The Downside with Gianmarco Soresi - #109 We Already Have a Chris Rock with Dean Edwards

Episode Date: November 8, 2022

Dean Edwards shares the downsides of not drinking because of Eddie Murphy, not getting to do his Chris Rock impression on SNL because of Jimmy Fallon, following Leslie Jones and J.B. Smoove, the difference between black and mainstream comedy rooms, joining the army to avoid student loans, and Gianmarco considers changing the name of this podcast to The Upside after his first shroom trip.  You can watch full video of this episode HERE! Join the Patreon for ad-free episodes, exclusive content, and MORE. Listen to our live weekly show on AMP, every Tuesday at 4 PM ET. Follow Dean Edwards on Instagram & Twitter Get tickets to RACE: THE MOVIE: THE PLAY running November 10-12 in NYC here! Follow Gianmarco Soresi on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, & YouTube Subscribe to Gianmarco Soresi's email & texting lists Check out Gianmarco Soresi's bi-monthly show in NYC Get tickets to see Gianmarco Soresi in a city near you Watch Gianmarco Soresi's special "Shelf Life" on Amazon Follow Russell Daniels on Twitter & Instagram E-mail the show at [e-mail] Produced by Paige Asachika & Gianmarco Soresi Video edited by Spencer Sileo Special Thanks Tovah Silbermann Part of the Authentic Podcast Network Original music by Douglas Goodhart Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to the downside. We're jumping right in. Light names, yeah. What prep did you want? I don't know. Usually you have to figure out... Oh my God. Oh my God.

Marla, I can't talk right now. It's his show and he didn't turn off his show. Oh my God. Oh my God. All right, airplane mode. My name is DeMarcus Arreza. I'm here with my co-host, Russell Daniels. Hi.

And my other co-host, Afly, that is going to be flying throughout the episode. We're here with a very special guest, a comedian, actor, singer. Wikipedia lies. Dean Edwards. Dean, can you say something negative to kick off this show? Negative? Negative to kick off the show.

Anything about your life, the world. You know I'm a positive dude. Listen, I'm trying to look. We've had your types before. Positive people. When you said that, I was like, I know there's traffic in New York City bugs me. This is the downside. One, two, three.

Downside. You're listening to The Downside The Downside With Gianmarco Ceresi Listen, this might be a more positive episode Because I have to go out the gate I did shrooms for the first time on Saturday You're a spiritual person now, I feel it

I feel you lighter This is now the upside Where we talk about all the positives in life I feel you lighter. This is now the upside. Where we talk about all the positives in life and all the things. Colors are nice. You're now manifesting this podcast into existence. I am. I'm a believer. I have pushed off shrooms for a long time.

I've only done pot. And even that, I came too late. What made you push them off? That's interesting. I'm a neurotic. Well, it's hard to know. Part of it's like i'm neurotic yeah existential angsty so i have a fear that the drug will lead me down that that path when i get high i always go through an existential dip i'll be high and i'll hit a moment where i'll go like if i'm in a car i'll be like what if i

got hit by a car and then i'd be dead and then i go like oh my god I'd be dead and I don't want to be dead and that's so I was scared shrooms would be an amplified version ah interesting there's also the degree where like I think the anti-drugs campaign that was like in my childhood the eggs in the frying pan this is your brain on drugs yeah I think it was delicious I think it was effective on me uh. And I think it seeped deep in my, I never looked at drugs as like a dirty thing. I never judged anyone who did drugs. I was just scared of what it would do to my brain. I'm the same.

I'm the same. Yeah, I don't smoke or drink. And I find that when you don't, I've actually like, my own research has led me to believe that when you don't indulge, people don't trust you as much around them because they don't feel comfortable being themselves. Even though you just said you'll preface it by saying, listen, I don't judge you. It's not about it's not about you judging them.

It's not about you judging them. It's people want to judge you and put you in the same position as them. Because a lot of people utilize drugs and alcohol for whatever escape that they choose to. You don't choose to do that, and then you get vilified. I think it's the degree of like, I don't know how anyone's sober in comedy. It's hard. But I think there's a degree of like, oh, I feel like I can't be a silly because this person is seeing me be silly and they're not in a silly mindset. Right, right, right.

But again, that comes down to they're afraid you're going to judge their silliness. Yeah. But I also like, if I was sober, I wouldn't want to be around a bunch of drunk, drunk people. You know what? I've never found not indulging as an issue just because that was just something. When Eddie Murphy delirious made me want to do this, and I remember when he was out, when he first blew up every interview he was in, they were like, so Eddie, you don't smoke or drink? He was like, nah, I don't smoke or drink. I don't do anything and but which made sense because his hero richard pryor did everything and almost killed himself sure yeah and so when i see eddie saying that and he's mr box office on

the cover of newsweek and all his movies 100 million dollars grossing i'm like oh well i want to go that route sure and so that so then it be by the time i was able to do it i was like well i'm i've been fine without it so that you can you can't sell a benefit you couldn't sell me you couldn't find a benefit to me that but trying it once like i think like shrooms which now you're an alcoholic but i so desperately like i want you to i it's now my life's work to get you to do well tell me about the experience because like sure yeah so like i was so i didn't know what to expect we got like it was very interesting we got a some dealer service like came to like the way they used to do with pot but now it's not as much because it's legal

but they come with a backpack and they sent us a hub pot but now it's not as much because it's legal but they come with a backpack and they sent us a shroom hub yeah shroom and they sent us a text where it was like all the articles we might want to read

about the it's funny because the kind of shroom we took it's called penis envy which because I guess shrooms are shaped like a penis

there's a degree of like guys this is not going to the senate for legalization if you're going to make Ted Cruz call it penis envy let's come up with a different name.

But they sent you a playlist of music. They sent you articles. So we got chocolate bars. We got two bars. One is a backup. Ten pieces per bar. Each had 0.4 grams. As opposed to eating the shrooms,

whatever, raw. And we did moderate dose was like two grams. So we did like 1.6 and then we added more throughout the day. Tova found this amazing place. This is very bougie. It's on governor's Island. It's glam, you know,

glamping. Yeah. Yeah. The glamping on governor's Island. It's camping. It's glamorous camping. It's not really, you know,

there's, there's no bugs. How secluded are you from other people? Are you seeing other people? Well, we take this like eight minute ferry. There's tents right next to each other, but they're nice tents with heated mattresses and heaters. Oh, wow. You have to walk to another tent for a bathroom and like you zip it down and latch it closed.

And it's chilly-ish, but you're separate enough. Yeah. Right. And so like. That is glamping. Yeah, it's chilly-ish, but you're separate enough. Yeah. Right. And so like. That is glamping. Yeah, it's glamping. Because we wanted to be, we were trying to figure out, we wanted to be able to be outdoors and indoors.

Right, okay. Set and setting. That's the big like shrooms thing. What's your set and what's your, all these things. Yeah, yeah. So it was like this amazing, amazing place where we could be in the tent, take the shrooms, then just sit on the porch, look out at the Statue of Liberty. And it was perfect. We did the shrooms, then just sit on the porch, look out at the Statue of Liberty. And it was perfect.

We did the shrooms, Tova, we sat across from each other. And she said, let's say our intentions for this trip. And she said, you know, things about connecting and being together. And it was very hard for me because I'm like, I'm scared. And she's like, no, no, no. What's your positive intention? And I said, baby, this is against my brand. Like, we got to stay negative.

But I said, you know, I'd love to be closer to you and love you. And she's like, make eye contact. Interesting. I'm like, okay, okay. I like Tola. I like it. Yeah. She knows me, and she pushed me there.

And then we took it it and we go outside. And I think there's a fear of like it's going to be like a walking and then boom. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was very gradual. And how soon? Like, you know, because edibles can take a couple hours. 30 minutes like on the dot. Wow.

It was also quick. These chocolates were disgusting. Yeah. The shrooms are gross. So it was just like the way it started. Things felt very like, it's all cliche. Everything you feel and think, it's so fucking cliche. You're like, humanity is like an organism.

And the universe is just like, it's very meta. It wasn't like nihilism in that it's not that nothing mattered. It was just that, like, the world moves and it just, it is. And I'm seeing the organism and I'm going to be back in it soon. But everything became kind of 3D in a more visceral way. Colors brighter. Colors brighter. Tova and I, we had this moment,

we were, we had all these, we had these like fancy crackers and she looked through like the nook of a cracker and was like, it's like a telescope. Look at it.

If you look here, the sky looks purple. And then, and then I took it and I was looking through it and I was like, oh my God, it's amazing.

And as I'm telling her how amazing it is, I accidentally ate the cracker. I put it in my mouth and chomped. I was like, no, the cracker. I ate the my mouth And chomped And I was like No The cracker I ate the telescope

And we were like Like almost crying But laughing And it was just It was We just We just talked Now

And the one thing Tove and I noticed Is like we did not And this is where We'd be very different With Shroom's Trips We didn't listen to music For one moment

Of the Shroom's Trip Tove and I Are not music people Mine would be 100% music We just talked Now Like okay So this is happening We didn't listen to music for one moment of the shrooms trip. Tova and I are not music people. Mine would be a hundred percent. We just talked now like, okay, so this is happening. What if someone were to,

while this is happening, what do you, what do you think your mental capacity would be? If all of a sudden someone was like, sir, you're standing in the middle of the road. Like if, if,

if, if a voice like that cut in like a third party, not high and slow, like there were party, not high in shrooms. I moved slow. Like there were other people there and we were joking. I mean, there were families there. And it's like these families are there with their kids. And there's these two people next door being like, look through the cracker.

