The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler - 392: Lucas Zelnik on Growing Up Rich, Family Tragedy & Addiction | The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler #392

Episode Date: June 29, 2026

SPONSORS: NOCD -If you're struggling with OCD or unrelenting intrusive thoughts, NOCD can help. Book a free 15 minute call to get started Ultra -Don’t sleep on @‌ultrapouches. New customers get 15% Off with code HONEYDEW at takeultra.com! #UltraPouches #ad Proton -Right now, Proton VPN is offering our listeners 70% off a two year plan when you go to ProtonVPN.com/HONEYDEW Lucas Zelnik joins me on The HoneyDew to Highlight the Lowlights of growing up as the son of the Chairman and CEO of Take-Two Interactive, the company behind Grand Theft Auto, while navigating family struggles money couldn’t fix. Lucas shares the heartbreaking story of his sister’s life-changing misdiagnosis, becoming her future legal guardian alongside his brother, his brother’s battle with addiction, growing up surrounded by wealth, realizing his childhood was anything but normal, and what it’s like having 11 toes. SUBSCRIBE for new episodes of The HoneyDew ever toozdee and check out The HoneyDew with Y’all every Thursday on Patreon for the wildest listener-submitted stories! 🎟️See me live. All tickets at www.ryansickler.com/tour 🎤Check out my new standup special “Live & Alive” streaming on my YouTube now! http://youtu.be/PMGWVyM2NJo?si=SrhXjgzR1pe6CyYE 👉 Subscribe for more standup and new episodes of The HoneyDew, The Wayback, and more! http://youtube.com/@rsickler ✅ Subscribe to my Patreon “The HoneyDew with Y’all”! Get The HoneyDew audio and video a day early, ad-free, for just $5/month! Want more? Upgrade to the $8/month premium tier and get everything above plus The Wayback a day early, ad-free, censor-free, and exclusive bonus content you won’t find anywhere else! http://patreon.com/RyanSickler 📧What’s your story?? Submit at [e-mail] 👕Get Your Merch👕 http://www.bonfire.com/store/ryansickler/ 🎧 Listen to my Podcasts 🎧 The HoneyDew - http://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-honeydew-with-ryan-sickler/id527446250 The Wayback - http://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-wayback-with-ryan-sickler/id1721601479 Patreon - http://www.patreon.com/ryansickler 📣 Follow Me📣 ▪ Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/ryansickler/ ▪ TikTok: http://www.tiktok.com/@ryan.sickler ▪ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RyanSicklerOfficial 🕸️ryansickler.com/ 🍈thehoneydewpodcast.com/ 🦀Subscribe to The CrabFeast Podcast🦀 http://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-crabfeast-with-ryan-sickler-and-jay-larson/id1452403187 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Honeydue with Ryan Sickler. Welcome back to the honeydew, y'all. We're over here doing it in the Nightpan Studios, Ryan Sickler. Thank you guys for supporting this show, for supporting anything I do, all right? And if you love this show, then you, listen, we've been doing it for years. And I've been telling you for years, the Patreon. It's the honeydue with you all. It's this show with you all, I promise you, for a couple call, for you're going to get over 300 episodes of the craziest shit you're ever going to hear in your life.

And if you are still like, I don't know, just go check out the best of episodes that we put up on the YouTube channel, the free ones, because they're just a small snippet of what's going on over there, all right? And if you or someone you know has a story that has to be heard, submit it to Honeydew Podcast at gmail.com. If you send it before, send it again. We get a lot, bump it to the top. We would love to do your story. All right? That's it.

You know what we do here. We highlight low lights. These are the stories behind the storytellers. I'm very excited to have discussed with us here today. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome. Lucas Delnick, welcome for the honeydew, Lucas. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Thank you for being here. Before we get into what we're going to talk about today, right there, please promote anything and everything you'd like. Traveling a lot, Lucaselnick.com for all tour dates. And I just released an advice podcast with my mom, YouTube only. It's a limited series going through Mother's Day. That's called Mommy Issues. And that's on my YouTube channel, which is Lucas Zelnick comedy. What made you want to do that with your mom?

I'm so close with my mom and she's a good advice giver. and I was like, when I used to have a podcast in the past, I did one episode with her and everyone really liked it. And I was like, oh, she makes me more likable. I always feel like I struggle with likabilities on pocket. Whenever I talk about who I am at length, people start, they grow to dislike me.

And your mom's there to sort of wrangle that shit in and be like, well, hold on here. Yeah, that's my goal. Yeah. All right. So, look, as I mentioned to you before, you sat down here. I don't know you. I know who you are, of course. I do my research, but here's the other thing. I don't do too much anymore. I used to Google, and we had a guest that came on here recently, and I knew of him and this group he was part of, but I didn't know him, and I had no

idea the depth of whatever he was into would come back like that. So I don't, because one time I had Kevin Neal on, and I looked up information, like, let me just see some background. And it said a younger brother his had been murdered. I was like, damn. So when he sat down, I was like, look, I look shit up. And I don't know what to believe these days on the internet anymore, honestly. But it said this. And he's like, that's not true at all. But are you, are you fucking with me? You know what I mean? Like, are you Kevin Neal and me right now? And he's like, it's not true at all. I was like, that's a crazy thing.

When the camera's cut, where you're like, did you really? I asked at the end. I go, come on. I was like, it's not true. And I was like, what a wild thing to have in someone's information online. So these days, I'm, I'm. I learn here. I love it. So let's get to know you a little bit. Where are you from originally? Tell us about yourself.

Born and raised in Manhattan, New York. I got an older brother, younger sister, two parents that are still together. How much older and younger? What's the age difference? Brothers two and a half above me. Okay. And sister is three and a half below me. And how old are you right now?

I'm 31. Okay. Yeah. I was going to say 28. You look good, bro. Thanks, you look good. Thank you. I appreciate it.

You sound great. Thank you, dude. Yeah. It's the most slap in the fucking face comment you could ever say that. I know it sounded like a backhanded insult. But you sound, I would listen to your voice. Thank you. You know what I mean?

Well, I hope you can do it for an hour here with me. It's not going to be it. It's going to be a sense for me. Good. Yeah. All right. So three of you, same parents. Mm-hmm.

All right. And we're born and raised in Manhattan. And what do mom and dad do? Dad is a CEO of a video game company called Take 2 Interactive. What games do we know? Grand Theft Auto. Oh, Jesus Christ. Are you serious?

That's them? Yes. Is Six out yet, for God's sake? Six is not. It's on the way. You should coincide the drop of this pod with six. Man, when is it? November.

