The Josh Innes Show - Frank Caliendo Joins The Show

Episode Date: December 23, 2021

Josh and Jilly continue the JISmas fun with Frank Caliendo. Frank and Josh talk about the current state of comedy and why Frank is still cautious with his material.Does Frank stay in contact with Gruden? How did the Gruden scandal impact the impression? Frank talks about his time on "Mad TV" and "Frank TV". Did he enjoy it? What were his days like? What is funny in 2021? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Josh Ennis Show. Howdy friends and welcome in to the Josh Ennis Show. It is Josh, it is Jilly. Luther's being a pain in the ass tonight. Glad you guys are with us here on the show. Frank Caliendo's gonna join us in a few minutes. Weren't on yesterday. Kind of got a late start getting back from Memphis,

and we're out having a good time in Memphis on Monday after the basketball game we went to. And just decided, you know what? We're going to sit this one out. And we did. So, Jilly is now back in. Hello, Jilly. For the time being.

Yep. Who knows what the hell is going to happen with this Luther. He's wild tonight. He's a special brand of wild this evening. Like I said, I didn't want to drink until Friday, but this dog is making me just want to crack open a bottle of wine. Might have to. Might have to. Might have to. But we'll get Frank in here in about 10 minutes.

But first, who do I tell them about, Jilly? Prime One Consulting. Prime One Consulting. I was talking with our buddy Jason Adams just the other day. He's obviously in for another quarter, which has us very excited because we love when Jason's in with us, and he's great. He's a great partner to have and everything, and we're glad he's there. But, you know, we're just talking about different ways to talk about mold,

different ways to get down to business with it. And, of course, he's offering you a free consultation for Just Nation members. For listeners of the show, you will get a free consultation just by mentioning The Josh Ennis Show. That's all you have to do is mention the Josh Ennis Show, and you will get a free consultation. That's a $275 value, and you are getting it for free. That's awesome. That is amazing is what that is, and that's all thanks to our buddy Jason Adams at Prime One Consulting.

So here's what you need to do. You need to reach out to him, whether it be on the website, whether you check them out, which is, of course, Prime1Consulting.com, or you call 281-545-5005. That's 281-545-5005. Whichever way you choose to do it, reach out to him, and Jason Adams is going to get you taken care of and get you hooked up, baby. That's what he's going to do. It is a free consultation.

That's a $275 value. Free, free, free. And all you have to do is reach out. 281-545-5005. 281-545-5005. PrimeOneConsulting.com. Let him get in. Let him kind of look around, see what he's got to deal with here, see what the issues are, and then go from there. Bada-bang. So there you go. Prime One Consulting with our friend Jason Adams. We'll get him on the show here soon as well. I also have to tell you about Dr. Busby. Dr. Busby and ToeGrips.com.

That is ToeGrips.com with the great Dr. Busby. She is awesome. Speaking of Dr. Busby, Luther just ran back in again. The guy's got so much energy. Luther, get on your couch. Luther, get on the couch. Get on the couch. The dog's got so much energy, he doesn't want to stop. Why does he have so much energy. Luther, get on your couch. Luther, get on the couch. Get on the couch. The dog's got so much energy, he doesn't want to stop.

Why does he have so much energy? He has so much energy because he's on that. Essentially, it's something I think they call cocaine for dogs. I don't think that's the selling point. I don't think Dr. Busby says that. No. I don't think that's a Dr. Busby thing there. But yes.

Awesome. What? I messaged Dr. Busby asking if I can use the Encore Mobility with heart murmur meds. Haven't heard back. Well, you know what, KJK Techs? I will ask for you. I just got to remember to do that. But I will ask for you.

Fear not, friend. We will take good care of you on that one. Dr. Busby is a wonderful person and it's a 10 off if you mention the promo code or use the promo code luther the promo code is luther and all you have to do is use that code when you make your purchases and you will save 10 that is 10 savings thanks to dr bus, who is awesome. And we love her. And we ask you to love her as well. So that is our friend Dr. Busby and ToeGrips.com.

That Encore Mobility Supplement is next level for these dogs, man. And by the way, sorry, Park Czar said I said roids for dogs, not cocaine for dogs. To be clear. Roids for dogs. Steroids for dogs, that is. So that is ToeGrips.com. The promo code is luther to save that 10 it is toegrips.com we love dr busby and thank you well hello again friends it's been a

while since we've spoken in fact it has been since last friday so what five days since last we've spoken and in that time we have uh been to. In that time, we have seen a professional basketball game. That's a sport played by a lot of black guys that most of our audience would not like. I don't know how many more professional basketball games there'll be. I don't know how many professional sports games there will be anymore. Bowl games now are A&M's out, right? For the most part, I think they should just cancel everything.

If you're just not going to let people play, if that's what your shtick is going to if you're gonna say listen we're sitting everybody out stop testing i know like i'm not trying to go all like a year and a half ago i'm trying to go all trump from a year and a half ago but i will tell you just stop testing people stop testing if you just let people go if they're gonna play they're gonna go, if they're going to play, they're going to play. And if they want to risk it, they're going to risk it. If not, not, but it's getting, I mean, it's already been to the point of it being asinine. Now it's completely ridiculous. It's ludicrous right now, what we're doing and teams are canceling bowl games and hockey is taking a week

off and all this other shit. Just, just go do what you're going to do. Go do what you're going to do. Go play. If people want to play, they'll play. If they don't want to play, they won't play. So it's just, it's ridiculous. You know, like I get it. Like, it's not like a, like, I, I, like, I don't, I don't even understand it anymore. It's out of control. And eventually they're going to shut this shit down and go, I know that old Biden's out there saying, Oh no, they're going to shut this shit down. I know that old Biden's out there saying, they're going to shut it down eventually again. They're dying to shut it down. They're just waiting to shut it down. They're anxious to do it because they know they can and they're not going to face any blowback from it. They're not going to get any heat from anything. No one's

going to go after them for it. They know that they are a protected class. The media, everybody will blow them whether they shut it down or not most of the people uh who who are impacted by a shutdown are not like those are the real people the people that are the the fake hollywood on top of the world people they don't give a shit if you shut down again or not they're rich and they're still doing fine it's out of control and it's going to be shut down again, and sports will be shut down again, too. Football's going to shut down again at some point. I know they're going to try to get through it, but we're canceling football games.

Teams are getting bumped from bowl games. They're having to find other teams. And oh, there's just so many layers to it. Oh, there's just so many layers, ridiculous layers to this. At some point, it's time to just roll with it and say, you know what? Let the chips fall where they may. If you want to be vaxxed, get vaxxed. If you don't, don't.

This bullshit that's being pulled by Biden and all of his cronies and his media jabronis basically telling you that if you're unvaxxed, you're the scum of the earth. Fuck you. You know, fuck you, dude. I'm vaccinated. I got two shots. I didn't get the booster. I'm not going to get the booster. I had my two shots. I'm good, bro. I'm good. Let me be, let other people be, let the other people live and do whatever the hell they want to do.

If they get it, they get it. If they don't, they don't. But like this idea that if you're vaccinated, no matter what happens with you, you're a decent human. And if you're unvaxxed like a Cole Beasley or somebody like that, if you're unvaxxed and you're outspoken about how you're unvaxxed, you're clearly a POS. Like everything about it is just nuts, man. Let people live. Let people make their own decision. That's the beauty of this country. And it's the beauty of living.