No, I didn't. That's what I was wondering. But generally pretty functional. That's what was surprising about the shrooms. I think in the height of the trip, we would have been very slow and kind of a little aloof. But after a little bit, I was like,

oh, we can function. And then we went to, they had dinner, and we're there and I think Phoebe Robinson was there. And then someone came up to me who worked at laugh exchange which was this app that kind of collapsed a couple years ago remember Uncle Cushion joined right

before it collapsed as we like to do and he comes up and he's like Jamarco are you touring and I'm like I'm looking like shit I did not expect to see anyone but there's a degree of like oh yeah we left eight minutes from the city we're gonna run into people but I was just like sweats, sweater.

And I was just like, I think I was functional. How many hours were you high? And when did you feel like you weren't high? We were like four hours. We put the phones away completely. So I didn't have a grasp of time fully. But I'd say four or five hours. And then we added like a little piece of chocolate throughout to keep it going.

So super high for five hours, started to come down, ate some more chocolate, and then micro-dosed essentially until the end of the night. So amazing. So do you think you could have done it here in the city? In the city. As opposed to going – because you put yourself in a controlled space where, you know, and I imagine for safety reasons, you know, just so, because then it could just be you and your lady and y'all are just as one into each other. And then slowly the families, the neighboring grandpas, you know, you interact with with but it's not too much. Yeah. I don't think I'd want to do it here just because it wouldn't be as magical.

And New York just – you deal with people in New York. I was nervous that in the beginning of the trip I'd walk in the street and be like, baby, look, the car. It looks like it's getting bigger. And then he hits you. But I think I could. I just think like I wouldn't want to. Or you could go to Central Park and you are so entertained, you could just be there for five hours.

Right. And have fun just like looking at the grass. Right. But I think going somewhere felt much more special. Yeah. And I want you to do it at some point. I'm open. Good to do it at some point. I'm open-ish. I think I'd want to do it in my apartment roof setting.

Because I feel like I would be nervous not being in a controlled setting, too. Sure. And I wouldn't want to be anywhere- Well, so why? It's a done-up roof. There's couches and things like that. Oh, okay the weather was nice and we could like yeah yeah keep it in like a thing so because then we get the outside there's that forest right there um we could maybe go into the forest there's an entrance right you're not gonna be i'm gonna fly yes no no no

no i but i would want it to be that's pcp in a controlled thing, maybe with someone who wasn't. Sure. Do you think Nicole would do it? Or do you think she'd want to babysit? I don't think she would do it, but she would babysit probably. I just think it's so – I'm so glad I did it. And it made me go – I didn't feel like a great regret, like why didn't I do this earlier? But I deal with anxiety and I'm like, I think this made me feel pretty good.

I think I'm at an age now where I feel some new age where I'm like, yeah, let me experiment with some of this stuff. You know, just a dash of heroin. Just a, no. But I think maybe acid, maybe Molly, even though Molly has a dip. No, the furthest I would go is shrooms for me. I don't think Molly or acid are necessarily further. They just freak me out. Don't you want to try heroin at the end, though?

No, because sometimes people- Right at the end. Right on the deathbed. Right on the deathbed. Okay. Since I have the IVs in my arm already. Yeah. LSD for dying.

Doing the shrooms, I mean, truly, I do think there's a degree of like, oh, yeah, if I was dying, if I was towards the end of my life, I'm definitely going to – that's why I want to do it now because I'll do some drugs then because I don't want to be fully present for that shit. I want to see the flow of universe when I'm about to be part of it. Yeah, for sure, yeah. So what have you – do you drink ever? You know what the most I indulged when I was a kid, I used to make my parents, I used to make my mother's screwdrivers. How young, like too young?

I mean, yeah, like by today's standards, like you shouldn't be seven and eight years old taking some Russian Stolichnaya or whatever and putting it in. Okay, I think I'm supposed to put, but the orange is supposed to fade away a little. And I'm sure I tasted it. Tasting vodka as a kid,

I was like, this is rocket fuel. This doesn't taste good. And the same thing. I hate vodka. And then the same with, you know, my dad drank his Heinekens. You're drinking a Heineken and I would take a sip.

I was like, this looks and tastes like urine. So there was, again, so as I got older and more mature, I was like, I'm good. And then I saw more and more friends that overindulged, right? Were your parents overindulging as well? No, no.

They just wanted you to make it. My mother's like, you know, go make, she didn't say screwdriver. She was like, go make my drink. And, you know, I saw it. My mother's like, you know, go make. She didn't say screwdriver. She was like, go make my drink. And, you know, I was like, because parents would have house parties back in the days. And, you know, there was no babysitter. You just went in their bedroom, you know. And every so often you come out trying to be in the mix.

And so you make the drinks, okay. and, you know, bring groceries home. You carried the six-pack of Heineken or whatever. So it was no big deal. You know, it was funny. I was watching the original Bad News Bears yesterday. Very nostalgic moment because I remember this movie. It was a great movie. nostalgic moment because i remember this movie's great movie and at the end walter mathaus um i think uh his name was but uh butter butter i forgot his name uh uh hey butterworth whatever

his name was he hands all the kids after spoiler alert after they lose um he gives all the kids beers and people are pissed off but i said back then we didn't this was a movie that was it was a big movie yeah and no if that movie came out today people would lose their minds how old are the kids in the movie the kids are 11 or 12 between probably 9 and 12 if that yeah maybe 13 14 but these are these are young kids playing on this little league baseball team chicoico's Bail Bonds. I remember the back of the uniforms. They were the Bad News Bears. Bad News Bears, but they were drinking beer at the end,

and it wasn't a big deal. Like, it was obviously because one of the parents said something about it, but the kids all took it back. And again, I was like, piss. Yeah. Now, did you like the taste of alcohol when you were younger? Yeah. But now you do like it.

I do, yeah. Even straight vodka? No. I mean, I can do a dirty martini. I like a dirty martini. Oof, that's poison. But I don't like vodka generally mixed with anything. Or by itself.

Like, I don't. It is the worst for me. Like, I like a gin and I like a whiskey. But outside of that. I had a vodka when I was in high school. I went to a musical theater program. itself like i don't it is the worst for me like i like a gin and i like a whiskey but outside i had a vodka when i was in high school i went to a musical theater program it was my 15th birthday so i had 15 shots of the cheapest vodka 15 shots 15 shots and you just just shrooms i know it was it was it was crazy i was with these kids who grew up in new york and they were doing cocaine in the bathroom which for me was shocking talk about about a drug that I kind of did once, and I'm like, that's crazy.

Cocaine to me? Crazy. Why is cocaine crazy to you? Just the possibility of death, the possibility of fentanyl. Like, it just feels more dangerous. Shrooms, not a lot of people seem to die from shrooms. Also, to speed up your thoughts or anything would be probably not you know yeah yeah i do want to take adderall though i'm again i'm in my drug phase i think

i have add my girlfriend has noticed she's like she sees me work and she's like why would you move to this you were doing this yeah and so i think i i think i'm gonna try it not laziness just no no no not laziness i like a focus um so where did you grow up grew up in uh the bronx born in bronx raised mount vernon new york yeah city where how far is mount vernon from here mount vernon is the north bronx the north bronx i mean honestly does the four five six go there no that's the only you know i mean it's it's literally like you you you go like this and you're in the Bronx. Uh-huh.

Yeah. So what are the downsides of growing up in the Bronx when you did? I mean, we didn't know it. Because we weren't, my family was, I would say, I guess we were middle class. And most of the people around me were whatever variation of middle class. Could have been lower middle class, upper middle class, but it was like right in the middle. When we moved to Mount Vernon, I noticed the difference was trees were a little greener. You know what I mean?

There was a little more space. You know, it seemed more suburban than the BX. I was born in the South Bronx, you know we uh we we it seemed more suburban than than the bx than this i was born in south bronx you know yeah yeah you know soundview and um you know south bronx is you know and that's you know rest in peace nana and the rest of my family you know we all everybody that was in that community i mean i guess it would be technically a lower income uh community but you know nana owned her house um uh you know and this was a block full of black latinos um you know and but i also remember you know us finding a uh a deserted um parking meter. And me and my brother and, you know, cousins saying, oh, let's take this.

We had no idea where we were going. You can't just, like, go anywhere with a broken parking meter. And I wound up losing my entire thumbnail because we were carrying it. And then no one said, okay, we're putting it down. So when they let go, I didn't. Oh my God. Spashed your thumb. I smashed my thumb and

the entire was purple. Were you taking it? Were you trying to get the money out of it? Yeah. If it was broken, did someone already try, you think? Probably. Looking back now, you know how you look back on things you did you're like this was dumb yeah there was no i'm sure that we weren't the first people to come upon this the parking meters didn't just fall over right right you know it because it wasn't i don't think where we saw it was

where it initially would have been yeah i mean yeah and um yeah so so smashing you know like all the a lot of bad happened based on uh you know just making bad decisions as a young adolescent yeah stupid that's a that's a I just a young adolescence both the same but yeah did you get in trouble at all um I think I was probably crying and bleeding too much to get in any real trouble. It's like, you know, the initial shock of your parent, you coming home and your mother seeing that. She's focused on that. And then after the fact, they're like, well, what were y'all doing? Honestly, now I'm thinking about it.

I'm like, I don't even know if we told the truth. We probably lied. Probably lied. You know, Dean fell off the sixth train. You know, whatever. Yeah, yeah. You know, something's dumb. Yeah.

So you moved to Mount Vernon. And then where'd you go to school? Went to, shoot, went to, it was called Nichols. And then they were building what became Lincoln Elementary School. We're building what became Lincoln Elementary School. We were far advanced because we went to one school for, I think, like, first, second, and third grade were in Nichols, and then they moved us back to Lincoln because they had built this brand new school.

