The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler - 333: Shane Todd has a Punch Loving Father
Episode Date: May 12, 2025My HoneyDew this week is comedian Shane Todd! Check out Shane’s newest special, Mommy on his YouTube, or his own podcast Tea with Me. Shane joins me this week to Highlight the Lowlights of being rai...sed outside of Belfast, Ireland, becoming a father, and living with Crohn's disease. We dive into Shane’s upbringing, including a character of a father who’s party trick you have to hear about! Shane opens up about the joy he’s found in becoming a father himself, and shares some of the challenges he’s faced since being diagnosed with Crohn’s. BALTIMORE! I’m coming home! Catch me at the Horseshoe Casino on Saturday, June 28—one night only with special guest Justin Schlegel! Grab your tickets now! http://tixr.com/pr/ryan-sickler/142608 SUBSCRIBE TO MY YOUTUBE and watch full episodes of The Dew every toozdee! https://youtube.com/@rsickler SUBSCRIBE TO MY PATREON - The HoneyDew with Y’all, where I Highlight the Lowlights with Y’all! Get audio and video of The HoneyDew a day early, ad-free at no additional cost! It’s only $5/month! AND we just added a second tier. For a total of $8/month, you get everything from the first tier, PLUS The Wayback a day early, ad-free AND censor free AND extra bonus content you won't see anywhere else! https://www.patreon.com/TheHoneyDew What’s your story?? Submit at honeydewpodcast@gmail.com Get Your HoneyDew Gear Today! https://shop.ryansickler.com/ Ringtones Are Available Now! https://www.apple.com/itunes/ http://ryansickler.com/ https://thehoneydewpodcast.com/ SUBSCRIBE TO THE CRABFEAST PODCAST https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-crabfeast-with-ryan-sickler-and-jay-larson/id1452403187 SPONSORS: Cure Hydration -Stay hydrated and feel your best by visiting http://curehydration.com/HONEYDEW Hims -Start your free online visit today at https://www.Hims.com/HONEYDEW
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Baltimore, I'm coming home.
We're going to wrap the Live in a Live Tour up Saturday, June 28th at the Horseshoe Casino.
It's going to be a great night.
I got Justin Schlegel from 98 Rock going to be out there with me.
We're going to have some surprises.
It's going to be a really big deal.
Get your tickets now at RyanSickler.com.
The Honeydew with Ryan Sickler.
Welcome back to the honeydew y'all.
We're over here doing it in the night pan studios.
I'm Ryan Sickler starting this pot off. Like I start them all off by saying, thank you. to the honeydew y'all we're over here doing it in the night pan studios i'm ryan sickler
starting this pot off like i start them all off by saying thank you thank you for supporting this
show thank you for supporting anything i do all right if you gotta have more than you gotta have
the patreon it's this show the honeydew with y'all and i promise you all have the wildest stories
you want to check out a little sample go watch some of the best of episodes
that we drop right here on YouTube for free
with Josh Wolf and we do some best stuff.
We got about four of those out now.
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All right? That is the biz. You guys know what we do here.
We highlight the lowlights, always say that these are the stories
behind the storytellers. And I am very excited to have this guest on here.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Shane Todd.
Welcome to the Honeydew, Shane Todd. Yeah. Welcome to the Honey News, Shane Todd.
This is my first US pod.
You just told me that before we started recording. I'm blown away by that.
This is an exclusive right here with Shane Todd right now.
This is your first US podcast.
First US pod.
Tell me, we met, I want to say the improv.
I saw you in improv a couple of years ago. We didn't even really meet.
I'd been on before you.
I was just here.
I was doing some spots.
Great lineup.
You were on.
You're set.
I'm not just saying this.
Best set of the night.
I DM'd you after.
You did, yeah.
I was a great set.
Did not know of you beforehand.
This is years ago.
And just followed you since. So this is kind of a full circle moment. This is years ago. And just kind of followed you since.
So this is kind of a full circle moment.
This is my first.
That's crazy.
I love that you were your first US pod.
Yeah.
Fuck yeah.
Well, before we get into it,
please write there, promote everything
and anything you'd like, Shane Todd.
So I have a podcast called the Tea With Me podcast
that comes out every week.
shane.com.ly.com for my tour, which will be over in a minute.
This is it. This is halfway through the US tour. I'm going to do a big 2026 tour. I'm
going to come back. See, I'm just slowly building up the America shows. Like last night I was
in San Diego. Last year when I did it, 24 people in the mic drop. Ask me how many last
night? How many last night? 31, 24 people in the mic drop. Ask me how many last night?
31.
Fuck yeah, baby.
I booked a baseball stadium for next year.
My miles are so bad.
I was like, I think we're on an upward trajectory.
Um, so shane.comedy.com from material.
I've got a special on YouTube called mummy, which is out shot in a small
comedy club in Belfast.
It's up there for free.
I'm going to put a special out soon.
I've got another one shot.
I don't know when I'll put it up.
All right.
Dude, I'm stoked to have you here, man.
Thank you for doing this.
Yeah, no, I'm really excited.
Yeah, so let's talk about it
because you were definitely the first Irish,
I mean, we've probably people who over here
will claim they're Irish.
Oh yeah.
You're the first Irish motherfucker we've had on this podcast.
So we were talking a little before the show, let's talk about your upbringing.
So Belfast, is that where you were born and raised?
So just outside, that's like my big, like nearest city.
Okay.
But then you guys in America, you'd be like, oh, my nearest city was this,
but it was like 40 minutes away.
Where I'm from is like so small that my closest city is like 10 minutes away.
Belfast like 10 minutes away.
I'm from a town called Hollywood in a place called County Dunn.
Is that right?
Hollywood?
Yeah.
With one L.
Oh yeah.
I remember I pitched this idea so many times to commissioners back in the day.
I was like, guys, you've got to show Hollywood to Hollywood.
And they were like, what, what is, I was like Hollywood here, Hollywood America. They were like what happens in the show? I was like I haven't
got that far but we've got the title. We've got a font you know we can do the
Hollywood to Hollywood and the same font but that was it so yeah that's
that's that's where that's where I'm from small small town. And what about mom and
dad tell us about them.
So my dad's actually been on my pod a couple of times. Yeah, people love it.
He's 75, short guy, kind of a bit crazy.
My dad has a party piece where he gets people
to punch him in the stomach.
That's like his thing.
Still at 75, he's doing that shit?
Nah, that's how Houdini died.
I've told him this so many times.
That's what we all use, Houdini is the example.
He wants me to do it on, like live on the pod.
He's like, dude.
That's where he's gonna die.
Yeah, I've looked it up.