You make a decision in life. You decide if you want to go or if you don't. I mean, they saw the story the other day about how like NFL players are saying basically they're tired of being tested. They want to just end the whole damn thing essentially and just say, we're going to play the damn game. Why are we testing people who are not sick? Stop testing people who aren't sick. Athletes, premier athletes, healthy people who are not showing symptoms are getting tested and they are getting kicked out of ballgames. It's absurd. It's nuts, man.

But that's what we're dealing with. And that's what we're going to continue to deal with. And it's never going to go away. None of this is ever going to go away. It will remain this way forever. Well, there's a story today that said Walter Reed doctors have come up with a vaccine that will protect you against all variants, including Omicron. Well, there's probably variants that we haven't even heard of yet. There's going to be more.

Probably. It's not going to end. But appreciate some of the people who are watching on Facebook or watching on Twitch or watching on YouTube right now as well. You guys can engage in the chat that way as well. And, of course, you guys can throw in some donos if you'd like to. If you're on the Twitch side of things, I'll throw in the exclamation point dono if you'd like to throw in some Christmas goodies that way. And we're going to call Frank Caliendo here in just a minute. But appreciate you guys.

You guys are awesome. Thank you. Thanks to Nicholas, who's in the chat, who's on YouTube, says, have you talked to Tank? He and I were going back and forth on Twitter for a little bit today. Yeah, we need to get him on Virgismas for sure. We do. See what he's up to.

I think I responded to him, and I think it was he and Hugh Douglas who were trying to hook up with Megan Good. That sounds right. Well, she is single. She is. After nine years. Divorce. After nine years. Megan Good is single sounds right. Well, she is single. She is. After nine years. After nine years.

Megan Good is single and she wants to mingle. I don't think she wants to mingle with Tank or Hugh Douglas. But I bet Tank's already slid up in those DMs. Tank claims he has and he claims that he was just there supporting his boy Hugh. He's got Hugh's back because Hugh was trying to get all up in it and he's there to show support for his boy. So I think Tank only slides into the DMs of like porn stars that come to town to strip because he was trying to get all up in it and he's there to show support for his boy so i think tank only slides into the dms of like porn stars that come to town to strip at the local strip club that was one of my favorite dms i ever saw of his said hey such and such it's tank like some random

porn star who was on the pole over at cheerleaders or whatever it was he's like hey it's tank uh but uh yeah we'll get tank on again at some point. Let me get Frank Caliendo on the phone here to see what old Frank's up to. Let me see here. Get my headphones on. See if these damn things still work. Actually, my headphones are not working. Oh, I know why. Hold on. There we go. All right, my headphones are working now. All right, let me see if I can get Caliendo on the phone here and see what he's up to as part of jismas let's see here let's call frank here okay you're like we're not gonna mess with skype nope not this time we're not i'll not be embarrassed in front of frank caliendo hello

hello hello hello oh i didn't hear anybody so maybe we will be embarrassed in front of frank maybe we will let me try calling frank again wouldn't that be something i hear the ringing frank are you there oh there you are hold on we almost had him again hold on we're trying we can't do anything right i don't think we can frank can you hear me now there you you are. Frank Caliendo, everybody. How are you, sir? I heard you every time, but for some reason, you did not hear me, which was essential to this process.

Yes, it was. How the hell are you, buddy? I'm alive, my man. I'm alive. I've been, I almost said fighting Omicron, but you're going to believe that I actually had it. I'm actually in a fist fight with it. Did you actually get it or no? No, no.

The guy lives down the street from me, Omicron Smith. But you're kicking his ass, so that's good. Right now, yeah. So here's one for you, just to kind of jump into it. Let's go to Gruden, who's become like your new Madden, right? Like he's the most famous impression you do right now. Can you still do that? No, I just completely walked away from it.

For now, I think it's an adventure because I celebrate people. You know, what I do, even with people I don't like for the most part or might disagree on some things. Cause people would come up with me and I'm an ape. I'm outside. I'm a pretty apolitical. I, you know, my act is nothing political. I'm a middle of the road kind of person. I, I like when people question things, I think that's fair. I don't like people getting shut down for asking questions and stuff like

that. But, but you know, like with Trump, people like you do Trump, why won't you do group? And I go, well, Trump still has a lot of power and he's still out But, you know, like with Trump, people are like, you do Trump, why don't you do Gruden? I go, well, Trump still has a lot of power, and he's still out there, you know, and he's still doing his thing. And, you know, anybody who could shell, you know, I could shell a tremendous amount of things right now, very, very well. But with Gruden, with Gruden, you know,

the guy's life is done right now uh who knows what will happen but i have friends on the raiders derrick carr is a friend um i know some other people on there it's weird to me i was too close you know the owner let me come in and speak to the team you know um so i i just people want me to read the emails. I'm like, all my money is corporate money too, dude. That's where I make my living is if the NFL starts to hate me, then I've got nothing. So, yeah, I just, I kind of just walked away.

Eventually I think there can be something to do with be careful with your emails and stuff like that. And, you know, there's jokes and stuff to do with that. But just as of right now, it just feels a little too close to home and a little too awkward for me. So are you buddies with Gruden still? Like, are you friends? Were you ever legitimately friends? Or how did that work?

Yeah, I know. I mean, am I best friends with him? No, I've always been scared of him. Not from any emails he sent me or anything. No, but, yeah yeah i've known i've gone to you know i last year before or two years ago before covid broke out and everything i went to aerosmith with him and his right-hand man in vegas um so i'd done some stuff uh you know i you know didn't you know go over to his house and hang out or anything like that but yeah and after the first thing came out um the first email thing i i texted him and say hey

yeah i see all the people speaking up for you and stuff that's good and the second one i just kind of was like well i don't even know what to do at that point but my way of dealing with it was actually i'm not going to go out there just whore myself out and look for clicks and stuff everywhere. It just felt too dirty. What's it like going to see Aerosmith with Gruden? Watching him bob his head and stuff like that? Pretty crazy. They have those giant blow-up things at the ceiling and stuff like that.

There were some that looked like Gruden. So, yeah, I mean, just the whole thing's kind of weird for me. I mean, I don't know. And people associate me so much with him that it was a weird thing. Like my name was coming up all the time. It's like when I was in the height of doing Madden back in, you know, 20 years ago, 15, 20 years ago, my name for 10 years came up before John Madden. When you Google John Madden, my picture came up.

And that's real. I don't know if it does anymore. You can imagine him making a call. I don't think that kid should come up before me when you Google me. I don't think i don't think that that kid should come up before me when you when you google me i don't think that's the way that should happen and then they have the documentary on uh on fox on christmas and everybody's asking me are you in it and i go not that i know of it is kind of surprising that you wouldn't be because you're so like just like you said you're associated with Gruden.

You're very associated with men. I would have thought that would have been kind of a no-brainer in a way, at least a story about that. Maybe not interviewing you, but, like, how that became a cultural phenomenon. Yeah, I mean, I don't know about cultural phenomenon. I'll take it. But, you know, maybe my mention of it, I doubt it. You know, it might have been one of those things where he said you know i'll do this documentary but i don't want frank kelly endo in it it might be one of those if you hear him talking he's still you know he's so much older he's got

the age to the voice and hold on i gotta move my scooter you know it's uh it's one of those kinds of things. He eventually started to like me a little bit, but maybe they just wanted it to be clean and not have any amina. What am I going to do? I'm not upset about it. Other people seem to be more upset about it than me,

but I find it kind of funny. It's weird because... I'll milk it because he's back in the limelight for a little bit. He current because of that documentary so i'll i'll throw some social media things out just to pour it out a little bit how beneficial is the social media stuff to you because it it kind of really works because it's in short spurts it's it's tight you can't like and i don't just mean this for you but anybody we all ramble on and sometimes you take a great bit and you go a little too long, and it kills the bit.

