if I want to just mail it in, it's almost impossible for me to do that.

Right. That is cool when that kicks in, though, when you're up there. Because you can also be like, man, fuck this. This sucks. I hate it. And then as soon as you get up there, you're like, well, I'm here. Right. Better than trying to make it good, at least.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's soon as you get up there, you're like, well, I'm here. Right, right. Better than trying to make it good at least. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And it's always a challenge for me. If it's a hard room, it's even funner because it's like, you know, can I crack this code? What is it? There's something in this room. Like, typically when I'm about to headline a room and I'm watching other comics go up,

I'm studying what they're doing. Right. And I'm like, okay, this crowd doesn't want material. Or this crowd does want material. Yeah. You know, they're responding to this not this yeah and i'm kind of like you know editing in my head based on that yeah and then once i grab the stage it's just you know i try not to let it go yeah yeah once i get that first big laugh i try to to keep it. Yeah, you revisit stuff. Oh my God, there's one time where

at UMBC, I bombed. You were there. I think I wasn't really doing stand-up at that point, but were you hosting the show? No, I think I was just doing a spot. It was packed. Yeah, so is it like the UMBC Student Union whatever performance?

Yeah, that's what it was. And so they had for some reason like a big wooden chicken set up or something like that. And Umar went up and he's like, what the fuck? Who put this here? And like nobody made any noise. Fuck you guys. Yeah. And then I bombed.

And then I remember like walking off stage. I was like, oh, that's I was like that. Like I never do well here. So Weems goes up kind of recapping the night. He's like an Umar. He's like, you guys suck. You that was like i never do well here so weems goes up kind of recapping the night he's like an umar he's like you guys suck you didn't like my chicken shit what the fuck i said it's a weird chicken and i remember you were salty about that because oh i just was like you know this is when like i was just so i would be so inconsistent right you and your whole set you kept revisiting my bombing. I was like, God damn it.

Let it die. Yeah, I was like, please stop talking about it. I'm already dead. I had a girl there with me who's never seen me do well at that point. And you're just like, God. It's so hard when you first start and you just are so inconsistent. It's tough. It's so scary to go up and you're just like.

Because you don't really know. You never know how it's tough so scary to go up and you're just because you don't really know you never know how it's gonna go now you have a sense of like okay this is a cool audience and like whatever once in a while yeah you have a bad set but you're also not like all the time you're more comfortable in your skin too yeah you're like i know when to pause i know when to make a facial expression but in the beginning you're like i don't know it worked last night yeah i said the same thing i remember i would go up i would write down a bunch of stuff in a notebook never have said it out loud before and just that's i thought you know no one knows how to do comp no one teaches you and you're just like yeah all right hopefully something here is funny yeah i'm just gonna recite this word for word of what's in my notebook yeah

that was oh boy that was a rough and i just like this motherfucker will not i was like god damn it just do your God damn jokes. Right, right. I'm sure a lot of people feel like that. Yeah. Depending on who's receiving it. What did you just do? One time I saw at High Tops, we was headlining and it was one of those insane lines.

Way too many people. One of the guys was brand new. He left his joke book on the table in front and we just picked it up and started reading from it and like the kid even wrote if this bails go to this and right right you don't even believe in yourself good night

night I'm just thinking about it like it's like National Geographic like that's like the equivalent of a lion seeing like an injured gazelle has no chance right right weems has spotted the notebook. He's now going to read from it. This open mic stands no chance. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So you've been killing it for so long. And then so you got this. And then literally you killed yourself. Yourself. Well, almost. Yeah.

So you have this special unknown. And do you want to talk about like what it like? Like the title and what led up to Genesis. So, yeah. May 3rd 2017 last year i went up to philly to headline a show and two minutes into my set felt this attack come on early show so yeah jason has uh asthma yeah have asked my entire life and uh i'm on stage and i feel i can always tell when an attack is coming yeah and then i can typically tell how aggressive it's going to be oh wow so i feel like it always tell when an attack is coming yeah and then i can typically tell how aggressive it's going to be oh wow so i feel like it was going to be a bad one is it a tightness in the chest it's a tightness um and then it's just it comes like really rapidly right sometimes you'll

feel like a little wheeze and you'll tighten and it's a cough and you'll you know still talk and stuff like that um but this one you almost feel like your throat was like shutting to a certain degree um so i pulled my inhaler out puffed it twice and uh it got worse could you speak at this point a little bit so you were on stage this whole time i'm on stage i went holy shit and it was one of those shows that, you know, everybody was just doing fairly. No one had crushed. Right. And I went up and started riffing.

And literally the room was going nuts. I mean, like the biggest laughs of the night. And I'm two minutes in. And in my head, I'm like, oh, it's going to be a layup tonight. Nice. I knew it was going to be one of those sets where I could like not touch any jokes. Yeah. Riff the entire thing.

Just be in the pocket. Yeah. Yeah. Riff the entire thing. Just be in the pocket. Yeah. Yeah. So I was mad. I was mad that I didn't get the chance to finish the set. Right. But I knew I couldn't. Your last dying breath.

You're like, but that lady has such a weird hat. You ripped on that hat? I had 15 minutes on a hat. I'm not ready yet, Lord. Right. That guy's pants are way too tight. So I left out. I said good good night and everybody thought i was joking they just thought i was like fucking around and yeah walk off stage and come back and you kind of felt like didn't you feel kind of like your vision was collapsing a little bit like it was starting to like get a

little dark right have you seen those like spongebob memes where like the thing is spinning yeah it's almost It felt like that. Oh, my gosh. And I went outside, and I was literally on my hands and knees in front of this club, gasping for air. Holy shit. And a woman came behind me and started talking. She was a doctor who was in the crowd. Oh, thank God.

