The Downside with Gianmarco Soresi - #96 Speaking of Existentialism with Gus Constantellis

Episode Date: August 9, 2022

Gus Constantellis shares the downsides of playing his mom, church gigs that want him to keep his homosexuality under wraps (while he's playing his mom), your Greek dad telling you at six-years-old that there's nothing when you die, your Greek mom breaking down about the beloved village goat she was forced to eat as a child, Greek representation in Full House, and immigrant jokes falling flat with all white audiences. I also confront Gus on beating me in a stand-up comedy competition five years ago.  You can watch full video of this episode HERE! Follow Gus Constantellis on Instagram & TikTok Catch Gus in a city near you Follow Gianmarco Soresi on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, & YouTube Subscribe to Gianmarco Soresi's email & texting lists Check out Gianmarco Soresi's monthly show in NYC (first Sunday of every month) 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

Wow, that's a lot of Greek slurs, you know, Russell. Welcome to The Downside. My name is Javarco Cerezi. I'm here with my co-host, Russell Daniels. How you doing? And I guess Greek bigot. Greek bigot? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Are there Greek slurs? Yeah, are there? I mean, what would, like, what, a shish kebab stick? What would you say to, like, feta junkie? Oh, I've never heard any of these. A tzatziki? They're all food related. They're not popular.

They sound like just dishes. These Greeks are getting away with murder. They don't have any slurs. I think the only, oh, but actually no, when Germany, when the whole Euro crisis was going down with the economy, that was our thing, that Greeks were lazy and didn't pay our taxes, which that's not wrong. I mean. This is the downside. One, two, three.

Downside. You're listening to The Downside. The Downside. With Gianmarco Ceresi. Welcome to The Downside. We are here with lazy tax avoider Gus Constantelis. I said that right, right? Yes, I am a lazy tax avoider. I meanis. I said that right, right? Yes, I am a lazy tax avoider.

I mean, yes, you did say my last name right. The only person that can, truly. I'm very excited to have you. We got off, we knew each other from a bad start. You beat me in a comedy competition many years ago in a restaurant

in New Jersey. To be fair, I was the bullet spot. Tough to win a competition as the bullet spot. What does that mean? What does that mean? Wasn't I the bullet spot? No, you're rewriting history. Okay, maybe I wasn't.

Never mind. Maybe if you were. I remember I was thinking about that on the way here, and I was like, I wonder if he remembers that. How bad did you beat him? That's how petty comics are. We were both, that's all we thought about in terms of our relationship. And John Marco had no idea who I was, like, at that point.

Like, we hadn't really met. And so I was, like, standing online to go to the bathroom. And he was, like, behind me. And, like, I was trying to be like, hey. But then he was, like, trying to cut the line. And I was like, I'm standing here. For those of you just listening gus is five foot two so you would have done the same that's the thing you didn't notice me and i knew that in that moment i was like this this six foot four motherfucker didn't even see me down here he doesn't see anyone um listen uh

what uh what uh wait what is the bullet spot are you not not recording? No, no, no. Don't worry. This is the one that matters. The bullet spot is you go first. Oh, okay. And on a competition, it really sucks to go first. No, for sure. Yeah, yeah. Sam Morrison once did a show.

He did The Laughing Devil, and he got checks where they dropped the check during the show, and he was so livid because it was like a cash prize spot. Yes. But these competitions, they're okay. But like, these competitions, they're, okay, but no, you won it,

you did very well. Do you remember how you beat him? Do you remember a specific joke that you were like? How do you think stand-up works? Do you think we're doing

that like the same time? No, no, no. Wait, I'm assuming is that like, if it's a competition. He did it because his charisma was better and his jokes were tighter.

What do you want me to say? How do you want to break this down? You know what I genuinely, Wait, it wasn't a roast. It wasn't like a... No, no, no. Okay, okay.

I think what genuinely did it was that I got up and it was Jersey and it was like a Jersey sports bar. And the first thing I said was, is anyone here gay? And the silence was so deafening that I was like, I'm not. And then the whole crowd went nuts. And so I just had them from like 10 seconds in. That first line can do it. That first line, if they get on your side like that much on the first line, it's over.

I did a competition. It was March Madness where you each had one minute back and forth and then applause. And I remember I went first in the round and you'd never want to go first. And I was against Mike Feeney. I was early on in the standup. And I did my joke. And it did well. And then he started.

He just went, ugh, I fucking hate this. Murdered. Because we had been there. I was early on into stand-up and I did my joke and it did well. And then he started, he just went, ugh, I fucking hate this. Murdered! Because we had been there, it was a terrible show. So the audience loved it and it was over. We ate this too!

Yeah! We don't like it! I heard he was here! Well, very excited to have you. So excited to be here. And we'll get to you in a bit.

But a couple things, a couple things couple things to complain about um first i do i'm curious about this because russell and i there are two things that happened recently between us where ways that were similar and with us that were dissimilar okay i figured we could discuss it talk more first of all uh uh the pictures from space that came out recently uh-huh i i wrote you see the new pictures from space it's out recently. Uh-huh. I wrote, do you see the new pictures from space? It's slightly more defined. When I see space, I'm filled with dread, existential angst, nothing about space.

I do not see like a beautiful ball of fire and go, wow, look at the beauty of God. We wouldn't even live long enough. If we were teleported, they would be dead instantly. Yeah. How do you feel? I feel all the things you're saying, but I also feel that I quite enjoy it. There's a comfort in knowing that it's so big.

Are you one of these, you're comforted that everything you do is meaningless? Yes. See, that's the difference. In some way, yes. I feel like when I see that, I'm like, oh, none of this really matters that much. And I like that. You see, I want to believe that my competition with Gus meant more than a fucking galaxy that we'll never even go to.

John Marco would love to believe that the memory that haunts him every night is somehow. What about you? When you see the night sky, are you inspired? Do you have existential angst? You know, I'm kind of, I'm kind of over on this team over here because I think that, yeah, there is a, there's a comfort to the meaninglessness of it, you know? And when I get really stressed out, it helps me. It really is the only thing that can really bring me down.

It's so beautiful sometimes. It is the, but who cares? What do you mean? Who cares? Who cares? It's beautiful. You don't ever see anything. It's so beautiful sometimes. It's so funny. It is the, but who cares? What do you mean who cares? Who cares? It's beautiful. You don't ever see anything and you're like,

you feel nothing when you see beauty. Is that what you say? I also just like Star Wars. Like, I don't know. It's kind of that. See, I never even liked Star Wars and I wonder if it's because of that.

My boyfriend's on your team. Space scares him. Like, he can't watch gravity because he's like, a woman alone in space is a horrifying thing in and of itself. Like, you can't watch Gravity because he's like, a woman alone in space is a horrifying thing in and of itself. Like,

I can't do it. But a man is okay? A man was fine. If it was George Clooney, again, as he, but he died, so it's done.

No, it's just like a person alone. You see Space Odyssey 2001? Have you seen that movie? No, I have not. So there's the robot, Hal,

it's just a red dot, very much like Alexa. Like, we are headed towards this future. And the robot gets consciousness and revolts, and there's a scene where there's an astronaut going into space, and Hal cuts off the wire, and you see this astronaut just floating off into nothingness.

And it is the scariest shit. I don't like that. Something else I know that we're different about is that I know we're going to fall on different sides of robot rights. I know that I'm going to be for robot rights and you're not. And I'm just saying, we've seen so many science fiction movies that have taught us that consciousness can be learned and figured out. And you're going to sound like a homophobic.

That's like saying My Little Pony taught us that horses can talk English. That's insane. We can all learn consciousness. Listen, I'm just saying. Learn consciousness. I'm just saying. If they think they're conscious, then they're conscious. Like, if they think.

They're faking. They're programmed. Wash. You make a program. Okay, I'm just saying you sound homophobic. You sound transphobic. You sound. What the fuck?

You're a robot phobic. Whatever their term is going to be is going to be that term. I'm sure there will be a term. You're going to be on the wrong side of it. Listen, all of us can. I'm just saying we're all going to sound like old conservatives when it's happening. I agree. But I think we shouldn't let them is what I'm saying.

I'm just saying we should stop it now. We disagree about things that we have the guests say. Just a deal breaker here. And I'm fine with that. I will say I agree that you will be wrong when it comes to robot rights, but I also agree that robots shouldn't have rights. Thank you. I have the boomer mentality of like,

I'll do whatever you want, but not in my house. Like that's how I feel about it. I feel that we should stop it before it gets to that thing. Like I'm saying like, well, like, no,

we won't. I'm, we're going to let them and they're going to be slaves. And what I'm saying is that's a bad idea because they will take over and it's just gonna be i think we need to stop it before we're we're in that position but we won't we could the earth could end before any of that happens anyway so wow so you're greek you were born here though right i was born here yeah yeah your parents are first generation immigrants is that the correct term no they're immigrant immigrants i'm first generation american

i think is how it goes and i could be wrong but yeah i feel like i had a greek uh voice teacher for a long time oh really yeah and she was an opera singer. So she was like a European socialite at some point in her life. Maria Callas was your opera teacher, essentially? Close enough. Close enough to Maria Callas. Loved Maria Callas. And tell me if this is true.

Her husband was born in a Greek village. And apparently, like their coming of age, he got a pig when he was born. And he grows up with the pig. And then, like, at 16, he has to kill the pig. And then they eat the pig. And that's, like, that was his bar mitzvah, essentially. So my family was not rich enough to own the pigs.

So we didn't do that. But, yeah, that is a thing that happens my my mom had uh my mom got really sick one time like had the flu and took some medication that made her all loopy and she started screaming she started like crying and being like and i was like who the i just asked her i was like who's ven and she goes tells me this insane story where she was like we used to have this goat when we were on like in our village named sven and he was my best friend one time sven got really sick and we had to kill sven but we were so poor that we had nothing to eat so we had to eat my best friend sven and. And I remember just being like,

I am seven years old. Please leave me alone. Just take a NyQuil, you know? Like, you'll be fine. It was horrifying, but yeah. Your mom told you this at seven? Yeah, yeah. So your mom, she's a straight shooter.

