The Eric Metaxas Show - Neal Harmon & Keith Stubbs

Episode Date: March 12, 2022

Neal Harmon of Angel Studios and Keith Stubbs of Dry Bar Comedy talk about the successes that their companies have had in the fields of both filmmaking and humor.

Folks, welcome to the Eric Metaxus show, sponsored by Legacy Precious Metals. There's never been a better time to invest in precious metals. Visit legacy p.m.investments.com. That's legacy p.m. Investments.com. Taxis show with your host, Eric Mettaxas. Folks, it's the Eartha Taxis show. I am at the NRB in a place I like to call Nashville, Music City. And all kinds of people are here at this convention.

It's the NRB Convention. And one of those people is Neil Harmon. Now, I talked to Neil a year ago. In case you don't remember, he is the CEO of Angel Studios, which is to say he's one of the geniuses behind things like, oh, I don't know, the chosen dry bar comedy. Neil Harmon, welcome. Thank you, Eric.

It's good to see you again. I'm such a fan of what you do and what you have done. I just want to say that up front. It's so wonderful because people in America have been hungry for the kind of entertainment that Angel Studios produces. So thank you for doing it. And if you don't mind my asking, how did it start? How did you get the idea to do what you're doing? And describe it a little bit so that I don't.

Yeah, you bet. So we started in 2013 when some brothers and a cousin said, we want to, we want to, we want, to have great stories for our children that we can watch together with them, that we like them, and they like them, and that don't, well, that reflect our values. And so we started with something called Vid Angel, which allowed you to skip stuff that was inappropriate for the home. And we got sued. Now, if you don't mind, who sued you? Disney sued us.

Okay, so in other words, you took Disney films and you said, okay, if I want to watch this film with my kids, I would have to cut out this word or that word or that brief scene or something. And you did that. You made a business out of it because you know that there are zillions of people looking for that kind of stuff. About half of parents in America were looking for it. Okay. And so, and you're telling me that Disney decided to sue you. What were you doing wrong?

You were getting people to watch their movies, but? Well, they had copyright argument. and they sued us in California and we lost. We appealed and we did well enough that they settled with us during COVID. They were losing a lot of money. I don't know of a company that survived a lawsuit from Disney, so we're happy to be alive. But during that process, we said, let's go ahead and start our own studio.

And if the old-time studios won't play ball, then we're going to compete with them. directly. I just love it. I'm just thrilled. You're most known for the chosen, obviously. And Drybar. Drybar. Drybar gets a billion views a year. A billion? Yeah. That's pretty impressive. So Dry Bar comedy, after you, I will be talking to the president of Dry Bar comedy about Dry Bar comedy. But I did not know a billion views a year? Yeah, well, Dry Bar is fantastic. What they've done is they've taken really funny comedians and asked them to perform an act that will be funny for everyone and funny for the whole family instead of just for adult humor and that will have a bigger

market. And so they've really achieved that. They've done a fantastic job. That is amazing. And then, of course, the Chosen. Now, not everybody in my audience will be familiar with the Chosen. So if you don't mind, tell my audience in case they haven't heard about it what it is. So the Chosen was backed by about 19,000 people who watched a short film called The Shepherd that portrayed the birth of Christ through the eyes of a shepherd. And they said, we want to see this made into a TV show. And so they invested over $11 million to make season one of the Chosen. So 19,000 people invested in the Chosen.

Yes. And then we made season one. and season one, the very first time we showed season one here at NRB, we had one person attend the very first showing at the very first episode. It was a little discouraging, but by the end of NRB, we had about 100 people attending. And then the next year at NRB, everyone recognized the Chosen. So that growth was really exciting. So the Chosen right now it's in the second season, correct?

Yeah, the second season is done and it's been released. They're in pre-production for season three. So take us through this. In other words, somebody gets an idea. They say, wouldn't it be great to do a TV series where we can get more in depth on what's in the gospel? So we can actually see it on the screen. We can develop some backstories.