November something. I don't want to hold your episode for five months. That's what they announced. I'm not, you're not getting any insider. They're doing a pre-Christmas push. Thanksgiving, everybody's together with the family. Winter. Everyone's a huddle in and GTA. That's smart. That's smart. Mom's stay at home mom. Mom is Canadian. From where? Born in Edmonton and then moved to Vancouver. Okay.

And then her side of the family, interestingly, like three of the, well, really two of the four of them, we're all Jewish. Two of the four of them got like kind of, they got really into Judaism when they were like 18. and two of the four of them became like ultra religious Jews and like moved to Israel and now there's like a ton of them in Israel. So I have like 40 cousins in Israel on my mom's side who I don't know, I don't know them too well because they're in Israel. And also I've been pretty critical about Israel.

They're probably like that. Yeah, they just, I remember the day like a YouTube video was sent back to me and it was just me. It wasn't even me just shitting on Israel. It was me shitting on Israel and them personally. And they were like, so he's doing that, huh? Well, that was from your family?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It got, it got to them. Not just a friend. It was like, oh, one of your cousins sent it back. Yeah, yeah. Would that feel like? It was, I think, have you had that yet? Like, I'm sure you have, right?

Where you've had that a lot. I would say a lot, but it's just recently I did this series for my other podcast, the way back called the Baltimore Junkyard series. And I for years been wanting to and the fans have been asking me to. I finally was able to sit down with my brothers and friends from childhood and tell old stories. And it was actually really, you know, validating that I hadn't fabricated these stories just for the art of stand up and all this shit. You know, like it was every bit as crazy as I remember. And so we're airing out laundry about our mom and stuff and that.

So you can imagine how that. You got a phone call after that one. No, we got no calls. Oh, yeah. Yeah, but it's, that's pretty fucking par for the course, but it was like, I think we're gonna, yeah. I got that, yeah, I got that text and it was like, it was weird because I was, I was kind of asking myself, I was like, am I putting my career over a relationship or am I just saying what I think? Because those are kind of two different things. You know what I mean?

I was like, I hope, and it's hard to tell. I don't know if you feel that way ever in this job where it's like, I'm asking myself if my. if my intentions are pure, am I doing the right thing because I'm interested in sharing my beliefs or am I just kind of like trying to be controversial? But I didn't, in this instance,

I didn't think, I was like, I kind of stand by what I'm saying. And I think it's unfortunate that I'm making the people that I love feel alienated. But it wasn't like I was airing out an unnecessary level of dirty laundry, you know?

I was just kind of shitting on Israel, which is like, I'm not the first guy to shit on Israel. So I don't know. I felt okay about that one. But I do find like it's like you do a podcast, you tell a story. And even if 100 people listen to the podcast, like the first one that hears it is the person the story is about it. It always gets back to the last person you want to hear it, you know?

Yeah, my mother's going to hear this. Can I just say this for the record? Fuck your mom. Let's get that on the record. Yeah. If you're listening, fuck you. Well, also, and again, I don't want to get political or whatever, but most people tend to be upset about something that bothers them.

The other 90% of shit you talked about didn't bug me. Yeah. You know what I mean? Whatever that was, there's another group over here, didn't like that. You know what I mean? So, look, I think also today the way you feel at 31, hopefully you're not the same person at 41. You know what I mean?

Like, it's an evolving process being a human and a comedian. And I think your goal and the truth that way you feel now, honestly, is what you're supposed to speak on. Yeah. Doesn't mean that you're held to it. If we did that, we'd have no politicians. Every one of them fucking tells us they're going to do something and then they don't, regardless of the side. So I get that. I get that.

But wait. So let's go back for a second. How do mom and dad meet? My mom moved to New York for college. She went to Barnard. like the women's college of Columbia University. And she was set up with my dad on a blind date. I think they were like 29 at this point.

My dad was living in L.A. for work. At the time, he worked in the movie business. I don't know what exactly he worked at a distribution company that no longer exists called Vestron. And he and my mom met. They went out on a couple dates. nothing really came of it. My mom's telling is that she couldn't really get a call back from him. He was like focused on work very busy.

And then I guess six months later, they met up again. And this time it was like off to the races. And I think in six months from there, they were engaged. They met when they were about 30. And they're still together. And they're still together. I think it's been 35 years. Man, now does your dad, does anyone in your family come from wealth?

Not my dad. My mom does. Interesting. My dad doesn't come from like abject poverty. He comes from like a regular, I would say upper middle class suburban New Jersey upbringing. Like things weren't too bad. He actually had a quite unfortunate childhood. His mother died when he was 11 and then his dad left.

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Yeah. You know, I think he felt very abandoned, and I think he grew to be very ambitious and to become, like, a self-made, successful business person. My mom, her father, was a very influential businessman in Canada. He worked in... Tell me he's Tim Horton. No, that was sick. Fuck. To be a Horton?

I don't think Horton's a Jew though Horton. You might be right about it. I don't know. Too many bacon egg and cheeses for Horton to be a Jew. But that would be great. That would be great. Yeah, what other magnates are there in Canada? It's so funny how we treat Canada. We're like, yeah, probably just Tim Horton.

Tim Horton, the only one. Yeah. Or a Gretzky. He's a hockey player. Especially in that happens in you. He was like a real estate private equity guy. But he was, he was dirt poor. He was an immigrant or came from a family of immigrants, like Jews fleeing Poland to Canada during the Holocaust and then got to Canada.

And he just like made something of himself. But he started as a used car salesman and then became like a business magnate. All right. So then mom and dad have three kids in Manhattan. Is that where you grow up? Like where's your, where do you actually grow up? I was born as my parents moved to Manhattan. So my dad left the movie business, started working in the music business, and that required

a move from L.A. to New York. Damn, he went movies, music, video games? Yeah. Damn. He thought movies were kind of dying. And I guess in a way, he predicted, like, a lot of the movements of the, he's been in, like, he's always chasing the part of it that's more relevant and growing. And in that way, he's pretty good at what he does.

So he identified it pretty clearly. I think he also felt like those movie studio heads just get fired every few years and then their careers are kind of over. And he's a very ambitious guy. So he moved us to New York. I was born in New York and lived in New York my whole life until college. And what is your place you've grown up and are you guys in an apartment there? Are you in a house there? Where are you in Manhattan?

