The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler - 357: Sal Vulcano - Impractical Parenting

Episode Date: October 27, 2025

SPONSORS: Booking.com -Head over to Booking.com and start your listing today. Get Seen. Get Booked on Booking.com. Uncommon Goods -To get 15% off your next gift, go to https://www.UncommonGoods.com/HONEYDEW Mood -Get 20% off your first order at https://www.Mood.com with promo code HONEYDEW My HoneyDew this week is comedian Sal Vulcano! Check out his newest HBO special, Terrified, and catch Impractical Jokers, now in its 12th season! Sal joins me to Highlight the Lowlights of the joy, challenges, and fears that come with being a dad. He shares the different dynamics of raising each child, how his parenting strategies have evolved from one kid to two, and the importance of staying healthy and fit to keep up with them. Sal also opens up about two of the most terrifying moments he’s experienced as a father and reflects on how having kids has reshaped his own perspective on parenting. Check out my new standup special “Live and Alive” streaming on my YouTube now! https://youtu.be/PMGWVyM2NJo?si=SrhXjgzR1pe6CyYE 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

All right, guys, my new special Live and Alive is streaming now on my YouTube. It dropped Friday, October 24th. Go watch it. Go watch it. I'm proud of it. This is all self-produced. It's free right from me to you. Share it with everybody you know.

Tag me in it. Whatever. Go watch this special. Let's get this thing going. I want this one over a million views this time. You know what YouTube did last time. Let's show them what's up. And then they come in and they say, Mr. Sickler, you are lucky to be alive.

You have massive pulmonary embolisms. They traveled through your heart. Your heart is swollen twice at size. And we're going to be honest with you, the next 48 hours are touch and go. You're probably going to want to make some calls. And I was like, my phone's dead. I was playing it on three hours. You know what I'm saying?

I came in with it on 66%. I didn't even bother gassing it up. And I knew things were about to get wild when I heard one of the surgeons say, well, Mr. Sickler, you and your phone are about to have a lot in common. I said, oh, my God! What kind of bedside manner is that for somebody with Blue Shield Silver?

You're talking to me like, I got the bronze package right now, and I'm not really feeling it. So back your Kaiser Permanente. attitude up and recognize my second tier status the honeydew with ryan sickler i'm ryan sickler welcome back to the honeydew y'all we're over here doing it in the nightpan studios i'm ryan sickler starting this one off like i start them all off by saying thank you thank you for watching this show. Thank you for supporting anything I do. Go watch my new special. It's up on

my YouTube now. I'm really proud of this thing, man. It's wildly different than my last special. This is all about what happened to me and aftermath of it. And I appreciate all the support already. Thank you guys. You're the best. If you love this show and you've got to have more, then you've got to check out the Patreon. It has been $5 a month since day one and it's not changing. You get audio and video. You get the Honeydew a day early ad free at no additional cost. And it is this show with y'all. And you all have the craziest stories.

I promise you that you will ever hear. If you're unsure, do the free sample. But you can also go to the free episodes right here on the Honeydew and watch the best of clips that I do with Josh Wolf and get a sense of exactly what's going on over there for a cup of coffee a month. All right? You know what we do here? We highlight the low lights.

And I always say these are the stories behind the story. storytellers. And I'm very excited to have this guest back on the Honeydew. Ladies and gentlemen, Sal Walpato, welcome back to the Honeydew, Sal. We did it. I miss you. I miss you. How are things? Great. You have returned guests, obviously, right? Yeah. Yeah. What's, what guest has been on the most? How many times? That's a great question. I would, I would put Josh Wolf up there because we do some best of episodes of Patreon, but minus that, Joey Diaz. Okay. Thank you, Kirst and Joe. We used to do Joey's whole life story. And then once he moved to New York, or back to Jersey, I mean, we stopped. Yeah, yeah. We were chronicling his life in chapters. And it's one of the most riveting.

He's got life on him. Also, as a podcaster, it's really nice to not say a word. You know what I mean? I'm just listening. I'm going, are you serious? Like shit like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But before we get into your stories today, please promote everything you'd like right there. Yes, I am currently on tour. I'll be torn all the way through 2026. All my dates are on my website, salvelocanocomedy.com. Always adding dates. Right now, there's probably, you know, 30 or so put up.

There'll be another 50 put up. So check back if you don't see your city. Big dates coming up, November 14th, Chicago Theater, December 27, New York City, the beacon, April 12th, the rhyming in Nashville. I'm doing Atlantic City, February 28th, and so on and so on. Damn, dude. Good for you. Yeah, Appleton on November 15th.

So, yeah, so just check it out. I got a new talk show coming out called Mnuch. It's like a talk show pod. You can get that. That'll be out like late fall, early winter. I'm doing that in 10 episode season. So I'm shooting out the first 10 now.

The concept is like really, really big guests, really, really small talk. And it basically goes in and out of like sketch comedy and interview and stuff. So that's good. And then what else?

What I'd say? Well, my special is now streaming on HBO Max. It's called Terrified. And season 12 of Jokers is on TBS on Thursday. Season 12. Yes, sir. Good for you.

I mean, are you, do you ever step back and think about that number? Yeah, I do. If you can get a season two on any, shit, if you can get a season one these days, go for you. Season two is 12. Yeah. I think about it all the time. It's wild. That's wild.

Yeah. I mean, in the statistics of television history, I'm sure, I know Simpsons, obviously, married with children. I think, where are you guys in season? I don't know. I know that South Park has a ton, and I think Sunny has a good amount. But we have over 300 episodes, and we started in 2011. So it's been on the air 14 years. I mean, people have literally grown up with you.

That's the most surprising thing that, like, happens. Like, right now I'm getting a lot of younger kids in my shows, late teens, early 20s. These are kids that come up to me and say, they found me one of two ways. I'm like a, I have like eight memes on TikTok. or whatever, which I never intended, but they're discovering that way or been watching you since some four, five, six with my parents. And now they have, it's, I'm their first comedy show they're going to. They have some, you know, some money.

They can go out and be independent. And I'm getting these kids that, like, started to watch me at five years old come now. I mean, I can't compare to your success at all, but I still have kids come up with the crab feast podcast. Yeah. I've been listening to you since I'm nine years old. And I'm like, oh. Isn't it the most?

Hey, bro, when you're 40 and I'm in my 70s, hook me up, bro. You know what I mean? Come back and give me some love then. You know what I mean? Let me do you a little solid. It's like, bro, I go up for free on you. But also, you guys are the show that now like, and I know this from all my hospital shit a couple years ago, you're going to in the ER. You're just, you're just ambios.

We got hospitals and prisons are locked. I swear to God. Every time I'm in the hospital, every time I'm looking up there, sad. There he is. I'm laying there, clots in my lungs dying. I'm like, put a practical joke.

