The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler - 338: Trae Crowder and His Pillbilly Background

Episode Date: June 9, 2025

My HoneyDew this week is comedian Trae Crowder! Check out Trae’s special Trash Daddy, out on YouTube today. Trae joins me to Highlight the Lowlights of growing up in rural Celina, Tennessee during the opioid epidemic—and how it affected his upbringing and influences his parenting today. 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! http://patreon.com/RyanSickler What’s your story?? Submit at [e-mail] 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: GhostBed -Head to http://GhostBed.com/honeydew  and use code HONEYDEW to get an extra 10% off your entire order

Baltimore, I'm coming home. We're going to wrap the live and 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.

What's up guys? Thank you for supporting the Patreon. We promised you guys some bonus content. We wanted to get you involved on the new tier. And after the Chelsea Lynn haircut thing, we were laughing so damn hard. Oh God! Okay.

Hold on, that's you? Where the fuck did you get this? This is my Chris Farley era. Ah! First, when I started talking about it, we were like, why don't we ask people to send in their worst haircuts? And I'm not gonna leave you alone, all right?

I got two up for you. How about this one? And this one. There you go. Those are mine. We'll clown them on the show, but submit your bad haircuts or your worst haircuts to the waybackpod at gmail.com. That's the waybackpod at gmail.com.

Send your name and any information you have. What year it's from, where you're from at the time, whatever. We'll show the pictures. We'll have fun making fun of all our worst haircuts. 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. Thank you guys for supporting this show. Not just this show, anything I do. I don't care if it's sharing a clip or telling somebody about the show. Thank you for supporting me. And if you have to have more than I tell you every week, you gotta have the Patreon. It's five bucks since the day it started. It's still five bucks. And it is this show with y'all. And y'all have the craziest stories on the internet. I promise you it's the best show on Patreon,

five bucks a month. All right. And you already have hundreds of stories there to check out. All right. That's the biz. You guys know what we're doing here. We're highlighting the low lights and I always say these are the stories behind the storytellers and I am very excited to have this guest here first time on the honeydew ladies and gentlemen, check Crowder. Welcome to the honeydew tree Crowder. Thrill debate, thrilled and honored to be here.

That's very close. I'm yeah, I'm a fan. This is long overdue for real. Yeah. Um, thank you for being here before we get into your whole story. I'm a fan. This is long overdue for us. Yeah. Um, thank you for being here before we get into your whole story. Plug it all brother. Anything you'd like.

You got a special. Tell everybody. My most, uh, recent specials available on YouTube now called trash daddy. Um, and, uh, you can, other than that, you know, all the socials is just my name, T R A E Crowder and it's Trey Crowder.com for tour dates. I am perpetually touring. And then other than that, I got a couple of podcasts when I was called putting on errors where me and another hillbilly dip talk about fancy stuff, fancy people

and fancy stuff, like give an example of what hillbillies think fancy stuff is. Well, everything from like legitimate fancy stuff, like Marie Antoinette and like super yachts, you know, to like the little like that crumb scraper thing that they have. Oh, it's a table. Yeah, it's super fancy, right? Yeah, right. But it's the type of thing that like the first time I saw that, I was like, what the f- it blew my mind.

I've never seen no shit like that before. But we diverted into all kinds of other stuff too. But just we get a kind of a loose, you know, loose parameters of the show. But, uh, but yeah, talking about fancy. So putting on theirs trash daddy, Trey Crowder.com. That's the main things. All right. Um, let's dive into your story.

So originally you're from Tennessee and a small town called what? Salina. Salina. It's, if I showed it to you written down, you would small town called what? Salina. Salina. If I showed it to you written down, you would almost certainly pronounce it Selena. Okay. Almost everybody does. In fact, we are probably the ones who say it wrong.

I imagine everyone else is probably right. But since it's, you know, we're the ones that live there. We can, we don't have to, but anyway, Salina, Tennessee, it's in clay County. It's, uh, two hours from any city you've ever heard of. There's no traffic lights. There's no McDonald's is the home of the world record. Small mouth bass, by the way. What was it?

It was like five pounds, eight ounces or something. That's all small mouth bass. I know, but I'm surprised. I know small mouth got the horizontal stripes. Is that right? Vertical on the fucking large mouth horizontal on the small mouth. I'm small mouth got the horizontal stripes. Is that right? Vertical on the fucking large mouth, horizontal on the small mouth. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm going to get disowned for this, but I don't even remember how it's been for long.

And I grew up, that's a big fish in Lake and I grew up fishing there and I don't even look it up. I, there's, it's not just the mouth. I know that. Yeah. Well, I mean, they are, it's a small and large applies not just to the mouth, but the entire fish. I guess as the mouth goes, so goes the rest of the fish. I'm not a fish doctor. So that is there a sign that tells you at the lake? Well, actually, it's we're not actually I don't think we are anymore,

but everybody will still just say that. But on the way into not the lake, like when you drive into the to clake, welcome to Clay County, home of the world record, small mouth by it. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, there's not any problem. There's nothing. And then like and then as you get closer to the town, there's also like welcome to Salina home of the.

I swear, this is also a sign. Welcome to Salina home of the 1992 and 93 national marbles champion. You know, Marv. Yeah. You got this back to back. You got to celebrate that. You know? Yeah. We got them.

Yeah. But what's funny about the fish thing is that it was weird because it's like it was on the sign in town and people were proud of it. But also there was all this controversy about it that I think because this out of town or perhaps even a Yankee was like came there and caught that fish. And so there were a lot of people in town who always said that that record was illegitimate, that he like cheated, that he like weighed, dropped a bunch of like nuts and bolts and shit. Yeah, I love you.

I grew up with my dad watching Orlando Wilson. What's his name? Is it Jimmy Houston? There was a, I'm like, God, dude, what's up? He, I'm, I remember the guy, he, he's a balls, Bill dance, Bill dance with the Tennessee. Yeah. With the Tennessee.

Of course. Yes. Of course. Yeah. But I don't, um, I probably got that number earlier wrong too, but that was always disputed there. And, uh, but, so it was like, kind of like with a lot of things in the South, it was like, there was both pride and shame about it, depending on who you talk to.

But anyway, it was a very, very, very, still is rural part of Tennessee and country as hell, but was like a nice, cozy, quaint little southern town when I was like a small child. Now, is this a place where your parents were born and raised, or did they move here to raise your family? Like, are they from Knoxville or Nashville? No, my whole, my like dad's family, my dad's dad's dad, I like for generations had been there, had been the same place.