And we had carpets. It was fly. Yeah. And looking back, it was almost Montessori-esque only because there were walls, but the doors didn't shut all the way. They had these walls that they could pull closed. And yeah, it was like, this is the first time these memories come to me in years.

And I'm like, oh, wow, we were a little more advanced than some of the other schools. I wish I had gone to a Montessori school, anything close to it. Yeah, Montessori is dope. Like, our daughters went to Montessori, and they, yeah, it was a dope experience. Your daughter? No, both of them. They were in it.

Like, here's what I loved about Montessori school compared to, like, myself was I remember being in school and these, you know, I remember my report cards. And you probably, you guys in entertainment, too. Teachers always said on report cards, Dean has the ability to do better but spends too much time daydreaming. And I was like, in my mind, I was like, well, maybe you're just boring. That's how I looked at it. Because when I got in classes, we had this one teacher, Mr. Hickey, who was dope, but he was engaging, and he helped you apply the,

you understood what he was teaching and how it applied to your life. What did he teach, Mr. Hickey? Mr. Hic hickey back then it was everything they you know like we we he was our home homeroom teacher but he he did some of everything you know i mean but he was engaging and he also let me like perform at the end of class at the end of the day like what would he say like at the end like he was like dean yeah he was like dean you wanna and then i'm I'm singing or doing whatever, Michael Jackson, whatever. Was that a big one growing up?

Did you have a good Michael Jackson? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I loved MJ, man. Yeah? Yeah, Rock With You still reminds me of this girl. What's her name? Tia? I think it was Tia or Mia.

She had little green eyes, little pigtails on either side. Everybody liked her. Uh-huh. I liked her, too. You know, that's as far as it went. But still, I always wonder what those people like you always want to go back and see like if they became if they remained as precious yeah as they were to you in third and fourth year yeah yeah every time i see my middle school friend kevin we always like we always go through like where everyone is now yeah do you

actually go online and do it or sometimes maybe Sometimes. With Instagram, you can see their wedding pictures. You can pretty much middle school on. You can kind of know. Elementary school. Because I moved too. So I lost touch with some elementary people. The cool thing about being in stand-up, I go to D.C. and do Thanksgiving weekend where I grew up.

And so I have a bunch of middle school teachers too. Teachers. Do they come out? After the show, they come out. Oh, that's cool. And it's really surreal. Oh, that's cool. I mean, it couldn't be better.

They are there to be nice to me. Well, especially because you said you went to performing arts high school, yeah? An artistic high school. Not fully performing arts. I tried, but very artsy. Okay, but that's great that these teachers that saw you when you were in art school now get to see you and you're like ta-da it worked yeah yeah that's kind of yeah and i had i had generally good teachers i i my report cards were pretty there i remember our chorus teacher

i hated choir our choir was very boring it was very like very religious songs okay that was not like the fun religious songs right right and jesus and uh our our choir teacher got busted because someone there was a student who took choir for two days but then switched the band okay and she ended up writing this person a full report card and a report where clearly she was just pulling it out of her ass. She was like, I believe the woman's name was Beth. She was like, Beth tries to focus, but I wish she would focus on this. And someone was like, she was not in this class. Oh, wow. You are full of shit.

But it's gotta be tough as a choir teacher. You get 64 report cards. How are you gonna write an individual paragraph for each person from memory? You should know if they're there. You should have the attendance though you know like yeah that's bare minimum let's make sure that they were in the class that's all all really you have to do is make sure that all 64 kids are there um yeah it really is the teacher

though that now that you said that because i can think of when i think of my favorite teachers it generally didn't have to do that much with the subject. It was really like, do I like this person and are they engaging and interesting? Well, maybe the exception is I really never connected, but maybe it was the teachers.

I never connected with any sort of science or math in a way. No, I liked one of my math teachers. Well, I liked two. Sorry, I forgot my name. I had my aunt.

What did you like about, you had your aunt as a math teacher yeah but she knew she knows i don't i don't like math so sure it was kind of an ongoing thing like i was like you know i just because i knew at that point of math when you get to that point in in high school i knew in my bones i didn't need anything was it like trigonometry when we're doing proofs on the board, trying to prove things. Why are we proving this? It does feel, I feel like there is an earlier time than the end of high school

where you can start making a couple more decisions about your curriculum. Tax stuff. Tax stuff. Or like transition it. Transition it. Ninth, tenth grade, fine, whatever math we're doing then. The last year or two should just be like practical things that you'd be like, like insurance or tax stuff. I don't know.

I think we would do better society-wise if we taught children more things that were more practical and applicable to their lives. Because like you said, there are things that they're never going to address or utilize again, such as like a trick, like my, in the, on my second high school, second or third high school, me and the, one of the teachers, first half of the year, I didn't like her, she didn't like me, and we were very blatant about it, and then by the end of the year, we was we were super tight. I don't even remember what what the click was. But I remember one of one of my friends at the school, he at the end of this at the end of the school year, he was like, wow, you two used to go at it when you first. moving to another school and and just lashing out um at someone that didn't seem like they were vibing with me and i wasn't vibing with them and and that became so i was like i'm projecting i was just projecting out on her but we wound up uh i think i think that was trigonometry as a matter

of fact yeah yeah and i and i wound up doing if if i liked you i'd do well in your class because i also wanted you to like me and think i was i was um you know doing i've always been a good student um as far as and that that that also i used i said this will make me a great actor one day because i'm a great listener and so i was a good lead from from like first and second grade on i would follow the teacher around and just pan even if i zoned out my mind i'm not hearing anything you're saying but i'm like just keep looking at them wherever they go just wait and you know make sure you stay with them because that'll that'll uh that'll let them at least think

that you are totally into whatever they're saying yeah and a lot of time i tapped out yeah i don't care about any of this were you were you doing impressions at this young age? You said Michael Jackson, but were you like, did you know you had this mimicry skill? Yeah, because I always would mimic cartoon. Can you have that Bugs Bunny? You know, yeah, what's up, Doc? And I remember when I was a kid, I've always been someone that liked watching credits and reading album uh liner notes and seeing the people that are thanked and whatnot yeah yeah and um

and i remember when i was when i was young saying i think this dude um does all of the people's i think he does all the voice because then because it hit me i said uh bugs bunny's voice was was was uh was very similar to uh to to to to to i'm trying to think like uh um i'm trying to think of other characters like uh tweety bird and they they all had they i was and obviously as i got older i was like oh when he's doing these voices, you can hear because they're sitting at a porky pig, and they're all the same exact tone. It's just how he conveys or what he does, the nuances, right? Yeah, yeah.

And so suffering, suck attack, you know. Was that the same guy? I think all of those voices, all the same. Sylvester, Tweety, Bugs Bunny. I see, I see. Firehorn Leghorn. You know, all of those people, all the same exact characters. So when I was a kid, I remember saying, they all sound like the same.

I guess like when you hear a musician play something and you're like, that's the same note. It's just on a different instrument. Or it's the same instrument playing. Or you're like, this the same note it's just on a different instrument or it's the same instrument this sounds like a so and so song even though it's a different song but that's amazing you could hear that I don't think I could hear the relation between those different characters but maybe you can

hear more finely you can hear it's like hearing the pitch between I posted something on TikTok a couple months ago, and it was like LL Cool J, right? LL and Jay-Z have the same, almost the same exact voice, whereas, you know, LL is like real, he's choppy with the things he says, and his words kind of drag out. But Jay-Z has almost the same exact thing. He just, he's saying it on the top of his throat and he's not and he's very scratchy with it but if you go back to ll it's almost the same exact voice

you know yeah and so that's that's what i was hearing back then you do a good ll i do i do have a side i do have a side quest about impressions. I'm curious about your theory where it did feel like there was a time where when it came to doing impressions of other races, where Jimmy Fallon was doing his Chris Rock and other people were. I was on SNL with him. With Jimmy Fallon. Yeah. Right.

Oh, yeah. At the time, did you have any thoughts about it? Like, I don't know. I don't know. My frustration was, hey, I can do that, so why can't I do that? Yeah. That's pretty amazing to give Jimmy Fallon Chris Rock over you. You know, but I think when Jimmy did, I remember Jimmy did Chris beforehand,

maybe a season before me, but I remember seeing that. I was like, oh, okay. Because most of the impressions, like when I tested for SNL, I was like, you know, you play to your strengths, right? And so I was like, all right, I'm going to do voices that I know I can get cast as. Sure. Right?

It just behooves you to at at least as as as the other black dude on snl with tracy morgan it just made sense for me to do denzel and do don cheadle and and and do chris chris tucker man and chris rock you know or whomever or james or joe you know do doing those people because i'm like okay i'm probably going to have a better chance playing them if we do a sketch than me doing John Lithgow if we do a John Lithgow sketch, you know. It's just, so you're playing to your strengths. Sure.

And politically, you're saying, here, let me do what's going to get me on air. So what was your percentage of, oh, sorry, go ahead. So Jimmy at the time was doing Chris Rock for the show. He had Chris. I remember Daryl had Jesse Jackson. Were they doing it in blackface? Yeah. blackface yeah yeah did you have like like look when you were there at the time what was your thought when you saw that was there at the time was it like this is not good this isn't gonna

look good in 10 years or was it like whatever hey i could do that that was more that it was not like you were offended it was more like save the makeup i'm annoyed like put the makeup away i remember one time specifically i think i was i i want to say they wanted me to do a colin powell and so i had worked on they took they they called one of the producers uh shu called me and said um they wanted me to do a col pal work on your colon pal so i was working on it um so dean obie dollar shout out to obie dollar he was in research he sent me a couple of uh you know tapes um of interviews 60 minutes or whatever of uh of colon pal and having to study his and i haven't heard him in years so i don't even know if I'm going off of memory. His dad, no one's heard him. Right.

