THE ED MYLETT SHOW - Secrets To Chasing Your Dreams with Rob Riggle

Episode Date: January 3, 2023

What are the SKILLS and ATTRIBUTES you NEED in order to LIVE OUT YOUR DREAMS? Rob Riggle is going to teach you by sharing his story of chasing after his dreams and SUCCESSFULLY changing careers, from serving in Kosovo and Afghanistan as a highly decorated lieutenant colonel to becoming one of the most recognizable and successful comedians today.You know him as an actor who’s appeared in dozens of movies and TV shows, including SNL, Dumb and Dumber, the Daily Show, Modern Family, Holey Moley, and many others.  But what you may not know is that he retired after 23 years in the MARINES to launch into a full-time comedy career.I’ve never met somebody with such a unique career path as Rob’s.You're going to learn what it takes, Rob explains how any success comes from doing these things…➡️ Doing the HARD things➡️ Pushing PAST your perceived limits ➡️ Not being afraid to LEAVE IT ALL BEHIND and go after something NEW➡️ Having a RELENTLESS work ethic➡️ CULTIVATING your NATURAL talents➡️ Being good to work with, HONEST, KIND, and it doesn't hurt if you have some HUMOR➡️ Rob’s unique take on ABD… ALWAYS BE DEVELOPING. He applies this to his entertainment career, but it’s a STRATEGY you can add to ANY ASPECT OF LIFE. ➡️ We also talk about attaching EMOTIONAL MEANING to your goals, which we both use to GENERATE MOMENTUM and accomplish the most important things in our lives.➡️ You’re also going to hear about Rob using improv to create characters that ultimately landed him a gig on SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE.  It’s a cool story of how a creative mind, under pressure, responded to an in-your-face challenge when there was a lot on the line.➡️ Rob can teach you a lot about PUNCHLINES.... Punchlines of your life by TAKING CHANCES and BELIEVING IN WHO YOU ARE.You’ll be blown away by Rob’s story about how doing hard things in the military created the CONFIDENCE he needed to give acting a try, including how he traded in one BIG DREAM of becoming a naval aviator for an even BIGGER DREAM of becoming a comedian.You're not going to want to miss this episode, it's a FUNNY and ENTERTAINING hour. Hearing the UNBELIEVABLE and 100% TRUE story of how Rob chased his dreams. 

This is The End My Let's Show. Welcome back everybody. You know what? You're going to be entertained today and you're going to learn a bunch. This dude's story is bananas. It's literally bananas. When I quote some of the story to you, you're going to go, there's no way one human beings actually had this life, but he has.

So here's just a few movies you probably never heard of, like the other guys, one of the funniest damn movies in the history of the planet Earth, Talladega nights, like I could go on and on and on. By the way, one of the things that's hilarious to me is I did not know that he was on Saturday Night Live. I just did not know that I knew Comedy Central, I knew all the other stuff that he's done,

modern family, but here's the crazy thing. He's this is very like diverse, remarkable acting and entertainment career. Yet he had years and years in the military. And when I say years and years in the military, I just want you to think about this guys. This is a Marine Corps vet. How about this? It's a public of air officers as unit was out in New York. But listen to this really quick, served in Liberia, Kosovo, Albania, Afghanistan, made Lieutenant Colonel, Maritoria Service Medal, couple of them, Navy Marine Corps, Medle Commodation Medal, Joint Service Achievement Medal, Navy Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, Kosovo Campaign Medal, Afghanistan

Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Human defense service medal, Kosovo campaign medal, Afghanistan campaign medal, global war on terrorism service medal, humanitarian service medal, armed forces reserve medal, and a NATO member and try it in 2013 after 23 years of service, and then becomes a famous actor. What the hell, we gotta hear about this. Rob Regal, welcome to the show, and thank you for your service.

Thank you, thank you very much. Appreciate it, that's a great tent, bro. That's actually your life, dude. Well, yeah, I can't deny it. When you hear that back, does it sort of shock you to hear that version of your life? Yeah, I mean, it's good. It's good to hear every now and then,

because I get so busy and I get so worried about the things I focus on the wrong thing. So it's good to hear that, they're going to fix you today. He's already been the one in my event. So I'm working on him. I'm fixing this too because he obviously needs. I loved your event by the way. Thank you.

Yeah. You really, you are, you're really good at what you do. Thank you. Well, it turns out you're pretty good too. You know what I cannot get over? Yeah. Is the diversity of your life. I mean, you also did Fox NFL Sunday for football for eight years after my buddy,

Callie Nno did it. Dumb and Dumber two. You've been in some of legit, man, like some of the real, funniest stuff ever you've been a part of. Did you ever see your life looking like this? No, no. I wanted it. You know, I had a, I had a picture in my mind.

You did. But what, you know, that we all have pictures in our mind of, you know, but whether it's going to come to fruition or not, that's to be determined. But you just mentioned Demandemmer, uh, two, I gotta tell you, I, you know, I quoted that movie, it's Demandemmer. Yeah. My whole life. I mean, you're true. Even me, there's a chance. Quite literally, I use that line the other day, just the other day. Someone said, you know, I do, it's a one in a million, I guess I just say, there's a just, so like we we were always that stuff is in the lexicon of our life. And I'll never forget the first day I show up to shoot on set we're off. We're driving is a driving big long driving

seeing a lot of dialogue. And we're in this curse going down a highway in Georgia, you know, outside of Atlanta. And I'm sitting in the back of this hearse kind of between the divider, you know, and Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels are the front, you know, Harry and Lloyd, and with the bowl cut and the wild hair. And I'm sitting between them, looking at them, it was the most surreal moment in my life. Like an out of body experience. Yes. And I've had a lot of surreal moments. But that was one that I all I wanted to do was take pictures and call everybody I ever knew. What do you got to job? Yeah, I just say, oh my god, you wouldn't believe me. I'm sitting

between right now. It's Harry and Lloyd and they're talking like Harry and Lloyd, other same things like Harry and Lloyd. You know, and I would, I got to a point on the first take where I was watching them literally just going, this is the coolest. And there was a long gap. And I was like, that's my line, shit. And I had to jump in and say something. That's a man. And then I realized, oh, I'm part of this scene. I gotta focus here.

I gotta, I'm supposed to be doing things. I can't just, but all I wanted to do was just watch all of this. I'm gonna tell you, man, like I was, I maybe I shouldn't have been surprised. I mean, I don't mean that in a demeaning way. I mean, in a complimentary way. When I told people you were coming on,

it's the most excited. anyone's ever been to have people on my show, like people are like, you're kidding me, ask him this, I wanna know about that. Of all the people, I don't know. I've heard guests, that's amazing guests too. So that's quite a common thing. I'm telling you man, so like if I don't get to some of this stuff, people are gonna be furious with me,

but I'm more interested in like the human part of it. So you, I wanna know about, I will talk about some of the magic moments of your life, which are like, we don't have time on the show to cover them all. But having said that, you end up in the Marine Corps with, you know, a plan to go become famous or you never knew you're going to become famous. I was, I was a fan of comedy my whole life, my whole life my whole life Voted most humorous in my senior class that kind of stuff not class clown. I don't like that Class clown is disruptive and just does fart noises with the Zarm pit. Okay, you've never done that never done that Well, I'm not gonna live. Of course. I've done that. Okay, but that was not my primary objective

You know, I tried to be creative on my humor And and then when I got to be creative on my humor. And then when I got to college, I went to the University of Kansas and I grew up in the Kansas in the 80s. And to me, it was just never an option. Like going to Hollywood or being an actor for real was just not something that was in the cards.

