The Digression Sessions - Ep. 30 - Hampton Yount

Episode Date: March 27, 2012

Hola Digheads! On this week’s show comedian Hampton Yount  skypes in for an interview w/ them Dig Sesh boys. Hampton has been in the stand up game for over 7 years. He won the DC Improv Comedy Competition in 2008, has worked as a creative consultant on Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory and is currently a creative consultant on Ridiculousness on MTV. We discuss a whole bunch of ish, w/ Hampton such as: the baja men, working at MTV, comedic Everests, comedy careers,  juggalo names, new golden age of comedy,  Spanish radio, and Hampton interviews Mike and Josh a little bit! Download Hampton’s album “Unbearable” at HamptonYount.com. All proceeds go to Joe Deeley. And check out the brand spanking new DigressionSessions.com !! Don’t forget to rate, subscribe, and provide a nice comment on the iTunes!! It’ll help the podcast climb the gosh danged chart  Follow us on the Twitters:  @DigSeshPod @JKuderna @MichaelMoran10 @HamptonYount

Hey, what up, big heads? Welcome to episode 30 of the Digression Sessions podcast. How the hell are ya? I'm one half of your favorite pair of earbuds here, Josh Koderna. On this episode, we interview comedian Hampton Yunt. Hampton started his stand-up career in the D.C and he's now based out in la he recently released his first stand-up album unbearable late last year and it's available on hampton yunt.com hampton is selling his cd on a donation model on his website and all all proceeds go to comedian Joe Dealey,

who's a DC comedian who's having some health issues right now. So it's a great album. I downloaded it. Very funny stuff. Check it out, and the proceeds go to a good cause. So it's a win-win there. Please check it out. Also check out digressionsessions.com

It's new. All the episodes are there. There's a forum. Write stuff on the forum. Leave replies. Comment on things. Please check it out. digressionsessions.com Also follow us on Twitter at digsesshpod, at jcoderna,

at michaelmoran10, and at hamptonyunt. Yo-u-n-t all right enjoy the show hello hey how's it going? Good. How are you? Can you see me? Nope. Nope. Not unless you look like a...

Yeah, are you just a white head that's not connected to your shoulders? That's pretty close. Are you related to the men's room model? Yes. I knew it. You have a beautiful blue... Nepotism. You have a beautiful blue wall behind you, too.

Did you paint that yourself? Wow. I can't hear anything. Is that running water? No, it's my dog scratching. Let me go take care of that, actually. This is a really professional podcast. Did you hear it gunshot in the background?

I'll take care of that. I'll take care of this. But it's the dog with the gun. of this But it's the dog with the gun What? But it's the dog with the gun The dog killed him I'm sorry Hamden Hold on one second

I can't hear anything Oh okay Say something Hello how's it going? Okay yeah my cord wasn't plugged in all the way Alright Now what were you asking? I was just saying,

I was tagging on to the idea that the gunshot, but the dog was killing him. The dog comes back in holding Josh's severed head. What happened to the gunshot? I don't know why a gunshot would sever his head.

I handled the problem. Now, let's never speak of that dog again. So, what's up, Hampton? Why can't we see you? Not much. Am I on? Is it recording already?

Yeah, this is the show, unfortunately. Now we'll edit it so it's not awkward. There'll be more dog talk. That's what we need in this show. Welcome back to dog talk with Han and Yow. You're out with dog talk in the morning. Hampton, it's time for you to bark up the right tree with us. Let's get a woof woof if you're with us.

Time to unleash Hampton. Just an hour of who let the dogs out. Lucky collar. Collar number seven. This guy's in the dog house. If the Baja men were really a team, they would just work together to get the dogs back in. They finally caught the guy who let the dogs out. Right.

Yeah, he was shot on the streets of Jamaica. They're a detective team. No, seriously, we have to find the fucking guy. They managed to stretch that song into 13 seasons of a Showtime original series. Well, the beginning of the music video, it's like the guard of the dog kennel is just really flustered. He looks like Carl from Family Matters.

Who let the dog? I can't believe you remember that. I remember that too, actually. This is really funny because I was like, he looks really concerned. God damn it. Who let the dog? You should be worried about catching the dogs before they kill someone. God damn it Who let these dogs out? You should be worried about catching the dogs Before they kill someone

Yeah Like maul a child It was probably some kid man You gotta go catch those dogs It'd be funny if the end of the song was like Because they have rabies So seriously Seriously who

Who Or there should just be like some serious message at the very end like 50,000 dogs a year if you know one of these dogs or you are one what if it had like the panels in the middle like the the soul asylum video

like poochie missing since 1992 I just yeah I like the idea that it becomes like, in the arms of Sarah McLachlan, guest star. Sad pictures of dogs.

I think I tweeted recently that it was like, that commercial wouldn't be as sad if the music over it was LMFAO. Then it'd be kind of like, oh, it's cool. Cool dog. She's cool. She likes dogs cool she likes dogs look at her she's like the party yeah what is your uh your twitter hampton it's uh at hampton yunt so y-o-u-n-t right right i follow you on the twitters hampton um on the twitters you are a funny funny man oh thank you um you paid me to say that so

you're welcome uh it wasn't a lot yeah it's still every little bit he would have thrown in a third funny for another 20 grand yeah another 20 we know you make the big bucks i know you're working on that mtv show is he working on mtv all right yeah yeah really oh hampton you you have got to get the bahaman back on there well it's kind of interesting because like just this last week they kind of like they had this meeting with everybody all at once and they were kind of like it's been great like this season's way better and blah blah blah and then the very last thing he said was like oh by the way we're gonna have to lay off some writers oh is there any way you can introduce me to adam curry adam curry who's that adam curry remember the guy in like the late 80s with the like mullet the big

blonde mullet i didn't have uh like cable tv till an adult you know cable satellite so you don't even remember when mtv had music videos no no you know, it's the most out of life. Oh, that explains a lot. So you don't even remember when MTV had music videos? No. Okay. You know what's funny? Everybody who complains about, like, oh, they don't play music videos anymore, I kind of noticed. I was like, you know, but you're kind of at the age where you would hate the music videos

they would play. Is it really that great of a loss? They play for teens, and you would hate that. Yeah. You're basically like, why aren't they playing Bob Seger videos? Right. Skidded on all goddamn day. Where's Yo MTV Raps?

Yeah, I know. I just find this really funny. So what are you working on with MTV? Please tell me it's a new version of Singled Out. No, but I know Chris Hardwick and he's... You were on the uh the

nerdist podcast uh comedy special which leads me to my next question was it the biggest thrill of your life to perform at high tops in timonium maryland um yeah that was that's it that's its own kind of everest yeah high tops timonium that's uh the kind of Everest. Yeah. High-type simonia. That's the one T-Brad runs, right? Remember that one where – I loved that show. I mean, it was really fun. Remember when there was like a bunch of drunken frat boys that came from a wedding?

And you were like going back and forth with them? Yeah, that was actually funny. I think I would have not remembered that. That was hilarious. You know, I only get that loose if I have a really long set. Right. You seem like the type of guys who would be comfortable saying the word faggot casually.

Yeah. And one of them's like, I wrote that on his back last night when he was passed out. I know. They right away were like, I do. You do know me. I i know that was so funny because i was like well this is kind of a harsh insult but they were like nope that's totally right yeah yeah yeah this guy gets me finally you complete all my life it was like that they weren't in on

the joke the entire time like they really thought that like you were like down with them you know they had no idea they were being there's kind of a way to insult people which is like kind of like a jovial way where it's kind of like you phrase things as questions or something like to that rather than just being like you guys are assholes or you guys suck you know you kind of phrase it something like you know what's it like working at the cell phone store or something like that you know and then it's like then they have to respond like i don't work at a cell phone okay now i don't work there anymore all right yeah oh what like they fired you yeah that's something you know this isn't particularly funny, but I'm more pointing out how it would be constructed.