Obviously, it's faithful to the scripture, but because it's a different medium, it's going to be a little bit different. So I'm sure there's some purists that were annoyed. And I think it's important in life to annoy those purists. But you got behind this, and you have gotten many thousands of people to put up money to make this happen. So this is not like you make it and then you get people to pay for it. You get people to pay for it so that it can get made.

Well, yes. And so they invested. They're all co-owners of the chosen. And we renamed our company from VidAngel to Angel Studios at Angel.com. And we renamed it that because we wanted to name it after the people who make this possible. The Angels, the Angel investors, made the Chosen possible. And now today, tens of millions of people all over the world in over 180 countries are watching The Chosen. And it's making, you know, it did over $100 million last year in merchandise and pay it forward

revenue and licensing revenue. So you mean the people who invested get a piece of that somehow? I mean, they're invested in that level? That's amazing. Yep. Now, who thought of this business model? Was it you, your brother? I mean, it's an amazing concept. So part of it, like the idea that we wanted to experience good stories, we knew if we built this technology that would allow people to skip objectionable content, that we would attract an audience of people that we could then distribute better content than Hollywood. We knew that.

We didn't know how we were going to get there because there's just chicken and an egg scenario where Hollywood owns the distribution. And so they're the ones who get the money so they can make the best shows and then they get more distribution. So how do you solve that problem? Well, when Disney sued us, they clued us in because they sued us and we said to our customers, we're not going to survive this lawsuit. but if you guys want us to, we need about $5 million to fight the lawsuit. And they invested $10 million in five days.

And so that gave us $5 million to fight the lawsuit and $5 million to start Drybar. And the night after we closed that, my brother, Daniel, he said to me, Neil, what if we applied this crowdfunding model to media? It's just like, click. that's it. And so the Chosen was the first show that we said, let's go and try this out, where the audience decides what gets made

and that they're smarter than a few elite executives in Hollywood and making that decision. Well, there's no doubt about that. It's kind of a... I mean, you know the famous quote, William F. Buckley said, I'd rather be governed by the first 300 names or 3,000 names in the Boston phone book

than by the faculty of Harvard College, right? In other words, there are these elites that are out of touch, and they get to run things. But you really want people with common sense to be running things, right? And that's what you've done. You've applied that, and so instead of having a bunch of point-e-headed 23-year-old executives deciding what gets made,

you've been able actually to put it out there and to say to the people, what would you like to see? That's right. And it's just the people who have previously invested who have the chance to be part of that decision-making body. So if somebody wanted to bring a show to Angel, they'd bring their torch. Right. They'd show it to the audience, and the audience would vote and decide. Not us. Not the executives. They'd decide. See, this is so fascinating. This is like democracy in action. This is the free market in action. It's actually, it's really wonderful. Now, if people say, I don't, I haven't watched The Chosen, how would they find it?

What are the ways that they can find it? Great. It's really easy to find any of our shows. Go to angel.com. You can find Drybar, The Chosen, and everything there. You can download the Angel app on your TVOS, your Apple TV, on your Roku TV, on your Google TV, Fire TV. You can download it on your iPhone or your Android phone. to watch The Chosen and all of our other shows.

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That's inspireinsight.com. Go there. Folks, welcome back. It's the Airman Taxes Show. We are at the NRB National Religious Broadcasters Convention in Nashville. And I'm talking to the head of Angel Studios. Those are the folks behind Dry Bar Comedy and The Chosen, among other things, the Chosen being the most famous. The Chosen, you finished the second season, you said.

You finished filming it. Yes. And Dallas Jenkins. He's the director. He's the director. Yes. And so how do you pull something like this off? I mean, anytime you do anything like this, I would just imagine, you know, you'd need

some theological experts. You'd need some people around you to make sure that you don't go off the rails. Yeah. So Dallas wisely formed a biblical advisory council. that he sends the scripts to to get their feedback. And there's a Catholic scholar, there's a evangelical scholar,

there's a messianic Jewish rabbi who all give feedback and input into the scripts to make sure that they're biblically sound and that they'll reach as broad as a market as possible. And he was very wise to do that. We have other creators who are doing something similar. Now, did the Catholic scholar insist that Mary should be portrayed as an Italian woman.