I was born. The first place I ever lived was a townhouse on the Upper East Side. big big spot sick sick spot good please i want to hear it his company was paying for it actually so they they put him up he and uh we lived in this townhouse then we moved to the upper west side um in a in an apartment smaller but still and like what floor though like what's your day to day you don't go out to a yard right out the back door right no we lived in a the the upper west side apartment. It was on the third floor, so it wasn't super high up. But it was in this building, it was in a famous old building on the Upper West Side called the Apthor, very fancy old building.

And there's a big courtyard in the middle. It's like four buildings. And in the middle there's a courtyard. So when we were kids, we would go out and we had these razor scooters and we would like race around the courtyard. And then in New York, probably when you're like 12 or 13, you just kind of get to start walking the streets and you can kind of go wherever. which is, I think, good and bad. Like some kids grow up too fast and some kids grow up quickly, but I think it benefits them. For me, I loved it.

And then after 9-11, we were renting from people that lived at Ground Zero. And as soon as 9-11 happened, they were like, we want this place back. So we had to move out within a week of 9-11. So we got, we were told we just had to go. And then my parents bought a place back on the, the Upper East Side, I think two weeks after 9-11. Damn!

Like the housing market crash. No one wanted to be in New York, and they were like, New York will be back. And so they bought a place. And that's where I spent the rest of my childhood from when I was, you know, that would have been, 9-11 happened when I was six. So probably seven on. I was in that one place. And then your sister's born?

My sister's born. Okay. Yeah. Tell me about your sister. So my sister, I guess my earliest memory, my earliest memory of my sister was that things were going wrong with her. She was born neurotypical.

Six months into her life, she started having uncontrollable seizures. And there's this thing in medicine. I think it's getting exposed a little bit through podcasts and news. But basically bad doctors can survive at hospitals and move through hospital systems. to other hospitals because hospitals don't want to fire them.

They want to transfer them so that there's no like lawsuits. Exactly. Just like priests. Exactly. Just like the priest program. Yeah. And they're just, they're molesting our nervous systems.

You know what I mean? But they're, yes. And now we're just sitting your ass way over there. Yeah. Totally. Get the fuck out. Yeah. Like I think like Dr.

Death, did you ever hear that podcast? Oh yeah. Yeah. That was like an example of it where it was like he had been, he had a couple like disastrous things. but they just, they would move them to the next place. So this happened to my sister.

So she was, I think, and we think, we don't know, but we think she had like severe epilepsy, which is, of course, bad, but not something that should necessarily cause you to be mentally disabled and never live independently. But we got this doctor that told us she was going to die. So my parents came up to us. Can I ask you real quick?

Was there a complication at birth? or anything like that, like during childbirth? Or everything was fine. Six months later, she has a seizure. Like only that my mom was 40 when she had her and were like inbred Jews. So we're like all fucked up. Like I have 11 toes. Do you really?

Yeah. Which foot has the six? Right. All right. And it's all, it's just like we used to just fuck our cousins. Not me, not me. Not us. Clip.

It's going to be fucking your mom. You guys put out a four second clip from the podcast. Just we used to fuck our cousins. Yes, I have heard stories of the Jews wanting to keep their bloodlines alive because of everything that happened. So there would be some incest. At least there's the blood. Ashkenazi Jews and just. And so like, and there's a lot of like diseases that are specific to Ashkenazi Jews like Tayshak's disease.

Like Tayshak's disease. This was not. not what she had, but like that's one that impacts infants. And her mom and dad, both Jewish? Yeah. Okay. All right. So, you know, I'm built different in a negative way.

You are, right? Yeah. Yeah. So I'm fine. But like, if I look at our bloodline, like, if I had a kid with complications, I wouldn't be shocked because I just, the genes are a little fucked up. And is there any genetic history of epilepsy or anything like that in your family? Not to my knowledge.

Okay. Yeah. And so she was. was having seizures. The doctor told us, told my parents that she was going to die. And then this is a story that my mom tells me, but that it's not, it's not like a story that I remember experiencing. But I guess my mom went to like a therapist, a grief therapist and was like, I just, I have to keep her away from my boys because she's going to die and I don't want them to meet their sister and then lose her.

like because it was like imminent death. And I guess what the therapist said to my mom was like the most complicated relationships are the ones that are the least resolved. And so they really encouraged my mom to have us spend the most time as possible to share the most pictures to tell us what was happening. So we got sat down. I would have been, I wouldn't have been more than four. Like it's one of those memories where it's like you've been told so many times.

You can't even remember if you were. remembered or if you're remembering the telling that was told to you. But I was sat down and told my sister's going to die, spend as much time with her as possible. And then ultimately, like, my parents kind of, what this doctor was doing was they were saying like more meds, more meds, more meds, and they were just pumping her full of more and more and more medication as an infant. And so it caused her brain damage. And then they ended up getting like a second and a third opinion. And the doctors were like, stop the meds. Like, this is, you're, you're, she's not going to die.

Like, she's, she's healthy. She's full weight. Like, like, she's, something's going on, but she's not dying. And so they stopped the medication. And I think the belief in my family, and we don't know because it was such a, I think it was such a painful time for them. And to me, it's like a confusing time because I was so young. But the belief is, like, she might not have been.

The developmental and mental disabilities she has now may not have been as bad had the meds been pulled back earlier on. But my real memory growing up with her was just things were happening later. Talking was happening later. Walking was happening later. And it was sort of something we learned over time, like the extent of her disability. And, you know, now it's just my, it's normal. It's like my life, you know. What do you mean?

It's your life. What is, like, how is your sister now? How old is she? She is 28. So she obviously lived. She obviously lived. This guy was going to kill her, it sounds like. Those meds would have killed her.

I think so. Probably. I think she, I think it just would have been worse, you know, the more time that we'd stayed with this. And how is she now? Is she under your parents' care or like what, how does she live? So first of all, she's like the best ever. Like, she's so funny.

She's so painfully honest. I think, like, given my upbringing and, like, how badly I was at risk of becoming, like, the worst version of the person I still am, which is, like, this douchebag, rich kid, New York Jew, like, she saved me from being the worst and now I'm just, like, a middle, bad version of it. Everyone on this show has a low light that they've highlighted, but there's a different kind of low light one most people never talk about a thought that just shows up something dark disturbing completely out of character does that disturbing thought i just had mean i'm secretly a violent

terrible person and no matter what you do to try to shake it it just keeps coming back for millions of people that thought isn't a sign of who they are it can actually be oCD and most of them never make the connection not the organizing stereotype real oCD is persistent unwanted intrusive thoughts that feel totally out of character, along with mental or physical behaviors you feel driven to do to get relief. These thoughts can feel very real, which is what makes them so upsetting. But it doesn't have to be that way because OCD is highly treatable with the right kind of specialized therapy. OCD needs ERP or exposure and response prevention, which is proven to be the most effective treatment. And that's where no CD comes in. No CD is the world's leading provider of OCD treatment, and it's

covered by insurance for over 138 million Americans, all their licensed therapists specialize in ERP therapy, and will help you learn to take the power away from intrusive thoughts in live face-to-face virtual sessions. They also provide support between sessions when you need it most, so you're never facing OCD alone. If any of this sounds familiar, visit nocd.com to book a free 15-minute call. That's nocd.com. When it comes to what I wear, I don't think of myself as a fashion forward kind of guy. For me, it's all about finding pieces that are cool, comfortable, and able to be worn in a variety of different settings. Ever since finding Quince, I've been able to check all my boxes while looking sharper than ever.