Right, right. How long have you been doing stand-up, Hampton? I guess close to seven years. Wow, okay. And you started out in the Virginia area? Yeah, Virginia, D.C. You grew up in Virginia, right? Yeah, yeah.

Warrington, Virginia, which is a very small, small town. I grew up in Harrisonburg. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yep. I went to school in Blacksburg. Oh yeah. My sister went to school in Blacksburg. Have you noticed that, uh, there's a, what is it?

Christiansburg, Lynchburg, Blacksburg. Blacks Run also. Wow. You got it? That's fucking weird, right? Yeah, I've noticed that before. Blacks Run. There's also the town of Hampton, Virginia,

where there is Blacks Head Road, where it was actually lined with the heads of murdered slaves at one point. Oh, come on. I swear to God, after the nat turner massacre when when they uh they went around and killed like every slave they could find and like it's so disturbing to hear like uh facts like that in history you're like oh that was only 150 years ago yeah yeah even it wasn't that long ago even something took place in like the 50s you know like from the South, they would get more votes.

They're like, I hate black people. Yeah, me too. This guy needs another term. Yeah. I guess the straight up Genghis Khan idea of just putting dead people's heads lying around. That's where I'm like, that's crazy. What's funny is probably the sheriff of the town was like helping you at the time.

Oh, absolutely. He was like, yeah, we're going to make a good path here. It's going to look really nice when it's all done. You can feng shui this just like this. I was thinking of a joke the other day, which is that like on the Ten Commandments, they don't have... I was raised Catholic, so it's like every one of them is a hell-worthy offense. Wow, we're the only two Catholics in Virginia, by the way. We continue. I see you at a mass.

Can't believe you guys found each other. That's so awesome. I guess the thing was just that on that list, they don't have rape or slavery but like they do have lying somebody could have been raping their slave and looking at somebody who's lying and been like hey man you better look you gotta act right man that fish you caught was much smaller than that now get your life together while i continue raping the slave. As soon as I'm finished up here, you're going to have some hell to pay. Is it lonely there on your rape pedestal? Oh, man. All right. So you've been in stand-up for about seven years. When did you decide to

go out to L.A.? About two years ago. on what was the uh the big turning point where you're like i'm gonna i'm gonna go for this like a complete frustration like i felt like a year had been spent in virginia where i was just doing the same thing like same thing as in just performing at the same clubs for the same people yeah it felt like i had hit like a level of like okay this is like there was i didn't feel like there was much more opportunity for growth like i'd learned what i could from the area right right so that you know there it's kind of funny there's you know ideas about this where it's like you know you just change your surroundings and then it you know it changes you so i always kind of was, if I move to a place where there's a lot of funnier people,

not slight to people in D.C., but there are some of my comedy heroes in L.A. Right, and there's just a higher... I get to see them and meet them and everything. That makes you want to raise your game. Sure, yeah. And there's just a higher concentration of comedians as well, like super funny, super talented people. Yeah, it's nuts.

I mean, like I live in an apartment, but then it's like just, you know, a house down, a house across the street and a house the other way. Like there's all three different comics, you know. Wow. Comics everywhere, you know. And what's your address? Are you being serious no no that's cool um so yeah so when you went out to la how did how did that work i mean did you have something set up out there already or were you just gonna move and start doing stand up and hit the ground running i didn't have a job i mean i hadn't even really been employed in Virginia for very, you know, not.

I've been like touring basically to make money with the comedy. So doing like little one nighters, which the second I moved to L.A. were then not, you know, I wasn't able to tap into that anymore. Right, right, right. So, yeah, you know, I kind of moved out blind. I started living on couches and stuff and I had a ton of money saved. So I got an apartment, and then that dwindled, and then I don't know. And what's your bank account routing number? Did you have to go back to working like a regular job when you moved to L.A.?

Actually, I never had to get a... I applied for forever, but the fact is I never finished college and I don't have a ton of work experience. I mean, I couldn't get anything other than working at a fast food place. Wow. And now you're a writer for an MTV show. You're the antithesis of everything they teach.

You're like, fuck college. I'll work at MTV. That's every teenager's dream and you're living it. No, it's funny. I always tried to put it to my parents where I was like, you know, if my career choice is like comedy being a comedian or writing comedy, then like the real school is doing stand up and like starting to learn it. And it takes years. So in a way, like I felt like I was getting an education, but just in, you know, stand up and comedy and entertainment. Right, right, right on. And yeah, so, you know, when I moved out here, I had probably I think I had eleven thousand dollars saved from like road shit.

I also work. Yeah, yeah. I would work for my dad. Well. I would work for my dad. Well, I would work for my dad also to help kind of subsidize, which was, I mean, which was just like yard work and shit like that. So that would like. Is your dad hiring right now? Yeah, probably.

Excellent. He's always looking for extra help. He lives on a big, big property. So there's like a lot lot of chopping down trees and stuff at any given time. Removing the blackheads. Put them in a pile. Oh, man.

That's me. Commercial for blackhead removal. Oh, I thought you meant the past. I know, but I was thinking of the double entendre, like the purest strip. Blackhead removal. Oh, that dog is just being a dog. I guess it's kind of – I coasted on that for a long time.

I just would always try and live the cheapest way possible. So I'd sometimes stay in my car. I'd stay on couches. I lived in my girlfriend's place for a while. I wasn't trying to scam anybody. I was really trying to find a job, but there was just nothing. Either fast food places, they're not going to hire me because if I'm being frank, I'm a white guy,

and it's Los Angeles, California. It's like every person there mainly speaks Spanish. So the fact that I wouldn't be bilingual, it just wouldn't be multilingual or bilingual right it just wouldn't be helpful to them so i kind of understood that you only like girls what my fix bilingual is bisexual bilingual bisexual nothing wrong with that excuse me because i got the joke but then i I was like, well, bi, wouldn't that mean I like girls and guys? Yeah, but you said you're not bilingual.

Oh, good point. Yeah, I just like guys. I just go one way. Yes. We are going to get some Mark Maron Todd glass numbers with this episode. I'm so pumped. Finally, someone comes out on our show. I know. We've been trying. We've been trying to get the most closeted people we can find.

That's our only goal. We figure if that episode of the Marc Maron one did the numbers it did, then we should specialize in only having guests on who may potentially come out of the closet. Yes. That's our niche. It's a savvy plan. Did that episode actually do like better like way better numbers or something oh well i assume so but just because i saw it like

it was on the huffington post comedy section i'm fairly yeah i don't know for sure but i i do know it is pretty yeah just tons of people were talking about it the numbers that that podcast gets i really sometimes wonder i'm like is this just for like stand-up comedy nerds because of the the guests that he gets are mostly stand-up comedians and they just kind of talk about the philosophy of stand-up and i feel like the vast majority of people i know that listen to it are stand-up comedians yeah but he also has a deal where it's played on public radio in some sections of the country and stuff like that. I think the Nerdist at least, like they'll get like Wilco or Conan O'Brien. Right.

Or like they got like Neil deGasse Tyson. Yeah, that was great. They're always trying to get like, you know, different types of entertainment, you know. Do you think you'll actually guest on The Nerdist at any time? Because you just did like a... No, I mean, not in the foreseeable future. I would have to get some sort of extreme following or get some sort of great TV credit.

