The Kristian Harloff Show - Star Wars and Stand Up Comedy with Ken Napzok! | The Big Thing

Episode Date: August 25, 2021

Star Wars, Star Wars, Ken Napzok and Kristian Harloff back together talking Star Wars. Well, not just. Ken Napzok joins Kristian and they talk about Ken's journey in stand up comedy, Kristian returning, doing stuff together and more. They get into Star Wars, what they are looking forward to, what they think Obi-Wan will be and then dogs, yes lots of dogs. Follow on Twitter Kristian Harloff https://bit.ly/31PePMD Mark Ellis https://bit.ly/2U1wKPa Brett Sheridan https://bit.ly/2HBltii Steph Sabraw https://bit.ly/3m0ud0z Kate Mulligan https://bit.ly/3owBneT Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's going on, everybody? I am excited. I am really, really excited for a lot of different reasons here on the big thing. Ken Napstock's going to be joining me. That's right. He's going to be joining me. And, of course, we're going to talk about Star Wars. It's not the whole damn thing.

That's what Sith counsel's for. But I want to talk to him about some Star Wars stuff. We haven't really talked in a bit. And with that, we're also going to talk about some stand-up. We're going to talk about whether or not this grouchy old bastard watching the Spider-Man trailer or not. You guys can take your bets now. There's a lot of different things.

I got a new dog. Ken loves dogs. And that's what we're going to talk about. That's the name of the show. This name of the show is actually Ken loves dogs, and we're going to get into it in just a minute. It's the big thing. Thanks for joining us, you humps.

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. It's the big thing. It is Wednesday, and you guys are joining us here on this Wednesday morning. And I'm happy to have you. Super happy to have you, and I'm in a good mood. Why am I in a good mood? Come on, look at this guy.

Dance it up, Ken. Yeah, break it down. Old school. It's like the rock version. It just makes so much more sense to have this song, even more. When the great Ken Napsok is joining me here, it's good to see, buddy.

Do I look at the lens? I feel like I'm a rookie. I don't give a shit. You can look at me. I know, this is fun for the podcast. You know, this is one of the things we were talking about this off air. Right.

You and I are in such different places in our lives. Yeah, yeah. Way different. Way different. But same, but way different. Yeah. I mean, we're still doing our thing and what we like to do.

We're still humps. But the difference is that we're both in a place where we just want to do what we're enjoying doing and not being forced to do. Yeah. That's what I felt like we were doing for a long time. We're kind of forced to do stuff. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, let's just dive in. Go in it, man. Go for it. No, no. Look, we were all blessed to do what we did, and it all takes you forward. I've just in a spot too where it's like how I talk about things, how I take things in is so different.

And even with comedy, I view it as a communication. And I want to have bigger and better purpose, but also silly shoot the crap stuff comes up too. But like, yeah, yeah, just in a different spot. And how I appreciate things. and breaking mics and all those kind of things. Yeah, so yeah, I get you.

I answered nothing there. No, you did. You actually, actually, you did answer from that. I feel the same way because here's a perfect example. The Spider-Man trailer comes out. Yeah, yeah. This channel is not meant for trailer reactions and trying to do reviews. And that's like, it was a thing that I used to do in the past.

But I really wanted to react to this trailer because I'm excited about the movie. So I said to say to him, I was like, hey, I'm going to go. go out in the back, I'm going to just turn the camera on and do this. And I did, and it was fun. And that's the thing, a lot of times, I think that where we are, we don't want to lose track of fun. And I think you can easily lose track of fun. Yeah. For sure.

Yeah, yeah. There's a couple of things I'm doing right now that, you know, I'll be blunt. I'm not getting, you know, we're having fun of a GPA, but I'm not getting, Napsock files is done. It's still a feed, but I have a show called Saturday Night Napsock, which is a satire, radio parody that's me doing all the characters. And not intentionally bad, but it's like, All the characters are facets of my personality.

I'm basically having a conversation with myself. I put hours into it. I record it six to seven hours on Saturday. It's the least list. Six to seven hours? Because I write it. Because you write the whole thing. How will it take you to write an episode?

I start about noon and I'm done recording by six to seven. That's what you always did, though. That's the kind of stuff that you should be doing. You love that shit. Yeah, but I used to do it when I was 14. Right. Same exact show I did when I was 14, where I was a host. I had a producer character and I'd fake guests.

I was later on, very influenced by Phil Hendry. But it's the least listened to thing I've done. But it's also the thing I'm most proud of it. Isn't that a kick in the ball sometimes, though? Oh, I get grumpy at it. Yeah. And I'm not, I don't feel I'm owed anything. But I also feel like I'm saying something in this stuff.

I'm talking, I'm communicating. I'm looking at the world and going, here's my thoughts on it. Comedy is the only way I know how to talk. Because I wasn't a class clown. I was the quiet kid in the back class. That's how I got people that listen to me, not jokes, but listen to what I had to say about the world.

And so I'm putting so much into that. And you don't necessarily get it all back right. away and it's not about that but also this is our career, I've got to pay bills. So that, I'm back into radio now. I'm doing, I'm doing it. I got a rock show called Pop Rocket Radio on Mix Cloud and I'm just starting it. But to what you're point is like, I want to go back

to, not back to the basics, but to what I want to really do. And I feel we all, you and I specifically in Ellis and all those, we got into this. We were comics, we were writers. I did the fell into it. You know, it was over at the groundlings, did sketch comedy, all those kind of things and stand up. And then it was like,

oh, you know, a signal went off my brain. You know, hey, this digital media thing pops up. And that just obviously gave us a bigger platform. And I'm so happy about that. But it wasn't. It's not what we wanted to do in the first place. And it's almost like we got pitch and hold into it at a certain aspect.

Because I feel the same way that you do where this show, people, people, and you can't blame the fans that found us that way because I get it all the time. Oh, we'll do the, where's the Shmoh's no movie reviews? And it's like, and I'm so appreciative of the people that found us. that way. I like doing this. I've always liked doing this. You know that. Like when I've had like the conversations and it was speaking of what you were speaking of how like you put out this thing and you and what you like to do and then it's like your lowest view thing. I was doing the one-on-ones again. I brought it back because they did well in Collider. So I brought it back on

my channel and I had some great conversations with the guys at Cobra Kai and like I brought my buddy Paul DeAngelo who was the guy who inspired me as a comedian. And the reason I was able to shift Everything that I did was because of this guy. 1.8,000 people watch it. Yeah. And I'm just like, what the fuck am I doing? It's like, and then, you know, it's, it, it, you just got to keep pushing at it because it's all the people who do like it. Yeah.