Oh, a straight shooter, yeah. I mean, even speaking of existentialism, my dad had a heart attack, like, when I was a kid. yeah yeah so your mom she she's she's a straight shooter oh a straight shooter yeah i mean even speaking of existentialism my dad had a heart attack like when i was a kid and like i remember one time he was like i died for 10 minutes and in those 10 minutes i tell you there's no god there's no jesus there's nothing you know like space with space with the black, it's just that nothing. Oh. And then they resuscitate me.

And I was like, first of all, how do you even know the word resuscitate? But anyway. And then he was like, happy fourth birthday. I literally had to be like, pass the ketchup. We're at dinner. Like, I'm six years old. I don't want to hear this. Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. Not a day goes by that I'll never think of that now. Right. And then my mom was super religious. So it was like this weird, like, I understood at a very early age that like religion meant community and not like anything to believe in, just to be honest. Really? Because like when you have that, like even my dad, we'd drive by church and he would

remind us, he'd be like, remember, it's nothing but do your cross. And I'd be like, this is such a your dad's like like back in roman times it was called the memento mori guy who was like remember you will die yeah like all the time yeah he's had three heart attacks in his life i would love the fourth one forgive me he sees something it is every 10 years it's every 10 years and we're coming on up right before my brother's wedding he had his third heart attack. And then at the wedding, he gave a speech. And he was like, when I died. And he did this whole thing.

Did he tell the whole wedding? He's like, when I die, there's nothing. He told the whole thing. Yeah, literally. He guilt tripped the wedding speech. Oh, wow. And he literally unbuttoned his shirt to be like, these are the scars. I survived.

And I was like, this is insane. And then we all cried. Like everyone at the wedding cried. How did he connect it to the wedding? Did he bring it back at all? He was like, and this is why I love my son. You know, like it was his first, cause my brother who got married was the first son.

So he brought it back to like the first son. And then we all cried and formed a little circle on the dance floor. And all the like, all the wife's side of the family was like, this is insane. Wow. So, okay. Did you, did you, cause my parents, And all the wife side of the family was like, this is insane. Wow. So, okay.

Because my parents, so my parents in terms of, I asked my mom when I was a kid, I said, do you think there's something when you die? And she said, there's got to be something better than this shit. So that was my mom. My dad, like, very emotionally was like, son, I know there's something that survives this world. And then I, I'll never forget like when he had like surgery later in life, like it felt like the roles were reversed and it was my turn to lie to him. I was like, dad, I know there's something that survives this world. And the cycle continues. What did, did you ever ask your parents?

Did a dog ever die? They, uh, no, they were always honest about like death, people dying and death people dying and things um but did they have any belief or were they not really they they always said you can decide if you want to go to church and like we were like no we don't want to go you know as kids so so you became they went a little bit when my parent my mom's parents were dying like my mom would go a little on her own but did but did they ever did she ever say like i think there's no no i think mom's looking down on us no no no never would say like so you were you were a hardcore atheist when you were a little kid no i wouldn't say atheist but i think like i wasn't ever religious in any way and like still i think there's something but i don't really care or need to know what it is that makes sense yeah

you don't care if there's agnostic right well agnostic is you don't know but apotheist is like i don't even care i would say an apathy right because there's something where it's like yes in my hardest times or in my best times i think that there's something of a higher power that is keeping this afloat or at least i like to believe in that to kind of make sure i'm a fideist where i believe in God because it feels good to do so. Yes. That's kind of, you know,

yeah. And when I was younger, I used to be like, so you mean you're, you're lying to yourself? And I was like, no, no,

no. Like there's, there's something, there's something, there's some way that's hard to explain it. I would say that it's more likely that there's like a bunch of gods. Like, I like the idea of there being like the God of this and the God of that.

Because when we put, I mean, just putting all of our attention onto like one dude is like that's the patriarchy like we're just like we're like the patriot why is it one guy why like one guy create all of this like why are you giving him that much power I don't know I think it could have been a lot of people if I'm being honest yeah anyone's in control of it there could be a robot at the way top just testing us to see if we believe robots are conscious. It could all be a simulation. But that robot does not have rights. So do your mom and dad ever like – does your mom ever – I'm always interested when someone is that like there's nothing.

Yeah. And then do you think your mom does believe or does she – She's very religious. She goes like – she's part of a church group. She goes every Sunday. She's the whole thing. She does like charity work with very religious. She's part of a church group. She goes every Sunday. She's the whole thing. She does charity work with her church. It's the whole nine yards.

Is Jesus important to her? Yeah, it's very important to her. Do you think she visualizes meeting him and saying hello and seeing him in front of her? Does he have breath? Does it smell good? Does it smell bad? Does he have a dick

would they have sex with my mom fuck Jesus I'm always curious I just think I just think some people if Jesus is a guy and he's also very good looking

I don't know what he's portrayed like in like Greek churches he's hot he's hot he's still hot yeah I always we've talked about this

when he has a six pack it's like six pack and hot someday we'll get a fat Jesus someday one day I love that with a cross just broken on the side. A reinforced cross.

He's falling out of the things, the nails. There's like four nails in each hand because he keeps falling off. Then my people will be represented. Like a straight man just putting too much tape. That would be an amazing sect of Christianity. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Fat Jesus. Instead of the wafer, it's a whole loaf.

Yeah, I mean, I actually don't have a problem with him being skinny. He can't walk on water. He just right in. I think it seems true if he was really skinny, like unhealthily skinny. Yeah. But when the six pack, I'm like, there's no way. If you go to museums, there's always like a phase where he looks like, you know, a homeless guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then all of a sudden, Jason Momoa starts playing him. And you're like, are you in this for the right reasons? Right. It's like a Buddha statue with an eight inch cock. Yeah. Wait a second. Yeah, yeah. Buddha, Buddha, there you go.

Wait, I have a question. Well, I don't know what this might be. Did you, okay, so. Yeah, yeah. Buddha, Buddha, there you go. Wait, I have a question. Well, I don't know what this might be. Did you, okay, so. Just pause for a second. Grease. You made sure that you could ask a question. Then you said, I don't know. What is it?

Grease. Okay, so did you watch Full House growing up? Yeah. You know that episode where. With the wedding where you walk around. Yeah, yeah. And what's his name? Help me, what is this?

What's his name dies? It's like. Papui. Papui. Help me. What is this? What's his name dies? Papoui. Papoui. They have like a, so John Stamos' parents come and there is like a fake wedding in the episode and they show these like Greek wedding traditions. John Stamos is Greek in the show? Yes. He plays Greek in the show.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jesse Katsopoulos is the character's name. Yes. That really went, that was from the deep trenches of my mind. And then there's an old man named Papui. Which means grandpa in Greek. Okay. And then he,

and Michelle connects with him and then he dies. Yeah. And it's like a death episode. Did you relate to that episode? It was a weird, you know, it's so funny. It was a weird,

like, you know, when people say like, I don't, I never saw myself represented in television. It was like one of like, you know, when people say, like, I don't, I never saw myself represented in television. It was, like, one of, like, those episodes for me that I was like, oh, I'm represented. That and, like, my Big Fat Greek Wedding. Yeah.

And then that's kind of it. How was, because I remember my Big Fat Greek Wedding, like, that was the movie. That was big. That was the rom-com of the 2000s. I've never seen it, but it was huge. Yeah, I think it was pretty funny. Does it hold up? It does hold up. I watched it recently. It's very, I watched it was pretty funny. Does it hold up? It does hold up.

I watched it recently. I watched it during the pandemic. It's very funny. They're doing a third one. I think they're filming it right now in Greece. The second one did not do well, though, right? The second one was bad. It was a late sequel, too.

It was a 10 or 12-year after sequel. It's strange they didn't capitalize on it right away. Those kind of sequels, you've got to be like, okay, guys, we're going to do one callback. But instead, it's like 10. No, it's an we're gonna do one callback. But instead it's like ten. It's an hour and a half of callbacks. It's just it. But they did a show called My Big Fat Greek Life on CBS

that only lasted 12 episodes because John Corbett didn't want to sign on to do a show. So they replaced John Corbett with a different actor. And then kind of changed the names of the characters, but it was the same people. It was the same concept, really. But it didn't work because you didn't have John Corbett.

It works when it's the two people that were in the stupid movie. Is that what sunk the Greek economy? That's literally it. I mean, really. Well, it's funny because Greeks and Greeks hate that movie. They're like, this is not relatable at all. It's very different. I mean, it's like Italian-American-Italian.

There's not really a lot of overlap at this point, especially Neo Vardalos. She's probably like second or third generation and i'm not talking shit about her that's the writer and the right yeah okay and she and the lead actress and she you know she's second or third generation doesn't really speak greek that well like it was like a greek american movie not like a greek greek movie yeah there's like there's like some italians in jersey that you're like exactly you're not at all connected to this thing anymore Greek American movie. Not like a Greek Greek movie. There's like some Italians in Jersey that you're like you're not at all connected to this thing anymore.

But you're saying. No one in Italy is walking around like that. And that's their definition of like being Italian. Greeks complain like Italians there's a lot of Italians being like this is a what's the word? What's the word? You know Italians feel like they're being

god damn with like Sopranos and the Godfather What's the word? What's the word? You know, Italians feel like they're being... Goddamn. With like Sopranos and The Godfather, they're being profiled or they're being like... It's offensive. Do Greeks complain about this as much as Italians? No. The things they complain about are people saying gyro wrong. Because it's gyro.

