The Iced Coffee Hour - Meet The World’s Funniest Comedian Who Almost Died

Episode Date: July 3, 2022

Michael Yo is a comedian, podcast host, and professional interviewer. Michael has interviewed almost EVERY mainstream celebrity and today he talks about his crazy experiences interacting with these A-lister's. Check out the Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/icedcoffeehour  CHECK OUT MICHAEL YO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X654t... Add us on Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/jlsselby https://www.instagram.com/gpstephan https://www.instagram.com/alex_nava_p... Official Clips Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeBQ... For sponsorships or business inquiries reach out to: [e-mail] GET YOUR FREE STOCK WORTH UP TO $1000 ON PUBLIC & SEE MY STOCK TRADES - USE CODE GRAHAM: http://www.public.com/graham  MY NEW COFFEE IS NOW FOR SALE: http://www.bankrollcoffee.com/ The Equipment used: https://tinyurl.com/y78py5g2 Audio Equipment Used In Podcast: Rode NT1, Rodecaster Pro The YouTube Creator Academy:   Learn EXACTLY how to get your first 1000 subscribers on YouTube, rank videos on the front page of searches, grow your following, and turn that into another income source: https://bit.ly/2STxofv $100 OFF WITH CODE 100OFF  For Podcast Inquiries, please contact [e-mail] *Some of the links and other products that appear on this video are from companies which Graham Stephan will earn an affiliate commission or referral bonus. Graham Stephan is part of an affiliate network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites. The content in this video is accurate as of the posting date. Some of the offers mentioned may no longer be available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome or not welcome, Michael Yew. I interview celebrities all the time. Are you ready to find? My pal, Blake Shelman. Welcome back to the Ice Coffee Hour. My name is Michael Yo, and this podcast has made $3 million. No, no, not quite. It's close.

No? $225,446. See? See? Not a bad guess. But, you know, it's okay, though. You know, like, I want to, like, aim higher. Yeah.

And I want to make great things happen. So maybe by the. end of the podcast, it would make $3 million. $3 million? Yeah, maybe. We need something to sell. We need something to sell. But you know what?

We started a Patreon. See? And I'm half black and Asian, so I'm very in right now. Like, ambiguous is the way to go. I can be in anything. All right. Cool. And I'm non-threatening.

There we go. Okay. Well, you know what? If you want to see, one more info, our Patreon is down below in the description. You know, when you walked in, I got to say, you had the nicest, just like, look. Really? Yeah.

Yeah, your characteristics, like your facial structure and everything, you're just so smiling. Are you attracted to me? Are you hitting on your head? I'm not explicitly hitting. But, you know, it's kind of like, I mean, I can talk to my wife, you know, but I mean, she's too. Okay. I just didn't see a ring. Oh, oh, you know what?

That's interesting. You brought that up. So, so I passed out on an airplane. This is a crazy source of. So I got food poison. I was flying from Austin, Texas to here. And I got food poisoning. And I was on the window seat and I got up and I'm and I passed the two people.

And all I remember is taking two steps. And I woke up and a guy had my legs over my head and he was looking through my legs. And he goes, are you okay? And I was so confused. I go, am I? I have no idea. So I passed out in the middle of the aisle of a plane and I landed between two nurses. Like each, my head fell in between two nurses on the aisle.

and it was the craziest. I was out for like 45 seconds on a plane in the middle of the aisle. What happened? Food? I guess I was dehydrated, food poisoning. I wasn't taking in liquids. And I just finished performing like five shows. So I was exhausted, I guess.

And I always take the first flight out. And you know what? I don't sound morbid, but I always think about how death would feel like. And that's what it's like. Because I don't, I'm just out. Two nurses standing over you. Yeah, two nurses.

But you're just out. You don't know you're out until you come back. And that, I mean, it was the weirdest thing that I've never been knocked out or passed out. But it was something, man. It was crazy. It was crazy. And so, but what does that have to do with the ring? Oh, so when I fell to the ring.

I was just trying to shift gears. No, when I fell, the ring came off and went under. And I didn't know. Did you get it? No, because I never knew I didn't have it on because I was so out of it until I landed and it was gone. So we're trying to get, I told, and also another reason the ring, I had. I have a, what's it called? My finger locks up because of my ring jammed into my nerve because I sleep on my hand.

And so I have trigger finger because of the ring. So I have to get a plastic one now. So we're looking for that. So my wife, I had a gold one, but now I have to get a plastic. What do you think about Jack wearing a ring? Is you wearing a ring? No, I'm not wearing a ring. Wow.

Jack usually wears a ring on his ring finger on the right hand. Yeah. And I said that's bad. If he's dating, you shouldn't be wearing a ring, especially there. You shouldn't be wearing any of these. I'm not, I'm searching. You know what I mean? So you're a player?

No, I'm not. No, your player? Certainly not. No, no, no. Okay. Far from it. I am searching at the moment, you know, looking for my lucky lady. Okay.

And I wear a ring of my favorite musician. So I'm- Who's that? Rex Orange County is his name. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I just wear a ring. Yeah, it was like part of his merch. Yeah, it's weird, right? So you just, could you like him?

You wear a ring? I like, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah. And okay. Yeah, I like it. Yeah, it's weird.

It's weird. You know, I think it's, it's pretty normal. You wear a ring too, right? Yeah, but I'm married. I'm married. I'm married.

What if someone wore a ring that's said Jack Selby on it? That's pretty weird, right? How would you feel about that? Honored. I would feel honored? Yeah, honestly. Oh, it says his name on it too. No,

it's just, it's just a logo. It's just a logo. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Hey, you know, good for you. Yeah. Guys, maybe I should cut in here.

Yeah. We should say who Michael Yo is. Yeah. Take it away. Me? You take it away. I'll take it away. So Michael Yo is a comedian.

I, the first time I ever saw him was on YouTube from AGT. And my first reaction was me and my girlfriend at the time, which is now my wife. We were sitting there. We were looking through all the auditions. And it was during the pandemic time. And we saw this comedian go on. And we were like, we looked at each other and we were like, dang, comedians have it tough this year because there are no crowds.