You're going to stick around like this show. Like, like, yeah. I have been, I have been doing that for this show and making sure that like, like, I put something I have guests like yourself. I have just pure conversation. And moving it over, I think to this other channel, you get the ball bags that, that come in and go, oh, it looks like, it looks like, you know, you got to start from scratch again. but you just got to keep pushing forward. Yeah, look, I could easily get in a car and get angry and scream and maybe hit the algorithm. And it's just not where I'm at.

And to people that are, if that's where they're at, more power to them. It's not a competition. But yeah, I get a little frustrated. Even you promoting this show, I almost want to apologize to someone, someone tweeting me like, finally, I've missed Ken talking Stowers. I'm like, I've never stopped. I've been over here doing five to six hours a week with Force Center with Joseph. How are you?

I actually want to know how are you not getting that? information. Because I, we want that to be, you know, that's what our heart. So it can get frustrating, but you're right. You've got to focus on, on who is there for the content and who is there for you and appreciate them. And, and that's, that's an outlook thing, right? Yeah, it's also a problem with like the band, too, right? Because the, because the, the, the, the fans that go with the, with the drummer, do they go with the, with the guitar, the bassist to go with the singer, where do they go? I see everything in terms of rock bands. I talk about this all the time. Charlie Watts. Charlie Watts, I know, yesterday.

Today, at the time to say, one of the greatest of all time of team. Get You, yeah, yeah, yeah, get you, yeah, yeah, that was the best album titles, album covers and he's on it with that donkey. Yeah, dude, one of the, one of the stones, it's like, that's how you know we're getting, oh, one of the stones finally ate it. Yeah, well, I mean, Bill Wyman. Well, Bill Wyman, obviously, but I mean, like, I'm talking, I'm talking, you know, but Kurt, like, yes, yes, no, it keeps, Keith stands alone, and eventually, I'm sure.

Yeah, no, yeah, talk about, you, I don't know what, we don't need to dance around things. You know, when the Schmoves, no thing kind of transitioned and moved. Yeah, it was a band break it up. And we had fun time. You and Mark where there's Toosom playing guitar and tambourine and let's get a bass player, let's get a drummer. And we had a great run. And then after a while, it's like, yeah, I needed to go play my jazz.

And, you know, Josh needed to go do yacht rock. And we all needed to do our things. And it will never necessarily be that again. It can be different versions. Right. And that can send you all get in the room. It can feel fun for a bit. Beginning of the pandemic, we did do some of the day.

We all got up done. Right. And it's nothing, you know, and it's just, it's, it's been, you, your phone call to me to be the producer, Shmo's knows, nine years ago. Think of where you were nine years ago. Dude, it was, we were just trying to, I was working at Bachelor as a producer trying to get the hell out of that job so we can just do this. Yeah. And it's funny because I was, last year, my birthday, I kind of, I think I called you. It's always, it's so funny. Every time I call you, it seems to be like a transition.

period of things happening in my career. Like when I was walking through the street in New York and I remember that phone call. And I was about to do a set. Yeah. And Ellis has, Ellis had been asking me for years to do a set. Yeah. So I was at a baseball game with, with Degnino at the Mets game, right? That's trouble.

It was fun. It was a lot of fun. But anyway, so Ellis is like, all right, buddy, going to do a set? And for some reason, I said, yeah. And he said, really? He's like, yeah, I'm going to do a set. So I started writing some stuff. And I'm, and I was like, well, I got to call.

Ken because Ken will understand because it goes back to the day when so for people that didn't know Ken was working at the at the farmers market. Yeah, yeah, a security director over there at the market in the Grove, yeah. And I was not too far away and I would come see you for lunch like almost every day. Almost every day. Yeah, and we would just talk. Chicken salad sandwich at Phil's deli. Fucking delicious.

Yeah. So good. And I would just, we would run bits at each other. And correction. You would call me and go, I got this idea and I'd listen and I go, it sounds okay. You'd crush that night. and then the bid I'd be working on for three weeks with charts and graphs.

Can I say something to you? What? Can I tell you something? I just had this conversation. You, and I used to have this conversation with you at Room 5. I said, if you ever actually start to be Ken Napsock that I know on stage, you're going to fucking crush. You've been doing it lately?

It's happening. Yes, what I heard. Yeah, yeah. No, it's really happening. I'm really excited. And the material's only going to get bigger and better, and I'm excited for that. Because you're not doing comedy.

voice. It took me 45 years to figure out who I was on a stand-up stage. And I had this, if you want to talk about it now, like, you know, I don't know if you need to, you know, we need that web-sling guy. It's the beauty of the show, man. Just go where you go. The guy from Indiana Jones, right, his luck, Lost Ark shows up.

Give me the rope. No, man, I'm good at some things, right? And, like, if you and I, like, I wasn't worried about this show today. It's like, we'll figure out where we're talking about.

The mics, you and I are going to hang. I'm a broadcaster, you're a broadcaster. We know how to do this. Like, it's great. If we were had 400 people watching, I wouldn't be nervous.

If you were like, hey, guess what? I got 20 people in the garage parking lot. We're going to do improv show. I'd be like, all right. Yeah.

If you were like, we're doing a stand-up show, I'd be like, God. And what would happen? And you saw it more than anyone because you were there every week with me. Stand-up was the thing that I would either,

on the nights was great. it was great. On the nights it was bad, I felt like 12-year-old Ken. Yeah. Where everyone in the room is judging me, and I don't belong here, and the girls are judging me, and the guys are judging me, and the comics, I'm so nervous, and that would emerge all the time, all the time, all the time. In La Jolla with Ellis, and Ellis has just been the best, right? And was patient with me from 2014 on.

Never was like, you got to do. It was like, when you're ready, when you're ready, and eventually I got ready. The first night, and we were on the phone with you on Saturday night, I bombed so bad, but it wasn't the bomb. That's going to happen. What was the bomb? What was the bomb? What happened with the bomb? Is it just the jokes weren't hitting?

La Jolla on Friday night. It's tough, right? It's tough. The guy before me, God bless him, was great. He had a great set. But he was literally like, you all like that woke stuff? No, the crowd's cheering.

F masks, and this and I'm not coming up here. I'm not a super woke comic and everything. But I have a whole bit now about going to the batting cages as a metaphor for men getting mental health. Right. You know, and processing our rage. And I'm like, well, that's not going to work too well with this crowd. They're all like, blood, blood, murder, murder.