You get done, you would like, you go to jail for that?
That's manslaughter?
Even if it's, cause it's,
even if it's accidental, it's manslaughter.
That's right, not murder, that's right.
I was like, it'll be a great clip for the pod. But you still go to prison. Yeah, you still go to, cause it's even if it's accidental, it's manslaughter. That's right. Not murder. Yeah. I was like, it'll be a great clip.
But you still go to prison.
And that's viral. That's going to go viral. That clip.
But I don't know how long I would be away from the ball for if I'm in jail.
Go viral in that fucking Irish prison too, bro. I'll tell you that.
Irish prisons are very laid back. You can sort of walk like low walls.
It's like three walls.
The bars have like a meter in between. It's pretty laid back. All right. So your dad's a partier from back in the day. What did he do for a living?
He was a motorbike racer. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, well, not great. They had a
lot of injuries. He let me send that. No, he was. He was really good, but he, uh, it's called road racing that we do back in, uh, back in Ireland.
And it literally is that it's, it's not on like a circuit, you know,
it's not on like a fancy circuit. It's like on rural Irish roads.
It's insane.
Is it like street racing here? Is it like one guy against another guy and they go?
No, no, it's a big proper thing. Like we have a big thing called the Northwest
200. That's like the big race and Daniel Day-Lewis will be at a Brad Pitt,
I think has come over to it before. So it's like, it's huge.
But my dad did that and he was a mechanic.
And he was good at it though. He would win.
He was good. He had a real bad accident in 1991,
day of my, the day of my third birthday.
Damn.
It was the first race I went to go and watch.
Oh, no.
So I remember.
Did you see the accident?
I didn't see the accident.
I don't know if I remember, right.
But I feel like I remember my auntie being like, there's your dad.
I thought he was doing like a wheelie on the finish line, but he was just
in the sky, he was just like in the air.
Wishing me a happy birthday. He was shocked before the impact, you know, but he had a real bad accident and broke like
broke his neck, his back, like over 20 moons.
He was told he would never walk again and and
And they'd be still going strong and now Pete he's letting people just fucking random. I punch him in the stomach and shit
Yeah, he's like he's making up for it now. When's the late 75 now?
When's the last time you let someone punch him in the stomach like I guarantee I will I'll get maybe two DMS a week
From strangers walking around like Belfast city centre saying like
just want to say I met your dad today, made me punch him in the stomach, what an honour.
He made me.
He makes people do it.
I love it.
He makes people do it.
And the worst thing you can do if he thinks you're going easy on him, my dad is a small
thin guy.
My dad's like maybe 5'5".
But he wants you to go for it.
If you hold back, that's like maybe five five, but he wants you to go for it. If you hold back,
that's like the biggest insult you can do. But I'm friends with a lot of boxers. I have
a lot of boxers on my podcast, real good boxing scene in Belfast. And my dad loves that because
it's given him access to big hitters. Have any of them hit your dad? Has he taken any
shots? Not yet. His dream. So my friend, he actually just retired this week,
my friend Tommy McCarthy, big heavyweight,
and that's my dad's dream.
Every time my dad meets Tommy, he's like, Tommy,
it's gotta happen.
So I think-
Yeah, but the older he gets, it better happen soon.
It needs to happen, yeah.
My dad sent me a picture a couple of years ago.
He was at a hotel somewhere in Ireland,
having a meal with his friend, Ivan.
And there was a, they were having a meal
and there was a wedding going on in the hotel.
And Ivan sent me a video of the bride and groom
standing beside my dad in the evening, everyone drunk.
My dad doesn't drink.
I can't even excuse this by being like-
Wait, he doesn't drink?
Yeah, no, no-
He's just sober up, telling people to punch him?
No moral reasons, he just doesn't.
That's even way better.
For sure he was a few in on that.
Yeah.
So he got the groom, he just like, there was a guy, I think I was from New Zealand, getting
married in Ireland, and yeah, on his wedding night, you'll always remember punching my
dad in the stomach.
My dad's like, I think the guy thought it was like an Irish ritual. Like you have to do it. If you get mad, you've
got to punch an old man in the stomach, but it's just my dad.
No shit.
Yeah. So he's a character.
What about mom?
My mom worked in a bank for many years and they got divorced when I was, I want to say
like months old, not years old, months old.
I don't know the exact, sometimes I think I was saying
three months for standup and then my mom was like,
hey, it was eight.
No difference, no difference.
You weren't in it, you weren't in it.
But then that makes you like,
you then start to question yourself.
You know, you're going,
I definitely have to be the reason they got divorced then.
You know?
Eight months.
I mean, you were probably pained.
I couldn't do anything about it.
You know, I couldn't perform, do a piece, whatever, to show them like, Hey,
this might be a good thing.
Um, so what, who do you stay with?
How does it work when they support?
Imagine if they still share custody.
I'm 36, but I might do one week with my dad.
Halfway over there, halfway over here.
So what happened was, so I would have been mostly
with my mom, and then I would have done,
my dad would have picked me up from school
on a Tuesday, Thursday, left me back at dinnertime,
and then every other weekend they would swap. And then it ended up I would do one week at each.
And then when I got a little bit older.
What age do you remember doing that?
I ask because my daughter's 10 now and she's mentioned it before
when she gets in like middle school or something like that.
And I don't really know how I feel with not seeing her for a full week.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But still, I'm curious.
So I probably remember that from about eight. Maybe if I'm thinking back to it, seven, yeah. But still, I'm curious. So I probably remember that from about eight,
maybe if I'm thinking back to it, seven or eight.
But weirdly, I'm saying the good thing
about their divorce for me was,
because it was at such a young age,
I never had anything to miss.
Yeah.
Nothing was taken away from me.
That's all you knew.
They changed, exactly.
And then when I got a little bit older,
kind of like college age, I'd just go wherever
I fancied, kind of, because I had a room at each and they were very easy going about it.
So I might go here for a couple of days, then a week there, whatever.
And they lived real close.
I was going to ask that too, yeah.
And did they get along?
Like, would they come to events and things together?
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Yeah, yeah.
Like, I would say to them, come to the, I make them go to the big shows.
Like once a year, if I do the big shows, like in November, I did the arena in Belfast. They would come to that.
But my dad's like, he's the best and worst critic. Like he'll, if you do, if you do a good show,
I tell you it's a good show. If it's a bad show, he'll never be like, that wasn't good.
But the last show I did at the end of it, my dad said, and it was like the night off.
So I always say like, I love honesty.
Three four days after the show is perfect time.
My dad was like, there's a bit in the show where they like applaud because there was
one particular bit I was doing about a bit of material about me and my wife.