That's the only way. Just wait until this podcast is released. I mean, GLAAD is going to put their full support behind you. It's going to be great. I wouldn't expect them to. Yeah, yeah. is yeah i mean glad is gonna put their full support behind you it's gonna be great yep i wouldn't expect them to you know yeah yeah i mean that's right yeah and you don't want to be like hey uh so what am i gonna be on the show technically i did it you know right you did uh you did great by the way it was yeah it was awesome it was uh yeah i i saw you at high tops and then uh when i

found out you were gonna be on the show i was like oh that's fucking that's awesome so yeah like whenever i whenever i want i can always like when i do shows around town i can be like i was on the nerdist right yeah that's great then people go oh was he interviewed and then you're like oh you gotta go and then uh yeah then you just throw a smoke bomb and you get the hell out of there it It's very funny because people just have a weird way of using their credits out here. People will be like, I've seen on Chelsea lately. And then you find the thing that they were on and they were on it for like a half a second. But that's just the way it goes. Yeah, or it was a guy in the audience that was clapping.

I was on Chelsea lately. Check the IMDB, bro. Front row center. I was street interviewed on the news a year ago. Yeah, and speaking of numbers, you put out a CD in December called Unbearable. Yeah, yeah. Correct.

And you're giving that away on your website. Well, not really giving it away but it's a donation uh process yeah right now uh i did put out a cd i'd had it for uh two years i was selling it on the road and people it was very you know seen favorably uh but i just wanted to kind of retain control of it and not go the route of releasing it through a company. Right. Just so everything was going to be very direct. My own marketing and like numbers come directly back to me.

A lot of stand up comedy record labels like they have deals where like if you say say you reach like 10,000 or something sales units then the numbers get skewed completely different like you no longer make as much as you were making. It seems dicey. Shouldn't it be the opposite? Shouldn't you have incentive to sell a whole lot of records?

No, because the record label industry is so dying. They want to keep the profits from there. They figure if the guy's doing so well, if he's going to keep the profits from there so yeah exactly so they figure if the guy's doing so well if he's going to sell 10 000 plus then why not make all the money it's like yeah once something like reaches a certain number then their whole promotion your promotion machine would have to change yeah and therefore you're spending more money to uh produce that

artist right they're they're marketing and everything. So, you know, I can kind of understand it. But anyway, so, yeah, I just it's for digital download on my website, HamptonYunt.com. HamptonYunt.com. And donations are accepted. And right now I'm just taking all the donation money and I'm just sending it to my friend, Joe Dealey, who's sick right now yeah i i um i heard about that um so people if people wanna uh get a good comedy record i i feel it'll all go to a guy who's a very very uh good person and uh he needs you know help uh he had a stroke and uh every he's beloved

by the dc yeah nobody's a unkind word to say about him yeah there was actually an article um justin schlegel wrote for laughspin.com that's actually on there and uh yeah i know i i haven't met him but i hear uh he was a really nice guy who just offered to videotape your sets and do a bunch of stuff for free. Yeah, he was hard to meet probably in the last couple of years because he just – I don't know if his health was – his health has been kind of fine, I guess. Right, right. it's you know he was he was good but i feel like he wanted to focus on his family a little bit he was also a little bit older than yeah you know the younger comics uh but he would do um all of the geek comedy tour stuff like with uh chris berlick and evan valentine and all these guys so they and jimmy merritt and they would just all go through the area doing uh shows at like comic cons and stuff like that and right he was really well there you know right that's awesome they definitely all had

their their audience you know right right yeah and uh not to blow smoke up uh your ass but the album is great i uh oh thanks man yeah i gave you 10 bones so thank you just kidding i didn't pay for it what am i crazy just kidding no i i paid for it i um i'm actually starting a comedy label of my own for uh like the baltimore scene so uh i don't know so yeah it's just really encouraging like i i love comedy records do you feel that are you getting are you getting a lot of downloads do you feel it's a good way like what was what was the ambition to do a comedy record for you is a good way to like word of mouth kind of get it out there it's same with you i'm just like a huge fan of comedy records like i get like a new stand-up album like once a once a week you know i i just love them i love podcasts yeah so i guess my thing my goal like from year two was just like okay how do i start writing

in a way that like i could compile this an album together right but like there or an hour like there that would just be like uh not a theme per se but like things would flow together how do i construct that and now now that i've done it i I feel like my next step is either to do another one or to – for this one, I would have to be financed or something to do a DVD or something, some sort of release like that because I guess for the new stuff, the new hour, it's very physical. Yeah. So I worry if it would translate the same to an album.

Right, right. I can't imagine what a Jim Carrey album would do. Yeah, I don't think he ever did one. And it's not like the jokes are dumber. There's a lot more physicality and act out. Yeah, do you like Charlie Chaplin on CD? Right. These kind of weird things, yeah. Charlie Chaplin on CD. Right. These kind of weird things, yeah.

Charlie Chaplin on CD, that's funny. But it's just like a guy dictating what Charlie Chaplin is doing. Uh-oh, in trouble again. And now he's getting up. He's dusting himself off. That hammer is way too large for practical use. There seems to be some sort of high society gentleman. His mustache is

shaking about wildly. Wildly shaking about hither and thither. Like prohibition music in the background. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah, so I'm excited to see that there's still comedians releasing records and I love podcasts and everything that's going uh i yeah so i'm excited to see if there's still comedians uh releasing records and

i love podcasts and everything that's going on right now i think it's just like another golden age of comedy that we're in right now i mean there's so much comedy out there i almost guarantee you that it will go kind of like how my my thing went but on a much like better scale where like people just are going to independently release their stuff yeah because the the the technology is there like yeah you had to go to a record label or something but now like people are youtube famous and become youtube comedian you know or comedians through their youtube channel or you know through twitter and maybe that's all kind of gone now for like those people have risen to the top and now we need like some sort of new technology to come right the market first skype famous like comedians

we're working on you have a great face for skype by the way you have a beautiful egg-shaped head you must have been born through cesarean i guess the point is there's a difference between like broadcasting and narrow casting and broadcasting is where you're just like hitting all the targets and then like your fans you know hopefully you'll get some fans out of this like narrow casting is like you're just trying to specifically hit your 5 000 10 000 fans yeah yeah and give them a product once a year that's like 20 or so right they give them a reason that they'd want to buy it and if all the proceeds are going directly to you then you are a working artist you are a guy who's living off his art

yeah and it's it's so interesting too with uh louis ck releasing his album i mean uh his dvd the way that he did um you know yeah that's like on the much larger scale yeah I mean just but and the thing too is that he was worried that people were going to steal it and torrent it and the way that he defended against that he just said guys don't steal this and they're like okay he sold it for

five bucks which is a cheap price and then he made over a million dollars it was insane if I had set five bucks which is a cheap price and then he made over a million dollars it was insane wow yeah exactly like if i had if i had set a price of ten dollars for the cd right i think good or bad it that wouldn't have worked as well because honestly i mostly get ten dollars donations yeah yeah but the fact is if you tell someone, I feel like it would have, you know, like, people want to feel like they're doing a good thing or they're contributing, you know? Honestly, one of the things that kind of inspired it was I was watching an interview with the insane clown posse.

This is how a lot of inspiration starts for him and Jan, I think. I just think they're so interesting. But the fact is, they're, like, business-wise, they're incredibly savvy. Really? They own all the rights to their stuff. They made a really good example, which I was surprised at, for the Insane Clown Posse, where they're like, if Radiohead sells 25,000 albums, that're with uh if they're with a major label

but like if we sell 25 000 albums like i get to buy my mom a house and yeah because all that money goes to them yeah exactly and then and then kind of funny like not too long after radiohead then like made their own you know they did their own like digital release all started with the insane cloud yeah they were watching the same interview. Did you see what Shaggy2Dope just said? Violent J, you're a genius. You may not know how magnets work, but you know how business works. My big Juggalo name is Hatchatory Rape.