And I'm just like, have you ever thought about your feelings? You should go open to that. Yeah. But so here, but so what happened, Christian, is, is I bombed great, whatever. But I was that seventh grader again. And I was in the green room crying. Yeah. I was, I was crying.

You had that feeling that you hadn't felt in a long time. I had that feeling of, I, because 2018 with Mark and 2019, I was getting my legs and I felt confident. You were hosting, you did a lot of stuff with Josh back and forth. But then I started doing sets, you know. was bringing me at Houston. I had some great stuff. And I felt good. I was like,

oh, we're grown, we're grown, we're grown. And that happened. I was like, it's the same thing that I dealt with in 2004.

Yeah. And three. How I got to get past that? Long story short, I almost drove home. I almost drove home. After that first, after that first set,

we had three more shows to do. Yeah. And that would have been a complete disrespect to Alice and a failed to Ellis, but I was like, I think I'm done. And Ellis, everyone was like,

eh. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

It happens. You know, just make sure you're talking with them, not to them. And then the next day, I was like, you know, I've been on the road with Ellis. He's like, I need the two hours for the nap. And I'm like, that's a great plan. So I was in my room just like, what do? What do I do? And I had the thought I just talked to you by like, oh, I'm a podcast.

And I said, if the show tonight at La Jolla was a podcast, I wouldn't be nervous. Why am I in my head about it? So I was like, that's what I am. I'm a broadcaster and communicator. And I saw a picture of F. Mark and Merrin, Mark Maron, at the comedy story, they tweeted out. and I go, you know, the dude sits down. He's a podcast. He sits down on a stool.

I've never sat down on the stool. And I sat down on the stool and every bit of every anxiety apprehension and that feeling of 12-year-old Ken trying to make people laugh went away. And I just talked to the audience. And it was the best set of my life. And it's not always going to be the case. Steph Sub-Braw was there the night. You know, it's the first time she thinks I'm hilarious. Don't tell her the truth.

Because she saw that one. Don't tell her the truth. funny how perception, one little set. People, and who knows what she would have thought if she said the night before. Sabra says this to me. She's great. Her and her sister, a great hang. She says, you know, I've always heard all the stuff. I just didn't see it. Now I get what people

want to work with you. Which I'm paraphrasing. But, and, dude, Kershian, I do think a lot about you because you were there when you saw, you'd see me, you know, crying on the side of the stairs going, I just don't know what's not translating. And it was that. Yeah. And. Well, you were, I, And to correct me if I'm wrong, I feel like because you and I came from the same type of the reason why we got into, whether it's gotten into nerdy shit or whether it's getting to stand up. It's like we watched it as kids.

There were certain things and certain things from Saturday Night Live or other things that spoke to us. And so in your head and the way that comedy shifts in general on how it's perceived and how audience accepted, I believe in, correct me if I'm wrong, that you had an idea of what a comedian was supposed to be. Yes. Back in the day when we used to do it. And I remember going, that's Ken's interpretation of the stuff he saw as it. a kid and he's trying to do that but that's not cat it's not me yeah you're 100% right there'd be nights where i'm like am i am i dang cook tonight or my louis black like what am i trying to do right my norm macdonald when am i and i couldn't figure out myself now uh my one of my last directors

of the ground leans carer mariamma uh said oh i hear you're going to try stand up from uh brian keith rich and peter spright and i was like yeah they're going to get me up on stage right peter sprite yeah good and she goes oh my god um that's great because i'd love to hear your thoughts on things and i was like oh okay that's what a stand-up does but i you're right And it was like every night and I couldn't get in. And then I started hosting, which was a different skill. But long start short, communication. Like, I used to be pretty like Schmo's News, which was great.

I love doing that. But that was me thinking, and this is the theme of the segment, was me thinking I'm right and the world's wrong, and how could I fit the world into my view. Right. Now my comedy and what I'm trying to tell, it's my story of maybe the world has a better idea and I'm trying to find my place in it. And that's the tension and that's the comedy.

And that's the story I'm trying to tell now. because that's where I'm at now as I grow and change as a person. And that's proven to be successful so far because I am who I should be on stage. And that's a major part of it. And that part of it for me, I didn't have that particular issue. When I was doing standards, I was. I knew. But my thing was I was a little pigeonholed into this is what is working.

These are the jokes. Don't elaborate on it too much. And I didn't have that thing that you and I have. You always had broadcasting experience. You haven't even so much more from being in front of YouTube and all this stuff in the podcasting. I find myself even writing jokes now. I'm like, oh, that, even on an older joke that I work. Oh, yeah.

There's a joke that I had that worked very well back in the day at the comedy store. And I added new things to it recently because I'm like, well, wait a minute. That's how I should perceive this now as a older, you know, as a dad, like all these things. I'm like, well, that's a different perception now of how I see this. It still works. still funny, there's certain things that I, that even the, there was a joke that I did about when I was single and I was dating in a particular woman that said something to me. I can still use that, but I can't use it the same way that I did back then.

No more, Mr. Nice. But it's a different circumstance now. And it's like, because now the perception is, yeah, because, well, the perception is this. The perception of that particular joke for people who want to, who will see it eventually, is that I don't even know. I've been married for now for like 12 years. I wouldn't even know how to talk to women if they said anything. And I remember, and I say, I remember back in the day, someone said this to me.

Like, I wouldn't know how to respond to that. Like, you know, I didn't know. Ellis is still hung over for your wedding. Yeah, he is. Yeah. But yes. No, that's wonderful. And, yeah, retelling, because the bit, the materials aren't the problem.

No. Never worth it. With you particularly, I'm not blowing smoke. You were the best comics to watch and the way you put together and fed off the crowd. No, you were there, but I get what you're saying. You may have, you just grown up. Yeah. And that's a great thing about stand-up.

There's no time limit on it. There really is it. Well, it's, I was talking to my father-in-law about this. It is a young man's game in a certain aspect. Or a young person's game. Energy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's, well, it's the hustle to, right?

I agree with that. The performance side of it, I actually think that if you do it the way that you and I, you get better. And especially if you've done it enough, it's like you just jump into it when you're our age, you know, then it's a tougher role. But with people with experience, when you've done it back in the day and now you can craft, it, I'm having more. fun writing today than I did back then, but I have no interest in doing the hustle. I have no interest of trying to get the agents, people to see you and try to get on TV. I just want to do it to just do it. I'm in the same boat.

You are blessed, blessed to have a friend like Mark Ellis who's like, yeah, I'll take it to Seattle. Let's do it. I'm trying to get back up locally. It's hard. By the way, it's hard. You and I got, if I even want to get up on a show, like, I don't know anyone in the game out here. Yeah.