Yeah. I was like third generation to graduate from Salina high school. The only reason I wasn't fourth or fifth is because before that they didn't go to high school or graduate. Yeah, I hear that. Yeah. Yeah. Like my grandpa was. School.

You're like the sixth generation. Yeah. But high school. Yeah. Yeah. It would have been there for a long time. Yeah. Uh, so I mean, I, yeah, it might. I mean, if ancestry.com and all that bullshit is to be believed, my

sons are the first generation of my family to have not grown up in the South and Tennessee and Kentucky basically for like hundreds of years. Is that right? Well, ever, ever. When I felt that, when Ancestor first came over from England, it was to Virginia. And it's been below the Mason-Dixon line ever since for us until now, my sons are growing up in godless California. But you know.

And that's your dad's people? Yes. And what about mom? She also from that town? And what about mom? She also from that town? Well, I know her, my mom's mom and her parents and all them are all also from there. So for at least two or three generations, they were there. My mom's dad was a long haul truck driver and he was, he was from like, he was originally

from Texas, but he had like a whole other family in Indiana and shit. And then, you know, I mean, he was very much a truck, you know, uh, like a hard, hard living, whore banging truck drivers. Yeah. I mean, I loved it. I thought it was awesome. You know? Uh, but so he, what he been of a raconteur and a vagabond. What kind of truck did he drive? I mean, do you remember Mac or? No, I was too young.

I mean- Did he own it or was he just a hired gun and going out and driving rigs? Again, I don't know. I used to ride around with him in it and like the bed in the back of it and all that stuff. And I always thought it was so cool. But I mean, I was a kid at the time.

So I don't know the, I don't remember. I know what you're asking. So I know that it's like there's owner operators and there's contractors and all that. I don't know how it worked with him. I just know that it was long haul. It was over the road. Like he went out for multiple days or weeks at a time and would come back.

Uh, yeah. And then my other grandpa owned, uh, on the car lot, he had like built and race stock cars in the fifties and sixties and shit. He had all these, uh, trophies in his basement and stuff. And my dad, his son, uh, ran the video store in town, Crowder's video. I actually grew up in that. I grew up in like a nineties video store. So that part was pretty cool.

We talked outside. You said where, where was the video store? What it was in the, it was in a converted single wide trailer. They put like wooden letters on the outside painted white, just said Crowder's on it. And where would he like back in a day like that, where the fuck is he getting the supply for the, that goes in his trail? The cassette.

So he had a few different places. There were definitely some dudes who, first of all, there used to be like a catalog that was like the official, I guess it came from the studios or some kind of third party, but it was like the official way to get them. There was a catalog you could order cassettes of all the new releases from. And, uh, they were like very expensive because you know, you buy them for whatever a hundred dollars or whatever back then, then you rent them even new releases for $2, 250 a night.

So you got to get them out so many times to make your money back. He did that, but he also, there was, uh was in a somewhat larger nearby town, there was a larger video store that he had, he would go and get like some older shit from them to fill up the, the back catalog or inventory, whatever. And there were definitely, I was just thinking about this recently, some dudes like with trunks full of new releases. Dudes would come by on like a rat would stop by and he'd go out in the parking lot and they'd pop the trunk and he'd get, you know, I'll say this. They didn't, they were not obvious.

It wasn't like somebody holding a camcorder in a, in a movie theater bootleg, like they looked legit, like on your TV, but they definitely were not legit, I guess they were legit tapes that the dude was sourcing illegitimately. But there was definitely something shady about it. Some, some copies from a blockbuster one or something. Yes. And he did, he definitely did a lot of that too. And also there was a, uh, there was a curtained room in the very back that kept

the lights on in that fucking place. Even with all the Baptists in, well, especially with all the Baptists in town. Yeah. The porn, porno with the big, the big thick boxes. You didn't bring the boxes to the front. The boxes had a little like paper tag underneath them that you pulled off the wall and carried that up front. Oh, is that how you did it?

So you're not walking through the store with a phone book size video case backyard sluts nine or whatever. Yeah Yeah, yeah. So yeah, so that was all really cool. I loved all that shit and then But this was all supported by the main job center in town was an Oshkosh bagosh factory Yeah, cute little overalls and shit and then in 1996 I think it was when it finally, maybe 96, 97 by the time it all went through and that factory left after NAFTA moved to Mexico, right? And sometimes people say it's like all the jobs

went to Mexico and it's not really true, but in this particular instance, like that factory literally went to Mexico. So they didn't just close, they actually did move to Mexico. They actually moved those operations to Mexico in the mid-90s. What would you say at the time of its height, how much of the town would you use, of Salinas? I think-

Wait, Salinas. Excuse me. Salinas. Salinas. Salinas is Northern California. Yes. Salinas. We're employed by that one factor.

I want to say it was like 250 or 300 people, I think, in a population of like 800. That's a quarter of the town. I know. And I'm saying, and all those people, they ate lunch at my grandma's diner and they rented movies at my dad's place. And it all kind of fell on that factory. And it left, and I always say, at the exact same time another huge thing happened. The jobs left forever and the pills showed up for good

at the same exact time in the mid 90s. Cause right when that happened is when Percocet and Oxycontin and all that came into rural America, especially like we're in the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. This is like the epicenter of where that whole thing started. I mean, deep in the apple, coal country is where it started,

but we're not far from coal country. Like we were- The opiate shit? Opiate, opiate, yeah. Really? Coal country? Yes, and it was very target. Like where, West Virginia? West Virginia, southeast Kentucky.

Why there? Because that's where they started prescribing the coal miners. Yes, a lot of people in pain there. Yeah. A lot of people that are like- Did not know people that are like desperate and don't have a lot going on. It was a very concerted thing. I mean, that's why they got in all that trouble. Fine.

Finally, after years and years, the big pharma companies, because like it was proven that like, it was a very concerted effort on their part to like roll it out in places that people would be susceptible to it. And they also, they lied to the doctors who then lied to the people. Like people were being told by their doctors. It wasn't addictive. It's a miracle drug. Like you've got pain from manual labor.

Well, you could take this with no repercussions. It's not addictive. You'll be fine. I mean, if your doctor tells you that, what the hell are you supposed to think? And then we all know now, you know, you end up toothless and sucking dick under overpasses and shit. But they didn't know, but they didn't know that. Paid free though. Paid free bro.

Yeah, that is a good point. I mean, they are, you know, my knees don't hurt at all. Yeah. Yeah. But like all that, that the confluence of those things happening in my town, just like, I mean, wrecked it. Like my within my by the time I graduated, I was like 10, 11 at that time. By the time I graduated high school, seven, eight years later, like all my family's businesses were closed.