Hatchatory. They're crazy. Oh, that's perfect. do juggalo names exist is that a thing yeah yeah really yeah everybody you're supposed to come up with your own like juggalo name and it has to be something violent or just probably it doesn't mean it doesn't have to, but it certainly helps. I mean, their music is very violent, but I don't know if that is necessary for the name. I mean, you could also do it about weed smoking, which I think a lot of people do. Can I call mine Baltimore-tuary? That'd be pretty good.

Yeah. Yeah, so what was I going to say? gonna say oh yeah so everything's kind of changing too like uh jim gaffigan's releasing his album or his dvd through his website zero five bucks yep oh wow does he have a new one yeah yeah i think it comes out either next month or the end of this month but yeah i hope he talks about food on it hey you know i'm thinking he will it's it's brilliant i it's so great because it's like this is really interesting how it all kind of like follows these podcasts and interviews i'd been following for since i started comedy yeah where i was listening to this this comic a lot

called stewart lee and he was always talking about how he was like you just have to reach this small audience but just like really like hit them like narrowly like do material do stuff that like you they will like and you like and it's just specific you know right and uh he would liken it to like jazz musicians where you know like in present day you're like well who the fuck listens to jazz well it's like the people that listen to jazz fucking love jazz like they're in it to win it and they only listen to jazz and they only listen to these three musicians right they will go spend a hundred dollars to go listen to them once a year yep you know what i mean and it's uh it's just very interesting because it's like it i think it's almost the proper way to kind of do art because there's less compromise. There is like you're doing specifically what you want.

It will attract the audience. Yeah, right. And things are maybe more pure. Yeah, and ideally you get better as an artist too if you're actually putting yourself out there versus trying to mold yourself into something you know that's funny because people always talk about that with doug stanhope where they go like is he getting worse because it's just for his audience but like the thing that you know i i would also contend you you're possibly getting worse if you're just trying to appease everybody yeah yeah you know i mean there's different there's different levels i love the name of his new album too

because the way that it's the way that it's printed and people are talking about it's like Doug Stanhope releases new album before turning the gun on himself. Because that's really before turning. Yeah. Is that intentional? There was a bootleg going around, not of that, but of a different like of his. I think it was his last his last album's material but it's just been going around and it was titled that oh wow it was titled that because he says that in the act like there was something like yeah i think my next special will be called before turning the gun on himself right right and i think uh that just shows like he's really in touch with his

fans like he knows the names yeah the bootlegs of his act like it is it is an intentional like reference to the fact that his fans like like his material so much that they're like you know bootlegging the hour and then they go they go by the hour when it's all completed you know like right yeah even though they heard it over a year ago they're in it to win it yeah i can barely even keep track of all the names of the bootlegs that have been made of me there's bootleg one i got all balts of mortuary shit man i got all that hot shit all that hot shit you All that hot shit. He just guest-tracked with Hatchetory Ray. Great. So how did you get in touch with Chris Hartwick initially?

Well, I kind of weaseled my way. Kidnapped his family. Look at me now. I don't know. It's funny because when I moved out to L.A. now, things did kind of change perspective where it's like, it's not that weird to just ask Chris or to know Chris. Like these people are just everywhere. You know what I mean? Like Paul F. Tompkins is at shows all the time. There's just like really good comics always at

shows and stuff like that. So I was very friendly with the Sklar brothers. Okay. Yeah. Jason and Randy. Like the what? Randy and Jason Sklar. Yeah. Yeah.

They have a new album, which is very great. Uh, they, um, we were just hanging out. I was planning like some like trip back home and I was doing kind of the research on just what was,

um, going on. It was for, for doing comedy, a trip back to the East coast basically. And I was just researching of the research on just what was going on. It was for doing comedy, a trip back to the East Coast, basically. Right. And I was just researching what was going on. And I noticed that Chris Hardwick was playing the draft house. And I said, like, oh, I could, you know, like, this is a weekend that I don't have anything going on.

I should ask if I can feature. This was months ahead of time. So I just asked, you know, know like i through the scars but also through myself just to be like these guys you know will vouch that i'm a you know a good feature right and yeah yeah i mean it's not really a sheisty thing to do either yeah exactly like it was it was to his you know it was a mutually beneficial thing right right and uh he was like right away like yeah sure sure no problem which is so funny because it's like to a middling comic, it's like a big deal to get a feature weekend.

It's like, oh, thank God. But like to the headliner to give it, it's kind of just like, oh, all right. Yeah. Sure. Sure. I'll like change your career. I don't give a shit. Whatever.

So I did a show at the draft, and they were like 400 people just like packed, insane shows. And they were like really, really good. And we talked a lot backstage and just kept in touch. Yeah, yeah. And then he was like when he did his next comedians you should know thing, he hit me up. That's awesome awesome yeah those uh yeah i love to see what those guys are doing uh mike and i actually went and saw them at the 9 30 club when they did the live podcast oh yeah and it sold out it was insane

yeah it was it was the podcast honestly does better than i think than his stand-up right like like the selling of tickets right i mean it was uh it like just seeing this mass of white people like lined around the block to just go watch people talk on stage at a table you know i mean they did they did stand up before area too so yeah right um yes yeah we were there to watch them just talk like have a conversation they did stand up before and that was that was good but i mean oh plus plus i'm very friendly with with jonah ray so that that uh that was definitely a help he was actually i did a show with him like i won the dc improv whatever funniest comedian thing and i did a show with jonah ray because like he he was coming

through the area and on like a special thing for him he was like hey are any comics out there like who want to be on you know on our show can you like send videos and we'll see who we pick and then they picked me so that plus the dc improv thing i was like that was like a huge career like turning point where i got like incredibly confident after that. Right. Because I was like, OK, like I feel like that made me realize I wasn't just like dicking around. How many years into it did you get that? Two and a half.

Wow. I was just like, I need to take this like super seriously. Right. Right. And I and I did. And yeah. So what did you do when you decided to take it seriously like what did that mean for you that was like every day all day work on comedy it was it was like i mean before i think when i started out i was going for like the first three

months it was once a month so for three times once a month or sorry um you know what i mean like once a month for three months right and then i started going uh once a week for like the first year because i never thought to go anywhere else like i was just went to this one club called wise acres okay and it just never occurred to me to like go to other places that weren't open mics and then i started going to more but then like after that i was like every night two two open mics two shows whatever all day just work on material right and it that that was like a big change. Did you have a day job at that point? Not really. Like I kind of, I worked sporadically at some companies.

I worked at like this startup that was like trying to be like the next Facebook. So I worked for that. Myspace. Myspace. Myspace too. It's just called myspace christianmingle.com christianmingle.com christianmingle.com um i just said christianmingle.com like four times in three seconds christianmingle.com that's an advertisement actually for christian mingle are you talking about christianmingle.com. That's an advertisement actually for Christianmingle. Are you talking about Christianmingle.com?

The premier place to meet beautiful Christians? It's so funny to say Christianmingle.com. Because they're not even implying that you could possibly get laid. It's Mingle. You can just Mingle. I love seeing the ads for Christianmingle too because they're usually a chick with gigantic boobs or something. You know what I mean? Does she have like a nun outfit on?

No. Or a schoolgirl uniform? No, it's just a suggested gal. I'm a Christian. Do they have the sleazy ads up top that are like, get a hug tonight? Get a hug. It's like, shit me. Talk about the New Testament.

Yeah, they don't even get dirty with it. It's just like, single Christians ready to mingle. Oh, snap. You want to talk about the Bible? I worked for that. And I worked for this other company that was doing polling information for Democratic parties before Barack Obama got elected. And so I don't know. Between those two things, I kind of just lived on unemployment and did comedy gigs and did that for the majority of my time in D.C.