And it usually got an applause break.
Maybe the best bit I've ever written.
So it was like a guarantee
whatever however the set was going to go that bit would kind of always work. My dad put
me to one side. I like the after party for the gig. And he was like, see that bit where
they applaud. I said, yeah, he goes, why do you not do more of that? And I said, on that,
what do you mean like that subject? He's like, no, the bits were there.
What do you mean? He's like, would you consider having more of those moments in the show?
Hey, I've had all killer, no filler, bro.
You can't say to a baseball player like you had a home run.
It's just something to think about.
But they're, they're very like, they've always been really supportive of me doing this. And I also have like, I have no backup.
Like, you know, we know so many standups, maybe you're the same, I don't know whether
they'll be qualified in something really good.
Some guy will be like, I'm actually a lawyer.
So that if standup doesn't work out, they can just go back to that.
I have no other time. I don't know about that either. I have no other time. I mean I talk to people all the time like we're fucked now
Yeah, ain't nobody's gonna look at our shit out there and get a regular job. What did you do before standup?
Oh, man, I what didn't I do so I my parents split early on
My mom leaves the family. We live with my dad. He's a single dad. He
dies when I'm 16. And then that's it. We've got no parents from then on. So I'm doing,
I'm working and growing up in my friend's dad's junkyard, worked in a junkyard for
a long time. Lifeguard, landscaping. I mean, everything and anything. I was a manny for
a minute. I used to help this little kid.
His parents were like, he needs a strong man.
And I was like, he's got a dad.
They're like, he needs a male role model.
I would pick this little boy up from school.
I'd wait in the line with all the other moms and shit.
I'd pick him up.
I had to take him home.
I had to make him do homework and stuff.
And then they had a little bit of money and they were like,
now you can just take them to the mall
and you can go to the arcade or whatever.
And I'm like, that's a great goddamn job.
His sister at the time was 15
and she had her learner's permit.
So they were like, would you be cool
taking her out to teach her how to drive?
And I was like, yes, I took her out,
taught her how to drive a stick shift,
a little white cabriolet.
And then, I mean, and again, there's a million more.
And I built pools. I did mostly above ground pools, but a couple in ground
pools, just job, job, check, check, check, check, check.
I never thought about career.
I never had a focus other than survival, get to the next fucking day and get that
check. And then I started working for UPS.
Shout out to UPS Baltimore, how primary one Joe Avenue and then was more like, okay,
this is a fortune.
I think they were a 100 company at the time and this is a real job.
And I had worked my way up from a driver's helper all the way to supervisor.
And honestly, I could have stayed there.
I could have stayed there and had a damn good paycheck,
insurance, 401k retire, all of it.
Yeah, yeah.
And I was like, no, I'll fucking hate.
And they used to tell me every night, because they all knew I was like, I'm leaving,
I'm going to California.
No, you ain't leaving.
You're going to be here just like us.
I'm like, no, I'm not.
Exactly.
I worked in a call center.
And that's what everyone said every week.
I'm leaving, like this is my last month.
And I left that job, I don't know, eight years ago?
And I know people who at the time said,
oh, I'm also leaving.
They're still there.
I saw it as a job.
Are they just, are they blown,
mind blown to see you left, number one,
because most of them don't,
and then two to go on and do something big.
Yeah, like where I'm from has like a very, it's a supportive culture, but it's, it's
like people wave this thing of don't get above your station. You know, and people, I don't
think people begrudge you like success for doing, or doing cool things, but we're not
like a back patting society. It's just not like a back pattern society.
It's just not like that.
People will quietly be like,
great to see this kind of thing.
But I think we're like kind of a modest people sort of.
So doing what I did, but I-
You guys aren't like the Yosemite Samo Americans?
No.
No.
You can, you know, I always say like, use the analogy of, so we had a show called Live
at the Apollo, which was any UK comedian, you know, they probably did that live standup
show on BBC. And I think if I was growing up in America or based in America or London,
even if you said you wanted to, if I said, I really want to do that show, people would
be like, that's great. Like, how are you going to, how I said, I really want to do that show, people would be like, that's great.
Like how are you gonna, how are you gonna do that?
What's your plan?
Whereas at home, if you said you're gonna do that,
people would be like, what do you wanna do that for?
Why would you do that?
But, but it's-
You have a show called Live at the Apollo over there.
Yeah, the Apollo Theater in London.
It's not mostly predominantly for black comedians.
No.
Like it is here.
Do you know about Live at the Apollo?
Yeah, yeah, I've only heard about it from,
from Freestats.
And then you said BBC,
which makes me laugh because it's a big black cop.
And I'm thinking, I'm thinking a little.
Yeah, that was my dream to get,
no, they said I maybe wasn't right for the part.
For a couple of reasons.
Dude.
So let's talk about growing up in Ireland.
Cause we began before the podcast we talked
a little bit about, I mean, I'm ignorant to a lot of things going on in the world and
our country, but I do know Belfast has been a place of war and you're what, 10 minutes
outside?
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, what's that like?
Because I'm going to say this only, the only thing I can ever, and this is just me talking
and I'm a fucking, I'm an idiot, but I'm just me.
And the only time I've ever felt like any sort of, and I don't want to say war, but
a military presence was when the riots happened out here.
And that's when we saw the helicopters everywhere and the Humvees going by in a military presence.
Yep.
That was really right there.
Yeah.
And that was for a short period of time and for this event or whatever you would, however you want to describe it.
But it wasn't like every day you go down there and there's the National Guard or there's whatever.
So what is that like?
Well, that's it.
Yeah, I mean, definitely like my mom and dad's generation
and people younger than them would remember
any time they wanted to go into like the city center to shop,
you had to pass through army checkpoints.
You were searched.
You know, you had to go through.
Oh, so you're actually searched.
They're not just a presence.
Oh, no, no, no.
Oh, wow, they're actually putting hands on you.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Now, that's not my reality, but it's not that far away from it.
That's one generation.
Yeah.
I'm people even slightly younger than people between my age and areas,
probably.
But where I'm from was kind of this weird town in that you can see Belfast.
Our towns and cities are so close.
And what we call a city is what you would call a village probably.
You know, you can, Ireland itself as an island, you can maybe six hours it would
take to drive from one end of the island.
North, south or east, west?
The whole thing.
Really?
Oh, from one top to top to bottom.
Six hours.
Roughly.
Yeah.
I mean, you're in California longer than that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So we were right beside Belfast and growing up,
my, I, I, Hollywood, the town I'm from is very, it's cross community.
So it would have like both the main religions at home are Protestant Catholic.