Gyro. Or tzatziki. They call it a yogurt sauce. Like our thing is like let's complain about people eating our foods and then bastardizing them. Uh-huh. Do you know what I mean? Now, you grew up in queens brooklyn brooklyn bay ridge bay ridge is this a greek it is a little bit about like like why is greek so much in new york there's so many greek well there is astoria is the big greek i think it's because it's the closest

because you got greek chicago uh-huh i mean no new york city chicago and then i think like tarpon springs florida those are the three biggest greek communities in the u.s and then toronto pretty much yeah i i literally can't walk around tarpon springs without like yeah no i'm kidding well are you well chicago is pretty fun because like i did two shows in chicago within six months of each other and like each had like four 50 people. Wow. So the Greeks are out and about. John Marko is looking at me like, I'm going to kill this guy.

I'm thinking like Italian. Okay. My Italian, my Italian, I'll do an Italian mom, even though my mom's Jewish. I'll lean in. It seems like there's more Italian than Greeks in the country.

There are definitely. So it's like less of a community. Like it's less of a, it seems like more of a, you it's less of a it seems like more of a you know they can i don't does that make sense greeks also still do the church thing so they still congregate especially in the middle of the country there's still like that church aspect that brings greek communities together whereas like italians kind of have like that's gone a little bit by the wayside i would say but is is your mom does she care about the pope

like when the new Pope was crowned? Does not give a fuck about the Pope. Doesn't give a fuck about the Pope? No care about the Pope, yeah. But is Catholic? No, because we're Greek Orthodox. We have a whole different situation. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Who's the head of this? The archdiocese, I would say. Yeah. In Greece. In Greece. Greece, Jesus. I don't know what his deal is. I don't stay involved.

But apparently he likes gays, so we're good. Sure. Like of age ones? Of, so we're good. Sure. Like of age ones? Of age ones. Well, and not. He is a priest after all. I'm sure they all have the same problem. Oh, no.

The guy who did my cousin's wedding, like two weeks after he officiated the wedding, like went to jail. Really? For that, yeah. And it was crazy because like his whole speech at the wedding, he was like, oh, you know, now that you're married, you're in the Greek church because she married someone non-Greek, you know, now you have to have kids, lots of kids, so many kids.

I want to see more Greek children in this church. And I kept thinking like, why? It was like 13 minutes on kids. I was like, can we light this dude? Like, we got to wrap it up here. We got to head to the reception, bro. And then two weeks later was arrested and I was like, well, yeah.

That makes sense. It will never cease to amaze me that there could be so many pedophiles and people still would have a priest speak at the wedding. Or that any priest would just talk about kids and you wouldn't go like, buddy, are you serious?

He's talking about old people. old people more old more old people yeah exactly bumble knows it's hard to start conversations hey no too basic hi there still no what about hello handsome who knew you could give yourself the ick? That's why Bumble is changing how you start conversations. You can now make the first move or not. With opening moves, you simply choose a question to be automatically sent to your matches. Then sit back and let your matches start the chat. Download Bumble and try it for yourself. This is an ad by BetterHelp.

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julia julia julia julia i-o-u-l-i-a i have a friend named it's kind of yeah there there's a i have a friend i went to college with her name's connie and there's a family guy in greece like i'm not a family guy uh what's what's the tv show with the the couple's modern family oh yeah she's in the Greek modern family oh cool her father's like a famous Greek pop star I have to look it up oh really oh you gotta tell me cause I know all about that I'll find his name but sorry I just I was thinking about

so your mom immigrated with your father they came well they came kind of separately so it was you know my uncle Nick came first in the 80s my dad came with him my parents were married at that point and they had had my my brother so my brother was about two years old when he came to america okay and then my other brother he was born here they came in like 1984 my parents which is kind of late uh for the game and my mom you know speaks no english and has never learned never learned never cared

to learn now it's funny because back in the day it was more like i don't really want to slash i don't really i have three kids i don't have time to really learn this language and we were we were so poor it was not like a thing she was gonna go pay money to go learn and then uh my dad learned english so that was another crutch for her having having a husband that spoke the language. Sure, you had to be so dependent. I mean, that's a lot of dependence. And now it's interesting

because now I've asked her, and I'm like, do you regret not learning the language? And she's like, oh yeah, I really do. What did she learn now? It's too late for that. I thought that like- Your brain has developed.

It's not going to happen. Well, I've always been terrible with language. I have an awful memory. I think I have a degenerative disease. But they say when you get older, to learn a language helps ward off. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. She should learn it then.

I'm sure it's tough. She does regret it. And the thing that she had said that was so funny was, like, I just wish I could watch Netflix. Oh. She's like, there's all these American TV shows and movies that I hear about that I can never watch. It would be cool if they made a program with Netflix where it taught you the language while you were watching TV shows. It used the TV shows to teach you, just to entertain you. I tried Rosetta Stone twice.

I'm doing Spanish on Duolingo right now. I'm getting real good at it. Really? Yeah, I like Spanish. You speak Greek too. I speak Greek. I was really good. I did Spanish

in college too. High school and college. I got really good at it and then forgot it for the most part and now I'm relearning it. It's great. When did you learn English? Or did you learn it just growing up? It was both at the same time. There was times where I couldn't speak English or couldn't speak Greek

when I was a baby baby. Like a young, young kid. Because depending on the situation, would just like get too shy or like freak out and then not speak whatever language they wanted me to speak yeah was school hard for you I mean like were you so it wasn't hard for me but my brother uh went to ESL the first few years because the language because my I've done the ESL voiceover where you yeah English has a second language and you go like the boy went to the store yeah yeah I've done that for like greek speaking too it's it's kind of interesting yeah for like greek accent and so but you know my brother went to esl for that reason because

he was so entrenched in greek that he just didn't really speak english very well or couldn't respond in english very well but you don't have you don't what age were you smooth that you could just do both i would say like eight or nine. I guess that's later. It seems like such a waste of like the brain's potential to not have a child brought up with two languages. Oh no, right. Because my niece and nephew now are learning Greek, Spanish, English at the same time. Because my sister-in-law is Cuban. And it's like hilarious because my mom is learning more Spanish than she knows English.

Oh my God. She'll be like, agua, leche. Like she'll say all these, like, and the kids like know it now. Cause it's the only way that the kids know how to sit down is. And it's hilarious. It's just hilarious to watch.

Now is your mom funny? Cause I've seen videos. It seems like she's, she's the funny one. Like she's got a funny one. I went to South Carolina with my mom and she started doing bits for me on the plane. And I was like, Oh, okay. She did this like really funny story. And then later that night we went to south carolina with my mom and she started doing bits for me on the plane and i was like oh okay she did this like really funny story and then later that night we went to

dinner with some people and she told the same story but she tweaked it amazing and afterwards she goes you see i fixed that part it's funnier right and i go oh you know you know and then like the next day she did the same story and like fix it up a little more. And I was like, you know exactly what you're doing. You're a little standup writer. Do you ever perform in Greek? I don't do in Greek, but she has come to see me even though she doesn't understand. And she's very fun. Do you think you'll ever do standup in Greek?

I mean, yeah, I can. I can. I just do it with your mom. You know, it's Suka Okatsuka. She tours with her grandma. Oh, right. It's interesting because going into so the jokes, I'd have to just translate them but they don't they're not direct translations you have to fix them sure you know sure and i haven't done that work and i i would but there's

like deeper things that i'm sure i figure hard to figure out just in terms of like sometimes i'll be working on a joke and i'm like oh yeah put the funny word at the end then it's just like with different languages the the syntax. It's not. Sometimes the reveal would be earlier in the sentence. A lot of times is, yes, the joke is at the beginning or the first half and then the rest of it is not. So it really. It goes punchline setup.

Yes, it can go punchline setup or it's setup, punchline, keep talking. It's very different. Wow. And it's interesting to figure it out. And that's the thing is, is I'd love to go do stand-up in Greek, but I'd have to like go do mics in Greek to figure out how to reframe my jokes a little bit. Sure. Is there a stand-up scene like in Greece?

Yeah. There actually is. It started like after the pandemic, like right before and like now it's starting to pick up. There's a club called Los Angeles Comedy Club in Athens. It's so funny. And is it any English-speaking there? There's one English-speaking club.

What's that one called? I don't know. I don't know. But there's a few. There's like three or four clubs there now that I see. I'm looking up this famous singer. Let's see if you know her. Connie Metaxica.

Okay, so your mom and she did she ever work or did she just raise you you know she was um so because my dad was a tailor growing up and in greece first uh in greece first they learned that it's funny they worked at a clothing factory together that's how they met my parents and my mom uh they were working at a clothing factory and my dad requested her favorite song on the radio and played it in the middle of the factory for everyone to hear and then asked her out in front of everybody. Wow. That's a big gesture. Will you go have a drink with me?

My girlfriend and I, we just moved near each other and we just were watching TV shows and eventually started touching each other. I know. Me and my boyfriend met at a glory hole. It's just, it is what it is. Life is different. That's so romantic. It's so, it is what it is. Life is different. That's so romantic. It's so sweet. And they were young.

They were very young. They were very young. In fact, they were so young, their parents didn't even want them to get married. And they went, my dad had to ask

my grandpa's permission for them to get married and he went to the village in the middle of nowhere and my grandpa, I remember, pulled out a shotgun and cocked it

and goes, you want to marry my daughter? Oh my God. Wait wait so what part of greece is this wait hold up hold up you let me get this straight your dad said i want to marry your your daughter yeah he got a shotgun you want to marry my daughter and then my dad was like yeah i want to marry your daughter then did he shoot him and then no no and then then that's it like he literally they like went off to athens they, like, ran off to Athens and got married. He was just saying, like, for real. For real, you want to do this.

Because if you fuck this up. Yeah, you will get fucked. We're already cocked. Wow. Beautiful. What a beautiful story. What a beautiful story. And then they went to America.