And it's back in the day, we'd be like, oh, just, you know, talk to Ron. got the room over there. Now I'm like, hey, anyone do comedy? None of you, you're 15 years younger or your different generation. That's frustrating. But I'm with you, too. The end game is in fame and fortune. The end game is continuing to tell my story to audiences around the world.

You know, Dangerfield, what, 51, early 50s, he found his wind and found his next leg. And I'm not comparing myself to Dangerfield. I know what you mean. I'm really excited. I'm really excited because I feel out 45, you know, 46 in a few months. It's scary. Like, I finally have a story to tell. Yeah.

I mean, that's, and that's the thing. You got to, I think that the perception and reason why we were doing it, even back in the day, which is fine when you're younger and you're doing it, just because I remember when we shot Grasping at Straws. It's like, I have a set that I have to do that I have to showcase for the Montreal Comedy Festival. And then I so and so might be there. And I have to do this. And I'm going to, I'm going to do the improv tonight. I'm going to do comedy store tomorrow and I'm going to do this because I got to start to.

I would love to do all that, but I want to do it because it's like, oh, I thought of this thing that I want to try. Yes. And I think that it, I'd like to work it. out because it's hard for me. I have this, I've been working on stuff since last October and I have pages and pages of shit that I've been working on. And the way I used to do it back in the day that I do

it now, I fucking smoke a little bowl and I walk around and I just do it and I work on the same thing and I add new things that I had. But the difference between back then and now is back then, I go, oh, I'm going to do the comedy store and try that tonight. Tonight it's like I got to try it in front of a dog or I got to call one of my friends who don't want to

hear it and practice something. Hard laugh, I'm about to Kill some outlaws on Red Dead. Could you hurry up and get to the point? Tell me the bit, idiot, and move on. But like, you know, I've, but I have to have sounding boards to, that's my crowd right now, because I know that people also, I don't know, this, this, this, like, Mulligan's been phenomenal, by the way. I mean, Mulligan's just phenomenal, in a lot of ways.

She's just a great human being, but she's been, she's been like a sounding board for me. We've been working back and forth on certain things. But you're going to go to New York with this. Yes, let's confirm an announcement right now. I didn't check with Uncle Mark, but yes, yes, I will be in New York. at the comedy show, Thursday, Friday night. And I'm excited to see you do a set,

like a set, you know? It's going to be a real set. Yeah, the one that, I mean, so it's like, to jump back where we were

when I called you that day, and it just, because of that, that conversation, I had a nice set that day. Yeah, I did like seven or eight minutes, whatever was,

yeah. And I said, oh, I'm going to definitely, and the pandemic here, because I was planning, I am going to go back to the store. I am like, I want to go on.

Your name's on the wall. Don't you get a, you get a cup and a, I got a cup and a broken watch. Yeah, but they, but they, but I want to talk to, uh, the new, I'm not making any assumptions that I'm just going to go and start getting spots because I'm like, who the fuck are you? You've been on stage here in like 14 years.

Um, but I want to start doing belly room stuff. I want to do certain stuff. And then be like, okay, look, I've been working on this stuff and I'd love to go back. So. Bellroom's a great room. Yeah, but love to do. And then once we're able to travel and around and you, you and I were supposed to do a tour in like 2005, right?

I want to say 2006. I mean, I was telling Ellisis. I don't think he even knew much of that story. I put in my resignation of my job. Because of that tour. Yeah, called my vice president. I said, hey, I'm going to be out. I said, it's going to be six months or so.

You, me, some other cats, we're going to get in a tour bus and go around doing colleges, right? Yeah, they had it all booked out and ready to get. So I was working with these two guys. One guy is no longer with us. He passed away. But there were two guys that were going to do. this tour because they ran all these shows and were making bank in Vegas.

They would fly me and Winklement out to Vegas every month. I was going to Vegas every month. And we were working with these guys and let's put together a tour because they came to watch the shows at Room 5 and everything until like, well let's, who do you want? And I, so I grabbed you, Tom

Connolly, I think Franco, maybe. I don't remember. I don't know. Probably Santini. Santini. Santini is a bunch of us. And then we were going to rent the bus and go all over the country. And I don't know what happened, but it just fell apart.

It just fell through. And luckily, yeah, they had found a replacement. And I got my... I didn't, I don't think I knew that. Well, because it was that close. It was that close, right? Oh, dude, it was... Orlando was going to be your first date, right? You were booking everything. Everything was ready to go.

Tickets and all. But the craziest part is, we didn't even have a fucking audience back then. No, no. And God forbid, I would have probably learned to be a better comic sooner. But I, I don't know. That would have been tough for me. Well, you talk about that La Jolla. And I've told this story on this show once, but because it's relevant, I don't know how much of this you know. But do you remember when Jamie Kaler took Mark Franco and myself to Fort Lauderdale?

Have you ever heard this story? I do remember that trip. I don't know the details. Yeah. So we did this. It was the improv. Yeah. And it was one of the big, the big shows, like massive room.

Yeah. And I was, and this was during the time when I was going up at the store. I was doing, I was doing well. Yeah. I was doing well. And but Kayla's like, well, do you want to host? And I'm like, never been my strong. I did it a couple times at the comedy store in the in the OR and I had I did okay but never really

my strong suit. He's like yeah but this is where you can get up every night and do like you know a bunch of material. It's like all right let's do it and I fucking ate a big pile of shit right right I mean dude like and I hadn't been but not in the fun way no not in a fun way not not not doing it next to like you know a shower or something but like but it was but it was amazing the coming you talk about getting knocked off a pedestal because I'm going at the comedy store and I'm doing well. I'm going to room five and improv and it was so bad. Yeah. My,

I think my dad was there was one of the things that was bad. But then the guy who booked Jamie's like, this guy can't go up anymore. He's, he's, he can't go off for the rest of the weekend. Like, no. And Jamie's like, no, this guy's a fucking regular at the comedy story. He's an improv. He's good.

And he's like, that was bad, dude. He's like, that was, I think amateur might even been thrown out. It might have been. It was bad. And so I said, listen, man, I get it. He's like, I'm bringing in my own. I lost my pay. He's like, I'm bringing in another guy.

Yeah. And this guy, local guy. And I was so mad at this guy. And this guy was a sweetheart. Yeah, yeah. Did fucking nothing except come in to, to, because the guy said, hey, do you want to work for the weekend? Turns out he's a really good friend of James Waugh, by the way. Oh, yeah.

