The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler - 397: Matt Mathews: Mom in Jail, Losing Family & Finding Himself | The HoneyDew with Ryan Sickler #397

Episode Date: August 3, 2026

SPONSORS: QUO -Make this the season where no opportunity — and no customer — slips away. Try QUO for free PLUS get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to Quo.com/honeydew HIMS -Sponsored by Hims. Visit hims.com/honeydew to get a personalized, affordable plan that gets you. Brooklyn Bedding -Go to brooklynbedding.com and use my promo code HONEYDEW for 30% off sitewide Matt Mathews joins me this week on The HoneyDew to Highlight the Lowlights of family chaos, heartbreaking loss, and the journey to becoming his true self. Matt shares what life was like in fourth grade when his mom, Rene, got into a fistfight with his teacher and the time she put hands on a Walmart greeter. Matt also talks about receiving a collect call from his mom while she was in jail during his elementary school years, recounts the infamous story of Rene kicking in a sheriff’s door after discovering she’d been cheated on, and losing her when he was just 14 years old. Matt also opens up about the woman who truly became his mom, Sheryl, how she changed his life, and the devastating loss of her to a sudden death years later. We discuss his lifelong love of horses and barrel racing, growing up in a deeply religious environment, and how those influences led him to discover and embrace his sexuality much later in life. Check out Matt on his world tour, and his video series Farm Chores. SUBSCRIBE for new episodes of The HoneyDew every week. 🎟️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

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Tacoma, I'm headed back your way. I'll be there September 11th. 11th and 12th. La Jolla Comedy Store, one of my favorite clubs in the country. I'm headed back there September 25th and 26th. Phoenix, I'll be back in your city, November 20th and 21st. Tampa, I'm coming back to side splitters, November 6th and 7th. If you already bought tickets to the October date, they've asked me to move the date.

I'm now down there, November 6th and 7th. tickets now at ryan sickler.com. Denver, I cannot wait to come back to comedy works south. One of the best clubs in the country. I'll be there December 4th and 5th. Get your tickets now to all shows at ryancicler.com. The honeydew with Ryan sickler. Welcome back to the honeydew, y'all. We're over here doing it in the nightpan studios. I am Ryan sickler. Ryan sickler.com. and Ryan Sickler and all your social media. Thank you guys, as always say,

thank you for supporting anything I do. But if you got to have more of this show, I don't know what the hell you're waiting for. You've got to have the Patreon. We've been doing it for, I don't know, it's over 300 episodes now. And it is this show with y'all. The honey-dew with y'all is the craziest shit you're going to see anywhere online.

It's five bucks a month. That's it. It's a cup of coffee for over 300 episodes. I haven't raised it since we started. it. So if you or someone you know has a story that has to be heard, submit it to Honeydew podcast at gmail.com. That's the only place to send it. Don't send it anywhere else. And if you send it before, send it again, bump it to the top. We get a lot of them. All right. That is the biz. You know what we do here? We highlight low lights. These are the

stories behind the storytellers. I am very excited to have this guest with us today. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Matt Matthews. Welcome to the Honeydew Matt Matthews. Thank you for having me. Appreciate it. Young man, I am very excited to sit down with you today. We chatted for two seconds outside and I was like, you can go ahead and shut the fuck up now. We'll get started upstairs. But before we do, please, right there, promote everything and anything you'd like.

I don't know. I mean, my tour is about, we're wrapping up my tour, and I'm about to announce my world tour. World tour. Yeah. Where are we going? Yeah. We're going to Australia and New Zealand and the UK. and a lot of fucking dates.

They got me out here working. All right. Yeah. My farm tour show where we bring different celebrities out to the farm every week and make them do farm chores. So yeah, lots of fun stuff happening.

And where can they find you on social media? Matt underscore Matthews on all social media. One T in their last name. Don't piss me off because nobody spells that shit right. There you go. Yeah. And that's where they can find tickets, everything, all boom right there. Yep, we're Matt Matthews.com.

Well, I'm sorry. I obviously have looked you up and been a fan now on what you do and how you do your shit here. So let's get started here because you're definitely, I asked you outside. I research everybody. And I've said it before on this podcast. I researched Kevin Neal and before he came on. I obviously know Kevin Neal and a little history. And it said to his brother, a younger brother had been murdered.

So I said to him like, is that true? And he's like, no. And then I was like, yeah, but are you fucking with me right now like Kevin Ealing? He's like, no, it's not true. I'm like, that's some crazy shit. But I read Barrel Racer. Yeah. And I was like, and you said, yeah.

And I was like, you're definitely the first fucking barrel racer we've ever had on, maybe any of my podcast. Yeah. So let's get into it. Where are you from originally? Tell us about your family. You're upbringing all that stuff. I am from Bessemer, Alabama. Where is it?

Where is Bessemer? Bessemer is about 30 minutes south of Birmingham. It's actually one of the number one of the number one crime. cities in the country. Oh, hell yeah. So very proud of that. All right. I grew up in government housing with an alcoholic mom.

You did. Yeah, we lived, we were in the projects. The only white gay kid in the project. So if you can imagine, you know, shit was a struggle. All right. Wait, were you also the only white kid too? Yes. The only, you're a dumb.

You're two strikes. I was fucked, literally. You were all the minorities in the mayor. minorities. Yeah, yeah. The only white kid, the only white gay kid for sure. That's great. Yeah, yeah.

I'm out there like, I'm out there on a basketball field with these motherfuckers trying to like, you know, really. You just a basketball field. Yeah, that's what I mean. You know what I fucking meant. Fuck you. But I know why they fuck with you now, too. Yeah, yeah.

But you know what? You couldn't live in the projects and being this fabulous without know how to swing on a hoe. You know? Well, that's what I'm saying. You're clearly no pussy. I was scrappy. I was scrappy. Yeah.

Like, they knew I was gay, but I would fuck them up. You know, so, like, I didn't get picked on. Where does that come from? Where does the... My mom. Okay. My mom was, like, my mom would fight. My mom beat the shit out of my fourth grade teacher and a parent teacher comp.

Yeah. Oh, dude. Yeah. We're going to jump around clearly, and I'm fine with that. But tell that story. What do you mean? So, mama, my mom was, you're going to piss me off. My mom was such a thug.

Like, her name was Renee, spelled R-E-N-A-E with an apostrophe over the E. And she wore gold chain necklaces. I talk about this a lot in my first special, but, like, she wore gold chain necklaces. She had gold rings on every finger. Every finger. Every finger. And she would fight you. And what's, tell me about Renee, like, where is she from?

She from that. She's from, okay. So Renee didn't go far. She, no. Everybody knew Renee, I'm guessing, too. Yeah. It's crazy because, like, you know, I would look at pictures of her and like I remember her. She died when I was 14.

Oh, man. So I remember her, obviously. And she was beautiful. She was so beautiful, but she was such a fucking thug. And she would fight. What does she look like? Like she had, blonde hair. She had like beautiful, like blondeish brown hair and big green eyes and just the most beautiful.

Like, she was stunning. So what you're saying is you not, what's coming out of that, the Tasmanian devil does not match this look. Yeah, I mean, like, she was, yeah. She, well, she wasn't put together. She was thicker than a snicker. All right. She had a big, my dad said that he actually met, they met at a bar.

And my dad said, I went up to her because she had an ass that could stop traffic. And, you know, like, my mom, like, she was that one. She wore, like, she wore fucking juicy, you know, like. She wore the sweatpants that had juicy on the back of them. Like, she was a straight up thug, you know? And this is, this really kind of gets me because I really enjoy when I get to talk about this stuff. Because, you know, I get a lot of hate on the internet, especially the bigger you get, the more hate you get, right? But a lot of the shit that I get on the internet is, oh, he tries to act black or oh, he tries to talk black.