It was a fantasy, it was a dream, it wouldn't that be cool, but that's not gonna happen. So what am I really gonna do? That was always the conversation I was having with myself in my head. And when I was in undergrad, a guy I went to school with, who I admired greatly, Tim Rainer. He was a Marine going down to the Marine Officer Program. And I remember I thought, well, you know, I always wanted to

serve. So maybe that's maybe that's what I can do. Are you serious? Yeah. So I think I was 19 when I signed up. And then I got my pilot's license when I was in undergrad. And I got a guaranteed flight contract with the Marine Corps. So I thought, okay, I'm going to be top gun. But I still was a theater and film major. I still held onto that somehow. Like I just kept wanting to learn and study and know more about it and do acting scenes and do take acting classes and stuff. But I knew it was just a pipe dream and I just needed to batch or to grade a graduate. Anyway, then I'll go be a Marine. Yeah. And it was and then this is where I give and I'm giving you the readers digest version here., but the marine core definitely changed

my life in so many ways. It was the bridge from boyhood to manhood. It was, uh, it pushed me beyond my perceived limits, because I thought my limits were here. The marine showed me no, no, it's not even close. You, you can go a lot further. You can handle a lot more. You just have to have someone push you beyond. And so when they did that, I got the confidence. I got the confidence to say, you know what, if I can do that. Seriously, yeah. Absolutely.

I mean, we did a 26 mile march overnight one night full gear, flat jacket helmets, weapons, you know, full Alice packs, you know, I mean, just 60 pounds worth of gear. And we humped out 26 miles one night from dust till dawn. And then when we got to our objective, we set up a defensive perimeter, dug holes all day, all the sudden I'm like, I did a marathon and now I would no sleep at night.

I can really do art things, whatever needs to be done. And so then I started trusting myself a little bit more And so as I was working my way through the Marine Corps, I just gained more and more confidence and I thought Why not me why not me if I can do all these things and I think I'm pretty funny people seem to react well And then I got a call I got a call from Kevin Kuster who's a good friend of mine Another college buddy. He was up in Chicago doing second-city and he called me. I was down to Corpus Christi in flight school and he called me. And said, Riggle, you got to get up here and do, you know, do this stuff. I said, I'm in the Marines, man. I don't have any options. I'm standing here because I'm telling you, dude, this improv thing,

it's what we did in college, but it has a name. It's called improv. And it's it's it's exactly what we're doing. And you're I'm telling you, you're better than the people that are up here. Oh my god. And so that call really ignited the flame in me to say, maybe I could do that. Maybe I maybe I could. So then that's what triggered my decision to stop flying for the Marines. Because I was I was deep in flight school. I just finished primary got intermediates. Wow. And was going, I think I was going back to Pensacola to fly helicopters. This is the way my trajectory was going. And so I said, well, but once I pinned those wings on, they had me for, you know, quite a while. You're going to be there well. Wow. And to the point where it would be foolish to get out at that point, but I would have been in for 11 years.

But you were that far down the road, but that's a big gutsy move, like to go, okay, I got this set, one of my dreams is right there. Yeah. Like one more step, I got my dream. Very close to it. But there's this other one that there's no evidence for, but that probably is my big, big, big, big dream.

That's it. And you go screw it, I'm going. Yeah. And that was my first, my second big decision of my life. The first one was to join. And that was, and then when I say decision that I had to solely own and make and commit to. And you know, that, you know, every other decision, where are you going to school?

Okay, you, because you know, my parents, my family, friends, you know, there's no brainer, a lot of no brainers that were decisions that were, quote, mine. That's a big brainer. But joining the Marines, I had, that was solely mine. And I had to own it. And when I left flight school, that was solely mine. And I had to own it. What'd your family think when you said, hey, I'm... Everybody thought I was crazy.

Yeah, it'd be the same thing as me saying, telling you today that I'm quitting acting and comedy and getting into the rap business. You know, exactly. People would be like, how the think that's a good idea? Did you have any skills in rapping? Have you tried to rap? Actually, that's the difference. You did have a proclivity and some skills. I have a proclivity. That's the right word. But what's what's I

guess most amazing to me is that those are two very different worlds. But I think the first lesson I take from you is that like actually doing really hard things created a confidence level in you that allowed you to pursue a completely different dream. And had you not, are you pretty convinced that had you not gone to the Marine Corps? That you would, you would not have had the confidence to go pursue your acting or comedic career? I like to think I would have gravitated to acting a comedy eventually, but I don't think I would have had the confidence to believe in myself or to believe that I can withstand

rejection. How did you do both things though? I'd be honest what I thought. I'd heard you in the military. I'm like, okay, he was like, you know, there are a couple of years. That's a neat little thing on his resume, which by the way, is a huge deal. Yeah. Even do that.

So I want to make sure that when I say that the right way, but it wouldn't have been the big part of your story and the grand scheme of things. But then I'm like, no, this was 23 years. You were in combat locations. You were in theater. Yeah. Correct. Yeah.

So at one part of your life, you're over here doing improv theater and then like five months later You're in combat somewhere. I don't mean understand that. Is that right? Yeah, holy crap. It was about it was about like that You say that very matter of faculty brother like I don't think that's Brad Pitt's path. I'm pretty I know I know man of scowl go really well a couple other comedic dudes like I great guys But they they weren't like in Kosovo one minute and like Second city in Chicago the second minute, right? Like that's it was it is a unique path. It is it is a different It is a different path, but I I did nine years active duty nine years active duty and then the other 14 were in the reserves So while I was in the reserves, I still had to do my drills.

I still had to do all my stuff. No matter if I was on the daily show, I had been promoted to major at the time. And so when you become a field grade officer, you have to go through a whole set of schools, command and staff college is one of them. So I had to, for two years straight, while I was on the daily show. Once a month, I would get on a plane, fly from New York back to LA. My wife at the time and my little daughter would pick me up at the airport. We would drive down to Miramar, okay? Me and my Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. And we'd get a room at the double tree. And they would go to Lego land all day and I would go to command a staff college all day

Then I would meet them back at the hotel. I play with my daughter in the pool I get her some gummy bears and we watch some you know Mickey Mouse club until she fell asleep Then I'd sit out there and have a glass of wine talk to my wife catch up About life and what's going on? and then the next morning they go back to Lego land and I'd go off to command staff. Then we get back together, same thing, play, hang out, go to Applebees, have dinner, and then they would drive me back to LAX. And I'd get on the red eye, take the red eye back to JFK, landed JFK the next Monday morning. And I would take a cab straight to the daily

show. That is bananas. And go to work, that would go to work. And that was just, and that's how it was for two years. You know? So you, was there a moment? Man, was there a moment in your career where you're like, I think this is happening now? Was there a moment where you went, mm, yeah, this is going now.

Or do you still sit here today going, I got to figure out the next 24 months? I always got to figure out, my business, and you probably have experienced this to some level two, we eat what we kill. Yeah. And if we're not hustling, it ain't, we ain't eating. And so I've constantly got five irons in the fire, five,

no less, often more. So, and that's just how it's got to be. And you have to get comfortable with that. And you know, when I was in the Marines, I got paid on the first and the 15th. Yep. Not bad. Right. But those days were gone. All of sudden, it is a survival instinct. It's that it's burning your ships. How have you been had such longevity? I mean, I say this people all the time that as my public profile has become whatever it is. The I know a lot of people that used to be rich that are now poor. And I know a lot of people that used to be rich that are now poor, and I know even more people

that used to be famous or well known or working in Hollywood or that industry that no longer are. So the idea of staying, have some staying power like what you've had on top of the crazy nature of your story. Is it just the caliber of your work or is there an extra hustle that you think you had from the core that because you've had a long career. I mean, you even this movie list of, you know, your life is multiple decades now of the shows and the different things you've done. I'm sure hearing it back is still bizarre. It is for me too, when I hear things. But what do you think the keys have been to stay working so long?