Right. Do you think it takes that to really get to the next level in comedy? You really have to devote yourself like that? Yeah. Unfortunately, I really do. Is there any way I can get around it i read something with like jim norton one time like way after the fact that kind of like validated the whole thing with my life because i felt like i was wasting my time at the you know at the time you always feel like am i doing the right thing but he was like was that just in the first couple years where you thought that like that like like am i doing the right thing should i be pursuing yeah the first three years you're just you're just like you don't know if you're funny you don't know like you could you could maybe make some three years, you're just like, you don't know if you're funny. You don't know. Like, you could maybe make some people laugh, but you're not, like, destroying the room.

You're like, you know, people aren't really recognizing that you're funny. Like, fellow comics aren't, like, giving you, like, major compliments yet or anything. Right, right. So, yeah, it's very lonely. And I can totally understand. Like, I feel like that's where majority of people stop. Right. yet or anything right so yeah it's it's it's very lonely and i can totally understand like i feel like that's where majority of people stop right it's within the first three years so did you have like a big uh you know have you bombed a lot of times in those early years sure sure i mean i mean

i think the thing was i didn't particularly care if it if it you know bombed because I was so happy. I was so thrilled to just do comedy because it's what I always wanted to do. Did you get over that hump that people talk about where all of a sudden you just come alive on stage and you're just yourself and you don't even have to really try all that much anymore? No. I mean, I still haven't even really hit that you know what i mean like i still have to kind of think about right what it is i'm gonna do and it sometimes it is like a decision where i'm like oh i should go up there and be really natural tonight like different rooms kind of call for different things you know and you're just like okay this

one i'm going to kind of lead off with a more mechanical approach and then hopefully i can get to the more natural part but you know what i mean like sometimes a room is like hey we want a joke right now like a it's weird man and so you you can't just go up there and be like, I don't know what's going on. Like, I don't know what do you guys want to talk about? They're like, no, we can't. We spent like 50 bucks. We need it like, you know, a hard punch right away. Yeah. Yeah.

Has your improvisational skills developed over the years? Have you gotten it? Because it's really hard for me at this point to banter with the audience. Yeah, it definitely has. I honestly consider all the time where I'm like, oh, maybe I should, before it's too late, get involved in some improv groups or some classes. Before it's too late. Before they cancel improv in 2013. Before they pass Obama-prov.

If I were to just be able to make my living through stand-up I feel like that would be kind of too late because then it's because then it's like you've developed what it is you need to like you know I think there's always room for improv yeah there's always room for improvment we'll be selling those bumper stickers too look out for those i guess if i do if i do a longer set then there's a lot of improv like if i'm doing 45 minutes there will be like a 10 minute like just uh you know whatever riff or something i like to just kind of riff yeah like i never really ask the audience you know what's up what do you want to do uh but if somebody say reacts to a joke in an odd way that's like a great way to like kind of

go off yeah just kind of like if somebody kind of woos at a part that's like you know sad or something or they or they seem bummed at something that's kind of happy you know these are like interesting ways to like you know talk with the audience because you you're talking about you know emotion or just you know the fundamentals of humanity and it can get really interesting you know but um if i'm doing a short set like a five minute set no it practically never fucking happens yeah i don't know and most of the sets out here in LA are like eight minutes, you know? Okay.

So if it's a real, if something's really strong that I feel like, okay, let's riff on this, then I'll go with it. But like, it's very rare. Right.

Right. What, uh, what is your writing process? Do you have like certain topics or certain subjects that you know you're going to talk about and then do you just try to find the beats on stage or do you write like i mean right now yeah a lot of it's writing on stage i just did a show last night where they were like what would you like to talk about like it was gonna the show was prefaced where they're like hampton's gonna come

on stage and talk about blank. And so I was like, well, let's just talk about God because I know, I know I have enough right there. And also I can, I, it's one of the things I'm interested in and so I can kind of riff on it. Like I know enough.

Yeah. And so that was, it was super fun. It was great. You know, like I just did like a bunch of jokes I had, I found it a lot of new angles like a bunch of jokes i had i found a lot of new angles and a lot of connections nice so hopefully i'm gonna try and do more kind of

stuff like that i'd say religion is a very common thing that comes up in my act just because it was like you know a big part of my life for a very long time and now i'm very against it so i feel like there's you know there's definitely a mixture of like it's personal and it's also you know my worldview right so it you know yeah the comedy can naturally come out of that easily enough right right and it's a topic that everybody has some uh relation to yeah one side or the other I don't know recently with material writing it's mostly a lot of weird thoughts right i'm just trying to like burn through right now because it's like i go these have really no place in a long hour they're just like really absurd thoughts right i'm just trying to get them out of my system right right but now yeah that's one of the long stuff it's always like i'd prefer to talk

about kind of larger subjects yeah i was gonna say on your on your record if you look at the topics uh that you speak about you wouldn't really think that they would all be encapsulated on one record you have politics star wars uh the porn awards ge George Washington. Yeah, stuff like that. Conspiracy theories. Right. You're like, how does that all blend together? But it does. You know what I mean?

Well, yeah. Honestly, because I do feel like there's a humanist-like lens that it's all kind of pouring through. Right, right. Because I feel like that's important. It doesn't matter what the – that's very interesting, actually, that you what the material is it has to kind of all though pour through the same filter right you know what i mean right like it has to all share a kind of worldview so when i say like stuff is really absurd i'm like well that doesn't that joke is absurd because it it's not only silly but it doesn't line up with the other stuff oh Oh, okay. You'd go, oh, that doesn't look like it was written by the same guy.

Gotcha. So you kind of want all that. And I think I always like to talk about, like, sex, pornography, and, like, religion, and a little bit of politics. Because you feel like they're all kind of linked. They're all kind of, like, there are kind of, like, underlying themes that they all you know follow those seem to be the things that schizophrenics get obsessed with too

you know what i'm talking about it's always like government conspiracies yeah religion like yeah like having sex with you know like weird sexual things going on obsession yeah right yeah no you're totally you're totally dead right there probably is a larger link there where it's like right the difference between a comic and a schizophrenic is just you know very very small one has a microphone and another thing is i i very rarely like to talk about myself i don't really you see i love talking about i don't like to talk about my my life it's more about how i view the world right but then that sort of puts yourself out there though you know like yeah exactly exactly yeah but you don't like talking about your experiences and

stories about your life what i'm about through the through the things that i talk about so i try and make it all kind of it's another reason to like kind of ditch absurd stuff and just kind of really talk about like what interests me specifically yeah yeah um so what is uh like what's a typical week for you if you're writing on this show and doing sets like how many sets do you do a week uh what's what's writing on a show like and how did you get involved with uh i don't know with with the entertainment biz i got the job through through stand-up um because i uh one of the producers of the show is like a stand-up comic who's very very funny called christian de gay okay it's very funny. He used to be on Mad TV. He's a very funny guy. And we just became really good friends.

And, you know, I guess I just felt like I was doing a good job. I mean, like, I guess he just was like, you know, you seem funny. Let's, you know, let's hire you for the show. Wow. And I never once hit him up about it, you know, which I think also kind of helps. I don't think people particularly, you know, want to be bothered. Yeah. Like no one wants to give you your first chance like, you know, or be bothered to give you your first chance. Like you need like the person to really want to give it to you. Yeah. Because there's.

So you're saying we should stop hounding Vince Neal for an interview. I talk to my manager all the time, and he's just like, you know, the fact that the hardest job you're going to get is the first one you get, because nobody wants to bring in somebody new. Yeah, that's one of the weird...