Why is he trying to cosplay a black woman and blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, I literally grew up around black people, you know? Like, I was the only black person in my, I was the only white person in my church. I was the only, yeah, like, that is how I grew up. My mom, like, was literally kind of a black woman. You know what I mean? Like, that's what I knew. But your dad's not black.

My dad's not black, obviously, yeah. But what's funny. Did she like black men? Oh, she liked anything. Okay. She was a hove. Okay. But my dad still to this day, wears gold chain necklaces and gold rings.

And, like, my dad thinks he's a fucking pimp. He wears track suit. You know, like, he really, like, that is, that is, that is, my dad is a car salesman, and he calls himself de plan man. Okay? His fucking email is D plan man. Like, come on, bitch. I didn't stand a chance in hell.

You sure didn't. I did not stand a chance. Oh, shit. So, yeah, I mean, my mom, like, she, growing up, she would literally get in fights, you know, like, just all But she stayed in jail. She stayed in jail. Yeah. Yeah, stayed in jail.

At your, that's, wait, hold on. We've jumped around. The fourth grade. Fourth grade. Parent teacher conference. We forgot. She beat the ladies at. Beed the shit out of her.

Are you there too? Yeah. I watched it. I was sitting in the back of the office crime. Yeah. Because so, you know, they always say that kids, they do what they see their family doing, their parents. They perpetuate the same things.

And I watched my mom. smoke cigarettes and drink alcohol and, you know, all these things. And so I, um, was in fourth grade and I actually have, actually I posted a video on YouTube because I had a, I had, I found my planner from the fourth grade and every day I was on red. They put me, you know, if you were good, you got on greed. If you were bad, you got put on red. Every single day I was put on red for talking or for like disrupting the class or one time I got put on because I had to go back to my fucking cubby to get my lunch money because I forgot it. You know, like, so my teacher could not stand my ass.

And every day I'd be put on red and she would write some slick ass comment. And my mom would write back to her. And they were just going, I mean, every day they'd be going back and forward. Now, is there any chance that your mom may have had this lady throughout her educational career at some point? No, no, no, no, because they're about the same age. Okay, I just want to make sure. And so it wasn't an older lady at the time. Like, she was the same age as my mom.

And she, one day in school, I had a bag of Cheetos. And I was acting like my mom. So I was smoking a Cheeto. I got put on red for it. And I remember going home and I'm telling my mom I got put on red because I was pretending to smoke a cigarette with a Cheetah. And the teacher was like, I want to have a parent teacher conference. And I was like, ma'am, you don't want to do that.

You don't. You don't. I'm telling you you don't want Renee to come up here. My mom beat the shit out of the Walmart greeter. Come on. What are you talking about? The lady, I'm dead at. Yeah, what do you do?

You're a fucking laugh. You're a fucking great. The greeter. Hold on. Hold on. Stick with the fourth grade teacher first. Then we'll go to the greeter. I won't let you bring it.

So my mom says, I'll have a parent-tict of comments with you. But I want Matt there. And I'm like, fuck. So we get to the conference. And my mom's talking and my teacher's talking. The principal's sitting on the other side of the desk. And my mom goes to say something. She had four-inch red long fingernails.

Acrylics. Always had her nails done. And she's sitting on the opposite. The principal's on the opposite side table. My mom and the teacher are here. And my mom goes to say something. And when she does, the teacher put her finger up. And she goes, shh.

She goes, now I see where Matt gets his teacher. disrespect from. And my mom had a fake Louis Vuitton, and she put that fake Louis Vuitton down, and she pushed herself away from that table, and she grabbed her by the back of her head and pulled her over the chair and just went in on her. And I'm just in the back of the room crying, I'm like, you know, because I'm in the fourth grade, you know? And my mom is beating the shit out of this woman.

And she went to jail. She went to jail. Went straight to jail. She had a fucking, it's like, she had, she had fucking points when she went to jail. Oh, God. Wait, what happens to you? Like, do you now have to get out of that school or are you getting an A in that class? I got moved to another teacher's class.

But stayed in the school. Yeah, stay in the school. Yeah, I didn't do nothing. You did nothing wrong. My dad had to come pick me up. And it was just like, man, it was wild. And I would get. I'll get phone calls, you know, middle of the night, you know, because my parents were separated.

And I'd get phone calls and I'd answer the phone and it'd be like, you have a collect call from. It's mama, an inmate at the Bessemer County Jail. And I'm like. And how old are you in high school at the time? No. You're what? Like elementary school and shit? And you're home alone?

I lived with her until I was nine years old. Okay. So do you have siblings as well? I have a brother and a sister. Okay. They're twin. They're 11 years older than me. Okay.

They were both addicts. Are they dad's kids? Mom's kids. We had the same mom, different dads. Their dad has already died of a drug overdose. Okay. So I, because they were 11 years older than me, I don't remember really like a whole lot of living with them

because by the time that I was, you know, they were 18 and out on their own. So I don't really remember like really living with them. My sister and I were very close growing up. I loved my sister. I adored her. And then as I got older, I saw, like, the drug addiction that she had.

And it was just, like, perpetuating the same thing my mom, you know? And so I cut her off. I cut my brother off. I haven't talked to them in over a decade. Oh, wow. Just because I know, like, if you're not willing to help yourself, like, I can't help you. And I think you have to get to a point where you realize that, like, I can't enable you. If you can't help yourself, if you're not willing to do something to better yourself,

yourself, I cannot be a part of it. And I've always said, like, it doesn't matter if they're your blood or not. Like, you, you can't drown trying to save somebody else. Agreed. So, yeah, I haven't seen them in a long time. Okay, so let's jump back again here, a Walmart greeter. Why are we beating up a Walmart? Because the lady asked to see the receipt for the rug that my mom stole.

That my mom stole. Yeah, she stole it. So instead of just, like, whatever, she doubled. down. She, I will never forget. Like, she would do shit. Like, it was just me and her. She's feeling where you're with her?

Yeah. Does she tell you or? No. Hell no. I remember we're walking out. There's so many times that I've been left places because she would get arrested. And then I would just be there. The cops don't fucking do anything for you?

They would call my dad and I have to wait on my dad to come get me. No one waits with you? No. No way. No. They put me in like the little lost and found section. And you just sit there until dad showed up. And I would sit there until my dad showed up.

That's why my dad finally had to get custody of me. Because at one point in my life, like my mom, we were, we were, she was so fucked up one night and she's driving down the road. Listen, when it comes to my sleep, I don't mess around. I am dialed in on sleep. I got my CPAP machine, my sleep apnea under control. And there's nothing better than a good mattress. I go city to city, hotel to hotel. And it's a nightmare.

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and streaming on HBO Max. And it's just me and her in the car. Oh, you're in the car. We're in the car. And all I know is we're driving and she like runs up a heel and into somebody's driveway. And I'm like, oh shit. And she backs up. And then it goes down the road again.

And we finally come to like a little four way. And she's slowing down. And as she slows down, I open the door and jump out of the car. And I'm like fucking James Bond rolling in the middle of the road. And I'm bleeding and I went up to a neighbor's. And I'm like one of the people's houses in this neighborhood. And I'm knocking on the door. And they're like, what?

I'm like, my mom's drunk. You know, and I'm 10. I mean a bloody child running up to your door. 10. 11 maybe. And my dad had to come pick me up. You know? And so it was like that was the kind of shit.

I remember one time we lived. lived in a, she was dating a sheriff's officer. And he was cheating on her. And he told her he was at work one night. This was, this one's great. He told her he was at work. He must not know her record. He didn't.