Probably three things, probably work ethic, probably a little bit of talent, and then being good to work with. I think as far as keeping the doors open, keeping the opportunities coming, I think it's not a tricky formula. If you work hard, which means five irons in the fire, it means taking meetings and going to play with golf, with some guy, means taking a general meeting. It means doing a part sometimes that you hate,

or that is, you know, you don't feel as quite what you should be doing to grow your career, but you know, whatever you do it, building relationships, you know, all that stuff. And if you do a good job in this business, the sole purpose is to land a gig, do a good job on the gig. And if you do those two things, you may get a shot at another gig. Yeah, that's it. You're really legitimately only as good as your last gig most of the time.

And I was foolish. I was so naive that when I thought the first gig I got was starting out a lot. So when I got it, I thought but being, we're done here, you know, I'm here. We are. Here we are. This is where I stay. And, you know, and that was taken away very quickly. It was a blip on the screen. And when it was over, I'd dedicated myself for 10 years to getting that. And then when I got it, it was over really quickly. And through no fault of my own, I didn't do anything bad or wrong or you know, I had a very good year by everybody's standards. It was just a tricky, it was an election year, they didn't get the ratings they wanted, so they cleaned it up. I got caught in that. No problem. The people they picked up were fantastic, by the way, so whatever. But yeah, and they don't thanks fan down. But down. But, that's where I learned a valuable lesson,

because I'll never forget the night I got the call from my manager saying, hey, they're not going to extend your contract. I'm probably surprised a little bit, because you had done pretty well. I did want to be blindsided, but I was. And I remember I was so embarrassed because I was down in my parents' lake house and my wife was there at the time. My wife at the time was there and I had a little baby daughter.

And I had a little pity party for about 15 minutes where I just was mad, pissed, and this can't be right. And I wanted to call back and double check. And are they sure? And, you know, how did this happen? And somebody needs to explain some shit to me. And I was just losing it. And then calm down.

And I just sat there for a minute and I realized, well, you know, I can be upset as I want to be, but it doesn't change anything. What I have to do now is find a job. And that was my first lesson in, there is no finish line in show business. It's you get a gig, there isn't in life. And there isn't.

There isn't, but finish line is when you're done breathing, but beyond that there isn't. And so you get the gig, you do the best you can at the gig, and if you do, maybe you get a shot at another gig. And if you do a good job for them, maybe, you know, and the more good jobs you do, maybe you start to get a reputation, maybe some people, you know, hear about. It's cool.

It's cool. Yeah. And oh, I like the way he did that. Or, you know, problem is I play a comedic jerk really well. Yes. And so I end up getting a lot of calls to play comedic jerks. Yeah. Yeah.

I think people should have some perspective. I understand a little bit. But second city is sort of like the pipeline to SNL, the sum extent, right? It's one of the pipes. It's one of them. That's one of the places. So I imagine when you get there, the dream then begins to get on SNL. It's one of the big dreams, right? So what you're hearing him tell you, everyone, this is a huge lesson, is that his first big dream kind of didn't go. Like he had it and he lost it. And then the question becomes when that happens, then what do you do? Little pity party pity party not very long I've a stereo that in life everybody kind of gets knocked down It's not whether you're gonna get knocked down or not or whether you're gonna lay there a while people say get right up

You're gonna lay there a little while the question is how long is it an eight count or is it like a 25 count? At some point you got to get up and go like okay the next thing I'm going to do I'm curious because you've done stuff with Pharaoh was any any of that because of Saturn in light life? In other words, that experience generated a relationship here or there or something. So there was the seeds being planted in a failure of future success somehow. Yeah. Yeah. The comedy world is, and I'm sure in the personal growth and development field, it's a small circle. You know, it's a small group and you kind of know each other

and you know, reputation wise, you know, if people are good people, if they're hustlers, if they're, if they work hard, if they, you know, fake, you get the word gets out, you can't hide some of that stuff. And then you get to know people one on one. So I made a couple of relationships at SNL. And I, you know, I'd always tried to deal honestly and openly. And I could go into

more detail on that. But yes, Adam K, who's a great director, one of the best comedians and comedy writers I've ever come across. He saw something, liked me and the respect was mutual. And so when these little opportunities came up, I got a little tiny part in Talladega nights and it got cut down quite a bit, but it didn't get cut out. The first movie I ever did. There's another lesson I learned. It was called Fader Launch, imagine Connehey and Sarah Jessica Parker. And I had this big scene with Sarah Jessica Parker, where we filmed in the streets of Annapolis, Maryland, and you know, it was awesome. And she was at the height of her sex in the city thing. And nailed it, told everybody on earth, I'm in the scene with Sarah Jessica Barker. It's gonna be this great. I got a call two weeks before the movie said,

we had to cut you out. Oh, I was like, what? No. Yeah, you know, if your scene was great, but it was kind of repetitive of other scenes, so we just had to make some tough choices for time. I'm sorry, dude, we had to cut you. So then I was like, oh my God,

another lesson, don't tell anybody anything until you see it on the screen. You're so, you're at the premiere and you see it all the screen. And I'm not kidding. To this day, I'm like, there's a darts, you're shooting something. I'm like, I don't know. Maybe I'm sure. Yeah. Sometimes you don't want to surprise me when I met you was when we

share this in common and it's surprising with a lot of people who are communicate for a living is you seem to be pretty introverted to me. to me? Tell me if I'm wrong. And we're talking off camera that I think you are. And you're kind of reserved more than I would have thought. Maybe that's just what I'm doing to you. It's a perception. It may be a perception too, because the characters I play are big loud, obnoxious jerks. So it's a comparative thing you're saying, it may be because I think people I do walk

into rooms and people are like, you're not who I thought you were. I thought you were coming here and ripfarts and glasses over and smashed up and called me a B word and I was like, what? Those are characters, you know? It's like I and the re I do love playing those characters because you get to take a side of your personality out for a walk. Yeah. But should never go out for a walk. That's awesome. You know, so that's the joy. I never should be able to be as rude or as crass or as obnoxious as I get to be in the good. You are good at that.

Thank you. I don't know what that does about me. When you're doing, oh, I just think it means your talent. Do you, when you're doing the work, do you know if it's good or not? In other words, if you shot some things, you're like, I crushed this and then you saw it, you go, ooo, or, or like when you've done like in the other guys, like I just watched you. There's so much subtlety to the work in that movie, even like Walberg, the way he has pitch of his voice and different things in the movie. The subtle things, I just think or because I've done some work now with camera, obviously,

it's really difficult to do to understand the subtleties of humor and timing when you're in such a people, people forget this, there's like, there's a huge crew around you. There's Mike guys, there's the grip, there's all the camera people, there's people moving around and all the extras that are judging you, all the other stuff. Like, do you know in the moment I nailed this, or do you not know until you see it? Sometimes you do, it's more of a sense. You're like, I feel like that went well. You're, of course you don't say any of this out loud, but you're like, you know, yeah. And all actors and all comedians are insecure to a certain level.

So they're always going to, even if they nail it, they're going to be like, can we get one more? Can we get one more? And the director was like, no, we can't. We got to move on. We got like five more shots to get done before lunch. Yeah. So no, we can't. But if you leave an actor alone long enough, he'll do a hundred takes. He would. Yeah. Do you have, I'm fascinated by you just because of the whole story and your personality and just the persona that I've seen? Do you

have any imposter syndrome still? Like I Like every once in a while of being transparent, everyone's so I'm like, why are they doing listening to me? Not a lot. Usually it's like when I wake up in the morning, I'll have some of these anxiety thoughts, but I'm like, is this going away? Like why are they, but that's the human experience.

Is it? I think, I mean, I think at some point, everybody has to, I mean, I hope at some point, that people question themselves. You know, I mean, even a doctor is probably like, I think it's this, but let me double, let me get a second opinion. Let me call it my colleague. Let me, you know, and then they want to bounce it off each other.