But this guy was a sweetheart. It was forest. It was really, and I think he might even be here now. I don't know. But he's a really nice guy. And I went up. befriending the guy while he was there. But when I said to the guy to listen,

I know it was, that was bad. I'm not gonna, so give me, he's like, I'll put you in, I'll give you, instead of having, I'll give you like five, six minutes in between. I said, fine. And I fucking annihilated every night on for every two, for two shows.

And after that first show, when he did, because he was watching. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Right. He gave me like a high five, like I just won the World Series. And then he's like, ah, you're good.

And then I went, I was doing like eight to ten for the rest of the weekend. And he was like, it was fine. But like, that was like, it's a gut check. It was a kick in the balls. Like, just like, I don't care how well you think you do it. You're not going to do well at every single show that you do. Yeah, again, because it's not even just that it's a bomb.

It's something about, you know, the energy, everything. You know, you know when it's not, the joke didn't hit. It's sometimes a little bit more. And it gets comedy you can get in your head. I mean, it's one of the, you were judged every second you're on stage. And that's the game. And people succeed. People succeed in early age.

I don't think you necessarily need to be old to. get it. That's my journey. That's not everyone's journey. You know, I remember Eliza showing up. I hosted her third show in LA. Tim Powers brought her around. Eliza was ready to go from the beginning. Like, she just got those skills. Yeah. So it was like, it's all our own journeys. But I feel you on that.

I thought they were going to fire me at Lola. Oh, you know, right? We'll talk to me after the first night. Because it's, but you got to also remember, I mean, minus the story I just told you. You got to assume that, all right, you got to just had a bad set. We'll see what he does on, on night. too, right? It's just, it's part of it.

But it goes back to what you said. It's that you're right, though. It's that 12-year-old kid, because when you're up there and don't, and I don't give a shit about everything we're talking about here about saying how much we want to do stand-up and how much we want to work on. Of course we do. But it's also that thing inside of your head, no matter if you're the most grumpyest fucking comedian in the world, you're doing out there because you want satisfaction that people are enjoying you. Whether you're likable, because you have to be likable as a comedian, even if you're not likable. You know, like, you got to be likable because people are going to want

to watch it. I guess a scumbag. But man, he's a skumbag. but man, he's fun to watch. Yeah. Like that's, you got to have that. And if you don't have that, it's that, well,

they don't like me. Yeah. That comes in. Some comedians are like, ha, they fucking hated me tonight, but that, but it's,

it just, it just depends on how, how it's run, but it's good that you're going back. Yeah, it's been great, man. It's been a lot of fun. I can't wait for New York.

And hopefully more, you know, I'm at Ellis's mercy. Eventually, I'm going to have to leave the crib, but, we, we travel.

I think Alice and I travel well together. We're both great in airports and know how to take naps. So it's a good team. A nap the other day. This dog's been keeping me up. I bet. I'm going to try to bring him on. He's sleeping right now.

The dude's in the studio. Yeah, don't wake him. The dude's in the studio. He is in the studio. First time he'll be on the show. But before we, Ken, I got to ask you a very serious question. You got to be honest with me. Do you shave your balls?

I have for 25, 30 years. Well, you're not doing it the way you should be doing it. I'll tell you more. Manscaped. It is, I am. The other day, they sent me this package. Yeah. Pun intended.

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You know, I'm telling you, man, it is, it reminds, I just watch Field of Drinks. With your ball hand. It was like when Kevin Costner is on that fucking thing, and he's just taking out the corn. Yeah, that's what this thing was doing. It's amazing, because guys, if you're shaving with the same nut trimmer on your face, you're doing it wrong.

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It's phenomenal, dude. I really, I'm a big fan of this. I started doing it with tweezers. in a rusty razor in about 1995. Have you not upgraded to any, like, real... No, I've upgraded, yeah, yeah. Have you used Monscapes? No, I haven't.

I'm going to give you that... It's not yours, right? No, I got three of them. I got three... I was going to give one to Ellis, but, you know, Ellis probably... I don't know what's going on there. Who knows what's going on there?

But I'm going to give one to you because I missed you. Okay. I haven't seen you in a while. It's been a while. It's been a while, and it's... I'm happy to see... Contrary to any other... You and I have been remained friends for a very long time.

Oh! Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, look, you know, I won't go to a theme park with you, but I got to tell you, I, that should be clear. Fair enough. We are in a band. We're in a band. And sometimes the band fights and sometimes the band is getting longer.

Sometimes a band, like I said, just because, hey, I'm going to go to record a jazz album. We never fought, though, you and I? No, no. But I don't fight. My problem is I just stew and eventually just kill you. And just kill me. Yeah. Well, I'm not saying that's right.

No, but that's just how you do. I remember. Trust me, I remember conversations I have you. Not about me, but other people at room five. Don't say that to anyone. Look, I've grown since then. And I think I had more reason to retroactively. I think I discovered that I had more reason to be upset than I thought. Oh, really?

What to talk about that's off here. Yeah, no, no, no, it's great. No, I get the desire to see the band back together. We want to see that too sometimes. But I think it's, I'd much rather experience that. live. Yeah. Why not different ways?

Right. Exactly. Like I would, like I am, I'd be honest with you. I would be much more excited to get back to hanging out with you doing stand-up than I would be talking Star Wars every week. Absolutely. Absolutely.

That's how I met you. It's how I knew you. And everything else just kind of became, it was just good conversation around the bar. Yeah. But we connected over that. And that's always been the case. I think that that's what I. And so to me, that is the more exciting thing.

But I did tell you beforehand, I do want to talk a little Star Wars with you. Not to get any deep diving. You're talking about, like, movie news, or Star Wars news or any of that, but it's like, what are you been, again, we haven't talked about Star Wars really at all. Yeah, yeah, yeah. What are you thinking about the stuff that's been coming out,

the stuff that it's been out, like, you're looking forward to BobaFet? Did you like Bad Batch? Yeah, I love Bad Batch. Did you? I really loved it. Because of what it, again, I'm so into the, the micro level of the themes in Star Wars, and that's how I really dive in now

with all the things that are present that I enjoy. Like, I really enjoy Black Widow. for the themes presented in that movie. That some of them weren't necessarily my story. It was this wonderful story of women taking back their narrative from the men that are controlling. I've got to see it. I literally think it's one of the deepest and smartest

and emotional movies. And then I get frustrated when people only look at it for plot. But that's another conversation. In far as Star Wars, I've been loving it. Bad Batch was exactly what I wanted it to be. Right. And a lot of reflection on who you are, your identity, growing, changing, which is what Mando

Season 1 was for me, the theme of that one was reprogramming and can you go against your nature and can you grow and change and your worldview changing? That's a lot of about two. So I've been enjoying a lot of that. I'm looking forward to BobaFet. BobaFet's never been one of my favorite characters, but I love what they did it, did with BobaFet

coming back. The theme of his just really, he has a code, he has a thing, but he's also he's violent and he knows who he is, good or bad, and I'm interested in that theme. I'm most looking forward to Kenobi and Andor, and accoled. Oh, and or so.