Right. Too soon. And then Friday when I got to rehearsal, being told that another cast member was going to be playing him. Well, it was Daryl, right? And it's not Daryl's fault. They wanted him to do Colin Powell. But they were like, they're going to have you play an African delegate

in that sketch. Hey, yo, I was more annoyed because I was like, why'd y'all pump fake me? Why'd you make me think I was going to do this thing in the cold open? It is funny because, I mean, I guess it's, i don't know what's worth daryl hammond playing colin powell or the african delicate but i guess if that's if these are the pieces you have to play with and that's and that's the thing while you're on the show you really didn't have to you you're

you're um you're vying just to get on the air and And so in the midst of it, you're like, all right, man, I want to get on the air this week. And so you didn't say there was no use pitching a bitch because it wasn't like they weren't going to change it because I said, nah, y'all need to make me Colin Powell. You know how brilliant I am right now? And so that became frustrating sometimes well at times did you feel like what what exactly was the year where we as a society

were like i mean it's way later than you think it's way later it's like it's like 2014 where we got to the point where jimmy fallon apologized for doing chris rock yeah way back in the day and yeah and even chris rock i felt like, if I remember correctly, Chris Rock released a statement that was like, yeah, it was fucked up. Chris Rock didn't just go like, whatever, but he did, he was like, yeah, it was, it's unfortunate that that was cool.

It wasn't like we had no one else to do the impression. It'd be funny if Chris Rock was there and he's like, I could be me. I'd rather play me than you have this white boy play me. But that was I wonder

like hearing that, I wonder if Rock was also probably if that was frustration from when he was on the show. Oh, yeah. And things that he was like, I could do that. Why y'all having Farley or whomever, right? Because oftentimes the show would play based on whoever was hot.

And obviously Daryl was, especially in season two, it was during my season two, Will Ferrell's off the show, Ana Gasteyer's off the show. So they want to make sure that people recognize the know recognize the cast members but i'm like yeah but if y'all ain't using me people ain't gonna recognize me yeah and so that that was the frustration and i can imagine chris having been there is probably annoyed with it too because he's looking like shoot have have tracy have tracy play uh me after a bunch of beast things whatever you know like it is it is weird for a show that covers

all the things it does is that it always feels like it has like we got one they've gotten better that we rely on that's the problem with the you know well i i think it's i think it's challenging only in that like in theory if you're going to be able to do sketches about a lot of different things you might have a sketch where you need five Asian people. Does the cast have to get bigger? Back in the day, people pretended to be things that they weren't and then we decided

this is a little fucked up, but it also limits the sketches. Right now, SNL has a lot of black cast members and it's opened up the world of sketches that could not have been done before. Honestly, I'm happy for the guests that are on there um however part of me is like damn i wish i wish we were able to do some of those things back when i was on the show like i remember uh you know there were times when i was like wait the bernie max the host and tracy and i are only

each in one sketch when you go to air i'm like y'all need to figure this out yeah because you you have a lot of talent on the show you don't have every sketch this no one ever complains that you have five white guys in a sketch so no one's going to trip if you see three black people and one of them's the guest host if you see bernie and dean and tracy in the same sketch and and maya you know in the same sketch like like and so that's that's um you know the the the idea of the the the black face and and just the the racially insensitive that's something we've always been aware of you know as for any anyone of color that was either on that show or just in the like using snl as a as as a microcosm of uh hollywood and society in general these are issues that have been

persistent for years right and and we've always been aware like so yeah i don't think this is weird that there can only like a black stand-up comics becoming uh superstar actors right yeah for years it was this i called it the highlander uh syndrome where there could only be one there could only be one hot black comic so when when uh richard came um uh or when Eddie came, Richard Pryor, you know, felt insecure because Eddie was there. And I remember Eddie saying, hey, man, if I get an A, you get an A on the test. We both got A's. My A didn't cancel out your A. Yeah.

And so then fast forward a couple of years and then Damon Wayans is the hot dude. And then, all right, well, we got to wait. We can't let damon wayans and chris rock and robert townsend okay and then fast forward another couple years okay chris tucker's the go-to dude okay but you know chris rock you're a stand-up you're really not a a big uh film star okay now kev hart now you know so they've yeah over time you're seeing more representation which is good um you're seeing you're seeing more than the same you know five or ten uh you know actors uh of color male and female that are

getting opportunities i love i love going to the movie my wife and i actually comment on it when we're watching something we're watching uh something onulu recently. And a friend of mine, Nefitari Spencer, she's on. It's called Reasonable Doubt, right? And I said to my wife, or we said to each other, I said, you know what? It's nice to see some new black faces on a TV show. And you're not seeing. And that's no disrespect taken away from the 10 or 20 actors that always were getting used. Because Hollywood was like, oh, here, let's use this person or that person.

It's like, there are other actors that are available for these roles. You just have to take a chance and hire more actors that are talented and qualified to present themselves my biggest I think one of my biggest qualms about SNL in general is just the fact that it is so important and there's not other

there's not a lot of avenues for like sketch comedians or impressionists right like impressionists there is a there is a limited fucking pool

of like and there were other shows that have tried how long was in living color how long did in living color did i want to say four or five seasons yeah i think the first two or three um were the two the first two was super strong the third i think was was still decent because there were still Wayans involved. Yeah. Season four, I think there were fewer Wayans, maybe just Kenan and like Sean and Marlon.

And then season five, it was just. Kenan Ivory Wayans. Kenan Ivory Wayans. Oh, got it. Got it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, is he a vampire? Yeah, on every sketch show of all time. God damn, Kenan.

Kenan had the most like, I mean, I grew up watching Kenan on all that and then Kenan and Kel and then Good Burger and then I mean what a career with sketches it's like SNL because then everything else

is kind of like you have to have been someone kind of known to start your own sketch show basically is what it feels like now

yeah outside of SNL sure you know like from well think about all the shows they used from Chappelle, and then everything else that they filled in the blanks trying to capture that same Chappelle energy.

Carlos Mencia had a sketch, or he wanted to sketch, but someone was like, here, let's just go with the Latino comic. And then I think Dimitri had one, had a sort of sketch. It's embarrassing how into Carlos Mencia's show I was at that age. I was really into it. And I'm sure it was funny. I mean, that was the punchline for half the goddamn show. I had a question about when you came into SNL.

How old were you? How old was I when I got it? That was the summer I turned 31. 31. Younger than you. So my question is it feels like as two people who are not on SNL

it feels like you if you don't know people there when you're going in it feels like it would be an incredibly daunting place because there's no incentive for the writers to write for a new person if they don't know you. And also, they're trying to get their sketches on, so they're probably going to write for the people that are established.

Did you know people going into it, or were you kind of on your own? Yeah, no. Any stand-up coming onto the show, at least at the time, and that might have changed. I know, say, Rosebud is a writer on the show yeah at least at the time at least at the time um and that might have changed like i know say like rosebud is a writer on the show yeah and her and i think her name is punky yeah punky punky yeah her and punky are real cool and they i was watching them at the cellar one night i was like oh y'all y'all if as long as y'all have each other you're fine because if you have at least one person and y'all click, beyond the show, right?

Like, even beyond the show, you have, like, a friend for life and you have someone that you're confident on. Starting on the show, I knew Tracy, but Tracy was a stand-up. Had he been there? How long had he been there before you? Tracy had been there five years already. So he was, like, was he in his established? He was established, but I honestly think Tracy really popped in his last two seasons. That just happened to be also when I was there.

Having nothing to do with me being there, but I think he really, like, his fourth season, he started finding his rhythm. By season five, I'm sorry, by season five, he found his rhythm. In his six and seven seasons, I think he really popped. Were you the same class of stand-up comics or was he ahead of you no no we we i think we all started around 92 we all started tracy like seeing his like deaf comedy jam it's it's wild because it's alt it's all to the space where like that's funny alt comedy isn't as comet like like he's there with

a fucking twirly hat with a propeller hat and like i just could see him getting booed in a different you know i i don't see that act flying at like the apollo he killed at the apollo did he really killed the apollo i'll do you one but tracy came out of um it's actually a great story tracy morgan um like started at uptownown Comedy Club. Now, before Def Comedy Jam, Uptown Comedy Club was a spot up in Harlem that birthed some great comedy. Jim Brewer,

they actually had a sketch show called the Uptown Comedy Club. When Def Comedy Jam premiered, Uptown Comedy Club was on the air. It was syndicated. Jim Brewer, Tracy Morgan um Deborah Wilson who wound up on mad tv oh yeah yeah uh uh excuse me I'm sorry my boy Maceo brilliant uh funny comic

uh uh Rhonda Fowler Flex Alexander who who is uh he he he was on like homeboys and out of space and he's had a couple other half and half and half, a couple of other shows. And Tracy. And I think Tracy wound up stumbling into, Tracy's had a very fortunate career. The Angels been looking out for him because he stumbled onto the stage. Yeah, right, right. Right, right. And he wound up on Uptown Comedy Club, which then led to him doing the spot on Def Comedy Jam,

which then led to Martin Lawrence putting him on his show, Martin, playing Hustle Man for a couple of seasons. Really? And then he wound up getting SNL. I mean, Tracy has, like, you want to hear, like, the story of Americana and someone just winning against the odds. Sure. This is Tracy Morgan's story, man. I think he bleeds funny.