You know, I mean, I sit down and I'm like, I think this is funny, but I always want to check with someone and say, Hey, what do you think about this? And they go, Oh, dude, that's good. You're like, all right. Yeah, then I'm on the right track. Or if they go, what do you mean? What are you talking about? I didn't work

But even in like the low Leu, you careers have ebbs and flows, right? Like, you know, you're cranking. I got Three movies coming out next year. You've had those years. I'm sure you've also had a year Like I'm not completely sure what the thing is like you've got stuff going now that we'll talk about But in those times do you find yourself questioning yourself more or are you just doubling down on your work? What does one do when they're like, yeah, I'm in the plateau, so to speak right? Yeah. Well, that's good.

For me, it's always been just work harder. I know that's not. When I say work harder, I guess I mean, get a new vision. So like, I, Glengarry Gleng Ross, always ABC always be closing, right? Yeah, I was like one of my favorite scenes on the world, but and and what I've adopted and morphed into is just a B.D. Always be developing if you live in Hollywood and want to work in a life in the arts

A B.D. You always be developing if you're not developing you're wrong It's just that simple. So what does that mean though? I mean, what does it mean to a director? Was it mean to a producer? What does it mean? We're all looking for stories. We're looking for things. We're looking for care. I look for characters. You know, I have a show that I'm working on right now that I can't talk about, but it's all based on something I saw when I was, you know, shooting another show. Really? And then that inspired me to do something. And then one time I was doing a bit on one movie with Neavardolus from my big factory, Quedding.

She was the writer of the movie that we were filming and the producer, but we started, because she's a second city comedian, an improv and I am too. We were in a Walmart and I started trying to sell her stuff at the Walmart just doing a bit, right? And, you know, and then then it morphed into me trying to be, like a motivational speaker, you know, but really bad at it.

And so we just were cracking each other up all day long. Well, finally, at the end of the day, Gary, the main producer just comes over and goes, oh my God, you guys still doing that bit? And we're like, yeah, it makes us laugh all day. And he goes, well, then you ought to write it up. And we're like, yeah, we should. So that's what we did. We wrote a screenplay together.

No kidding. Yeah, just based on those characters. And then it didn't sell, so then we morphed it into an audible series. And now it's on audible. It's called motivated. Yeah. So anyway. But, but so that's what I'm saying. Always be developing. I think that's life. I It's called motivated. Yeah. So anyway, but, but so that's what I'm saying.

Always be developing. I think that's life. I think that's entrepreneurship. Yeah. You better always be developing. Always be executing. Always be executing on what you're developing. Yeah.

And the Marines were no different. Like there's a, there's a, one of the early readings we had to do as a young lieutenant was, it's called Duffer's, Duffer's Drift. Yeah. And it's basically the lesson of the thing is, you're never done Improving your defenses basically like you get to a hilltop and you're like, all right, we got the hill

You know, well great. What are you gonna do? Okay, we should dig a trench line. Yep dig the trench line What else can you do put up some bar wire good good? What about land mines? Great great. How about some clay morris great How about some snipers up high? Yeah, blah blah blah. Oh, you you're never done You know, there's never a place where you can say we're done here guys We're secure very good, you know, you've always got more you can do very good and you came to my event Why like are you do you work on yourself like do you read do you? Are you always trying to expand your knowledge or your knowledge of yourself or humans? What is it? I I have this Deep desire to know what I'm capable of because I don't know if I've hit it yet. I don't know if I've

If I've missed it, I don't know. I don't know sometimes right now I'm going through last couple years. I've been very difficult on a Personal level just because of my personal life. But so that's kind of left me a little drift and I think a lot of people are Drift right now because of COVID and you know that the whole pandemic Really derailed a lot of people and so Yeah, I think I'll be honest. I mean when I was in 1995 I got my first set of Tony Robbins cassette tapes. Okay, and I remember in my little apartment in North Carolina, when I was stationed out at Cherry Point,

I was going to night school to get my master's in public administration, because that's the only thing they offered. So I was like, I'll do it. Also, it kept me out of trouble. You know, if you're going to school on the weekends and at night, you can't get in much trouble.

Yep. And there's nothing to do on in Eastern Carolina, but get a whole lot of trouble as a young Marine. So, but at night I would be, you know, he'd say, we got to work on your physiology. Get up, move. You know, I'm serious. Get up. So I'm sitting or walking around my apartment, you know, to put my chest out and, you know, and then I still practice that all the way up to today. Like, I remember before I would do stand-up shows, um, the, the, the, the opener would be out there doing something.

And I would be behind the curtain doing this goofy walk back and forth, where I would, you know, swivel the hips, where you get my body loose and get my mind right and get my head, my shoulders back and my eye contact down. And by the time I took the stage, I was like, I'm here. Here we go. Peak state, yep. And it was all because of, you know,

learning some of these early lessons. And then of course I tried to apply so many things, time of your life and all the things that I bought all these things and I love it. And I still write down my goals every January, every January, I said, if I had a schedule, I'll do it at the end of December, but me too. Usually that Christmas break, I'll take a whole day, and I, who am I? What do I believe in? What am I going to accomplish? What are, what are my core values? Write up my mission statement kind of. And then I

get to the, what am I going to do? am I outcomes and why are they important and then I start doing that right and I knock those out and And I go back and I look at you know all the way from 2000 whatever to the to present because I keep I do a new journal for every every year right and I go back on a look at them And it's fun. It's really fun to look at and say Wow, that's what was important to me then. I made eight out of the 10 goals. And, um, cool. And then I'm like, I'm on track. I did do that. I did. Oh, you did. Remember when you, it was something you dreamed about, but now it's done. Yep.

And now you're identical. You get a depth of your understanding. This is pretty deep. Like he just said something really important there, but it doesn't just write the goals. Now, why is this important to me? One of the things Tony's taught me many, many years ago was getting the depth of emotion that you need deep emotional reasons. Why things matter to you? For me, when I go back and read mine,

I don't know if you have this experience. I do end up achieving like six or eight out of every tenable. Maybe not in the time. Sometimes my timing's off. It's a little bit delayed by a year or three or five, but it ends up like they didn't happen in 98, like I thought, but it happened in 2001, because I had planted the seeds, probably the same for years. And a lot of that stuff that you plant today, it may take longer to manifest, but it will.

Yes. If you stay consistent. Yes. Consistency. Boy, that's, and that's the, that's the rub. That's where I, that's where I, you know, I think you just looked away So I'm going to ask you a question. Well, because I might be the difference over the last 24 months or so or whatever It's been that's yeah in the difficult time as it's derailed your consistency completely. Yeah, completely. Yeah, so that's why I'm actually getting today Actually, December 1st is my launch day to because I'm this month. I'm getting very serious about things I'm trying to renew some things okay, and at the end of this month, I'm getting very serious about things. I'm trying to renew some things. And at the end of this month, I'm just going to sit down and I've got my 23 that I'm going to write about. I'm going to plan it out. The one thing I'll tell you, I don't mind doing it, is the one

goal that has carried over since 2010, 2011, just keeps carrying over, carrying over, had bugs with the hell out of me because I haven't done it yet. Is I'm going to write a book. And go into your thing and Palm Springs got me off my ass enough to say, okay, so now I've taken some action steps. I've actually started. So it's going to happen. Good.