That's my, you know, that's my favorite time period. Yeah. And I think there's so much still on the table to explore with, not just and or, but the burgeoning rebellion during that time, which is what I love, the Bad Batch is building these things of what it actually means to, for the rebellion and to rebel. I just think there's so much potential in that story.

And Kenobi, you and I've been excited for what we knew was the movie first, and then became a series. I think there's so much to explore as well. I see it as a potential big turning of the page in Kenobi's life. How does he go from being stuck in guilt and shame and looking at Anakin as the chosen one? And that failure? How does he turn the page to believe in his point of view that Luke's the chosen one? And how does he go forth?

How does he reconcile with that failure? Oh, my God, that's big themes. They might not do that specifically. And I think that's my lesson is you have to be open to that. What is the story telling you and interact with the story on that level? But yeah, I've been loving all that stuff, man. Well, there was a rumor on the Canobi stuff was that he was going to shut the force off, right?

But in a different way than what, like, Luke did it because Luke did it because he just was done with it. You didn't want to do it anymore. Yeah, failure, yeah. Yeah. Obi-Wan, from the rumors, whether they're true or not, who knows, but from the rumors, was that he was doing it so he wasn't sought out by the empire. So he wasn't, so you couldn't find him through the force, right? Do you think that there's, if that was indeed something that was in them,

script, the movie script, the film script, do you think that they will do that again because of the, I don't say backlash, that's not fair, because there's like, because people like yourself, like a lot of the stuff that happened in that, in episode eight. But like if there, but because there was a, oh man, he's shutting off too, but because he's doing it, there's a reason more, a more, a more surface,

a plot surface level reason for it. Yeah, you think that'll still happen? You think they're still going to include that if it was ever in there in the first place? I think it could be, I think you're going to see the empire involved. I mean, clearly we seem to some, Some of it. By the way, you know, I try to avoid most rumors and spoilers. I was at a party recently, uh, vaxed. Everything we were safe. It was a film premiere. And someone goes, oh, you do a Star Wars podcast?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I just did three days on Kenobi as an extra. Pulls out his phone and shows me pictures. Oh, shit. Like, you could get murdered, dude. Were you at, were you at a Disney premiere? No. Oh, okay. No. And he's just like, yeah, and he's showing me. That, da-da-da-da-da-d-d-d-is-at. I'm like, and this is this.

Did you say anything to him? No, I just was like See them But I was like that You know you're like I don't want to see because I love I just love just going in blah Right

Was it cool stuff? It was great stuff But like it's also amazing Like that's how all that stuff gets out Yeah Well look at the Spider-Man thing Which is who Who did that?

Like it's kind of like an editor or something right? I don't know And it's like he's just like Fuck it You know Bad day at work Who knows Revenge I don't know

I mean but yeah But I mean that's silly But a lot of them don't realize Like this this guy, I don't necessarily think he realized he was, he's a working actor, but extras can kind of kind of be a little, you know, a little bit out there. But he's a working actor. He just did three days.

And he was like, yeah, they're shooting up equipment. Go up there. You can get to, you can get on the set. I was just like, I'm good, man. But he's not plugged into our daily podcast conversation. It's so funny that you say that because I was just talking. I play the, I know you guys have one at the office, but I play the VR, the Oculus, right? And I had this mini golf game that I play with my friend in New York.

And we, and so we were talking about it. And I was telling him about like the Sopranos movie because I can't wait for that movie to come out. The prequel. And he's like, oh, there's a movie coming out. He's a massive Sopranos fan. Yeah. He had no fucking clue that it was coming out

because he's not locked into our world. He's like, oh, the suicide squad. I just watched it the other day and even though that was a movie. I turned it on. And it was so different from the first one. I'm like, the guy who directed Guardians did it. He's like, oh, really?

No fucking clue. Because everyone always assumed. because you're a big fan of this stuff that everyone else knows. Nobody knows shit. There's a friend of mine, actually a former Jedi council guest, Van William, and he had a mutual friend who's, I don't want to say... They're behind you. Yeah, yeah, I don't want to say the name, but it's a pretty big band.

He's a pretty big band. He's a casual Star Wars fan. He watched him like them, but he's like, I remember liking some, not liking some. I don't know. Mando comes out, pandemic. He binges it. He's like, oh, my God, so he tells Van, I'm going to watch all the Star Wars films. He watched one through nine, Rogue One and Solo. Loved every one of them. He got on the phone with Van Aft,

afterwards. He's like, oh, I love solo, and Van would say, well, what do you think? You know, did you know? And he was like, people got a problem with this book. Right. People don't like this stuff? Right. What are you talking about? Even going episode one, two, and three. And he just had no clue. And I love that. At all. I love that. I think what's one. My wife, my wife loves the new trilogy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Loves it. You think my wife gives a shit whether or not you, that you care if she likes those movies or not. She's, right. Even though it is. I have to,

I'm rewatching all of them for, for Sith Council. Oh, okay. Yeah. And I told her, say, hey, I got to rewatch the new one. She's like, I don't need to see them again. I like them, but that's it. That's it. She's a movie. She watches movies. She's like, I saw it once.

I'm good. I liked it, but whatever. Yeah, kind of made with the MCU a little bit, but, you know, I'm also aware of everything. Yeah, we're just plugged in. Yeah, yeah. You know, yeah. Burn out. That's great.

That's refreshing. It is. But anyways, but because of Obi-1, I think Obi-Wan could potentially be the best Star Wars material since maybe even empire. I mean, I'm potentially, I'm a little worried about the writer that came on, but I really trust Deborah Chow. That's where... And you and McGregor, by the way.

I think everybody... We both... Liam Neeson's definitely going to be in this thing. I would think so. Come on. I mean, do you think they're going to play into... So, what we have learned about Faloni, though, I know that he's not...