I think it kind of helps because you get like a bang-bang and out, and the joke's done, and it works. I guess, Josh. I see it the opposite. I like taking things as far as you can go with them and seeing what happens. And I think you're great at that, too. I mean, that's, and I don't mean this as a negative, you're great at that to a fault, right? You push something

until maybe some people aren't into it and then you can bring them back for a while. I mean, that's a Will Ferrell, get off the shed, you know, kind of a thing where you just do it over and over and over until you get them back so i like that but that's the art to me so the the short form stuff it can be fun but it's not taking a lot of chances and the chances after you've done this for a while or what are really fun i think oh no i get it i talked with my boss about that. He's a PD, and I think he's a smart guy. And I'm doing rock radio now, so it's not like I've got 14 minutes of talk in a row and then four minutes of commercials

and then 14 more minutes of talk. It's like, hey, here's three minutes. Here's In a Gata De Vida. Here's 14 minutes of commercials, and here's me again for three minutes. So, like, I understand the idea, and not maybe to your level, but I understand what it's like to feel like hey i need more time to do something but i i have learned that there

is at least a benefit in promoting yourself in those tight little bursts with yeah and there's certainly something good there yeah yeah no no it helps but i mean i'll be honest with you our fight years ago in houston is still one of the most interesting things i've ever been a part of because people came up to me i feel like was that real i'm like yeah it was real as if we're andy kaufman as if randy kaufman or something and stage the whole thing and i told you this before i was low on tickets the rodeo was in town and i my tickets weren't selling and i needed to sell tickets and you wanted to do the best radio show you could and those were two different

agendas and it's your show you have to do that you can't you know you can't bow down to me but i was an a-hole and i was like i gotta sell these tickets and uh but it you know it worked out eventually. But to me, people still come up to me and talk about that. And it's memorable. And we become friends after that. And that's something that's interesting to me. Not everybody, that doesn't always happen that way. So that doesn't happen if we're doing short form stuff, right? That doesn't, we, you know,

we're battling on the air at some point and just going back and forth. And, you know, it's, you can't repeat it because it was real. I just love when people ask, because they'll ask and they'll say, is that staged? And there are two things that I've done and neither was staged. And the other one was when I got into the fight at Radio Row. As you can tell, getting into fights is my thing, I guess. Like, I'm so talented.

My skill is to piss people off. But so we would. So we got into the fight on Radio Row with Seth Payne, who you might know, Seth. He's over at 610 now. And now we're buddies, too. But I get into that fight and people say did you set that up and i'm like dude if i could have staged that i'd be brilliant i'd be andy kaufman like i'm just an asshole and and shit finds me because i'm an asshole i i'm not smart

enough to think of this shit well i don't i think it's just you know when you have different agendas and you don't know each other and you go into something, but sometimes things don't work out that way. But that's what makes that can make things really good. Not in the classic sense, but in the awkward, like, did you hear that? You know, when people start going, was that real or fake? And when it's real, they're amazed by it because they don't think, you know, and what people don't know about me is I am a hothead. I have, I've thought about therapy for this.

I know. I really am. I mean, I'll get mad at the airport picking people up when the traffic guy is letting people, you know, I got to watch it because there's cameras everywhere, you know? Sure. And I'm a yeller. I'm a yeller. I believe, no, I've seen. But you know what's interesting is like we were talking about the Gruden thing.

25 years ago, you would have been on every show doing Gruden because that was kind of the way the world was, like a Billy West. You know, Billy West is doing Marge Sch shot on the Stern show because she's infamous. Now people don't do that anymore. It's a different world. If I weren't, if I, if I didn't have the audience that I had,

um, and the, you know, the work that I have, I might take chances and do stuff like that, but it's just stupid for me in this world. Because if you go out, you do it the wrong way. And I don't find the emails funny.

I mean, I find that a lot of people are really bothered by that stuff, whether that's in that context, not in that context, but with those specific emails or something like those emails with somebody else you got to be very careful with where we're at um culturally so if i were bill burr or somebody who's an agitator like that that would be i would be just milk you know i'd go crushing that but it's out of character for me what do you consider your character what is your character? Like, who do you, like, how do you see yourself? Silly and, you know, it's, I want to change that. I'd rather

be a little bit more of edge, but I can't just take that dive and be the complete opposite of everything I've always been. Um, and again, I make a living doing a lot of corporate stuff and getting shots at doing things like the Peyton and Eli promos and stuff like that for ESPN, especially during COVID and things like that. People don't take chances. They go to the people they already have for a lot of acting and stuff like that. So I go to the bag of tricks and do some things that work. But ESPN, I go out and do, you know, do a bunch of grunt stuff. They're not going to hire me to do anything at all.

So you got to stay out there and be somewhat relevant. And, you know, playing by, you know, the rules and stuff like that are something that I think I need to do at this point. But like I said, if I was a Bill Burr and I pushed the envelope, if I was somebody who was, you know, that type of comic who I envy,

you know, people like that, you know, um, I would, I would definitely, but it was just so out of character for me that people would be like, well,

you know, and then they'd come after me. You're like hammer trying to do gangster rap or something. You're like, no, you know, and then they'd come after me. You're like Hammer trying to do gangster rap or something. You're like, no, you wear the big pants and you dance around. You don't do cop killer. That's not what you do. Right. And I mean, that is a lot. I mean, and that's kind of what I dislike

about myself, actually, in my act, is that it is kind of that. It's like putting on the puppet show. And I've tried to go out and work. Actually, Zany's in Nashville. I've done it a couple times where to go out and work actually zany's in nashville i've done it a couple times where i go out i work on different material and work on some non-impression stuff and talk about reality and people they have a hard time taking it from me because they don't see it much so i have to get into it gradually oh no i get you know who's kind of like that is

jim gaffigan uh who i think is very funny Gaffigan, like he'll go political on social media and basically say like Trump people are pieces of shit. And I'm like, boy, that does not sound like the Hot Pockets guy at all. That is not my guy there. Like some people will go online and that like you are good at being, and this is a compliment because I can't do it. You're good at being apolitical where nobody knows what you believe and nobody is going to you for political

commentary they're going to you to laugh and there's a benefit to that because a lot of people to use the levar bar line like a lot of people can't stay in their lane yeah i mean i i just try to look at things from a lot of different sides you and i have had conversations off the air and stuff like that and listen i i just my, my thing is, I don't think people live the same way I do. I've been very lucky. I've worked hard. I've gotten to a position to, you know, to be in a really good spot. I don't feel right telling people what to believe and what to do. And I don't believe I know more than other people. I don't believe I'm smarter than other people. And I'm not. I mean, and I do see a lot of people that I disagree with who are a lot

smarter than me, or I believe they are. But at the same time, I go, but you don't live in reality, you make $100 million. You know, you've made, you're worth $200 million. You don't, you don't have reality anymore. I don't even have reality i don't have 200 million dollars but i've got millions i i you know it's difficult it's it's you know i'm not going to tell somebody who's you know just scraping by on a on a you know paycheck to paycheck you got to live like this you know i don't feel right about it there's kind of um there's a group of people and i don't know who they are i mean there's there's some of them you know them when you see them that are are and you talk about not living in reality they don't and it's such a weird