Uh, my mom was hooked on pills and was in jail. I think when I graduated high school, cause she did what, that wasn't just doing them, she was selling them too. She was selling pills. How old are you when your mom gets arrested and goes to jail? The first time I was like high school age, the first, she went to jail a few times. Uh, the first time always pills. Was it always for that always selling pills? Yeah. So who's catching her?

Is it just such a small town? It's like local cops. She wasn't exactly a like king pan or queen pan or nothing. You know, she wasn't a million Perez or whatever. She was infused here and there or got her arrested though. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Like, yeah. I mean, it was just her, she had, because they were giving the shit out like candy. So my understanding of her operation, as I've gotten older talking to her and looking back on it is that You know allegedly all this well, actually, I guess not. She was convicted. I think of all of it But anyway, so not a lot of legions anyway, anyway, yeah, yeah, you find the newspaper, but

She had some a collection of old ladies who? She sold pills for she didn't steal them. They knew she was doing it. Because like I said, they were giving these pills out like candy. She found a bunch of old people who had way more than they needed or used or wanted. Your mom found a group of seniors that was like, you know what? I don't need all these.

Why don't you? And she would like, I can get, well, I'll give you this much for them. And then she'd sell them for that much or whatever. And it's like, so, but still it was a pretty, pretty rinky dink operation. You know, it was just, I don't know the actual numbers or anything, but again, she wasn't moving serious weight, but she was pretty brazen with it and everything. And like, definitely the type to tell a cop to kiss her fucking ass, you know,

and that type of shit. So, you know, I'm not surprised that she got caught, but her and my dad were already divorced actually before any of that even happened, but still she was working at the factory and everything was cool and all that. But then, yeah, then everything just went to shit in the town and in my family. So she was employed at Osh. Yes. Yes.

And in fact, the story that she tells, and I mean, you know, I shouldn't say it that way, I'm sure it's what happened. You know, there's obviously some history here with, she says a lot of things, but I believe this is probably true that, uh, she hurt her back while working at that factory in the year or so before it closed or whatever. And she went to a doctor after hurting her back, working at the factory who prescribed her oxys and said to her all the shit that, you know, we said earlier. And then that was the beginning of it for her.

And then it turned into a 15, 20 year thing, but it wasn't just her. I thought I want to ask anyone else in your family. Oh yeah. Her sister, my aunt got into it real bad. She died. Oh, she died. My aunt's oldest son, my first cousin, who was like my older brother growing up, he OD'd and died.

He died. Yeah. Can I ask you, is this fentanyl or are they really? Back then when all this has happened and this is pre-fentanyl, it's literally oxys and perks and shit. So they are overdosing then. Yes, yes. See, cause I have a problem with these people that say,

well, they overdosed on fentanyl. It's like, no, no, no, they were poisoned. This person set out to do cocaine regardless of the choice. They set out to do this drug and in that drug is poison that has killed them. That to me is not an overdose. That's, you know what I mean? I feel sorry for people. I also know I have a good friend who that happened to too in the past year.

And that was awful in a totally different situation. All these people I'm naming, this is like childhood teenage years for me. This is like a long time ago. So back then it was, it was literally OD'ing on the Percocets and Oxy's and that type of shit. How old was your cousin you said? He was five years older than me and he died. So he was probably, I think I was like 22 when he OD'ed and died. So he was like 27-ish or something.

Damn, and you're close. Yeah, we were. Yeah, he's the reason I'm a Raiders fan. So I'll never forgive him for that shit. But, uh. You should have let that die. Yeah, I know, I know. I don't know why that's stuck.

But, uh. Man, does that fuck you up? Which part, what, him dying? Not only that, like is this, we, cause I mentioned outside, we have the, uh, in our family, we had a paranoid schizophrenic cousin and my dad would tell us all the time, like this dude, it was a black belt. He was athletic as fuck. He was great at lacrosse.

He had offers from Syracuse. He had, and then he just got into drugs and it fucking unlocked some shit in his brain and poof, he's fucking crazy. And we had sort of a built-in just say no to drugs campaign in the family. So I never fucked around with any of that shit. Even still, I'm still a weed and shrooms. I don't fuck with, never fuck with coke. Even when they gave me the pills for pain meds, I don't take them.

I might get a refill once every year and a half, and they're for emergencies only, you know, like I don't like them. So sure. Do you ever get involved with it or does this help you stay off of it? I mean, I guess sort of. That yes. Meaning like one time when I was 18, I almost did. I just told Fitzsimmons this story too, but like I had my wisdom teeth cut out when I was 18

and like there's no oral surgeons in my hometown. So there was literally these dentists who would come through in a van, like a cover band or something. I swear to God, you had to wait for the dentist van to come through town. I swear to God. You didn't even make an appointment.

They just like, we'll be there. Yeah. You just meet in the parking lot. It's a ride aid parking lot. Yeah. Right. A parking lot every third Thursday. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Yeah. But no, you made appointments, but I swear to God they were traveling dentists. No one decided let's just open one here. Okay. Okay. Again, we had, there was a town dentist, but she was not an oral surgeon. She wouldn't cut out your wisdom. So like that or for any kind of procedures like that, it was, the it was a Mary. The thing is it was exactly as upstanding of an operations that sounds like it

was, which is to say that like, did you ever have your wisdom teeth cut out? I did. OK, do you know how I've since learned? Do you know how they like when that happens, they'll give you all this information on what to do and whatnot. Don't drink through a straw. Don't smoke a cigarette. Don't do it. You'll get dry sockets.

You'll get in fact none of that. And tell me none. I didn't get a pamphlet. Nothing. No tips and tricks, not shit. So like so within my- No wisdom. Yeah, right. Well, they're taking your wisdom teeth out.

It wouldn't make sense to give you wisdom after taking the wisdom teeth out. They should take wisdom away from me, which they tried to, but also give me a big, big bottle of pills, right? Then they have pills too? Yeah, dude. I'm telling you, at this time, also my tiny little town at this time had four pharmacies in it, which is crazy. There's no reason for 800 people.

Yeah, I swear. And like they were ridiculous. People don't understand. I mean, it was everywhere. And I'm saying again, I didn't even I didn't even ask them for all your friends and their parents. Many of them. Yes. I'm saying it was my family got ripped apart, but that was a very that was the story of the town at the time. It happened to almost everybody, like literally almost everyone. My dad got one of my best friends growing up.