Okay. I'll hold you to it. Okay. I'm not kidding either. I won't play with it because one of the things that helped me in writing my book someone said this to me It might have even been Tony. I'm not sure I should give them credit whoever it was But I just like I want to write a book and I'm like I just don't have you know I don't know where to start and that's always a thing. It's such a daunting. It's a daunting thing

You know what I did I started writing the chapter titles first not the chapters What would the chapters be and then I'm like okay? These are the 12 chapters of the 15 chapters and then I'll go back in and write those chapters. I didn't have a title for the book at first. Then they moved around. The sequence changed. But just the process of the motion of doing it. I'm like, actually, now that's not the book, but that chapter is actually the book. But it's just the beginning of doing something. I think when we get knocked down, number one, our consistency changes. And I think there becomes a two deep of reflection analysis in our life. In other words, when something not good happens in your life, whether you have a financial setback or a

divorce or a relationship, it's important to reflect on what did I do to cause this? What did they do? Where were the mistakes that I made? But I think that that can become a pattern and a spiral where you end up in the reason you're successful. The reason everyone who's ever sat in your seat is successful is that they have an ability to take action under adversity. They take action under failure. And they generate momentum.

How do you sustain and keep momentum going? But how do you still have a life where you enjoy it? We don't have to say yes to everything to have momentum. And I think when we get knocked down, we become too reflective. We go too deep into thought and not enough into what you did in the beginning, which was to step into spaces you were ill prepared for. When you get knocked down or you've had some success, ironically, your comfort level, your ability to be comfortable with not knowing as much as you need to know to take action increases.

And that's something that you've got a guard against is like, listen, you did what you did because you were constantly stepping into spaces that you had some preparation for, but not a ton. You didn't have time to reflect the whole bunch and you'd never history to reflect on. And reflection also sometimes is dangerous because it creates a pattern of comparison.

My life was like this. My career was like this. I used to look like this. And there becomes this negative thing we do to ourselves, which isn't comparing with other people. It's comparing with the former us. And you're going to be really careful about that too. So those are all things.

I will hold you on this book. Start writing the chapters, man. Just starting with the titles out of the chapter. Well, and what you just talked about also, the Marines, the Marines, their leadership program is the best in the world as far as I'm concerned. And they, because so many things parallel, some of the great leaders that I've read, even the Stoics, I read a lot of the Stoics.

And I'm like, oh God, this Marine Corps stuff is, because it is, it's, you know, the worst decision you can make is no decision. That's right, right? And most of the time, you're only gonna have about 80% of the information if you're lucky, if you're lucky, more like you're gonna have 20%. Yep.

And you gotta make a decision. Yep. So you just take the best information you have and you act. And you act. And then you'll sort it out. And the same thing when I used to write comedy when I was on SNL or when I daily show whatever I was writing stuff, I was terrible because I had this perfection thing where I was like, I've got to write it perfect the first draft

It's got to be killer the first draft. Well, that's that's garbage. That's just not real Right so finally, and it's this thing where I have to coach you can have to yell at yourself sometimes I think my thing now is I literally just barf it onto the page. Yes, that exactly right. I'm just like Yes, and I'll throw it up on this page. Oh my gosh. It's the exact word I use I say throw it up onto the page and then once I've done that I'm just like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah get it out of you and you try to be perfect the first time you're going to sit there and beat the tar out of yourself. Oh my gosh, brother. So at the event you came to the night before I was with the speakers, this is so huge for you all to hear two people that have had some success talk about this. So I've had this like because the first book, the number one book, we'll like publish it like we'll give you this right another book. I'm like, I don't have another book right now, right?

And the reason I don't have another book because I think it has to be better than the last one. It has to be perfect this time. Whereas the first two I wrote, I was like, I'll just throw it up on the page. Like he said, and at the dinner, for the speakers that you came to, they're going on the table, like, you got a right another book, you got a right another book, and I'm like, I don't really have another book, and someone said something, oh, one of the speakers said, I don't know what I'm going to cover tomorrow. And I said, well, just remember this, at any given time, people that are coming to an event like this, there's a lot of them in some form of pain.

And we forget this, we're always trying to motivate. They're in some form of pain, they've had a divorce, they've had a financial setback, they're lost, they're just don't feel good about themselves. Someone rejected them, you know, businesses isn't going the way they want to. And then I said, you know, I have this thing I do with my kids where I to say rejected them, you know, businesses and going the way they want to. And then I said, you know, I have this thing I do with my kids where I say,

Bella, you remember, let me tell you about the volunteers, man, thank you. And I said to her, I said, let me do this. And the whole tables and tears, I look up and all of my friends, I was to the next day, yeah, are in tears. And then they all go, that's your book. And I'm like, I think that is my book. I'm going to tell humans about humans. I think the name I think that is my book. I'm gonna tell humans about humans. I think the name of the book is gonna be, let me tell you about you.

But it wasn't until I just started sort of throwing up and expressing myself, it's nowhere near the direction I was going, nowhere near. And I'm like, maybe it's even a kids book on top of that. So it's a matter of, when you're, that's the magic of discovery though. It is. Is that the juice?

Yes, that's the juice. I love that. And that's the throes of your career or my is. Is that the juice? Yes, that's the juice. I love that. And that's the throes of your career or my career. We're in this sort of professional, this is a weird term, but it's like, it's a vibrational energy frequency of motion. And it's like, wow, that just came my way, that came my way. I nailed that. I wrote this bit and the punchlines, totally different place than I thought it was going

to be in the beginning. My community friends tell me this all the time. But they're the guys that are hot, like in comedy, like a Rogan or a Chappelle or Sebastian or, you know, whoever's, but Dane, you know, he was going to show, they're writing a lot. And a lot of what they write doesn't end up going anywhere, but because they're doing so much, little bit less reflection in our lives. Reflections important growth is important, but you can pass that line to where it's paralyzing,

demoralizing, comparative, and you have to be really, really careful with that. Overthinking, as you know, is the fastest way of unhappyness. It is. And we all do it. And it seems like the older we get, the more we do. Because when I just remember being very,

not myopic, I could balance a lot of work-life balance, but just having such a clear vision of like, I'm going here and I'm doing this. And that's it. And nowadays I'm like, I'm going here, if it's okay with this person and that, and this. And then when I get there, I'm gonna do this, provided of course, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And now I'm filling in blanks and I'm like, well my god. I'm it's so cumbersome now. Yeah, and I all I want to do is shake it off and move to a cabin in the woods for about six months and Everybody can pound sand and I'll re-emerge when I'm GD ready by the way worse It's amazing because I've actually been having a conversation a lot of my friends like you have all these things to do You could do this you could do, you got your TV show. I said, you know what I really want to do? I want to take six months off. I just want to say, I just want to collect myself.

Like I'm with you. Look at your face right now. I'm with you brother. But the truth is that I also know that I got to have an obligation to the world and to myself to generate momentum and that these opportunities, both you and I have been presented are pretty big blessings in our lives. And if we're not careful, you know, we miss that rhythm again. We miss that chance. And so we have to keep executing and keep creating that version better than the, I got two mortgages. I got a kid in college. I got a kid in other kid in school.

Yeah. Well, there's going to be the possibilities way you. I know, and they're going to be there anyway. Yeah. You know, the fact of the matter is those facts don't change, but if you stare at them, they get bigger. That's it. If you stare at them, but if you stare at your vision, if you stare at where you want to go, if you're just, by the way, what you said early

about just creating and taking meetings and outworking everybody, you also start to convince yourself that I deserve stuff other people aren't willing to do. Most guys with two mortgages and kids in college and a divorce and this or that of the other thing and they're on the other side of 50 years old. They're not executing like me. They're not working like me.

They're not taking meetings like me. They're not playing golf with that guy. I don't want to play golf with. They're not doing those things, but I'm doing things other people aren't willing to do just like I did when I was in the Marine Corps, just like I did when I was starting out, just like when I did those extra reps on the improv stage, everybody else went home. That's my recipe. And when you get back to your recipe, you're like, Oh, I remember this guy. This dude's familiar to me.