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Now available in Canada 2. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E dot com slash honeydew for free shipping and 365-day returns. Quince.com slash honeydew. Because I think like, well, one, I think she was, I can't speak for all people. But when I was young, I think like my first loss of innocence was the realization that everyone's lives are different.

I think when you're really young, you just assume that everyone has the, you know, you have parents, that you're, whatever your reality is, you assume that that's everything's reality. House, cars, food, money. Exactly. So I was like, and then you started to realize like my life is different from people in different ways. So the first realization was like, I knew my sister was different. I got that talk. I got to see that. And that was something my parents said to me. That was something I said to my friends. You know, if a friend was going to come over, I said, just so you know, my sister's different. And that was my orientation of the world was to understand like, okay, my life is not

anyone else's life. And I shouldn't act accordingly. And I think that gave me a higher degree of understanding of other people. Because then I started to pick up on like even the money, for example, it's like, you know, you go on a play date to someone else's house and you're like, why is it that like every single one of my friends' houses is smaller than mine? All right. Tell me.

Hold on yet. You know, and so you're like, I'm the friend. I'm, tell me your buddy. Yeah. And I'm like,

I go to your house and I'm like, what the fuck are we doing at home right now? You know what I mean? What's the first play date or sleepover? You remember where you're like, y'all don't have this or you don't have this? Yeah. What was that?

Oh, God. I mean, my first friend ever, like, it's all relative. That's the, craziest part too is like these people were doing great anyway. I mean, if you're living at Manhattan, yeah, no doubt. Yes. It's like, it's all, it's all relative. But like, I remember

I'd go, I remember I went to like my best friend's place from the time I was really young. And I was like, one floor. It's like, everything kind of happens. Yeah. I was like, there's really, because I was, I remember like, pooping. And I was like, his mom's like, right there. I was like, I can't have my own door, door, door. I can't close three doors before I take a shit, you know? So there was things like that. And my sister was one of those things where it was just like, okay, everyone's lives are different. And to be clear, like, I think, especially when you're kid, I was so young when her mortality was in question. By the time she was growing up, she was really just a source of joy for me, you know? And I think it got more complicated over time as I grew

to understand like and as she ages, I think like I used to have this belief of like everything about having a sibling with a disability is beautiful. Like she's she's honest. She makes me laugh. I make her laugh. That was like one of the first joys I found in being funny. She does. I don't think like it doesn't quite track it. Like she can if you asked her my job, she could say comedian, but she doesn't philosophically understand what exactly. that is. But a big part of our connection is like, I can make her laugh on our own terms. And that feels really good to me. Um, so when I was younger, I was like, it's just awesome that my sister's different. You know, like, I think that's really great. And then as I've grown older and she ages,

you see like, okay, what, what is she getting and what is she missing? And I think it's more complicated than just like, this is fucking awesome. Like, obviously. Um, and I also think having the means to support her makes our experience of having a disabled sibling far different than everyone else's. Because like, for example, right now her living situation is she's in, she's in her own place with a live-in staff member and a roommate. So it's like two families are kind of pooling in money together to support a staff member and then a house for two disabled kids to be roommates and then have. And that staff member takes care of them. Yeah. And, And what's, how's it affected your sister?

Physically, is she in a wheelchair? She, no, physically she's, she, there's no reason why physically she'd have any effect, but because of her brain development, things like her balance isn't as good or like if she were to go hiking, you wouldn't go on a tough hike with her. She couldn't do something like rock climbing. She couldn't drive. Does she stuff seizures and stuff? Is that still a problem?

She still has seizure activity in her brain because her seizures were not like when she was a baby her seizures were like trans seizures. So it would be like that. It would be like a pause and her eyes would stop moving. And then it would resume. Those are considered seizures. Yeah. I get locked on shit all the fucking time. Don't you though?

Don't you ever just lock on something and then like two minutes later like what the fuck is out? Yeah. You're like, oh, shit. I was staring at this lady on the plane. I'm cognizant of that. I'm like, I don't even want to fuck her. I'll look right next to her. That's even weird like this next to you.

Yeah, just looking at someone. I'm happy. Looking at someone's knee. They're like, what the fuck is this guy looking at? Well, no, I think, I mean, I think it was like a seizure. Like, I think it's different from what works. Yeah. But I don't know.

I don't, but I never saw her Cs. You know what I mean? Physically. Yes. But I think she still has seizure activity in her brain. She gets brain scans and it's like not. Her brain is. not look like our brain. So how are your parents now? My mom is, I want to say 67. My dad is 68.

Okay. Yeah. And do we have a plan in place for your sister? Yes. Slash when your parents are no longer with us. Yes. I'm the legal. My brother and I are shared legal guardians of my sister. So we signed those papers probably seven years ago now. Okay. We got sat down like, my parents gave it a sec. They were like, are these guys going to land on their feet? And then they sat us down. They had a conversation.

It was a money conversation and it was a care conversation. How did that make you feel? Well, the money aspect of it was weird. What in what way? What do you mean? The money aspect of it was like, so when I was. When you say the money aspect, are you telling, I'm sorry, just to be clear, like, Are they telling you this is what we've set aside to take care of your sister?

That was part of it. Okay. That's why it was a money conversation and a sister conversation. It was like it was a conversation about the money that was set aside to take care of her. And also as a result, us getting money from them. Gotcha. But I didn't. So when we were raised, like I knew my parents had money because of how they like treated other people.

Because you went over to your friends out. Yeah. You're like, well, I'm like, are you guys poor? like not even. I'm like shit. Then we're really rich. Yeah. That's right. That's right. Now, we got three cars like, oh. I knew we had money because sometimes we got on a plane and we were the only people on the plane. Is there?