His dad died on the table twice and was resuscitated. And I had another I had multiple good friends in high school who got real hooked on it themselves. bad, some of which have since died. Some of which are still hanging on, but are real fucked up. I mean, people's parents were showing up to fucking ball games, like walking dead style, just like toothless stumbling around and shit. I mean, it was wild. And so I'm at the van dentist and they give me no guidance and a big bottle of pills.

They take all four out by the way. Or two for herster. How are they doing it? No, they took them all out, but my little sister was there on the same day, you know, efficiency. Yeah, sure. They left like parts of one of them in her mouth. She had to go to a different dentist, not in a van, in a nearby like big town to cut out the last remaining piece of one of them in her mouth. She had to go to a different dentist, not in a van in a nearby, like big town to cut out the last remaining piece of one of her wisdom teeth. That happened to her. Mine got infected within like a week. Cause I, did you do just everything?

Yeah. Cause they didn't tell you. Yeah, they did. They were you dip in and everything. But so it got, so because it got infected, I was in pain for longer than I should have been. And I have, they gave me way more pills than I needed, but I got that worked out. And by the time I still had plenty of pills left in that bottle, by the time that was completely resolved. And I just kept taking them, right? Cause it's like, I was supposed to take these once a day

or twice a day or whatever, but I knew, you know, I was taking them and playing NFL 2K5 on the Xbox and stuff and really digging it. And, but I wasn't admitting to myself that I was doing that. And this is only a looking back on it thing. And this was what's so wild about drugs and especially opioids and shit. Like in the moment, I didn't, I didn't see any of this,

but cause I got a pill-billy mom and a pill-billy cousin, a pill-billy everything. And so I'm like, I don't, I don this, but because I got a pill billy mom and a pill billy cousin and a pill billy everything. And so I'm like, I don't want to, I know, I know, and I don't want to, but I'm like, but the doctor gave me these for my tooth thing and it says to take them. So I don't think anything about it. Then I run out and I go to another cousin's house. I got to have a cousin also named Trey. So white trash we are.

I go to my cousin Trey's house. And, uh. Who's older? Everybody always asks that. He's older, but his middle name is Trey. Okay. My first name is Trey. So he's older than me by barely a year. Yeah.

And his name is, you know, blank Trey blank. And then a little more year later, my dad named his son, me, Trey, you know, Neil Crowder. So I mean, look, my dad's the one who fucked up. The other one came first, but I just, I feel like there's a little bit, at least a little bit of gray area. Yeah, there is. Cause it's his middle name. It's his first name.

Yeah. Right. But anyway, go to my cousin Trey's house. Cause his dad has like a lot of legitimate one. His dad was a good guy. He's a good guy. Had like, had had back surgery, had a back problem. Right. And I knew that. And I knew

like anybody with any kind of problem, they give him a bunch of pills. So I go to my cousin Trey's place and I'm like, Hey, you know where your dad keeps his pills? And he was like, yeah, but why? And I was like, I thought we'd just, you know, grab a couple, play Halo, whatever. And he was like, are you fucking serious? And I was like, what? You know, and he was like, I'm not stealing my dad's, I'm not letting you steal my dad's pills. I was like, dude, why are you being a dick about this? Like they're right there. It's fine. He's not going to use them all. It's not a big deal. Like in my head, he was being an asshole, you know, not me,

but he wouldn't do it. And I'm glad he wouldn't do it. Cause then I got all pissed off, but I didn't have any of them any, you know, any more lying around. And a couple of days later, I'm over it and realizing how crazy it was. Like, I'm not saying that I would be sucking dick under an overpass right now. Yeah. But you could have. But I could have been paid for if not for cousin Trey. Yes, possibly. Now in the dead heat of summer, there's nothing scarier than waking up in a full sweat,

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honeydew. Sleep cooler, sleep better all summer long, even when the past won't stop knocking. Now, let's get back to the do. So I almost got sucked into it too briefly. So you can see and understand just how easily someone... Yeah, it can happen like fucking that. Boom. Yeah. But they're also-

And it does. I mean, it's across the world. Yes. Yeah, it's crazy. This country is really fucked up. These bastards fucked these poor people up. Real bad. And I have a complicated relationship with drug addicts and that type of thing because

my mom wasn't around and wasn't great And we still don't have a great relationship. And I, I have empathy and shit now, but like when I was younger, I was hardcore, like, fuck that shit, fuck those people. I was like, I was like, you know, I, it was, I grew up around it. I'm not fucking, I'm not a drug addict. I got a job. I'm not fucking whatever. I got a person listening that doesn't have a person in their family or a friend or someone they know that didn't have this happen to them or someone's addicted.

I've got cousins who, and he start, that's how it starts. So it starts with the pills and the scripts run out and then it turns into the heroin and blah, blah, blah. It's the same path all the fucking time. Yeah. But as I got older and I had kids and stuff, I mellowed on it and it's like, again, and I think back and yes, I can see how easily it can happen to somebody who really is otherwise.

And especially when I found out all the shit about the way pharmaceutical companies- And all they were doing was just trying to get their teeth out in a van. Right, that's what I'm saying. I didn't know all, when I, as an adult, learned all the shady ass shit that like the pharmaceutical companies and doctors

and sales reps and stuff were 100% doing back then. It kind of changed the way I looked at a lot of it. It's like a lot of these people were victims. We were actual victims. Yeah. Whereas I used to look at them as criminals. Can I ask you then if mom's in and out of jail here and there or in and out of your life and are you living with dad? Yeah. Who's the rock?

My, my dad. Are you with your dad? 20? Like, is that where you live? Me and my little sister live with our dad full time. Okay. Um, and he was great, but you said, who's the rock? And really the rock of the family was, was his dad, my grandfather. We lived with my dad full time, but like the patriarch of the family was my

grandpa, my dad's dad. Oh yeah. Great. I family was my grandpa. He's a good man. Oh yeah. I mean, you know. What did he do again? He was the guy who had, uh, had used to do, uh, building race stock cars and then became a big gear heading. He like had a garage, he fixed cars and he sold cars. He worked on cars all the time.

Car lot. Car lot. Did he have a little bit of a junk yard too? So I grew up in a junk yard or was it like used cars? It was used cars and also a garage where he did work and body, he'd do body work and stuff like that. But he was a big time gear head. And I mean, and very much a like traditional, like strong Southern working man, you know, I used to,

he smoked smoked a pack day, drank a bowl of whiskey a night. He had a bit like a Pyrex mixing bowl that he would fill up with. A bowl? Yes, with ice. I thought originally you meant like a sifter. No, no, no, like a Pyrex mixing bowl that, you know what I mean?