So there are instances where Dallas overrides what... It's a good thing you don't have a Greek Orthodox scholar because he knows that she's Greek. No, it's kind of funny. Whenever you're trying to... It's like you're trying to do something by committee. It's hard. And at the same time, you have to do it when you're doing something like this.

Well, and it's not by committee. I don't mean that. He gets that. But, I mean, you need to get that input. There's just no way around it. He gets the input for the market. yet, but he ultimately, he has the creative control for the project. So you're saying Mary was not Italian?

No, I'm saying that Dallas portrayed Mary as having suffered pain when she gave birth to Jesus, and there are Catholics that don't like to see that. Oh, actually, that's interesting. See, now, I love that because that's theologically very interesting. I mean, it's amazing. I would never would have occurred to me. I'm not Catholic, but I'm familiar with enough of Catholic teaching to realize that, yeah, there are things that they become sticky wickets.

So just to try to navigate that is not easy. And then you're going to have, you know, the sort of the fundamentalists who are going to say that anything that you portray that is not specifically in the scripture, it's heresy to even, you know, to picture it. Sure. And this show is not for them. I was going to say, it ain't for you. Yeah. It's kind of funny because there are always folks like that. I think William Sapphire in the mouth of former vice president's,

Bureau Agnew, call them nattering nabobs of negativism. They're always going to be nattering nabobs of negativism, but I'm glad that, you know, you're not trying to appease them, because what you're doing is important, actually. It seems to me that if you watch the Chosen, it just sort of sucks you in to the story in a way that, you know, is powerful. It can be a devotional experience. Yes. Just give it a chance. And this year, we're looking to reach the unreached with that show. We feel like the most people who love Jesus have heard of it and or watched it. And there are a lot of people out there who just kind of heard of it on the sidelines

and aren't giving it a chance. And this year we're trying some really interesting things to reach the unreached. Can you say? I mean, I'm fascinated because I call that evangelism. You'll know by around Easter time. By around Easter time? Yeah. What, the Goodyear Blimp?

What are you going to? I don't know. I'm like wondering, you're going to drop leaflets. Leaflets over Las Vegas. What are you going to do? You'll find out. Okay. So we'll, but we have something else really exciting that's going to be interesting to navigate because King David, he touches many cultures and many religions as well. And we're doing a full-length feature film that is going to, it's an animated film. Is it starring Richard Gear?

That's up to the creators of David. Please say no. Please say no. So the, it's going to have. have the epic quality of Prince of Egypt and the fun rewatchability of Moana or that show about with the girl with the long hair Disney made? What's that called? What? Pipby Longstocking? No, that's not Disney.

Rapunzel? Tangled, tangled. Yes, it's the repunzel. Traditionally, she's called Rapunzel. Rapunzel. There you go. I'm a purist on the Rapunzel stuff. Doesn't be this tangled stuff, this newfang. Tangle Junk. Rapunzel, okay? In the original Greek, it's Rapunzel.

So, okay, but so you're creating a feature film on the life of King David. Yes. Yes, and it's an animated film. It's going to be Pixar level quality. And when is that supposed to come out? The end of 2023 or the beginning of 2024, we haven't picked a release date, but right now you can go to angel.com and you can back the show and help us make it. Aha.

So you can be an investor. Yes. in the King David. Do you have a title? It's called David. It's just called David? Yep. That's what his mother called him.

Why not? So it's called David, and it is an animated film. I'm trying to think, the Prince of Egypt came out. My goodness, that's like 2000 or 2001? Just after 2000, yeah. Quite a long time ago. King David, kind of an amazing story. It really is.

Now, I was joking, but there was a David film starring Richard Gear, like, I don't know, 30 years ago. You probably didn't know that, did you? Well, that's what I'm here for. Okay. I'm just a wealth of useless information, Neil, and I'm here to pass on that useless information. But it is kind of funny, and what I remember what was funny, because you never know how a crowd is going to react. I saw a trailer. I was watching some other film, and they played a trailer, and it showed suddenly, you see on the screen,

Richard Gear, wearing, you know, these, like, long earrings, like what? have been warned by King David or something like that. And the entire crowd burst into laughter. And I thought, uh-oh, this is going to be a problem because they've already shot the film. And people are howling at the idea of King David being portrayed by Richard Gere, you know. So whatever you do, don't get Richard Gere to do the voice. Okay, that's good advice. You get to get anybody. Get Joe Pesci, you just don't get Richard Gere. Okay. All right. So what else do you guys have planned? That's huge. That's amazing. So in late 2020, We have a fantasy series that's family-friendly.