What would you do if someone, if you asked for someone's hand and the father did the shotgun? I think I'd have a perfect excuse to not get married. I'd be like, sorry. I just, I'm so anti guns to Tova's dad is, is a gun guy. So he just be doing it for fun. He just, that's just,

if I was saying, how would you do it? He'd be cocking a gun too. He'd be doing with a smile on his face. It'd be nice. I want to marry my daughter. That's great. Okay,

cool. Um, but that's it. And so my mom, when she moved to America, she, cause the language thing, she was cleaning houses for the most part. she would clean house in the neighborhood and then um

there was like a couple greek kids that uh they had rich parents and they hired my mom to like nanny for them and it was good because the kids were able to learn greek and my mom was obviously a good caretaker so it worked out but that's what my mom did so she never really worked i would say in that in like a job in an office or anything like that and so does your dad have his own shop now now he does he got it like 10 years ago what is it called it's called john's and mario's tailors with my brother my brother works your brother's mario my brother's mario and is mario italian mario's greek mario's a greek name but it's spelled the same mario yeah but people must call mario all the time yeah

yeah mario and did you ever think about becoming a taylor when you were younger or were you like no absolutely not can you show a button can you do anything i can't do anything it's embarrassing i know do you go to school i can't even sew a button don't bring this up it's a sore subject oh wow wow do you go to school for that sort of thing or is there like like he learned from he was like a taylor's apprentice my dad in greek and then he learned the trade there and then was able to like easily taught your brother yeah yeah okay okay i got it here her name's connie mataxa she's marrying mario copozzi mario mario copozzi uh uh the daughter of leftfteris Pantazis. Oh, but that Z, that guy is a really, that guy is famous,

famous. Like, but that Z is one of the biggest Greek stars. Get him on the podcast. Connie, please. She said next time she's here. Yeah,

but that Z. She went to, I have to talk, cause she went to my college for musical theater. I think it was one of those things in like Miami. She was,

you know, no one knew, no one knows where dad is there. Yeah. But I think she she was like what's the equivalent in america like if you could give like an idea i would say like i would say like oh man like not springsteen not bon jovi but like jesus christ not the fact that those were the bars not quite there i would say like a maybe a sting even that's's a big sting. I mean, I'm trying to think of a current example, right? And so, but like, yeah, he's big.

He's very big. Wow. Wow. Well, we're going to have her on. Yeah. He's big. She was wild in college. She's the one I told you.

It's like she's someone she would go to Starbucks and order a coffee with eight shots of espresso in it. That's very Greek. Very Greek. Is that Greek? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's very Greek, yeah. Okay, so your family's here. Do you, how did you end up, so you do your mom a lot as a character.

Yes, I do. Do you ever worry that you're going to have to play your mom forever, or is that cool? It's interesting because I do worry about that. have a lot we are the generation we're not the first comedians to deal with this but because of social media like we had joe dombrowski on and he's a teacher and he talks about teaching i love joe yeah just fantastic so funny and there's a whole slew of of comedians who i think like found their niche and it was really promoted through the social medias and it's like the challenge of it is to then grow out

and can you get those fans especially and I've heard you talk about it you're gay you have an act where you talk about some stuff that I know you're not doing at these church shows

where you're playing your mom and the difference between you and Tyler Perry who did Madea like uh medea like he never talks about the fact that he's a gay man but but like you your act does address it it does and so funny because some churches request that i don't talk about my sexuality and how do you feel how do they phrase that do they they just say that? They either say, like, we need to keep it rated PG. So there's, like, code.

There's code. And then, but then if it. But they're like PG, vagina and penis. That's fine. But then there was the one specific case I'm talking about. It was like, it wasn't through me. It was like through my agent, my booking person. And so they had, like, a meeting.

And then at the very end of the meeting they were like we have a request and like very explicitly asked not to yeah now in your mind how do you feel about it when that's being requested like what's your mindset as like a as like someone that just has started to like go on tour and like has just found the niche right it's like okay fine let me pick my battles. I'll do the show. I'll take the money, right? But at a certain point, I'm going to be like, fuck you. Absolutely not.

Do you want me to perform at your church? Then I will be gay. There's also the argument of like- It's also like if you're okay with me cross-dressing, you're okay with me being gay. Sure. That's how I feel about it. And there's also the thing that any people who become your fans,

if they follow you online- It is what it is. It is what it is. Yeah, And there's also the thing that any people who become your fans, if they follow you online. It is what it is. It is what it is. Yeah, and there's a lot of people, when I post anything that veers off into gay territory or a little too gay, I will see the amount of unfollows that day get a little more. That's what I get when I post a picture of my girlfriend.

So when they find out that I'm straight, it's the opposite reaction. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's so funny. That's hilarious, yeah. I'll get that. Or I'll get messages every once in a while from people. And it's the opposite. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's hilarious. Yeah. I'll get that or I'll get messages every once in a while from people and it's like, whoop,

there you go. I love, I love imagining old Greek men that really love when you play your mom, but then would be like, whoa, like, like, like offended.

Like that's literally it though. It's hilarious. It's just insane. But whatever. I mean, it's that it's, that's it. How is, how is Greece on gay rights? They're getting better. It's that it's that's it how is how is greece on

gay rights they're getting better it's not great it's not great at all is marriage legal gay marriage legal there you know i don't know actually i think it is i think it is uh-huh but it's it's not a great vibe i would say sure can't be walking around like my even even like it's not close to american there's no tv show i mean they did modern family so i imagine there are like just now gay people on tv recently sure like it's just started like that's just started right but it's like that first wave of gay characters where it's the most flamboyant version it's very effective the least threatening version yes exactly yes and there's no gay hosts of like late night or like early morning talk shows now and like those cooking shows but like for example

like my mom's village like i can never go there with my boyfriend that's never gonna happen really like if my boyfriend wants to see that village it's like uh he has to go in disguise go yeah go drive through by yourself have fun you know you could go with him and just you know say it's my friend yeah we just have to like well not now because now that they know who he is through the videos so it's kind of like and what what do you think in your mind truly like what would happen they'd say get out well here's the thing about my mom so we it's a very poor village like last summer my mom was there and her friend got murdered in like cold blood like right across the street from her in the middle of the night it's not like a safe like a safe... For what? Like, a robbery?

It's not like a... It was not a robbery. It was, like, a hit, because, like, they knew he had money, or, like, they knew he had something, so they, like, murdered him. Oh, my God. It was, like, a whole thing. Do you not want your mom to go back to visit this place anymore? Well, she's gotta.

It's her village. She's going to go there, but she's, like, avoiding it this summer. She's, like, going for, like, a very limited time this summer how poor when you say a poor village like help me understand what that means like it's one there's one restaurant and like the town square food it's greek food i mean the guy that owns it like barely wear shoes like it's not and then there's just fields like it's just a few houses and then fields. That's it. Wi-Fi? That's the whole village. Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. At least there's Wi-Fi. And in that restaurant, yeah. But if you went back with your boyfriend, would people go like, what the fuck? I think that the concern would be that someone would kill us in the middle of the night. Yeah. Oh, my God. To be perfectly frank.

Yeah. Do you ever want to go there frank yeah what do you ever want to go there again why would you ever want to go there again well it's the village i mean when i go to be honest i go for like a day or two i don't really go i stay in my in my mom has like a like our uncle or aunt owns a house and we have like a little one like a little studio that my mom has like renovated now that she stays in yeah but now God. But now she, you know, now that she goes, if she's alone, she sleeps at her friend's house.

Yeah. So it's like right next door. But yeah, that's the concern. But I don't really stay there. I go to my dad's town, which is Aegyo. It's like the cutest

fucking place in Greece. It's amazing. I love it. Yeah. I really want to go to Greece. Yeah, me too. It's great. It's great.

It's really amazing. And perform at Los Angeles. Los Angeles. Los Angeles. So Angeles. Los Angeles. So what about with your parents? Were they cool when you came out? My dad was. My dad was super chill.

Because my dad's a tailor. Because he goes, son, get it straight. That is nothing anyway. That is nothing. There's nothing to judge you. He literally, because he worked as a tailor next to Bloomingdale's ever since he came to New York. And so he was like, I have gays in my store all the time. They all like me because I'm cute.

And so he was all fun with the gays because they all were flirting with him when he was a tailor back in the day. So he was like, I'm cool with it. My mom, tears, years of pain and suffering. How old were you when you came out? I was 21 when I came out to my mom tears years of like pain and suffering how old were you when you i was 20 wow one 20 21 when i came out to my mom actually how old were you when you were like i'm gay inside yourself i would say like 13 13 so like you waited a long time to tell them seven years yeah what what made you go like it's time was it because you had a partner i think it was like i'm in college it's nyu i'm sucking went to nyu i went to nyu yeah i was like i'm sucking dick now i gotta

say something yeah it is it's like she's gonna see the diploma eventually and my you duh but i yeah i know i was my i did my dad first a year before i did my mom oh a full year and he didn't tell her no he didn't say shit. That's wild. That's a gigantic thing to not tell. Did you tell him not to tell her or you just knew he wouldn't? No, he said, do not tell your mother yet. Wow.

Because it's going to start World War III. Okay, did she get mad that he knew, like after the fact, did she get mad that he knew for a year? No, I think. Or is this him finding out right now? Partly it was that. Yeah. I don't know.

I think that it was told that it was like a few months, not a full year. But, but all that to say is, yeah, she was a little upset by that. But. It's easy to keep a secret when she doesn't speak English. You know, they could say it around. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Anyway, had, had any anal today, son? Yeah. It's easy to get away. And your mom's just smiling like. Yeah, she's like, oh, very nice. Feta, you like fetazis? You know, it is what it is. Yeah. But my dad oh very nice feta you like feta cheese you know it is what it is yeah but my dad was so chill and he's like don't tell your mother i will try

wait until i give you the go-ahead basically because i'm gonna try to i and he said i've been trying to condition her for years he's just putting that will and grace in the background like literally he was like yeah oh these these look at these very nice boys yeah and like literally i've been trying to get there for years and i'm going to keep trying because he was like i already know that you're gay bro you gotta tell me now i already fucking knew that's really funny he was like you were dancing around to britney spears of course you were gay like yeah yeah so that was what he was trying to do but then I got impatient and I just kind of like one morning got too cocky and said it and

then was like an hour late to class he's like I did not give you the signal that's literally what he said to me I call him that he goes it was I was still living at home three more months he comes into my bedroom that night and he goes why did you tell her i was so close i was so close you ruined it oh and he was i'm not upset that you're gay i'm upset that you didn't wait for me and that was it so sweet it was sweet very sweet yeah in a fucking point no it's funny that he's was trying to lay the ground, you know. And your mom was... Livid. She was mad.