So she called him. She called the work to talk to him. She was like, hey, can I speak to? And they were like, oh, he's off tonight. So she was like, I'm sorry? So he worked, he lived at a campground because like, so it was really weird. Like the campground had like an apartment area thing. and they allowed him to live there

because he was also the sheriff's, you know, the campground, but he was also a sheriff's officer for the city. And so he called somebody that worked there. They were like, no, he's here. So she was like, okay, she knew. She was like, okay, come on. She gets me at the bed at like 11 o'clock at night.

And we drive over to his house and she saw a woman's car parked up behind, like the bill, like he was intentionally hiding it. And she's banging on the door. He's not. answer in the door, she kicks the door down. And she drags these, him to a sheriff's house. To a sheriff's officer.

I'll show you a picture of her before this. I've got to show you a picture, yeah. Boy, the Walmart greeter. Yeah. So this guy or lady? Oh, lady. Lady's saying, let me see the receipt. We don't have a receipt.

We're walking out, and my mom turns around and she's like, I don't have to show you shit. And she's like, ma'am, yes, you do. She's like, no to fuck I don't. So she puts the rug down and just goes in. and she's getting... I mean, yeah. I guess she figured she was going to get arrested either way.

But also, the description you give of your mom in a super small town, she don't seem hard to miss. You know what I mean? The red nails. I wouldn't say, I wouldn't say Bessemer is like a super tiny town. It's not like...

It's not Birmingham, but it's not like a little... It's not like a little redneck, like country town with one stop lot. It's predominantly black. it's um or on the first 48 every episode you know so yeah all right so ren's where you get your fire from yeah you see that lady out there whipping ass and you're like i'm my mom always told me growing up if anybody ever picks on you if anybody ever bothers you she always told me i don't want

you to hit them first i don't want you just out here starting fights but if anybody ever picks on you and you don't whoop their ass i promise you, I will whoop your ass when you get home. I was in the fourth grade, and this is when I knew that I had to make a promise to myself. I was in the fourth grade. We shared a one-bedroom apartment. We lived in Villa Glen apartments in Bessemer.

Fourth Avenue, okay? Like, rough. Only white people in the neighborhood. And, you know, I say that, and people think, like, are you trying to shit on people? And I'm like, I don't because I really loved it. You know? Like, I loved where I grew up. I'm very proud of where I grew up. I'm very proud of how I grew up because I wouldn't be who I was today. I would not be successful. And I remember we were in the, I was in the fourth grade and we were laying in the bed. We had a one-bedroom apartment. And the apartments, our bedroom kind of like led, you know how like you walk up the stairs to apartments? So our front door was over here. And on this side of the apartment, it had a sliding glass door that you could just walk out and go down these stairs. So we had two separate interests, basically.

And we walked, you could walk up the steps And there was a sliding glass door here And on the other side was another apartment And so there's a little landing, obviously. And we heard these people fighting. It's middle of the night. And I remember hearing, no, no, no, please don't, please don't. And we heard, and they start shooting each other.

Oh, shit. And my mom opens the window and puts her head out the window. And she's like, I got a baby in here trying to sleep. Shut the fuck up. And I'm like, I remember thinking. The white lady. Yeah, the white lady.

The white lady. And I remember thinking this is the night we're going to die in the fourth grade. You know, I really, I will never forget that moment. I was like, this is the night that we die. And I told myself, I said, if we make it through this and I get out of this, like, I will not be like the rest of my family. I was like, I will not live like this. I will never ask, I'll never do drugs, I'll never drink, I'll never ask somebody for money. If I have to ask for something, I will never get it.

And I made that promise to myself in the fourth grade, and I've kept it to myself ever since. Go for you. Yeah. So again, I'm sorry, what age does dad finally get you? Nine. Nine. But you're still seeing mom because he lives in the area. Yeah, yeah. So my dad would come and pick me up and he would take me to school and stuff like that. Does he have any other kids? Just me.

Now, my dad and I growing up, we had a very hard relationship. We didn't get along. We fought all the time. My dad's a Marine. You know, like very strict. Like, we did not get along. And to just be quite honest, when my dad was single, he was in, you know, and he, you know, he says to this day, like, he always says, I wasn't the best dad because, like, he would leave me

at home and go to the bars. And, like, you know, he would find women to go hook up with. my dad was a player, you know? And it's so crazy because so growing up, we didn't have the best relationship. I remember one time we had a hat day at school and you could wear a hat. And I put on, we only had, I only had like one hat,

but it wasn't mine, it was my dad, so I took my dad's hat and I wore it to school. I ain't know anything about it. I get to school and I'm wearing a crown royal hat. And they're like, you can't wear that. And I remember them calling my dad. They called my dad and they're like, you can't, he can't wear that.

and he's like, what did he wear? And they're like, he's wearing a crown roll. I didn't know what it was. I was in the fifth grade, you know. But one thing I will say about my dad was he was always there for me. You know what I mean? He wasn't the best, and we fought a lot, and we didn't. We butted heads a lot.

And I hated him for a long time of my childhood, but he was always stability. We lived in a trailer. So I moved out of the projects with my mom when I was nine years old. My dad got custody of me. I moved into a trailer with him. Were you excited about it at the time? I wanted to live with him. Yeah, because I was really scared to be with my mom,

and it was always just something crazy. And I haven't asked you, what did Renee do for work? Anything. Just jobs. Yeah, she couldn't keep a job. Which is why we lived in government housing. I remember she waited tables a lot. That was like the main thing she would do.

She would wait tables a lot. So she's just looking for jobs of cash a check? Yeah, yeah, yeah. She did. She worked, I remember one time she worked at like a Best Western. She was like the receptionist, so I'd like, I'd have to go up there with her at night because she worked nights and I'd sleep behind the counter. And what did dad do?

My dad was a car salesman. That's right. Still, the rat man. Still, the rat man. Deplan man. Yeah, get it right. So, let's some respect on it. Deep plan man.

Let me put some respect on it. Put some respect on that. So he was doing that then and he's still doing that. Still doing that. So he made a career out of it. Yeah, he's incredible with it. Okay. Yeah.

So, I mean, I remember one time we lived in an Encano Lodge. Do you all have those here? Oh, yeah. Okay, so you know what in Carlin. They're ever. I've driven across the country a bunch of. Okay. So we lived in one.

We lived in one. Yeah, because we didn't have, we didn't have anywhere to live. And we lived in an econa lodge and across the street was a, was a waffle house. And we didn't have a car. And so she would walk across the street, the parking lot every day. to go to work. And so we lived there for a little while. And finally, I think it was like, I remember, I think I told my dad.

I was like, Dad, I want to come live with you. And we went to court. I remember going to court. I remember sitting in the courtroom. Did you have to go to court because Renee was like, no? Yeah, she didn't want to let me go. Yeah, she didn't want to. But it just came, she was unfit, you know.

And the thing was, was like, she loved me in the best way that she knew how. You know, she always said I was her golden child. You know, and she loved me. She adored me. She would go, she would fight the end of the world for me. But she struggled, literally, literally. She fought people for me. But, and I didn't do any wrong in her eyes.

But she struggled with addiction. She struggled with bipolar. You know, like she had a lot of demons that she just didn't know. And she didn't have any help. You know what I mean? Like, so it was just me and her against the world for a long time. You know, and so it was, I think it was, I think it was, really when I left, that really took a toll on her. It was like she didn't have anything to live for her.