That's the only reason I'm sitting here right now. It's true. So at that point, things were just so fuzzy for me. From what I'm told, they took me back into the venue, and I coded right there on the floor. They said, eyes went in the back of the head. Blue. No heartbeat, no pulse. Yeah.

For five minutes. Holy shit. And she said she just jumped on and started doing the CPR. Five minutes. Yeah. Wow. So five minutes without a pulse. Without a pulse. That's an eternity.

Yeah. Luckily, the medics got there in time, and were able to do something to get me back. So five minutes without a pulse. Without a pulse. That's an eternity. Yeah. Luckily, the medics got there in time and were able to do something to get me back. Yeah. But then I woke up in a hospital 16 hours later with a ventilator and hand restraints because I whooped this nurse named Brenda's ass. She was talking shit, right? Yeah, during the CT scan. Apparently, I woke up and freaked out because of the tube.

Yeah. And I just started swinging. Look at this asthma habit bitch you're like what yeah and at that point i didn't even know that i had died yet at that point i thought it was just a bad asthma attack yeah and maybe i passed out right okay that was it then the doctors came in the next morning and they were like we lost you last night and i'm like what are you talking about i've always been in this room yeah yeah did you leave me in the other room what are you talking about and they said no you died we and at that point is when i first got the full information wow jesus so it's like i mean you're sitting there and it's just like you don't even know how to process it so i get out of the hospital

i sign myself out because i know that The medical bills Are going to be stupid If I stay there any longer Right So we dip Come back to Baltimore And Actually I started writing jokes In the hospital bed

Like I sat up And The first joke I wrote Was about I got my phone back And I turned it on And I only had 17 text messages Yeah

And I was mad Because I was like, I died. And six of them were from Amazon. Talking about packaged shit. And I wrote it right in the bed. That's great. I waved to my wife and said, like, give me some paper. And I was writing down all these thoughts and things that I thought was funny about it. That's so good.

She's like, oh, what sweet note is he going to write? Right, right. And I was like, fucking sweet note is he going to write? Right, right. And it's like, fucking people, where are my notifications at? Right. So some jokes I wrote right in the bed that are actually going to be in the special. Yeah. Other ones I kind of wrote afterwards once, like other people gave me their third-party accounts.

Yeah. Because it was like this 16-hour period that I had no recollection of. So, yeah. I mean, I remember that night we were all texting each other like hey do you have d's phone number like because we were all trying to get in touch with her and i i didn't have her phone number and then i also didn't want to go knock on the door in the middle of the night and like because we didn't know the full details like we just knew that you were in the hospital so yeah like comics from philly somehow got in touch with people in dc and it just kind of moved all around right right and uh yeah it was scary it was like yeah weems died tonight for a few minutes and we're like whoa

we didn't have the full extent and i didn't know what the uh rehab was going to be because sometimes when people are like gone for that that long i mean it's brain damage yeah yeah vegetables right crazy yeah so i mean all of it was scary yeah so you you guys have three little boys three young boys or raptors you know right right depending on the mood that's a joke he's referencing little rapper right right right i don't want josh to get yeah slammed on twitter so that was like children raptors right that would be great yeah a year and a half ago wow right

yeah so yeah so I mean it was just such a scary night and then it was a scary night so somebody did end up showing up

to your guys house here in Baltimore right right one of my good buddies Grasshopper who's a artist slash filmmaker

slash everything he got the tweet just get that mic closer to your lip yeah right there just put it up on just glue it just glue it right there

Don't worry Only every other people like that have used the mic Good for you Put their lips on it Yeah so he found out This was all through Twitter When I passed out in the venue My phone was locked

No one could get in it So the booker just tweeted Hey who knows that jay williams comedy's family wow and then people just started retweeting it and stuff and then finally it got to my buddy here in baltimore he saw it yeah rolled over banged on the door and told my wife what he knew at that time but at that point the story had changed so many times yeah like russ green comic comic told me that he heard that i slapped a woman in philly and then something like that game of tellers

and i'm like yeah you're in jail right brenda running her mouth tweeting about damn snitch um that's why i'm here right so funny um yeah but the the special unknown the title comes from when i was laying in the hospital bed i looked down at my arm bracelet and they had me listed as unknown froth wow froth because apparently when you're in the hospital and it's more than one unknown they give you a last name wow that's like a terrible drink at starbucks right right right that's a part of the joke i'm like i done died and went to starbucks goddamn barista brought me in this bitch so i looked at my arm and saw it and it was like unknown like what the hell is that so when i was playing with ideas and concepts for the special i was like this is such a unique

experience right how many comics have died like literally i mean you hear it all the time he died on stage yeah they're talking about not getting less yeah there's one that was supposed to die still alive oh yeah you know what i'm talking about i believe that very interesting got an hbo special and then uh that kept him going yeah bill burr Burr, still kicking it. Yeah, that is interesting. So when I was concepting the idea, I was like, I can't let this go to waste. Yeah.

You know, like you're saying, you started writing right in bed. And I don't know if that's the great part about comedy or the worst part. And then once I heard that you were okay, I was like, God, this next hour is going to be incredible. I know. I did the same thing. I was was like wow yeah if he doesn't write about that oh yeah yeah it's like what the hell are you but it took you a little bit too to kind of like do the whole thing right yeah and i didn't want to do a disservice to it i didn't want to just rush and just say something just to say it yeah um and then so much like that bitch tig notaro jesus christ the next day just riffing 30 minutes i'm cancer like unbelievable yeah i heard she blew the light that night yeah

polish that shit up tig jesus we got ed helms in the wing right um yeah so i didn't want to rush it and i didn't want to i wanted to fully understand it myself yeah i mean beyond comedy it's even just as a human being like whoa that's a lot to take able to process it so i was going to therapy for a couple of months yeah just kind of talking it out which good for you man that's awesome everyone should go but sure but it's seriously something like that too and just waking up and being told that oh you died yesterday so what like i mean i don't know how personal you want to get but like what in therapy like what did you need to process about that experience

the entire thing it was yeah some of the main points were stuff like you know my kids wow and because i mean they're so little yeah it's one of these things where they see me leaving for shows every night and you know i got my bag with my merchandise in it you know i say bye give him a kiss i say i'll see you in the morning you're like bye daddy be funny and my older son calls me the ha ha man bye ha ha man um so me leaving for shows has become such a regular thing for them and then all of a sudden one night it's like oh daddy died at a show so now they process it differently wow so now every time I leave for a show now, they're scared. Yeah.