You flew private as a kid? Sometimes. Yeah. Man. Yeah. Yeah, you got I mean, turbulence is bad though. No one talks about. No, bullshit. You guys can't handle that. I've been on turbulent regular flights. When I fly with Tom Segor, I've flown a couple times, we get above that shit. I even said to the pilot, I was like

my cup's not even going like this. Well, he's probably taking a big boy. We fly 10,000 feet above commercial airlines. There's no turbulence up here. I was like, what? Really? Yeah, dude. I think we're in the shit ones, dude.

It's smooth, bro. Everything's levels to this shit. That might have been in a GTA-2 money. Yeah. You get in a private jet and all of a sudden, you're like, fuck, I wish we were in a bigger ride. Then you see the next one over. Yeah, see the other guys. No doubt.

He's gotten even smaller penis than your dad. Yeah, yeah. Look at that. My dad's dick was smaller. We'd be in a bigger plane. Yeah. So, all right, so let's go back to your sister here. So you're legal guardian of your sister.

Yeah. And what does that mean now? Will she live with you or will this sort of living arrangement take, you know? I mean, we've gone through like a lot of iterations of the living arrangement and what we feel is right. So like the money conversation was like, her, she's going to be taken care of. She's having plenty of money. And the other part of the conversation, which was complicated for. for me was for the first time in my life,

they told me like, when we die, you're gonna get, you and your brother are gonna get the rest. They give you it, they give you a dollar amount? No, because they don't know, but I know that I know a number it's not lower than, you know what I mean? Yeah, I knew that it was gonna be like, it was enough that I was like, yeah,

they're not gonna die for a while, but one day I'll be like actually rich, even if I do nothing in my life. And I think that was kind of complicated for me. That was kind of the moment I decided to do, to do comedy because I was like, yeah, what the fuck's making you want to get into this mental hospital?

Yeah, well, that was the thing is like, I think, I think undoubtedly people probably hear this and they go, fuck this guy or like, you know. Do you get that a lot in comedy now?

I mean, the community, I have friends and I have community and I have people that go like, yeah, I mean, he's a fucking rich kid, but he's a good, he's a good hang,

you know? So I have my community. but without question, I take shit for it and I think people cast aspersions on me getting to where I am in my career over it and I don't blame them. To me, it's like, shit on me then. That's fine. It's totally a fair tradeoff for your life being better

than everyone else's lives in certain ways. Like, I know that that's just, you know, everyone's got a thing that they're going to get hit on for or that's going to treat them unfairly, whether that's their race or their gender, their sexual orientation or whatever whatever they're going to get they're going to get some shit in a way in a way that they can't control this is my version of that like i can't control it but i'm going to take some shit but when they told me i was getting money i was like well literally because i was like

24 right and i was living this fantasy that like yeah they had money but i was cut off because i had a job and like i didn't need their money to like shack shack tells us goods we're not rich i'm rich yeah yeah exactly he tells us kids exactly We ate rich. Exactly. I'm rich. You all aren't rich. And that's how I felt, you know.

And, uh, and then they were like, listen, like, you're, you're going to be, you know, they're like, you still got to figure out your life. Like, they're like, with any luck, we're going to die and you're going to be 50. So you want to sit around waiting for money until you're 50. That's fine. And a fucking good cocaine habit will run right through that fucking money. 100%. Meth have it run right through that money.

Exactly. So, but then I found, I was like, well, if. if I don't, I was like, if nothing really, that's how I felt leaving that conversation. I was like nothing really matters. Cause like, I don't, I almost felt like I didn't have free will in a way where I was like,

I had this sheltered upbringing and they're basically saying there's a safety net at the end of this. So I didn't feel good. I felt, and I grew to, I have a lot of gratitude for it, like with that looking at the cameras. I said that.

You bet, my, well. Yeah. I have a lot of gratitude for it. But it didn't feel as simple as, this is awesome. You know what I mean? It felt like, well, then what's the point of life? Like, what I'm going to go?

And I was working like some corporate job that I didn't really care for. And I was like, so that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to like bide my time and, you know, do okay at this job that I could tell I was like good enough at but not great at. And comedy was always the way that I communicated with people socially. It wasn't a huge stand-up fan. wasn't a big performer, never did theater or anything like that, but I was like, that is how I

identify as being, you know, I was a class clown. I was that kind of kid. So that's when I started doing comedy because I was like, I might as well try to do something that interests me. Like, what else is the point of this? And then with my sister, you know, we figured out a lot of things over the years because she's developing all the time. And so we never knew like what she was capable of. We've had her, you know, she lived with us growing up. And then probably when she was around 18, we started looking at options for places for her to live that weren't at home. So group living situations that involved some kind of practical education around life skills, independence. And we went to visit probably six of them, like the nice ones. And it's complicated because

there's like a care gap once you turn 18 and you're no longer a minor. So you'd have like a situation in which she could be a 19 year old girl and have like a 65 year old roommate. And everyone has a different level of needs. Are you one of those media strategy people clicking through slides, scrolling spreadsheets? Yes? Good. This is for you. Because on Spotify, there's an audience that's different. Locked in. Loyal, invested. They're called fans. Fans don't just listen to music.

by it like it belongs to them. So when your brand shows up on Spotify, that's who you're talking to. And you're right next to artists like me, Lizzo. So, are you ready to talk to fans? Spotify advertising. You're among fans. And this is, I'm not talking about, like if you have something like Down syndrome, it's a little bit more cut and dry because, you know, everyone has different abilities within that, but you have a general definition for what this condition is and you you understand things like life expectancy, development cycles, limits, things like that. For my sister, it's much different. So we didn't know.

And so she'd be in living facilities where everyone has kind of a different level of needs. And so then it's like, okay, you don't want her, you want her to feel independence, but she can't have too much independence because we had her in different places where, you know, she wasn't caring for herself. She wasn't cleaning herself properly. she wasn't clipping her nails, for example, like small things like that. And no one's paying attention to it. So then you're like, fuck, we need like more care than that.

But then, you know, when she's at home, you could just tell we're like smothering her. Because she wants to have a life too. So like COVID, she moved back. Just, she just fucking gets so mad at us. You ever let her drive? She, I've tried. You ever let her in part? Yeah, I mean like a parking lot.