It's got a handle on it for like pancake batter or whatever. He'd fill it up with ice and like whiskey. Get the fuck out of here. That's what he drank, a night? A night. Wow. Cause I would stay with him and I'd ask, cause you know, again, I told you, I don't

remember if we started or not, but I was a fat kid and he put Coke in it, you know, and I just thought it was a big bowl of Coke. And you know, I'm sitting there like fucking licking my lip like, oh, I want some of that sweet sweet elixir, Papaw. And he was like, no, that's got Papaw's medicine in it, baby. And I didn't know what that meant until years later. And I found out it was, it was whiskey and Coke in a pancake batter bowl every night. So you know, so he died of a massive heart attack when I was 18. How old was he? He was 69. Nice. But yeah and at the time, I was 18,

he was at the time I was like yeah he was ancient of course he died. Do you know what I mean? My grandmother was 69. But like now I really like, you know, that's nothing. Right. Yeah, exactly. Go back to being a fat kid when you were young. Is that, is that your way of coping with all this fucking craziness and stuff? I guess probably. What are you doing? I definitely, well, also people don't understand another, I think the bigger part of it is like dude,

there's no nutritional education or knowledge whatsoever. People don't understand anything about how like food or health works or calories or nothing, nobody knows anything about any of that. And that's another thing too. It's like that used to kind of be okay when like my grandpa was younger and stuff, because food didn't have all this bullshit and it wasn't like, it wasn't as bad for you as it is now. Backyard and get it.

That's what I'm saying. So like they didn't have to know, but then food became mass produced and all It wasn't as bad for you as it is now. They go out in the backyard and get it. That's what I'm saying. They didn't have to know. But then food became mass produced and all this bullshit got put in it and all the sugar and all this stuff. But nothing changed about what people knew about it. They didn't understand how bad a lot of this shit was. I just ate garbage as a kid.

My grandmas were great cooks and stuff, but even the stuff they cooked was, you know, I mean, like fried chicken and chicken livers with gravy and all this, you know, just like soul food stuff that was like not great for any other than that we're talking with a single dad, dude, canned chili, frozen pizzas, fries, whatever. And, but I'm, it's like a watershed moment for me. Like I'll never forget as a fat kid and everything. I had, I was getting into high school, I was going through puberty. I'm still fat and it's really starting to bother me at this point.

Right. It was bothering me already, but I'm saying I like girls and stuff now. And it's like, I don't like being fat. I had basically not entirely stopped eating, but I'd start, I was eating like once a day. I was barely eating anything and I still wasn't losing weight. And I was like, what the fuck is going on? And then one day I came home from school and I did what I did every day. When I came home from school, I grabbed a big bottle of sunny D,

off brand sunny D in the fridge and took a big, you know, plug up. Sunny E. What do you got down there? Well, it was like, you know, I don't know, orange D light or whatever. Morning D light. I don't know, but it was not legit sunny day. But anyway, I put it, take a big swig of it, put it back. And this time the back of the bottle is facing me and I'm like, I go to close the door and I'm like, wait, what? And I look at it, I'm like, what the fu- I had no idea that liquid could have calories in it.

I had no idea that drinks could make you fat. I thought as long as you drank it, it didn't count. It was fine. Yeah. It's just a liquid. Yeah. It's a liquid. Food makes you fat. Liquids don't make you fat. And I realized that that day and I immediately stopped drinking everything but water. And I also that summer had like- Did that help? I mean, was that a big part of it? I stopped drinking everything but water. And that summer I had a helped. I mean, that was out of so part of it. I stopped drinking everything but water. And that summer I had a girl spurt of like five or six inches and I lost like 40 something pounds or something like that.

And I haven't been the same type of like pudgy ass little fat kid that I was in ever since my weight is yo-yoed, but then kind of like a fat dad way, you know, but like, uh, that was the end of my, like, it looked like a white Manny from modern family. You were big. Oh yeah. You were. Yeah. Yeah. Big, big old boy. And like a dork too, like I was like the smart kid. And so what's it like, tell me what it's like living with dad growing up and his mom like floating in and out, you say, like, will she come by and visit or do you guys go see her as such a small town. Are you like, are you walking distance?

No, we were not. She was one of those things because she was on drugs and stuff. I don't know where she was for most of it. They were like, there was a great good period of time. Again, my mom's still alive. Someone will probably send her this. She'll text me about putting her on front street, but that's what she calls it. But you don't talk on a regular basis. No, wait, we text and stuff like that. But I, you know, my story, I'm allowed to tell it and it is all true. So there was a good chunk of my childhood where I really only show, I really only saw her if she showed up to like, see if I had any money or something she could sell or something like that.

Uh, so it was almost entirely our dad. He, my dad, like he drank and smoked too, but he was always home and he wasn't, he was like, he was like kind of a part, like everybody loved my dad. Everybody wore jean jackets, had long hair, loved rock and roll and all that shit and like, he was awesome. So like now that I have kids, really, my dad was more of like a bro than a father. Like he was, he loved the shit out of us, but he was not a disciplinarian is what I'm saying. Like he was like, my dad, my dad was showing me like a racer head when I was nine

and shit like that. You know what I mean? Like that type of thing. Like he would, uh, and then get upset that I didn't like connect with the artistry of it or whatever. It's like, I'm fucking, I'm in fourth grade or whatever. But, but the upside of that was also like, you know, the diehard movies. And like, if I wanted a DMX album or something that had the, you know, the explicit on it, like he would get me that because he was like censorship's bullshit, so that's what he always said. Censorship is bullshit.

He was like, censorship is bullshit. So that's what he always said. Censorship is bullshit. But like, so he was like real cool about a lot of stuff, uh, which was rad. But like, like I said, he wasn't like, uh, you know, he wasn't doing, he wasn't any kind of like sitcom dad or nothing like that, we're in like really sitting down, having serious talks about life or like straightening me out or nothing, you know what I mean? But I mean, don't get me wrong.

My, if I, I, I would, I think 100% be sucking those underpass dicks if not for my dad, like me and my sister, about the degree that our dad is the reason we turned out relatively. Okay. What then who's giving you that? If you're not getting it from dad, where are you picking it up? Picking what up? What he's not giving you say is a dad. Like, is from dad, where are you picking it up? Picking what up?

What he's not giving you say as a dad, like is that from your grandfather? Yeah. You know what I mean? Like where's the rest of that sort of- My grandpa who died when I was 18, he was definitely the authority figure. So yeah, that was coming from him. He's a bit of a disciplinarian. Yeah. And then after he died when I was 18 and I turned 18, cause of everything with the factory and all the, everything closing, like I've been, I've been completely financially

independent since I turned 18. That I had nobody say I could ask anybody for or turn to or I know safety net or nothing and not you know that shit will just make you grow up. You know, like a lot of things that just made me grow up fast basically. So like, I don't know. I don't you know, I don't know. I don't, you know, I don't know where I get all of it from. You just, whatever life, live life, bad shit happens.