I mean, that's why his impression is so funny because he just talks funnily. But to me, those are the best comics. You know, I think now, you know, you and I both know comics and you're like, I wouldn't look at them and think they're funny. But I know they're funny because I've seen them on stage, but off stage, you're like, nothing about this person reads humorous. Right. Yeah. And I know exactly what you mean. Yeah. Well, because some cats are better

writers yeah um some cats are better performers um tracy i can sit in i'll just sit and like just laugh just chopping it up with tracy just standing in the cypher outside of outside of a comedy club yeah because you know he once he finds one thing funny he's going he's gonna stay on it you know what i mean john marco yeah you know even once he finds one thing funny, he's going to stay on it. You know what I mean, John Marco. Yeah. You know. Even how he says John Marco, you know.

I heard this story. You know, JP. Jameek? No, it's JP. Fuck, I forget. No, not McDade. JP. Used to book.

He told me doing Catch a Rising Star. Sometimes you don't know how to see a big guy. He's a big dude. Black? Yeah, black. Black, that has to be... It's probably Jameek. J.P. Justice?

J.P. Justice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jameek. Jameek, is that what he was talking about? His real name is Jameek Stryker. Jameek has the dopest name on the planet. Like, if your name is Jameek Stryker, that's the name you go by. You don't it to jp look i didn't know if you were talking about the guy that used

to book conan or oh yeah no no yeah yeah jameek what is it jameek i call him jameek because that's what i met him at yeah like anybody like i'm not calling bill billy burr bill sure because how i met you his mama mama called him Clay. I'm going to call him Clay, right? Like the people that wouldn't call Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali, they were like, you're Cassius. I knew you when you was big. And so I knew Jameek when he was Jameek before JP.

I knew Billy when he was Billy, not Bill and mature sounding. You know, I'm going to, my name is Dardinian. No, it's just Dean. He told me a story where he, the first time he did it at Catch a Rising Star, and he, like, bombed in front of a sold-out room. And he went back in the green room, and he said Tracy Morgan was like,

don't get that bomb on me. And he went in the alleyway and cried and cried and cried. And there was this degree of, like, there was a degree of, like, with comedy, sometimes I'm like, that harshness, or that, like, dude, you bom'm like that harshness or that like, dude, you bombed like a real,

like you bombed. Yeah. Yeah. That is, that is, uh, more like in the vein of the Apollo and more with like black rooms where I'm like,

we need some of that energy in, in these other worlds because it makes you strong, but it can be mean. And it's hard to know but i like i i i admire that and i'm like for me i feel very fortunate if i if if if i'm a okay comedian it's partly because i worked at lol which in a way is one of in a way is a black comedy club at least in the performers and i'm like i had where if i was bombing on stage ken boyd do you know ken boyd he would just say he would say uh boo edward to me while i was on stage

and i'm like that made me stronger as a comic right and that well that's that's the difference between and it's and it's nice hearing uh a comic that came up in a different era appreciate that. Because I agree. The clubs now, seeing the clubs really nationwide, but especially in New York, there was an edge. I was talking to Burr, maybe, might have been during the pandemic, like towards the latter part of the pandemic when we were first starting to get out. And I think, yeah, it was like last February that his podcast. And we were talking about coming up in the rooms, right?

And the rooms being the one-nighters, not the clubs that are dedicated to comedy, but, you know, hole-in-the-wall sports bars in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, Staten Island, Jersey, Connecticut. bars in in brooklyn the bronx queens uh staten island jersey connecticut you had you had probably at its peak back in the 90s there were probably a good 50 50 plus spots that you could go that sounds so nice that's what helped me quit my day job right because you could go and get like a nice little you know buck you know a hundred dollars um doing one of those spots and you're like well if i'm making a couple hundred dollars telemarketing i'll just do this and get like three or four of those a week and then some

road gigs and um burr was even he was there were there were guys that you admired. We always admired the white guys that would come from the comfort of Boston Comedy Club in the Village or the Comedy Cellar or Caroline's or the Comic Strip or Stand Up New York and would come do these rooms because they wanted to get better, right? And so you had D.C. Benny, you had Bird, you had Dan Natterman. Ah, ah, you had, ah, jeez, I can't. Russ Meneve. You know, there were a handful of guys that were like, nah. And they weren't pandering, right? Sure, sure.

Because obviously there's the pander where you're the white guy that's in this all black or Latina room. And they play, you know, all about the Benjamins. Like, oh, yeah, that's my song. And you're like, oh, stop dancing. This is awkward. You know. But the same jokes that they would do at the clubs in the city, they were doing in the outer boroughs.

And that's what made them stronger. do at the clubs in the city they were doing in outer boroughs and that's that's what made them stronger and so when you had you know that the hazing uh that that uh that gerald or patrice or or keith robinson or norton would would you know give um anyone you know it was it was also justified because we're like no you stink you stink. You know, you stink. And you're bought like that. That's what made Kevin Hart a stronger comic, right? There was a Patrice and Neil attack adventure where they said Patrice would throw a phone book at him on stage and say, find someone in there who says you're funny.

Like, just brutal shit. I think Patrice would have, like, if i had been in that era patrice would have made me cry like i hear those stories and i'm like oh he'd see me and he'd know i'm easy to destroy yeah and he would do it how would you define because i feel like i i certainly like like as a as a comic who like has worked first of all there's there's i always think there's this thing of like some people it urban rooms, which sometimes I'm like, okay, it's called a black room, at least in the comedy circles. But it's one of these things where it's like you feel nervous to talk about it outside of a comic space. Right.

I feel you. But how would you define the difference between working what would be considered a black room? What about the comedy? Black room versus mainstream room. Yeah's how would you define the difference the the main difference is less x less exposition and quicker to the funny right yeah yeah yeah where if if i'm thinking of like the the one of the harshest rooms um well there was like the peppermint uh peppermint lounge out in georgia that's where bob sumner used to um you had to if you were doing deaf comedy jam you had to go there

before you did deaf jam that was like the proving ground yeah and so it's like i think i did i've done it five times in my life i think i did real well twice i think i did okay one time and then uh one time or the other two times it was was like, you're like, it was rough. It was rough. You know what I mean? But, you know, there are legends that did that room and caught L's, you know. So, yeah, I think the difference. Mainstream crowd, mainstream comedy club, people have paid money to see a comedy show they know they're paying money to go

see a comedy show um so they are in a they're in a stand-up comedy mind state right and they're ready to laugh and they're going to support and even if they don't if even if they don't laugh they're surrounded by other people laughing so like he Okay. All right. I see what he's doing. And, um, in a, in a, in a black room or urban, um, you might be in a, a,

a bar that someone was coming to watch the Knicks play, right? You're watching the Knicks and it's, and it's during the playoffs and the Knicks are in the playoffs. You like, my Knicks in the playoffs. And now, um,

right at the, uh, end of uh the third quarter they're up by 10 and suddenly the tv's off you're like yo what are you doing they're like no the comedy shows the comedy show yeah yeah yeah for no comedy comics you know what i mean so now you have to now you have to contend with someone that didn't even know they were coming to a comedy show right um i i used to there was a point where i used to say sometimes you you call it combat comedy because you had to like feel like

you were putting on this kevlar and and your armor because if you don't get to that joke in in a in a quick fashion yeah they gonna let you know but the difference being if you win people over quickly is heaven because black people latino people um that are going into those clubs they're not just oh you know they're hopping out of the seats said like they'll change locations yeah yeah the lab yeah man yeah yeah they relocate do you think it's i've i've my always have had a personal theory and i used to do harlem nights a lot okay i used to live in harlem okay and i always felt like there was a degree where uh i don't know if this is brooklyn or jewish where self-deprecation didn't work as well i always felt like if i had a

joke about having a small penis or whatever, like in Brooklyn, like it would work. And if I was at Harlem Nights, I'd get a feeling of the guys being like, dude, there's women here. What are you doing? Like there wasn't as much. I didn't feel there was as much. I did this SiriusXM show with Earthquake Show when I was in LA.

And it was funny. Quake is my man. Oh, man. Sean Markle, you a good dude. He's a legend in my mind, so it's just like I was in awe. Right, because you're from D.C. Oh, man. Sean Markle, you a good dude. He was, he's like, you know, he's a legend in my mind. So it's just like I was in awe. Right, because you're from D.C. also, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so that's Quake's house, yeah.

And I just remember there was a guy next to me, and I think Earthquake referred to him as like the alpha dog of comedy. And I made a joke where he got to me, and I was like, I'm the beta dog of comedy. And it felt like the room was like, ugh. Like, not a moment, not even I was like, I'm the beta dog of comedy. And it felt like the room was like, yeah, not a, not a moment. Not even a,

just like, it was just like, yeah. Why would you say? And I was, it was that moment where I swear it was like that moment where like, I, where there's a degree of like confidence, like you have to lead with some kind of confidence.

And when I go, I mean, I just think about the classic Bernie Mac, I ain't scared of you motherfuckers. I ain't scared of you motherfuckers. And it's like, for me, that captures the spirit of how you really crush, because confidence is more important. I feel like you go to Brooklyn and be like, you go to Brooklyn and be like, I'm very scared of you motherfuckers.