She said, you're going to get AIDS and die, I think was the direct quote. Which is pretty fucked. I mean, I was like, not at NYU. Sure. At least that fear,

I guess that fear is coming from love. It is. I don't want you to die, as opposed to like, you'll go to hell. Yeah. Right, right, right, right, right right right that's totally fair but she's like because i mean obviously she can't see some of the things you're saying in your stand-up but like she's cool now she's she's so cool that's great yeah she's so cool now she she she's like met my boyfriend she like she she's talked to him

she's adam over she's very nice to him just totally normal and we actually had a conversation about it and she was like yeah like it is what it is like it was very casual it was recent we actually talked about trans people and because that's how it got we got into it like this was very recent it was on the south carolina trip i went with her and she was like, I just don't understand like why. And I was like, yeah, but like,

they're just kind of like born in the wrong bodies. Yeah. And like, they're just, and she was like, okay, I can understand that. I see some,

she was like, I see some people where I'm like, yeah, you look better like a woman. And I was like, all right. Your mom, your mom starts telling people,

I think you're trans. I think you should be trans. We kind of, no, literally we kind of ended up up in this like, I don't see it for everybody. But there are some people, you know, they do the hair and everything. And I'm like, no, that's a woman. That's not a man. And then there's others where I'm like, no, that's a man. I'm like, all right, well, that's basically my mom saying trans lives matter.

You know, it is what it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's there. She's like a sexist trans outlet. Yeah. It's not like the most woke thing, but she's like, I can totally understand why that would,

I can totally accept and understand why that would happen. That's such a beautiful story. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. I mean, that's just one of the, I think it's just one of the,

obviously not everyone has a gay kid and like accepts it, but I think it is one of those ways that conservative thinking does break down. If you love someone, they're a thing that you didn't approve of, but your love for them ultimately wins out and breaks down your thinking pattern. Going back to Italians, my boyfriend's family, they kicked him out of the house when he came out. He's Italian? He's Italian. And my mom said to me, she's like, oh, no, no, no, no, no. I would never do that. family they kicked him out of the house when he came out what what is he's italian he's italian and my mom said to me she's like oh no no no no no i would never do that listen i was upset but i would never kick you out you're still my son she said she's like i and i don't like that the

italians kick them out i've heard many italians do that now she's anti-italian from this one example literally like loves trans people but hates italians like Hates Italians. Just so you know. I think we do. We need some more complex things that go together. Now, so your boyfriend, are his parents immigrants? No. No, no, no. They're like first or second generation. Okay.

Like old school Brooklyn. Do you feel a connection with not just people whose parents are Greek immigrants, but like people whose parents are immigrants all immigrants yeah what what do you see in each it's the same it's the same it's so interesting i was talking to asama sadiki about it you know i was about to bring up because he asked me we were talking about like the immigrant jokes and he was like do you find in new york city when you do shows if they're not if there's like a if it's a super white american crowd that you can't do your immigrant jokes or your greek jokes and i was like yeah and he's like i have the same problem like if i can see the crowd's eyes glazing over really and you you just kind of move on he's like i just shift to dating i just shift to something else

sure i don't think it's because we can't like relate it. We don't get it. I don't know what it is, but I can tell like even me when I talk about my mom not speaking English, if crowds have had that experience, like if there's like Hispanic people in the crowd or like Asian people in the crowd. Yeah. They're like losing their shit laughing. And then if there's like an American table next to them they're like i don't know what's going on i don't know what this is it's very strange and and that and then that's what usama says like there's very little over there's so much overlap between immigrant communities and then very little

overlap between american and immigrant communities yeah yeah and even if you're just like a little a little ethnic you can find the overlap but if they're too american you completely lose them yeah and i get that note a lot like when i pitch stuff to networks or something that's like anything immigrant or anything like that i can see if they're like too american that they don't understand what the grand what the world appeal would be to that and i'm like you really have to realize that like immigrants in america is like not a small niche thing. It's like a lot of people. Sure, sure. And just because you grew up in like Idaho and didn't have that experience doesn't mean it's not like a lot of people's experiences.

Look at Sebastian Maniscalco. It's like who – I wouldn't – again, like I was raised very little Italian. But like who would think that he would sell at Madison Square Garden five times over with like probably very mostly Italians. Yeah. Yeah. Ultimately, any all white audience is not going to be a great. It's never a great audience. It's never, never anything too American to WASP.

It's like they don't get me at all. There's just nothing. There's no overlap. I grew up poor and I grew up an immigrant like with immigrant parents. There's very little overlap. Yeah. And it's interesting because I've gotten notes from like crowd members when i get off stage that are like that is when i've gotten this a lot of times where i'll get off stage and someone will be like when you got

on stage it's not what i expected you to talk about uh-huh and i'm so thrilled because what i thought you were going to talk about was just like my dick and i so glad that it was just more refreshing. So you're really surprised me. It must have just seen me. Is what I get, yeah. Let me, I guess this is the nuanced question, but being Greek, you're white.

Yes, I am. But as like a Greek, first generation immigrant, like, it must be a complex identity thing of like, like you're white and you're,

you know, people treat you as a white person, but you also like, like, like you're white and you're, you know, people treat you as a white person, but you also like see like, I guess, American whites and Caucasian. There must be a degree of, even as a Jew, there is a degree like,

you know, when she gets really bad, I go like, Oh God, I'm, I'm a little separated from this. Right? No,

there's, there's definitely that I would consider myself. There's, there's definitely Greeks that are like, well, we weren't considered white in the 80s, so then we're not white.

And I'm like, shut the fuck up, you're white. Yeah. You've benefited from white privilege your whole life. Stop this, right?

Sure. So, but there is a complexity to it when it comes to traveling with my mom and my parents because that's when it all gets revealed because it's like,

yeah, we're white, but she doesn't speak English. So then immediately, Yeah. there's like, like people people like any like restaurants any places we go or anytime there's like if there's like you know anything that we have to like ask for they treat her very poorly sure and there's a total shift and it's very interesting to watch it because it's like i'll never have that problem but she

has had to have that issue her whole life yeah so it's like what would i say that my mom has benefited from white privilege like yeah but not really like other places other than new york city sure sure because like even in la there was like this whole thing on the plane because like they bought the extra space tickets the extra space tickets were in the emergency aisle uh-huh and they were this was right when you remember that guy got kicked out of the united flight yes this was like a week after uh-huh and they my parents were sitting there and they started asking like are you equipped to deal with uh you know people in case of an emergency and my dad goes well she didn't speak english and they were like well she can't sit there then and he was like why not we paid for these seats we paid extra for these seats because we want to sleep on the flight and they were like well she can't sit there then and he was like why not we paid for these seats we paid extra

for these seats because we want to sleep on the flight and they were like well we don't care you have to move because she doesn't speak English and they were like there's no way that's on the when you purchase it's like there's no way my parents were like I don't well okay well then where can we switch and

no one on the plane wanted to volunteer their seats yeah so they were like okay well we have to escort you out and my parents got like we switch? And no one on the plane wanted to volunteer their seats. Yeah. So they were like, okay, well, we have to escort you out. And my parents got like pissed and they brought like cops onto the plane. That's insane. It's not like they're going to need English. Literally like- If it's crashing, people are going to be like,

oh! I know, but you don't understand screaming. You think this 60-year-old Greek bitch is going to save any of them? She's jumping right off. She's out. She's smoking a cigarette on the way down. Give me a break.

All they have to do is open it, right? I mean, that's it. That's all you're... Yeah, I mean, I don't know if this has ever happened successfully. That someone's opened the emergency exit. Wait, they were escorted off the plane? No, they were about to be escorted off the plane. Because my dad, here's the thing about my dad.

My dad gets really pissed in these situations and starts to, I mean, and gets and starts screaming, but in his like cute little Greek accent. And so he's like, I want to be on the plane. Like he like starts losing it. And so they got cops on and they were about to escort them out when two

people like finally volunteered to like switch seats with them. Oh my God. Yeah. So you do have these things where it's like, yeah, we're white people were filming too. Oh, I'm sure that could have been what airline it's like, yeah, we're white. I'm sure people were filming too. Oh, I'm sure.

That could have been. What airline? This was JetBlue. JetBlue. Jeez. JetBlue. JetBlue is going to get fucked. But that's the thing is where you feel like, okay, I've had white privilege, but she's had to experience shit like that her whole life, my mom dealing with it.

And I experienced it a lot because I went with them to Boston and South Carolina. And it was a lot of like, you could see people like being fine and nice and then as soon as soon as they she doesn't speak the language they get impatient and start losing and do that do exactly that yeah and like don't want to deal with it yeah and i'm like all right fine yeah do you do you wish your mom would learn english do you you have any frustration? I have frustration. I had frustration when I was a kid because I had to help her a lot. Of course. And even now, like, she has an eye problem right now.

And I was, like, sitting at home working. And my dad called me. And he was like, hey, I have an emergency. Your mom has to go see the eye doctor. And I can't make it on time. Can you go to Bay Ridge right now and go to the doctor with her? This was last Monday. And I had to, to like stop everything and like run to bay ridge to go help my mom and translate for her sure and like that is annoying right

because did you ever say do you ever say like mom please learn a couple things i tried she just yeah it just you can't get your parents you can't get your parents to a single thing never ever ever they're stubborn stubborn gubborn. Greeks, they're stubborn. But I had to take her to the fucking doctor. A 30-year-old man taking his mom to the doctor. I was like, this is my future. Because my brothers are useless. They're not going to help them.