So imagine going up to a stage performing and not having a bunch of people laugh. So that can sound pretty intimidating. But aside from that, Michael, I believe, also does shows here in Vegas around the country. I believe, did you have a show on Sirius? Yeah, I have a show on Sirius XM. It's a radio show. It's on Pop 2K. So we play like Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys.

Oh, cool. And all that fun stuff. And then have a new TV show on Apple coming out called Amber Brown, where I play an ex-husband. So that's July 20. Who's that? Who's that? Amber Brown.

It's a fictional character. And I play her dad. She's the daughter. And my wife is Sarah Drew, who is on Grey's Anatomy or was. And she was, I forgot her name on Grace Anatomy, but she was a big deal on Grace Anatomy.

But she plays my wife. And yeah, so a struggle of me getting back into their life and she's already engaged. And it's a family show and it's on Apple. So that's huge. So that's going to be fun. Have you always been funny?

Did you grow up and like you're not funny? I'm not funny. Like my friends. You're a comedian. I know, but I'm not funny in real life. I'm funny on stage because my friends, the first time I went on stage, you're like, are you sure you want to do this? Because I toured and I went to Houston.

It was the first time all my friends saw me in Houston. I go, dude, you're not funny though. What's going to happen? I go, no, I'm funny on stage. I'm just not funny. I'm a serious guy. Not serious, but I'm kind of just like mellow. I'm chilling real life.

But when on stage, I don't know. I just love to tell stories and things like that. So, you know, on stage I'm great. So you're just really clever. Like you're able to tell good stories in a funny way and, like, come up with good jokes and stuff. Absolutely. When it's, when it's calculated. But like off the hook that maybe.

Oh, I'm terrible. Like, uh, what is off the cuff? Yeah. Off the cuff. Like I do, they invite me to do all these shows where you got to think of stuff real quick. And I'm terrible. Really? Yeah.

But there's a lot of people that like that. I'm more of a, I don't write anything, but I'm more of, here's a whole story about something that happened. Like I have a whole story about me almost dying from COVID. Like I got that big story in my special that's out right now. And it's a 12 minute story, but it's funny because I thought it through it. I know the beats and all that stuff.

How does that work when you're writing out a script for this? How do you insert the jokes in a way that you wouldn't be able to do like on the cuff? I don't write a script. I tell a real story. And then heighten it. Joe Coy, he's a big comedian right now. He was my mentor.

And he goes, If you ever sit down to write a joke, stop, sit down and write a real story and heighten it. So I just tell real stories. That's why I never write down stuff because I know the story's true and I know all the beats to it. Then I just got to find the funny parts in the story and just heighten those. How do you find the funny parts, though? Like let's say you're telling a serious story about you almost dying from COVID. At what point are you like, hey, I've got to slip a joke right there.

Okay. Well, I like to get a laugh every 20 or 30 seconds. So for instance, this really happened. And it's not even joke for him, but it's just funny when I told it on stage. When the paramedic put on, you know, they gave me oxygen and they told me to say goodbye to my family. So my wife is holding my son at the door and there's a window separating. I got COVID. I can't touch him.

So I put my hand on the window by my son. And I'm gasp for air like, and my son puts his hand on top of my hand, looks at me and goes, I'm just seeing it. And that really. I was not expecting a joke there. No, but yeah, I mean, nobody does. But that's what really happened. So the truth sort of is funny.

And then, of course, I heightened it where I'm like, this little dude makes a fun of me, man. Screw me, man. But the comedian in me is like his time and's incredible. So it's kind of like I find those moments. I talk about how the doctor tested every drug on me, and I have jokes about that, how they told me I was the first patient in L.A. with COVID.

I had jokes about that. So I just take a real life. situation if something happens or if I make somebody laugh I go okay what made them laugh and I go back and then kind of right around that when did you realize you had a talent for that I guess when I was on Chelsea lately her show was really big I was a reporter on the show because I worked for E so I would interview celebrities and then once we got to uh once I got to know all the comedians Joe coy was like you're really funny you remind me of myself you should try stand up and I tried it and in Miami Improv, and the first time I went on, I did 15 minutes.

And that's a long time for your first time I'm ever going on. And I fell in love with it. I got off stage, called my mom and said, this is what I was born to do. And my mom was like, really? You know, because you're not funny, basically. You know, that's a, they don't, they've never seen me as that. But on stage is just something different. It's fun.

Now, how do you improvise on stage if you're not funny in person? How do you shift to character if like, let's say something happens and you have to stop. Like some crowd work or something. Yeah. So crowd work, I'm terrible at. Like, I, I'm terrible at. I know what I'm like I know what I want to accomplish. I know how to make people a part of my show,

but I know exactly where it goes is going. Yeah. Where there are some comedians that can just my friends like I think you saw one of them at Matt Apple, Harrison Green Bob. He can just riff with the crowd. Like that's what he specializes. Yeah. You know, and like I've known him for 10 years and he's so amazing at that.

And he's a great storyteller and he's a great comic. But he's more of a but boom, boom, boom. He's sitting you with jokes. fast. I'm more of like, so this happened to me today. And I'll take you through a story and you'll get emotionally attached to it and then I'll give you a joke. So he's a different style of comedian, you know, but he's a crowdwork comedian. And I love those. Joe Coy was a crowdwork comedian. I know in Bagg is a crowdwork comedian. Me, I kind of, I know exactly where I'm going to get you. I'll, I'll go to you and say, oh, and ask you question, but I know where I'm going. Yeah.

You know what I mean? It sounds pretty crazy when you say like, oh, you were interviewing celebrities at E and then you want an America's Got Talent and performed in front of like no crowd or whatever Alex said. And then, you know, now you're a touring comedian. Can you walk us through like where you started and how you got to where you are now? So I started on radio. I was a radio DJ. I had a huge show on radio in Miami. I was on Y100 and the show did so well and I never did TV before. So the president, from what I understand, the president of E at the time was in town. His name was Ted Harbor. and he heard my radio show because his daughter was thinking to go into the University of Miami. And he heard me interview.