world now because it used to be you tried to do everything you can to cater to your audience because you don't want to lose one person like a johnny carson don't want to lose anybody so he kind of plays both sides what you get now is a lot of people who've picked a side and they've basically told the other side listen if you don't like what we do go fuck yourself uh and maybe that works for them maybe 2022 is where that works but it's just such a different vibe than it was with a Carson or even like a Letterman you didn't really know what Letterman was politically and you certainly knew Jay Leno was right now he's just gonna do his OJ jokes that that was Leno so he was gonna do and he was great at it now it's like people choose a side and they're expected to choose a side and once you do that you're telling that other half just screw

right off and they literally tell them that sometimes like there's some comedians they go if you're some Trump guy we don't want you like it's so bizarre okay okay so I'll let's go back because i was in broad i was in school for broadcast journalism in 92 you know 93 94 somewhere in there oh i didn't know that i didn't know that yeah i went to school for uh broadcast journalism so they were just then talking about narrowcasting where you you know that wasn't even really existing. That was cable. You could cater to a specific audience on a cable channel. Before, with Johnny Carson, you played broadcasting. You're casting broadly to everybody. But what that doesn't do is narrow down on advertisers.

So when you can narrow cast and you can go to your audience, you can get right in there. There's confirmation bias and there's, um, you know, you can just speak and you hear back, you get the feedback and you'll get some hate and stuff like that too, but it's going to be probably nine to one, eight to two positive to negative. And you can, that because you're speaking to people who believe and live the same way you do. Now, you didn't have that 30 years ago. They might have done the same thing, but they didn't have the ability to do it. And now that people do have the ability to do it, but the issue there is that when you do that, you segregate society into different groups, right?

Because it's like what you said, it's screw you. Well, we can't get along doing that. You're just never going to be there. And algorithms, the way the algorithms work, you just see stuff that confirms your own biases all the time. You don't see a lot of the other people. Okay, so I'm going to actually relate this to TikTok, believe it or not. So I'll make a TikTok. I'll do these TikToks that are how to do certain impressions.

So I'll do like a Donald Trump, and you use the words probably and quite frankly, right? And I'll say that, and you make it very airy. And so it's just kind of the process of doing a Donald Trump impression. Well, in the comments, it's all political. Like Trump is, you know, Trump 2024 or whatever, you know, Go Brandon, Trump sucks, you know, all back and forth, people fighting in the country. But what happens because of the way the algorithm works in a lot of the social media, the more comments you get, the better your post does.

So it behooves you to have people fight in your comments. That's wild. It's so wild how that works. Right. So what does that do? That, and I, you know, I'm, that's me being a hypocrite right there. I just let people do it. So I let it go. I hate it. I hate it. But at the same time, I'm like, I gotta be out there and have a couple million followers. So when I walked into an office at an executive, uh, I got them. So yeah yeah I'm a whore But It's tough because When you look at how You can talk directly

Almost directly to people now And there's no gatekeepers right You can just get on a megaphone And talk to everybody if you've got enough ears And the right person retweets you You can become famous Well that's how a lot of podcasts Start like that you

know they just get they grow legs and you don't i mean to a degree it's cool that you don't have to be you know go through the the old school channels to become famous to become famous i think there could be the detriment too but i mean it's cool that you can now go to youtube or go to wherever and create your own brand and build something you know like i think that's a kind of a cool thing like i maybe this isn't a fair comparison because this guy was famous before but like look at pat and create your own brand and build something. I think that's kind of a cool thing. Maybe this isn't a fair comparison because this guy was famous before, but look at Pat McAfee. Dude just got $30 million a year from FanDuel and basically has his own sandbox.

That's pretty fucking badass. Yeah, it is, and I know him well. And here's the thing, Pat McAfee, and I'm not taking anything away from what you just said, but I've never seen anybody work harder than Pat. And he's been around for eight to ten years now maybe, maybe not quite that much, but he's been around for a while. And he's built that, and it's been a lot of work.

And doing something, you know, he's a very positive guy. You ever listen to what he does? He's doing something different than everybody else. It's not the shooting people down stuff. Things are really positive. I went on there and I ran out of jokes for something. I made an easy joke and they went, oh! You know, it's about the coach of the Cowboys.

McCarthy. Yeah, Mike McCarthy. and i talked about how when he looks in two different directions at the same time and i go and like yeah it was an easy joke they called me on it that's cool you know but i didn't have a joke there to do it so i just went to something that could get a laugh in a normal position they called me on it and i was like yeah i was just trying to get out of there. But they have that vibe, that positive vibe. And he's got a thing.

And I don't want to say it's not jealousy. I'm envious. I'm excited for people like that that can do that. I try to do a podcast, Josh. I can't go for three or four weeks in a row. I get annoyed with myself.

What do you get annoyed about? What do you get annoyed about? Well, there's just so many opinions out there that I just start going, I don't have that much to say that's any different than anybody else. No, I get it. You ever wonder if a lot of the shit that we hold in high regard now would have been viewed differently had there been social media and people could constantly tell you if it sucked in real time.

I use SportsCenter, the original SportsCenter as an example. People hide and hold it in very high regard, like 90s SportsCenter with Olbermann and Dan Patrick. When you go back and re-watch it today, and everybody talks about it so glowingly, it's just dudes making one-liners that aren't really even

funny. It's like The Whiff-liners that aren't really even funny. Like, they don't, that's like the whiff or cool as the other side of the pillow. And I'm not trying to rip those guys, but, like, people from that era hold that in, like, it's sacred. Then you go back and watch, and you're like, eh, I mean, wasn't that great? Like, social media back then would have, I think, changed our opinions of a lot of things. Yeah, it's evolved, too, though. It was because we'd never seen it. We'd never seen anybody goofing around on a national level like that. And they were innovators.

And they've evolved. You listen to Dan Patrick. He's so funny. And he's evolved. But I'm one of those people that holds the big show on Sunday night in pretty high regard. I remember back, but I also remember it like people remember music. night in pretty high regard. I mean, I remember back, but I also remember it like people remember music, that part of my life. I was in college. It was that on Saturday, on Sundays, Oberman Patrick, and then Thursdays with Seinfeld and

Cheers. You know, that's the part of my life I was in, and I would remember it really well. But we do that with everything. We romanticize everything in that way because it's part of our life and part of our everyday routine. People do that with Mad TV. When I told people you were coming on, it's, Mike, Mad TV was the shit back in the late 90s.

Like, if you really think about Mad TV, it was a very brief moment. Actually, that show was on for like 12 years, wasn't it? Yeah, I mean, I was there for five years. I didn't like it a lot because I never like anything, but they only wanted me to do John Madden, and then I got the George W. Bush

thing, even though they essentially told me I was too fat to do it, but then I got so many laughs one time. They were right, but I got it anyway because I did an improv debate sketch with Michael McDonald, who's a major star of Mad, and it killed. And from then on, I had the George W. Bush on the show. But yeah, listen, people will say Mad TV was so great and stuff like that.