Sure, at least it wasn't like the gynecologist. I have had to take her to the gynecologist, yes. I have had to do that. And like the lung doctor. I literally had to go. What if I just say like, mom, put your legs here. No, I mean,

I wasn't in the room. No, no, I sit in the lobby. I don't go to the room. I just sit in the lobby and I wait and then whatever the doc, if there's anything wrong or anything,

then the doctor just tells me. I imagine she must have some like, there must be some Greek network. She must have some Greek doctors. She has some Greek doctors, but with her eye thing, for example, they needed a specialist and they couldn't find a Greek,

so they found someone else. It just depends on what the situation is. Her general physician is a Greek guy, and that's easy. Yeah. Fine, but when you have these special cases, then we can't. We had to go to a lung doctor once

because she smokes a pack a day. We go to this lung doctor, and they had to do the whole thing. I had to be like, turn left, turn day. We go to this lung doctor and I had, they had to do like the whole thing. And I had to be like, turn left, turn right. I go afterwards. And the doctor was like,

listen, I really want to tell your mom that she's like going to die. And her lungs are like really bad. Cause she smokes so much, but they're clean as a whistle. No way. And I was like, no way.

And there's like, she's like, there's some blackness around, but nothing like to worry about. Like they're very, very, very healthy. Wow. And I was like, shut about. Like they're very, very, very healthy. Wow.

And I was like, shut up. And he was like, I know, man, I'm pissed about it too. Don't worry. Did you,

I was my, you're 30, I'm 33, you're 45. And I was, I was definitely of like the generation of like smoking is bad. Yeah. And I remember like I found in my dad's, one of his drawers drawers like a pack of cigarettes that i think he'd like snuck whenever

i wasn't there when i was at my mom's yeah and i remember it like to me it was bad yeah did you was your mom smoking or was it is it normal with with other greek people oh no it was bad like we were told not to smoke yeah as she was smoking don't ever do this is what she would say sure as kids like no and if we started like my brother started to smoke and my other brother started to smoke and she was like livid about it and there was like fights about it and it was such a weird like what like why are you yelling at him not to smoke cigarettes you literally smoke a pack a day and she's like that's me i smoke a pack a day i don't want you guys to die very strange i know i want to smoke more i always

want to smoke more i smoke a cigarette with her every once in a while now that's fun i don't smoke with your mom i do i do and i don't smoke but everyone's small like i'll see her and i'll be like i want to smoke a say with my mom it's an intimate conversation it's nice yeah it's a nice it's nice like uh you know if you i think it's if you can balance if you do it once in a while it's a nice little thing to to do yeah you feel you feel like you're transport to a different era because i think if i was doing it all the time i would be it the romance of it goes away you know absolutely it's just a dynamic i think they talk about they say at least with men sometimes we're like they men talk in cars because there's something about

like not looking at each other oh yeah i think thing yeah with smoking you're not looking at each other i just think it changes. I think you get more vulnerable, more open. I went on a hike with a comic I didn't really know in Denver. And it's like,

just because we're both not looking at each other, I think it's less embarrassing to just talk. It doesn't feel as intimate so you become more intimate. You're doing something else. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I feel that. That's why people go to bars to watch sports. Yes. So they can just talk to each other. But they don't know how to on Broadway shows. So you're five foot two yes i am any downsides about it or do you feel great

about it i like it because i'm high energy uh-huh and uh it really fits my personality if you're five foot two and low energy forget about it you are you're done you don't exist and i barely exist when i walk around people walk into me all the time. I got to tell you. Like I did at the competition. Someone just yesterday literally walked straight into me and was like, I was standing. It was the only person on the sidewalk. I was standing and I was looking at my phone. I was in the middle of the sidewalk and someone, boom, walked right into me and said, I'm so sorry.

I didn't see you there. And I was like, I just looked, I just just pointed around there's no one on the street and i go how how and she walked away could have just left it i'm so sorry didn't need to like see you there didn't see you down there you know at the gym oh at the gym with men oh i completely disappear there i people pick me up like i'm a dumbbell and just move me around at the gym they're like go over here you don't belong here. It's chaos. Yeah. Do you tend, do you look for men that are taller than you? Oh, I have no size.

No, I don't care. You have no size. Yeah, I actually. You dated shorter than you? Well, I have dated. I have not dated shorter than me, but you know. Yeah. I've fucked shorter than me, John Marco. Wow.

Well, so, cause I'm versed. So sometimes I like when a guy's shorter, to be honest. Sure. Yeah. So I can. Is it hard to top? It's hard John Marco. Wow. Well, because I'm first, so sometimes I like when a guy's shorter, to be honest. Sure. Yeah, so I can- Is it hard to top

if the guy's super- Do you have to put pillows under your knees? No, I mean, I kind of have to. At one point, no,

there's a lot of guys- Oh, yeah. There's a lot of tall guys that are like, oh, yeah, I love a short top, but that's very rare to find, and when I do find that,

it's great, but- Are short people more often bottoms? Yeah, because you kind of have to be, in a way. Yeah. Yeah, people just assume I'm a bottom just because I'm five foot two, and it's great but for people more often bottoms yeah because you kind of have to be in a way yeah people just assume i'm a bottom just because i'm five foot two and it's like yeah and that's predominantly what i do but like you know do you know what are you in the mood for percentage wise do you think if you had your drugs 70 30 70 30 bottom seven yeah yeah yeah do you when you have

a partner in your verse you would want to have a partner who is also verse you would be frustrated yes to be in a monogamous relationship with someone who just does one yes yeah uh that is funny as you've been with a guy who's way too tall and you just like it couldn't i mean yeah i've had that issue it's like really you have to figure out the angles like there's an a is angles and positions and it's very difficult i get yeah i dated in high school i dated someone who's four foot ten oh my god and i'm six i'm six foot three six foot four and i remember like spooning sex was not an option it was just like it was just too tough it was just the angles didn't work out you just kind of have 69ing missionary is like the only real way to go. I mean, kind of in that way.

4'10". 4'10 is very... That's my mom's height. Yes, legally... Oh, really? Do you know my mom? Legally, she could qualify as a little person.

She could get a handicapped thing if she wanted to. Oh, interesting. As could your mom. Yeah, wow. Oh, good to know. I'll get her one of those. That'll maybe help her with the language thing.

So is your boyfriend right now taller or shorter? Taller. But like 5'10". How long have you guys been dating? It can't be long. Three and a half years. Wow. Oh, we broke up and then we got back together.

Got it, got it. We did a whole thing. See, that's what's up. When you said this, I was like... We did the whole classic thing, yeah. I was doing a podcast. Gus was on Ashley Gavin's podcast. We're having whole thing. See, that's what's up. When you said this, I was like... We did the whole classic thing, yeah. I listened to a podcast. Gus was on Ashley Gavin's podcast. We're having gay sex.

And when you said three and a half years, I was like, uh-oh. Has he heard that podcast? Because you fucked a lot of guys earlier this year. You had a break. We had a break, yeah. We had a little bit of a break, and now we're back together. It's great. Good, good.

Was the break good for the rest? Yeah, it was actually really good. Feel free. You don't have to... No, it's been great. We're great. Good, good. It's great. Yeah, it was actually really good. Feel free. You don't have to. No, it's been great. We're in couples therapy, which actually I really recommend. I'm in couples therapy. I love my couples therapist.

In fact, I've now asked him if he could just be my regular therapist. Really? Yeah, as well. No. No, that's cheating. We're having that conversation, though. I think he's interested. We're talking this week about no, that's cheating. We're having that conversation though. I think he's, he's interested. I will.

We're talking this week about it. That's cheating. It is. I said, originally the joke I tell on stage is I wanted us for couples counseling. I wanted to use my therapist. Cause he already knows what's wrong with her. Yeah. But like,

that's the thing is it's like, I, I gotta, I, I believe deeply go get a different therapist. I can't do this. That's probably what he's going to say to me. What if his boyfriend goes too, outside?

So they're doing couples therapy and they're both- There's just too much, there's too much secret keeping. Because you should be able to tell your therapist things about your partner that you might not share for the reason you don't share something. Oh yeah, she might forget. She might bring it into thing. The last thing you want is to be in a couple therapy session and then me to turn to my current therapist and be like, it's like what we were

talking about last week, you know? Richard or whatever. And then my boyfriend to be like, what? Your boyfriend says something and she gives you a look like, here he goes again. Here he goes again. I think that's the thing with couples counseling is

the goal is to like, what can you say to each other in this space? Of think that's the thing with couples counseling is like the goal is to like what can you say to each other in this space? Of course there's moments in a couples counseling where you want to be like, hey, can we break away for a second? Listen, what she's saying is – but the point is you got to put it out there as a couple. Yes. Like that's the ultimate goal is function – what is this as a couple? No, right. And that's – yeah, we call it like a building that is like earthquake proof is the metaphor that my therapist use. And you have to like, make sure that you build it as an earthquake proof because a building, if an earthquake happens, sways instead of collapses. And that's what a relationship is. You have to make sure that your relationship is going to sway. What if a tsunami comes?

I mean, the dude, I literally asked my therapist how he was feeling one day and he said peaceful and I wanted to leave right there and then. I was like, don't you fucking dare tell me that. Get out of my face. Peaceful. That's, so it's a guy? It's a guy, yeah. It's a guy. And he's a gay guy, which that's what's really helpful about it.

What I was just about to say is that like. Share. He has like a share poster in the room at all times yeah are you guys is it is it maz is open or closed we are open currently sure yes like i feel like if you're a therapist who mostly had had if you're a heterosexual therapist mostly dealt with monogamous people and then you had an open gay relationship you'd be like i don't know i don't fucking know this is i was like chaos he's very sex positive So he's very like, oh, like, everyone should be open. Everyone should be fucking things all the time.