And it's like like that's respected there yeah that's interesting i never i never whether regardless of where i was i always do i had to come out strong i had to come out strong i had to finish strong um and i had to at least maintain funny during the 10 or 15 minutes while i was up there because i mean i was following i mean you anyone from talent to leslie jones to yeah to jb smooth who is the hardest follower who's the one that you go i'm following yeah in the in the black rooms talent was always hosting so that made it a little easier because talent was like talent talent was beast um leslie was challenging because i don't i don't really use profanity and leslie was going all out but then that made me

stronger because that made me also realize oh if you're if you play smart you know you can you can um you can minimize what happened before you if you know how to piggyback off their wave so that so so that instead of getting uh drowned by their wave of of of energy you just can ride that their wave of energy into what you do yeah leslie was was always beast freddie ricks um jameek jb jp was was or is a strong cat um who's jb smooth man jb you didn't want to follow because jb smooth jb smooth what he would do jb would take whatever his premise was and he would milk it and he would keep running back over whatever was funny and the crowd is crowd is like exhausted and like you know and laughter you know people don't realize laughter is tiring because it's an ab workout yeah yeah yeah and jb would jb

was somebody tracy or tracy would i mean it was there was so many beasts that were coming up yeah that's that's the thing i mean it's a lot of beasts. And then, like, Todd Lynn. Todd, man. Todd. Rest in peace, Todd Lynn. Used to put, like, bring that fire, you know. Patrice, you know. Patrice wasn't really doing those rooms, but Patrice and all the clubs in the city. You're like, I remember watching Patrice had the, he opened for Jimmy Walker, featured for Jimmy Walker at Caroline's. That was rough. That was rough to watch because. For who? Patrice had the, he opened for Jimmy Walker, featured for Jimmy Walker at Caroline's.

That was rough. That was rough to watch because. For who? For Jimmy or for? For Jimmy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah,

yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah,

yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Because, you know, Patrice is, you know,

he was doing what he does. And then Jimmy Walker is from a different era. So he was funny, but it was a different cadence, a different pace. And so Jimmy Walker coming out, doing the Jimmy Walker thing. It just,

it, after Patrice, just like, fucking talked about, the real shit. Yeah, yeah, man.

So it was, it was, it was, but those, but those, those stories are, you know, you cherish those memories

because you're happy that you were around them. Yeah, yeah. This episode is brought to you by A Real Pain. From Searchlight Pictures comes one of the buzziest films at Sundance Film Festival, A Real Pain. Written, directed, and starring Oscar nominee Jesse Eisenberg

alongside Emmy Award winner Kieran Culkin. Witness a hilarious and moving story about two mismatched cousins as they tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the pair's old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history. See A Real Pain only in theaters November 15th. Interior Chinatown is an all-new series based on the best-selling novel by Charles Yu about a struggling Asian actor who gets a bigger part than he expected when he witnesses a crime in Chinatown. Streaming November 19th only on Disney Plus.

I did want to ask about you served. Yeah, I was in the army six years. After what age did you join? I joined it to age 20. I joined when I was 20. I needed needed some. to age 20 i joined when i was 20 i needed needed some uh i was always a fit i got offended that all of my friends uh that came from single parent households were getting all types of financial aid and because i had two parents um the the the you know higher education was like oh you have money

like that money ain't sitting in a surplus you know yeah and so i just uh a couple of my buddies i was working with at kmart at the time they were in the army they were in the reserves and and they made they were great advertisements like they did more than we do more before 12 p.m i was or before 9 a.m than most people i ain't care about that but but mikey and scoot you know they are always fresh and they always have money like oh dude you got or before 9 a.m. than most people. I didn't care about that, but Mikey and Scoot, you know, they are always fresh, and they always have money. Like, oh, dude, you got to join the Army. You want to get a check? I got a new car. And I was like, what?

You know, and I just, I was like, I told my parents, I was like, you know what, save your money for my sister. Save her money for her. So she, because I'm not a great student anyway i'm still in college at this point i was in college i was in college um and i was still sort of fit i knew this is what i wanted to do didn't know exactly how to get to that um and and i was like just the idea of having these student loans just bugged me. And I was like, you know what?

They said the GI Bill would pay for it, pay whatever. I was like, all right, shoot, I'll join the Army, go, you know. Where'd you go? Where'd you station? I did basic because I was reserved, so it wasn't as bad. I did boot camp at Fort Jackson, Columbia, South Carolina. How hard is this boot camp? Boot camp is... Were you in good shape?

Were you like... I wound up in great shape. Yeah. No one's in... Anyone that thinks they're in good shape isn't in good shape until they get there. And you go through because, I mean, you're... Number one, you're working out. Every morning, you're waking up at like 0500 hours to go.

You're outside in shorts and a shirt at 530, 0530. Workout, you're doing two miles of running. You're doing push-ups and sit-ups. And then you have to... How long is this workout? Like 45 to an hour. Then we would get back to the barracks, have to shower, put on our BDUs, be in formation for child line by like 6.45, get in there by 7.

Good food? Food was actually really good, man. The food, I enjoyed eating. I enjoyed eating. And then throughout the day, you're walking around with a 70-pound rucksack on your back, good man i enjoyed the food the food um i enjoyed eating i enjoyed eating but and and then you know throughout your day you're walking around with a you know 70 pound rucksack on your back along with the m16 assault rifle um you're walking around class or like you um whatever class you had yeah but also like you're doing marches with with with this rucksack where you know you're you're

doing you know five ten miles with with 80 pounds in your back. You can't help but get in shape. Was there a workout? You said reserves. That means that you're just training just in case. So reserves is essentially, for me, I did what's called split options. So since I was in college when I joined, I went away for the – that's how I planned it.

I went away for the summer, did bootcamp, came back. Um, when I, after the, the say 10 weeks or so, um, I get back first newspaper. I read says operation desert shield is now desert storm. We're at war. I'm like, you, I just wanted some money for books, dude. Um, and they, so next thing I know they, uh, they activated half of our unit and fortunately right before they um right before the rest of us got activated the war stopped because i had done like a power of attorney and my will and all of that um so half the people you were

with got the people in my in my unit um up in webston new york was that like a draft kind of thing or people you know no they they actually have found out that they they activated people that hadn't been showing up for drill so they i think that i gotta say yeah i feel like people who had been showing up right would have been more prepared that's what we always joke about. Yeah, let's go. I don't know. Wow. But yeah, and then I went to school. And then the following summer, I went and did my advanced individual training, AIT, out in Fort Sam Houston out in San Antonio. Did part of you ever want to serve just to make these push-ups count for something? Part of you did.

Well, they are if he's getting money. Yeah, we were serving, but did I want to go to war? Yeah, I mean, obviously, maybe you don't want to, but there's part of you, you're getting in shape, and you're like, do you want to help with something, or you're just like, thank God. Honestly, at the time, I was going to be more annoyed that had I been taken out and activated activated in say um november december i would have had to

repeat that whole semester of work so that's that's where my mind was i was like i was ready to be pissed off because i was like they're about to activate and i gotta do all this damn studying the guy well y'all have seen through this i wasn't the best student um and uh but yeah fortunately they and a bunch of my buddies um got active on my one of my best men in my wedding he got active my boy general uh jerome jackson got got activated and uh and fortunately you know he came back i remember he told me one time they were they were in they were uh you know over in uh what is it i don't even remember where where in the middle east they were um but he's over there they're watching a tv so they like say the tv's here and

then there's an opening and they saw something explode and they saw it on their tv he was like and he told me he was like dude that's how real it was it was that close to us i was like oh wow i said i'm glad i was in uh you know, film class or whatever, you know. How do you, because you're a veteran. How do you relate to veterans who served? Does it ever feel like the ones who went over there, does it feel like they, do they see you as a veteran? Do they see you as a, like there's, does it feel like any, do you feel connected or disconnected? No, I feel connected because we all went through the same training.

We all went through the same training. It's just like, you know, once you've gone through that and anyone I've known, obviously I'm sure, you know, you'd have to ask one, you'd have to ask anyone that's actually been activated and sent to war. Um, and because then there's something else that they share, that they've had that experience. It's like anything that you've been forced to be amongst others, you share an experience and you can never take away from that.

So like my boy General. General, he has a couple of friends that are now my friends, but I also know they have a special bond because they all were active over in the Middle East serving our country, whereas I didn't have that experience. So I'm cool with them.

I'm cool with, like a bunch of cats, actually, when they got activated, they sent our unit down and got deployed with a unit from dc so most of most of his closest friends from the military are from the dc area my boy tan my boy uh butler you know my boy rodney smith and and a bunch of them they all got activated from that unit and so part of me part of me wishes that i had that connection with them yeah but i also they also there's never been no one's ever looked down on me at least to my face sure sure

where they're like oh you ain't real you ain't real on me because you ain't you you ain't serve war i'm like hey dog like i and i've done a lot of military tours both air force army marine you know bases and uh in the middle, as a matter of fact. And there's always a sort of camaraderie because people know that we've all gone through the same exact training. We've all had to learn how to function check an M16 assault rifle and take it apart and put it back together. Sure. Do you have a good chunk on that, a good stand-up chunk,

only for those tours? Really for those tours. You know, like, then it all comes back, and then there are things that they're going to get that the layperson probably wouldn't relate to. If I did those tours, I certainly, like, I don't know what that audience is at all. Like, it would be a lot of, like, I'd have to think,

or I'd ask you or someone. Like, I've never done those tours. But you'd be amazed. I just had a conversation with someone cause someone asked me recently. I was in a, I was at this casino in Pennsylvania. You've done parks yet. Have you done this casino?