It's called Wing Feather Saga. It was written by Andrew Peterson, who's well-known here in Nashville. He's a singer, songwriter, author, and we're very, very excited about that show. And it's coming out in December. And that is... Wing Feather Saga. But that is also animated, you said? Yes, it's an animated fantasy series.

So you guys are very busy. You're doing a lot of stuff. And I imagine there are lots of other projects that you're continuing. considering. Yeah. People come to you and say, what about this? What about this?

Our audience jury is reviewing about one or two new torches a day. Torches. That's what we call them. Torches. Why do you call them torches? Well, because the Statue of Liberty,

believe it or not, was the first crowd-funded project in America. And Frederick Bartoldi was a French artist. Everyone thinks that it was made by the French government, for the U.S. Right. But it was an artist

who just scraped together enough money to make a torch and he carried that torch around for a decade and showed it to people just like Dallas took the shepherd around to show it to people and he raised $14 million in today's money

to build the Statue of Liberty. And he blew it all on the horses and the statue never got made. You go to New York, it's not there. I can't believe, you know something, I hear stories like this. And I think you might have told that story a year ago and I forget stuff quickly

but that is an amazing story. that the Statue of Liberty was crowdfunded in that way. That is just a beautiful story. That seems like a story worth telling. You know what I mean? There's a story worth telling somehow dramatically because it's so beautiful. And the Statue of Liberty, it seems to me,

means more and more with every day that passes. When, get this, when Frank Capra came with his father and immigrated to the U.S., they were sick. They looked at the shore in New York, and he pointed to the statue, And he said, son, that's the greatest light in this world since the star of Bethlehem. And that's how Frank Capra started his career as a filmmaker in America. I'm not kidding.

I did know that story. And Frank Capra, one of the greatest filmmakers who ever lived, who made the kinds of films that I would think Angel Studios would be proud to make. But when you think about it, too, it's a lot of times it's people who come from the other side who appreciate American freedom in a way that, you know, many Americans, take it for granted because they can't really imagine a world without it, although under the current administration, you need less and less imagination to see how horrible it can be. But I got to tell you, when I hear that story about Frank Capra, how beautiful. It's just a gorgeous idea.

And along with that poem that says, bring me, you're tired, your poor, yearning to breathe free. So that's why we named it Angel. And our logo, you can see the statue in the background. And our logo colors are the colors of the Statue of Liberty. And we see it. ourselves as a place for the outcasts of Hollywood. Emma Lazarus wrote that gorgeous, gorgeous poem. How does it start again? Give me your tire. Give me your tired.

Your poor. Your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. I mean, it is such a noble, noble idea, a beautiful idea, and how wonderful that you have stolen it, Neil Harmon. No, that you're using it. Angel Studios. Neil Harmon, just so proud of you and what you.

you all do. God bless you. Thanks for your time. Thank you, Eric, for having you on. In case you haven't been paying attention, the Biden administration has caused a financial crisis, and they have no clue how to fix it. Oil prices have skyrocketed, and when oil prices go up, the cost of transportation and shipping spikes, leading the prices of goods to rise. And when we're already seeing record inflation, that's the last thing we need. Our economy is in trouble, and you need to take steps to protect yourself. If all your money is tied up in stocks, bonds, and traditional markets, you are vulnerable. Gold is one of the best ways to protect your retirement.

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I'm at the NRB. You've heard of it. It's a convention that meets in a gigantic, it's kind of like one of those hamster rabbit trail. What do they call those things? Habit trails. It's kind of like it's at the Gaylord in Nashville, and you're encased in plastic, you can't get out.