And that's what the fighting is kind of about.
Weirdly, it's a religious thing in nowadays in Europe.
And then we were from a time where everyone mixed,
friendship groups were all very, very mixed.
But just over the way in Belfast,
that wasn't the reality for a lot of kids my age.
And there was so much going on on a daily basis,
like not on a daily basis,
I suppose by the time I was growing up,
but there was shootings a lot, the bombs, all that kind of stuff.
But that felt like as much as it was only five miles away, that felt like almost a different
world.
So that was something I'm really grateful for going up was geographically, I was pretty
close to it, but we felt very safe from that happening.
And you would know people who were affected.
Like every family had somebody who was affected in some way,
but we were kind of in a bubble almost.
When you're growing up as a kid there in schools and things, do you have drills?
Do you have anything for nothing?
No.
I mean, these kids today, these poor kids got active shooter drills.
We had, I mean, it was, uh, they said it was for hurricanes and shit, but I think in the,
in 1979 it was more,
we they lined us up in the hallway and told us to put our heads down and shit.
I know they gave a hurricane.
So you guys don't have anything like that? They don't, do they, do they,
do they edit 10 minutes away? You're not a gun country?
Not at all.
But what about, you've never had military presidents come out to the schools, there's
no problem like that with your town?
No. No. That would have been in the 80s. Maybe even the early 90s, there would have been
army checkpoints temporarily. There was temporary stuff that would have come in. But I don't remember army presence really, even though the town
I'm from also has a huge army barracks. So they were based kind of right there, but you
didn't really think about that. So weirdly, it's so weird to describe, I'm saying it
out loud, it's mental, but in
Northern Ireland, where I live, the North part of Ireland, whatever you want to call
it, there's so many options for what you call it.
You cannot pick one.
There's no right answer.
Is that right?
If you were to ask me where I'm from, I could say Northern Ireland, the North of Ireland,
Ireland, technically you could say the UK.
There's just so many options and they're all wrong.
But the town's great.
The whole place, our home punch is above its weight, but my town had Rory McElroy, the
golfer from there, Jimmy Dornan, the actor.
And it was great.
But at that time when you read about things that were happening, you were
almost thinking like, oh, wow, this thing happened.
They were well, but I mean, it was in Belfast, but that's 10 minute drive, but
you felt like it was far away and, and yeah, there wasn't like a half a mile.
Yeah.
I mean, like, yeah, nothing.
I was not hearing bombs?
You hear stuff over there?
No. Not even.
No, no, no.
No. I mean, there was...
If shit like that went down 10 minutes away from here,
they'd be telling us to evacuate.
Yeah, yeah.
Get the fuck out.
You guys are just right down the street from this.
People were kind of...
Yeah.
When you play sports, obviously you play soccer
and everything, you play other sports?
I just play soccer.
So would you ever play in Belfast?
Like was there ever a thing where you had to worry about
when you'd go there?
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no.
Like you would hear these, like Belfast only really,
it's been a tourist place for a while,
but only maybe in the last five years would even
maybe I think a lot of people from England consider Belfast as like a weekend break.
Like there is no real safety.
It's like any city center right now, but like we were in Tijuana a couple of days ago.
Bro, yeah.
Even San Francisco.
Belfast is absolutely fine.
It is fine.
San Francisco, people, whatever.
It's sad because San Francisco is an amazing city.
The architecture, you've got the Golden Gate, Coit Tower.
You've got so much going on up there, so much.
And then the other side is gorgeous to a Northern California
Sausalito Sausalito's. Yeah, great. You got Alcatraz all kinds of stuff going the ballpark all that and
It is a fucking it's like the zombie center of the world It is one thing didn't have going up or don't have now the reason I know like back home is a okay
If we don't have grown up or don't have now. The reason I know like back home is we're OK.
If we don't have groceries behind cabinets and stores.
What do you mean? Like locked up stuff locked up?
Yeah, CVS, it's a lot trying to buy like potato chips, as you call it.
And CVS is like jewelry shopping in Belfast.
Yes. The way you have to approach it.
I mean, my razors, you can't get a fucking razor.
Everything's locked up here.
Tide pods.
In a way, could I understand razors being locked up?
Not really, maybe, but like the Doritos are locked up.
Like me and my friend Sean, who's with me on this tour.
I'll be honest with you, I haven't seen that yet.
Where did you go in California
where the fucking chips from?
San Francisco.
People in the comments will back me up.
The San Francisco seniors- Listen, I thought you didn't need to say another word. I believe it's San Francisco people in the comments will back me up the San Francisco
So you need to say another word? I believe
Yeah, every single thing was locked up bar like birch B skin care
And I was like that's a kick that's a kick in the face for the birch B's guys
Yeah, but also like people people trying to rub stuff probably aren't looking for like cleanser
Yeah, they're not like chat but the and shit. But the potato chips, I promise you,
the potato chips are locked up.
And again, if you were like,
it was like if you were buying a diamond necklace
for your wife, we had to like call a guy over
and a guy comes over with his little key,
opens it for us, presents the redos.
And we're like, you know, we're like,
Nah, you know what, give me the gold ring.
Yeah, I got the monocle on, you know, studying it.
We'll take it, we'll take it.
But it, but that's so when I see stuff like that, I go,
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subscription plan. Now, let's get back to the do. So you say it's a religious war. Are you Catholic,
Protestant? What are you? You know what? This is not me just being neutral for the sake of it.
Personal opinion, but thankfully I grew up with no religion in the house.
Okay. That wasn't pushed on you or anything?
Never, never. And our family in that time is fairly mixed, you know, the people, the Protestant.
What would you say because of the problems they went through, they were like,
we're not going to bring religion into this house after what they've seen in their generations?
Not really. I just think both families by the time I came around, we're just, we're just not into it. Nobody went to church, you know? Um, so I, I never felt like ever I had
a dog in the fight and a lot of people I'm friendly with now. I are kind of like that
as well. Like, um, but it was a religious war probably, but like quite a bit of Belfast
is cause one thing with day one is I was looking at the wall and I was like, isn't that crazy?
But then some of Belfast city is separated by a wall like that.
Is it?
Now you can cross, you know, you can walk through different points and the wall doesn't stretch for really that far.
But it's still there.
And that's, that's, that's like, that's deeply embarrassing for like my home city. They don't want to take it down. That needs to still there. And that's deeply embarrassing for my home city.
They don't want to take it down.
That needs to be there.
There's always calls to take it down.
What was it originally for?
It was to stop rioting.
It's just a wall for riots.
Yeah.
But it's easy for me going, tear them all down.
I don't live there.