So like my twins, one of my twins, literally nine out of ten times I'm leaving off a show, he hugs me, says, don't die. That's heavy. Yeah. And it makes it real hard to leave out the door. Because then I get in the car, I'm like, you know, is this the right thing anymore? Yeah. Especially, you know, you're doing just some show where it's like i'm getting like 200 bucks do i need it that right do i have to drive to tyson's corner virginia for sure right you know um so yeah it was trying

to work through that and trying to and just reconcile the fact of that i wasn't here yeah and it was this whole kind of feeling of you get kind of worried or it it shocks you because you think the world's gonna stop right when you're not here anymore yeah and then when i woke up you know i you know noticed that you know social media motherfuckers were still posting whatever like that night still happened you're right that 16 hours or whatever that i was unconscious so whatever no break from dank means there was no break um and it's just scary as shit to because you makes you feel kind of insignificant wow wow it's like a moment you were here yeah and you were like you know you know this great comedian and a guy who people thought you know crushed everywhere and now it's just now my

hashtag yeah so it was one of those feelings i was kind of talking through you know that and uh and uh there has to be a sense of fragility too of knowing like even you had your inhaler you did everything right right and then it's still yeah and that was a scary part for me because like how you guys were speaking before when i'm on stage i'm very organic yeah i'm riffing i'm in the moment yeah a lot of times i feel more comfortable on stage than I do in just regular life. So for this to happen on stage, it felt like a real trespass. Yeah, like a violation. You're not invincible.

Yeah. Something can even get you on stage. Yeah, that's crazy. Almost that feeling how people describe when the house has been broken into. And it's just that feeling of like somebody was in here. Yeah, it's like dirty. Right. Yeah.

So for months after the incident, getting on stage was really weird for me. Wow. Like I was trying to still tap into that looseness and still riff and be free. But it was still like this tenseness that at any moment this thing could happen again. Yeah. So I'm like, I would never fully go into a joke. Or if I was riffing and I had the room like on eight, I would never take it to ten. Right.

Because I was like, if I get myself too excited. Wow. Then I may kick in an attack. And it's been a few times where I've had small attacks on stage since then. Or like a little bit of tightness that probably is nothing yeah but now you're in your head i'm like shit so i'm like i'll literally i'll stop the show say guys like just give me a minute take the inhaler and just stand there for a few minutes and it fucks the energy of the room up right especially if you're rolling like you got

yeah yeah those laughs are coming back and then all of a sudden, it's like, chill for a second. Yeah. I need to really take this medicine. I need a comedy timeout. Right. Yeah. So, it's been a lot of little kind of caveats that have had to been built in. Right.

To everything. Yeah. I mean, I can imagine, like, yeah, it's sort of like, yeah, you're getting, like, a car accident or something. So, now, every time you drive, you're like, oh, I'm very aware. All right. Yeah. I'm not.

I'm not. I'm going to leave my blinker on for a long time before i move over right yeah so with yeah doing stand-up and being on stage and then feeling that like god that has to be so hard because also mentally there's so many plates that are spinning too of like all right i want to keep the room going i'm gonna move on to my next bit but also holy shit yeah you're freaking out yeah and then i'm sure the anxiety makes it worse too what could be like a little be like a two out of ten in your mind might go up to like a four or five right right just from the stress of it yeah god i mean that's been one of the hardest parts because it's like there's literally been a point that i'll hit it maybe once or twice a week where i'm like do i

still want to do this anymore it's like you know yeah is the because i mean the travel is hell yep the it's hell on your body um you're away from your family away from your family messes up your sleep and all kinds yeah yeah you just never get to chill you know like that's like what i get the most frustrated with sometimes it's just like especially because like we live in baltimore right i mean i know like whatever it's like a easy or it's like a what are they champagne problems yeah yeah uh but that should be the new name of this podcast actually i like that that's really good but well it's different for you because this is how you make your living and support your family right right i guess for like us it's like a glorified hobby. Yeah, we should spell it as sham. Like it's a sham and then pain. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But you're just like, man, you're having such a good time with your friends or your family. And now you got to go leave to perform to strangers. And a lot of times it's just like not that great when you're at this level sometimes. Especially when you're uh like you said i mean i live off of stand-up now i used to teach and i you know left teaching in 2015 yeah so i'll be you know doing this you know full-time close to four years yep and uh it adds another layer of pressure because it's like you know okay you're trying to make the creative decision am i still in love with stand

up do i still want to do it for those reasons but then you also got to factor in the financial side right because i know at this point i don't want to go back to teach right i mean i could do it you know sometimes when i'm dropping my kids off at school now i'll see that teacher and i kind of get that itch or i remember what certain things felt like, picture day and different stuff. But I know my kids take up too much of my energy. I wouldn't have anything left to give to other kids. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Real quick as an aside, though, you guys had one kid.

Right. And then you were like, well, let's have another kid. And then it bumped up to three. Right. With the twins. Those twins, right. So it's like going from one to three kids.

I mean, wow. It's tough. Yeah, Jesus gave us a BOGO offer. Jesus. I didn't know it was a BOGO today. It was a BOGO. Yeah, we're good. Yeah, so it's one of these places where Unknown might be the last special.