I swear to God. So many people tell you, we watch you all the time in prison. It's always on in prison. And then I also get like everyone telling me I was in the hospital. Like I was laid up in the hospital. Three weeks.

We hear it all the time. No, stop, dude. I met Michael J. Fox. And he told me that he, what he was, or stint he had in the hospital. That's what he watched.

And I was like, oh my God, this is, you talk about the way back. I mean, he's the God. I talk about. Anytime anybody asked me about celebrity who's, you know, the biggest, I say, look, I've met a lot of people that you would be, I absolutely know who that is. And they know who you are. I said, but the first time I hung out with Sal was years ago at the Vegas Comedy Festival. And I said, remember that one? I said, this guy couldn't fucking walk five feet. Yeah. Everyone knew. Sal, Sal, Sal, Sal, like, God damn, dude. Yeah, well, that's, Vegas is like that touristy area, Vegas is a hot spot for sure. Everyone could. Everyone could.

coming in from all over the country but um yeah man it's just resonated with people i i it's just crazy really you know i i got me spinning my wheels about the guys in prison seeing you do these pranks and making me think the shit they're probably doing in prison and getting away with each other you know what i mean like little shit that they yeah i like yeah i know right it is crazy like to think about like that is you know a form of their entertainment that they're really like like it's fucking with people yeah it makes sense for it's it makes sense for inmates but that they're watching me to like past time and like laugh literally literally like that yeah exactly like the most literal sense of the world literally past time yeah that's the one

what the show the the best thing that's ever happened like the best comment on the show for me is that it's brought families together and that's what i hear the absolute most it help people through hard times post tragedies or just rough time but and also that and also that like it's the only thing that make our whole family can watch together it's the thing that i shared with my grandma or my dad or like we don't have a relationship outside of like this is the show that's the conduit to us talking or laughing or that you never anticipate and that was the most shocking thing to hear and that's the thing i hear the most and i think that's the most um humbling and and like my proudest thing about the show yeah you're a family man i am last time you came you were

about to be i was about to be a dad last time i was yeah i was like i was always very private with um you know disclosing that stuff just because i i've been private my whole life and you know how the internet is so like i want to protect yeah my family my interest you know it's like the last sacred thing because i give everything i play myself on the show i give everything and you know how we are on podcasts you know we we we have thousands of hours of us talking about everything under the sun and that's the thing i'm conscious of about now too like i know i can't lie to my daughter yeah about anything right because at some point if she wants to yeah or her friends could be like no no no I heard your dad say he did barriwado you know what I mean like episode 64 he's

talking about right here at this time I'm like not only did you do it dad but let me tell you about the times you did yeah there's no getting away with anything yeah I know not with our kids at least right you know they're going to know everything yeah so since then I've had two children two i i have my daughter is just over three years old and i have a son now who is 10 and a half months old man you are in it i'm in it you're in it dude yeah did you sleep train or any of that stuff yeah they're a really good sleeper so i'm lucky with that i mean she's had her regressions that you expect and stuff and more recently um she has moved from her crib to like a mattress like a twin mattress like all these little things like like all the like when when like

something goes away like uh when she stopped formula i'm like all right that's that's a sign of moving on and you know when when when this happened when that happened and we pulled away the crib i'm like oh god you know like because i you know you want to freeze them you know you just i don't want them to get old i mean like i want them to depend on me i want to be their old universe i want to be there he you know so uh she got this twin bed and we did this thing where like my wife got like a gate like i wouldn't thing that goes around the twin bed so twin bed on the floor and it has a door with class that open and closed

Oh, that's cool. Okay. So like she can grow with it, you know, but no, we didn't show her that because we didn't want her to be escaping in the middle of the night, you know? And she wasn't big enough to get over, you know, but just recently she has now, like, in the last few months, like she knows that it's a door and she opens it. So a couple of weeks ago, it started with like her waking up in the middle of the night and having the autonomy to get out of it. So she's not sure. Like I have his little thing. It's called like a hatch light or whatever.

So it does different colors, different sounds. We used to put it to bed to white noise. But we tell her in the morning when you see the green light and you hear birds chirping, that's when you can get out of bed, you know. And she knows. So she'll sometimes wake up early, but know that that didn't happen. So just stay in bed until we do that. And I go up and get her.

But now she's been like disregarding that and just like getting up like two in the morning, opening her gate, turning on the lights and just starting to play. No. Yeah. And so like we're, you know, I have to go upstairs and like, babe, it's, it's, it's still dark out. We're all sleep and you got to get back in bed. She's like, all right. And then she'd get back in bed and then sure enough, like 20 minutes later just, you know,

because I had a little monitor and I see it go from like night vision to like full color. She's flipping lights on it. She's flipping on lights. And she has this little like her own little chair in her room and everything. It's just so funny. Like I'll open the door and she's, it's like four in the morning. And she's just lights her on, sitting in her chair. She's thumbing through a book.

Thumb him. Yeah. And I'm like, babe, I just told you 20 minutes ago. Like, I promise you, like, I'll get you when it's time to get up. But you got to, you know, so we're going through that a little bit now. It's hard for me because I remember times like that where I, instead of wanting to discipline, I'm also like, oh my God, that's awesome. It's awesome. Like this little tiny person in there has got their own computer in there. And they thought, I'll never forget the, so I had a little single dab pad. We had a little living room here. And then the hallway went here to the two bedrooms.

And there was just a little doorway. I mean, a door that would shut between the living room and the hallway, a bedroom. So I would shut that door. And one night, I go to open it. It's like one in the morning. She's already sleep. And she's standing there in the hallway. And it scared the shit out.

She was right. It was the first. I've been wondering when she was going to get up out of bed and that was it. And she just standing there with her little pacifier looking at me and it scared the shit out of me. I go, you got out of bed? She's like, mm-hmm. And I was like, all right, here we go. Like someone's thinking and starting to do shit for themselves.

Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty wild. Well, sometimes my wife like on nights where like, like, for example, tonight I'm taking a red eye home, I'll get home like, well, you know, if I, if I, like my wife will let me sleep in a little because of whatever. whatever like I come you know she'll get her and um because she's now because because I thought when we had one was was kind of tough you know like but now I realize it was like part-time work you know because if we could switch on and off this is that now you know with the two the way I like to say to my friend told me this I thought it was so funny we switched from from zone to man to man coverage so I there's no rest you know like I'm on them you know so since he's been

born she takes care of him in the morning and i take care of her in the morning so uh whereas she used to get her and i used to get up just shortly after that but i had that little buffer now i'm up and i'm up when she gets up right because it's like she gets up an hour earlier than normal i'm up and you know so and they totally different human beings like he's a little too young yet to i guess let me ask this though you know when you think you got when you finally got it all ironed out with your kid you're humming now we're like i know how to swaddle she likes this she likes this oh yeah so you assume that we're going to apply that to this one yeah did it or was she were they totally different like this one likes to be swaddled this one this one wanted a pacifier this one didn't

you know yeah so so they're they're the same in their demeanor they're like chill they're not difficult kids are like you know they're sweet and they like like the laugh at but as far as those semantics yeah like we did everything by the letter with her and then with him my wife wanted to try different things like maybe he doesn't need to be swaddle. Maybe he doesn't need a pass. I don't want to depend on it. Because we just got her off the pacifier that she like in the last like six months. You know, we had to do it's it's a, people don't have kids. It's a whole thing. You know, like that's a security thing. I got lucky with that one. Yeah, you got you. It was easy transition. And they, they told her, hey, they told her,

you're pushing your teeth out. Yeah. So I showed her to the Simpsons. I guess this is what your teeth are. And she's like, what? I guess is what they're doing. We did it with the dentist too. You know, and we did this whole thing. So I went home and I went home. And I went home. And I. I'm a single dad, so I have split custody. It's my weekend, the weekend, we're going to fucking get rid of pacifier. I'm like, God damn it. And I said, we're doing it. We're doing it.

So what I did that night was I let her stay up late. I just let her stay up late until she fell fucking sleep. And then I put her in the bed, done. One night, done. I couldn't believe it. This child was such a pacifier kid that we learned, too, that I would put like six of them in her crib. Yeah, me too. Because, you know, they spit them out in the middle of the night and then he wanted to read.

I had them everywhere in there. They're one in the spot. Like a boxer looking for that mouth piece. Tyson looking for that after he got knocked out, bro. Yeah, 100%. And I mean, she could have touched one with her foot. They were everywhere in that fucking. I'm telling you right now, if you're a new pair and put them all in every corner.

Hell yeah. I had so many under that damn crib. I'm like, you ain't going to worry. You're going to find one. You can hold on the one and put one in your mouth, too. Yeah, but it went. it was i i couldn't believe it was a one night and done good i was very lucky yeah we we ours was pretty uh she did really well with it too we just transitioned out of diapers too so we're going

through all that but um uh what was i getting that with uh with the kids oh yeah so we didn't do so we didn't do the we didn't do the pass we only do it if he's really having a tough time so he doesn't look for it so that's good um but i was i ADHDed myself i was no i interrupted you you were talking about your wife wanted to do different things with your son like not to pass a fire yeah yeah yeah but oh yeah with the man to me yes i was talking about her with her getting up and stuff and how hard it is yeah it's not it's you say you feel like oh so sometimes she'll get she'll get her up if i'm if she lets me sleep a little and so she'll come down to the bed like sometimes it's like the cutest thing like she'll just touch my face softly and i like open

my eyes or like she'll get in the bed and like just like lay next to me and then i see her and I just open eyes. Sometimes, though, literally just a open hand slap. Oh, yeah. Just an open hand slap right across like, what? Like as I'm sleeping and I'm just like, ah, and she's like dad. I'm like, oh my God, dude. Like they, they get some torque behind it. It hurts. It doesn't matter now. And they're fast with those weird little legs. They're not supposed to be able to run that fast. Like you put them down, you look back and then they're all the way across the room. Like, no, man. It doesn't. Yeah, like this, this, this, we went on a family vacation. Florida and we had a yard with my family and there was a pool so I had to keep an eye on her you know

and dude she cuts quick she's good with the jane lateral movement bro I'm telling you're tearing our ACL and I she took off and I went to run after her and I'm like I almost like like you know obviously if it was a race of any length I demolish her you know she has no chance against me but it went in quick quick cuts in small areas dude she was she was she was she was bursting me yeah he's very He's got me, because I need little time to take off. But she's like a, she's like a Tesla. She goes from zero to 60, like one second. And before I knew it, she was putting space in between us.

Yeah, bro. And then I like, I'm like, go, voila. Once I say stop, she doesn't want to stop. And I was like, all right, I need to. Do you know what she did to me, dude? She's very smart. And lock out, she's like, she's starting to read now. She's unbelievable.

She's like the funniest. It's like, it's unbo. She's the, my kids are the funniest people. No one makes me land. doubt yeah but this this son of a gun she she she's she now swimming happened fast too she doesn't swim without swimmies but it went from you know me holding her and in one instant it was like she put on the swimming now she's jumping in and all that stuff so she we're out of the pool everybody went somewhere so it was like because i was there my in like everybody was there

we had a whole big thing and it was just me and her for some reason like and so we're sitting at the pool and talking to her we're eating lunch and And she stands up and she starts to walk toward the pool. And she knows she can't go near the pool without swimming. She knows all this. But she, you know, they test. So she goes and she walks up to the pool, the edge of the pool. And I'm, I'm, she, you're her on me.

This is how close we are. Because as soon as she stood up, I stood up. And I walk with her. And I don't want to like overdo it, you know, like I wanted to be able to know, like, I'm right there. You know, I believe me, I told her everything under the sun. Like, dad has to be here. You can't jump in unless I'm in.

And she knows. She goes up. to the edge and I stand up and I don't say that and I walk about two feet behind her and she turns out and looks at me like that and I go all right you're gonna get a step back from the thing or whatever and she just looks at me turns around and jumps in no swimmy's on and I literally I saw her go yeah and I just I was like I was in the I jumped so fast because it was like five feet like she went straight down I jumped in so quickly that I pulled her back up before, like before there was any panic set in, you know, because when she jumps in,

when I'm swimming, she goes on there and comes back up. So it was the same sensation. So she didn't, you know, but part of me was like, you know, I lifted her up and I, the feeling I had, dude, twice on that trip was as scared as I've ever been with her. I, like, held her up. And like, I didn't want to like, I was like, I was like, I have to drill this into her. So I got out of the pool. I put it down. I got right in her face. I'm like, look at me. I was like, you cannot. do you also like it's just like real you know this real sensitive thing because you can't really go so hard because they're not that layered in their thinking yet and like you don't want them to you don't want to accidentally encourage them to try it again it's like but i got so and i looked

right in the face i've never raised my voice at all ever my but i'm just like it was like slightly raised i'm like look at me you cannot jump in unless i'm in there you can hurt yourself she doesn't know the concept of anything i'm like you know And she was, so the rest of that trip, she'd walk out to me like, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't jump in there. I can't, I will. This is very dangerous. I will get her. I'm like, thank you, you know. But you ever have this with, wait. Let me ask you this, though. As a dad, are you all so stoked that she looked back in and was like, I'm fucking. She's a son of what I mean. Dude, she's good for her, though. Oh, did. You know, it is partly, they need to learn about fear a little bit too, you know.