But the thing was, it was edited and it could never really truly compete with Saturday Night Live in terms of notoriety, because Saturday Night Live was owned by NBC and Broadway Video. And they could change things up to the minute that, you know, of the of the show. They could be so topical that something that happened an hour before could be in the show. Oh, when did you guys tape when did you guys take a lot of a lot of it was taped you know weeks in advance oh i didn't know that that's a crusher yeah yeah because you know we didn't have that kind of luxury to do last second kinds of things because the affiliate the way the affiliates were set up and stuff like that everything didn't go out at the same time. And, you know, Fox did not own Mad TV.

So they were always worried about their primetime schedule when Mad TV was on. So their money went into promos for primetime because they had more ownership in that stuff. And it was more lucrative to try and get your primetime to have more viewers. Whereas late night, they didn't have the ownership. They just had some advertising that they got from it.

So it was a different kind of situation. You know, they just wanted to keep those windows national and not give them back to the affiliates. So that's why they kept Mad TV around for a while. And they were great people. I mean, if you, you know, if Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key had been able to do everything they wanted to and Will Sasso, you know, Ike Barinholtz, there are amazing people that were at MADtv that took a little bit to take off after it. Because at the time, you know, if you were on Mo Collins, if you were on MADtv, Stephanie Weir, if you were doing a sketch show, people just thought of you as a sketch actor. Like you couldn't even get other stuff. Well, now there's so much stuff out there, and as many actors as there are, they just need people that can do the work.

And a lot of sketch actors have an amazing range. But you have the ability to do a lot more stuff now because there are so many more things. So there's more opportunities. Even though there's way more people competing for that, if you're known a little bit, you might get your foot in the door a little bit and have a chance. Was In Living Color live? No, that was taped too. In fact, a lot of the people that were at Mad TV and Fox NFL Sunday, actually, where I worked with camera crew and stuff like that. They were people that were on those tapes.

I'm trying to think. Mad TV was a replacement show, actually. Roseanne Barr or Arnold or whoever she was at the time, she had a show, Saturday Night Special, that they thought was going to take off. It didn't do that great. And then Mad TV came in and filled in and did pretty well. And, um, they,

and then it just landed. It stayed on for, you know, 10, 12 years, whatever it was. So, uh, it wasn't even meant to be a full on,

you know, long-term show. It was like, Hey, we're just going to fill some time. And then it did well enough, uh, that it kept the, kept the time slot alive and you know kept a lot of people busy and employed and some you know there were some great people and great bits on there and stuff like that but

um you know when when you have when you can go live and that's the thing that would have been you know very tough for me but when you can go, the energy that you just have, you know, it's, you know, Fox NFL Sunday, when I was there, my segments were taped, but Terry Bradshaw and those guys, they're always live. And they always talk about how CBS's show at the time was much more low key and not as much fun. Well, they taped before. They always taped and then played it back.

You know, it was half an hour. But Terry and the guys went live. And the reason they went live is because they wanted things to screw up. And that's the funniest part is when Terry Bradshaw forgets how to read, right? I mean, that's what made it great. Totally. You know what else is interesting? And I don't want to keep you too long.

I know it's around Christmas, and you've got TikToks to do and stuff, so you're busy. And people to yell long. I know it's around Christmas and you've got TikToks to do and stuff, so you're busy. And people to yell at. I think people to yell at. Correct. So you and I have texted about this, and I find this fascinating, that your TV show, the Frank Caliendo show that you did, that you did basically to do one sketch, it was an entire day because you were essentially playing

every character you'd have to film the part for that character get into new makeup i mean it sounds like a completely joyless experience other than the fact that you're doing tv but that seems to be the most difficult form of television to do yeah i was i i you know like i said i hate everything because i'm an idiot but it was tough There were elements of it that were great. But yes. And it wasn't one sketch a day. We would fit in two to three sketches a day where I was playing multiple characters. And I would just go. I had everything on a teleprompter because there was no way to memorize it.

And I just go from thing to thing. I'd go from makeup and into the next thing. And then in the downtime that I did have, maybe at lunch, I'd have to be working on, you know, looking at stuff that the writers and producers were coming up with for the next thing. And then I, in the downtime that I did have, maybe at lunch, I'd have to be working on the, you know, looking at stuff that the writers and producers were coming up with for the next week. It was just, I had other people. I tried to get more and more people on the show to be a part of the show and get a cast because it was just, we were shooting just way too much at once. It was just too hard. I was completely overwhelmed. And there were some moments that I thought were really great. And a lot of it, I just was like, ah, we're just trying to get through this. And then when I see how tightly it was edited, I'm like, they didn't let that breathe at all because it was

in prime time. Um, it wasn't letting it do, you know, be goofy stuff. You know, prime time sketch shows have never worked. And we're a weeknight, I think it was Tuesday or Thursday night or something like that. And I, you know, the network was so behind it and they liked me so much that I was like, I'll do anything. I'll try and make it work. I like the people there. It was one of those things. We got canceled with 800 or 900,000 to a million people watching every week. Right now, that'd be a superstar success. It was. Right now, that'd be a superstar success.

It was on TBS, right? Yeah. They'd kill for that. I don't think Conan was getting anything close to that at the end. No knock on Conan, but they made a giant investment in him, and by the end of it... He was doing nightly.

I was only doing one night a week. I couldn't even compare. Conan's a genius genius and that's a different type of show and you know the the amount of money that you know to put on that show was nowhere near what it did you know we had to change sets and you know it was a crazy expensive to do um so that's you know that's part of it but you know as a p you just run out of things to do, especially, you know, we take three, four weeks in advance, a month in advance, nothing could be topical there for real either. So, um, things might change that you might have to, you know, reedit the sketch part of you know when you're doing that type of show you got to know what the the um the the criteria is and what you can even you know what you have an opportunity to do you're never going to be able to compete with snl because it's like i said

you know up to the last minute up the last second so was tbs it really making sure that all the impressions you did like were you creating and i don't remember the show honestly um so hey we got that in common but were you creating unique characters for this show as well or was it just they wanted it all impressions and i did create a couple and they didn't want that a couple of them actually worked pretty decently, but they wanted the uniqueness of it to them was that it was all impressions and it was all me. And that's just what they wanted. That's what they bought. So that's what it was going to be. And it was pretty successful at the very beginning. Then we got knocked down by the writer's strike. And then the second time when we came back, it was kind of knocked down, did all right. And then, you know,

kind of fell off, but. Was there like, did they say, hey, you've got to do a Madden every week or something like that? No, but they wanted probably more than I wanted to do because I wanted to do different things. You know what? I shouldn't even say that. I don't think they did. They just wanted it good and they wanted it topical,

but at the same time you're fighting you can't be that topical when um you're shooting you know weeks in advance so it's the same thing that it always is i mean when i was at box they'd be like we need the new impression from you and i do i do like jake laser or something like that they're like that's great but can you do another andy rooney i'm like, he died two weeks ago. They're like, but it works so well. Can we do him from heaven? I'm like, no. And I remember when they basically fired me. And it was a long time coming.

And this is from TBS or from Fox? This is from Fox. This is back at Fox. But when I was back at Fox, every couple years I had my contract come up, and I'd be like, I don't know if I want to do this again. There'd be enough money that I'd be like, okay, I'm doing it. And then it came down. I called him one last time.