Really? It might be. This is your third, right? Second filmed, but I did do a cd before that um i don't know like it's nights when i'm on stage i'm like i love this shit yeah and i want to do it forever right and then it's other nights where like you said it might not be a set where you bomb but it's just you know you had to leave the house at 5 o'clock to drive three hours. And what should take an hour.

Yeah. And you're sitting in traffic and you're frustrated and you're tired. And, you know, by the time you get home, it's going to be 12, 1 o'clock in the morning. You got to pop back up at 6. Yeah. It's like, is this shit really? And you're eating shitty food, too. You're eating shitty food.

Because you either stop at the Taco Bell or you come home and eat some chips and salsa or something over the sink and go to bed. And when you've been doing it for – I think when you first start – That stuff's exciting. That's great. Right. And then – because there is – there's so much like this like wonderment and hope around it. And then like the more you do it and you really understand and get closer to people who are in the business right people who you look up to and just like what a struggle it is for them like

for sure even people who you think like have all these accolades that to you mean so much yeah and how even having that like in turn like big picture in terms of like making money being a success in comedy and in like in terms of selling tickets uh it's still not much and it's very that for me is the most disheartening and it's just like damn like how many people are doing it at a level higher than me right and still just fucking yeah on the road no one really is. They're not selling tickets. And even if they are, it doesn't last. Yeah. So it's like you could be hot for a year and it's like, all right, what's the next thing?

You need a show. You still need to be in the cultural zeitgeist. Yeah. Yeah. So it's a lot. It's a lot of pressure. Constant pressure. Yeah.

So you're kind of just like, I don't know if I want this anymore. Yeah. Not saying that you're quitting. I'm just. Right. Right. Right. I think every comic. Yeah. All right right i think every comic yeah all the time must go through this all the time absolutely and i think uh some people think about quitting more often than others like you're constantly

bombing yeah yeah fuck this yeah well that was one of my favorite parts of the gary shandling documentary they uh they showed a clip of him on the larry sanders show and it was like in between takes and he just summed up being a comic yeah so well in 15 seconds he's like jesus fucking christ like i gotta constantly think of shit i'm a fucking comic if i'm not coming up with stuff i'm inadequate it was like that's it pretty much it's like all right you got that thing what's the next thing what's your you always have to be so yeah you're in the hospital bed you're like oh let me write that down absolutely and that's the mind where you're like always have to be creating stuff and it's maddening yes because sometimes you want to turn your brain off you want to just be in the moment with your kids or your girl or your whatever and not try to see the angle and the angle of it

but it's almost like a gift and a curse like Like me, I'll write 10, 15 jokes a day. Holy shit. And then they may not ever see the light of day because then that's on Monday. Tuesday, I'll write 10 to 15 more. But then I might be getting on stage until Wednesday that week. Yeah. So on Wednesday when I go to ragtime or wherever else, I'll do the 15 that I thought of that day. Right.

So Monday and Tuesday never get heard. Yeah the 15 that I thought of that day. So Monday and Tuesday never get heard. Yeah. Because I'm kind of over them. It's like they come to me so quick. They're funny in the moment. Yeah. But I'm like, I don't know if I want to invest time in mining these and all that type of stuff.

And for me, I don't have the luxury of going to open mics nightly. Right. Yeah, you're a family man. Right. So I might go out're a family man. Right. So I might go out twice a month and do 30-minute sets at ragtime and just tell 30 jokes back-to-back. Yeah. And maybe eight of them hit, and those are the eight that I keep. And the other 22 just go in the trash.

It's just like, whoo, next. So, yeah, if it doesn't hit immediately, I have to move on. Yeah. Like, I don't have time to you know yeah working and rework it right yeah it's like i really can't invest in this like bit about tires right right right yeah next one and that's actually one of the struggles that i've been having with the special because i've got the hour it's probably closer to like maybe 75 minutes right now but as the hour is kind of getting concreted in i keep thinking of these new ideas and i'm like shit that's fire that's gotta go on a special

but as it gets closer now i'm i'm 28 days out from filming yeah are these ideas so like it's do they fit the theme some of them do yeah some of them might be able to kind of be like wedged in it's kind of like a tag yeah right um but it's that point in my mind where i've got to tell tell myself like jason there has to be a cut off yeah yeah because i mean well any joke can keep going but like so with this hour like because a lot of new hours there seem to be this focus of like it's like uh storytelling meets stand-up i think that's like the way that comedy that's what is selling tickets right now yeah you know and uh so is that what is that what your uh thing is is it just like is it center is it like one big story or

no so it's kind of chunks yeah so i mean i'm trying to figure out right now if i'm going to do the death material at the beginning of the set or at the end of the set. I've always envisioned it at the end. Then my wife gave me the idea the other day because, I mean, the story, I mean, it's not giggles all the way through. It's one of these things where it's some minute and 30 second chunks where you're not going to be laughing at all. Like it's just you're getting this heavy ass information. But you need that information to laugh at the shit i'm gonna tell you in two more minutes that is that next level stuff of like no i'm just i'm building tension right and you have to be comfortable with it too yeah because because i think if you would have

said that 10 years ago to people like other comics are like are you insane right you know but yeah because i i've seen you run this story at uh at ragtime and it was great and it is one of those things too where it's it is quiet but people are paying attention yeah and you can feel the vibe too like if it's quiet people are like yeesh right you can tell when people are invested into it yeah yeah and i had that was something i had to learn and teach myself as well because i'm so used to and i'm always in that mode something I had to learn and teach myself as well. Because I'm so used to it. I'm always in that mode of I want to fucking destroy. Like I want people screaming. I want you to get up and walk away from your table.