And that's like, I've done this, I can go to places and pitch shows a lot easier, because it's like, like okay he's worked for something at least he's not like completely you know bat shit crazy right that's one of the weird paradoxes that to get hired you have to have been hired before right yeah no no it's it's very it's very bizarre jim gaffigan has a very similar like story that he's related about the second he got his first TV thing. Then it was like a million things started happening. Yeah.

It's just like the doors open. People go, oh, yeah, I thought he was good all along. I knew it. I always liked that guy. Where do you guys think the term batshit crazy came from? I guess if batshit landed on you, you'd kind of go a little crazy. Really?

I think I'd be mindfully inconvenienced. I don't think it would drive me into psychosis though. Should it be guano crazy? Yeah, should it be guano crazy? Guano loco? Guano loco? I think we just came up with a new album guana go crazy

don't mind if i do doo doo am i right is this thing on hello i'd love to have the spanish guy kind of like going, guano loco. Just as a white person passes by. That's your Hispanic accent. Guano loco. Just picturing having that drop with the super bassy voice. Guano loco.

Guano loco. I am el niño. El niño. El chupacabra. Guano loco. I love on the Spanish stations when they have to mix in stuff like you know that have to be English words yeah exactly like the Spanish station around here it's like

white marshmallow ah si si si that's a great stand up bit the Spanish station around here. It's like, Cinco, Cinco, Loco, Loco, White Marshmallow. Ah, si, si, si. Like, yeah. Oh, that's a great stand-up bit. Yeah, yeah. You should work on that, Josh. That would be a good bit. I'm copyrighted.

And all three of us have it next week. For our version. One day, it's a Disney laugh. Coca-Cola. Let me ask you guys this You think in like the Spanish Or the Hispanic version of the Terminator

When he says Hasta la vista baby Do you think he says like I'll be back And then you know Or no I mean Hasta la vista would be Goodbye And then whatever baby is

Goodbye baby Goodbye baby All right, Hasta La Vista would be goodbye. Baby? And then whatever baby is in Spanish. Goodbye, baby. Goodbye, baby. Yeah. I guess the movie didn't really work in Mexico. I know. I guess, but I say Hasta La Vista all the time. No biggie.

Whatever. That one really didn't catch on. That wasn't a... What? That wasn't an Arnold phrase that really... Hasta La Vista didn't catch on? Did it? Hasta la vista, baby? I mean, did you ever hear that in the schoolyard? I said it all the goddamn time.

Not that I, you know... During the 90s? Yeah. Yeah. I was listening to George Thurgood saying hasta la vista to anybody that would listen. That's my bad to the bone t-shirt. My big dog's bad to the bone t-shirt. Edward Furlow. My work week is very like

i i do a lot of shows i'm up most most of the nights but uh i'd say i i don't know i'm really burned out after work so yeah i don't know writing has of slowed down. I'm happy with a lot of ideas that I've been able to generate recently. But I feel like there's there's certain things that I've allowed myself to work on with stand up like, you know, writing is very important. But like, at a certain point, you also have to go, okay, how can I be a better performer? You know, a performer you are the entertainment and and i feel like that's what i've really been working on in the last like six months is just like sometimes it's the same jokes but just like doing them way better yeah yeah you know really making that connection with people and uh you know that's that's something to work on. So that's interesting. I guess I've been doing that. Right. I mean, if you've been in the comedy game for seven years and, you know, you're still working on being a better performer, that's that's really interesting. Well, yeah. You know, I feel like I got by on a lot of manic energy my

first, you know, you know, a couple years there. And at a certain point, you go, okay, that's, that's fine. And, you know, that's high energy and everything. But is that, you know, really connecting with people, which really makes the world a difference when people feel like you're actually having a conversation with them as opposed to you're telling jokes to them like it's night and day it's it's it's a huge difference right yeah yeah yeah absolutely yeah because i think the audience can pick up on that like a guy that's present on stage versus a guy that's just going through emotions big reason everybody raves about cosby these days or you know say in the last you know 12 years or just forever really but i mean like is that and everyone recently is going okay he does two hours he does maybe four bits

now if you were like okay i want to see jokes That would sound like the shittiest show possible. But if you're into the experience of live performance and stuff, there'd be nothing more magnetic than somebody just relating to you about four things. You know those times you're at a party or something and you have a really deep deep conversation with somebody that you go oh man that was insane like we talked for four hours and we talked mostly about these movies or something like that it was like kind of one singular topic right that's something that you always carry with you and it's like that is kind of the height of stand-up is you talk about the things you want to talk about but you are making the audience also want to talk about these things. Yeah.

And it feels like a conversation that's happening. Yeah, and I think you see that in the bigger comics, too. One of the reasons I think Louis C.K. is popping is because he changed his material to be more personal and more people kind of relate to that in that way. But here's the thing. That's very funny because personal comedy is always, or it's been around for, you know, definitely long enough where it's like you talk about your life and that's what's funny. Yeah.

But he's not only talking about himself in the subject matter in the deepest possible way, but also just watch when he's performing. It's presented in the most deep and personal way. It's like. Yeah, yeah. it's presented in the most deep and personal way it's like yeah yeah to literally give the it's of course it's all kind of manufactured to its you know like it's very spot out yeah but the fact is like say you're starting a joke and then you give up halfway because you're like okay that's not working or something that could be performance wise that's a very like you know personal thing right and that's a very personal thing.

Right, and that's kind of one of the things. He's taking you out of the act right now. So he's applying that kind of thing to a subject matter that's very personal. And then it gives this whole idea of like, okay, I know this guy. I'm watching this guy perform. And I know him. So it's all very interesting and uh that's always a good bailout for stuff well it's all interesting you know what it's something i could talk about for hours so i have to kind of stop myself at a certain point right yeah we're we're comedy nerds too and that's why yes i mean that's one of the

reasons we started this podcast too and i think like we were saying earlier that everybody can do this stuff now and if you're a comedy nerd it's the golden age you know i mean yeah i mean definitely is it definitely is it's its own kind of golden age yeah um so uh digital vaudeville i feel like i didn't digital vaudeville digital vaudeville I feel like I didn't finish the question. So to wrap up real quick, I work on the show. I've been trying to work more on scripts a lot recently and submission packets for other shows and stuff

because that kind of stuff is now coming my way a little bit. Nice, nice. And at times I'm a little... I love stand-up, but sometimes I feel like it doesn't love me. Really? Yeah, so I feel like – I've heard stand-up say very nice things about you, Hampton.

You know, it's – Some very cute girls. Real depression is when things are going great, but you couldn't give a shit. Yeah, that's my – You know what I mean? Like that's like where it's at, where it goes very well. But I just I don't care. It doesn't matter.

Right. OK. Right now, I feel like there's other factors in my life that are kind of contributing to that. So anyway, I'm trying to get work on other shows and try and like finish up some scripts. Cool. So a lot of my writing's going to that and the show so stand up is gonna have to wait till at least the show's over like i'm

performing a lot but like to really like go through this new material and refine it like it's gonna have to wait till after the show right right um so what is your uh ultimate goal i guess are you just trying to ingratiate yourself into the entertainment world further? Just more scripts, kind of writing for shows, stuff like that? Is it going to always kind of be like a versatile thing? Or are you going to go back to like, kind of go through waves of just doing stand-up

and then scripts? Or is it going to be kind of a balance? You know, the thing that I kind of realized with all of that is that, you know, when I was starting out in stand up, it was a very singular pursuit of like, I want to be the biggest stand up in the world. Like, that's the way I think a comic should think. So just move through those first couple years, like you have to be like, I'm gonna do this. I don't care if it's weird what I do. It's gonna catch on. It's to be huge. And you have to believe that. But I think now my pursuit with, with moving to LA and you just see how happy people can be with just doing any number of things. I think my pursuit now is just to do what makes me happy and makes, you know, like it, I would love to like write scripts and just do shows in town, you know, like I'd love to, uh, go on the road. I'd love to, you know, do any

number of things. And I think the real objective is just to keep yourself very open to it. You know, it's not about, cause now like attention's very, it's very divided and i feel like the the thing that you can best do is just be your like my goal is to be hampton young is to just be a happy you know hampton a happy hampton new album title someone's a happy hampton today and it's all when it's all done i just like a guy that feels creatively you know like he's he's doing what he what he wants right i think happy hampton's gonna be a new comedy on nbc this fall that's what i'm envisioning is it because it's alliteration yeah that does it for me it's funny that does it for me and an all- new Double H. A new Happy Hampton.