But nice people stumble by. One of them just did. His name is Keith Stubbs. He's the president of Dry Bar Comedy. I like comedy. And Keith Stubbs, welcome with the program. So glad to be here. Thanks for having me.

Okay, my pleasure. Now, tell us what is Dry Bar Comedy. I mean, I know a little bit about this already, but my audience does not. They're going to know about it right now. Uh-oh. We're going to lay it out. Dry Bar Comedy, basically, we are the largest streaming and compilation library of stand-up comedy in the world anywhere.

We have over 500 comedians that have recorded comedy specials, dry bar comedy specials, and our slogan is funny for everyone, which means everyone's going to think it's funny. So in other words, some of those records of Red Fox where he works blue, that would not fit into Dry Bar Comedy? I think you're exactly right about that. Red Fox is not a good fit. Red Fox is not a good fit. So I got to tell you, I love Red Fox. I'm not red fox, but I, he didn't need to go there, okay? And you're telling me that dry bar comedy, it's, it's actually funny, but it's also something that you wouldn't be afraid if your 12 year old

was with you listening to it. That's exactly right. We just believe that there's a whole segment of the population that's underserved as far as stand-up comedy. I've been in it for a long time. I started doing comedy in 91 and I've kind of been around, to say I've been around at all, I would say that's pretty accurate. I've been around for a long time. But this segment of the population that is underserved. is bigger than I think Hollywood or the industry would even recognize. And obviously this is not just the world of comedy. I mean, that's the problem with the media in general.

It's become so fractured, and a lot of it has just gotten very, very dark. I agree with that. And so you don't want to watch stuff with your kids. It's just not, you know, you might not even want to watch it yourself. You certainly don't want to watch it with your wife or your parents. There's something that has. kind of crept in, and you guys are pushing back. So how do people find Dry Bar Comedy?

We're all over the place. Just go to YouTube, go to Facebook, punch in Dry Bar Comedy. It's all over. Plus, we have an app, brand new app, Dry Bar Comedy Plus. You could check out over 300 specials on this app at your fingerprints. Fingarprints. Tips. It's called Finger Tips.

Finger tips. Finger tips is the euphism. Yes. But it's absolutely accessible everywhere, and it's shareable. That's shareable content. You know how it is right now that if you share something that maybe you think is funny with a co-worker or with a friend. You never know what the response is going to be. But with Dry Bar Comedy, you don't have to worry about that all.

And things have changed. I think we can agree. Now, where did you grow up? I grew up in Charleston, South Carolina. And did you know as a kid that you were funny or is this something that developed later in that? You know, I think I thought I was kind of funny. And I dabbled around a little bit in comedy back in the day. and then when I got going, got on stage, I found out, I thought I could do it,

takes a lot of work, and I got there. Oh, it's funny. Believe me, it's funny. You could do it. Oh, absolutely. You realize you could do it. But still, I mean, a lot of people, you know, everybody laughs, you know, loves comedy. That's pretty much everybody.

Right. But to be able to do comedy, I mean, I've kind of dabbled in my own way, but to get up in front of a crowd whose expectations that you will make them love. laugh. Right. That's tough stuff. Yeah, you know, what I used to do as an aspiring comedian or someone that was interested in comedy, I would go watch comics at somewhere like the Comedy Store in Hollywood, and I would watch comic after comic after comic. And I would kind of, in my own mind, size myself up where I think I could be at some point. Well, I think I'm not as funny as that guy, but I think I could probably get there. And then I'd watch Robin Williams. I go, well, I can't do

that. But that way, it kind of gave me an idea of what I thought I could accomplish. Even Robin Williams couldn't do that. That was drugs. man. Actually, no. Actually, no. He was great. But it is interesting because I remember before Larry David was famous, I went to see him do stand up. This must have been like the fall of 87, I think. And it's interesting because he was known as a comedian's comedian, that the comedians loved him, but he was a little too cerebral for the crowds, because sometimes the crowds, you know, they're the groundlings that they want, you know, something more vulgar or whatever. And that's always the challenge, isn't it?