I interviewed Nick Lechay when he just broke up with Jessica Simpson. That's how long it was. And he goes, nobody could get that interview. And this kid got it. How did he do that? And it was a great interview. So he goes back. His casting people come out to meet with me.

They offered me a job on TV. Never been on TV. Never wanted to be on TV. And I said no for like six months because I love radio. I was like, why would I want to be on TV? because I got to move and your first TV contract ever give you, they can let you go every three months, but you can't leave. And I built up this huge show in Miami.

I was like, I'm not going to leave where y'all can fire me in three months. So finally six months went by where I said no, and they called me and go, okay, what can we do? We get you here. I go, let me keep my radio show, build me a radio studio. I'm like, they're never going to do that. So they built me a radio studio. And I was right across from Ryan Sechrest.

So Ryan Seacrest was across the hall This is when American Idol was huge And I was like And when you see somebody from afar You're like I could never be that And then when I moved here And he was pat I knew him

He would pass me every day Go what's up man It makes it reality like oh I can do what that guy does You know it may take longer to get to where he is But I can do that And that's how I kind of all took off And then they put me on TV

And it just kind of took off from there I was on the Kardashians I did Chelsea lately and I was at E when it was huge, and then I worked for extra insider, ET, Access Hollywood. So I worked for all those shows,

and my specialty was interviewing people. There's more to life than finding the perfect car. But finding the perfect car can help you get the most out of life. Like the SUV that handles everything from drop off to off road, and the car that hauls groceries and hockey teams, or the van that's gone from just practical to practically family.

Whatever you want, wherever you're going. Start your search at ototrater.ca. Canada's car marketplace. Celebrities. What are some notable people that you had interviewed? Well, I mean, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks is phenomenal. Tom Cruise is awesome. Will Smith, before all the trouble.

And I don't care what people say about it, the nicest guy you will ever meet. I know he had a breakdown on stage or I don't know what he was going through. always treated me with respect was so nice to everyone and he uh yeah he messed up yeah you keep his name out of our podcast that's right i'm kidding you know he's always been great but then i mean the rock kevin hart will feral i mean just about there's not one person that you could think of that's you know it has a big career that i have an interview leonard decaprio amazing so

I interviewed him. It was, what was the movie? God, what was it called? Started with it D. I can't remember the movies. No, no, actually, well, I've interviewed him for that one. But it was this, no, it was the one that was, it didn't start with a D. Inception?

No, it was the fancy one. Boss Lerman did it, I think. Oh, Great Gatsby. Yes. So we were at the Great Gatsby. Interviewing him. And man, let me tell you, it's so interesting. interviewing people like him because you sit down and you go, I'm interviewing a legend. I mean, he's not one, but when it's all said and done, he's a legend. And that's where I get kind of like stoked about it because you're interviewing a person that when history is done in acting, he's going to be a legend. And he's great. He's nice. You know, I mean, he's not like going to make you laugh or anything. He's a serious actor where like a Ben Stiller, Chris Rock or Kevin Hart, they'll make you laugh during the interview. He's all about the work. You know what I mean? I mean, you're not. I mean, you're a serious actor. He's a serious actor. He's a serious actor where like a Ben Stiller. He's a man. I mean, I mean,

You'll have cute moments with them, but it's not like you're breaking anything. Do you come up with your own questions to ask or are there pre-set questions that they know ahead of time? Well, this is why I got out of it because there are some things they want you to ask, and it's your job to ask. But you could ruin relationships. You could piss off actors because you've got to ask you about their personal lives. Because really, honestly, nobody gives a shit about the movie. Nobody cares about your movie, you know, really, honestly. Nobody, maybe Top Gun, they care about it.

But they don't care about the shots and they don't care about, oh, so how long were you in the plane shooting? They don't care. Tom Cruise, who are you dating now? What's up with you and you? Like, that's what they care about. Yeah. And if publicists don't say, because when you get there, publicists give you guidelines. You can ask, you can't ask about X.

But if a publicist doesn't say that, you have to ask. Because your, your boss would call and go, well, they didn't say give you regulations. So you could have asked, why didn't you? And I just got tired of, I don't care about your personal life. I don't even care about your movie. You know, I just do this because I love interviewing people. And then it got to a point where it was just, I would think of the fun questions and then they would have the gossipy questions, the ones that's on the front page of magazines.

And that sucks to be that guy that breaks a story about somebody's past relationship or if somebody died in their life or something like that, you know. So what was like a question that you asked where it really didn't go over well for someone? So Anna, what was her name? Anna Ferris? No. Ann Hathaway. Yes.

How do you do that, Jack? Jengel or the great Gatsby. But so she was in Rio. It was a cartoon called Rio too, right? This is when Kanye West and Kim Kardashian were on like Vanity Fair, one of these big magazines. It's the lady that wears the glasses. That devil wears Prada. Merrill Streep?

Yeah, but she was playing this. lady. I don't know. Who's that lady, Jack? Who's that lady Jack? Who's that? Double glasses? She has the big, but she's like huge.

She does the mat. And it was the first time to ever put like a reality star in the industry. It was like, oh, the magazine's going downhill. But Ann Hathaway was on the magazine. So my boss was like, you got to get her to talk about Kanye West and Kim Kardashian on the magazine. And in my mind, I'm going, that's the dumbest. Who cares her thought?

because she was on the magazine doesn't mean she cares about that and i didn't have anything to do with nothing yeah that's not that's like me asking y'all about a person that podcast when y'all podcast it's like well what do you think like you're like i don't even know them why would i care i asked her that question which was really nice so you had to climb you had to kind of walk up to this platform where she was and i'm walking down the platform and can i curse on this yeah yeah okay she goes why the what he asked me that question when I don't give a shit about the Kardashians I don't give a shit who cares who's on a magazine blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah and I got really angry and I was about to go back up and then I go no she's right because that's what I said to my

boss before I she made me ask that why didn't you defend yourself because it she was right like so why don't you say like I agree like well because I was already down to sit she was on a platform So I was walking out. She thought I was already down. But I was midway. Did she think you could hear her? She had no idea. So she was just like blasting me. And then the problem is her publicist calls our boss and we never ran it.