What's the therapist number? I mean, he's great. And the couples therapy has been great because it really has, like, listen, if you're going to consider this a long-term thing, then, like, great. Let's find some long-term solutions and, like, figure this out. And it's been great. I recommend couples therapy for everybody, even if you're not going through anything. I agree. We talked about it.

I say friendship therapy too. I think checking with your friendships once in a while is a good thing. Oh, brother. I agree. And I also like this is, I guess this is fucked up in a degree. This is a capitalist thing. But it's like when you're paying for something, you're like, let's dig in. Let's really do this.

Let's not waste time. We're paying, I think, $160 for an hour, and you're like, alright, let's fucking talk about it. Us two, do we have the same therapist? No, my therapist says, monogamy. My therapist is a strict Orthodox Jew.

No, no, no. Oh my god, no. That would be wild if I was like, I found the therapist, and it's a Hasidic Jew. No, no, no. Oh my God, no. That would be wild if Tom's like, I found the therapist and it's a Hasidic Jew. And I'm like, wait a second, this feels skewed towards a certain belief system. That's hilarious. All right,

let's move on to our next segment. This has got to stop. This has got to stop. Do you have a this has got to stop for us today? Do you want to go first? Normally, we just do a guess, but I do have one that I do. Do we do a guess? I can go.

No, no, no. I'll bring up one really quick because I meant to do it at the beginning. It's what we talked about. So, Viola Davis. And this isn't anything against Viola. Viola Davis has to stop. You're right. What?

We talked about this? We texted about this thing that she posted. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, this is not like Viola Davis specific, but it's like actors of this level do shit like this. So she posted, it was an Instagram post called

What Self Gaslighting Looks Like. And it kind of, good. That's our reaction. That's everyone's reaction in the world. So again, like this is, so the question – it's called The Real Depression Project. And it's basically something about like are you lying to yourself? Are you like – I don't know what it is. It's taking the term gaslighting and going like do you feel sad sometimes?

That's actually self-gaslighting. And what it feels like and what we talked about was it almost feels like uh like a psyop they call it like like there's something about like oh you feeling sad it's not because uh the rich are getting richer and you can't afford health insurance and the government's not taking care of you you're yourself gaslighting and it feels like a way that famous people like a can get more likes from sad people that are feeling real sadness right now across the country and b it's like this weird thing we're trying to tell us that there's not we can never be sad and can never and like it's always like also then it's our fault we're self-gaslighting

it's not that there's any outside like things it's just this or it's all coming up in new terms it doesn't feel real it doesn't feel like she's really feeling that. It feels like someone made that. It feels like no one even fucking knows what the word gaslighting means anymore. No. Everyone on TikTok is like gaslighter, gaslighter. And it's like gaslight what? No one knows what this means anymore. This has lost all meaning.

You've said this word so many times. It has no meaning. I think Jay had a, it was in Jay Jordan's court in Sessling about he was being racist and homophobic, by which I mean he disagreed with me. Or there's something about like, gaslighting has become just to mean lying or disagreeing or not like, so. Yes, or just stating your opinion

that may or may not be the other person's opposite opinion. And so self-gaslighting is blaming yourself for not handling things better. Critic criticizing yourself for being too sensitive or emotional, shaming yourself for being too needy. And let me tell you, the people who like read this and take – the people who actually are moved by this are people who are too needy. I know. These are people that suck. Who do need to criticize themselves a little bit more.

I know these people. Justifying another's toxic behavior by taking responsibility for it yourself. Criticizing yourself for not getting over that traumatic incident already. Affirmations for those who gaslight themselves. So these are what we're going to start saying to ourselves now.

My feelings are valid. I'm not too much. I'm enough. People who say to themselves, I'm not too much. But sometimes we are too much and that's fine that's the thing is it's the thing of it's this kind of over like i don't know it just feels like it's a constant thing to let yourself off the hook always yes and it feels

like that it's not i'm not saying that you i'm not saying there's things in there sure there's things in there over self-acceptance that i can't or can't handle where it's like i it's just the way and it's like no dude like fix that like actually criticize nothing it does nothing so someone commented and of course it's another verified influencer mental health whatever type who goes like thank you so much for sharing this you shared it because it helped your likes and your prh and told you it'd be good thank you so much for sharing this. You shared it because it helped your likes and your PR agent told you it would be good. Thank you so much for sharing this. You're literally, literally saving lives. You show me the person who's on the edge of the roof

and goes like, you know what, before I jump, let me just see what Viola Davis posted today. I mean, really. I'm self gaslighting. Let me get off the bridge. Let me go pay my student loans back until I'm dead in the ground and pass it along to my children.

Never ever be able to afford a house. No, it's just like this thing. I think a lot more. I think the issue is this lack of self-awareness that people have. Of like, dude, you suck. You have to just acknowledge that you're like not a good person to fucking be better. And that's no one does that. They're like, I'm just self gaslighting.

And it's like, no, you're actually just ruining people's lives. And then pretending like it's like, you're that I was negative today. It's like, no, no, no, no asshole.

Also, it is okay to be, it's crazy to not be negative. Sometimes it's an insane thing to have to be positive with every, with others and with yourself all the time. Yes. It's like, there should be a balance. You need to be positive. You need to be negative. with yourself all the time yes it's like there

should be a balance you need to be positive you need to be negative it's just like a thing of like it just takes away a feeling it takes away if iola davis gave five dollars to someone on the street it would be more useful for the overall happiness of human beings than i just don't believe i think really what frustrates me i just don't believe that's her yes i don't believe, I think really what frustrates me, I just don't believe that's her. Yes. I don't believe that that, I believe that that is a PR, that is someone trying to make her, you know, like more liked and more followed. And that's gross. And it feels like it's just trying to distract us. She was like at a steak dinner, like the best dinner of her life. Just like, you know, like fondling her Oscars.

And then the PR agent is like, does this look good? And she's like, yeah, whatever. I don't care. Self gaslighting sure I have a this has got to stop if you want this has got to stop I have a real fucking hot take right now

well first of all I saw this ad on the MTA the other day and it was one of those recipes they do now I don't know if you've seen those they have like these quick recipes on the MTA where it's like it's like chicken soup and it's like the whole thing is like how to stretch your dollar and it's like i don't want to know how to stretch my dollar i want the government to figure it the fuck out i don't need these government sponsored ads being like this is how you should this is how

you should shop and it's like no bitch like you should just provide more for us like what's going on maybe i'm a conservative no no but no it's crazy no that's bitch, like you should just provide more for us. Like what's going on? Maybe I'm a conservative now. No, no, no. It's crazy. That's a liberal. That's a little thing the government needs to provide. What the fuck are we doing?

Like stretch your dollar. No, motherfucker. I'm not stretching my dollar. I need to make more money. That's what your fucking job is. But that's why I think like, like, I feel like in terms of like, as I want people to be more of a socialist country, I think as opposed to like, you need to,

if I were to build an education system, I would like try to build a class where you really make people sensitive to what is propaganda. Yeah. And to make them go like, oh, this is propaganda to make me feel okay about my situation. It's the same as a self gaslighting.

That's why I love growing up in New York City because I had teachers that did that. Yeah. Yeah. That's what we did. That thing what we did. Propaganda. That thing stretching the dollar. Propaganda. It's on the MTA. Why are we doing this? You're like, this isn't a person I'm asking financial advice for.

The MTA that just raised the rates even though they didn't get any better and are arresting the churro lady who's going to sell you a cheap, delicious treat. Rather than make their thing, they're trying to make us feel better that they're charging us more for the same fucking shit. It's fucking bullshit. You know, yeah. And in conjunction with this, my hot take, and this is a boomer take, is that I really personally believe that 20% tip is fucking egregious.

That is a lot of money. All right. Listen. We're going to have to push it. I'll push back on this one. Let's have this out. I pay the 20%. I just purely believe that they should just pay the workers more.

I agree. And I'm not going to not pay 20% because I know that I'm not going to fuck those workers over. And I understand that. I see what you're saying. But I'm saying that as a concept, 20% is a lot of fucking money, bro. We are paying more for the businesses that are not willing to pay as much. And it's not, I'm sorry, that 20% is not going to the worker for the most part. It's going into a bucket.

Or especially there's like, well, they say with like Lyft or Uber got in trouble for that stuff where they weren't giving, or Grubhub or Uber Eats. But like tipping, they do this thing with tipping where you are like an asshole if you don't tip. Yeah. But there's a thing of like, why isn't DoorDash giving them more money? I never, I mean, on Seamless, I really generally don't. I call the restaurants and I tip that. That's how I tip. Because I know that money doesn't go to them.

Sure. And these companies are behemoths. Like Uber, basically Uber destroyed the taxi cab system. Destroyed it. Two cab drivers who shot themselves at the city hall squares, like at the steps. And then all of a sudden, Uber goes bankrupt or whatever. It starts upping their prices. It was not a sustainable thing.

They were losing money. And so now the cabs, I take cabs sometimes. I take cabs a lot more now. They're cheaper. They're cheaper. And then meanwhile, you got fucking blood on their hands because they gamed the system and they fucked these people over for so long. Yeah.

So I hear what you're saying. They tried once. There was a restaurant here that basically they raised their prices and said, you don't have to tip. We're now paying them a full wage. You don't have to tip, but the prices are higher. But just so you know, they're higher now, but you don't have to tip. So it actually works itself out. And people could not adjust to it yeah they went oh this

appetizer is insanely expensive because emotionally paying and then adding the tip later was more digestible it's so hard to change something no that makes so hard that's all fine a little imagination that's all fine and dandy but i just think a fifth of my bill going to someone that literally i see three times for five seconds is a little, a lot. Like I would say like 10 to 15% and like pay the workers a living wage. Like it's like a, it's like a liberal take on a boomer take is what I have.