So I can't say we should tear it down because
people who live there might go, actually, I like my windows, you know, so, um, but that,
so that's the crazy part of it. And also a lot of it, there's a lot of tourism,
people who come in, who want to hear about the troubles, which is what we call it.
What YouTube sings about.
Yeah. But they, but the, you know, there's the double deck of red buses.
And I did the tour cause I had some friends come over from Australia.
You went on one?
Yeah.
And we, and I thought, I know everything about my city and I don't know anything
about it.
I'll bet you don't know shit, right?
Yeah.
And then when I looked at the, the way people were taking photos of this divided
line stuff, I felt really weird because I'd never thought about it too much.
Um, so that was a weird experience to see it through the eyes of a tourist. Now you say these days your generation isn't dealing with
as much with the conflict as past generations. What do you think changed?
Well there was something called the Good Friday Agreement which happened
in 1998 which was like a lot of peace talks happened. Why though? I'm saying
what is the rest of the words, the words open up.
Is the rest of the world missing here if this can happen?
Cause for a long time that it was.
Well it lasted for, I mean the real trouble I guess would have happened from the
mid sixties.
So we've got almost 40 years, 30 years.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
In your own little city.
In such a small country. It's not like a country going to war.
This is this own little fucking pocket.
Yeah.
And you would, you know, the things that, you know, it was a Catholic Protestant
issue, but I look at soccer because that's my main hobby.
That's my passion.
People mixed with that all the time.
People probably who would have been involved in this conflict and it was
never really an issue there. If you were playing a group, you wouldn't understand that people would
have been all different religions. So it was never a problem there, but it was just this historic,
weird, weird thing to be fighting about now. And it all like once a year, there'll be tensions.
There's marches that go on and they're very contentious and stuff like that.
And we have what we call interface areas.
So in the middle of where two communities meet, there might be stones rolling there
every once in a while, but it's way better than it was way better.
And that's the thing. Comedians at home who are older than me, that was there.
They would go on stage and they would have 20
minutes of material, just based on that day's news. What had happened that day? Had a bomb
gone off that day or something was in the press that day. So it was totally different. So
only really in the last few years has comedy at home moved on to be not about all that stuff.
And I don't know whether that's coincided with the rise in comedy in the
North of Ireland where I live.
Cause there's half a dozen local comics that have played the arena in
the last five years and that's wild.
Wow.
The support is that we get from our own crowds is like, I don't see that anywhere else.
Bro, listen, I say it all the time and I don't mean to shit on America here at
all, but I feel like other countries go harder for their people.
Even, okay, let's go with the white guys for a second.
Conor McGregor, Ireland, back in this motherfucker the whole way.
Philippines, Manny Pacquiao.
You know what I mean?
Like you look at a guy like Joe Coy and all these people, Ali Wong, their people come rep them
and they rep hard. You don't usually see it's like imagine
great example. You got a NBA basketball player who's now over
in Japan. None of us give a fuck. None of us even know he's
over there. You know what I mean? We ain't over there like fuck
yeah man, so what's up? We're like whatever that guy's gone.
I don't even know, he was still playing. Yeah. You know, everybody else is they get, so I was like, whatever, that guy's gone. I didn't even know he was still playing.
Yeah.
You know, everybody else is, they get behind.
I feel like they get behind theirs.
Yeah.
But unfortunately, the guy in America at the minute is Jake Paul.
That's why no one's behind him.
Like the number one fight guy at the minute is.
It's true.
But yeah, it's like, honestly, like, I love that.
We have, point for point, an amazing comedy honestly, like I love that with pound for pound and amazing
comedy scene, but I still can feel the feeling of the first few times that I came over to
like LA and New York and just walked into some of the clubs.
Like even now, like when I'm in the improv tonight, I have like butterflies.
Like that is, this is like what I, the comedy I grew up watching and podcasts I listened
to and all that kind of thing.
So I just, just being here is just unreal. It's great.
That's great. So let's talk more about growing up siblings. You have siblings.
I've got a brother and sister who are like technically I have brother and sister,
but I don't say it like that. They're just my brother and sister,
but they're a lot younger than me. So they're my moms.
Moms. Yeah. So they're from your mom. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So they're in.
Are you your only, Your dad's only son? My dad's only. I mean if he was here he would wink,
nudge your arm and say that would know off you know. Oh I thought you were gonna say for the
other two he claims is his. He's like I'm mad by me. My dad... My dad would have been like prolific
ladies man. Like back in the day. A little dude like that, yeah.
He was swarthy, with the motorbike race and all that.
Like Dustin Hoffman.
And he's got the chat, you know, he's got the chat.
But yeah, I grew up with, it was weird because I grew up without siblings and then when I
was in my teens, I had.
Oh, that's when they came into your life.
Yeah.
So I grew up without a brother or sister when I was growing up, till I was
12, something like that. So it's weird, like my childhood, I didn't have brothers and sisters.
And by the way, do you know what's really sad? I thought the phrase was, if you grew up without brothers and sisters, I thought it was lonely child. No, not only child, you thought it was...
I did a show, but I was describing myself
throughout my whole childhood as a lonely child,
the teachers who were like, oh.
Poor kid.
I didn't realize.
I didn't know.
That is hilarious.
It made a fit.
It makes sense.
It really does.
It fucking did.
It makes sense.
It fucking did.
So what's the age gap when they come in?
Are you older, are you younger?
What's the age gap with them?
When my brother said, no, they're like in their like early 20s.
I mean between you.
At that time, they're in their early 20s?
No, no, no.
They're now in their early 20s.
Okay.
So I was like 12 when they came along.
I see.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So almost like different generations.
Okay.
And you're close now though?
Oh, yeah.
That's good.
That's my daughter and her brother share a mom
and they're 11 years apart.
Right, right, right.
And you're close, huh?
You're good.
Yeah, and it's mad seeing like the,
cause my two boys are two years apart.
So they're so close in age.
I've never actually seen that dynamic
of like two, a brother and sister being so close.
So mom and dad get divorced, like you said, or she says, excuse me,
eight months in. Yeah, something like that.
And then that's just you. Yep.
And then 12 years later, mom remarries or whatever, has a couple of kids.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
And how were you when you found out about it? Oh, I loved it.
You weren't resentful or... Oh, God no, God no.
I'd always wanted like brothers and sisters kind of.
I didn't feel like there was anything missing in terms of that,
but I would always been really excited for that idea.
Weirdly, like I just like, I love kids.
Like I wanted to be a dad when I was really young,
not at the time, but I remember being in my teens,
being like, I can't wait until hopefully I can become a dad when I was really young, not at the time. But I remember being in my teens, being like, I can't wait until hopefully I can
become a dad when I'm older.