I want drinks knocked over. Like if you're not doing that, I feel like I bombed. So to now have to tell this, well not have to, but now to be telling this story. And it's not just crazy laughing. I had to tell myself, i have to but now to be telling this story yeah yeah and it's not just crazy laughing i had to tell myself jason it's cool yeah like you're not bombing like just wait for it it's coming yeah dude it's god it's crazy discipline too it took it yeah yeah so i'm actually it actually gave me a new muscle in stand-up that I previously really didn't have. I've never been a huge storyteller where I'm doing stories for, you know, 10 plus minutes.

I mean, the longest bits that I may have may be like 330, four minutes, something like that. So to get into these longer pieces, it's really taught me, you know, pacing more so. Yeah. So it's been a good thing in that regard then it was the whole thing of when i was concepting okay what the special is going to be i was thinking of titles and one of the ones that popped up as we were doing it because we had pictures of me being in the hospital was my wife took a picture of the bracelet and i was like unknown it's a great fucking name it's a great title and i was like for so many reasons i was like unknown from. It's a great fucking name. That's a great title. And I was like, for so many reasons.

I was like, Unknown from the sense of that's what they literally had me listed at in the hospital, but also I'm not a household name. I mean, certain people, comedians know me, but I'm not on a sitcom or anything else, so I'm unknown. And then even from the standpoint of Baltimore, this is such a great fucking city yeah and i'm you you know all of us in baltimore guys you know anytime we're in dc or virginia if it's a host from dc or virginia this next guy's from baltimore don't don't hold it against them yeah

but like you don't even know why they're laughing yeah no like they've gotten this stupid punchline right yeah it's interesting yeah they hear the wire and murder and like what city is people not getting killed in yeah it's like you said early about the potholes like what city ain't fucked up yeah exactly yeah that is a weird thing it's like like in every comic whether it could be all the way from like chapelle to bill burr to like a touring comic that no one's heard of the wire jokes in when they're in baltimore they open with a wire joke every fucking time it's crazy yeah every day but but to be fair we have the wire it's the serial podcast is a you know right asian girl being murdered and then the keepers we also had a homicide back in the day yeah right so yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. Why do we get, like, LA, Detroit, Chicago?

I feel like, and New Orleans. New Orleans is crazy racist. Everywhere's a fucking mess. It is, right. We've got to rebrand ourselves. What else have we got? Yeah. But, I mean, artistically, I think Baltimore is pretty cool.

And there's a lot of, like, diverse, like, we have not a lot of it, but the pockets of, like, music and comedy and art are really good. And it was one of the reasons, like, you know, I want to highlight Baltimore in this. So everybody that's involved in this, like the film crew, everybody is either from Baltimore, has ties to Baltimore. When I was thinking of openers, Actually, so Pierre Benu is opening the show. He's so good. He's the man. He's a fucking monster. He really is.

Great artist. And all the stuff I just named, he's great at everything. That's what made me say it. He does it all. He's an amazing artist. If you go to

exittheapple.com, you can see this guy's work. I mean, from New York originally, henceforth the name Exit the Apple. Oh shit, I never fucking knew that right holy shit yeah isn't it funny when that stuff hits you

yeah wow that's so clever yeah yeah but i mean you know did poetry like slam poetry deaf poetry stuff back in the day with you know knows to live quietly and most deaf and one of those types of dudes he's so cool his wife is so fucking cool and right yeah yeah yeah her business and then yeah he's a great dj too he's a dj he's a filmmaker he's an artist he's a comic yeah and then he won't do it he won't do comedy for a month and then just go that's what i hate about him like uh yeah like he'll do he'll like take four months off and he'll like even then he doesn't perform that much when he is performing right and he's just polished super funny thoughtful yeah it's insane yeah yeah and it's like he's like yeah i don't really open mic i just know like if i can make my wife laugh that's pretty that's what

he says all right all right it's all good all right that's what he says that's crazy to me and that's great i mean and some people just have that natural time sure and in them yeah and the first time i saw him was at your show umar oh jen and joe we did jen and jokes together um we're bringing all the black comics together everybody i remember you said that oh yeah oh my god yeah so i'm literally driving i'm driving to dc to do spots and i'm like trying to book this show so i'm like texting i just i'm like thinking of all these comics i want like i want weems a headline and then uh and uh so then i got like britney carney on there i got pierre benu on there and i got someone else i couldn't remember but it was a paris paris and i was just like my God, I just booked an all black show

for February. And I like didn't want them to think I was going for like an angle and I texted every single one individually. I was like, guys, this is just a coincidence.

I'm not like trying to book a black show. Which makes them think that you did. Yeah, I know. That makes it worse to try to go like, FYI, I didn't mean to.

Like me, like I'm in traffic and I'm just trying to send this message off. I'm like, God. Because I don't want people. I never want to book a room. For sure. I never want to book a show where it's an angle. I just want to book funny.

Funny, right. That's all gin and jokes that I care about. Yeah. And I was just like, God. Yeah. But it worked out, I guess. It was great. Yeah.

Because we had met he i did a show at uh he would do pop-up shows sometimes at the art space yes and exit the apple yeah and they did one um in june of last year june of 2017 so i died on may 3rd and the show that i did at his place was on june 3rd so it was a literal month and it was my first time back on stage since dying. And the only reason I did the show was because I had to go to Miami like two weeks later

to compete in the finals for the American Black Film Festival, HBO thing. And I hadn't been on stage. So I was like, I need to at least grab the mic once to see how I feel. I don't want to go in at least grab the mic once yeah to see how i feel i don't want to go in miami and grab the mic and have like a fucking like panic attack right um so i went and did the show one of hbo's like this is incredible this is incredible right

the way it's so raw yeah i'm actually not get this man a show right now right or at least a web series at least a web series. At least a web series. So I went to do the show at his spot, and he didn't perform that night. He was just hosting and kind of like running some videos because it was like a variety type thing. And then I went up at the end, and I just riffed for 30 minutes and crushed. Nice. And we left. We exchanged information.