Yeah. So when I moved into this building, we had a pool in there. And they did. didn't have a fence around it. And the lady's like, you're the only person with a baby. It's an older building. She's like the, it's, you know, it's, um, gated access front and back. So the pool's protected, but within the building, it's not. Yeah. And I said, well, then fucking, I'm putting my kid in swimming lessons. So we went and got, um, swimming lessons right away. I just made a rule that she wasn't allowed to wear a swimies. I was like, I don't want you wearing them because I don't want you to use those as a crutch. Right. And we got to get rid of those. Right. So then during the pandemic, shit, our building was a privately owned building.

The lady let the pool stay open. A lot of the bigger buildings closed their pools. Wow. And I told my daughter every day. Every day. When you get done, this pandemic's over, you're going to be swimming like a fish. And she does. She crushes it.

Awesome. Every day, we're going down. Every day. Yeah. So it's, it's terrifying. Then you learn about dry drowning. I'm like, what's that? I don't know what that is.

You know about that one? Here we go. Sorry, bro. Here we go. I can drown. I can drown dry. We can have. Don't do it to me, man.

So you know how kids get a lot of, they slurp a lot of water sometimes. Yeah. So if a lot of that happens later in the night, they can have the water in their lungs and drown. And it's called dry drowning. And I, you know, I had never even heard of, sorry, dude. Come on, man. Sorry, dude. That's why I'm paying every time. Because sometimes she's just like, I see a dip in like it's a beverage.

I'm like, you can't. I got, it's chemicals. I didn't know about the dog I'm saying to say things it's going to burn your lungs up yeah she'll she'll go like I go babe

and she's like all right chemicals I'm like yes chemicals the other thing too when she and her friend used to my buddy's daughter best friends

they were about the same age they'd swim together and every time they would come up out of the water to show you like they're swimming out they would spit water and I go please

yeah right in my face every time I like could you please stop everything else is great the guys are the best The biggest, I'm wondering if you've had this scare. This is my first time with this scare.

I'm sure I'll have another like this, but it was my first and only so far. Same exact trip. We got one of those big SUV, three row SUVs. We got two of those because we got all family, right? We're going to leave the house. The SUVs are parked in the driveway in front of this house, okay? So we're loading the car up. I'm loading up strollers, this, that the, you know, the doors are open to the car and we're all getting in and she's right there.

We're all right there, right? I put in the stroller, I put this in, I turn around, she's not there, right? So I look left, I look right out on Sear, and I call her name. And then my wife's right there. She goes, what? I go, we were, she was right here. She calls her name. Everyone starts calling her name. There's like 10 of us. 10 of us are there. No one knows what she is. My first instinct, she went to the street. I mean this all happened within three seconds right I'm yelling her name I'm yelling her name I'd run out into the street and I look up and down the street I don't see her a car had passed I'm like did a car kidnap yeah yeah yeah yeah you know what I mean it's a beautiful minding all the scenarios right now and then I run right for about 20 30 feet looking in people's driveways I run left 20 30 here look up and now I'm screaming her name every Everyone's screaming our name. And I'm thinking, if she walked back into the house, the pool's in the yard.

I start chugging toward the house, getting the yard. Now, I'm running toward the pool. My heart is, I'm having a heart attack. And I'm ready to just dive right in the pool. And I get up to the pool. And I look at she's not in the pool. I'm like, that was a relief. But then where is this child?

Now everyone's running through the house. And everyone's running. And she was literally right here in the stroller behind. She was, I could have touched her with my hand. I put the two things in the thing. I turned back around. It was less than 10 seconds total, less than 10 seconds. But also, she was amongst all of us.

Right. So, right? And no one knows where she is. And the feeling that you have in this moment is the most palpable, vulnerable, it's the most scared I've been in my entire life. You know what I mean? Like, imagine being in your late 40s and feeling, that feeling like like i've never been that scared in my life i've never felt that in my life the panic i almost couldn't breathe like the adrenaline surge i was hyperventilating just from running like you

know and now we're screaming at the top of my lungs i'm like calling 911 right and then someone in my family i don't know if it was my friend just goes oh here she is she just got in the car she was in the She got in the SUV and went and sat in the backseat. And she did not respond to us when 10 adults were running in every single direction, screaming her name at the Zavar long. She just was sitting in the back seat and she didn't say anything. And as soon as they found her, I took a knee, man. I took a knee.

I literally went down on a knee and I literally like started almost like I was like crying almost because like you can't like to hit that let take where i hit inside that that panic and that fear and then to thank god you know like you know it just was like so overwhelming and i i like had it pains in my stomach like my whole stomach was in knots and like it took like an hour for me to regulate again i was so deregulated and oh my god dude i you know i never you ever see like those leashes I was like, I never wanted to get a leash before, but I was like, I'm going to get a leash in every color. They look better now. They'll match your outfit.

They're monkey tails. I'm putting you on a bungee cord player. If you go more than 15 feet, you're going to snap right back to me. I'm not even going to pull it. Dude. You must have had this because it's law of averages, right? You had this? Not only did I have it, I'm proud of you for taking only an hour.

I had to go to therapy. it's why you started this podcast my daughter was probably three at the time and um i was meeting her mom i know exactly today it was the chargers the ravens were playing the chargers out here a couple few years back when the chargers were playing at the what's up with your boys man come on they're an exciting team to watch and i'm i've been like oh man they got to get their act together and I'm a Steelers fan so the Ravens are not the Ravens yeah well everyone's on I mean their whole their whole payrolls for that yeah no excuse I didn't mean to interrupt that's okay I know you're a big but we're going to that game that night her brother

and I are going to that game and um we're parked on the side of the road and um I'm you know giving my daughter to her mom I just had lunch with her brother and her and uh it's right off a Wilshire, busy street. And my daughter goes to run to see her mom. And instead of going on the passenger side, she cuts between the cars and starts to go across the street. And I fucking, I freaked out. Yeah. I screamed, Stella, like a guttural. Yeah. To this day, I couldn't replicate it. Yeah. It was all my fucking God. And then snatched her at the last second. Her mom grabbed her. And this car was, it was, like, flying. And I lost my shit.

And then I just hugged her and I was, I was crying. I was hyperventilate and I was like, oh, my fucking God. And when we left, Sal, I couldn't, I couldn't stop imagining what didn't happen. Being hit by this car and the way it would have gone. Yes. And the brutal death this child would have had in my hands and what a horrible parent. it. Oh, so you, you, you, you feel it inside that moment. That's something I work on, too, because I put myself in these positions. And we've talked about this and I am, uh, feeling that I, I, I feel that grief in my thoughts. I feel that actual grief as if it's happened. As if it's happened. And like, you don't want that. You want to save that when it happens because that is some heavy ass grief. Yeah. And I, I'm working on trying not to have that touch point to that grief now. Like, you know what I mean? But I, I get to. We talked about it last time. That's what I had to do.