I like this guy. And the struggle is real. Like, you know, you hear these stories. And I've loved listening to your to your podcast. I love hearing Dane talk. In fact, so much I learned from, you know, that conversation you have with him. But, but it is real. Like, you know, you don't just set out one day, you know, seven, eight years grinding at the UCB Theater in New York, which is in a basement underneath the gristetees, you know, and then I would go do 1 a.m. improv jams for nine drunks down in the lower village. Why? Because it was free stage time. You know, I didn't get paid a dime doing improv. Not one penny. In fact, it cost me money to take cabs and trains to get to these places, but it was stage

time. And I got a master's degree in comedy from some of the best. My teachers were Amy Poller, Matt Bessler, Matt Walsh, Ian Roberts, all the writers from Conan, all the writers from Cobraire and the Daily Show guys. And I learned and played with some of the best people You could ever hope to you know the guys I came up with Paul Sheer Rob Hubell Oh and Burke Chad Carter, you know Jason Manzoukis go down the list of all these unbelievably talented individuals That's who I got to spend my time with and I would go when I wasn't even performing to do lights and sound do tech for other people shows so I could watch their comedy and

Get to know them Meet them and to be around the theater on the outside chance that a comedy show broke out and they invited me to come play or something Because that happened all the time. They were like hey, we're short of guy you want to play with us tonight But yes, because I'm playing with this group. That's not my normal group Just put yourself in that environment so that you have to grind. You have to do that stuff. You have to, if you want it, if you want it. Now, I'll never forget. I had just, I was working a couple of jobs

and I had just taught an improv class. And I was tired. I'd gotten up early to go work out with the Marines at five that morning. We went and played basketball. I wasn't a bad workout. But I was, you know, it was still 5 a.m. And I just walked out of teaching an improv class and it's 10 p.m.

and I'm exhausted. All I want to do is go home, you know, have my wife at the time, you know, give me a smile and we'd have some burritos or something. And I stood out there and I remember, I was like, Saturday night live auditions are coming up and you have to be invited. It's not like you just get to go in, but I had been winked and nodded at like, you're kind of on a short list, so stand by.

And I remember thinking, I don't have the characters ready. I don't have the stuff ready yet. And this is gonna, if it happens, it could happen within a month or two. So I, I don't have to say, well, why did you quit flight school? You quit flight school to come to New York to be an actor and a comedian.

This is your, you're looking down the barrel at a real opportunity, a life changing opportunity. And you want to go home? You want to go, and I'm standing on the corner of 31st and 7th Avenue. I'll never forget, it's really close to Madison Square Garden. There's a Starbucks across the street, and I'm standing on the corner going,

I just want to go home, and I'm yelling at yelling at myself and I said and I'm cussing and I'm saying get your ass down to the UCB. Get your ass down here right now. I go and I would argue, I don't have anything to say. What am I going to do? Walk it. I don't care. Just get up on stage and improvise something. You're an improvise. Just improvise something. You've got to create these characters. Why the F did you even come here? You know, I'm barking at myself and people are walking by me. They're thinking it's just another New come here? You know, I'm barking at myself. And people are walking by me. They're thinking it's just another New Yorker. You know, it was lost to stuff.

And I had this argument with myself. And I was about to get in the cab to go home. And I finally, I just said, you're right. You know, like I won the argument. And I went, instead, I went back downtown and said, oh, I went downtown to the UCB theater. I went down. It was like, it was Wednesday, so it was like at night, which at 11 o downtown to the UCB theater. I went down. It was Wednesday, so it was like at night,

which at 11 o'clock, the show started, it went all the way to like 1 a.m. And you could put your name on the list and you got five minutes of stage time. And you could put it on twice. You could do stand up characters in prop bids. You could do a puppet show if you wanted. You got five minutes.

So I went down, I put my name on the list and then I put it on again, the next opening. And I went into the green room and I just said, okay, yeah, at the next opening, and I went into the green room, and I just said, okay, I've got to create two characters right here and right now. And I remember a character I did where I played a Marine Corps recruiter who wouldn't take no furnaces. So I said, okay, that's gonna be one character.

I'm gonna go out into the audience. I'm gonna recruit somebody from the audience, join the Marines for five minutes, no matter what they say, they're not getting away from me. So that was, and that's all I had. That's all I had. That didn't be a sketch on Saturday. I've didn't it. Something like it didn't.

It didn't. I wanted it. It's okay. But I, um, so then I went out and I sure as a, you know, everybody, uh, I want to think the UCB for allowing me to come in here today. My name is Sergeant Jackson. I'm here to recruit, uh, now listen, I don't know how you all are playing for college. But let me tell you something.

Why don't you take the burden off your parents, be your own man, you sir. You know, I just went after him like they went after me, right? And I remember all the jargon. So I just attacked this poor kid and he's like, you know, he was a sweet kid, you know, he played along. But, um, and then I said, okay, then the next thing, I'm going to be this age, I'm going to be this old coach who has to teach a sex ed class. Okay. And so I came out and I was, I, because I based on a real character, my, I remember my seventh grade gym teacher, uh, Dewey Kundef, I'll tell you the sweet man, the sweetest man in the world. He, he, oh, man, he always called us men. Man calm down.

Now calm down, man. He was a man. I, the state says, I need to tell you about sex. And so here we go. And he, now, does everybody know what the penis is? And I'm like, that's, and you know, and so he, he would tell, And of course, we were relentless, you know, it's seventh grade boys of the worst. So we'd be like, coach, what does this mean? Coach, what does that mean?

And he said, oh God, don't say that, man. Don't say that. You know, he, he was trying to hush us down. So I just turned that into a character. And then as he was trying to describe the sex act, he would have these heart competitions and he would start to sweat and he almost lock up and die. And that was getting a response. So that turned into one of an audition care, but that's, that, I just had to get the ball roll.

It's that vomiting on the page. But I was doing live on stage. I just went in and I jotted down a couple bullet points and what the characters main thing was going to be. He was going to go out and teach sex ed class. I was going to go out and recruit this guy and that's what I was going to do on stage. And then you just build from there. Gosh brother. And so then I managed to put together a couple of characters and a couple things and I got it

I did get the call to audition and now you're ready and I got it That's where you're ready by the way one of my favorite things ever on the show is the last five minutes of what you just said It's one of my favorite things ever because it's a real life example of real life and one of the things About doing this. Life is not the way it is in the beginning, the way it is in the middle will be different than it is in the end. And same with almost every other thing. A marriage isn't the way it is in the beginning, isn't the way it is in the middle, isn't

the way it is towards the end. One way or the other. Businesses we have. It's one way in the beginning, it's a little bit different in the middle and it'll be different towards the end. Same with careers. One of the things is I'm watching you with that in mind. By the way, everyone should just accept that. The reason we want to get moving, the reason we want to do things is there's correlated spaces. For example, I was just a speaker for many, many years. I had no idea that that was going to lend myself into this thing that was created

called social media, then that was going to be a venture. And then that's somehow because I was a broadcast major 30 years ago in college, this thing called podcasting would start in this degree. I got 30 years ago, comes into fruition now because I got a pretty deep voice. And I know what I'm talking about. So it's different. And then the entrepreneurial opportunities, I had a financial company, I had no idea later I'd have a chip company or a chocolate company or a baseball card company. It changes. And you have to be open to those ebbs and flows

of your life. As I'm watching you, this is just two friends talking, but, and I know you've done a little of this, but I watched, I thought about you a while ago, that place that you and I were both talking about where I belong. Ray Romano is also a member there. And Ray like you, I don't know Ray very well, but we've had it encounters a few times He's a pretty serious guy one-on-one also like you would not if you I think if you met a most comedians Even Sebastian or whoever I don't think you would think they were comedians when you met them They're typically quiet some of them are actually kind of dark people too, right? Like that's where the comedy comes from And I watched this thing with Ray

I don't remember what the movie was, but it was about him and a really good friend. He had a really, you probably know it because you know the world, but he just had this really good friend. And I think the friend was dying, but it was a dramatic role. It wasn't a funny role.