And I was nine when she left, when I left. And then she died when I was 14. Where are you when you find that out? How do you find that out? So my dad, I'm moving on with my dad. We live in a trailer. And he meets this woman named Cheryl. And this woman came into my life when I was nine years old. I was in the fourth grade. And she, She was a nurse, and she was in school to be a nurse anesthetist, so she was in school to be a CRNA, and she was really successful, and she had horses. And I always loved horses. Loved, I always wanted to have horses. Like, we didn't have money for horses, you know? So I'd always loved horses, like, even as a very, very young kid, like, I would have, like, little stables and, like, you know, like horses, and I would play with, that's what I played with, you know, like, a lot of kids have got their cars and, and shit like that.

but I had stables. I had like, you know, actual barns and little things of hay, and I, like, that's what I loved. And so when I met, and my dad used to take me to this little, they had like a ride, not a riding facility, but like it was like a trail ride. You go a trail ride and you could board horses there. I just took my daughter to one out here in Burbank. Yeah. Yep. And so every weekend.

Yeah. Every weekend, he would take me. Okay. And he would let me trail ride the horses. And so when he met Cheryl when I was nine years old, I was in the fourth grade, She had horses. So I was like, this is the coolest woman ever, you know? And they dated for a while.

And then... And are you riding and stuff like that? She's let me ride her horses. She's so good to me. Her family becomes my family, because I don't have much of my family. Her family becomes my family. Her aunt. I mean, her sister, my aunt, her mom, my grandma, you know, like, that's my family.

And I start calling her mom. and she that was my mom you know she raised me and she taught me to drive and she did my homework with me every night she showed me what success was okay she showed me what stability was you know what I mean that she was my best friend like I mean we were we were thick as thieves nobody knew I wasn't her real son it was crazy because we looked just alike is that right and um did she have kids no kids no I was her only kid and you know it um she would go to work and she would take me to work with her sometimes at the hospital and I would like get to go hang out at the hospital for the day and like nobody ever knew I wasn't her real son when I was in high school I never

told anybody she wasn't my real mom only my friends that knew you know knew me from young age and knew about my biological mom like that was my mom you know like to me it doesn't take birthing a kid to make you a parent agree and um that was that was my mom and you know before my mom passed away like she even loved her okay I was going to say how did bernay take that she was It was like, you can call her mom. Wow. Yeah. She was like, because I know that she, I know you love her.

I know she loved it. They hated each other for a long time. But the last year of my biological mom's life, she got sober from alcohol and she was in AA. She was still taking prescription pills, which is what's going to do. I was going to say that. Okay. I was going to say, because that really sucks. You tell me she finally decides I'm going to clean up, but it's the pills that got her.

Yeah. What happened? Where were you when you find out? So I'm living with my dad and my mom. I'm in the ninth grade, I think. And one morning I was getting ready for school, and my grandmother called me. And she's like, hey, I need to talk to your dad. And so I just remember my dad like, he was like, what?

And he just started crying. And I'm like, what is it? And he was like, your mom died last night. And apparently she died in her sleep. And from she had mixed two different pills that weren't supposed to be mixed together. And it ended up killing her. And I just remember, like, at that point in my life, I'd never had anybody die. But, you know, 14 years old, like, that's significant.

Yeah. That's your mom. That's your mom, you know. And so I was devastated. And I went to school. I was like, I want to go to school. I don't want to stay home. Like, I went to school.

And I went to school and I got to, you know, like, when somebody asked you, like, they know you're upset. And then they're like, what's wrong? Are you okay? And then you just fucking start crying. And everybody can. kept asking that, so I just started, I just lost it in school. I'm just bawling. And all my teachers are like, baby, you do not need to be here. You need to go home. And I remember them,

I remember going home. And I just remember, like, the funeral and we get to the funeral and we don't have any money to barrier. Like, we're at there, the day of the funeral, they're all fighting. Her, Renee's mother, which is also an addict and had a lot of her own issues. And my sister, who's also an addict, they're all fighting over who's paying for it because the home is like, this bitch is in the casket. You know, like, there's people out here waiting for the funeral to start. Who's paying for the shit? And I remember, she...

You didn't know you was getting into all this, did you? I love it, though. That was so... Cheryl came in. Cheryl came in the room and she was like... I just remember her, like, crying, like, tearing up. And she was like, Renee worked so damn hard to really... get her shit together, y'all need to figure this the fuck out.

And I remember my dad and Cheryl paid for like the opening closing of the casket, the spray that went on top, like they paid for the majority of the funeral. I'm 14 years old. And we didn't have a, we couldn't afford a tombstone. So my grandmother and granddad had a tombstone already. They had like bought their, they, apparently they're preparing for their deaths because they had already bought their plots where they're going to be. They had their tombstones there.

They're not engraved or anything, but they're there. And we didn't have money to buy her a tombstone. I'm 14 years old, and I go to the tombstone place, and I paid to have her engraved on the other side of my grandmother. I couldn't afford a whole tombstone, but I paid to have her name put over here. Put on the opposite, on the other side. Oh, I didn't know you could do that. Yeah, it's on the back.

Oh. Because my mom's buried behind them. Okay, so the way mine is my dad's, my dad passed at 16, so he wasn't supposed to be on that marker. It was supposed to be my grandfather. My grandmother is just waiting for her date to be etched in stone. But he dies first. So they bury him, whatever, 10 feet down or some shit. And he now goes here and then she passed and now she's here.

Yeah. But I had never even thought of. Yeah, she's on the back. That's interesting because now I'm thinking of the cemetery they're in. It's massive. Somebody's got to be on that plot right back there. but there's nothing carved there. It's fucked up because they really taking up a lot of room.

That's fucking interesting. Yeah, it's a lot of wasted space. I say just cremate me. I don't want to be in the ground. No, shit. Yeah, so 14 years old, I paid to have an engraved. A couple hundred bucks. You spent money to get that customer's call.

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Good for you. Yeah. Okay. I have a bunch of questions. Okay. Let's say, Renee, mom, first mom, does she know you're gay? Yeah. And does she, is that one of the things she's telling you?

Like, you're going to have a hard time you fucking put up or what is, you know, what is her advice for you? I don't think we ever talked about it. No. You know, my sister's, my sister's, I mean. Yeah, my sister's also a lesbian. Okay. She's in the blood, you know. My mom was anything.

So I think it was just a more of. of like, no matter who picks on you, no matter who, like, you always stand up for yourself, no matter who it is. Gotcha. And what about dad? Dad sounds like a Marine, and you're saying, oh, he's... He was a little opposite. Did he know?

He, yeah, he knew, but he never would, like, just, he knew, you know, because I'm like, you know, like, I remember as a kid, I was wearing my mom's, like, high heels. You know what I mean? And it's funny because when people are like, how did you know, like, when did you choose to be gay. Choose. And I'm like, when did you choose to be straight? And they're like, huh?

I'm like, if I got to chose, you think I got the option to choose it, when did you get the option to choose being straight? And they're like, well, that makes sense. I'm like, you really think I would choose to have a harder life? This is when it hit me. I was, you know, I grew up in Maryland. I didn't have many gay friends. I don't think we had any that were out.

None that were out. Yeah, you know, you assume, but none that were openly gay, none. And it wasn't until, I don't know, my 20s when I moved to LA, I met this GM at a hotel where I worked and he was a gay guy and I loved him. He was the shit. And he would take me to lunch all the time. He's actually the guy that introduced me to the groundlings improv because he was taking it just for business because he was nervous to speak in public. And I was like, yeah, I'm interested in that. He's like, here's all the info. And then I went to do that. But he would take me to lunch and he'd let me pick his brain and ask him. So I wasn't just some fucking ignorant hillbilly being. And like what? And that's the same thing he said. He said, when did you know you liked girls? And I was like first grade. No doubt.

I had crushes and everything. He goes, that's when I knew I liked boys. And he's like, you know, what person would choose to be ridiculed, beaten, murdered? Literally. It's not a choice. And then he said, let me explain it to you like this. And this is when it all fucking clicked from me. He goes, you know the courting process.