Yeah. I immediately, and I don't know why these two things were the things that popped up for me, but I always have been a chill person. But what I realized is my anxiety's just been chilling in a fucking hammock, waiting for its number to be caught. Oh, it's in our late 40s. Yeah. Here we go, bro.

Here we go. And like you said, imagine being in your life. I immediately became terrified of heights. Yeah. I couldn't fly. I couldn't fly anymore. Turbulance. I would be the guy on your flag.

I love to fly. I'd be terrified to take off. And then I talked to Dr. Druid, he's like, you got to go do this. And then I did the EMDR and realized where these fears are coming from and why. And I can now think about them and regulate them. And the main point she made is you keep saying it over and over. I couldn't stop thinking about what didn't happen. She's like, we've got to control your mind and not future trip on that shit.

And let's focus on, you know, what did happen. Everyone's safe. Everyone's fine. And now we learned a valuable lesson. Yeah. All right. And I'm monkey tapping on planes and shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

People are looking at me. Trying to separate. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This episode of the honeydew is brought to you by booking.com. If you're looking to grow your vacation rental business, this is the place to be. Booking.com is one of the most downloaded travel apps in the world and for good reason. Since 2010, they've helped. over 1.8 billion vacation rental guests find places to stay. That's a billion with a B.

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But, as I mentioned, listeners get 20% off their first order with code honeydew. So head to mood.com, find the functional gummy that matches exactly what you're looking for and let mood help you discover your perfect mood. And don't forget to use promo code honeydew when you check out to save 20% on your first order. Now, let's get back to the do. I got to go back because that did help me with something. and that that that'll i haven't done it with like in in recent times and uh it was it was effective and um but yeah that's what i do too and it's like because some part of you like some part of me it does

feels like i don't want to be blindsided or something like that and so i don't know if it's like thinking that i'm prepare mentally preparing or something not when you're thinking of something like an accident like that that i go there too and not just like you better shake out of this but just natural things like losing people like we talked about this last time it's like I don't know if it's just like I'm bracing you know you you begin to brace for something and because you just never know when it can happen and so it's like I'm trying to shift my mental focus to bracing that I'm going to go before you go right regardless of the age right if that's tomorrow I'd rather that than you go before me right fuck that oh yeah oh yeah you know

that's actually the biggest thing that shift for you oh yeah it did oh yeah because you were always worried about other people's deaths yeah now you're worried about yours well i yeah yeah well no i'm i was always worried about loved ones especially parents and the kids is a whole not a level i can't even kids and wife i can't don't put your head there yeah but before we even get into this let me say this last i was on this i remember like you know first of all you have this is a wonderful podcast and it's not like any other podcast thank you dude yeah and i and i remember being like is this going to be entertaining to people because I like it was it was you know so I felt sad like at times I was like you know and I just didn't you know we're comics and stuff but like I I I went back after I after

we did this and I read the comments on our episode which I don't do and I've never seen comments like that before and I was blown away by the comments of this this first time we met I remember and your audience and your viewers and how how they received it what they shared what they said it, it felt like and how much they appreciated it. And I was, I was blown away. I've never, in a time when you do a podcast and half of the comments, no matter what, are just going to be trolls and haters and the opposite of what you've cultivated here. And I read that and I was like, it was powerful. So I just want to commend you on what, what this podcast and the type of people that you've brought to this podcast and your fans and listeners are really special

group. Thank you, man. You have no. idea how much that means to me. I'm very proud of this group of people right here. And our numbers, we may not be up there with the mega podcast and everything. But what I will say is people like you say this to me all the time. Your fans, Josh Wolf just had a really deep one about his son dealing with addiction. And he said, I can't tell you how many comments I'm getting left and right. Thank you. Thank you. So thank you. It restores some faith, man. I'm trying to do something different over here. I mean, we could pull our dicks out and do everything else all the time, but no. People will cry for that too if I did that.

Actually, we're going to go ahead and make this a clip. Clip there first. We're clipping that. Let me ask you this, though, as a dad, what's been the hardest thing for you? Yeah. What's been the hardest thing? Yeah. So on the way here, right? So I remember the last time. So on the way here, I'm in the car and I'm like, oh, you know, I want to make sure like I remember what we talked about last time so this time and I knew that we didn't speak on my kids and I have that to talk about now so first though I got out of the shower I put on my eye cream I have a facial routine right I got to yourself you got to take take care of your face

so what I did was I went I flew too close to the sun I got some cream up in my balls here right and that that happens every like you know like every week or two like I'll go I just do that and it gets and then now a sudden like my eyes they start like Like the whole day, like I'm always doing this the whole day because it's in there and it's like, it's just annoying. That happened today. And I'm like, I'm on my way to the honeydew and I already got like the eye irritation going. So then I'm in the car. I'm driving my, you know, my buddy Josh is driving.

And I'm, it was too little time for me to like listen to the episode. So again, I'm reading the comments because that was a lot of them referenced what things we talk about. And I was like, and as I'm reading the comments, I'm getting emotion. I'm getting emotional from the things I talked about how wonderful these people are all the things they're saying and the things that they're sharing they're going through

I'm reading the comments now I start crying in the car I literally I literally have tears coming down my cheeks in the car I'm like motherfucker I already know I'm probably gonna end up crying here I got the lotion in my eyes now I'm crying anyway on top of it

in the car I'm using a tissue I don't want to go there with puffy red eyes so that's already that now i'll tell you right now we start talking about my kids i get emotional so i'm just putting that out there right now but uh yeah so the kids is you know the best thing that's that's that's ever happened to me hands down did you always want to be a dad always okay so you were trying for your first one and stuff it's not something that you know married people happen as a matter of fact um you know i'm gonna be 49 in november and the first thing that happened when I had my daughter was like regret that I didn't do it sooner.

So wait, you're 45, 46 when you're a new dad? I'm saying when you first had your first kid. I was, uh, 45. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I was 41 and I, I mean, look, your regret's probably different than mine. My regret was, oh, I mean, if we were just going to be together for a year and you decide

you don't want to actually do this, I could have done this shit my 20. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. Right. My knees were still good, which I wanted to go back to real quick.

When you're an older parent and those kids dart like that, you can't, like, I've realized I need to stay in shape. You can't go from a cold position to an immediate sprint in your 40s. You can't. You literally can't. You can't. You'll tear something. You'll run to jack. Oh, there goes by ACL.

I'm down. It is. It's eye opening, dude. It's eye opening. You can't be like a dad in their 20s. They're fucking sprinting over there, cutting. Yeah. You start to realize that you have limitations, just that you have them, you know?

Once the last time you intentionally ran full speed. Bro, I can't remember. Bro, I cannot remember. It would definitely be competitive sports in my 20s. This just happened again. And I'll tell you, this happened to me about a month ago. Three days later, I started with a personal train. See, we took it.