I called my producer friend, and I said, hey, do you guys want to do this maybe one more year? He's like, we're not sure. I was like, okay, but can you let me know? And then it kind of dragged out over the summer, and nobody really told me what was going on. I was like, well, I told my agent. I'm like, we're not sure. I was like, okay, but can you let me know? And then it kind of dragged out over the summer and nobody really told me what was going on. I was like, well, I told my agent, I'm like, just pull me out. Just say, I don't even want to do it because I think this is silly. I don't want to be somebody's second choice. If they don't want me, that's fine. I've questioned it myself. Um, maybe it's, you know, I need to move on and do something

differently. And, uh, then they eventually did just replace me. And then I didn't want to do any more than ESPN. I was at ESPN one day, just selling some tickets on Mike and Mike at the time, who were always great to me. And the executive said, hey, can you do some ESPN people? And I said, I think I can. I started doing some and they're like, we want to start doing stuff with you because we've always had the program against you. Because my my segment supposedly did really well. So, you know, I went and did some stuff at ESPN, but it's really hard to do comedy at ESPN because it's sports first and the audience is sports first. Fox, the NFL and Fox is like a magazine, right?

And ESPN is more like a newspaper. People are watching for the bright, shiny pictures and cologne inserts. That's what Fox NFL Sunday is. How did you know it was getting stale at Fox? I was just doing the same stuff all the time. And it was hard because it's like a football game. You're dealing with people that are all football people, right?'s like what have you done for me lately comedy people usually are like you know that one didn't work let's let's just try something different you know let's go again you know in football you know when you're

doing stuff for football people they're kind of like ah i don't know if this you know we're two of my nine years there they're like ah maybe ah, maybe, maybe we brought, we brought on the course. I'm like, well, you did that for nine years. I was there nine years. And so that means for nine years, you were on Fox NFL Sunday every week doing a bit. Yeah. Wow. People don't realize it was that long.

I mean, that was a long time. And I'd done, you know, a year or two, just a sketch here and there with Kimmel before that. What did you do with Kimmel? He usually just bring me on his mat and take hedge clippers to my eyebrows, you know, that kind of stuff. See, I admire Kimmel. I mean, again, if I'm being honest, I don't like the direction that's gone. I'm not looking for you to knock Kimmel or anything,

but I thought the man show was a funny show. I admire Kimmel as a performer because he essentially started as a wacky dude on K-Rock in Los Angeles, and I admire that. I admire that he kind of worked up and he's buddies with Carolla and they built this show.

I was a big fan. A great show that nobody remembers anymore is Win Ben Stein's Money. It was on Comedy Central. It was him and Ben Stein. And, like, I love that stuff. But, you know, he's made a decision. He's gone.

I mean, he's basically doing an MSNBC comedy show. Yeah. I mean, I think that's a lot of the way, you know, Hollywood is. I mean, it's just easy. I don't know. I don't get it. Like I told you earlier, I've never, I've always stayed on the goofy side. I, you know, and I think there are people who are great at, you know, I've come to really like Bill Maher and I don't agree with

everything Bill Maher says, but I, I, I go, geez, that's a good point. Did you ever see his documentary? Did you see the religious documentary he did? No. It's actually real. The first 45 to an hour is really brilliant. That's an example of one that kind of tails off at the end. It's a strong 30 to 45 minutes. It's called Religious, I think.

Really good. And I'm with you. There are some things like, and then maybe it's just because I agree with what he's saying now, so I'm a fraud, and I'm like, yeah, I like Bill Maher. But he says a lot of stuff now, and I go, yeah, it's funny, and it makes sense, and I'm kind of down with it. Yeah, and I'm okay, too, with people I disagree with, you know, as long as they're trying to be funny. Don't just, if your comedy is rip the person without a real joke. I'm not into that. But if you can, you know, if you could rip Trump, if you could rip Biden, if you've got a good rip and you can do it and it's a joke and it's actually funny,

it's not just this guy sucks, he's evil. That's the stuff that loses me. Because I'm like, you're not doing comedy, you're doing commentary, which is fine, but don't say it's comedy. Well, nobody does that anymore, though, is the problem problem like if a kimmel or somebody would dump on both because like you can you're a funny guy there's a lot of humor in biden he's not like he's not infallible but nobody touches it well i mean i think people do i don't you probably don't see a ton of it on network television but i mean even in even in my act, I do the stuff that, you know, with Trump, he has the, and everybody knows it, to get people on board.

Biden's got the whisper follow-up. It's a this or that situation where he'll go, it's not politics, it's science. It's science. And you're like, who's he whispering to? And then he'll do the, it's not the heat, it's the humidity. It's the humidity. It's not delivery. It's DiGiorno.

It's DiGiorno. Come on. Where am I? You know, I'll even turn around. I'll turn around, face the wall, and do Biden. You know, and people won't. And it's silly. I mean, there's a little slice of reality there, I think.

I mean, it's like, you know, and Trump standing not facing the audience means something totally different than Biden not facing the audience. So you could do the same kind of thing with two different people. And it, you know, it shows the differences of how people view people and even how they're covered. So I don't know. To me, I've seen a little bit more Biden stuff. I don't watch any SNL or anything like that. You ain't missing much. No. It's a hard show.

I mean, listen, what are you supposed to – the funniest thing that, to me, the most brilliant thing I've seen is Josh – what's his name? Who are the two news anchors? Oh, Colin – what's his name? Colin Jost and Michael Che. Michael Che, yeah. Michael Che. And when they do each other's jokes and just try to get each other canceled, I'm like,

this is brilliant. Have you watched that ever? I have. I've seen that. Yeah, that's good. No, I agree. Outside of that, everything else sucks, though, is the problem, you know? Yeah, I mean, again, it's, I mean, who knows?

How do you, what is there left to do that hasn't been done on the internet every week? Oh, I get that. But as you and I talked about, I mean, they're doing a live show so if something happened two hours before air they can do a bit about what happened two hours ago so they're doing a radio show basically it's kind of almost flying by the seat of your pants and i and it should be better yeah i don't know you can say i just know how hard it is to do live because when we do when you could have a conversation like we're having an organic conversation. I've always said to think to people, the way to do radio,

the way to do a podcast is be interesting. First be interesting because you can be funny. You can, you can, um, you can grab attention. You can make points. You can Saturday night live has to essentially be funny,

funny, funny, funny, funny. And when it's interesting, people go, it's not what this is supposed to be. So you try for funny, funny, funny, funny, funny. And it just kind of gets like that. It's an hour and a half too. I mean, it's hard to do. I just know how hard it is to put up live sketch comedy. And that's why I could never rip it in any way, shape or form, because I just I struggled with it myself and knowing how difficult it is.

Now, I say the same thing about radio. Anybody who's ever thought they can do a podcast or host a radio show hosting is way different than being a guest on something. It's just when you have to drive a show, when you're in the you know, when you're driving it, it's a completely different situation. And podcasting is different than radio, but it's an art, and you have to get good at it. And interviewing is its own thing. It's its own, if I had a better vocabulary, but it's its own category. People don't realize how – listen, I think in this podcast, you've asked me some pretty tough questions, not super hard, but some hard questions for things to talk about, and you got me to open up and talk about them.

You're good at that. To me, I think it makes it interesting to the audience. Well, I find your stories to be interesting, because this is what I find... This is the kind of stuff I find interesting, like inside baseball stuff about this and talking about the current kind of state of things. Not everybody can do that. That's my point. It's not everybody can do that. And I, you know, that's praise in a way, you know, without being a browner, but it's me saying, you know, you do a good job with this. And other people, I know my friend John Holmberg does a good job with it. It's like, wow. But when you try and do it, you know, you do a good job with this. And other people that I know, my friend John Holmberg does a good job with it.