If you're meeting a little. lady, you're maybe going a few dates or whatever. If she likes you enough, maybe have some sex or whatever, he goes, imagine if you took your, and I cut them off and I was like, oh my God, my fucking testosterone. And this testosterone, he's like, yep. And I was like, you don't need to say another motherfucker. Like that math, boom. No dating, no courting.

You're Joe, I'm Bill. Let's fuck. I was like, yeah, bro. It made so much sense. to me though it made so much sense and who would choose yeah who would choose that like yeah so um are you dating in high school no i didn't come out until i mean you also said you're the only gay guy and is that like there were was there any other gay kids in the school you knew of or not really um i mean i always knew like i genuinely wanted to fuck uncle jesse on full house

well i mean you know like i remember i don't know if you you you're You didn't do this because you're straight. You're a straight dude. But, like, me and all my little girlfriends in school, like we would have a little art now. We'd like, I love so-and-so, and we'd ride it a million times. And I would write, I love Jesse Katsopoulos. I love, that's Uncle Jesse from full house in case you weren't aware.

And fucking Urkel. When Urkel turned from Urkel to Stefan. Yeah, tell me. Hang that the fuck up. I'd have rode that shit to the wheels fall off, okay? Like, I'm not. I I love you

Stefan gotcha I'm like Stefan Stefan Like do not fucking play with me Like I would climb him like a fucking tree And I mean I I don't know if you ever I don't know if you remember this show

But I also had a really big crush on Ben From growing pains Of course of growing pains Yeah Ben was the blonde brother Yeah Yep yeah Yeah

Really that huh Yeah, you got a range. I got a range. I like a lot. Yeah, that's okay. I don't discriminate. Mm-mm. Black, white, you know.

Yeah. Love Mexican. Listen, don't, don't be fooled by testosterone. I didn't write I love Jesse, whatever. But you know what I did? I'm older. I'm 53, bro. You know what I did?

Yeah, you're old. I learned how to program a VCR. Hey, just so I could record Nott's Landing at 10 o'clock on Thursday nights when my mom made me go to bed. And I could get that episode. later and when Noam was around, I could jerk off to the ladies on Knott's Landing. Okay, I learned to program a VCR in seventh grade to masturbate. Okay, well, how about this? I programmed a VCR to watch fucking Zena Warrior Princess.

Were you coming everywhere to it? No, but I thought she was a bad bitch. Okay, I thought she was the baddest bitch. And I used to watch WWF when it was WWF, not WWF. I used to watch WWF, and I was obsessed with China. And my family should have known right then that I was obsessed with a woman that looked like a man. So they had to know. They had to know.

But are you dating at all in high school? No. I didn't come out until I was 19. Okay. Because I was so scared that everybody was going to disown me. So are you going to none of the dances or are you going solo? I would go to dances with my friends. Okay.

Yeah. And I had all girlfriends. I didn't fuck with any of the guys. you know, and especially back then, like, the guys, they didn't want to fuck with a gay guy for sure. You know, it's not like it is now. And it's like, I'm going to shoot the shit real straight with you. I feel like I'm in high school in the comedy world. You know what I mean?

Because all the straight white guys, you know what I mean? I feel like all of the successful straight white guys don't fuck with me because I'm the gay guy. You know, like, I'm the gay comedian. And so it's kind of like, it's kind of like being in high school again. I had all girlfriends I didn't hang out with many guys because I always just connected to them more I was friends with them more

I always felt like I connected with the black people more than I did the white people because that's just how I grew up and yeah so when I was 18 I think maybe 18 or 19 I wrote a letter to my dad and told him officially like hey I'm gay I know that you know

but I have to tell you if you don't want anything to do with me, I understand. Oh, man. But I can't, I mean, I've tried, I tried to pray away the gay. I went to, I went to church every Wednesday and every Sunday trying to pray away the gay. My preachers told me I was going to hell, you know, like my youth pastors told me I was going to hell.

The gayest place on earth. Literally. Catholic Church. Literally. The gayest place on earth. You know, so I really, I like, I was very religious growing up because I thought we had to be. And that's what you're taught.

Especially down there. Yeah. And so I remember just, you know, telling him, like, if you don't want anything to do with me, I understand. But I've tried and I can't make it go away. This is just who I am. And I remember the woman that he's married to now, which is my step-mom-Marie. They've been together for now over 13 years. Oh, he and Cheryl?

No. Cheryl died. Oh, Cheryl passed. We loved Cheryl. We loved Cheryl. We did, right, all the way through? Yeah. That was my mom.

What happened to Cheryl? She was a nurse anesthetist, so she put people to sleep for surgery. And she moved, she remarried and moved to Tennessee and got a job there. Oh, so they did split, though. They did split, yeah. They split. I still spent a lot of- You kept in touch?

That's my mom. Her family, my aunt lives on my property now. Oh, yeah? My best friend, she works in my store. They, like, I mean, they make all the can, like, my aunt is the manager of all of my candleline like she's my best friend you know um so that's my family that is the only family i've ever known so when they separated it wasn't like okay we'll keep in touch it was like when do i go spend the weekends of mom you know like when do i go stay with mom like it was that's how

it was um i actually was going to live with her i was going to leave my dad and go live with her and then she remarried and the guy that she remarried was a redneck piece of shit and we didn't get along um so they moved to tennessee she got a job at one of the big hospitals there, and they were building a house. She also suffered with depression. And she was struggling so bad, and we never knew. We never, we never knew. And she was struggling so bad, they were living in an RV, like, behind their house,

because their house was being built. And she was taking home medicine to put people to sleep, that she would give to her patients to put them to sleep, and she was injecting it to go to sleep at night. And it wasn't... And because she knew how to do it? It wasn't like, I'm doing this to get hot. It was a medicine that literally, it was...

It just knocked her out. It was a madazolam. And it's what they would give patients to make them go to sleep. But you know when you wake up from surgery, you don't remember what happens. Nothing. So it's that. It would make you go to sleep. It makes you forget everything.

You forget everything. You don't remember anything. Is that right? And so she was injecting that to herself to forget what was going on and to just sleep. And then every day she wakes up, it's a new day. Yeah. And we didn't know. How long was she doing that?

I don't know. We don't know. I have no idea. We never knew she was struggling with, I mean, she hit everything. And the thing was that that's literally her job. She knew how to much to give. You know what I mean? She gave herself the medazalam in her bathroom.

They lived in an RV. And before she made it to the bed, she passed out on the floor. And the way she was laying in the floor, her head was like against the wall. And it cut off her airways and she died. No. So she didn't overdo it or anything. It's just the way she fell. Oh, that's fucking awful.

Yeah. Bitch has been through it. I mean, man. Yeah, you said, Matt, is there any lows that you want to talk about? Sure. Where do you want to start? Man, that breaks my heart because that's a good lady there. And that's just a fucking.

and terrible accident that one. It was the worst, it was the most painful thing. Oh, how do you find, how do you hear that? Who calls you to tell you this? My aunt, I'm living in, I'm 2015. So, I'm so sorry, I told you my biological died in 2004, 14.

My biological mom died in 2007. Okay. 2007. That's Renee. That's Renee. That's Renee. Cheryl died 2015. I am 20, maybe. I ain't good math, but I live in a trailer park.

But you're out of your, your own place, you're in your own place there? I'm in my own place. I'm living in a trailer park. Different than your dad's plate? Yeah, different. Yeah, different park. Yeah, different park. Got it. Yeah.