We went to soccer. And we pulled up to go to soccer. soccer and my son had needed a diaper change so my wife opens the back cab of the of the CV and she's doing that and I'm with my daughter my daughter you know we're on a residential block she starts walking down

the sidewalk a little bit again I don't want to be a helicopter and she's right there you know so she starts walking and she's like five 10 feet away no big deal she knows not to go in the street or whatever and and then she just decides she's going to take off full speed running she just starts she got a little further than I like walking

And I go, hey, come on back. And then she looked at me and she kept on. I said, come on back. And then she went from a, from a, she just went from a zero position to a full, full one. Now, all it takes is, we're on a sidewalk. She just goes into the street. That's it like you just said. I dropped everything I had and started to run full speed.

You know what? You know what my legs felt like? Where your legs meet your hips up there, it felt like they were going to just fling off. Do you notice, you know, you know, it was totally. When we were little, where you push the bottom and they're on the stream and they come back up like this and it's like a donkey or whatever and and then the legs just go like that again. Dude, my legs, I felt like that thing. I was like, yeah, you can't. I when I cannot just drop everything at all else anymore. When your brain is telling you that you're running as fast you can, I know what that is from 40 years of life. And I wasn't doing that speed. I was like, in my head, I'm like, I'm running as fast as possible. And dude, I'm, I'm, I'm running as fast as possible. And dude, I'm. I was hobbling to her. And then I finally caught her. Like,

and you know, again, again, I'm running in my head full speed. She's running full speed. And I'm really not gaining that much. I'm not making up any ground. And now I saw panic and I'm like,

yo. Also, I don't have the stamina to keep this up either. I know. I know. My pants are falling off. Like, it's like,

you know. And, and I couldn't believe it, dude. I almost pulled. I thought I pulled. everything right and three days later

shit the ears hurt shit over here I've never felt hurt and I'm like I had to carry it into the park to the field which is like another like you know two tenths of a mile and I'm like

so so I started three days I said this is the end why are you here I can't catch my kids I'm putting this to bed I need the strength to dude I don't

I can't make a move without some kind of guttural sound coming out of them. Because I'm on the floor a lot. I'm on the floor a lot. My son just learned how to crawl. You got tummy time and shit down there. Tommy time, just out the other. I always right down there with him.

But I have to allow, you know what I was to do now too? I, this is, you got to do this, to get up, I always push off a knee that's planted down. I don't,

you have to use this to get, you know, just to make sure. But if I'm getting up, I'm like, and I don't even think about it. And then I realized, if I just had a recorder going all day and I was home alone and I played it back, all you'd hear all day is like, ugh, ah, ugh, ah, it's just be all

I'm like, what has become of this man? So, the only time I could do the training now is before they get up. So I'm getting up at six in the morning like I'm on a like a cross country sports team now. And I'm going down there and I said to the guy, look, man, I'm weak I have no stamina. I said, I need to build up my strength. I need to be healthy. I'm playing, I got to play a longevity game here. So, you know, I did a full blood panel.

I got on supplements now. I'm like really trying to fine tune this thing. Look at, I mean, you're an inspiration right here. Thank you. We pulled up today. I said, oh, my God, you look, you look amazing. It's inspiring, brother. I hit that 189.9.9, bro, I still 18 on the scale.

Well, here's the other thing I did for my health, too. I went and got, so my younger brother, he's not so young anymore. He's 50s about to be shit, 48, 49. He just had open heart surgery. Oh, my goodness. Old school. They couldn't go in. They were like, unfortunately, two of your arteries are completely clogged, and your other one is 70% clogged.

And he's like, what? He had no clue that was the case? He said, his cholesterol, everything was fine. The numbers on that thing was fine. I said, what was the indicator? What was it that he said, I was tired all the time? And I said, oh, shit, I'm tired all the fire. fucking time. Also, we work all the time. Yeah. And we have, so he's got three kids. So he went in,

had to get it done. I go get every three years, I get a CT scan on my heart. I'm about to do all of this. Okay. I go every three years and I had zero percent. I was like, wow, I wouldn't thought, I wouldn't have bet my life had zero, all the family history and everything. But I've got the blood disease. My heart's good. My blood is not good. Okay. So he's got good blood, bad heart. So I went and had a cardio, it's called a cardio angiogram. I'm doing it. That's where they shoot the diet in the heart, just went and did that. I just went and had something called a gallery test.

You all should be listening. I got, do I show you my, L-L-E-R-I, the cancer one? I'll show you my phone right now. I'm doing the pre-newvo scan. Great. For cancer detectors. Yeah. I'm doing this CT angiogram.

Yeah. The calcium school. I'm doing all of it. And then I do a full blood and urine lipid panel every, I do that every two months. And I, you get one through a, insurance a physical year, but I pay for a second one. And my doctor's always like, you're one of my best patients. I said, look, man, if I can buy weed, if I can go spend $100 on sushi, I can spend money coming in here and doing my own little blood panel and, you know, skipping a sushi meal

or skipping some weed from my health. Yeah. That's what other thing I want to tell you is this PT you're doing is great to get in shape for the this and the this, but the longevity that you're going to give your kids of, hey, my dad made it to be an old. man my dad died at 42 i always say i want to be something my dad never was and that's an old man yeah and i'm trying to get there because i wanted my kids to to have a dad that's there and they're older you know yeah especially when they're parents i wish i could talk to my dad about you know having kids yeah do you have your parents i do and do you talk to them about are they great grandparents yeah they're great unfortunately during covid they moved out of state and my whole life they live

within five minutes of us. So that's been really tough on me. That's something I talk about in therapy because I don't know. I didn't grow up like that. I didn't grow up like, you know, maybe like not having them right there or, you know, I'm so busy and with the kids and like 10 jobs. Like sometimes I could take, you know, on the long side like four, five, six, seven weeks to see them again.

I'm always thinking, you know, when am I going to see the next? Try to put it in my book and like make the time. And so I have something on the books all the time, you know, during the holidays or like when it's like for some reason there's some free time maybe I'll see them every couple, two, three weeks. But the average is probably like five, six weeks. And it could get as bad as seven, eight weeks. And it's like, this is insane because all I want to do is be around my family. You know, like especially now. Like I don't want to at this rate, am I seeing them, you know, a dozen times a year?