So I asked this stupid question for nothing. And I got tired of doing that. I thought they were going to twist it to be like, Ann Hathaway doesn't care about Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. I mean, they could have. Yeah, that's what I was thinking. And they would twist it. But they're not going to give you the.

footage because when you do a junket they keep all the footage and if they say it's okay they give you the footage they wouldn't give me that they didn't give it to our team so we couldn't run it and that's like so you ruin a relationship a future relationship to interview somebody because just like i would imagine you know finance or whatever you do it's all about contacts and if nobody wants you to my contacts were celebrities and if nobody wanted me to interview them i lose my job and so you could scratch aunt hathaway off the you know and after a couple of those so you were worried about like damaging yourself to the point where you've ruined connections with people when connections with publicists because now you're

that guy yeah you become that guy oh when he he's not going to do a fun interview he's going to do a fun but then he's going to ask crappy questions and make the celebrity mad do we want to really put him in a room with brad pitt or angela joly when he's going to be that guy I've became like for a little bit I was that guy but I worked for the biggest entertainment outlet so they had to take me anyway and the public is like you could just feel it I was at and you and that sticks with you no matter where you go even when you're not working I would go I lived in LA I would go to places where celebrities were and you could see them kind of like oh is it gonna rat on really they'd notice you and just like recoil and yeah really I'm very I have a look to me when I walk in the room I mean no but they they would call yeah because they knew that oh if I do something this guy could report it on TV and I hated that feeling I had that moment with Rihanna where she was like freaking out I was in this room we were in this VIP thing it was only about 20 people it was backstage at a concert and you know I could tell you could just feel it she was like I saw I walked there I could see her just kind of roll our eyes and literally

I went up to her and I'm not I'm not here for that you know and I just got sick of yeah that guy where it also wasn't my dream to interview these people. My dream is to have my own podcast interview people where I own everything. And I wanted things to, you know, I was living everybody else's dream. It's interesting to interview everybody and they're living out your dream. And this is not your dream at all. And then that's why I said, okay, I started comedy. Let me go on AGT.

There was no audience. They called me the night before. Like, do you want to wait until next year? I go, no, I'll just do it. And then I did the first episode and then I got COVID almost died. And then that was like, so I was sick the whole time. It took me 10 months to get well. So I was sick during the second round.

And then I wasn't, I didn't move forward. And it was this weird situation. But it's more about now moving forward for me, betting on yourself. And I never really did that before. Yeah. Because my job was not to bet on myself. It was being told what to ask, going to somebody, hearing about their life dreams. and then going back and go, oh, I got your question.

Like, that was the big deal if I asked, got a great answer to a question my, they wanted, you know? And it's like, like, do you ever keep in contact with those celebrities after you interview them? Like, maybe you hit it off and you're just like, hey, let's hang out some time. You know what? I've never been that guy. Really? I mean, I have, my phone is loaded with celebrity names. But I've just never been that guy because I always want to be the guy when I do go to a celebrity.

is for they're not ever going to say, oh, I was partying with that guy, and I don't want him to work. I don't want to work with that guy. I always wanted to keep a certain image with people that when I do call, they're like, okay, let me listen. Because he's never asked me for anything. This must be serious.

Like, for instance, the rock. I love the rock. And it's a thing where if I ever call the rock, you know, hopefully he'll pick up and it'll be like, okay, he never reaches out. What's the deal, Michael? You've always treated me well impressed. I've treated you well.

What project do you have? You know, so that's, that's the kind of situation I want to be in with these celebrities. Wouldn't it be better, though, to get buddy, buddy with the rock and just say like, hey, let's, if he's free, hang out, go to the gym. Not his gym. Have you seen that, dude? I don't, I don't really, and here's the thing. It's very interesting. I don't like people.

Like, I mean, I love performing. I love doing my thing, but I'm not a big hanger outer. Like, I have my close friends, but they're all in Houston. So, I mean, I'll do poker night and things like that. But me going out, like, I'm married with two kids. I don't go out anymore. Like, I got to watch these kids. My wife is so awesome.

So that's my life right now. And since I travel so much, I got to, when I'm in town, it's kind of just that. Got it. I know it sounds like this boring married guy, but it's crazy. You know, it's a very exciting life because we get to do a lot of stuff. But it's also, you know, it's like once you're at home with kids, it's, that's your focus, you know. I figure we should mention because I don't think we mentioned this before, but you guys are neighbors. Yeah, exactly.

And that's how this whole thing like occurred and how you, you know, you met each other and what? Yeah, how was it? I was walking to the gym and I think I saw you unpacking some stuff and I wanted to be neighborly and go say hi. You were. He introduced himself to me and I was, and I was like, oh, that's awesome. So a couple days later, you know, I knocked on your door and just said hi and had some

questions because I knew you were in the podcast world and just had some questions and then it kind of just went for you automatically invited me to poker night, which was awesome. Yeah, that's right. I can make it because I was performing. But it's awesome. The more you learn about where we just moved, how it's just phenomenal. First of all, when I look back on L.A., anytime I land in L.A. or go back, I want to get out. Because I love the space here.

I just love the lifestyle. I love performing here. I love flying out of here. For my job, it's the best. I got to ask, why did you leave California? Got to get that little audio clip in there. Oh, yeah. So I left California.

because we lived in Studio City. And after COVID, after I beat it, I was walking my son in our neighborhood. And a homeless person, like we lived in a really nice neighbor. Threw something at my son. And he was three. So that's when I told my wife and she said, let's go visit my parents in Vegas. And we fell in love with it, rented something for two years. So they built our house here.