He was like, I got to have you back. And at that point, he said that he was a comic, but I hadn't seen him perform. Right. And then on your show, he went up, I think, right before me and was fucking amazing. It's great. So good, man. I mean, I was literally. So funny. I don't laugh like crazy hard at everybody, but I'm pushing people.

I'm looking for people to push. I do that a lot. When I'm losing it, I'm like touching people. Touching people. Right, right, right. This is so good. You want to share that energy. I was going to say, it's almost like you're getting shocked because you're like, grab my arm.

Yeah, yeah. And I saw him and I was like, that's the guy. He is, man. And we left and we talked out in front of the show right on the sidewalk on North Avenue for like 10, 15 minutes. Then I called him the next day and was like, hey, I got this idea for the show. I'm trying to put it together now. Will you open? And he was like, done.

That's great, man. He said he did the artwork for the promo. So like the painting of like me on the bench and stuff. He did that. Wow. Yeah, it looks awesome. So Unknown came out of that that it came out of the bracelet which then morphed into i'm unknown which then morphed into the city is unknown right

like this like you said there's so much not just talent like just good shit there's dope restaurants there's beautiful neighborhoods there's like i love this city right yeah so it's one of these things where when you're a comic and people hear you like you're from baltimore they either think like you know you just do shitty rooms and everything's like you know crab cakes and ravens and yeah yeah yeah it's like no it's it's some guys here that are like serious totally um so i want to shine a light on the city. I mean, we're going to sell this thing, you know, distribute it, you know, on a major platform. Oh, wow. And then, you know, hopefully that'll make more opportunities for more guys here in Baltimore.

Yeah. Because, I mean, I think it's just one of these cities where it's just, it's unknown. People are like, they look past us. They like, New York, Philly, D.C. It's like they jump. Moving on. But it's like there's so much here yeah i mean just from maryland in general like dave chapelle everybody's like

a dc comedian it's like he's from silver spring spring judah freelander pat noswald yeah yeah wanda sykes right so many people that angry guy on the daily show what's his name lewis black lewis blackstrom yeah yeah fucking crazy um so yeah if this if this special can any in any way That angry guy on The Daily Show. What's his name? Oh, Louis Black. Louis Blackstrom. Yeah. Fucking crazy. So yeah, if this special can in any way kind of like turn the industry this way a little bit. Yeah. That'd be cool. Whether that's bringing more showcases like the Kevin Hart thing that came a little while back.

And I remember how everybody was like excited. Yeah. You had some comics that were bitter because, you know, he didn't get a spot. Yeah. And so on and so forth. Right, right. But it's one of those feelings. I just thought it was funny.

I was like, okay. But happy. We'll talk about that off the mic. Yeah. But it's a natural feeling when you're in a city where it's, I mean, in New York, they're having Comedy Central showcases every night. Every night. So on and so forth. So it's nothing to you.

Right. But if it's coming to a city and it's like this is something that hasn't happened in years yeah and you think like you know like not to like make your head big but you're like i have some traction in this fucking town like right i've sold out of theater yeah i have a successful show you're like how does that happen in a town where like the scene is so small you're just like all right but then and that's one of the things lessons you learn about this business it's just like yeah it's just i don't know it's just it well they're not taking away stuff from you it wasn't like let's go person a or umar it's just like well let's go with person a and then also your thing is coming down the road too it's like we're jealous of shit that doesn't matter

and also you didn't know existed exactly until you heard about it you're like well how come they didn't pick me for this new thing yeah and you're like well you don't even know what they were looking for and also what's going to come down the line yeah absolutely yeah yeah it's and i i've always thought that about you too that it's like it's just a matter of time and it's something like this where yeah you know if if if you do it i'm sure that it's going to be good and it's kind of exciting to hear that you kind of don't know exactly what it's going to be, but you have all the pieces of the puzzle. Yeah, the ingredients are here. Right.

Right. Now it's just time to bake it. Yeah. Right, right. You hear that fire in them jewels I'm dropping? Time to bake it. There's some young comic writing that shit down. Gotta bake it.

Yeah. Can't wait till Pierre brings you on stage. You guys ready to bake it? You ready to bake it, guys? I said, are you guys ready to bake it? Yeah, yeah. We're going to bake it. Yeah. Can't wait till Pierre brings you on stage. You guys ready to bake it? You ready to bake it, guys? I said, are you guys ready to bake it? Yeah, yeah. We're gonna bake it. So I know it's gonna be a great energy that night.

We're filming it at Center Stage. It's a great venue. Yeah, which again, as far as unknown and cool stuff in Baltimore, it's a beautiful theater. Yep. Center Stage is an amazing theater. And they've got two theaters in there. They've got the Pearlstone, which is like the older,

more traditional one downstairs. Then upstairs, it's a newly renovated it's called the head theater yeah and it is fucking gorgeous yeah like breathtaking like that's right even if i bomb the special is going to be great just because the theater is so beautiful right um and i remember walking my wife is in like it's his leadership class where it's like they pull people from different industries that are like executives and they you know build relationships's like they pull people from different industries that are like executives. And they, you know, build relationships. Yeah. And they do like these different activities around the year.

Right. And one of the things, they did a tour of Center Stage. And she brought me as her guest. And this was last year. And at the time, I had the idea for Unknown, but I didn't have a venue. And I was like, why am I going to shoot this thing? I didn't want like a black box theater and so on and so forth. Yeah.

And we walked in to the bottom one, the Pearlstone. And we saw, oh, this is nice. It felt a little dated. And then we went upstairs. And at this point, I don't have, you know, any type of nothing. I'm not expecting anything. Yeah. And we walk in and we turn the corner of the theater and you see these beautiful, like, red, like, bright red seats.