And I'm sitting at my desk. I was a photographer. I was like editing a client and my aunt called me and she's like, I need you to come over. And I was like, it's like 9 o'clock at night. I'm like, I immediately thought my grandmother has died or something, you know. And we get there and I just got my dog chance from the pound. my husband and I were we had just started we started dating in 2014 so it was we've been together about a year and um she's like I need you to I need you to come over right now and I'm like okay

so I went over there and I sat down on the couch and she was like your mama died and I'm like you've got to be fucking kidding me no you weren't you didn't hear it I was like you're lying like you're lying because there was nothing wrong with her you know like we didn't know anything like there was nothing wrong with her and now I'm 20 however old I am early 20 He's 21, 22. And now I've lost not one but two moms. I'm like, what the fuck is going on? So, yeah, that's how I figured that part out.

And is dad still alive? Dad's still alive. Okay. Yeah. And is he clean and sober? He's a clean sober guy? Yeah, yeah. Okay.

My dad's never been an alcoholic girl or an addict. He's been an addict. He was an addict to pussy, but not to, you know, not. My dad was such a pimp. He would be pushing him out the back door and bringing another one in the front. Yeah, like, swear to God. And we call him Mr. T. Mr. T or Titty?

Mr. T. T. Because all his gold. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he, you know, he found another woman, which he's still with today, which is my stepmom-or-ray. She's incredible. Okay, I wanted to ask. All right. You ready? Are you sure?

I've been ready, bro. Let's go. So they marry in 2011. Okay, so this is before Cheryl dies. They marry in 2011. She's wonderful. I mean, just precious good woman. She has two sons around my age.

One is my age, one's probably several years younger than I am. Love them. They're great. So, you know, now here we are, what's 2011 to now? 15. So 15 years they've been together. And 2020, we have Connor, which is my sister. stepbrother and Jordan.

Connor is 27 years younger than me, maybe. Jordan's my age. COVID happens. Everybody's getting the COVID vaccine. My stepbrother Connor was an electrician. He had to get the vaccine for his job. He got the vaccine and two weeks later died of a heart attack. Come on.

I'm like, God, damn. I can't take much more. But also, you're the only person that we heard. all the news and everything. You're the only person I know that has said something like that. This is not, this was a healthier young man. He was healthy. He was saying he's not a senior citizen. He played sports. Not compromised in his 20s? He was early 20s. I mean, come on. Yeah. He had a heart attack on a ladder and fell off dead. So what killed him though? The fall? The heart attack. Did it? He had myocarditis. Yeah. And it was two weeks after they got the, after he got the vaccine.

Yeah. People were like, Matt, you can't say that. Yes. The fuck. I can. Yeah, you can. Why is it not? Because he was a healthy 23 year old man. It's also statistically accurate to say two weeks after this thing, he dies of a heart attack. And he's never had a heart problem in his life. Yeah. But at this point, it's kind of like, Matt, you have lost, I lost my best friend in high school. She was in a drunk driving accident. And it's like, I've lost so many people now that I've gotten, I've developed almost like this phobia. I don't know what it's called, but it's an actual phobia of like being so scared to lose people, you know? Yeah.

Like, and now it's like I've kind of become numb to it, you know? It's just like, okay, who's next? That was my whole, God, the whole first 30 years of my life was like that. Like, we had a family death pool. We would do shit like that. And it was nonstop. You know the phone rang, you're like, I don't even want to pick that up. It's 2 o'clock in the morning.

I know somebody is. Who is it? That's what we at Sal, everybody started answering, who is it? Who died? Who is it? And yeah, you get a, you get a, it's unfortunately, you get over the feeling of I'm scared, I'm going to lose people. And you do get to a numbness where this switch just hits and you can shut it off. And I don't like that about myself. Yeah. I don't like that about myself. I know why it happens, but I'm like, and I'm like, man, that's, it's, yeah. All right, can we switch gears for a sec here then? we're talking about barrel racing and you're getting into farming and all that.

Is that Cheryl's influence, the horses and all that? Horses were definitely her. So when do you get into barrel racing and farming and all this stuff? So when I was 18, I moved out on my own into a trailer park. And I wanted a horse. My mom had moved to Tennessee, so she took the horses with her, so I didn't have them anymore. And so I got a horse, and I boarded her at a, boarding facility.

And I would go feed her every day, take care of her. You know, and she lived there, and I just paid a monthly board to them. And is she just yours? How's that at work? Is it just your horse? I leased her for two weeks. Okay. And then they were like, you got to buy this fucking horse.

Because now she's throwing people off because she don't want nobody else dealing with her because we had really, like, bonded, you know? Okay. And so I bought her for $800. Did you? What's her name? Her name's Priscilla. You still have her?

All right. How old is she? She's 23 now. Hell yeah. Where do you have her? She's at my farm in Alabama. Okay. She's the best thing.

She's been with me through everything. Yeah. So I got her. And then in 2015, my husband and I bought our first farm. That was a little 10 acres, a small little farmhouse. I bought from a crackhead. And it was cheap, you know. It was also, I'm bummed here that I don't own shit.

A crackhead at all. Well, let me take it. You tell you, she, it came through the family. Her dad died and left it to her. They needed money for drugs, so she sold that. All the things is one addict to ruin the whole thing. 10 acres and a house for 100 grand. Come on.

Yeah. I mean, you got to say yes to that. Yeah, so I bought it. And I was terrified because I was like, I didn't have a lot of money. I was a photographer, you know, like, and I bought that house in 2015. 2009, and we had two horses. My husband and I both, we had horses, and then I got chickens. and then we got goats

and then it just kind of expanded. 2019 is when I kind of started, you know, posting a little bit of like my farm on the internet. You know, people were like, this is funny, like this is great, blah, blah, blah. Pandemic happened. My best friend was like, you're so fucking ridiculous. You wear a robe and cuss these chickens out. I'm going to film it.

I'm like, okay. We posted a video. It got 17 million views. I gained over half a million followers overnight. my life changed. And were you doing stand-up prior to that? No. No.

You know what's so funny is I never had a dream to be a stand-up comedian? I wanted to be a singer. You did? I wanted to do music. I always wanted to be a performer. I wanted to do music. Can you sing? Let be it.

Let be it. And that's what I... Do you incorporate it in your... I do, yeah. Okay, good. And that's what I really wanted to be... I did it in my first tour, but in this tour I did. And now for my world tour, we have a...

I'm actually writing a song that is for the tour, and we're going to release it as a single before the tour. and it's going to be really great. I'm excited about it. But yeah, I really wanted to do music, but I didn't think I was good enough, so I never pursued it. But I always wanted to be an entertainer.

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during the back-to-school sale, that's Brooklyn Betting.com and promo code Honeydew for 30% off sitewide, exclusive with my code. Brooklyn Betting.com promo code Honeydew. Now, let's get back to the do. Are you sure? No, I don't even watch, I'd never watched comedy. I'd never been interested in comedy. I'd never gave a fuck about stand-up comedy.

It was not a dream. And I was finally like, you know what? I'm not going to be a singer. I'm not even going to give that a try. Like, maybe I'll give this a try. I'm a firm believer that the universe puts you in the places where you're supposed to be. And as a kid, I've always been funny. Like, I used to get put out of the class every day because of my mouth.