I'm like, go ahead. I tried to get her going on a golf cart. I don't know how safe that is. I was doing the pedals and I was like just take the but she's she has a really keen understanding of her limits and a lot of fear she can swim she won't go on the deep end of a pool okay you know things like that she knows how but she just

up to her waist she's going to wade yeah that's all right yeah but she's got the life-saving skill if necessary she can swim I don't know I don't know what would happen to the side oh you don't need to let me tell my daughter all that time too you don't need to look like Michael Phelps out there. You just got to get yourself the fucking safety. I mean, the crazy thing is like she's, she could even swim back and forth on the shallow

end, like fully. But if it gets deep, she'll panic. Ah, the metal. I guess. I don't know. I don't know if she would. I don't know. What are her favorite things to do? She have a favorite musician or band or... She loves she loves Uncle Cracker.

That's her favorite musician. She loves loves country music and like campy she loves like campy sing along country music

oh all the artists I did not hear think that was like an uncle fucking cracker man that's the

that's her his diehard right there yeah she loves horses okay loves animals loves animals

loves animals a lot do you have dogs or anything growing up not growing up my dad wouldn't allow it no no

even for your sister No. Why wouldn't he allow it? Doesn't like pet hair in his house. He's like, he's like OCD. You know what I mean? Like neat freak. Crazy neat freak. So that was one of the first things I did. Get a dog? Yeah. Yeah. Does your sister, where she lives now, do they let her have a dog there and like the lady takes or whoever? No, I wonder how she'd do with a dog. I think I would, I like the idea of her having a dog. A cavalier king, bro. That's the number one. for kids and old people.

I bet you she would love. Yeah. She sleeps on your feet, huh? Did she do that? On your feet. She's up next to. Look, she hears us talking about her. She's barking.

That's crazy. Chest on her on your chest. You think that really was her hearing her name? Maybe. She didn't make a sound outside, too. But yeah, she's a cuddler, man. She's a kisser and a cuddler right up on you. Yeah.

It would be around you at all times. It might be a little dangerous with, you know, I always think that's how we're going to die. people like our dog or cat's going to be at our feet we're trying not to look out and that's how you're going down to fucking steps yeah you know what I mean it's all it is you're just like oh no it's it's it's over yeah it's so he fell he didn't fall it's fucking dog tripped yeah yeah yeah now I'd like her to have a dog but I think it's just maybe it's too complicated right now because staff turnover is really hard it's hard to get you know someone that cares that does a good

job but that's young enough to have like few enough attachments to be like live in and like She's in a suburb of New York. You know, it's like, it's not an easy job to hire someone. How often do you get to see her? And your parents, like, how often are they going to see her and stuff? My parents are every weekend. Okay. Because they live probably 10 minutes from her.

I last saw her about three weeks ago. Okay. But it's tough when I'm on the road. You know, she's not in the city. One thing my parents asked my brother and me to do that we haven't done yet is, like, do like a family. my brother, me and my sister have dinner, like a sibling dinner, once a month. And that's, that would be a goal of mine. I think like, I've been on the road so much. It's been tough. You know, I'm like gone and then I'm home for two days at a time and then I'm gone again. Can I ask you this?

And I don't mean to be morbid or anything, but is with what your sister has, I mean, they already misdiagnosed her once. Is there a life expectancy or is as long as she's taken care of, she can Um, fuck you, man. Just like, being so open. Being open up to a point and then just having a hard line. Did we, we didn't talk about that. Well, you set down syndrome out of life expectancy. No, I've been asked, not that we know of, but people who are mentally disabled typically

have lower life expectancies, but it could be all kinds of things that don't have to do with that, like their base level of physical being. This is what I mean. Like, how's her health? Yes, diabetes and things. How's her? She struggles with binge eating. Is she like sweets?

What she like? Yeah. And she steals food. Where? Where is she getting at the ceiling? She goes anywhere, bro. She'll go on the kitchen. Oh, from her.

No, no, no, no, from her own house. Even worse. So one time, this is actually hilarious. One time it was her and her staff member. And, uh, they pulled up to her house in the car, the staff member's driving. And she said,

can you get something in the trunk for me? And the staff member went to get something in the trunk. When they came out, my sister had run into the house, lock the staff member out, and ate all the Ben and Jerry's. All of it, three pines. Wait.

And the staff member's like, come on. And she's like, there's no spare keys. She just fucking house in it. And so then there was like, we had to put, into place like some child lock situations on the on the cupboards and the pantries and um she also

likes the gym so it's weird like she'll run she she i think the hardest thing is like you can't explain to her and this was the hard thing with working out for a long time you can't explain to her why you would do something uncomfortable for like a greater benefit because it's just not she can't conceptualize that so it was like it was like we're trying to get her to the gym and she's just like i don't want to like anyone is like I don't want to do this we don't want to do it but then we understand that if we push hard enough on the treadmill or whatever there's like we get the endorphins and then we start to feel good but it's like you got to push through some discomfort she didn't understand that same thing with eating I'd eat like she did if I didn't understand that's bad for you but it's like

yeah it feels good to fucking eat three pints of Bennett I mean not after but like during yeah so she's learning over time like one day I think she just had a crush on this male trainer and he just got her to run and run. And when she started running, she, I think the endorphins kicked in. And now I think she's addicted to running. So she'll run a few times a week on a treadmill. Okay. Great. And she loves that. Yeah. Does she ever had a boyfriend or a, not, you know what I mean, boy, comma friend? Anybody even innocent crush or anything like that? Lots of crushes. Yeah. But I mean, reciprocated. Does she, is there any boy that's ever gone to a dance with her or anything?

Yeah, that kind of thing. But it's, it seems. Interesting. We don't really cross that plane with her. She doesn't really bring it up. Okay. I would say, obviously, in the community broadly, sex happens and relationships happen. For her level of disability, it's hard to imagine that she could be able to understand what that is and all that. But there's been boyfriends and crushes and dances and that kind of thing. in the past, but never one that's like serious or could be like a life companion sort of thing that we've found so far. I wouldn't rule it out. I want that for her. But I think it's one of those, it's kind of one of those things. And there's like a lot of these things in her life where you can tell it's complicated. It's a little, maybe a little scary for her. And when you start to go there, it's uncomfortable for her and she recoils. And then you start to wonder like for me, it's like,

I'm the brother, but one day I'm going to be the dad. And then it's almost like a parenting question. I mean, you're a father. It's a parenting question where it's like, how much do you push someone towards something that you want them to know or understand or believe about the world and how much do you let them figure it out? You know what I mean? It's like, because for me, the pool is a perfect example.