He's more of, like, a consultant at this point with this show, but, like, he doesn't give a shit about the novels. He doesn't give a shit about the comic books. He'll tell you, he'll tell his version. He doesn't... Right. He'll take... Even certain things that happened in Bad Batch,

Yeah. There was, well, that kind of negates Lords of the Sith a little bit. There's some, yeah, it's, yeah, no, there's definitely, definitely some bad. It's all true from a certain point of view. Right. Even the Order 66 with the Canaan comic. It's the same. It's just, they hit for some beats, just different telling.

Did you watch, um, what the hell was that? The Affair. Did you watch that show? I don't watch TV. Ever. See, it's funny. I watch more TV now than I do movies. Yeah.

But I know Grace used to watch you. She watches everything. Because I played video games. Fair. So the affair was this, like basically it was told through two people's eyes. Ruth Wilson and Dominic West, I believe. I always messed up with her names. Dominic West?

Dominic West, I believe he's there. Episode one, Phantom Menace? Yes, definitely, Dominic West. So Dominic West plays this guy named Noah and he has this affair, but you see portions of his life. Yeah. And then you see it from her perspective, but different things happen. Yeah, yeah.

It's the same thing, but different things are happening because it's from two, you know, points of view. And that's kind of, I think, what Faloni does with the... Yeah, look, I'm a canon junkie, too, but I think we over... Naturally, this is not a complaint or anything, but it's like, you can get obsessed with what. And I always say Star Wars once you ask why and not what and how. And that's what you ask first, and then you go into what the story. And, you know, Faloni's, you know, deserves all the praise in the world. I, you know, but like him switching the Asoka, lightsabers and everything sees...

Like, yeah, like, it socks for E.K. Johnston, but she had the information at the time. Also, I also say this. You know, when Lucas ends, Return of the Jedi in 1983, and the Ewoks are dancing and were celebrating and were yubnob. And there was no thought that there'd be more, 7-8-9. You could listen to George, depending on what time. He'll make up his stories as he goes along. I had nine.

I didn't have nine. Right. He loved to change it. So how do you go move the story forward? And I think Faloni did not, at any point, think he'd get a chance to season seven in Clone Wars. Right. At one point, he thought it was over. He thought it was, even like, and I know the anime series take a long time to develop.

Right. But it's like, all right, so Eke's writing this book and she's taking it from some of the old scripts and everything. And like, that's great. And then now he's like, holy crap. Like, we get to do this. Let's find the white way to do it. And it's more meaningful, the lightsaber color coming from Anakin, the control Anakin, the attachment Anakin has is trying to control situations.

It's more of a packed moment. It's more of a moment. No, no, no, no. It's because there's less of a consequence from changing things in books and comics. It just is. There's less of a consequence because there will be people like me,

you, Alex Damon, that will notice it and we'll say, hey, wait a minute, that's different. Yeah, but I just, where I push back is, I think the term recone is thrown around incorrectly many times. Agreed. One of the examples,

whether you like the movie or not, it doesn't matter. Rise of Skywalker, that's like going to church for me. I love that film. But the addition of Pose a little bit to back, his backstere, wasn't a reccon. It was just something. Which one?

Which part? he was a spice runner. And everyone got up in arms about this and that. And maybe there's some social issues behind it. And I understand that conversation. But just in terms of canon conversation, it was like, that wasn't a reccon.

That was additional information you did not know yet in the story. So then Alex Seguer writes a wonderful book about that time and posed life. I really think people should check that book out. And it's just now you have more complete picture that you didn't have before. And sometimes that might directly counteract the color of his eyes or his jacket or the two steps left. They're telling an over story. And I think they're telling it. And when they're sitting in that room, as storytellers,

you know, they're sitting there in a room, okay, look, there's some cool stuff that they wrote in the book, and we can stay in the general area, but we got to get to this in the television show. You're not going to see him change stuff that happened in Clone Wars and Rebels. That ain't going to happen because he's too attached to those things, right? That's why people keep saying, oh, Darth Maul's going to show up in Obi-Wan. Don't count on it.

Don't count on it. I mean, because that's not what is set up at all in Clone Wars and Rebels, because that's the whole beauty of the rebels. The ending there is that Obi-Wan Kenobi is a different dude. I just watched Phantom Menace the other day. And it's funny how much, and you told me this too.

I find myself enjoying that movie more and more every time I watch it. The prequel series, as George was warning us about 2016 on. Yeah, I'm telling you, though, but anyway, so where the hell was I going with that? Obi-Wan changes. Obi-Wan is so different

from when he's leading with rage when he goes to fight, and it's why he has this battle and he can't really, he doesn't, he gets lucky at the end and he's able to slice him down. Well, you say, you say look, but it's rage, puts him in a position, he has to calm and center himself and reconnect to the force. 100%. He got, I should say,

I know what you mean, but I'm just, he gets lucky in the fact that he was able to make the right choice and that he was able to, he sat and he's okay, you're right, peace, calm, serenity, go. Feels the lights ever, yeah. When he battles, people, I never, I remember you and I talking about this. on the air. I never had an issue with how fast that fight was in Rebels, because that makes sense. It's like you're not, you're going, you're going, you're going up against a fighter that was barely

pro. Now you're going after a season fighter. Yes. Been through it. Uh, yes. I don't want to stamp on that. Uh, yeah, I love that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, Moll Canobi final match is like my second favorite lightsaber, right, behind Luke Vader and Jedi. Because what's the theme? The theme is, is stasis versus grow. Mall's been fueled by vengeance. And he comes at Obi-Wan, everything, look what you've become. Kanobe says, look what I've risen above.

And when they go to fight, it's not just an homage to Quigone. What Kanobe is saying is, you, I'm going to go back and attack you or defend, because Jedi don't attack. I'm going to defend the same way, because I know you're going to come at me, the same way you went at Quigon Jin 20 years ago. And when you do, I'm going to kill you. And that's what happens. It's about growth.

The theme there is not growing and holding on the vengeance. And even in death, Mall only one. wants to see his vengeance. It's such a sweet moment that the Jedi that, the Jedi that reject him because now this additional wrinkle that Mall carried some rage that I was force sensitive, how come the Jedi never found me fuels his rage going forward? And here he's dying in the arms of a Jedi who's showing compassion and empathy. That battle is everything.

It is. And it also showed you the evolution of Obi-Wan because an angry Jedi or someone who didn't get it, what being a Jedi was, would have been standing over, Mom. I'm like, that's what you get, bitch, right? But he doesn't. He holds him in his arms and he goes, you got to piece out and your light's going out. And that's about it. Yeah. And I love, and that's where I'm at with Star Wars.