And now it pays me. You know, like, isn't that crazy? And so there was, we have a comedy club in Birmingham called the Stardom. And there was a lady there. Her name was Eunice, and she taught comedy classes. Like she called it Find You're Funny And she taught people like how to How to be comedians

Like how to write and how you know do it So I DM'd her And at this point I probably had A couple hundred thousand followers on the internet And I was like hey Everybody tells me I should be a comedian Like I don't even know that I want to do this

Or if I'll even enjoy it but maybe I should try And she was like Come on down here and let's just try And so I went and I We like just kind of wrote with her And she was like there's something there and I opened for one comic. It's so funny, I've never talked to her again,

even through all this. If I ever talked to her, I've got to tell her if she remembers. But do you know Emma Wilman? Yeah, yeah, we had her on, yeah. Emma came through my hometown. There was a small room. We had like a small room,

and then we had like a big room. The small room holds like 70 people. The big room holds like 420. Emma came through and played the small room in my town. And the club was like, let's have Matt come out and do five minutes for her. I was like, okay. So I went out and I memorized a script, basically, of just my stories.

And it was so horrible because it was like I just memorized an Easter speech. It wasn't me. I wasn't, like, it wasn't my personality. I was just reading. You were saying. Yeah, horrible. Then Monet Exchange came through. And they were like, let's give Matt 10 minutes.

And I was like, fuck I couldn't even do it to five. The fuck I'm going to do 10. And I went out there. I was like, you know what, this time, fuck a script. Fuck anything. I'm just going to go out there and run in my mouth. I told the story about my mom beating my fourth grade teacher off.

Oh, good for you. They were eating out of my fucking hand. And I was like, that was incredible. Yeah. The club owner was like, you, that was good. He was like, let's give you three shows, three of your own shows in the small room. They hold 70 people.

Let's just see if you can put a show together. So, okay, those three shows sold out in one minute. One minute. And I was like, oh, bitch. I don't even got no show. And so I was like, okay, I got this. Like, I started writing with Eunice, like, kind of just putting together my stories. I knew I didn't want to be a punchline comic.

I really wanted to be a storyteller. I wanted to bring you into my story and my journey. And I just got on stage and I started talking about Renee. I started telling the stories about her. I started telling stories about my dad. I told the stories about my dad wanting me to be, you know, like, he wanted me. He pretended he should have won an Oscar because he acted like I was straight for the first 10 years of my life, you know? And like he would want me to cut the grass and I would intentionally run over rocks and stuff like that because I didn't want to cut the grass.

And I'll just tell stories and they loved it. And I will never, this is where I learned, because I didn't watch comedy, didn't know what it was. And this is where I learned how to do crowd work because I had a lady stand up and go to the bathroom in the middle of my show. And she looked like Teresa Caputo, the psychic medium. She had like big bleach blonde hair. And I said, Teresa Caputo, where to fuck you going? And the whole crowd just died. And I was like, what happened?

You know, I was like, that's all I got to do is make fun of these bitches. And the club owner was like, you look like you had been doing that for 20 years. I was like, I was just running my mouth. And he says, let's give you a show in the big room, 420 seats. I said, I'll never sell that. Well, you just sold half of that in a minute. People don't believe me when I say this, because I'd never done, and I'd only open for two people. You hear that math though, bro?

Yeah. You said 70, three shows is 210. You told me it's 420. That's fucking half of it right there. You did it in one minute. So he gave me the show in the big room. And we put it on sale. And I remember sitting at my computer.

I still have the video. I'm sitting in my computer in my office, in my kitchen. I'm in the kitchen table. I'm wearing a robe. I have my coffee sitting there because the tickets go on sale. And I'm like, oh my God, their website's down. The website's not working. He calls me, he was like, the website's fine.

Tickets sold out. I was like, how long? Less than a minute. Damn. He was like, this is the fastest show we've ever sold out in this club. And I was like, and my husband was like, before this, you don't need to be a comedian, my team, you don't need to be, you're a photographer, you're really good, you got a great business, keep doing what you're,

doing. Like, you don't need to be trying to go be a fucking comedian. My best friend, you don't need to be a comedian. We finished that show. My husband and I got in the car and he later made, he said, we're about to be rich as fuck. I was like, I was like, that's the easiest thing I've ever done. To me, it was so easy because all I was doing was talk. I was just being myself. That's it. I was just about the correction. I was like, I was just being yourself. Do you know how many years it takes people to to do that when you when you when you i just had a kid today hit me up and say what advice do you have for a guy that wants to do an open mic and i said man be yourself the first thing you got to do is do it

there's no he's like how do i figure out my cadence i was like don't even worry about that right now it takes years to figure out timing cadence comfortable just go up and be yourself do five minutes less is more get the fuck off the state yeah that's what i would say now yeah if your first open mic ever i'll also say don't. Yeah. What do you do it? Yeah, literally. Well, I mean, from there, I had agents started calling me, you know, and I'd signed with an

independent agent for my very first tour. He was like, we're going to put you on a tour. And I was like, okay, thinking we're going to do all these comedy clubs. He put me in theaters. I'd never done this before. I had done four shows. I sold out 150,000 tickets on my very first tour. That's insane.

You know how insane that is, right. And I know that is not normal. No. And everybody, I remember, you know, I remember comics talking about me. Oh, he's a flashing a pan. So I'm sorry, let me do the math real quick. You've done 210 plus 420. So we're looking at 630 tickets.

So you've performed for 630 people. And then the next show is a theater. A theater. I mean, that's. It was center stage in Atlanta. Yeah, that's unheard of. Two shows. Two shows.

The same night as Taylor Swift and Janet Jackson. Damn. I remember. And you sold out. I sold them out. Wow. I was like, oh, what the time? That's the night that I knew, I was like, this is what I'm supposed to do.

Yeah. Like, I am, I wanted to be a singer. I love music, but this is what I'm supposed to do. So tell me about barrel racing and how do you get into that? We got real off. I'm so sorry. No, don't be. Are you kidding?

I had this horse. I got this horse. And the girl that, the owner, her daughter barrel raced. So in the summers, like, I would just play around on her horses. And we explained what it is. I know. No, but what is there time? Barrel racing is a rodeo sport.

Your horse runs into an arena. There's a triangular pattern of three barrels. Your horse runs in, you turn three barrels, and it is a time to advance. So, boom, boom, boom, and whoever has the fastest time wins. And what's your fastest ever? You can't answer that because all the arenas are different sizes. I see. So you have like a standard pattern, which is like a 17-second pattern.

But then you have tiny arenas where your patterns are 13 second later. I fell in love with it. I became, you know, pretty good at it. I got my first really good horse named Luna. We call her the queen, and I just retired her, but she qualified me for three world titles. World title? Yeah. You got that good. Damn, bro. Yeah, she was in the shit. There's a lot of shit you should be doing, actually, not just comedy. Like that's... I do everything. Yeah. And people are, you know, people say all the time, like, you do everything. I'm like, I get bored and I like to try stuff. And I have this, like... But also you're good at other shit.

Why not? I have this. People make fun of me and they're like, oh my God, he's good at everything. Or what can he not do? Women is what I can't do. But, I mean, what can he not do? And I don't know. I was just talking about this.

Wait, are you Renee's son? Have you tried? Have you been with a lady? I've never touched a sea monster. Okay, well. Never. Renee, you said. I have a platinum star.

I didn't even come out of a vagina. I was a C-section. Yeah. So I've never touched around. Never. The platinum stars outrageous. That's great. never touched one

when people are like maybe you should try it I'm like maybe you should try dick let me know how you think about him okay yeah I'm just like I've been I feel like the universe was like we're going to give this motherfucker so much trauma in his life

and make a lot of his life really terrible but we're going to make sure that he's good at everything so there's going to be something that he's going to be able to do and and I've been been, that's the one thing I can say I'm not, I wasn't good in school. I wasn't good at math. I wasn't good like, I wasn't smart when it comes to that kind of stuff, but I was a business, I was good at making money. I was good at hustling. I was good at those type things. And so I, I, um, I've, I've always been that person that are like, if I wanted to do something, if I try it,

I can be good at it. Okay. Um, marriage. Yeah. Is it legally recognized in Alabama? It is. Okay. Yeah. And when did you get married? My shit. Is it really work that way? Yeah. We've been together for 11 years.