It's like, I know she can swim. I know you can swim. You're in the shallow end. Yeah, but you're swimming. Your feet aren't touching the ground. Part of me, I was like, I want to just fucking pick you up and throw you in the fucking deep end and just watch what happens. And then the other part of me is like, she doesn't have to be able to swim in the deep end of a pool. She doesn't have to,

she doesn't have to walk close to a lake. She doesn't have to, you know what I mean? Right. So who's that for? Who's that for? Right. And I don't know the answer. And so I've always felt some discomfort about where the limits are. Because then there's those moments of growth, too, where you're like, okay, we push her to read, now she can read. You know. but she can't really read and how much do we want to push her to read. And she can, like, read words, but she can't read and comprehend. And so it's like, how much am I, where am I pushing her towards? Like, what's this destination?

I don't know, you know. So I don't know. Do you want to be a dad? Yeah. You do. Yeah. What kind of things as your sister done where you were super impressed, where you were like, never thought she'd do that?

Hmm. Running is one of them for sure. Yeah, I'm impressed to hear that too, really running. That's the last couple years. Yeah. Oh, okay, so that's newer then for her, okay. And like miles. Miles.

Yeah. So that was one for sure. Like, it was like a switch and it was like, damn, I was like she'll never work out. And then she did. Got that runner's high too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And she does. I've run some of my goddamn miles of my life. I've never felt that shit. Yeah. Yeah, totally. there's things she'll say you know what i mean every once in a while where it will it will amaze me i'm i'm trying to think of an example where i'm like where did that come from i mean she's incredibly observant and her memory is insane is it yeah and i think specifically birthdays

and all that shit birthdays day of the week uh random memories like okay like one time she must have been five, six. And my grandma took her to Starbucks. My grandma's still alive. She's 98 years old. Damn, okay. Yeah. Yeah, those of us Jews that aren't fucked up. So you got longevity in that line. Yeah, we live long fucked up. Yeah, I got gnarled toes, but I'm never going to die. It's like a weird. I'm like a warlock. It's fucking crazy. So my, my grandma like passed out. My grandma would have been like, I don't know, this was 20 years ago plus and passed out on the corner fell and then my sister's stuck there. Oh, well, they're outside walking. Yeah. Okay. Grandma, we call her Bubby. They're outside. They're outside of a Starbucks. Grandma passes out. My sister's just stuck there.

And paramedics are called. She's able to, you know, she had just fainted basically, but she was out. And to this day, my sister sits down at the table. We were just with my grandma. And she goes, do you remember when Bubby died? Died. Yeah. She says, and then Bobby died. Yeah, she died. And she'll just point her.

She died. And now she's 98. We're all like, stop. It's gonna have. Yeah, yeah. I'm like, we're not far off. Yeah. But it's things like that where I'm like, I'm like,

I don't know exactly what made, seared that in. I'm sure it was a traumatic experience for her. But her memory. is so sharp, so sharp. So that's like another example of something. What, um, what sort of like education when your sister's gone through school, like high school? What, is it homeschool sort of thing? Or, and do you do a graduation for her? Like, yeah, it wasn't homeschool, but it's, um, growing up, she had a, she went to a school in Manhattan called the Aaron School, which is a school for people with developmental disabilities. And then she went to a school called Riverview, which is in the, you had a school in,

the basically in the Cape Cod area. So it's like a boarding situation. And it's not exactly proper class. I mean, there's academic elements to it like reading, but it's also home X skills, self-care skill, that kind of stuff. So it's like comprehensive skill building for people to take better care of themselves. And then yeah, she would have graduations and we would go out there. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. All right. Tell me about your brother, your older brother. You guys close? We are close. I think we have a lot of like mutual respect. We're both taking our jobs very seriously. He's, uh, he's, uh, he's the CEO of an opiate addiction treatment company. He's the CEO of an opiate addiction company. He was a heroin addict. And after getting clean, he went into the

recovery space. And he works a company called groups, which basically offers, I hope I do, this justice, evidence-based care for opiate addiction using, I don't know if it's Suboxone, but one of these meds that helps people wean off of, like, fight withdrawal symptoms from opiates and offers, I think, group care outpatient in places, in very, like, rural and remote places in America that don't have a lot of access to health services that are affordable. How do they feel about this new thing that Trump agreed? It's been bad. What do you mean?

Oh, wait, what's the new thing? Is it good? Well, I think it's for people addicted to, what is it? I'm an ignorant person. Isn't it meth and opiates and everything? And it's supposed to really help them get off of it? Oh, I don't know. Oh, did they give FDA clearance?

I mean, he said they're going to do it. I don't know if they actually gave clearance. But is it something that they're like, hell yeah? I think what was happening that was bad for them was the administration was making some level of commentary around insurance company. This company gets paid by insurance companies. You know what? So. This is how dumb I am.

Of course. I don't even consider the insurance companies in any of them. I think there was like instability in the policy around health care, like government level, right, with like the repeal of Medicare and Medicaid. That trickled down to the insurance companies and it caused instability for the revenue at my brother's company because the insurance companies were saying if we don't have Medicare, Medicaid, we're not going to pay you guys. So the administration coming in broadly has not been positive for them.

But I don't, I'm not familiar with what drug you're talking about. So that could be a good thing. I don't know. Yeah. What about your brother? How did he get hooked on heroin? He was always drinking. There was a lot of drinking happening growing up in the family in general.

You as well? I never connected with substances in that way. But I, in New York, you definitely start early. I probably started drinking 12, 13. And I remember having a conversation with my parents. I was like, listen, like, I'm going to do this. do you want me to lie to you or you want me to tell you the truth? My parents said, we want you to tell us the truth.

And I tried to have like an open dialogue with them and I tried to do it. I didn't do it in moderation, but I tried to do it as responsibly as I could. Like I didn't like being a rule breaker, but I wanted to be at parties and I wanted to try, you know, like I didn't smoke much weed and I never did any other drugs in high school. but I wanted to drink, like, because I thought it was cool, you know. But it never really, I'm like a not, I'm not a fun drunk. I get tired, you know? So it was like pretty quickly. I was like, fuck, like, I can't do this and be a fun hang.

But my brother started drinking a lot. He'd have, like, he'd be doing his homework and he'd have like a cup of scotch. And I think it was just like, I don't really know why my parents allowed it. Oh, they knew. he wasn't sneaking it. They kind of knew. I think it was, it's kind of like nice family, nice home.

I mean, guys in the wine cooler. Yeah. Yeah. And high school? Yeah. It just kind of was allowed. I mean, my brother was, he was sort of a troubled kid a little bit, you know, just,

I think everything, I always felt my life to be kind of simple. Like, I, I didn't think there was anything like complicated about the family having means or the world we grew up in. I just kind of did my shit. I had like my friend group. I spent a lot of time out of the house. I played sports, you know, like that was what I was into.