In other words, that even I had another friend who's a comedian, my friend Keith Junta, and he was telling me that, you know, he's at these clubs. And the club managers are telling him you need to do more, you know, blank jokes, you know, like dirty jokes or whatever. So that's, in some ways that became part of that culture, unfortunately. I think it is part of the culture, but it's not essential, but I do believe it's part of it. But I believe it's part of, especially now, the culture in fashion, any music, in any art. With all the accessibility on all the different platforms on YouTube, you can get dry bar, but you can also get the other.

And I think what we have to offer is just totally underserved. And that's why we're filling that niche. So you said you have how many comedians? 500 comedy specials. These are professional comics. This is amazing. Yeah. How long has it taken to build this up?

That's just an astonishing accomplishment. It's taken us five years. We started Dry Bar Comedy, Neil and Jeffrey Harmon, you'll have on at some point today. Comedy's great. We all love comedy. We all love Dallap, but we don't love everything that's out there. And the alternative wasn't substantial. There's great comics like Gaffigan and Brian Regan and Jerry Seinfeld that have more of a broad appeal, but there wasn't enough of that. And what's shocking to a lot of people, that there are so many funny comics that you've never, ever heard of, who've never had their day. in the sun, never had a chance to really approach a huge audience that are getting that now. So once again, the comics that we

have, you'll be shocked. Why haven't I heard of this person? Isn't that a great question? You're like, this is so great. Why haven't I heard of this? Okay, so Dry Bar Comedy, we're talking to Keith Stubbs, who's the president of Dry Bar Comedy. We'll be right back. Hey folks, if you listen to this program, of course, you've heard me talk at infinitum about my pillow

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To use the promo code, Eric. Folks, I'm talking to Keith Stubbs. He's the president of Dry Bar Comedy. Is there a website? Yes, there is. It's drybarcom. That's our website. Very, very easy.

That's pretty easy to remember, drybarcomedy. And so are a lot of these specials accessible there? Or, you know, how does it work? Yeah, you could check them out there. We also have an app. It's Drybar Comedy Plus, is the name of our app. 300 comedy specials on that right now. We release three full-length comedy specials every single week.

So the content is always coming. How long is? is the standard comedy special. A typical special is between 30 and 40 minutes, somewhere in there, maybe a little bit less, some a little bit more, just depends on the comedian. So if I could put together 30 to 40 minutes of solid material, potentially I could be in Dry Bar Comedy. You'd have to submit a videotape to me.

Oh, I'll take a look at it. I can submit it. I'll review it. Let me tell you something, you're the only funny guy here? I got another thing. No, seriously, it's so funny because I've never done comedy comedy. I do a lot of joking in my public. speaking and so and so forth. But to actually do just pure comedy, it's another thing. It's another

genre. It's a whole other thing. One thing I've always thought is that, I believe this, is that starting comedy and trying to do comedy is a lot easier than continuing to do comedy. Because when you try it once, like a lot of people do, it's kind of a bucket list thing. I'm going to try comedy once or twice. They give it a shot and they tried it. But to continue and go back to open mics and try that material and have it bomb and even when you've done it 20 years or 30 years you still have nights when things just go not the way you'd hoped that they would go and that but to stay in that and sustain that is difficult i'm having that kind of a decade but it'll be it'll be over it'll be they tell me it'll be over but anybody can have a bad decade i'm having it right now no it's kind of funny because honestly

you're right that you can have the same material i mean i've noticed this even with with talks that i give or whatever. You never know what you're going to get. I mean, whether I'm speaking in a church, actually giving a sermon or whatever. You just don't know until the first few words or sentences, and you get a read of the room. And it's just a fascinating dynamic, isn't it? Yeah, it's fascinating. And sometimes it can change as a comedian. Maybe you're in the back of the room and there's another comedian performing, and you're kind of sizing up the audience and what's working and what's not and what part of the audience may be laughing and what others may be just ignoring you. And you're trying to get a vibe of what's happening.

And then you get on stage and that can entirely change. So it really is not that easy. I think you would do great. You got nice hair. I think that's a big... That's very, very important in comedy. Yes, it is. Look what it's done for carrot top.