Okay. We got together in 2014. We got married in 2016. I was a hoe, you know, I was a trailer park ho. And I was doing... That's what I want to say. Where? Where are you finding other gay men that, you know, because you said you didn't even come out until 19.

So where are you finding other gay men? So I didn't lose my virginity either until I was 19 because I was living for the Lord. Oh, you're coming. the Christian thing too. Got it. Apparently I thought that Lord was going to give me an orgasm and he did not.

So when I found I found, I was like, you know what, I know that my life is not a Hallmark movie. I'm never going to meet somebody in a grocery store. I don't go to bars. Like, where am I?

So I got on a dating app. And this guy was like, you should come over one night. I was like, okay, cool. I didn't think anything of it. Like, I get to his house and he's like, you want to watch a movie? I'm like, yeah, I didn't know

that was code for fuck. I'd never done anything. Nothing. I don't even think I'd kill. Did he know that? No. You didn't sell them at all? Hell no.

Bitch, I'm a pimp, okay? You know? Baby I'm P-I-M-P. Don't play with me. So we get there. You're your dad's son. And he's like, we're watch a movie. And I'm like, okay.

And he starts kissing up all my neck and shit. I'm like, oh, what's happening? And I was like, this is something. You know, I'm like, this is, okay. Like, this is what I've been missing. And I remember leaving, I had hickeys all over my neck. And I called my friend at like midnight. I had church the next day.

I said, bitch, what do I do? She's like trying to teach me how to put makeup on my neck. Turtle necks and shit. And I remember thinking, like, I remember leaving. I was like, oh, my God, I'm going to hell. I'm going to go to hell. Like, this is, I was like, I remember saying, Lord, I'm going to be on a straight and narrow after this. I'm going to be on a narrow.

I'm going to be. I was like, I'm not going to do this shit again. I said, you know what? I'm gonna do that shit again tomorrow. And I became, the trailer park hoe was born. Okay. And I was a trailer park ho and I was doing a lot of fucking. But I could not keep anybody.

I could not keep a relationship. And I didn't know why. I was like, I got great personalities. So I don't understand like why I can't keep a relationship. And were you looking to settle down? Were you looking for- I was like at least looking for something more than just a hookup? Okay.

And so finally I was one night watching Million Dollar Matchmaker. Patty Stanger. I lived in a trailer park, bitch, I was broke as fuck. I don't even know why I was watching that shit. She said no sex before monogamy. No sex before monogamy was.

I had to Google it. And I was like, okay, I can do that. So the next man that I find, if he likes me and I like him, I'm not going to fuck him. My husband was in town for a wedding. He was like, hey, we start talking on a dating app.

We start talking. And he's like, he just wanted to fuck. I was like, not happening. We didn't get this. You know? We talked for spent He came and stayed with me Like for a whole weekend

I didn't have sex with him We dated for four months And he was like hey do you want to be a thing like Like legit? I was like Like legit? He was like yeah I said yeah Fucked his shit out of him He was like

He dropped out of school He went to you He was in the university He dropped out of the university and moved to a fucking trailer park with me Put it all in his ass put it all his ass. And my husband is a straight dude. Like, I mean, I say he likes Tallywaker, but he's straight.

He likes to drink whiskey, likes to play video games, grew up on a cattle farm. Like, he's a dude. From where? Where's he from? He is from Alabama, but like South Alabama. West Alabama. I don't fucking know. And, yeah, he's a man's man.

Like, he's a dude. You know, like, don't care about nothing. You know, I grew up in the projects. I'll slash your tires and bust your windows at your car. Like, we're very different. And, you know, he just, he dated women before me. And I really threw this thing on him. You know, when you're good, you're good.

And that doesn't bother you, he dated women before you? I don't give a fuck. Okay. Because they ain't got it like me. No. So he, we dated it for four months. He dropped out of school, moved into the trailer park with me, and we've been together ever since. Boom.

How quickly did you get married? We started dating in 2014, got engaged, 2015, got married, 2016. team. Well done. Good for you. Been together ever since. Dude, this has been a great fucking episode. I mean, I'm sorry.

A wild ride. That's been a great. A wild ride. Oh, congratulations on all. You look, man, I know, I hear you on the comedy scene and whatever, but, you know, a lot of people did want to be comedians and they took this certain path of New York or L.A. Or they wanted to do improv. They went to Chicago.

I understand why people hate me. I get it. No, no, no. That's not why. And they go and they do these things where it's like, well, this is the way you have to do this. And this is what it means if you do this and this is who you are if you do this. And I think it's still new to people that someone tonight, not you or me, some Joe Blow or Jane Doe out there could go do a five minute set like you said you did or whatever. Crush it with a fucking video. Put it online that night, wake up tomorrow with 10 million views. I still think it's. It's hard for people to understand that that can happen. And then when that does happen and it keeps happening, look, you're a moron if you don't ride to fucking lightning. Right. You're a moron. But also, times have changed.

You know, people aren't going out and spending years in the clubs because they don't have to. That's what I'm saying. There's an easier path. And so it may not, it's, I don't think it's why. Well, I don't know. Everybody, there's a lot of assholes out. Yeah. But I'm saying, yeah, it rubs people.

it's almost like the rich kid bought his way in. You're not at all. But the thing is, is like what's really difficult to me, what I see is like everybody wants to do it. And this could have been just as easily me. But a lot of people are like, oh, I'm going to do this too. It's easy.

It's a good way to make money. They're famous, blah, blah, blah. They do this. It's really difficult to be on stage for 90 minutes and hold an audience by yourself versus a 90 second clip on the internet. You know, so they're like, oh, they're great. And then you see them in person, you're like, whoa, they're terrible, you know.

Well, they're two different jobs. It's very different, very, very different. They are. And so I didn't even know if that would be me. Like, I didn't know if that would happen to me. And, you know, a lot of, a lot of people said, oh, he's just a flash in the pan. You know, like, it'll die off. You know, it'll, he's not going to make it, whatever.

I did 150,000 tickets on my first tour. I did over 250,000 tickets on my second tour, about to announce my world tour. and over 15 million followers online and, you know, just if you believe in yourself and you think that you can do it and you know that you are good enough and you have value in yourself

and you believe and you feel worthy, then why the fuck not? And that's what I was going to ask you. Advice you'd give the 16-year-old Matt Matthews. 16-year-old Matt Matthews, I would tell, number one, no sex before monogamy. You know, so you're not kissing a lot of frogs.

A lot of frogs out there. There are a lot of frogs. I would know, I would honestly tell a 16-year-old Matt to just always be who you are, always be authentic because there's a lot of people out there, but nobody can be you. Nobody can be you. And at the end of the day, if you're not who you are, no matter if you're an actor, a singer, a comic, whatever you are, fakeness will always shine through. And if you can't be 100% authentic and who you are at all times, you're never going to last.

That's fucking great. So is this episode. Thank you so much for doing this. Thanks for having me. Thank you. And right there one more time, plug whatever you'd like, your socials, your tour, you're all of it. Matt Matthews.com for all the things. OneT.

One T. Don't piss me off. Nothing else? Do you podcast? I don't. No. You don't. No.

You probably don't have time. I have my farm tour show. Yeah. Yeah. So each week we bring out a new celebrity to the farm and I make them do farm chores. It's kind of like a show hybrid, I guess, podcast. All right. I remember a simple life. Yeah. It was like an episode where they would do that.

Yeah. So I like it. All right. Well, thank you, brother. Thank you for having me. As always, Ryan Sickler, on all your social media, we'll talk to you all next week.