And when I go, luckily, so all my entire family move there. so my my mom and dad separate households you know and since i'm little and um and then i have three sisters and they're all separate houses five households they all moved oh okay there which is kind of cool because they all live within five minutes of each other now there but they all have kids and stuff too it's 80 minutes from me with no traffic so um my one sister has three young kids and my other sisters have adults adult kids but um but did you did you grow up like that with cousins and stuff yeah see me too i i wish the best thing ever cousins was like you have this we talk about the way back in that you know and i told you i have a

story and that that's me and my cousins pile into that that station wagon going down to the jersey shore when we're younger and uh you know that was like you know the the memories with my cousins and the holidays and that was the big thing so she has um some cousins on my wife's side but all her you know cousins and yes she doesn't get to see them that much either um so yeah so that's that's kind of that's kind of tough um but uh we're talking about just getting your health back in check and you saw you yeah so yeah it's just it's just it's just weird for me like to see them like i'm thinking like let let's say knock on wood my dad we're we're planning his 80th birthday right now in December let's say the guy lives 30 more years you know i mean please you know but if i'm

seeing him out of rate of 12 times a year you're telling me you know like like that's not a lot You know what I mean? Like we used to be this thing where he's like just anyone would be popping into anyone's house and that's how I grew up. So like that has been the hardest thing for me since since since in this time that they moved away. But the main thing on my mind right now without a doubt is to live as long as I possibly can to be here for the kids. I want to, you know, I see grandkids.

I don't know if I'll even see that. You know, like I didn't have a kid till 45. Right. You know, so if my. So when we're at graduation, people were going to be like, oh, you brought. your grandfather i already think about that like a fuck all if they don't have kids let's say at 30 they don't have kids which is very very reasonable and i do this math 30 years from now i'm 78 like that's that's up there you know like if you're not in good health and then if i am how many more how many years

am i get went to grandkids three years where they don't even remember who i really am you know i i think about this all the time i would have excuse me as a younger man i would have never said i hope My daughter has a kid young, but these days I'm like, good. I'll help you with it. I'll help you with it. Find a big guy full love. Early. Let me help.

Let me help raise that baby. And even my kids, like having the relationship with my parents as their grandparents that I had because my parents, my grandparents had my parents young. So I was very, very lucky. I still have my grandma on my mom's side who's 93 or 96. We don't know. And then, uh, and then, uh, you know, my grandpa lived to. almost 96 and my other grandparents lived in

your family mid 80s my other one so um so are you just looking after your health now not because it's runs in your family but because you just want to make sure yeah to help you mentally to know you know i help me like okay i want to do everything someone freaks me out for three five years but you got to you know keep well i was just look going to get some life insurance and something freaked me out big time they said that like these life insurance companies they do the blood work this out the other and they can calculate when you're going to with with insane accuracy when you're going to die like they know it they do everything based on like the risk assessments and they they their business is run off that

accuracy and they have just endless data so like they can take your whole workup of your whole panel and look at your health and your weight and your age and you know all your predispositions what have you and and they'll they'll know and they said that it's like with insanely surprising accuracy like down like down to the like the like the week it's going to be April six I know that that's crazy to me out to think that that that's written already now you can change it I'm sure with like you know because if you're not in the state you're in now yeah you lose way yes for me that was like oh I like this is the only I have to take control of that you know Like, I got to move that marker because I'm not in the best health.

I always run, you know, overweight, you know, I'm always carrying extra weight on me. And I don't, I'm not on top of my blood work and all this other stuff. So this is, that just made me open my eyes and be like, no, no way. So I am dental, make sure you take care of your teeth because that's heart shit, too. You know what I mean? Teeth. Yeah, teeth bad gums and shit can really fuck your heart up. I didn't know.

Uh, yeah. Take care of those teeth and gums. One has to do with the other. All of it. All of it's got to do with everything. Wow. I didn't know. And the other thing, too, I tell people is go, you know, we have a lot of people on this show that don't talk to their family anymore or strange for good reasons. Their parents, whatever, were shit. But those people, they're your genetic biomarkers. Yeah. So if you don't talk to them or whatever, then go get, go find out what the fuck is going on in you. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like your whole family might be disposed of breast cancer or. diabetes or whatever and if you don't talk to them you don't know what you could be looking at down the road so figure out get your tests get everything figured out find out your genetics your biomarkers all that stuff and then you know because i have two brothers we all have different makeup right you know what i mean it doesn't matter just because he's got this i have no we're all my my oldest brother

he doesn't have the blood disease or the bad heart my my younger brother's got the cholesterol bad heart i've got the bad blood this motherfucker's off right you know know so yeah man so um you know the thing i think about with the kids too is uh is like i you know well first of all the kids is like you know you talk about having a there's i was a scared to say i ever wasn't that moment if i've never felt a feeling i felt like when i had the kids right i just didn't know that feeling can i ask you what was like driving your first child home from the hospital yeah do you remember that ride i do yeah of course I'm slowing down at greens

I was using hand signals I was using hand signals I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm like That was the most terrified ride

I've ever taken With my daughter I swear to go If I was at a light And I looked next to me And it was a literal White-haired old woman Looking at me

What the fuck she wants? Are you smoking? Yeah I'm like Stay away from my kids Old lady Like I was just like Like you know

Like the world you know yeah um but but you know i never i never like i said this is what i tell to people because i look if you don't want to be a parent then that's your prerogative and that's totally like that's what is good for you and that's fine i'm not trying to say like people who don't want any parents like but like i didn't know my life started you know like with my kids you know you just don't know it to have a feeling a new feeling after four 45 years that I talked about this on another podcast, but all the depression and anxiety and stuff like that, you know, you start to feel like, you know, you can be happy and,

and there are moments when you recognize that you should be happy. And you say, I'm, you tell you some, I'm happy. This is a happy moment. Like, this is good news or this is a, you know, I'm in a position. Like, this is a holiday or this is I'm with someone I love and or I got, you know, good news. And then you say, I'm happy. but like I I noted that I wasn't happy the way I was prior in my life.

Like I remember what there was a happiness that like came out of me with like a pep in your step. Like you wake up ready for the day and like you just were in a great mood. And that great mood was way more common in my past than it is now. I think you just get the weight of the world on you. You get older. You get more tired. You start to shift focus because, you know, you become more self-aware, you become more aware of the world, you have more

responsibilities, and these things start to slowly weigh you down. And, you know, your health gets a little worse, and then that plays into your mental and stuff like that. It's different when you're young, you know? And I, like, was missing that feeling of, like, not having to tell myself to be happy. Yeah. And you try everything. Wait, let's talk.

I, I, that's a great, man, you're making me get in my world now. Yeah. I, up until, up until 16, after it all went to shit, I didn't have to ever tell myself I was happy. I just was. Yeah. I just was. Yeah. And then one day something happens and you have to remind yourself that, all right, yesterday I wasn't.

But today I am. Yeah. Today's a good day. You talk about that being with your family. I try to step outside of things and be like, all right. Today's exactly what's supposed to be happening. It's my daughter's birthday today. Yeah.