Do you know the movie that I'm talking to him? I don't. I'll talk to my head, but I do know that his dramatic work is fantastic. It's fantastic. And then I think of some of the dramatic work I've seen Bill Murray do. And I'm like, wow, he's, when watch you, and the way that you express yourself, I just have

to wonder if obviously the comedy world is your world and that's where you've cut your teeth, but I actually wonder if that's part of that path that it's not in the beginning that it might be in the middle that it could be at the end for you is more of that stuff. Have you ever thought about that? Absolutely. Absolutely. I think any anybody who chooses a life in the arts, you do things. And then you, you want to scare yourself. You want to try something new.

You want to kind of step out and, and, and you know, at first, you might not be received. I remember when Bill Murray in 1981 did a movie called Razor's Edge where he played a World War I veteran. And he was drunk in a pool because he was obviously hurting and dealing with it through self-medication. And he would say like wise ass lines, but he would, they were really poignant lines.

And the audience was laughing because the expectation was comedy. It was him. And the truth is, the performance is great. He's great. He can do that because there's real depth to him. That's what I see in you. It's not received. Well, thank you. That's great. He's, you know, he can do that because there's real depth to him. That's what I see. It's not, it's not received. Well, thank you. That's very nice. I did a movie called Midnight Sun where I was more dramatic, where I played a guy whose father or a father whose

daughter was dying. And that was, that was my first, you know, the, it's also getting opportunity. Sure. And, and so that was the first, what I would call dramatic role. I played a straight role, which I would call a straight role in 12 strong, which is interesting story because the guy that I played was actually my boss in Afghanistan. You're serious. Yeah. Crazy story. Crazy story. So so the in the movie, I played Lieutenant Colonel Max Bowers, who was the CEO of perfect third battalion, fist, special forces Group. And when I got to Afghanistan, I got there when the movie ends when they take Maazir Ishaarif, that's how the movie ends, 12 strong. Probably a couple of weeks after that is when I showed up and joined them. And so when

I got there, I reported to Lieutenant Colonel Max Bowers, I was a young captain at the time, they central commanded sent me over to help out with public affairs and civil affairs. And so in the movie, I play him. So I was like, I know this guy used to breathe from every morning and every evening. That's incredible. I think of guys even like Hanks,

who was kind of like, Buzzenbuddy's funny dude in the beginning, and we all forget, or even Robin Williams. Like a lot of people have made that move where they've done both. And Ray has done very well as well. I just, I don't know. I like watching Ray and I play golf with Ray too, open Tahoe.

Okay. So we play in a lot of terms, sweet, sweet man, very, but very sincere. Yeah. And a lot of comedians that I know it's, it's the only comedian I ever met that that kept it on all the time was Robin Williams. And it might have been because he was manic, you know, or whatever. But the sweetest man on earth, I absolutely loved it. We did some USO stuff together.

We he actually came down to the UCB theater in LA. We did an improv show together and he's he's a machine. He was it was like it was special. It was truly special to be in his presence. But most comedies, you know, you can't sustain that kind of stuff. So imagine a lot of times you just want to have a conversation. You just want to relax. Will Ferrell is the most humble, sweetest guy on the world. He loves just to talk about the

Trojans or about the Lakers. And he's really excited about it. And what's going on with you and how's the fan? And he's always in, but then what I love about him is when he flips the switch. It's the best because I'm like, oh, it's playtime because I can see it in his eyes. He starts getting like here we go. I'm like, I just thought in your eyes. It's it's on. You know, it's so fun. And you're right. And there's also, you know, a lot of the land of broken toys, you know, out there, you know, a lot of guys are hurting. And that's why they got in to deal with it. I just saw your eyes change right there too. I love this. So I want to go a little longer. It's okay with you. If it's okay. She's okay. I want to go a little longer because it's too good and I know what my audience is thinking. Right now, they're seeing side to you.

I think maybe they don't know for most of them. And I think that the human side of you with all your success helps people. Plus all the clues you're leaving as we've been talking like everything you say, even though you don't know it, is leaving clues of success, or the story of how to move to make your dream happen. I just wondered for myself, did anything happen in the military without being personal, that change your perspective on life in general,

that, you know, the heaviness of this that I just had to experience means, I do that sometimes, like, when I'm in a high-pressure situation, I'm like, yeah, this is something, but it's Wasn't this other thing in my life. I'm just worried about how your experience in the Marine Corps shaped your World view your life Yes, I would say yes. There were there were there were clear moments when

You know you did you hear the list of all the medals? Yeah, yeah, but there were there were clear moments there I remember you know, you, um, did you hear the list of all the metals? Yeah. Yeah. But they're, they're clear moments there. I remember, you know, you, you see the, uh, the kids in Liberia, you know, out there on you and drive when you're looking over the wall from the embassy and you, and you see the conditions that are living in heart breaking. Um, you know, you see the, um, uh, I remember when we were in Albania, we had a, a patchy crash and the pilots were killed and, and we were in Albania, we had a Apache crash and the pilots were killed and we were loading their caskets onto a C-130.

Or it wasn't to see whether it was a C-17. We were loading and the whole base stopped and everybody came to attention and they blew taps. And they load that on. When I was at ground zero, just days after days after 9 11 the next day after 9 11 Moving rubble by hand in the Bucketburg gates, you know the devastation all around You know those are things that move you wait you were at you were at 9 11 on 9 12 Yes, the next day

So my reserve unit was in Manhattan. Yeah. And we were activated the night of September 11 because they closed all the bridges and tunnels and we were told to report down to ground zero in our boots and euths, boots and utilities. We got down there, we reported one police plaza the next morning and our boots and utilities and they gave us a surgical mask and we went and just started because at the time it was six stories of rubble we didn't know if there were any survivors. Right. So it was still search and rescue. So they couldn't bring any heavy bucket loaders or heavy machine because they were afraid of collapse as it gave in. So everything had to be done by hand. So there's our remember we were over on the corner of

the tower that was further south. I think that's tower one or two, tower one. And there's an open, there's a burger king that was all blown out and everything, but that's where we staged our gear. And then we worked out of that corner and we just were like ants going up the hill, just passing buckets up and down 12 hours on, 12 hours off, 12 hours on. I have to think that changes your perspective on life. It does, you know, and you see these things and then you go over to third world countries, and you go to Albania, and you see the refugee camps that we were setting up for the people in Kosovo.

You see the Afghan children. I'm hand out leaflets to stay away from these cluster bombs and these minefields. And this is what a mine looks like. Don't touch this stuff. Because they were illiterate. They couldn't read. So we had to do everything in pictures.

And you realize what a lawless country looks like, you know, you realize when there's no law in order, when there's no, you know, it's caveman rules, you know, and so it's anarchists, and so you become very grateful. Yeah. You become so grateful for this. Remind yourself of that. I mean, maybe today's just, I mean, I'm sure you do,

but just, and we walked away from 9-11. You know, so many people didn't. Yeah. And, and, and, and, you know, those did ever dawn on you, but like, no, it's good. Does it ever dawn on you that you served all this time and that at some point, guys, just picture this, like, you're in the Marine Corps, you're, you know, you're in service for that long of a period of time. And then you end up going over to entertain the very troops that you were once a part of. Was that not a trip for you? Was ever Comedy Central? Who was that for? It was awesome. It was a couple times. I did it once with the the Daily Show and then another time I've done three I think big tours. One with the chairman of the joint chiefs, um, did his Christmas tour, which was amazing. Um, but yeah, I was always pissed because I never got a USO show, not one.