On a very special Happy Hampton. But every episode I'm like choking on a pistol. Just like ready to kill myself every episode. That's the whole goal of every episode is you try to be happy by the end. I discovered the joy the joy of like writing recently used to always be like oh that's

too difficult but now i'm like this is really creatively fulfilling i feel like there's a lot of um joy and nuance to it like even when things don't sell or whatever like still the creative process is like really fun right yeah i agree can you say what you're working on script wise what that i'm working on yeah did you say like you're trying to work for shows can you say what shows you're working on no no i'm trying to work on oh okay gotcha gotcha yeah yeah yeah i'm i'm working on a show right now so i have to i'm just applying for stuff oh when this job is over right okay gotcha so in doing that i have to like fill out all these like i have to make specific packets

and stuff for them okay and for them that's that networks i have no idea how any of this stuff works like yeah so yeah it'll be like a half hourhour script or monologue jokes or little sketches, but then different variations of that stuff. So sometimes it's like a celebrity-driven sketch or sometimes it's like an absurd thing you're trying to pitch. Sometimes the monologue jokes are constructed a completely different way. Kimmel, Fallon, Leno, Letterman, Ferguson, and The Soup and stuff like that. They all are so incredibly different. How those books are constructed. So just the

kind of learning curve of trying to write in those styles and stuff is very interesting. So I don't know. I just kind of enjoy the whole process right now. Right on. Yeah, it sounds awesome, man. I don't know. I just kind of enjoy the whole process right now. Right on. Sounds awesome. Yeah, it sounds awesome, man.

I think you're – I don't know. It's inspiring that you just went for what you wanted to do, and now it's kind of opening up other doors to do good stuff. So good. Good? So good? Do you feel good about it? Do you feel like you're living the dream?

Do you feel like you're doing the damn thing? Well, I wish you could see my apartment right now and see how shitty I look. So the answer is yes. I'm happy. I don't really require a lot to be happy. Yeah, I'm happy, but I'm also frustrated. And I think that's a part of being an entertainer or being a performer. It's like you're happy, but you're also frustrated. And I think that's a part, that's a part of being, you know, an entertainer or being a performer is like, you're happy, but you're never really totally happy with yourself.

And that's what, you know, pushes you. Yeah. I feel like that's the desire in the beginning. Like we're not people that could be content with just the norm with just having a regular nine to five and, you know, eating out back after work. Like say, like say for this next, if I choose to do a next album, the stakes have been raised. I'm like, I really have to do some connecting themes and do some overlapping ideas

that you realize they connect towards the end. There has to be some sort of denouement that connects all the themes together at the very end. You think so? Yeah. That's the way I think about performing and I think about comedy. It's like, okay, you did the thing. Like I couldn't just go up and do here are an hour of jokes.

But there's comedians that have been around for decades that still do that. That's fine. But that's not their – Your personal goal is to get to that yeah every yeah exactly every performer has different goals right and um mine is kind of in a way it's like to kind of just conquer or pursue like different different aspects yeah you know like i want to write a movie script and sell it i want to write a tv shows thing and sell. I want to write a TV shows thing and sell it. I want to have a, you know, an hour of regular stand up.

And then I want to have one that's like very, you know, intertwined and almost, you know, kind of artistic, but still commercially funny, you know. What kind of movie would you do? I love obsessing about art and stand up. And so I want to give it the same level of interest. That way somebody else will listen to it or read the thing and then realize that there was a level of thought and pursuit in it. Yeah, awesome. What kind of film would you make if you could make one?

Well, the one I'm trying to write right now is about like the apocalypse. It's very dark. It's very dark. The hilarious apocalypse. The hilarious apocalypse. The laugh apocalypse. The four horsemen are splitting their sides actually it's also really about homosexuality and uh and um how they're gonna ruin this country i know and religion so that's that's a big part of it awesome cool man uh i'm trying to think of other stuff to ask but i think uh i think well how are you guys what do you guys think of stand-up um i'll let mike field that question because he's been doing stand-up uh for a while now but what about you you don't do stand-up no i'm i'm getting

i'm getting into it a little bit you will be soon you will be very good soon oh stop he's already good he's done it like twice yeah i'm uh i do improv we're both members of the baltimore improv group and uh and i love big oh yeah or big shout out um yeah but i i love uh i love stand-up so i just i want to get into it but it's uh i'm just trying to get over that hump of worrying about bombing but it doesn't you know it doesn't really matter in the end like if you bomb and there's and that little bit while you're up there i'm thinking like oh this is terrible this is the worst thing ever but the people in the audience are like whatever i bombed i bombed horribly horribly last night and i really don't care like right now you know

how normally when something horrible happens you get that sting for like a day and a half yeah yeah like i honestly just don't care oh my god yeah when i used to bomb when i started i would feel like vomiting yeah it sucks you can't stop thinking about it the next day you wake up and think about it yeah there's that hangover from still like oh i fucked up yeah now i maybe have like a five minute like oh geez right and then i go no that was them yeah once you're confident that you really are funny you know it's like i know people think i'm funny like michael and black thinks i'm funny much like i'm doing jokes that i've done like 500 times right that have worked same way and so if it doesn't work then i can kind of go like, you know what? You guys were weird.

Like maybe I didn't connect as much as I should have, but like the jokes were there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know? Yeah. Yeah, but for me, I don't know. I just love every aspect of comedy. I love talking about it.

I love listening to podcasts, seeing other comedians, seeing it live, improv, just, you know, all aspects of it. So, yeah, I mean, I'm just in the beginning stages, so I think I need to just have more fun with it. I think I respect comedy so much. That's why I worry. And then I forget that it should be fun as well. You know, like, oh, if I bomb, I suck. I'm the worst.

I can't do stand-up. So that's – What's that noise? What noise? That kind of loud uh air movement sound um that might that might be my computer fan actually okay yeah that probably is coming on the podcast you should probably not do that oh okay all right well uh i can't wait to be on your podcast and tell you how to run your podcast because you have computer air conditioning out there. No, I don't.

I don't think it's picking it up. We have Hollywood Hampton over here. All I'm going to say is you don't want to mess with audio nerds. That's all I hear. I've never ran a podcast, but I'm a big fan of like the lavender hour and like the nerdist and stuff and i remember those early episodes yeah like they would get letters and they'd read them where it was like people were like the fuck is wrong with you like why would you have on this oscillating fan why would you have whale sounds in the background why would

you have yeah it would be like a squeaky you you know, like, oh man, it's the worst. Or chewing gum or something. Like, I will fucking kill you. What are you doing? We actually ate pizza on one of our early podcasts. Yeah, that's true. That's disgusting. Yeah, it was just all like.