Everybody's healthy. You know, my daughter's a very picky eater. And it's difficult at times. And it's frustrating because she won't go to this restaurant or that restaurant or it's, it can't be mac and cheese. It's got to be Annie's white mac and cheese. That's the best. It is.

But it's shit like that. I'm like, but could you just eat the mac and? Right. And my daughter's mom is frustrated with it. And then she's got a friend of hers who is terrified of being away from her parents, It won't go to school, won't do anything. And I looked at her mom and I said, I'll take picky eater all fucking day long. You know what I mean?

Like, you want your kid to be perfect. They're not going to be. Yeah. But I'll take our problems. That's what they all. What's the old saying? If everyone got in a circle and we all threw our problems in the middle and you looked around and you're like, I'm going to take my shit back.

Yeah. I never heard that. That's good. Yeah. Oh, hell. That's your, that's perspective. You know what I mean? When you start really seeing like, oh, you're missing legs.

Oh, you know what I mean? Like, I'm going to go ahead and pick a eater right now. Yeah. Yeah, you know, I, and one thing I did early, and I'll get back to what I was just saying, but one thing I did, I recognize real, real early is that, like, because it doesn't, everyone's like, you cherish it, it goes fast, it goes fast, and like, you know, just like when you know you're going to have children, you know what you're supposed to feel, you know what you hear what everyone, what it is, and everyone explains it to you, you know what's coming.

Like, you, you understand the concept of this love they're talking about and the feeling and everything. So you understand, or you think you understand, but then. when it happens it's it's not describable it's like it's that's just the way you can tell somebody else but like there really are no words for it no so and you know with me and the way that I am with time and death and all that stuff it's like I'm hyper focused like I'm and every minute I'm locked in with them like I do not that's I do not sacrifice like everything else can fall by the wayside like you know I have you know the kids come first no matter what and that that's how it should be

That's right. That's right. And so it's not, I'm not saying like whatever, like this is, and it's all you want. It doesn't, it's not like you're doing anyone a favor. Like, this is the new thing. Like, they give you perspective. Like nothing else. Nothing else matters. And so I am locked into every second. I know that like in a year, in five years, in 10 years, in 30 years, I will give any amount of money, any genie wish to be right back to where I was today with them. Even if on my death, but I could have one day back when they were three. and just have that one normal day just a day in the house with them that's the treasure time so like when they are having meltdowns or not behaving or i have no sleep and it's the worst it could possibly be like the parent moment where this one just chill on the floor and this one is screaming and they there's a i like don't care like i don't even i don't really get frazzled because i'm like this is it this is still the best of what this is the best it's going to ever get it doesn't even matter you're three you love me to pieces you're having a tantrum it don't matter you know what I mean nothing matter so like that from from early on has really helped me with what we call I'm in the

trenches right now with this but it's like you you thrive and love every moment not just some moments and so like I am so aware of how lucky I am and how much I love them that like there's not one moment that I'm not like grateful even in the worst moments so like for me like you know you have friends joke with you and be like, uh, you know, like, oh, like, you know, it doesn't suck or doesn't it, you know, whatever. And I almost can't even joke. I'm like, it kind of doesn't suck. It doesn't at all. It's what I want it. Yeah. Yeah. Like I like, this is it. Like I'm in it for all of this. You know, like I, you know, and, and, you know, like, we're in a hustle. We are jobs. You got to hustle. You know, and you really got to want this job. You know, you got to go through a lot

of failure and a lot of shit. Um, before you can. be successful and then you have to maintain that so we're already grow it and grow it if you're fortunate yeah yeah yeah so we we know what this is and it's like the same thing with kid that's like that same piece of me that allowed me to have this career and do all the things I need to do to get where I am in this career is like like with a dad you I thrive like I just want to be the best person the best dad like every second improving every everything do make all the right choices like i you know like it's it's i was already a person i feel like i always try at least to be you know genuine to have integrity and honest and all that stuff and

you know with people and with my actions and decisions like i always was that we're always striving for that and then you have the kids and you're like like even it's even more under a microscope like and again i've i've talked about this you know but it is it's like it's like the like the super bowl of integrity you know what i mean it's like and i i i i'm I want to make every single decision, even like in when I'm alone, like anything, any interaction I have with a person, any decision I make regarding anything, I want to do the filter of my children. And am I, am I carrying myself in a way that is exemplary to them and is like, will they, you know,

I want to just make them proud. You know, you want to strive to make your parents proud. I want to, you know, I want to, you know, I want to make the kids proud. You know what I want them to only see what love is, what a loving family is, you know. and it's wonderful it's such good it's food for the soul they are you know what I mean it's like and it's um it's it's it's it's I that's when it gets hard and when I'm tired and everything I thrive because it's like you feel it it it's a visceral feeling parenting and exhaustion and and this kind of stuff but it's like this is like I don't know I just it's it like it's it like empowers me to

just be like I like give it to me I'll take it all yeah give it all give it and I'm gonna fucking make this work yeah sacrifice every single thing throw it all at me because there's nothing you won't do for these kids it's and it's such a a well does like it's so hard but it's such a liberating beautiful thing it's such a parent I say all the time parenting's a long game too you can start great for the first 10 years you might be shit never show up for the next 30 but you don't get that reward until sometimes a little earlier but most of the time they become parents and like we're saying we're older yeah and then they look back and go how the fuck do it yeah how are you at all my

practices gives me a new appreciation for my parents yeah and it's uh it's just uh it's the it's the biggest honor of a lifetime to raise a person it's if you're a good one if you're a good parent there's a lot the shitty ones out there. That's why I appreciate sitting across from you seeing your passion for because you really want it. We got to get you out of here, dude. Oh, is it time? It is.

I got more to talk about it. I can talk to you all day long. I don't want to make it late. Yeah, yeah. Just as the tears start to flow, you cut me up. I love it. This is right. Everybody's going to be mad at me.

I don't want to be a bumberg mess because I was getting there, man. I was getting there. I was getting that. Sal, thank you so much, brother. This has been a great episode and a great conversation, as always. Plug your dates again, please. Thank you. I miss you.

I love you. I love doing this. Yeah, just Sablecano Comedy.com for my tour dates. I'm always adding some. So a lot of times, you know, when we post, I'm going here. Everyone's like, why aren't you coming here? Like, they'll be at it. Just check back.

And big dates coming up, Chicago, November 14th at the Chicago Theater, Appleton, the next day, Wisconsin. I got the Beacon Theater December 27th and the rhyme in April 12th and so on and so forth. I got Mnuch, which is a new talk show coming out, late fall, early winter. And, yeah, I guess that are my special terrified. on HBO Max. Season 12 of Jokers on TBS. Go see Sal Live. Follow me on social media. You know where I'm at. And go watch my special. Go support it to all your friends, your family, watch it. We'll talk to y'all

next week. I don't know.