You're also in a position where you still didn't knew about being a good person. You know what I mean? Again, my dad, he was very, he, he was very like loving, you know, a lot of dads of that generation would not when it like hugs or saying, I love you and shit off generation. Yeah. No, he was not like that at all. He would, you know, you're good.

Yeah. He was not that guy. He would, I'm saying he was not like, like he was, he would dole out hugs all the time and tell you how much he loved you and all that stuff. And like, and he was also so, cause I grew up in a video store. I knew I wanted to do this Hollywood shit from a very, it's all I ever really wanted to do and like my dad's dad, my grandpa, because I was a smart kid in school, he wanted me to be like a doctor or a lawyer or that type of thing.

Cause that's all you do if you're smart. And somebody needs to be a goddamn dentist in that fucking town, bro. But so when I would say I wanted to do like, you know, comedy or movies or something, my grandpa would be like, absolutely not. You're throwing away, you know, you're you're you're smart. You got a golden ticket. You're throwing it away, doing that stupid bullshit that nobody does. But my dad was always like very, very supportive of it and thought it was awesome.

Like a good idea. So he was just, you know, he was just very loving and cool. Basically, he was just a really good guy. Like I said, I mean, like everybody loved him. When my dad died a few years ago, like I had to, did you know it was coming? Sort of. He, I mean, well, so he died of pancreatic cancer, which is like the most brutal shit I've ever seen in my life.

Like they ain't not much else like it. So, I mean, he found out something was wrong with him. I want to say a little before Thanksgiving and he died on January 10th. Damn. Yeah. So a couple months. Six weeks. Yeah.

Holidays too. Six of the best weeks for someone to get cancer and die. But, uh, yeah, but when that happened, I had to, I was working my old day job. I had two, I had a newborn baby and a one year old. And I already said, I have no, there's nobody else with any money. No one else to, so I know I'm going to have to make payments on this funeral or whatever I got to do. Uh, so we have, we make the arrangements to do the thing.

And I know it's going to be on me, even though I don't have no extra money at all. And I go in the office after it's over and as the funeral director, like, you know, what do I owe you? And he goes, you don't owe me anything. And I was like, what do you mean? He was like, everybody in, everybody in town, like pitched in and covered it. So you don't know it's anything.

And so it's like, my dad was just like that kind of dude. Like everybody loved him. That's great. So, so yeah, he's the, the hero and savior or whatever. And so, so merrily that's why God had to kill him. But anyway, it's always the goal. When does mom or does mom clean up? Some, some, yes, yes, yes, somewhat.

Yeah. I say somewhat as far as I know is according to her, and I do believe her, she's not been on like she has not been actively on drugs for probably close to 15 years now. OK, but she's still got other. Would she come to graduation? Was she making major events for you like? I were an athlete. Was she coming to sporting events?

Anything? Well, that was part of the fat kid stuff. I was like, I played for in my town like mine, like small Southern town. You if you don't play sports, you got no shot, like socially, I mean. So like all my friends were the guys on the I played. I was not a good athlete. I wasn't good at the sports, but I did play them because you had to. And not being good at them, like at the time, I'm glad no, no genie came to me

or nothing, because at the time I would have traded like my brain, my intelligence for athleticism, like that, that had a single a high school level. Yeah, right. Exactly. I would have traded it overnight. I would have been like, absolutely. But obviously that would have been a colossal mistake. But so, no, she, I'm telling you,

she just wasn't, I mean, just wasn't really around. I can't really remember if she was at my high school graduation or not. She was at my college graduation for sure. And she was at my wedding, which my wife was like, was worried about. Was she sober then? Yeah. Well, she, yes. She was like fresh out of another stint in jail

when we got married. Cause I remember my wife was like really worried about it. You know, she was like, is she gonna cause a fuck what's gonna happen? Cause she was like, basically like coming straight from jail to the fucking, what's gonna happen? Cause she was like, basically like coming straight from jail to the fucking wedding venue. For real? I mean, not literally, but very close to it.

It was like that week. I think my wife tried to get it in under the wire, like trying to schedule it to where she couldn't come. Why would you get married on a Wednesday? Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah. Cause his mama gets out on Thursday. Yeah.

I never really thought about that, but I think maybe she was trying to do that. I don't know. But anyway, but yeah, no, she, when I, so that's also, you know, when we got married, my wife was obviously pregnant, white trash, right? So that's my first baby. And she was getting out of jail. She's getting out of jail.

My wife's pregnant. She's getting out of jail. I'm getting married and my soon to be wife is pregnant. All this is happening. So I told my mom at the time, we had like a conversation at the time and she was like, I'm clean. I'm going to stay clean and all this. And again, she has, it's just, there's still other issues there. That's not the only thing. But to her credit, she has, she has stayed clean. Yes. What was she in jail for that time? Again, selling?

Same thing every time. Yeah. Who's b's busting her like how how sloppy? I'm not gonna say like the local like, do you know? Yeah, I know the dudes. I'm not gonna say his name, but I know the guy's name. He was like a he was a he was like a sheriff's deputy who later became a sheriff and all this shit like just a small town cop. Is he buying from her like setting her up or is he just watching her? No, he's just watching her. She's just doing it right in front of him. Yeah, right. He's sitting there in the squad car.

Oh yeah. Lights are on and everything. I gotta take it. Yeah. He's like, Paula, don't, don't Paula. Paula, come on. Yeah. Are you really doing this, Paula?

But yeah, no, I mean, yes, it was pretty much like that because she would be fucked up while doing this, too. You know what I mean? Like she was selling a man was taking him. So she'd be fucked up while doing it. And so, you know, again, it wasn't hard. Is she any well, you know what? Let me go back to this question. Gosh, she's going to kill me over this part.

She does watch this because she she of course claims that, you know, there was a lot of, and I, you know, I fucked the cops. I'm small town redneck. I don't fuck with cops. She claims that they like, you know, fucked with her some, that there was some railroading that happened. And I'm not saying that none of that didn't happen, but I'm just also saying that she was doing the things.

Right. Yeah. She's not exactly innocent. They might've trumped it up or whatever and treated her Right, yeah. She's not exactly innocent yet. They might've trumped it up or whatever. He made himself an easy target. And treated her like shit. Those are my pills.