And just the way that the theater curves. And, like, like seeing like a fine-ass woman it's just like shit um look at this theater right um so look at the acoustics on her right right right and i immediately knew it i was like this was shooting a special here well i didn't know if they you know would allow us i didn't know if what it was going to cost or. I was like, we're shooting a special here. I didn't know if they would allow us. I didn't know what it was going to cost. I was like, it's happening here. And then we started working contacts and everything else and got a contract. So it's going to be great. It's a great choice, man.

Yes. I mean, tickets are on sale now. It's two shows, 7 and 10 p.m. December 1st. December 1st, Saturday. Do people just go to centerstage.com centerstage.org.org for tickets and uh you can go right or you can call the box office too at center stage awesome um yeah it's gonna be amazing man yeah i mean no doubt yeah

it's it's gonna be a good show like we were saying at the beginning and without hyperbole i don't think i've ever been on a show where it's like when like oh man it's a shame jason weems was here or it was like it was a so-so set like it's always a good show right right and i think you have always been invested in making it a good show too absolutely i want people when they come out because i know how hard it is to come out oh my gosh i know how hard it is when it's cold a little bit of a breeze i'm like yeah fuck this dude one time i went to go see josh's band it was like a tuesday at 9 p.m yeah and uh and like me and my girl were on the couch and i was like all right we gotta go and i'm like you know it's like 8 45 and i'm just like damn i can like i was so tired but you know like i want

to go support my buddies because i'm friends with everyone in the band yeah no and then i'm i'm just thinking the whole time i'm like i cannot believe people come to my show right it's crazy yeah especially once you get those sweatpants on oh my god taking them off again it's a tall order and especially in december at this point you know it's gonna be cold bro when it got to like 59 degrees i was, I'm making soup and staying home as soon as it got below. Pulling the crock pot out. Oh, yeah. Karen, get the egg noodles. Let's go. Yeah, yeah.

So, the show's selling decent so far. Good, good. It's a lot of seats. It's a lot of seats. Buy those fucking tickets, everyone. It's seats 380. Woo.

So, all together, close to 800 people. Yeah. Wow. How many cameras? I think they're saying five or six. God damn, what a production. It's going to look beautiful. It's going to be some 800 people. Wow. How many cameras? I think they're saying five or six.

God. Damn, what a production. It's going to look beautiful. It's going to be some sexy shit. Yeah. But I think it's a thing, too, that people always buy more tickets as the date approaches. That's what we were talking about. Yeah.

It's so scary. But that's what sucks for the person booking the show and promoting the show. It's like scrambling. If you know you're going to go, can you just buy them now? I only had to sell 220 and like every day for months i was checking ticket sales yeah anxiety provider yeah you would always be looking at the count it's so scary because you get those days where it's like two tickets were sold yeah and then it's a day where it's like 15 yep and it's like those spikes and like you said people are just habitually last

minute yeah they wait why do i have to spend it now when i can spend it after thanksgiving they're excited about it but like when it's december yeah i'll get it i don't know what late november yeah if you know you're going can you just get it and i only did one oh boy which was probably a mistake but uh right i didn't believe in myself. I understand. It's fucking scary. But it's done. It looks great. That's awesome.

I don't know what to do with it. Put it out. I'm going to send it to some people first. Some people said they'll try to help me get it to people. So we'll see. Go that route. Perfect. Yeah, and then, because I have nothing to lose, and I don't mind waiting.

Right. And then if not, you can put it on your site and stream it. That's it. That's all I'm going to do. Do the five buck thing like Louis did. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. No one does that anymore, I realize. No big comics.

That died. Louis and Aziz were the only ones that did it. They did it, right. And Netflix started handing out millions and millions of dollars, and it was like, I'll just go to Netflix. I'll just go there. Yeah. I started getting $5 at a time.

Yeah. Right, right. It's like $20 million is special okay yeah yeah okay so yeah but i feel that pressure yeah it sucks because you get i get tons of messages man i'm getting my tickets but they don't say when oh yeah so it's like shit and yeah you don't want to be pushy either yeah and it's and i'm sure it's even more to think about because it's like you have to focus on the creative side. And that's the split. So my wife, who's a marketer by trade and marketed the city of Baltimore for 13 years. Oh, yeah, she worked for like Visit Baltimore.

She just resigned a month ago. So she started her own marketing firm called the Audacity Group. Oh, wow. They hit her up for my show. Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. And she's the one that's producing and doing the marketing behind all of this. So she's kind of doing the heavy lifting on that side. That's great.

To try to keep me freed up as mentally and creatively as possible. But, I mean, it's still that stress. It's like you wake up, you know, it's like, I got to make a post. I got to write something relevant. Yeah, I want people to buy tickets, but I don't want to seem needy. I really got to walk the line here, and I have to be funny. And then you feel like you're bothering all your friends, and it's just like, oh, my God, dude. It was – but, you know, it was – that's what I said to my girl.

I was like, you realize, like, if we get married, like, our wedding night will not be as special as tonight is for me. Yeah, yeah. Everyone's here. It's just like. That was weird when you closed your special saying that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, because like all these people show up and like you do this thing that's like insane. You never thought you could do.

Yeah. And it's just weird. It's a cool feeling. It's a milestone. It's a really cool feeling that all these people turn up. You get to headline a uh you know whatever i did a small theater right it was great i i never thought even though it's such a small in the grand scheme of things a small achievement just to be able to do it and pull

it off it's huge man yeah it feels small but oh it feels huge but it is i don't i don't have to minimize it. Think about the first time you did an open mic. Right. Exactly. And then flash forward to that. Yeah. And all the steps in between.

Right. Yeah. And there's something special about when people come specifically to see you. Yeah. Not that you're just a guy that's on the monitor. It's very humbling. It's crazy. It's unbelievable.