It's like, wow. But when you try and do it, you don't realize how hard it is to drive it. And the amount of energy, you know, you get better at it over the years. And you can put it on a little bit on cruise control and stuff like that. But, hey, it takes time to build it. And to go back to your point earlier, you know, with social media and when things have been the same, do you think Picasso would have kept painting the way he did if he had social media telling him how bad it was? No, I legitimately don't.

I think every great thing probably would have stopped because I was telling you about Seth Payne earlier. He and Mike Meltzer used to do a show together on our old station, 610. And they would admit that they would read comments from people in like the text they would read text that came into the station and someone would say yeah this topic's boring this sucks or whatever and they would get off of a topic because one person said that it sucked and they would change and i've been guilty of that too i've done that and i'm not a very thick skinned person so like i will read this and i go well fuck these people i'm gonna move on then i guess they're right i truly believe that some of the best shit of all time would have never been made

or done if somebody were in real time telling you that it sucked constantly no because you have to get that you have to learn and get better doing it too it might stink the way you start doing it but after you get the you know seinfeld's first year stunk. Watch the Seinfeld Chronicles. It doesn't have the timing. It doesn't have the it, but it grew and changed and became something. And I don't know if you love Seinfeld,

but I love Seinfeld. I prefer Larry Day. I prefer the curb over Seinfeld, for what it's worth. That's fine. That's fine. But you know, Larry David evolves from doing Seinfeld, right? You've got to have going from doing a show about nothing to doing a semi-improvised or basically improvised show about less than nothing. It's amazing, isn't it?

It's great, but it doesn't happen without an evolution to get there. So Seinfeld gets canceled early. It doesn't ever happen. Maybe, maybe it does. I don't know. What are some things you think are funny? Like when you sit back,

you watch them, whether it's a comedian, a TV show, a movie you've seen, like things that you currently in 2021 think are funny. I, I, I listen,

I don't, I, this is going to sound like a cop out. I watch and listen, watch almost nothing. That's funny. I don't, this is going to sound like a cop out. I watch and listen, watch almost nothing that's funny. I don't enjoy funny. It's like going to work. And I don't want to hear other people's jokes.

Why don't you enjoy funny? Well, I'll interfere with that for a second. Because I do think there's an element of you don't want to hear what other funny people are doing. Because then you might subconsciously, if not steal it, borrow it. And I find myself doing that with sports radio. But I just angrily listen to sports radio and yell at the radio all the time so that's just me no i i i like comedy that comes from awkwardness so like a curb type of thing but i also i love better call saul i love things that

are serious where things are the the funny doesn't come from people trying to be funny. It comes from such awkward moments that you're going, oh God, oh my God. So like an impractical jokers almost, like you like pranks. Is that fair? I don't like pranks. No, I don't like pranks.

I like those guys, but pranks have never been my thing. I think there's an art to that too. But I like serious. I like a really well written story where things get awkward. There's awkward beats. And that's

what makes me laugh. I mean, I'm sure there are I just saw Spider-Man and there were there's a lot of very funny moments in that. But they're references to older movies. And they're references to older movies and they're they're almost easter eggs i like the easter eggs more than the easy funny line the easy funny stuff doesn't get me

as much as a reference to a movie from 20 years ago that you're you're you know or even 10 years that you're playing you have to have a little research to know what's going on with it. I've always, listen, when I laugh, and this is a little different, but when I laugh, I laugh at things going wrong, awkwardness, you know, like a comedian bombing who I think is really funny. That's funny to me. What about when they break up like an old school SNL when like a Fallon would lose it in the middle of a sketch? Do you find that funny?

I think it can. You know, I had that, you know, those same kind of issues when I would do some sketch stuff. So there was a little bit. I know what that's like. Harvey Korman made me laugh. Oh, yeah. He's like the OG break character and try not to laugh. That's what they were known for, basically.

Yeah, because Tim Conway was so funny and so committed that I never found Harvey Korman that funny. I found him funny that he was laughing like we all were at Tim Conway for being so ridiculous. I will tell you this. Okay, and this is going to sound ridiculous. And I know you've got to run, so I'm going to say this. So every night at 10 o'clock, I turn on Antenna TV, which is just a channel that's got all these old TV shows on it. And at 10 o'clock, Coach comes on.

And I think Coach is the funniest sitcom in history, most notably because I think Jerry Van Dyke is like the funniest person that's ever walked the face of the earth. I find him to be just charming and funny and he's perfect in the role on the show. So at night, every night, 10 o'clock, it's like appointment television. Like when Ralphie has to listen to the Little Orphan Annie show or whatever he listens to in Christmas Story. It's time for someone's favorite television program and I watch two episodes of Coach every night and to me that is just the epitome of funny to program. And I watched two episodes of coach every night. And to me,

that is just the epitome of funny to me. And I don't know why. Let me go back. and, um, my, my friend, John Holmberg,

who I was doing the podcast with when I was doing it, the, the, uh, he's a radio guy here in Phoenix and one of the best people I know in radio as well. So he, um, he watches that kind stuff, and he watches the game show stuff that's on there. And he got me watching some of that.

Go back and watch some of those 70s game shows. You want to see funny, awkward, and stuff people could never say now? Paul Lind. Just watch Paul Lind. Hey, honey. How's it going, Sammy? You know, just, I mean, the stuff they're saying and doing, you're just going, oh, my.

And the awkwardness. It's brilliant how real that is compared to, you know, because they're just making bad things work. Because it's just, and there's a lot of dead time and a lot of this and that stuff that they wouldn't let go. Now they've edited it all out, but you watch it and you go, my God, this is crazy that

they could do this. And this was television. And that's lost because everything is compacted to keep attentions and get the editing going. Hold on, hold on. Before you wrap up, one more thing is go back and watch old Welcome Back Cotters and you'll feel exactly the opposite.

When I was a kid, I was like, this is the most genius show I've ever seen. And I went back and watched it. I was like, this is the worst acting I've ever seen in my entire life. I must have been an idiot. Up your nose with a rubber hose. up your nose with a rubber hose um up your nose with a rubber hose mr kata and that's well you know but then there are some like i think that um the king of queens is a brilliant show and i mostly think it's a brilliant show because of jerry stiller like i the coach coach and uh and uh king of queens are my two favorite sitcoms

of all time i love them you like you like shows with guys in their 70s or 80s. Yes, I like the third character to be kind of a wacky, kind of acerbic, kind of like crazy character that works. Except for everybody loves Raymond. I don't like everybody loves Raymond. But I do love when there's an old person on the show. I don't like a kid on the show. Like the third or fourth person being a kid making a wacky joke.

I'm not big on that. I like when there's an old dude that's one of the three main characters and he's there to deliver a one-liner and then he gets out. And he's kind of like how Coach was on the early seasons of Cheers. Coach would do the liner, then Woody kind of played the doof after that. I'm a big fan of the third or fourth person that's either old or a doof. And let me tell you, I'll tell you this before you go.

Cause you got Christmas. Um, I know you're busy doing a podcast and everything while your dogs over here playing with toys. I know you're busy. Part of it is that that's the role of an old person in society, right? Old people, you know, there's a reality to that. Old people just start to say stuff that they're thinking.