These are my pills. That's how I know y'all put them in there. So, you know, I'm not saying they didn't do some untoward things, but she definitely was like, I mean, she was guilty. I wanna come back to asking about her as a grandmom for a second, but before, I mean, she was guilty. I want to come back to asking about her as a grandma for a second, but before, I think you said before your dad passed, you had a newborn. Were both your kids born then?

Yeah, they're 13 months apart. Did he get to see him? Did he get the whole kids? The first one. His grandkids. The first one. First one. Yes.

He got to tell him he was going to be a grandpa and he was fucking thrilled. And yeah, the first, my son was a baby. He was there got to tell him he was going to be a grandpa and he was fucking thrilled. And yeah, the first my son was a baby. He was there when he was born. He held him, hung out with him and stuff. The first year of his life, his younger brother, my second son, was only two weeks old when he died. And he had fucking RSV. He was in the hospital and a newborn in the hospital. My dad was dying of cancer.

It's so he never got to see not the second one, but he was alive for it. He was they were alive on the same time. He never got to see. Not the second one. But he was alive for it. He was, they were alive on the same time. Yes, yes, yes. Okay, good. That's good. Yes. That's good. So he got, he was there for the news.

Yes. And that's when, you know, cause like we didn't, I mean, obviously shotgun wedding, it wasn't planned, but I wouldn't change anything about it. Even if like, you know, having kids, especially for a comedian and also my generation, that's an early age, I was 25 to have a kid, but like I wouldn't change anything about it, even if like, you know, having kids, especially for a comedian and also my generation, that's an early age, I was 25 to have a kid. But like, I wouldn't change anything about it for really, for any reason.

But one of the reasons is because, you know, my dad got to be a grandpa or whatever before all that shit went down. So, you know, um, is your mom involved in your kids' lives? Is she a grand mom in any way? Does she want to be? What is that situation like? She sends them birthday cards and she'll text me to tell them I love them and that type of thing.

But like, I mean, to me, she still lives back in Tennessee. We live in California now. But even when we go home, she probably sees them probably, she sees them for a few hours, like every other year, something like that. Oh, okay. Yeah. And we'll go back more than that. She's not trying to FaceTime or any of that?

Not well. Okay. Also on this far as that goes, she's like, I mean, she's broke as hell living it there's where she lives out in the country and a hollered there's like, no, I don't think she's got any wifi, barely has cell phone service. I don't think her phone, she's still rocking like a flip phone, flip phone. I don't know if it's literally a flip phone. I don't think she has FaceTime or any of that type of shit.

She don't have none of that available to her. So to be fair. But yeah, but we, we're currently, she's upset with me currently because, uh, I've on a re another recent thing I was on, I told the truth about her and she, somebody got back to it's like, I'm still in the small town, you know, people like, you don't have self service, but you listen every goddamn podcast. Yeah. Someone will see this and someone will send it to her and then I'll have to hear about

it later, but that's okay. It's fine. I mean, again, I wrote about it in my book and all kinds of shit. So she knows the deal at this point or she should. Yeah. I know it's a lot. I know. Sorry, Ben.

You're good. I know. That's what this show is. I know it is. I know. Again, I can tell you, I'm a fan, so I knew that, but I've still been feel like I'm been going overboard. Oh, you're not at all, dude I just want to make sure I don't interrupt I get yelled at if I fucking step on a question and shit I do want to know just now as a father like how has that affected you like?

Which part do you find yourself being maybe over? protective or do you find yourself being a little bit of a helicopter parent or, or are you dialed back? Or you, you know, you have boys. Yeah. Like how are you doing that in California? I'm definitely, even though I was being kind of critical earlier when I talked about my dad now, he wasn't much of a disciplinarian. I'm fucking just like him.

Like, you know, me and their mom are still married. We've been married for 15 years. She is also, I'm a, you know, I'm a comedian and I'm on the road quite a bit and everything. She's a stay at home mom, but like, she's definitely like, she's the disciplinary of the two of us. And I'm, you know, I'm like, hey, I want to watch Alien tonight. Like, I'm, you know, kind of like my dad.

Like she just left for a few days recently and I was like, is it time to introduce him to Quentin Tarantino? 12 and 13. Just, I didn't, but I was like, she takes a yearly trip and I was like, maybe next year. And if not next year, definitely the year after that, it will be time. But yeah, that's the type of shit I think about. So like I kind of turned into my dad for sure. But I mean, we have a great relationship and I don't, and they're also, they're, they're, they're like, they're great boys.

Are you honest and open with them about your family and the struggles and the addiction so that they, cause today in their world, these poor kids, it's, it's literally, I, it's on, but I'm glad I see it on city buses. I tell my daughter all the time, this much dead. Yeah. That's crazy. Yes, no. Yeah, they know.

We never had to worry about that. Right, well, I mean, I kinda did. Yeah, I'm 52. Not fentanyl. I'm saying in the 80s, nobody was worried about dying from cocaine unless you did too much fucking cocaine. Not, oh, it's poisoned.

Right. No, dude, the Fent shit is the worst thing that has ever happened as far as any of that goes. Because yeah, you're right. It's not fair and it's stupid. I mean, none of that was fair, but this is way worse because of what you said earlier. If a guy wants to buy a little bag of coke and go out for the night, whatever, who am I to judge?

And if some asshole puts Fent in it, it kills that guy. I mean, that's not, that's completely. Yeah. Whoever, whoever's touching that. That's a whole other ball game that is definitely way worse. And you're right. We didn't have to worry about that. You, yes, the only way it was going to get you is if you were stupid

about it and did too much, those used to be the rules. Now that didn't even rule anymore. You can be smart about it. You can have barely any and still die. Yeah, right. Yes. Yeah. No can be smart about it. You can have barely any and still die. You can be responsibly do your cocaine and still fucking die. Yes, which is some bullshit. But no, yeah, I'm open with him about the like the past and the history of it there. I used to wonder, it's like whenever it would come up, if I was telling them at too young and

I've been eight, because you know, they would, I remember one time I was talking about it. And I got finished like talking about my dad and this whole thing or whatever. And and my son, who was probably six or seven at the time, goes, your family's sad, daddy. I was like, and I said, and I said, I said, well, guess what, buddy? That's your family, too. Our family. Yeah. Our family is sad. Yeah. Right. I said, well, guess what, buddy? That's your family too. Our family is Sam. Yeah. Right.