Unbelievable. Oh, man. Yeah, hair is big. Yeah, but you got to be on the inside in the comedy world to know how important hair is. Yeah. So, so... So, so... So, so...

wearing a hat. How are you doing in the hair business? I'm not doing well at all. And yet, this is, I'm wearing, you see my picture. And yet, and yet, you're able to be funny even without the hair. Yes. That is above and beyond. Well, it takes a level of charm. That's amazing.

Gile, cunning, I have all those. You've got it. You've got a toolbox. Yes, I do. And yet, you don't do prop comedy. I don't do prop comedy. I used to play the guitar in my acting. But do people look down on prop comics?

Yes, they do. Why? Because they feel like it's cheating. They feel like it's easy. I disagree. with that, by the way. Caratop is brilliant. I've seen him live and he's a good guy and he's very, very funny, but the purist, you know the purists that are out there? Yeah, the purest. The Jerry Seinfelds, for example. You're exactly right. People like that, they look down upon people that use musical

instruments or props or like the Gallagher's, remember the Gallagher? You're telling me Gallagher with a sledgehammer is not a genius? Is that what you're saying on this show? Albin, get him out of here now before I hit. I will say this. I'll say this about Gallagher. This needs to be be said about Gallagher. I believe he is a genius and I believe he had his moment. But I do believe he's a very intelligent man. Well, no, listen, we know I'm not here to put down Gallagher because when I was younger, right, you know, like it's totally thrilling. But I think we have to be clear that there are different kinds of audiences. Oh, no doubt about it. I mean, there's some people are looking for something more cerebral. And I mean, Larry David's audience does not have much in

common with Gallagher's audience. Not at all. Or Caratops audience. Not at all. But that's fine. But many times as a comedian, especially if you're someone that no one knows, like me, and you perform, you're going up, you don't have your fans there. You just have random people that are coming to see a show with a comedian. So it's your job as a comic to be able to appeal and bring that group together and hopefully have them laugh and enjoy the night. For years, I performed under a stage name. You might have heard of me. Have you heard of Moms Mabley? Yes, I have heard of Moms Mabel. Yes, I have heard of Mons. I was Mabley for decades, and then I said, you know what, I'm not going to do this anymore.

You know, I love Moms Mabel. I'm not going to do it. No. I love Moms Mable. No, I just took a shot. My favorite line was when she, I was listening to some audio tape of Moms Mabel. And she, the whole, the shtick was that she had like a bottle of alcohol in her pocket, which is not go with the dry bar comedy theme, right?

Of course not. And she broke the, she, she felt as she fell backwards, She didn't know whether the bottle had broken in her back pocket, but she felt wetness. And she said, oh, Lord, I hope it's blood. And I thought that is genius. Yeah. But that's just me. Your mom's mably.

That's just me. I'm Moms Mabley. That's just the kind of shtick I do, okay? I can't believe that you're saying I love Moms. I do love Moms Mable. What are the odds that I would be sitting at NRB with somebody who loves Moms Mabley? I would say this is meant to be, Eric. This is incredible.

You know, not a lot of people. People at NRB have heard of Moms Mably, much less would use her. Okay. Okay. Okay, there's four of us. Right? That. These guys here, no idea.

My peeps right here, they know exactly. If you haven't heard of Moms, you haven't heard of nothing. Then you don't know Jack Benny then. Then you don't know Jack Benny. That was good. That was good. You see what he did there? You see what he did that?

So Keith Stubbs, you're not a prop comic. Nope. You're not Moms Mabley. No. But you've heard of Moms Mabley. I'm a fan, a believer. And you're the prime. President of Dry Bar Comedy.

I want to start talking about Pat Cooper. Can we talk about Pat Cooper? I remember Pat Cooper. Come on. What was the joke? I think I stole his joke the other day. He said that the Italian for Preparation 8th. Do you know the word?

Innuendo. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll be here Friday, Saturday, and next week, this is nuts. This is nuts. Well, Keith Stubbs, it's just great to talk comedy with somebody who understands comedy. Dry Bar comedy. Look, my audience knows, I am so thrilled that you are doing this. This is an idea whose time has come. And I know that a lot of people who listen to this program will check out dry bar comedy.