It's weird to always have kind of wanted that.
Yeah, me too. I'm with you. Yeah.
It's strange.
Good one. So it kind of makes you want to like, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So that and that obviously, like, like, do you know what I can't do at the minute
is listen to my Spotify like songs now that I'm out here and they're back home.
Oh, because they're your songs with them.
It just takes one song and even like,
not even if there's a link, even if they've been in the car when it's on,
you know, Mambo number five, Lu Bega. I'm like,
we were all in the room for that one.
But now there's like a couple of songs that if,
if that were to come on and I wouldn't have the power to turn it off, I'm gone, I'm gone.
I'm fragile at the minute with that kind of thing.
What's your relationship like with your dad now?
Oh, great.
Yeah.
Great, like he's been on the pod a few times.
Yeah.
Comes to shows, he loves stand up.
You see him, I mean, do you live still in the area?
You live close by?
No, we live about one hour away.
Okay.
So we move like way away from where we live.
I live in like countryside.
And they're still in that same area?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Same house.
My mom's a different house, but my dad is in the house I grew up in.
So he's always there.
So my podcast studio is in that part of the world.
It's still in Hollywood because I will always keep it there because I just want to still have that link to the town.
And it's close to Belfast
So it's easy to get guests instead of coming all the way to where I live
So I'm there a lot and then you know, they come play with the kids see the kids
They love the kids kids love them. So it's a proper proper thing and your dad never remarried or anything like that
No, no, no was your mom his only wife. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah
Did he go back to being a ladies man after that then?
Yeah, yeah.
Just stayed single?
Just stayed single.
He did it right.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
He did it right.
He had his child.
Yeah.
Like whatever.
Yeah, yeah.
But no, he was a big hit with the ladies.
He still is.
He was big what?
Big hit with the ladies.
He was, huh?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
How old is he now?
He's at 75. 75. And he still has the ladies after him? He still, yeah, but hit with the ladies. He was yeah. Yeah. Yeah. How was he nice at 75? 75 still has the ladies after him. He's still
Yeah, but here's the thing. My dad does not look 75. He doesn't see himself as 75
So my dad would see like a 60 year old is like, you know, she's an old lady, you know
Window he's thinking like I think he's like 50 to 55.
Really? He thinks he can get it?
No, I'm just saying that because it's been recorded.
Probably 40 to-
Oh my God.
35 to 55.
30 to 35.
What's the biggest age gap girlfriend he's ever had?
Do you know?
Oh no, nothing like, no, we're talking like maybe 10.
Yeah. I mean, once you're in that age bracket, that doesn't mean shit.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.
All right. Let's talk about being a dad now.
When when were you?
Well, we have two kids and who's how old are they?
They're four and two.
So you said you quit that call center gig.
How many years? Oh, like seven years ago.
So they've I've only ever been full time stand up.
For only seven years?
Full time for about seven years.
And in that seven years, you've also had two kids?
Yeah.
Fuck, bro.
Yeah.
Doesn't it make you wish you just started
full time stand up?
I just hit a wall with new material.
I was like, what can I do?
Yeah, what can I do?
Let's have kids.
Let's make two humans.
So I was, I guess, 32 when I had my first one,
somewhere around there. And it's it's magic.
Yeah. The only thing is, it is like, I love traveling with stand up.
And the last couple of years, been here a lot, Australia,
a little bit of the Middle East.
But I do find that this is probably the age where I find the
being away so difficult. So I will go do the show, come straight back. Like Australia, I did
10 shows in 11 days. It was a case of like, get me to a new city, we'll do the show,
let's go to the airport, keep repeating it. And the day of the last show, it was like a 6pm show
at a 10, 25pm flight home. So it was like back down.
Get right out. Yeah. Yeah.
Because I just I just don't want to miss anything.
I'm the same way.
I just did San Jose recently and my daughter had this event on Sunday
and I was going to miss it.
And I was like, fuck, I'm not going to make it.
And I hit my guy up and I'm like, can you find me another ticket back?
And he's like, there's a 6 a.m. flight.
And I was like, let's fucking go. Made it,
surprised her. She was like, daddy ran over, gave me a big hug.
Then they won first place and shit. And I was like, man,
I've been bummed if I missed this. That's worth every second.
You got that first place finish? Yeah. That was you.
I had nothing to do, bro. I was just in the audience. Cheer.
But I was there for it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's all I want to be. Yeah. You know what I mean?
Like that really is most of it is be there and be genuinely
interested in what your kids fucking like. Yeah. Yeah. I see. Look,
my daughter's into cheer. I never thought she'd be in the cheer.
I never thought I'd be supporting cheer and they're not,
I'm going to say they're not crazy about it.
Like she's not looking to be a fucking professional. Yeah.
But she really loves it. I see confidence in her.
She's going out and competing in individual events like as a,
a if you want to. And then she's meddling in them and stuff.
And I think about our, just one day, like,
we've got to go to this stupid event. And I was like, fuck that guy. Yeah.
You know what I mean? Like why?
Cause your kid's not playing football
and getting concussions and everything else at 10 years old.
And then I get there, Shane Todd, I'm telling you bro,
I'm seeing like old gang bangers with teardrop tattoos
on their face.
I'm like, that guy fucking killed somebody
and he's here supporting this kid.
You know what I'm saying?
Neck tattoos, face tats and stuff.
I'm like, oh man, if these people are showing up you have no reason
yeah of course like I like so like ankle bracelets I mean they're all there you
know what I mean they're all there supporting soccer being my thing if my
look I'll be if my boys show no interest in it it would be difficult but I'm
never gonna push them into it yeah But they kind of themselves have got really into it. Just kick, we kick a ball by the
house every night and it's the best. It is the best. Like, and all I say to them, listen,
the only thing I want from them is to be professional athletes. The only thing I want
is for them to go professional, look for contracts, give me a big kickback.
All right, let me ask you this. who's the worst team they could play for who's the
team you guys fucking hate so I'm a Manchester United fan so like Liverpool
would be the classic rivalry what if they actually do get on the Liverpool
team could you root for them I think so I think that cash would keep it going nice.
But like all the money for soccer was in Saudi
at the minute so I'm like, boys,
it's gonna be a culture shock.
That's where we gotta go, bro.
Let's go, let's do it.
Also talking to you before we recorded,
you mentioned having Crohn's disease too.
I wanted to talk about that,
cause that's, I mean, we've had people on
that have talked about just how difficult it is.
And is that a genetic thing, by the way?
Is that something you have to worry about with your kids?