And then just moved in like two months ago or three months ago. And man, talk about a difference. Everything's easier out here. Everything's cheaper out here. People don't care what you do. You know, the hard thing to me personally about L.A. Is I tell people, if everybody, everybody does the same thing, if you're in my industry. And you live around and you talk to those people all the time.

It's almost like if everybody worked in the same restaurant and everybody wanted to be the general manager of that restaurant. So every conversation is like, oh, who's on fries? Who's on the cashier? Who's on it? So it's like, what audition? What'd you do? What'd you do today? What'd you do?

So that's a heaviness that. that's on you. And once I moved here, after I do an audition, I won't get asked by anyone. Nobody cares about my audition. Nobody cares about anything. And that's what I love about Vegas. You know, like people, it's the first time and a long time they talk to you about your, they ask you about your kids, your family. And it's pretty cool. And like our neighborhood, this neighborhood is like great people. And like my kids have met so many other kids. And the parents are like, there's some amazing people. I live in this neighbor and I'm meeting all of them. And it's like, like, this is a hot spot, you know, for talent, for connections, for everything.

Well, so have you met here? Because I've never introduced myself ever to the neighbors in L.A. Who else? Do you want me to say? Yeah, sure. The governor lives like three houses away. Really? Yes.

The governor. I heard that he lived in this. I know. He lives like right up the street. Really? The governor. Yeah, I see him at the gym. He's at the gym.

Wait, which one is he? Because I go to the gym. Huh? I go to the gym too. Well, he goes at like 5 a.m. Oh, yeah,

definitely. Certainly not. Yeah, whether you're a Democrat or Republic, Sissalak, he lives here. Oh,

I definitely have not seen him. Yeah. The guy that created the Dune video game lives here, right up the street. Really? Oh,

dude, he's a massive, like. See the guy with the Corvette? I was seeing? He lives, if you were to go straight up from your house,

yeah. where they built all that stuff in the front of their house. Yeah. Yeah. He lives right. So he's created all these electric companies and he sells them. I mean, it's, it's crazy. Like football players, basketball players for the Raiders, for the hockey team live here.

That's nuts. Yeah. And because the great thing is I meet them because we all have kids, you know. So I think that's what gets me out more than you is because our kids play with their kids and it's all this. It's, and it's sort of. So you're saying kids are good for networking. That's it And I think

Jack you should have a kid I should have a kid And I think that's the most important thing You're going to learn on this podcast For this neighborhood Kids in Vegas are great for networking Before the podcast we were talking about Like how people put certain

Like societal or like restrictions on what Comedians can or can't say And you being a comedian I know this is kind of like a controversial and debatable topic What do you think about Comedians making jokes that maybe Could be seen as like too far

Or feeling like can't be too edgy or anything? And are we moving in that direction? No, I don't think we are. I think certain people are. Here's the problem today. It's a very small group can make a lot of noise and get people canceled. You know, because most people don't care what other people say. They just, they live their lives. You know, and that's one thing when I lived in L.A. It's very left. So all you hear is that, oh, you get really like used to hearing one side. And then when you move here where it's 50-50, you're like, oh people don't really care you know you

people like oh when you move to Vegas oh my god people gonna go nuts they're gonna be waving Trump flags in front of your house no it's not like that so you learn that it's just a very small group of people that do that now there are certain comedians that will push the envelope you got Dave Chappelle talking about transgender and he gets in a lot of trouble for that and I feel that it's interesting

comedians bigger comedians will always say nothing should ever stop you from saying which you want to say. The comedians that are saying that are loaded, making $25 million a special, right? People like me coming up, I watch what I say. I always say what I want to say, but I'll try to find a less offensive way to say it because I'm still trying to come out. And so I think that's the, that's where we are. The people that have made it, the Bill Burts, the, the Dave Chappelle's, the, well, Jim Gaffigin doesn't push that line. Jeffreys is one of my personal friends.

Like, he will push it because he doesn't care. But now don't you think that these people all made their careers coming up by saying those things? And now that we moved in a direction that's against it, they could get away with it only because they're so big by doing that already? Is it, is it that we're more sensitive or we're more involved? See, this is where I go back and forth is if you watch Eddie Murphy's raw and delirious, it's so out of tone for what we're like me, he's driving.

F word. He's talking about all kinds of things. You could not talk about today. You know? So I think, I think he shouldn't apologize for that back then because it was very acceptable. But you look at it today, you go, oh, my God. If you've never seen Raw, go back and watch that. And it will blow you away.

Was that the one in the 80s? Yeah. I've seen clips. He's hilarious, though. Yeah. But if you watch the whole special, you'll be like, whoa. Like there's no way. No way.

You could say that today. You talk about cancel. Nobody would put you on TV. You would be thrown out of the United States of America, probably, if you said the things he said in that special. And he apologized for it, but to me, you shouldn't apologize for it because you filled up movie theaters where people wanted to see that. And it was acceptable at the time. What people, the cancel culture gets confused with, things were, like when people have to go back and apologize for things, a lot of times, whether it was right or wrong, it was acceptable. You know, I'm not saying really getting super racial and just being wrong at all periods of time.

What I'm saying is certain words were acceptable at a time. It's not right, but at a time it was very acceptable, you know, talking about certain genders were okay at a time. Today, it's kind of like, okay, I'm going to say this, but I know I can get backlash. So now it's on the comic. Is it right he's going to get backlash? it depends what he says. You know, I believe in freedom of speech. And what people forget is, if I say something to you and you don't like it,

you have the freedom of speech to go complain. So people always take the other side out of the equation. They go, like when you hear news anchors, they're trying to cancel me. It's like, no, you said what you had to say. Now these other people are saying what they have to say. You know, so if you look at it that way, cancel culture is normal. Because at all... Is it because it seems like a new thing?

I don't remember this being a thing like six years ago. Because there was no 24-hour news. There was no social media. Somebody, if it took work to cancel somebody, nobody would do it. It's harder for me to cancel my gym membership than to cancel a person. Like literally, you have to write a letter to your gym. You have to bring it. They have to meet with an advisor.