All my deployments, I never got one entertainer ever. So I was like, you know, that's sex. I said, if I ever got to a place where I could, I would. And so I did. You're a level of humility is remarkable, brother. You know that I always assumed Riggle was a stage name, but you said earlier Riggle, is that your real name? That's my real name. That's my real name. I guess it started as Riggle. Okay. And it was my dad in retirement has gotten into genealogy.

Okay. So he has traced this part of the family all the way back to 1568 in German. Well, we grew up. Yeah. And apparently my ancestors came over in like 1741 and settled in Pennsylvania. And then worked their way from Pennsylvania to Indiana to Iowa down to Kansas. All the way to you.

A little did they know back in the day that they were eventually developing like the perfect name for a comedic actor, Rob Riggle. Yeah, and so it was Riggle, I guess, when they first landed here, and then it morphed into Riggle, and that's just what it's been ever since. All right, last thing, give me a good story.

Give me one story of anything you've done on a movie set or anything like that, you're like, I can't believe this is happening right now. It's the hardest I've laughed, or some experience with one of these amazing people that you've collaborated with in your life, where you had the story where you were with the Kerry and Jeff Danes and Jeff in the car. That's remarkable. I would be there too. I had a former president of the United States one time. I won't say which one, but he was in the White House.

It was his third day in office as a guy that I worked with. And he was in a very stressful meeting. And he leaned back in his chair just to collect his thoughts. And when he looked back, right behind him was a picture of Lincoln. And this is the dude who was running the country at the time. And he's like, he's like, I just leaned back so he didn't hear it. But he leaned back and he, he, he'd say, Lincoln picture by him and he goes, I can't believe that I'm here right now. And he was then I had to gather myself.

You're the president of the United States, dude. So you're the one you're actually the guy in that chair, but imagine what that must be like to sit back there and go, that's this is where Lincoln was. And now I'm here, no matter who you are as a human being, even someone at that level, he shared with me. I don't think confidentially. I didn't say who he was.

What that experience was like, have you had one of those outside of that carry moment, or you just laughed your whatever off at some point? Oh, yeah, I've been so blessed. That's the best thing about working on companies. Yeah, I imagine. Generally speaking, you're hanging out with some pretty funny people. Right. Generally speaking, everybody's in a good mood.

Yeah. Generally speaking, the scenes have a funny twist to it. And generally speaking, everybody's throwing new ideas out there because there's what's on the page and then there's what you bring to it as well. But on Saturday at Live, is there someone that walked in or anywhere in your life you're like,

oh, there's so many cool things. I remember on Saturday at Live, I did a sketch with Neumleason. Yeah. And we came off. I have a particular set of skills. Yeah. And he was the sweetest man in the world, you know?

And but I was, you know, I was always shell shocked. I was always shell shocked. I'm still shell shocked or all struck by some of these talented people that I admire as much. That's a big one. So I just done a scene with him and it went really well and I came off stage and Lauren kind of sits under the stage as a little video village that he sits in and I came off

and Tom Hanks was sitting next to him and Tom jumped up and goes, that was awesome. And I got, I was like, thank you, Tom. That just happened. I just want to go call all my friends right now. Tell them what just happened. I got to go. But he stood up out of the seat and kind of gave me the old, you know, bro hug and I was like, oh, that's so cool. And then, you know, there's all kinds of stories.

I mean, 21 Jump Street and I'll try to make this quick, because of the other. But we've been shooting night shoots. So when you flip schedules, everybody's upside down, and you're off sleep, everything's kind of weird. So we kind of flipped to a night shoot for like three or four days in a row, and it was the last night shoot, and we were shooting all the way until the sun came up.

I mean, it was, and we were up against it, because this is it, because then the weekend was was coming and we didn't want to have to do another night shoot. So we had to get this stuff done. But everybody's energy was low. So it's the end of the movie. It's where I get shot in the dingaling. And it's where they cuff me and they, you know, uh, uh, uh, Channing Tatum finally reads the right, you know, the Miranda writes, he gets it right, they're celebrating and it's this thing. And the energy was kind of low,

and the crew was kind of moping. And so we were also improvising, because we were just trying to wake everybody up and kind of get ourselves going. So I get shot in the dangling, I go down, they cuff me or whatever, and I'm like, you shot me in the dangling. I didn't say that, but I said, you shot me in the thing.

And then, I think Jonah goes, oh my god, is that it? Right? And he points, and it's off screen. It's all off screen, right? And I go, oh! And I scream like it's there, you know? And so, get a big reaction. Well, then the next take they were like, okay, this is great. Do it again. You know, get you and then you tell

them to pick it up. I'm not so we're like, okay, so here we go. Second, you know, is that you know, is that it right there? Oh, you got to get it. Pick it up. You know, he's like, I'm not picking it up. You know, and I'm like, pick it up. Help me out. I'm because I'm handcuffed at this point. So then I, I go, so I lean out of frame, right? And then they go, okay, that was great. Now we gotta do it again.

This time, the go over crafty get a banana. Bring it over here, cut it in half, and we're gonna, I was like, why do you have to cut it now? They cut it in half, and they put fake blood all over it. And so now I go out of frame, I come up with this bloody banana in my mouth, you know, and I'm still handcuffed, and I, through it, so it popped out of my mouth, you know. And so it just turns into this ridiculous thing, right?

It just keeps as a snowballing. It's a snowball going downhill. And it just keeps going and going. And the crews loving it, we're laughing. We're all having the energies back, you know, like it. So we have this great thing. And I'm thinking, no problem, you know, the good people at Sony, there's

no way this is going to make it onto the movie. This is just for us because they're going to end the movie right when they get the Miranda rights, you know. Well, they left it in the cut that tested and it got big laughs. So they were like, you can't get rid of it now. So they kept it in the movie. So now it's in the movie for the rest of my life. And all it was is a big screw round, right? Just to get the energy up and have fun. And it was cracking each other like we were all laughing. Have you had time with it? But it's awesome. Something like that that was just an innocent screw around, have some fun improvising. You know, get the energy up type thing. Now lives forever. Oh, dude. That's huge. That is the best. I

wish that was in the beginning. I hope everyone stuck around to hear that. What's the curse of bridge hollows that on Netflix right now? Yeah. That's that was in the beginning. I hope everyone stuck around to hear that. What's the curse of bridge hollows out on Netflix right now? Yeah, that's that was kind of a Halloween family Halloween movie with Marlon Wains. Okay, with Marlon. Yeah, he's a great guy and Kelly Rowland and some other wonderful the young lady. I'm so bad about this. I forgot her name. I'm sorry. She was on Stranger Things, but anyway, she's good to great, great. Dude, I loved today. Now here's what we're going to do. Um, we're going to have you back when you write your book.

Okay. And you are writing your book. So we're going to make sure that that happens together. This is what I was hoping it was today. I know it would laugh, but I knew people would learn a lot about you and also about how to become successful, how to overcome difficult times. Also appreciate your openness and your vulnerability to one of the great stories one of the most amazing lives so far With 52 more years at least to go you're probably halfway done. So thank you

I like the way you think yeah guys follow Rob Regal on social media. You already know who he is But go follow him there. Thank you for today brother. Oh, thank you. I and thank you for what you do I really appreciate yeah, well, I think we're gonna be friends for a long time. So I'm fired up. Hey, guys, this is the perfect show to share. I wanted him on for this time of year because you all need to laugh a little bit. You all need to learn a little bit. You all need to be inspired a lot. And you got all of that out of today's show. So you're welcome.

How can you pay me back? Share this with people that you care about. You want to bring some joy and some inspiration into their life and a little insight peek into Hollywood and this man's remarkable life as well. Thank you again for your service, bro. Yes. God bless you, everybody. Max out, power of one more.

Go grab my book. Take care. This is The End My Let's Show. You