You said just drybar comedy. Right? That's what I said. And if they look up Keith Stubbs, you'll find out that you don't really have that much hair and yet you're funny. You're exactly right. That's exactly what you're going to find out. I have a dry bar comedy special. So you need to watch that.

People need to watch that. Let's see how funny the president is. I think you'll like it. You know what? But the idea that you're funny and have no hair, that's just the definition of irony. Look, for mom's Mabley connection that we made. Yeah. We know we love each other.

Peace up, my new friend, God bless you. Thank you. Folks, check out dry bar company. Eric, thanks. Folks, Alvin and I are still at NRB. We are? We're tired. We're sick of this. We're sick of it.

Actually, no, we like it here. No, we like it here. But we were told to say that. But we, it is fun. because we have so many guests that we get to talk to in hour two today, which is in a couple of minutes, we're talking to Neil Harmon of Angel Studios of the folks that created The Chosen. And after that, we talked to another Angel Studios. Bigwig or something.

Well, they launched his... Yes, it's Dry Bar Comedy. Yeah. That comes out of Angel Studios. Dry Bar Academy is... Well, you'll hear. But they said they got like a billion views or something. I mean, that's what he said, a billion.

Literally a billion with a B. So that's coming up in hour two today. Now there's two things that I want to mention. There's some things that we can't talk about on this radio program for legal reasons. So what I would like you to do, folks, is sign up for my newsletter at ericmetaxis.com. I have the freedom to communicate things with you there that I'm simply not allowed to talk about on this radio. radio program. I can't even tell you why, but I'm just telling you that. Ericmetaxis.com. If you sign up for the newsletter...

Is it something about me that you're not allowed to be? Well, yes, you are involved in it. Oh, but I can't... I can't... I'm sorry. I can't be more specific than that. Okay. But I just want to be clear that, you know, I'm a man under authority. I don't. So if you want me to share some things with you that I can't share here, go to ericmetaxis.com, and I mean this, uh, there's some... I think I'm going to finally sign up for the newsletter. This is intriguing. EricMettaxas.com, sign up for the newsletter.

I mean, there's plenty of stuff there that we will share related to this program, like videos and fun stuff. But there's some things that I can't share on the program for legal reasons. And so whether I'm kidding or not, and I'm not, you want to go to ericmantaxis.com. Tell your friends. We live in a weird cancel culture, so that's one place where I can reach here. no matter what.

So I want to encourage you to go to Ericman.com. And before we go to our break and hour two, we're here to tell you that we are not even close to raising our goal for food for the poor. Food for the poor, we're doing a campaign with them, and I want to encourage you folks to participate. We want 100% participation. We were going to ask for 105,

and we were told that 105% participation is mathematically not possible. And I said, okay, what about 100? Is that possible? And somebody said, okay, we'll say that that's possible. So 100% participation, that's what we're looking for. But that means that you, and yes, I do mean you and you and you. Actually, yes, you too. All of you have to participate.

Now, we're not telling you how much to give. No. Because everybody is in a different place. but everybody can give something. Maybe you can just give a very little bit. Maybe you want to break it down, give once a month. So just you give your credit card or whatever it is and it'll come out of your credit card once a month,

and it's a small amount. But the need at food for the poor is great. There are kids that are starving in places like Honduras. Food for the poor is there, showing the love of God by feeding the hungry. Think of this, folks. I mean, imagine you couldn't feed your kids and some strangers show up

and they say, we will feed your kids because people have given money so that we can do that. We're food for the poor. How would that affect your view of the church, of the people who claim to be Christians? It's one of the most powerful things imaginable. It's a powerful witness. And I want to say to you, food for the poor has been doing this for a long time. It's why we work with them.

So I'll give you the phone number. Maybe you prefer to call. But it's easiest just to go to metaxis talk.com. click on the banner. Every single person who participates is going to be entered in a drawing for three incredible grand prizes. That's right. But if you don't want to go to metaxis talk.com and click on the banner, you can just call 844-863 Hope. 844-8663 Hope.

Please do it right now. 844-863 Hope. Thank you.