Avisor tries to keep you to stay. You said no. And they're like, all right. Well, and they try to work out the exit deal. This, 10 seconds. If it catches fire, the person gets canceled. If not, no big deal. They move on.

Don't you think that's dangerous, though? It's terrible. It's terrible. But also, as a comedian, you can't stop what other people do because now everybody has an opinion. You know, you remember when you used to have to actually know what you're talking about? You remember what I was saying? I don't remember. Yeah, yeah.

No, but if you specialize in finance, you specialize in comedy, like these people work years for people to trust them. to even get on TV. Now you hold up your phone, you're an expert. Like when people, when people go, I do my own research. That's very dangerous, especially about medical stuff. Like, no, talk to a doctor that actually does it as a profession. I actually went to school for it. But you have people just Googling whatever, coronavirus,

reading what they want to read. And then that's what they go with. And then they get mad if you don't agree with it. Right. So I recently went to a Bruno Marge concert. And he took away all our phones. And I heard some comedians are doing this too. You have to.

So, yeah, I was going to ask you. So you agree with this? And if so, why? A hundred percent. Seller, not here, but in New York, they take away everybody's phones. They put them in a green bag and you got to tap it to leave. Because this is what frustrates me. When you're on stage as a comedian, when I'm at a comedy seller tonight, what I'm saying

on stage is not the final product. But you're judging what I say like it's the final product. product. Like my special that's out right now, that's the final product. You know, so it's kind of like me going to a writer that writes all these negative stories about comedians, turning in their first draft and going, this is your first. Well, no, I got to correct all the mistakes. And then an editor has to read it. And then he sends it back to me. And then I got to do it again. I got to rewrite some of the stuff. But comics don't get that leniency. It's kind of whatever you say, it's done. This is what you think. It's like, no, that's why we,

go up in practice because you could say anything and somebody could now you can say anything and people take it wrong you know i have a joke about my son and my daughter and i go my son uh bump my daughter once right you know and she was playing with a toy and i got really angry and then i make a quick joke and go but my daughter can hit my son in a face with a brick and i'll be like oh good job you know because it just shows the father thing versus the mother and son people are like this right after johnny debon like this the nicest joke. I'm the nicest human. And they're like, you're teaching sexism. Your son's going to beat women. Your girl's going to beat up men. Like, they're going bonkers about it. Like, like this is. Why do they even show up to the comedy thing? No, it's on YouTube. So it's, oh, it's just reposted.

It's the YouTube comments. It's the YouTube comments. Oh, man, the comments. People go, and I'm never, like, to be honest, my YouTube, when I, my special came out three months ago, I had 3,000 people on YouTube. Like, it was a dumping ground. I never even, I never looked at it. And then they go, you should really put together your YouTube if you're going to put out a special. So for me, I put out the special. And then three months later, you know, I've gone from 30,000 views for a channel, like for the eight years to now, in just three months, I got 120,000 people and over 37 million. So for me, that's great. Because I never had anything before. But I got to get used to just random people getting really pissed off about, I'm not used to that. You know, it's just they really get upset. And I'm not even a canceled type of comic, but to see people overreact about a joke about my son and daughter, it's a joke, but they take it as real. But you could use that as content.

100%. And I am for my next best. I'm going to read some of the comments and let them know how freaking ridiculous they are and how dumb they are. That's good. I like that. Yeah. And I'm getting so much material from that.

I mean, these people, you know what's amazing to me, that people have time to write. paragraphs and paragraphs to you on a comment. Who does that? Do you have no life? I mean, I've done that before. Have you? Not negative.

Not negative. It's all never negative stuff, but like sometimes I'm really deep involved in the video and I just want to like. I've written long, long things too, but it's usually, no, it's in response to someone saying like some sort of critique to me and I try to

understand what they're saying. And then I give them a nice, you know, a well thought out message back. But why? You don't even know these people. Because I don't know. I'm sensitive.

Maybe. But the thing is your response is public. So even if you don't know them, other people who see that comment will see your response. Yeah, because they're talking to hundreds or thousands of people. If one person has like they have a misread on what you said or whatever and then they comment about it, other people can see that and just latch on to that. But if you don't respond and defend yourself, then that will happen. And it will be like an echo chamber. But if you do respond, people will see your response to be like, you know, that's reasonable.

And then not like, I respond it. I go, this is a joke. And I said, first of all, my. daughter is one she can't even pick up a break funny if you comment it back my daughter will beat up your daughter but yeah so that's the thing is like i found humor like when people say i don't like to oh you know me neither you know you'd write cute stuff like that but it's just amazing like when people just sit down and just write and write and write to but it's a new thing for me on youtube you know yeah what was it i was listening to a podcast um and uh they mentioned something about how

how the news cycle changes completely every 36 hours. Yes. And so 36 hours from now, unless there's an update, like no one's going to care anymore and people stop running the story. And that is true. Because 24-hour news changed the whole game.

I'm older than y'all, but I was in the day when there was, you waited until 7 o'clock to hear your news. And whatever they said that night, that was it. That was the news. And they would run one story for a month if it was a big story. Now news ads outlets,

hype up stories so much and put all these experts on that will disagree with what they say and fight with other people. And that's what it's become just opinions. And they got to do that to keep people interested. Because if a news anchor just comes up and tells you the facts, you're like, okay, so what am I going to do with that? I want to hear people argue about that. You know, and that's where we are. So, and what proves what you just said, there's presidents that'll do stupid things and say crazy things. And 36 hours later, they can say, something else and you totally would forget about the thing they said before. You know, so there's ways to take advantage of it, too, if you are that character, you know,

where you don't care and you're going to say whatever you want to say, they'll forget about you. You know, you're one natural disaster or one hurricane or anything away, something bad happening from people totally forgetting about the dumb thing you did. Do you have a review process for your jokes? Like, do you have a person who maybe says, hey, Michael, not a good idea, soften this up a little bit? Do you have like someone? My wife, kind of.