No, I haven't done parks. So I did parks casino and I was talking to one of the guys, a musician down there. And he was like, he was like, wait, so,

so you've, you've, you've gone overseas. Where is it? So he asked me where comedy's taken me. I said, man, I've done shows from Johannesburg in Cape Town in South Africa to Alexandria in Cairo in Egypt to Riyadh in Jeddah in Saudi to Amman, Jordan, and Doha, Qatar, and Dubai, and and china and and shangdu and and hung joe in china

and i said i don't change my act for any of these places and like but you know i said listen man people are the same wherever you go all right you know people that's that's we we we we get it so twisted here in the states i think because um and because and there's a good amount of propaganda to to to paint, you know, certain regions in certain areas into a different, you know, image than what they actually are. um as an entertainer um have been in the middle east not for not for military tours either for local promoters um and have gotten wonderful responses one of one of uh the first international tours i did was myself sebastian maniscalco wow angelo surukis i'll show you this picture um later and um and we had a blast over there in front of like 3 000 i'm gonna say 1500 to 3000 um saudis you know and and there were expats mixed in as well but it was mainly saudis sebastian doing his chipotle bits still not yet no this is this is 09 i don't even know if you had written that

one yet but you know we none of us were like, geez, what are they? Do they understand? Everybody speaks English. You know, I joke about it on stage. We're the lazy ones that tap out at one language, but everywhere else they, they, they speak multiple languages and this right here, the phone and the internet have made the world a lot smaller. anything that happens here in new york they know about overseas in a couple of minutes and so they can relate they can relate to to mr west losing his mind and they can they can you so you can if i'm if i'm doing a joke i wouldn't do a joke because it's hack now but if i'm doing that joke over here i can go overseas and talk about it because they're looking like habibi why is he so crazy you know they're looking too you know so so that's that's the beauty of of traveling

internationally and similar to what you just said i think comics do need to move outside of their comfort zone right so you you doing lol obviously is a different energy than you performing at the cellar or the village underground but ultimately ultimately, you're doing the same joke. You're just maybe, if anything, you might change your pacing. Sure. Because you have a little more time to expand and expose what you're talking about. But it's still the same jokes, man. Yeah, I think like when I went to Canada, like i did a chunk about harlem and you know it's like i've learned from lol how to sum up what i need them to know about harlem right in two lines right and then

go from there right right you economize that's that's what that's really like the best stand-up is all all about economizing and getting to your joke and not pontificating about how heavy a deep thinker you are like let's be funny just Just get to it. Did you have a corner? Yeah, I can do it. I have a prompt. Let me just put this. Wait, hold up. Let me just, oh, let me ask why I find this,

why I fixed this cue real quick. Are there any impressions that you never could nail down that you were like, God damn it, that you couldn't figure out? Because for me, it's all of them. Like in my head, I can hear what Trump sounds like, and I literally cannot do it with my – Right.

What's your Trump? I can't do Trump. China. Yeah. That's your word? That's all I got, just that one word. Yeah, I've never – Anyone I do, I do them because I like them and think they're interesting.

Like if I hear a voice and I lay, hearing Erykah Badu the first time I heard her. I'm singing with her. I'm harmonizing with her. So then doing an impression of her, with her. Actually, I remember she was, Donnell Rawlings used to host this room. Brooklyn Moon Cafe was also a poetry spot in Brooklyn brooklyn and one night i was doing this joke about her and doing an impression of her and then i said i said i said eric is that you she was like

and she not i was like oh you know so i did the joke a little bit longer add a little bit more funk to it and um nah because i think i can if i hear it i know know I can do it. And if I don't think it's someone that's interesting to me or someone that I'm really pressed to do, I'm not going to attempt it. Yeah. You know. All right. This is our new segment. We got the. Ba-ding, ba-ding, ding, ding, ding.

Oh, wow. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, Russell Sandbox. He's got a thing. Could really be anything. It's unspecific, but it's a thing of some kind. It's Russell Sandbox. Better do. Wow. A little bit long.

A little bit long. We'll go contact Danny Jollis. Who wrote that? We just had a guest, and it was a new segment, and he just launched into a song. Okay, so I'm going to'm gonna talk about okay so a downside of me is that um i am terrified of confrontation and so i spent a lot of time thinking about past instances where i wish i had been spoken up so i wanted to post to both of you uh if you could go back in time and either change how you had a confrontation with someone

or make it you know like improve upon the situation for yourself is there a past confrontation that you had or didn't respond to that you wish you could respond to and how would you respond now yeah I remember this pops in my mind do you know

Joe Vesey Joseph Vesey no I don't think so funny comic um we used to have a podcast the father market protocol there was an episode we spoke about um i was on the road i want to say i was doing levity live and uh the host um the host um wanted to was we were staying myself and harris then we were we were staying upstate um at at the hotel near levity and turns out that the club somehow the the person that was hosting wound up using my shower and by the time it was too late by the time it happened it was like i was like wait what and harris was even more vexed he's like they wouldn't do that to louis ck they wouldn't do that why they doing that to you and the more my friends spoke about it the more pissed i got about it but it already happened so if i could go back in time i would i would say i would just say, no, you can't shower in my shower.

You and your girlfriend that just went kayaking, just come shower in my, no. I think that's a good one. These are tough. I'm doing that thing where I'm like, fuck, I don't have a good one. But I have one of my- You get fights in your head all the time. I know you do. Yeah.

But I'm getting better at doing it now. Or Tova does it for me now. Tova, Tova, Tova, please. That's the beauty of having a significant other that they can play bad guy. Sure. But I think Tova, it's just one of those things. I've tried to figure out a bit about it because it's like Tova will get mad at someone and I'm like,

oh, if they hit anyone, it's going to be me. Like I am your... Yes, right. You're her avatar. Yes, that was the word I was trying to think of. Yeah, it's that. Let's see. I think sometimes someone has made me feel shame.

It's going to be something in there. I think there was, it's very complicated, but I got in trouble at school at some point Theater department There was a big People got drunk and high The closing night of the show It was common Everyone knew it

And then at some point They tried to catch everyone They tried to like get everyone to And we didn't understand There's one of these things Where I didn't understand I could lie And like no one These are not cops investigating me just lie right and i remember

we were at this big meeting and they were trying to like make us all crack and surely enough it worked like they went around they're like guys we need you to be honest about it and everyone was lying and then one girl was like i did take a bite of the pot brownie and then this woman cried and then this guy cried and everyone cried and in my head I was like, I'm not. Good, good. I'm not. And then like the tech guy,

he looked at me and he mouthed, we know you did it. Oh, damn. Wow. And like, it like shook me and I wish I'd gone up to him after

and I said like, you motherfucker, you knew everyone got drunk and high. You're just doing this because your job is on the line. How dare you try

to fuck up my future because you got busted and and that's the one i really wish i said fuck you right fuck you yeah um he's good i like that one yeah that's good and look and look it seems like you just purged your spirit yeah yeah because i i i've been thinking a lot about because there's one this one thing that it's really bothers me that I didn't say. Do you want? What is it? Well, when I was in, I'm not going to say, it was college or grad school, one of them. I don't want to, the person.

And Russell thinks everyone in his life is listening at home. They could be. Or someone will send it to them. But I was doing a show, and it was one of those shows where I had like four or five monologues in. But I was doing a show and it was one of the shows where I had like four or five monologues in. And a professor was coaching the show and also working with me individually on these monologues. But kind of like dropped off the radar for like the last two and a half weeks of rehearsals. And then just came to the final dress rehearsal and then sent me a note after seeing the dress rehearsal being like, hey, would love to talk to you tomorrow.

Here are my office hours. Like come in blah blah came in and basically said to me i really don't think you're doing a very good job in the opening night of the show opening night of the show i don't think you're doing a very good job and i'm in school i'm paying i'm like in the school yeah very vulnerable thing they coached me on this and then they dropped off the radar and they didn't offer anything specific and that's what i was gonna say they didn't offer anything it was basically like a foregone like this is gonna this is not good and uh it's i'm just really disappointed like it didn't really i just don't feel and so they said the only monologue that you did they mentioned one specific that they felt good about that was the only one i hadn't worked on them with and i was livid and now as more i wasn't technically technically an adult no i was just i

just was so low confidence already in this program and then to then be going into opening night with that kind of thing it was like in now looking back this person fucking sucks this person is someone who has a good name kind of in their what they do a good reputation they work at some nice theater companies and but they're full of shit and they're just kind of an ass kicker kisser and they've just kind of they don't really know much and they're bad teacher and i just wish i could been like fuck you you don't know anything. You didn't really help anyone. And no one here really likes you.

They just like your resume. And, and that's kind of, and I feel very strongly about this person because people I know still really love them. And I think they're a bullshit person. And I think they're phony and they don't know a lot and they've no, they've worked their way into kissing the right three asses in the theater community. And, and uh they work all the time and everyone loves them and fuck off i almost said their name let's have them on the pod and i'll get to the bottom of this conspiracy in my head though too is that the week before i went to a party that they had hosted and i was really

drunk and i got in a conversation with their partner who I thought was really boring. And I totally stopped listening to what their partner was saying. And I like looked away and then I realized that this person was still talking to me and I was like, oh, and then I looked back and then I was like, and then I just walked away from them. And I think, so I'm, my conspiracy theory is that I offended their partner by thinking that they're boring and he is boring and that they then had this weird thing. But that's conspiracy

and I think that's not true. I think this person is just ultimately a shitty person. Tell them how you really feel, Russell. We'll round this up real quick. This has got to stop. Do you have a this has got to stop for us today?

Oh, what is this has got to stop? Hold up. I love these. I love finding out who read the email and who didn't. No, you knew that.

Something that's got to stop. Something that in society it could be. I always have bad examples for this. Wedding registries. People saying I appreciate you.