And it's real. When an old person comes in and says something, it's believable because it's actually grounded in reality. Because, you know, you've known old people in your life. They just come in, say something ridiculous, and they leave. That's what they do. And there's a reality to that that is actually, you know, the most real thing in those sitcoms probably. You know, the stories could be wacky and stuff like that, but the old curmudgeon-y person or their, you know, down on a whim doing something a little crazy, they show up, deliver their line, and go. That's like, you know, my wife's grandma before she passed away she

had alzheimer's she just come in say something wacky that has nothing to do with anything and she'd leave and we'd all be like what just happened but it was you know it was kind of sad but at the same time brilliant yes it's it's great like old people are great like my grandma before she died and she was in her mid-70s but she would just yell at fox news and she had a police scanner in her in her house she now my mom's husband uh my mom's husband don who's a former cop he believes that my grandma bought this uh police scanner like it was hot like she bought it off of like some criminal or something and she would sit in her house and she would listen to police scanners and then she would basically parrot what sean hannity would say every night while she played

while she had like a strategy for trying to win the lottery. She had a whole book. She had a booklet that had six wheels on it. And somehow these six wheels would tell her what the pick three numbers would be. And then she would gossip about people all night long. And that's what my grandma did. That's who she was. I love old people.

Old people are the most naturally funny humans on the planet. Yeah, because they don't care. They don't care. It doesn't matter anymore. How do we get to that level? Because you're not there yet, and I'm not there. When do we get to that level where we just don't care? I'm 47, so I got a little while.

But you want to see a younger guy do it, just watch Dave Chappelle. That's true. Or our friend Lenny dykstra who really does not give a fuck if you follow him on twitter uh he does not give a fuck about anything you know here's there's a homework assignment for you that this you talk about naturally funny stuff okay there is an account on twitter called the epitome of yinzer now yinzer is what they call the people in pittsburgh that's like their term for each other like hey i'm a yinzer and this kid films his dad watching steelers games and it's fucking brilliant because he just yells at the tv in a pittsburgh accent and he's always talking to his dad who's always off camera so the kid is

filming his dad is the one watching tv and that dude's dad's dad so the grandpa is generally always off camera but he's also kind of gradually like yelling at the tv too it is truly the funniest shit like natural stuff like i don't know if the guy knows he's being filmed that he's being that he's got like 15 000 followers on twitter i don't know if he knows that but it's so good and like that's that that's what you should watch that will bring you joy i've seen it before it's great okay well there we go then i'd all that to tell you that then there you go we have similar comedic stylings, I guess. Yeah. There you go. All right, I gotta go celebrate Christmas. It's actually Christmas

now. See you later, Frank. Be good, man. All right, thanks, man. You bet. Bye. Ladies and gentlemen, Frank Caliendo on the Josh and his show. I enjoyed that conversation. Boy, he was great. I enjoyed that conversation thoroughly, so thank you, Frank Caliendo, for joining us on the show. I enjoyed that conversation. Boy, he was great. I enjoyed that conversation thoroughly. So thank you Frank Caliendo for joining us on the show. Interesting stuff too. I know, right? Like I love talking with people in long form conversations. That's what I

enjoy doing. So before we get into anything else, Jilly, what do I tell them about? The Garden Hen. The Garden Hen. I was talking with Chicken Mike just the other day and Chicken Mike says buy a coop. That's what Chicken Mike says the other day, and Chicken Mike says, buy a coop. That's what Chicken Mike says. He says, hey, go out and get one.

832-722-2249. 832-722-2249. That is the number for Chicken Mike, and he'll get you that coop built, my friend. And he's had some drama in his house lately. I'm not going to spill his tea or anything like that, but he was telling me all sorts of shit that's been going on in the family. I'm like, whoa, bro. And with all this going on, you're still out there and you're still building coops like a boss. So reach out to Chicken Mike32-722-2249 is the number they got the coops the chickens the service the feed the bedding the health care all that chicken mike and mrs nicole

they are awesome it is the garden hen get that coop don't have your own eggs like jilly was telling me today how much your eggs now oh god the God, the dozen eggs were like $3.99. Biden's America. I did that, he says. I went and picked it up, and the guy was like, oh, I got anything you need. I'm like, boy, eggs are expensive. He's like, yeah, everything's expensive now. So, you know what wouldn't be expensive?

Having your own chickens. Making eggs for you. By the way, when I say making eggs, they're not preparing the eggs for you. That'd be something. You'd have a special chicken if that were the case. But that is the Garden Hen with Chicken Mike and Mrs. Nicole. We love them. Anybody else here? No. No. I bet you just want to do these last sponsors here. Yeah, we'll do. Yeah, we can knock that out here. Pretty lengthy podcast. We're talking about Rangel Tutoring Services. Rangel Tutoring Services. I was talking with old Daniel Wrangle today. He's back on for another month.

And look, they're kind of in a slow time right now, waiting for the next semester. It's Christmas, as you know. But if you need to get your kids some tutoring done, well, daniel.r.tutoring at gmail.com. That is a good email. Or 832-594-1994. That is the phone number.

Again, they can help you with the SAT, the ACT prep. He's very smart. He went to the University of Houston, and they play good basketball there. His English tutor has a master's in English, and his other tutors are all teachers, and they are ready to go. So anyway, reach out to him 832-594-1994 for Daniel Rangel and they'll take good care of you in the Houston area or they can do it of course digitally. I say digitally, they can do it on the computers and all that. 832-594-1994. It is Rangel Tutoring Services. And then Aqueduct Plumbing. And Aqueduct Plumbing Company with Billy and his sister Mary.

They will take care of you with your plumbing needs. I mean, only so much I can say about plumbing. 281-488-6238. 281-488-6238. That is the number. And the website is AqueductPlumbingCompany.com. AqueductPlumbingCompany.com. And what do they do at AqueductPlumbingCompany.com. AquaductPlumbingCompany.com. And what do they do at AquaductPlumbingCompany.com, friends? Well, re-pipes, leak detection,

camera inspection, plumbing fixtures, water heaters, tankless water heaters, water filters, drain cleaning. They'll do it all for you at Aquaduct Plumbing Company. That's Aquaduct PlumbingCompany.com. They are at your disposal. Thanks to Drew for the 10 bucks. Thanks to the King of Twitch, Houston, Texas for the 20 bucks. There you go. Our friend Keith C. Rice is in the chat right now. Hello, Keith. We'll hang out with you guys for a few more minutes here. But you guys are awesome. We appreciate you guys. So if you guys want to throw in a couple of donos, you can. I'll post that link one more time. All good. We're going to be here tomorrow. I think that Sean Salisbury is going to join us tomorrow.

That'll be fun. About 7 o'clock. So Sean Salisbury will be with us. And then Friday is Jismas Eve. Everybody going to be down to hang out for a while in the evening on Jismas Eve? We did it last year, right? I don't remember how our viewership was or our turnout was, because I remember that's when you got the Rota.

So you weren't really tasting any of the show on your holiday cheer. That's true. So I'm trying to really debate if we should do a big show tomorrow, Thursday the 23rd, or on actual Christmas Eve. These are the questions. So feedback would be appreciated. Yeah, so you guys can let us know what uh what you have in mind what you think would be a solid uh solid strategy there for it but we're gonna do a show both nights

it's just which one should be like the big the drinking show that is the question so uh you guys can let us know on that would be greatly appreciated so I will say goodbye to the radio. I say radio. The podcast portion of the audience. Friends, we love you. We'll see you.