Maybe, yeah, it can be passed through the family.
Does your mom or dad have it?
No, but my grandfather did on my mom's side.
So here's the thing.
I'm not a Googler.
I don't look stuff up. If you tell me I've got something or I've got like when I have COVID or whatever, I
won't look that up to see what decided.
Side effects.
I just go with it.
So for years, I not only did not look up Crohn's disease, but I also realized I was spelling
it wrong anytime I was writing it down or texting.
I was like, that's not even that.
I was so unfamiliar with the term.
So I got diagnosed with it about eight years ago.
Why? What was happening to you?
Were you finally...
Losing weight, losing weight, low energy.
Eating the same though and still losing weight.
Yeah, and cramps.
That's the thing that took me into hospital.
So I said to my wife, then girlfriend,
I was like, not my wife and then my girlfriend,
that's not the setup I have in the house.
She was my girlfriend at the time.
I was like, I said to my Horeme, I was like, guys,
I was feeling like stomach pains and it was getting worse.
Her friend was a nurse.
So we were like, we should go up the hospital.
And how old were you at the time?
23, 24.
I don't know.
Is that the only, I mean, can we get detailed here?
Are you having like just garbage shits and stuff?
No, that was weirdly, that wasn't really an issue
and still has been a side of it that doesn't really affect me. But they took my appendix out that night.
Oh, wow. You went in and they got you that night.
Appendix. I woke up. The doctor was like, yep, you're all good.
Went home. Was getting washed. Then I went to a family wedding.
And my cousin is a gastroenterologist, guts doctor.
So I was chatting to him and he was hearing, but I was like,
I was like, I feel like I'm getting worse. And this kind of thing after the
surge, after, but a week after he said, come in and see me.
And then they were like, remember we took your appendix out.
That was just a bit of fun. It was unrelated.
They didn't even really need to take it. They didn't really need to take it out.
Can you have a lawsuit for that? No, probably not.
I know.
Do you know, we're not a,
is that called litigation when you do that?
I really don't know.
Like when you sue people,
we're not a sue culture.
Yeah, you're not a sue country.
At all.
You would have to like-
They take your organ and you're just like,
oh, well there it goes.
The guy who punch, who fatally punches my dad in the stomach.
Yeah.
No lawsuit.
No, I sue.
No lawsuit.
No lawsuit.
I just say that- You're good to go, sir. There's no ice so no loss.
I just say, you're good to go. You fulfilled the man's wish.
You fulfilled the man's wish.
Part of me thinks like my dad has maybe looked into like using Asia clinics in
Switzerland and maybe he's like, this is cheaper to just have strangers punch me
in the street. This just gets done.
Sooner or later it's going to get me.
So so I got the diagnosis and it's an autoimmune disease. You have it
for life but it's on a spectrum so people have it to varying degrees. Does it progress
as you get older? No, I don't think so. I don't think so. It can go for you at any time
but I don't really think age is a big thing. Well, I promise you, I haven't done a lot of research on it.
I like to keep it that way.
I go, what do we need to deal with like immediately?
You don't look at what you should or shouldn't eat.
Oh, definitely.
Okay.
That's the side of it I got massively into.
So I didn't realize, but dairy was flaring me up badly.
And I remember being in hospital after I had my appendix out and my cousin,
Jackie said, we're coming up to see you.
What do you need?
And I'd lost a lot of weight and I was like, could you get me like a milkshake or like
something with a lot of calories?
And I remember this big banana milkshake and I had the whole thing.
And then I was like, this is bad.
I had to get to the toilet straight away.
And I had been trying to bulk myself up with milk, cheese, dairy, all that kind of stuff. Then I got home and I was just not recovering. It felt like I had a hangover for like a year.
I just was not recovering. So I started to look at my diet because the National Health Service
in the UK are brilliant because it's free healthcare, but they don't...
It's more a case of like patchy up, you know, uh,
but like in terms of a lot of the aftercare in terms of diet and all that kind of thing,
you do that yourself, which is a completely fair deal because like I got my appendix.
So that's free.
Cost you nothing.
Cost me nothing.
Wow.
And they're great.
And the outpatient appointments.
I mean, honestly, that should have cost you nothing.
They didn't even need to take that shit out. Yeah
Yeah, yeah
Yeah, have they did they when they told you that did they have to take any of your intestine or no nothing?
No, no surgery. No, so got away like there. I'm
But I was like, let me just look at my diet
So I cut I remember cutting out for a week dairy and gluten and it was like all this great
Really then I started that because I, we just moved into a flat, me and she was my girlfriend
then, we just moved into like a little apartment and that should have been great, but I just
felt, I felt really weak.
I'd lost a lot of weight and I'm a pretty slim guy, so, but I lost a couple of stone,
so I felt like awful, hated the way I looked and way I looked. And I'm a very upbeat guy, very positive.
I remember I'd lost a load of weight and I have a picture I'll send it if you want to put it in
of what I look like. And I remember being like, I need to get like feel strong again.
What are you now?
We're like 74 kilograms. We're stone guys. You do stone?
No. I mean, I know what you mean when you say it, but we say pounds.
I don't even know what kilograms are. I mean, I know what they are,
but I don't know what pounds are. I just remember the big show and wrestling was
500 pounds. So I would have been like 11 and a half stone.
I'm 12 now. It would have been 11 and a half stone.
And I probably dropped down to like nine.
And I remember being in that apartment and saying,
I can pitch it now.
I was like, I'm gonna start exercising again
because I feel terrible.
And I went down into like a press opposition
and I'd be pretty fit and healthy and athletic.
And I went into a press opposition
and I couldn't push myself back.
Not one?
Not one.
And I remember being like about to get really emotional,
like being like about to cry and then going,
well, the only thing I can do from here
is try and get the warm.
So like it can only get better from here.
And like maybe later that night
or the next night or whatever,
I remember doing a pushup.
I mean, now we're rolling
and then just building it up gradually from there.
And there's been a bit of trial and error,
but I get really good healthcare with it.
I take, like I inject myself every 12 weeks
with some medication and day to day I actually get it.
That you get for free.
Yeah.
How do you get it?
Where do you go to get it?
Pharmacy.
They just send it out to me.
They mail it to you.
Yeah, and it's really expensive.
Like this is really expensive.
Like if you actually had to pay for this,
this will be a, yeah.
I don't know if you could, they make it that expensive. So the health care in America. Yeah
Trying to steal locked up chips brats
I'm like if this is what I've got to do for cheetos
For life-saving medication, how do you manage it on the road and stuff?
Well I don't drink alcohol.
I actually had kind of fallen out of the way of it anyway.