Bigger things. Anything. Something that's like enough of this. Oh, this has got to stop. New comics offering me their business card perfect that's a perfect one

are they stand-up strings what well it's fine to have a business card don't give it to another comic of course put that where you get so many of people i think it's so funny. At LOL sometimes I would give out cards at the end. I've kind of moved past that stage. But sometimes people would give me their business card back. And I'd be like, what? What are you talking about? I don't know what you do.

Just in case you need interior design. That's almost like after shows you're telling people to follow me. And they come up, hey, I just followed you. Make sure you follow me back. And you're like, no. Why? Why? What do you do?

You're not interesting. I think there's a thing with like hustle culture where there's like a degree of like, hey, we're both. Like when people be like subscribe to my YouTube channel. And I'm like, as a comic, I'm not your market. I'm not. I don't have time. I'm doing the thing. Yeah.

Yeah. That's a good one. Yeah. You don't have time i'm doing the thing yeah yeah yeah uh that's that's a good one yeah i uh you don't have business cards no well i do for my like work but oh god i want one of those do you have business cards no i haven't had a business card since 97 i had i had this logo and it said the uh the dean of comedy oh edwards, Dean Edwards, with my voicemail number. Because that's before, like you had, everybody had a voicemail that anyone could call and it would, yeah. I haven't had that in a long time. These days if people want to find you, they'll find you. Exactly.

I feel the same way about spelling your Instagram handle at the end. That people will find you. Right, right. Well, how about if, this is another, what was it just, what's the name of this segment your Instagram handle at the end. The people will find you. They'll find you. Right. Well, how about if... This is another... What was it just... What's the name of this segment? This has got to stop.

This has got to stop. How about using a name that people can spell and not some weird thing that you now have to spell out and add underscores and all this? That's why I don't do it. My name's Chamarco and I'm like, G-I-A... Never mind. Right. Just never mind.

Right. Find me on the schedule if you like me. Yeah. Google it. You'll find me. No one's like, G-I-A, never mind. Right. Just never mind. Right. Find me on the schedule if you like me. Yeah. Google it, you'll find. No one's like, I love that comedian. I want to follow their career. Right. I can't find their name.

Right. They're going to find it. They're going to find you. And then our final segment. You better count your blessing. You better count your blessing Yeah, yeah, yeah You were a singer

But the pity wasn't mine A recity of a blessing to share So I went away this weekend With some family Like Placid And got some good quality time With my nephews And my nephew Cooper

He's such a sweet sensitive soul he um we were watching star wars and i was like well i'm gonna go there was a hot tub i was like i'm gonna take a break and go to the hot tub and he like 10 minutes later he came and he's like he's like hey i'm like you know really sad about star wars there's some people died in it you know and i was like oh okay you know uh well you know he's just turned seven and i was like okay well you know i'll get out and we can go back and watch so we go back and watch and he's like he's like hey uncle russ i need to tell you something i was like what and he goes i wasn't sad about the people dying in star wars i was he's what he said

i was sad because time is moving so fast and the trip is almost done and i don't want it to be done and i feel like i miss you already and i was like i was like a little sweet sweet sensitive anxious soul um but anyway so i had a good uh time connecting with him this weekend and his brother's wild but well a good time too you know um but yeah i can appreciate yes yes that's so sweet yeah just have kids already you son of a bitch just have a kid please um i won't read this message well so i did philly punchline uh last night and we have we have more and more podcasts debbie downsiders that's what we call them by the way if you're listening i forgot to say this if you're a fan of the podcast check out the patreon patreon.com slash downside to listen to bonus episodes.

Our amp episodes, which are live every Tuesday, 4 to 5 p.m. EST. But we're building. Once we hit 50 Patreon subscribers, I'm getting an Uncle Function tattoo. Once we hit 100, Russell is doing so many shrooms, he's going to see God. But it's so cool to have we've been doing this podcast over a year

it is a lot of work but it's so great and then you sit in the front row and I wish you could be there to see people come up and they're like I'm a Debbie Downsider

I got to meet the woman in LA you got to meet the woman in LA that was very cool I talk about my girlfriend on stage and they go Tova and it's like that's a mixed blessing but

because I say some very mean things. But there was a woman, I won't read the full message, her name was Caitlin. Hello, Caitlin. She just wrote something very sweet. She came up and she was like, she was crying and was like so happy.

And it was one of those things where you mean, so it's like you were able to make someone feel so good yeah yeah and it's like it's an overwhelming because it feels like a responsibility and i'm like thank god the show was good uh uh but she was crying and she demanded a refund and i said i'm sorry um no caitlin uh uh thank you for the very sweet message and it's very moving i can see how celebrities start thinking that they're important and uh uh i don't want to it's hard you talk about it and it feels like you're like self-aggrandizing in a way you want to be humble but it meant a lot it just meant a lot to see someone moved by what i did and i'm glad i did, and you made me feel very special, and I hope I bring laughter to your life.

Yeah, and clearly you do and you did, based on her emotional output and reaction. You know, not to sound all serious, but there's power in what we do, right, as performers, especially as I think stand-up comedy is healing. You know, Especially with everything that we're dealing with in the world. People are so stressed.

We all just came out of the last two years that some people felt were very traumatic because it wasn't just being stuck in the house, but it was also the social upheavals and everything else coupled. And to get to just go out you're in people's ears

while they're you know living life whether it's you know working out on a treadmill or walking heading to work or driving to work or laying in their bed right so when you actually when when someone can go and experience you in real time in the physical three dimensions, that's a beautiful thing, man. And honestly, there is power in that. I don't think it's self-aggrandizing. I think it's surreal. It is very surreal. When Tova got annoyed, I didn't bunch the socks together.

I just put them kind of one by one in the drawer, and she was annoyed. And I wanted to be like, you know what? Caitlyn would think about this. Caitlyn would say, wow, you get to live with john marco why don't you shut the fuck up now that's a healthy way to live your life you should give that for every fight you get comedically for every fight you get in you get a fight with the cashier you're like you know what caitlin would say right exactly shout out to make sure that my food was cooked exactly exactly um uh do you have a blessing to close this out blessing um it's a blessing to be here I'm doing to make sure that my food was cooked properly. Exactly. Do you have a blessing to close us out?

Blessing? It's a blessing to be here, man. I appreciate y'all inviting me. I love tossing it up with my fellow funny people. This weekend I had great shows in Albany, but what made one even more special was my cousin. I forgot he lived up in the Albany area. And so maybe I get to the club, I look at my phone. Hey, I'm sitting a few rows back.

And him being there actually made me detour. And I wound up doing 20 minutes on moving so much as a kid. doing 20 minutes on moving so much as a kid and, and, uh, my family and his family and our, and our mothers that were sisters or ours, you know, my aunt and my mother.

And just, I wound up doing 20, 25 minutes of material that weren't, weren't planned. Yeah. Um, things that I might've jotted down over the years, but never really,

that's awesome. That's cool. And it turned into, by the end of, by the time I had to over the years, but never really ventured into. That's cool. And it turned into, by the time I had to land the plane, I was like, dude, I haven't even gotten to the closer yet. Yeah. So I went a little long,

but it was a wonderful experience. And of course, right before I went on stage, I said to myself, you should record this. You really should record this. And I was like, I don't need to record this.

And then, of course, I'm recording fucking everything. And then, of course, I recorded the next night strong but not as good as the first time. You tell your cousin, like, hey, I need you to come back for this one. Yeah, come back. Alright, this is coming out

November 8th. Is there anything you would like to plug? Let me see. Shoot, let me see. Look, I'm opening my calendar right now. I'll go first because I got to pull up here. So this is a big, big week for me, guys. I am headlining the Midnight Theater, which is a lot of seats.

This is the Midnight Theater, November 10th, Thursday, November 10th at 7.30 p.m. It's a big show. I think there's 140 seats. We're trying to sell it out, so please come to that. And then November 11th and November 12th, I'm headlining Bananas Comedy Club in Hasbrook Heights. I've been there before. Always a good time. I got a good story about bananas.

Maybe I'll tell in the next episode. And then November 13th, this is all part of New York Comedy Festival. Not bananas, but there's a live taping of the downside at sesh comedy club that's november 13th at 6 p.m so get your tickets now they're pretty cheap and last live episode we do was fucking fantastic and we were pretty much sold out so come to that links in bio for all and then for me uh right after that i get the tickets to that and then come see Uncle Function at New York. Oh, no. Uncle Function at Asylum NYC that night at 9.30 p.m. Sunday, November 13th.

Great. And any plugs for me? Me? Yeah, actually, I remember that I'm part of a – we have Race, the movie, the play, the reading. It's going to be three nights in a row. The Reading is going to be three nights in a row. It's a play that I'm part of and also co-starring in with Brett Raybould and written by he and Christian Durant. And we're, I think, the first play ever running during, it's actually The Reading, though, during the New York Comedy Festival. We'll be at Stand Up New York, November 10th, 11th, and 12th.

Stand Up New York. You can go to Stand Up New York's website to get your tickets. This will sell out. Like I said, we're now an award. We won a couple of awards. Best Actor, Best Original Written Play. And we should have won Best Play. But we ran long because we got a lot of laughs during the New York Theater Festival.

So we're now part of the New York Comedy Festival. And I guarantee you it's a spoof of race bait Oscar movies. Everything from The Green Book to Driving Miss Daisy and the Hell. We goof on all of these and it's a really, it's a very funny but poignant and well-written piece of theater and we're doing this reading three nights in a row at Stand Up New York.

Great. Well, thank you again. Go to patreon.com slash downside and remember, we're all part of the organism of humanity and time and space just flow, and it's a beautiful infinity, and I think the shrooms are still in my system. This is The Downside.

One, two, three. Downside. You're listening to The Downside with Gianmarco Ceresi.