I think I had a pretty regular life considering that I was growing up in Manhattan. And I think for my brother, it was like another way of growing up in New York where it was like, oh, I can access things. I see. You know what I mean? I can steal money from the safe. He'd like, he found out how to get into my parents safe and steal like cash. It was always the kids who had money that had everything other than weed and beer. Yeah.

It was, those were the kids that had to Coke when I grew up. Yeah, exactly. Those are the kids that had the, you know, the pills and all that shit. And I think it was interesting. I think it was like, I think he, he wasn't having the best childhood. I think he looked at the care that my parents gave to us different. than I did. I think my view on it was like, it's good enough. And if I ever felt like I wanted to leave the house, I would. And I'd go hang out with my friends. And I'd go and my brother was home a lot more,

but I think it caused him to really, I don't know, but it, it, it, uh, he just started using substances pretty early. Went to college was using substances definitely more heavily. And got his wisdom teeth out. And that was, I think, the start of opiates. I was about, I was wondering, if it was an injury or what it. It's usually something like that. It's usually prescribed to you first. It was prescribed. Yeah. And then I think that just set him off. He loved it. You know, that was his shit. How far did he take it? Did he get the needles and things like that? Or was it just? That's about when he got help. So he went, he went out, started getting heroin. So we went to, both of us went to Williams College, which is in North Adams. or sorry, it's in Williamstown, Massachusetts, but it's near North Adams, which is a

Western Mass, a lot of opiates. And so when he got hooked on them, he was using them up there. He spent a summer trying to get sober, got like 90 days, got back to school relapsed. And then it got bad. He was mostly oxies snorting, I don't know, 10 to 12, like blues a day. So he was spending like no waking hours. sober. He ran through, he was stealing money for my parents, ran through all the money. And then... How did they find out? I think my dad knew more quickly. I mean, it wasn't super well

hidden towards the end. I mean, he was, you know, he was kind of nodding off at the dinner table sort of thing. I was probably more in denial about it with my mom than anyone else in my family because I just, you know, I tried to kind of confront him a few times and he did kind of the addict thing where it was like, if we can't be honest with each other, we can't have a relationship. So stop like accusing me of doing stuff I'm not doing. I don't know if you're familiar with that kind of conversation where you kind of just get gaslit and you're like, uh, you're like, yeah, maybe I'm the asshole. Yeah. You know, so I left a lot of those conversations just being like, I know there was like blue residue and his nose hairs, but I think I'm wrong.

Blue residue. Yeah, I was like... But I might be wrong. I think he's been... Yeah, I think he's clean now. Yeah, I think he's clean. I think he's clean. I think he's...

Some people just have blue nose hairs. Am I crazy or do some people have blue nose hairs? Blue residues. Fucking at somebody telling him. I'm clean, man. Yeah. Yeah. Fucking sniffing a smurf's ass with the fucking...

Yeah. I was like, he just fuck Smurfs. I think, like... Smurts are real, you know? So, and then I think it just got, you know, he ran out of money, as they do. And that's when people make the move to heroin. It's way cheaper and it's stronger. Exactly.

So he went out starting to score heroin, got robbed. And I think he was like, I got it. I need help. And so he came in, left college straight to rehab. and got help been sober since knock on wood and I think he has 11 years fuck yeah and now he's helping people and now he's helping people dealing with the same thing all right yeah that's great yeah he's a beast I mean he's he was always the crazy thing is like he was always smarter than me like he he got better grades than I did in college

at the same college on opiates than I got sober. He was Magna Cum Laude in college on drugs. The guy's a freak of nature. He's a freak. That's crazy. You know what I mean?

He's like a functional ass. Magna Colaudi in college on heroin. On heroin. He was a beast. With blue fucking powder in his nose. Yeah. The blue mustache. Damn.

And had to step out. Step down. Did he ever grab? Did he ever go back? He did get the degree. Yeah, good. He did get the degree ultimately. A few years later, I think four or five years later, it kind of like, he pieced it

together here and there. He didn't want to go back. That was the big thing. He didn't want to go back to campus to finish it. And I think college gave him a hard time about finishing remotely. But I think eventually it shook out that he got his degree. But he started working. And then, yeah, he originally was working in venture capital, came across this opiate

treatment company, grew to understand. like, okay, this is a problem and then jump ship started working there as one of the first employees. And then he rose to CEO in the last like seven, eight years. All right. Yeah. This has been really a great episode. I appreciate you doing this. Hopefully it wasn't too serious. Well, that's what I wanted to hear. I mean, but for someone who comes from wealth, you seem like you got your head on pretty fucking straight. I don't know. We'll see. This is only an hour. You got to wait for the comments. People are like, fuck this. more, 20 more years and see what you're doing.

Lucas, before we wrap up, I want to know, actually, no, not right there. I want to know advice you give to your 16-year-old self. That's what I want to know. What are you telling 16-year-old Lucas Zelnik? I want to say stop trying to be cool because I think I would have found comedy sooner if I didn't think it was like lame and gay, which of course it is. It definitely is lame and gay, but I wish I'd moved towards it a little sooner. though I live some life before.

You know, I'm not a really regrets guy because I'm like, I keep seeing it's like, well, everything you do gets you to where you are if you're happy with where you are. That's the truth. You know? But I think I'd say stop trying to be cool. And then, but interesting, I'm like,

the amount I cared about people's validation is probably why I became a comic. Is that right? I was like, if I took that advice, I'm not sure I would have done this. You know, it's like some butterfly affection. Yeah. But I'd say, I'd say stop trying to be cool.

I get it to do what you care about. For school shit. Like people are going to make funny, you just go for it and do it. Who gives the fuck what anyone thinks? Yeah. I cared about what my friends thought about being artistic. Yeah.

I thought that was like really a lame thing. And I thought it would be lame to try and be bad, which I knew I would be. Like, of course, when I started, I was so bad. And I knew that was lame. So I feared being bad and being lame. And it took me eight years.

I started when I was 24. It took me eight years from being sick. when I was having thoughts of doing comedy to actually do it. And in the end, it was exactly what I feared. I was bad and I was lame. But it was like, I wish I just, and now I'm bad and I'm cool. Yeah, bro. Well, thank you for doing this for real.

Thanks for what happened me. Right there, promote everything you'd like, please. Lucaszelnik.com for my tour dates. Lucaszellner Comedy on YouTube. And if you enjoyed this podcast, go try the ones with my mom, see if you like those. I want to check those out. That seems great. Great. Yeah. Thank you.

Thanks for having me. As always, Ryan Sickler, on all your social media, we'll talk to you all next week.