You know, and I have a couple of comics that travel with me and we always throw stuff off each other. Like my wife is very sensitive to topic matters. So my last special,

I didn't let her see it until I shot it. And then my family, my mom, dad, they tried to cancel me. So I'm not worried about outside. Oh yeah. What happened?

Now we got to hear it. You know what? I had a joke where it's not me saying it but I call my wife a bee. in it, but I don't mean, it wasn't me. I said, the joke is, I survived COVID. I'm going through that.

And I go, my wife is taking care of my kids. I'm hearing my son asks where daddy is. And I'm getting breakfast, lunch, and dinner delivered to my room. And then the crowd starts out of it. I go, man, COVID ain't that bad. I feel like a husband in the 50s. Now I said, I feel like, I'm like, get those kids away from me. It's where's my dinner, you know?

You're not calling. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. But, but, but. I get, I get what you say. You know what I mean? I'm like, if I was 50, like if I was in the 50s, they're making fun of the,

I'm making fun of what they called women. But my wife didn't hear it like that. She was like, oh, you called me a bitch. And then my mom watched my first special four years ago. And she was there and we watched it together now that all these reels are coming out, people making real. And in one of those, I called her a bitch. But it wasn't, it wasn't me again.

Similar like a similar situation, you know. And then so you got to, and then the biggest, mistake I made in this comedy special and my wife told me not to do it. And I did it. I call my kid a motherfucker. Square knows that in hospitality,

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So you're ready for whatever's next. Learn more about their customized little plans That score up.com What's the bad? No, but I should. But alone's enough for Alex just to learn. Alex's laughing. Alex's laughing.

Alex finds it funny. It's funny in the bit, but I had a clean version where I don't say that. And I was like, man, motherfucker is so funny, dude. But I was like, now that I watch it, I go, what if my son gets old is this? My dad called me Motherfather. I don't think he's going to care. Hopefully he doesn't. But I guess my thing is I didn't have to say it.

Because I could have said this little, like, well, it goes, it was when, after he touches the window. And I go, this little motherfucker making fun of me, man. Fuck you, dude. And then I go, but the comedian says his time is incredible. I could have said, I had a version that worked just the last one to say. I go, this little dude's making fun of me. Because the joke is the thing. And then I go, this little dude's making fun of me.

Screw you, dude. But the comment. So I had the clean version. But that's not as, it doesn't have the same punch. Yeah, it's showing that like, you know. He's not your kid. It's like disassociating. Because I'm not making fun of him.

Would you go talk to my wife and let her know, right? Two houses. Just go talk. And that's the thing. And then you worry about, oh, if my wife is like that, she must have heard outside noise from other people that's saying, he called you a bitch in his special. Did she?

I don't think so. Okay. I hope not. Like, I would never want to offend her family. Yeah. But I didn't call her that. I was like, if this person in the 50s. No, I get it.

You get it. You get it right? Yeah. Like if you say this little kid is making fun of me, I feel like that comes off as even more genuine as though like there's tension between you and your son. But if you disassociate you, your relationship from this like, you know, the silliness of the situation by calling me an MFer. You know what I mean? Then it's like it's completely detaching. You're just talking about the situation.

I find the extreme so much funnier. It is. You have to take it to like that where it's, it's like obvious. It's so obvious, but it's so extreme. So that to me is where the humor lies. So that's the thing. I was watching my special back. I had both versions.

I go, man, motherfucker just hits. It does. I mean, you could have done it the other way and got 90%, but it's like for, 50. Yeah. When you say the MF, man, they're like, when you say this little guy, they're like, yeah. That's, I ain't great with you on that. You know, so it's, it's, I'm not even worried about getting cancer from the outside. I'm worried about like, now I have this new joke I'm working on for my next special

where it talks about how women can't make men great. I mean how men can't make women great. But then I get to the point where I talk about women, how you make us great, but you drive as fucking crazy, right? So now I'm kind of like, okay, what can I talk about? How can I dance this line where my wife's not going to get offended? Because now, obviously, I'm talking about that side. Yeah.

You know what I mean? This is, I'm talking in real time now. So that's where I'm like, for my wife, I'm like, okay. You know, like my wife, the thing I'm talking about now is my wife loves to set traps for me. and every woman does in a relationship. They will ask you questions where both answers are wrong. No matter what you answer, it's wrong. My wife was like Miss Wyoming, blah, blah, blah.

So all her friends are like beauty, Miss USA's, Miss universes. That's all her friends, right? And when we lived in L.A., they would come to the house, and they would look at the screen and go, oh, my gosh, she's beautiful. Any answer I say is wrong. If I say she's beautiful, you're like, oh, you think another woman's beautiful? If I go, she's ugly, oh, he's lying. He's lying to you.

So like those So those are the elements I'm trying to beat out now Like what Or people updated in a past But I don't like to talk about people updated So it's basically my wife What she does to drive me crazy

You know Like when you first get When you first start dating When they say your name is sexy Then when you get married About after seven years When they say your name You know you're about to do something

You know like take out the tragedy You know it's like at the beginning It's like, Michael, you're like, we're about to get it off. And later when they say it, like, after years ago, they go, Michael, I was like, what I got to do now? It's funny. Yeah. That's funny. Yeah.

But you got to remember, there's a real woman attached to that in real time. Now, here's the thing. Can you make up stories so that she doesn't feel like you're talking about your own relationship? No, I'd never make up stories. What I will do is put it in other people's words. Like, I, I. Yeah. will do that.

I don't want to say. I'm going to get trouble right now. Let's try. I'm setting you a trap here. I'm not afraid of it as other people. But if you guys are watching, based on a true story. No,

it's true. Because I was about to say, my wife would watch it. Really? Oh, okay. No, but it's 5.30.

Oh. Okay. So that's Michael Zarn. You have a hard out right now? I have a hard out because I got booked on a TV show. So, and they're going over the final. And I'm very happy about it.