Kids, they fucking just figure out a way to kill you. Yeah. Now, are you honest with them about your mom and who she was as a mom? Yes. And you know what I mean? I'm the same way with my daughter. I'm like, look, you, you have an opportunity to be a different person as a mom. Yes. You know what I mean? I'm the same way of my daughter. I'm like, look, you have an opportunity to be a different person as a grandmother, but you can't erase who you were as a mom. Yes. And I'm going to let your granddaughter know when she asks questions,

I'm not going to lie to her. Right. I'm going to tell her the truth, but it's an opportunity. I always say for my daughter to when I say these stories, for her to be like, that's not the grandma I know at all. Yeah. Right. Or you can be like, yeah, it makes sense. She seems like, well, see now, I apparently that type of thing, I guess, does happen. It hasn't really happened with my mom, not so far. But like my mom always used to say about her mom, my mama cat.

That's what we call her. That maternal grandmother, mama cat, cook the best catfish around your fucking life. But is that why they called her mama cat? Now her name was cat. That's just a coincidence. All right. I just. She owned the diner that I mentioned.

She out there. So catfish and hushpuppies. It was called Cat's Cafe. It was another, another, um, casualty, casualty of the, of the, of the factory closing, but anyway, my, my mom always told us about mama cat, her mother, that we didn't, we didn't have the same person that she did growing up that like, she always said that as a mom, my grandma was like, was never around, partied all the time, was always gone, whatever. But like we all fucking adored her.

Yeah, right. As a grandma, we adored her. Now, I mean, it was a different time at a different place. She'd smoke two packs of Marlboro Reds with all the windows fucking closed in a 600 square foot apartment, you know, or like, looks like a fucking 1920s bookie operation in there. Just a cloud of foot apartment, you know, or like, looks like a fucking 1920s bookie operation in there. Just a cloud of fucking smoke, like child's forehead high in the, throughout the whole apartment, but we adored her, adored her. She was like just the absolute fucking best.

And, and, you know, apparently as a parent, not so much, but as a grandparent, she was the shit. So, you know, it is a thing. It's like they get, some of them, they get a, they get a second chance. Yeah. And then they lean into it. They actually lean in. You know what?

I am going to fucking go for this, not just coast along or whatever. What about, um, your wife's family? Oh, they're angels. Are they all from Tennessee? Yes. They're from a very small Southern town too. It's, you said you've been married 15 years, right? So, yeah, uh, it's from, it's on the other side of the state from, so like,

if my hand is the state of Tennessee, there's Nashville right there. My hometown is right here and her hometown is down here. So we're like on the opposite sides of Nashville, but culturally they're the exact same place. They didn't get it as bad as we got it in the 90s. Like they didn't, they had factories closed, but they didn't have a big, they didn't have one single massive factory that left or whatever. But it's still, you know, pretty economically, you know, desolate there in a very small redneck town. But her family is like, I don't know, they kept their shit together.

Like I always used to tell people that her family is from, they're not, they're not at all rich, but like in terms of affect and the way they are and everything, they're more like, like duck dynasty rednecks or whatever. And my family is more like wild and wonderful whites of West Virginia. Okay. You know that document? Okay. Yeah.

So, yeah, but that's kind of the difference. Again, the Dutton-Answer people are loaded and my in-laws are not. They're very working class people, but they're like a core nuclear family that love each other and it's wholesome as hell. We spend every Christmas there now. And like, dude, I make gingerbread houses and shit for like my sons and my sister-in-law's there, kids, my son's cousins, all the kids are there and you know, the house smells like Christmas and there's a Christmas tree.

It's all very wholesome and it's like, I was telling my sister about that, about us, I was like, you should come down there because we do all this stuff. And it's like, you know, it's like, she goes, an actual fucking family. And I was like, yeah, that's exactly what it's like. She was like, yeah know, it's like, she has an actual fucking family. And I was like, yeah, that's exactly what it's like. She was like, yeah, must be nice. And I was like, well, you could come if you want to. But yeah, she knew immediately what I meant. It's just the type of thing that, you know, we just never had as kids, but so I love it.

I, my in-laws are awesome. Do they know your mom? They've met, they know her. Yeah. They know the deal. They don't really mingle. Your mom doesn't really know. Not at all. Well, again, they're,, yeah, they know the deal. They don't really mingle, your mom doesn't really... Not at all.

Well, again, the towns are like four hours apart. They like, when my grandma died, my in-laws came and my mom was there and stuff and they were both at the wedding. They've met, they'll say hey to each other, whatever, but they don't, you know, they don't really have much to do with one another. They, you know, they know what's up. My wife's got some, my wife my wife's family and she, that it's a big ass family.

They're all in her small little hometown, except for her, you know, like I drug her off to California. But I always assumed they would for that, but they're, uh, they were, she's like, they're successful. So that helps. That helps. That helps a lot. So yes, I think that that goes a long way.

Plus my wife was always the like kind of weirdo in her family. So they're not surprised that she ain't around. She was the one who was always like wanting to leave, uh, that town. So like, they're not surprised and don't hold it against me, but it's a huge ass family in that small Southern town. So I mean, she's got some, there's some wild people in her family, but her, like her parents and her sisters and her sister' kids and all them, I love them all to death.

They're great. That's great, man. Yeah. Thank you for coming and doing this, dude. Oh, no. I've been, yeah, I've been looking forward to it. Like I said, I'm a fan and when I first even heard you were doing this as a thing, I was like, well, I'm going to have to do that at some point.

I'm glad we got you, bro. But thanks for having me. Before we wrap up, advice you'd give to give to 16 year old Trey Crowder. What would you say to him? Um, I can't change anything, right? Cause like, obviously I would try to save my dad, but all I can do is tell 16 year old me something. So I think I would just tell 16 year old me, buckle up, but hang in there.

You've got the right idea, you know, like, cause it's been a rocky ass road, but it's mostly working out, you know, it's the thing I'm doing. I mean, I have my dream job. I'm doing what I wanted to do. And if I presuming that I can't use this power to save anybody or change anything in the past. Then I would just tell him like, you know, you can be in for some rough times and, uh, but hanging there, it'll be okay. And, uh, look out for a blind bartender named Katie at craw daddies. Is that where you met?

Yes, that's where we met. Craw daddies in Cookville, Tennessee. So that's all I would tell him. That's great, dude. Pug, uh, everything one more time, please. A special called Trash Daddy is out on YouTube now. Watch that. Other than that, follow me on socials, Trey Crowder.

T-R-A-E Crowder. Trey Crowder.com is my website with all my tour dates. Come see me on the road. Oh, putting on airs, podcasts. Listen to it. Thank you again. Thank you, buddy. This is a great episode.

It was a pleasure. I really appreciate you coming in. And I appreciate you guys supporting the show. As always, Ryan Sickler on all your social media. We'll talk to y'all next week. You