Yeah. Isn't that the worst when you listen to something and the person has like a mouthful of spit the entire time and coming up next let's do a bunch of other terrible audio stuff we'll listen to a violin do a song about iranian genocide while i chew gum over it what do you guys feel like you want to pursue with uh stand up like what what would be your goal um i would say kind of what you're doing i would love like there's just different aspects or different avenues that you can go down like you want to write scripts and then if you want to do stand up you know what i mean like it's all under the umbrella of comedy still so i'd like to be in a position

like that where if i want to do a set i can do a set or if i'm doing it for me i just i want to be creative for a living i want to not waste tables and be able to do what i love creatively well then don't work for mtv uh well no i i think uh you know it's funny because i think an early judgment i used to have was like, oh, why would you work on that show? Like you just say no or something. But like after a bit, the thing that I kind of realized is like you are like crazy lucky if you get to do it for a living, just anything in entertainment. Right.

It's incredibly difficult. So even if it's like a bad show or something, like I know a lot of people who are attached to like the shows that are critically panned right now like say um are either uh vodka it's me chelsea or whitney or you know these sort of shows that like people seem to oh fuck that like it's despised you know vile but i know like the funniest people in the world who work on those shows right yeah the amount of hate that Whitney gets is really weird to me. It's like, just don't watch the show. Who cares? She's just one of those comedians

that everyone loves to hate, like Carrot Top or who's the other guy, the Get Her Done guy, Michael Richards. Get uh done. Get er. No, no. See see the problem is he said er get uh done uh yeah you know i i know and uh it's it's bizarre you know i mean you just you're the thing i kind of came to the conclusion is like you know there are dumb people there are really dumb people and you know what they need to laugh sitting right here hampton we can hear you half of our fans you need entertainment also

you need our fans are dumb hampton come on stop you know it's not like there aren't smart shows so it's not like it's not like you don't get your smart shows also. Uh-huh. Yeah, there's Ruben for everyone. Whitney was the only thing. Then I'd go, this is a fucking thing. Yeah, well, remember the days of like four channels, four network channels? No, I don't.

Of course you do because you didn't have cable. Yeah, you didn't have cable until like 2009, according to you. Yeah, that's true. But we had about 20 channels. I think that was the count. I remember as a kid was like, we have 20 channels. Whoa. How would you have 20 channels without basic cable?

What kind of scam were your parents running here? There was channel. Okay. There was one. There was a what was it channel four five um then there was this is going off of my childhood memory so let's see nbc we probably had similar uh cbs right we probably had similar childhood network uh numbers being that we're both from virginia i remember cbs being 13 maybe or no yeah yeah and nbc was like 12 it was either 13 or 9 yeah yeah i think

it was both you could watch both yeah it was i think it was i think 13 payment but i remember like switching and like 20 nbc was 4 and 12 i think 20 was uh channel you know upn and yeah that was the weird like you know 50 was um wasB. Okay. What was Fox? Fox was five. And in between those, UPN and WB, there was PBS. There were a lot of side public programming shows. Okay.

PBS was seven, wasn't it? Then I remember at 54, there was some Canadian programming. So I got to see some good good shows canadian oh yeah they show like legrassy on the weekends or yes exactly exactly i would watch a ton of fucking legrassy but then there was also um which actually i met one of the girls from legrassy just recently the next generation the girl who played manny and she's she's very beautiful the girl who played Manny. And she's very beautiful. The guy who played Worf on Degrassi, the next generation. What about Degrassi Deep Space Nine? Are you a fan of that?

Degrassi, the next generation. Degrassi Voyager. Did you know Degrassi is like this thing that goes back like 30 years? Really? It's like the linear. it's a linear story it started off it was the kids from degrassi right yeah yeah and then it was about it was like about like elementary school kids and then it followed them all the way till when they went to like college so it's like 18 years or so of these kids lives and it was the

same sorry 18 years is too much let's say like 12 and then and then they went and had like a spinoff show and then they had the the next generation and it's all the same group of people and now it's their kids the only episode i remember was the one where the the bassist for the rock band got glasses and kind of got kicked out of the band for it it was a big episode about getting glasses yeah yeah he was in the band the zits oh man that's awesome um did you know mr belvedere has like a really long canon like that there's like there's got a huge dick there's like an expanded mr belvedere universe yeah like you start it in like the 60s or something to say. There's like an expanded Mr. Belvedere universe. Yeah, like you start it in like the 60s or something.

There's movies. It's like a continuing character. Oh, I did not know that. You know this, Josh. Mr. Belvedere rings the bell, the film. What? I didn't know that. That's bizarre.

Yeah. There's movies for like years. Oh, my God. I think books, too. Detective Munch from, i believe it's lunch you know he's been on like three different shows yeah because he was on and he's the same character because he was on homicide which is based in baltimore yeah i didn't know that people just love that character but what's great is the ideas in um he went from homicide life on the streets yeah to um i believe it was uh law and SVU, right? Wow, weird.

Here's the chronology of this character. He's a detective in Baltimore who makes Sergeant or something like that. Then he retires and then he's like, you know, for retirement I'm going to move to New York and work on sex crimes. That's his retirement.

Florida. That's what he wanted to do his whole life. The character is established as this guy who does not need the money. He just does it. Does he like to work on sex crimes? Did he ever stop by Cop Rock for a stint? Cop Rock.

There's actually a really good Hollywood story about Mr. Belvedere. We've talked about it on the podcast. The balls. Him sitting on his balls. True Hollywood story. hollywood story about mr belvedere yeah we've talked about on the podcast the balls yeah him sitting on his balls true hollywood story we're saying that we want to like have like a mount rushmore structure of that like like carved into a mountain of him sitting on his balls and then

carve like a hole through it so when the wind blows through it, it'll be like, oh! What? Who did you have? Maybe this was just a dream that I had, but I'll make it a reality. I have a dream. Josh's I have a dream speech. That from the highest mountaintop, children shall hear the squeals of Mr. Belvedere's testicles. Mr. Belvedere, dear, sat on his balls.

Balls, balls. What about Dorothy from The Golden Girls? She had a really long canon, too, surprisingly. Was Dorothy the oldest one? Who was the oldest one? Blanche? I don't know. Well, the oldest one lasted through three sitcoms.

Wow. Yeah, it was one lasted through three sitcoms. Wow. Yeah, it was Estelle Getty. Okay. Yeah, she did The Golden Girls, and then they had to spin off The Golden Palace. Yeah. And then her character was placed on The Empty Nest for its final season. Wow. Yeah.

That's stupid. And then a lot of our listeners are really into Estelle Getty. Oh, they can go fucking suck their own dicks. Stuart, Alan, he doesn't mean it. I definitely mean it. Cindy in Cincinnati. Poughkeepsie. All right, well, I got to wrap this thing up.

I'd love to talk Golden Girls some more, but I got to go. I'm actually performing in a show. Oh, yeah. But yeah, Hampton, thanks so much for being on the show, man. Thank you, Hampton. Let's do it again sometime. If you guys want to go out and get my CD, your listeners, it's HamptonYet.com. Again, all donations are going to my friend Joe Dealey right now.

There's a benefit show for him in D.C. right now. I think happening one at the D.C. Improv and one at Riot Act. Yeah. Go check them out. They'll be really great comics on those shows. And what's the name of the CD again? Unbearable. Yeah, definitely get the CD. It's an awesome

comedy and it's benefiting a good cause. So, double win. Thank you so much, Andrew. That's a phrase cause. So double win. All right. Thank you so much, Hampton. That's a phrase, right? Double win. Double win. Double win. Hey, this is Digital Vaudeville.

You can say whatever you want. Yeah, I'm having fun. I seem to be the only one excited about the coin term Digital Vaudeville, by the way. All right. Well, catch you guys later. Thank you so much, man. We really appreciate it. Yeah, thanks so much, Hampton.

You're great. All right. Peace out. Bye-bye. See you, man. later thank you so much man we really appreciate it yeah thanks so much hampton you're great all right peace out