I like, I understand and I pay, but I think it's a fucking ridiculous. I think tips is an insane. I remember 20% is a new thing. I feel like two years ago it was still 15 to 18 percent and now they're like it's 20 to 22 percent and it's like okay at this point uh don't give me my food just sit and talk to me and let's have a fucking chat and i'll pay you the whole bill at

the end there was some bit it was that it was at that louis ck set that leaked where he talked about like as a waiter comes back as after waiter leaves everyone's like a council like so what did we think of their job performance today yeah it's such a crazy oh i don't even care the concept even if i get the shittiest service in the world i literally 20 i don't give a fuck i really don't care i'm not gonna sit there and be like they had a hard day maybe their fucking girlfriend bitched them out about something i don't really care but but 20 is a lot of money is all I'm saying. I agree. Do you think because you have immigrant parents, I mean. We don't tip in Greece.

Sure. We don't do that. Well, that's what's crazy. That's a new thing. People in Times Square, they deal with people from overseas who don't tip. Yeah. And they bear the weight of it. Well, we started tipping now. It's a new concept.

And now we're, but it's still like 10% only. It's awful. It's crazy. It's all awful. That's a good. Do you think you have like are your parents are immigrants i'm gonna get canceled i'm gonna get straight up canceled and i'm like but whatever like take it out of what about like immigrants i mean it's especially

greek immigrants and being more conservative than maybe one might like are greek immigrants more conservative oh yeah greeks are sure greeks are big big conservatives do you think their conservatism like rubbed like you're in a very liberal world. You went to NYU. You're a comedian. You're gay. New York City. I grew up. All these things. But, like, do you think some of that thinking of having immigrant parents, like... 100%.

Yeah. Oh, 100%. And it's funny seeing my dad have, like, super socially liberal ideas and then still being like, no, but the government should not be fucking with my money sure in the same breath like i want less government and i want not to pay taxes yeah and like that's the thing is republicans need to really if they just woke the fuck up and realize that like all immigrant communities are all kind of conservative because that's where they come from is the reason they left their countries is because they were too conservative and then they came here and they're still kind of conservative yeah they would they would be high rolling like the only reason trump lost the muslim vote was because he started shitting on

arabs and he's like he had my friend is egyptian he's like that motherfucker had arabs in the bag until he started like saying anti-muslim shit and then they were like bro you lost us like what are you talking about it's like dude we would have we love everything you're saying literally we're on board until you started shitting on us for no reason it'd be amazing if you realized it and then became like fully the most that's the thing they really could clean up

if they could clean up if they realize that like a lot of Cuban immigrants that's the whole thing is like a lot of Cuban immigrants consider themselves white and so they are very conservative I'm sure there's a lot of like strategic Republicans that don't believe they just want to win. Oh, yeah. Fuck, I wish we could. No, yeah. And then the Democrats are all pro-immigration, but then

all the immigrants fucking hate them because they're like, I don't agree with anything you're saying. You're all terrible. Yeah. Well, let's go on to our final segment. You better count your blessings. You better count your blessings you better count your blessing russ you got a blessing for us two quick ones um one um i couldn't

sleep last night and i went on i went on your your youtube page and um there was lovely thank you lovely yeah lovely comments i i you know you had said that the some of the the downside episodes that we have video for like have a decent amount of of views yeah and it was surprising and i and you know sometimes you click on the youtube comments and you're like this why why am i doing this to myself at 4 a.m um but i clicked on it and lovely lovely comments from people that listen to the downside and And I shared some with John Marco. I shared a lot that particularly highlighted him. But it was very nice.

And the other thing I was going to say. John Marco guy is kind of a load, but I love this Russell guy. One of my favorite things about this podcast is Russell's laugh. There we go. This is with Jay McBride. I could watch the three talk. I could watch you three talk for hours. This is your best podcast yet.

And then, and then one about our episode with, uh, Christopher, just about that. We were talking about the trans experience and that it felt like we were, we weren't like being like, Ooh, it's a wacky novelty, quote unquote, but, but they, they could tell we both gave a shit. Um, so it was, it was just, I was surprised at how, because usually you have such a low opinion of YouTube comments. And I was like, there's some lovely comments on there. You know what they say about criticism.

Don't take the bad, take the good. Take the good, yeah. That's what they say. The other thing I was going to say is- You know what I say about criticism? Don't take any of it. Well, that was a joke. Just take the numbers.

Just take the numbers. If it's doing well and it's liked then that's it that's all you need to worry about yeah now to me that's the immigrant mindset that is

no were the numbers high the numbers are high if the numbers are low that means it wasn't good if the numbers are high it means it did something

do these comments pay the rent the comments don't pay the rent every time I go to do a Greek accent by the way I'm not doing it I'm just going like you sound like you're doing a Trump impression right now I couldn't tell what you were trying to do and I go to do a Greek accent, by the way, I'm not doing it. I'm just going like, I couldn't tell

what you were trying to do and I was like, it's Greek, it's Greek. It's one of those things where I think like, because, it's like I'm not,

there's a lot of accents I'm not allowed to do anymore in this world, this modern. And it's really hurt you. But like when it's Greek or Italian, I'm like,

I'm going to go just wild. Tachiki, yeah. Tachiki, whatever. Do you have a blessing for us, Gus? I do.

You know, I just got off this little, I got off two months of touring, and I had all these great shows, and they were really fun, and I'm really grateful for the meet and greets, because it was really great. You know, I had, like, an hour-long meet and greet after each show,

and it was really fun to, like, meet people, and, like, just have them, like, just, like, I don't know. It was just nice, because you found this, like, weird community, and you affect these people's lives that you just don't even know sometimes and it's like good to hear it face to face and i appreciate every every one of the people that came up to me at the meet and greets and said something about like i appreciate that you're out in church i appreciate that you know you talk about being gay even though you know it might not get you numbers, especially with the Greeks. And I appreciate the dad that came up to me in Toledo that said that he has a trans kid and he doesn't know what to do because he really loves his kid.

But he wants he's scared about like what the church is going to think. And I had to just be like, you're a really great dad. Like, give him a hug. I'm like, I really think about him a lot and I'm grateful for him. That's sweet. That's great. It's worth all the COVID that was spread. 100%, 100%.

I want to, my blessing, Tova got back from London. She got me this cup. It says massive, massive cunt on it. And my real blessing though, is that Tova, you know, in terms of the relationship i'm like the more irresponsible one i'm the messier one and uh tova uh had her did i maybe i talked about on the last podcast too tova missed her flight by an entire day oh yes yeah oh well then i want to i want to use it as my blessing again because now i'm bringing it up every time i fuck

something up i go tova you missed your flight to london by an entire day she just didn't know the day she she thought it she thought it was uh july 5th and it was like midday july 4th she was like oh my god my flight's tonight and i was like you can't get mad at me for six months um this is coming out august 9th anything you want to plug um i'm gonna be going to be going on tour in September. So check out my dates on Instagram. I'm constantly Gus. And is it mostly churches?

Are you doing some comedy clubs too? I'm doing some clubs, but mostly churches. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's, it's very cool. I mean, you, you get, you know, I'd love, I tell Tom all the time.

I'd love to do a temple show. You should definitely do it. Because just cause it would be a new challenge. Yeah. To come up with a lot of clean. Yeah. I mean, you must have to figure out your clean. I have a lot of clean material now. Do you come up with the wig right out the gate?

Do you put it on? No, I do 40 minutes. It's 45 minutes of stand-up and then 30 to 40 as the mom. Wow. So it's like an hour and a half. What kills? Does the mom kill the hardest? It depends on the show.

It's funny because some of the later ones, like it was the standup was really killing because I think I was fine tuning all the clean jokes as the shows were going on. And so they were getting tighter and tighter each show. And then the Greek mom wasn't doing better than that. But it's usually the Greek mom stuff because it's all improvised.

And so there's that element of like, he's coming up with all of this on the fly and that's fun but yeah that'd be funny just if if you know like you know how you go to your killer bits like early if the set's going rough

like two minutes in you're like okay let me put it on the wig or if it starts bombing and you try to go back to the stand up take off the wig yeah that's hilarious when you say goodnight do. Take off the wig. Oh, I know, yeah. That's hilarious. When you say goodnight, do you take off the wig and go like,

ah, goodbye everybody? Or do you say like, boop, boop, boop, goodnight? Yeah, no, I rip the wig off. And I do like a boop, boop, boop, goodnight still, yeah. Is it connected to drag? Like when you think of drag queens? I'm not a drag queen. Yeah.

Some people have said that it is technically drag. And technically it is drag, but it's not a drag queen yeah some people have said that it is technically drag and technically it is drag but it's not i'm not it's not drag sure drag is it's like an art form i'm like i still have like a five o'clock shadow when i put that wig on it's not drag sure sure you know we got to get a drag queen on yeah um uh okay for me uh we have what do we have coming up? Okay, we have a live podcast episode of The Downside. It is this Sunday. Yes, with Usama Siddiqui. 6 p.m. Unless he cancels, 6 p.m. to 7.30. And then there's the silver lining after that from 8 to 9.30.

Both are $5. Check it out. We're getting more listeners. Tell your friends about the show. Yes. Tell your Greek friends about it. We already got Zarna. We got India covered. Now we got Greece covered. Tell your Greek friends about it. We already got, we got Zarna, we got India covered.

Now we got Greece covered. We're getting the whole country. We're going to take this international. You need to perform in Greece. Yeah. Well, I'm not going this summer, but when I go next summer,

I'm definitely going to. And we're going to, Connie, if you're listening, get on this fucking show. Yes. Yeah. We need those,

those numbers. And also next month, we will be in LA. September. September 20th. 20th. 20th. At Dynasty Typewriter, Uncle Function. Uncle Function.

Tuesday, September 20th. And I will be headlining the Hollywood Improv the day after that, September 21st. So come get a full load of us. And for those of you listening, again, tell your friends, subscribe, YouTube, come to the shows. And remember, you're not self gaslighting maybe you just suck this is the downside Downside Downside