Right. Because they want you to succeed. Yeah. Compared to you going to a room, say you working magoobies or wherever this crowd is blank yeah it's like make me laugh yeah yeah so but if people are coming in like they're excited yeah yeah i want to be you know on camera or scene be a part of the show absolutely yeah and i think just beyond doing a special which is huge but the catharsis that's going to happen from telling this story, too. It's going to be huge, man. It's been the best form of therapy for me. Even when I went to real therapy, it doesn't touch what it feels like to tell this from front to back, to hear the laughs, to get off stage, and then people come to me and say, hey, I died,

or I had a similar experience, or I have bad asthma, or my kids went through something. Right. And then we had this, like, real genuine moment, and it feels like it served a purpose. Yeah. Nice. Yeah.

So I tell people, like, the special is not just a comedy special for me. It's much of a testimony. Wow. It's me thanking God that I'm able to stand here on this stage in front of my city and tell these jokes about my life and about the good parts, about the shitty parts. Yep. To hear you laugh, to come back at me. Yeah. And to just be here.

Like, it's just to be sitting here and talking to y'all. Oh, my this shit every day i mean i still get stressed i still worry about stuff but the perspective that it gives you is so insane right it's like yo can i really be mad that comcast overcharged me for some shit yeah i'm not dead right god damn i try to check everything against that right like okay i'm pissed that my son just spilled soda all over the kitchen floor, but I'm here to clean it up for him. Like, what would it be if I didn't come back? Because my son's just in the kitchen with mommy now, and it's her trying to say and find new creative ways to explain that daddy's not here. And that scares me to fucking death. Just being in the hospital bed, too. I'm sure you were like, I'd give anything to clean up a mess right now yeah my kids you know um so it gives you that appreciation

just of of all of it right right you know the good the bad it's like i'm here for it absolutely dude so yeah i'm excited to uh yeah to just present this to people yeah because i i saw you tell pretty much just the the story kind of front to, maybe a little truncated. Right. The time for ragtime. But it was great. I was really proud of you because you, I mean, you might have done like a little crowd work in the beginning, but that was about it.

Just kind of like settling in. Yeah. And then Jason just told the story front to back. Yeah. And it's about like about a half hour, I think. Yeah. And I thought it was great. Thank you.

It was really great to see. So I'm sure with everything mixed in it's going to be for sure quite the hour but because i'm trying to boil it down to more like 20 that's the goal yeah but i mean i was i was really proud of you just because you did sit in those moments and they weren't uncomfortable but it was this is you being vulnerable and honest right and people appreciating that yeah and then so it does kind of build attention too and when that joke comes it is a big release it's a big one yeah yeah and it's relatable too because we all like you're saying even if you don't have a story like that there's somebody in your family or a loved one or whoever is has it helps get you give you perspective yeah you know like you get

like i get mad about dumb shit and you're right oh look at this guy like in the grand scheme of things yeah exactly right right and every day is not going to be one of those grand scheme days no but it helps kind of pull you back yes every once in a while yeah yeah man i'm just super excited to nice to have people come out and laugh and i love that you're doing it man it's it's great thank you thank you it's very exciting and uh yeah i like that you're kind of leaving it open to like this is the last one. That's the last. I don't know. So I'm taking the rest of the month off after the special.

Good. So I'll come back to stand up in January, you know, fresh. Yeah, that's cool. I mean, take the holidays. Chill. Yeah. Yeah. And then we'll probably be in post-production for, you know, a month or two.

And hopefully, you know, this thing will be out, you know, not going to say no names right now, but, you know, somewhere, you know, by maybe March or so. Nice, dude. Sweet. But you know where? We got some strong possibilities. Yeah. I like that.

Good for you, bro. Coming out in the spring? Rebirth? Right. Rebirth? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're really staying on brand. I like that.

I like that. December 1st. Go to centerstage.org. Absolutely. Buy your tickets. There's an early show and a late show, so whatever you want. And now, Jason, that's your story. Now, Omar, I understand you almost fainted.

No. I can say that for next week. Right. I'm building a whole hour around it. Yeah, yeah. Cool. Love it. All right.

Any shows coming up you want to plug? I'm headlining the improv, DC improv. Wow. This upcoming weekend, November 9th and 10th. Cool. Two shows each night. Marty Litwack. Oh, nice.

So he's opening. And so I'm there the 9th and the 10th. Where am I at? Wednesday, I'm at some place in Charleston, West Virginia. What's it called? Abolitionist Ale Works or something like that. Sounds like a setup. Sounds like a setup. Right, right. Charleston, West Virginia. What's it called? Abolitionist Ale Works or something like that. Sounds like a setup. Sounds like a setup, right, right.

Charleston, West Virginia? I've never even heard of it. Something like that, somewhere. Yeah. Not Plantation Manor. Right. Yeah. Yeah, and then just a bunch of like one-nighter headline spots leading up to it.

People can check out your website too, right? Yeah, yeah, for sure. JasonWilliamsComedy.com. Check that out. And Instagram's at JasonWilliamsComedy.com. Check that out. And Instagram's at Jason Williams Comedy. That's it. Cool. Yeah.

So definitely go check that out in D.C. if you're down there. And let's see. On the 15th, I'll be closing out the wind-up space here in Baltimore. And then on the 23rd and 24th, I'll be at Magoobie's featuring for Joe Mattarese. Nice. Just coming to Gin and Jokes every first Thursday. And that's my only date in town. Hell yeah.

Cool. And follow us on all the social media stuff. I'm at Josh Kodern. And then the Dig Sesh has a Facebook page and Twitter and all that stuff. Cool. So, dude, Jason, thank you again for doing the show, man.

Thank you so much. This is great. All right. David Koechner, take us out. Dig Russian Sessions! Come on to an end. Thank you. Bye.