I was never a huge drinker.
I would have gone out a couple of nights a week, college age, but I was never big into
it.
I prioritized my sleep.
I exercised, drink a lot of water and that's kind of it.
So day to day I feel great.
Things could probably turn at any point and I'm like aware of that, but take medication,
live as well as I can.
And I generally feel great like exercise every day.
And yeah, I'm very aware of it, but I'm very lucky that I know people who have a terrible
version of this. So I've had people that I know people who have a terrible version
of this.
So I've had people on the show that have had awful.
Yeah.
So I'm, but I'm class me back.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So you never know what's going to happen like down the line, but I do just try and stay
like very positive.
Um, and I'm, I'm very regimented with my diet and stuff.
Um, but yeah, I mean, I'm lucky that when I had those times
where I didn't feel good about my appearance
and I was just fed up a lot,
stand up was the best thing in the world.
And I wasn't even necessarily talking about
that kind of thing, but just being able to
shut up on stage. Isn't it interesting
because I feel you on that.
Just I've been way overweight.
I've been at a healthy weight.
I've been all these different things.
And even when you don't like the way you fucking look,
you don't feel good in your skin,
for some mental reason,
we still get up in front of a crowd of people.
Yeah.
And the first thing that is easiest to see
is your appearance and what you look like.
And then we sit on these podcasts in front of these cameras.
And I'm just being again and again and again, we have to put ourselves out there.
So it is nice to feel all right.
But that's the time when you're when you're up there on stage and you could be bombing.
You don't feel you're not thinking anything about the most free I am.
I remember telling an ex that one time, like when I'm up there,
I don't even think about you or the problems we have.
She's like, that's fucking nice.
I'm like, I don't. Yeah, I don't.
Yeah, I don't know why. I don't think about health issues.
Nothing. I'm so present.
No other. In the moment, there's no other thought.
I have one thought at the beginning of my mind is when I get up there,
I quickly glance to see where the exit fucking signs are in case
there's a fire or earthquake or something. I can get the
fuck out of that place. Oh yeah. Yeah. Or I scope it before I get up there. Right. Always.
Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right.
The way you come in and always the way you got to go out. Right. So I'm looking, Oh,
there's a waitress station over there and there's an exit sign above it. I can run out
the back if there's a shooter. I'm gone, bro. See, that's crazy to me to hear that.
That has to be a genuine thought.
I think about it.
That's not.
Yeah, we have earthquakes to worry about.
We have active shooters these days to worry about.
We've got fires and shit.
People love to fucking fight in these clubs sometimes too.
And you have to remember in America too,
where you are because it could be a, um,
concealed carry state.
Yeah.
And that person could legally have a legal gun on them.
And if you fuck with them, bro, I tell, I tell my stepson, my daughter all the
time, if you ever have to pull a knife out or some shit like that, you better
fucking have a reason to use it.
Cause once you do, it's over.
Somebody shoots you.
It's over. Yeah shoots you, it's over.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
I meant to say earlier the song that gets me, the number one song.
With the kids?
You're talking about that moment about when you come back in.
Yeah.
Or when you went to your daughter's competition and she says,
Daddy runs too.
Luke Combs brought out an album called Father and Sons.
I love Luke Combs brought out an album called Father and Sons. I love Luke Combs, dude.
But it's as if he has observed me, got into my brain and written an album that is going to make me cry.
And I mean a fucking album. I don't mean one song.
I mean he's like, hey, you want to cry? There's 12 songs.
Listen number eight, there's one in there where I talk about punching your dad and stuff.
It gets so close to my life. You're like, God, man, he's really just watching me.
It's called Front Door Famous.
OK. That's the one.
Yeah. Yeah.
That gets you. The kids like that one, too.
Yeah. Yeah.
And then we just, of course, have a few songs together.
But when I'm away, that is the thing that if that gets me, I'm gone.
Yeah.
I'm gone.
I get like that too, dude. I can't help it sometimes. I'm on a plane. I just start, I got the AirPods.
Lone Star amazed. You're gone.
This is great, dude. Thank you for coming on and doing this. I'm honored to be your first American pod.
Thanks so much.
I can't get over it.
Love it, love it.
Exclusive here, y'all, exclusive.
So something I ask every guest their first time here
is advice they would give to their 16 year old self.
I'm curious what you would tell 16 year old Shane Todd.
It's advice that I got given,
but didn't really take on board
because I didn't know how to. But be your
own man. It's something I got told by my dad when I was younger. Always like be your
own man. You have to go with the crowd. And I think it was probably that advice was given
to me at the age where maybe you'll go out drinking underage with your friends and that
kind of thing. And it was like, you don't always have to make that decision if you don't
want to. But I would apply it to stand up because I started stand up when I was like 17, 18.
And I always, when I look at like when I was in college, even probably school before that to an
extent, I was always trying to be whatever I thought people wanted me to be in terms of like
style, personality even. I was always just trying to impress people and Definitely when I look back and when I started stand-up my first good few years
Not that you were ever ripping off material anything, but you were whoever the comedian that I liked at the time
I was like, yeah. Well, I've got a dress like him
I've got a I've got a stand like that at the mic all that kind of stuff have that style and
I
Don't think it's possible sometimes to be your own man when
you're a certain age or whatever.
It wasn't until maybe just before my kids came along, when my kids came along,
where I went, Oh, I am like who I kind of want to be.
Like I'm not trying to impress people.
I remember I'd meet like TV commissioners from BBC and that kind of thing.
And, and I would just, what do you want from me instead of here's what I would
want to do if it's for you, great.
If it's not fine.
Um, so I think there was definitely a time where I kind of did become my own
mind and do the things I want to do, but I would probably try and take that in
more when I was about 16.
Yeah.
That's great advice.
Yeah.
Dude, thank you for coming on.
Thank you.
I really appreciate having you here.
One more time, please promote everything you'd like.
Yeah, I do Tea With Me podcast, which is on all the main platforms.
And if you're ever in Ireland, please come do it.
I would love to.
And shea.comedy.com for my live dates.
I'm going to do a big tour starting in 2026.
I've got a special on YouTube, she and Todd comedy special.
You'll find it.
It's called mommy.
And I'm going to put another one up,
which I recorded just outside Dublin pretty soon.
Awesome, dude.
Thank you again, man.
It's been great.
As always Ryan Sickler on all social media. Come see me on tour tickets on my website. Awesome, dude. Thank you again, man. It's been great. Thanks, man. Thank you so much.
As always, Ryan Sickler on all social media.
Come see me on tour, tickets on my website, ryan sickler.com.
We'll talk to you all next week. You