So they said they're going to call, like, any second. So that's why I got to bounce. But it's a, this has been awesome. Yeah. Thank you so much. No, no, but we could keep this going longer. But you know what? Another time. And then next time we won't get into the house thing. We can keep it. I want to hear more about your wife. Oh my gosh. She's the biggest last thing he wants to talk about. You just got engaged though. Yeah. Dude. That's awesome. Thanks. That's awesome. Yeah. I could start making jokes too.

No, no, no jokes. No, no. No, no. No, no. No, no. Just wait. Oh, oh, my God. It was a joke. Just wait. Oh, good. We'll talk off again, but it's awesome. Just let her do everything. If she's into weddings or whatever, if she's into that, like my wife was really big in a wedding, no matter they'll ask you for your opinion, they don't want it. Just be supportive. Like, they'll be like, do you like this color or this color? And you'll pick a color and they'll be like, oh, I don't like that. I like this one. You're like, okay. That's what I told him. And he said, and he said he will stand his ground. Now, I got to defend myself on this. There are a Certain things that I feel like I would be inauthentic to myself if I back down.

There are other things that, you know, I'm totally fine with whatever Macy wants. I'm good with that. Like, for a wedding. For example, if you don't care about it. Or if I'm indifferent. There are certain things that I'm really passionate about and I feel like I will stand up for those things. And other things that I care more about, you know, Macy being happy. For a wedding, I think this is about her.

and, you know, creating that day that she's always wanted. For me, it's, you know, I care more about her being happy in that moment. So if she's like between me. I'm not talking about the wedding. No. What are you doing? I was just talking in general. Just in general?

Yeah, when we were at the gym, it was funny. Ask Graham the question, like, you know, are there certain things that you stand for where if Macy did something that you necessarily didn't agree with? But it wasn't the most important thing, you know, do you stand your ground or do you ever give it to Macy and just say, you know, what, I'll let you have this one. And then you said, no, I will not, not be myself. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of the truth.

Which, I mean, I don't even know if there's necessarily a right and wrong for this. But sometimes for me personally, in my relationships, I like to maybe take some things to the chin and maybe step outside of, go outside of like what I truly believe. And just in order to avoid an argument, which I know sounds extremely, which I know sounds extremely unhealthy. Yeah. To like bottle that stuff in. But in my opinion, certain times you can do like a cost benefit analysis and say, Bottling land causes this much damage, but also the potential argument causes this much damage. You know, it's something interesting, Jack, that I've worked on.

I'll be personal here. That's something I really worked on. In the very beginning, I took that approach. And I bottled things up, and it's not worth it. It's not worth it. I did the same sort of risk versus reward. Within a few months, it got to a point where things were just bottling up, and I just wasn't happy. And I got really good at being honest and open and sharing my thoughts.

And if Macy will ask me a question, instead of either skirting the issue or just, nah, not bothered. I'll be completely honest. So if she ever asked me, so I'm like, Graham, are you upset right now? I'll just flat out say yes and why. And I feel so much better about it. And I think our communication is so much better. That does mean, of course, that there is some conflict.

If there is something that, you know, either we disagree with or, you know. It's not worth it. I have to do the same thing, Grimm. Yeah, there's very little that is not worth it. It's just, you know, on a magnitude of one to ten, usually it's minor stuff. It's stupid stuff, too. I mean, really stupid. But I just feel better about sharing my two thoughts.

And if we disagree, we'll talk about it. That sounds healthy. And I'm sure that there's a healthy balance on both sides of like, you know, maybe I'll just avoid this one because you got to pick your battles. and then other things maybe where it matters a lot more to you than, you know, you could choose to engage in. Yeah, so sure. There are some things for me where it's, you know, let's just say I'm frustrated or something like that. There's certain things for me or where I know internally, not even worth bringing up. Like, I'll be totally fine.

It's not worth discussing. But anything that it is of any significance for me, I'll always be honest. I think you've got to rephrase it, Jack. I don't think you can, you know, be like, yeah, you know, not worth it. You got to be, you know, I think the way to phrase it is like, you got to really look at the difference that you're having and really think, like, is this really important in life and like completely let it go versus like bottling it up as like Graham was saying in the beginning. Because sometimes when I think about those little things, it's like, yeah, really doesn't matter. Let's get over it. And then that's basically what it is.

Yeah. Yeah, I don't mean bottling it up. I just mean just like, you know what? Letting it slide. No. And because for me, I'm not letting it slide jack. That's worse. No, for sure.

Like in the past. Like, no, but I personally, if I accept that I am letting something go, it doesn't bottle up for me, nor does it build resentment. And I,

I'm able to determine when, if I do bottle something up, it will build resentment versus when it won't. You know what I mean? And obviously it's a net negative if I do end up choosing the building resentment side of it. I don't know. I think our communication's got a lot better for,

for both. sides, you know, and me being more open is something I've really worked on and like trying to hear another person's side in general. I do remember that actually in the beginning of the relationship, how you kept on like, like I could see it on a personal side where like, you know, like obviously there's, there's something that bugged you or whatever. And you're like, yeah, you know, don't worry about it because you like it avoiding the arguments.

So and it does seem a lot, you know, healthier or whatever now. Yeah. Or whatever. All right. All right. Well, wait, where'd Michael go? So, guys. Michael had a call because he's going on a show.

So he had to leave, and we are extremely grateful that he came on the ice coffee hour. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. We have a Patreon link down below. Oh, we do. Jack, tell us about the Patreon. What happened? You just completely redid it. So, yeah, we restructured the entire Patreon, and we changed the perks around, and I think it's really cool.

Let us know what you guys think down below. We got some really, really cool and interesting ideas I think you guys really like it. Yeah, so check it out to see what those are. And I also told Jack, is it Jack too expensive? And he lowered the price. That is the exact opposite of what the truth is. That is the exact opposite of what the truth is. So let's not, no, no, no.

Okay, with that said, guys, thank you so much for watching. Yeah, just make sure to get your free stock down below in the description. When he signed up for Public Use of the Code Graham. Check out Michael. Check out my Instagram at J-L-S-E-L-Y. Also, big thank you to our sponsors of this episode. And with that said, you guys, till next time. Tell next time.

Cool.