And I've always been, but like it's easy to, you know, we got caught up. All of us in predictions and what's coming next. I just love, what is the story telling you? And how do you connect with that story? And maybe you don't connect with every beat and maybe that story's not yours or something else, but allow for other people's experiences with it. But that Filoni, everyone flipped for that Filoni speech in the Mando behind the scenes, which as they should have, it was amazing.

talking about the duel of the fates. But that's every fight, that's every scene in Star Wars, and that's where I love engaging on him, man. It excites me. Agreed, and that's also why I think that he's the right guy for doing what he's doing, because it's the, there aren't, I shouldn't say there aren't, but he seems to be the person who is carrying on the legacy of what George knew about Star Wars. He was the one who was given that chest of knowledge from George himself.

Yeah. To then say, and passing it on, because Dave Lone is passing it on to other creatives like Debra Chow. Because Deborah Chow, when you're watching her in the gallery series, she's like a sponge, dude. She's just sitting there. And she has like, her eyes are just open up, like, listening. She's so excited. And she's like, oh, that's who I.

And the fact that she's doing, how many episodes, five, six? She's doing all of them. Yeah, but I don't know. Six episodes. Is it six? It's been rumors of whether it was five or six. So her coming back to do that, I'm excited about it. But less.

Yeah, she's got a great resume. And she brings all that in and all that stuff. Yeah, I look, I connect. Emotional Canon is what's there. I will argue to the end of my days, Rises Skywalker connects to every bit of emotional canon in the previous eight films. It's there if you want to see it.

If you don't want to engage it, God bless you. It's there. And that's when Star Wars works. It's going back to what George said. A lot of people don't go back to what George said. I think people don't like that movie because of the politics that went into everything that happened after episode eight, right?

Yeah. There was a big clash in the culture in general. And then most people who loved that movie when you, and you're not included in this, but most people who love that movie that once a lot of changes were made to negate a lot of that movie, those people said,

well, that movie sucks because of what he's doing. I get visually, visually, visually, visually? I don't know which one you're going on. I don't know what I'm trying to say. I get viscerally upset when people are like, like Luke grabbing the lightsaber is a continuation of the third act of Last Jedi and people always seem to want to go back to the beginning

of the island. And if you're not connecting to the theme presented in that scene, you're not connecting to it, not paying attention. And then you go and you tweet and tweet and tweet. When I came out of that screening, man, I got so angry. I came out of that screen and tears going down my face. That's my experience. It doesn't need to be your experience. It doesn't need to be your experience. I know where your journey is on this stuff too. But all people just wanted to be like, tweet, tweet, tweet,

snark, snark, snark, start. You didn't engage with that movie. You did not take in any of that movie. You just were... It's mad. And Star Wars, wants you to ask why, why? Why did that character come back? Why is that scene? Why do they do that? And everyone focuses on how or what or the canon or the plot. And that's where I decided, Christian, I need to go to force center. Yeah. And I need you be in a corner and just chill. And just chill. Yeah. Because look at me. I stopped. I didn't even, I reviewed that movie like briefly and then people wanted me. I didn't even do a spoiler review. I'm not doing it.

And I was, I was done talking about Star Wars. I wasn't going to do it anymore. But, but man, It's exhausting. It's exhausting. But Mandalorian has, to me, it's, as you say, your favorite lightsaber fight is every second or third late for you. Yeah, it's Kenobi-Molium. Mandalorian to me is my after Jedi, right around the, I could even fit it in there.

I might even say season two, Mandalorian might be my third favorite piece of Star Wars content. Which I love, I love that few. I mean, it's great. I love it. I don't want anyone. It's so funny because I get called, you know, I'm too positive. Like, I could, Mando ran it a B plus a minus for me.

Yeah. But it's a minor. Like, I'm like, I just sometimes, some of the acting choices I didn't love and this and that, but I love. You were a little skeptical, though, sent from on the go without. Because also, I think we can say this stuff now. Yeah. We knew a lot. And we knew Pedro Pescal was not in that outfit two years before anyone did.

Yeah, that bothered you so much more than it bothered me. And it bothered me because Brendan Wayne wasn't a great actor. Latif Crowder is a great, but, but it all. come together. So funny. But you can tell. You know, I'm watching it also, you know, Grace as a working actor going,

that guy's not delivering the character beats as Pedro would have. And I got in my head over it. But, but, but it's, that's those moments Christian where I have to eat my, my own mush. Yeah. And look at myself and look in the mirror.

Calm yourself down. Release yourself of, of a rage and anger. Yeah. And engage with what's presented. And what was presented in season one, Amanda was this beautiful tone poem. The IG 11,

reprogramming scene is the heart of that series, the heart of that season, where Quill's given this slow, methodical speech about he was born. We imprinted on this droid our desires, and he was a violent killer, and now we are trying to slowly reprogram in, and what can you become as you try to move forward and become something else? And IG11 ends up saving Grogan and sacrifice. That's the heart of the series and why I love it. And for you to love Mando 2, I want you, because I know you struggle with some stuff.

I get it. I get it. We don't have to be on the same page. So I love hearing that you're like, Mando, too. Oh, that got me. Both of those, because it's television to me. I remember on Jedi Council with you and I? Never heard of it.

Never heard of it. But when you and I were on it, remember how you didn't, you do this, but the audience certainly did. When I said, when that episode nine was coming out, and I said, sure, I want to see it, but I'm way, I'm more excited to see Manda. Yeah. I said, I'm way more excited to see.

I think television is the future of Star Wars. And I'll be always probably more movies first. But I, but you know what? I'll be honest, I can't even say that now. I'm so glad Canobie's a series. Yeah. We knew it was, you know, when I say we knew, we had a friend whose screenwriter,

but he was the one writing. Yes. We knew this stuff. And I was, like, so excited. And I love Solo, but I wish Solo was a series. And I wish, I'm so glad Canobie's a series. Yeah, I would rather Crimson Dawn be a series. I'd love to see Crimson Dawn.

I want to Millard to come back. And she was returning the comics and all that stuff. And it's a great character. Infus Nassus, one of my favorite characters. Yeah. I'd love her to show up in Endoor. And she was great in Winter Solo, the Falcon.

She's plugged into the Disney casting machine right now. They've asked her about it. They've asked her about and talked about it. She said she'd love to come back. It's such an amazing. The Star of the Rebellion and that hyperfuel represents change and they represent so much. And I'm excited by that kind of stuff. Well, I don't want you to leave yet.

So hold on. No, I've got, you know, I got time, buddy. All right, good. So listen, for everybody else out there, too. Another thing, as I mentioned to you guys before, mentioned to you, when Coy was on the show, and we're also very excited to be, working with Quip.

I don't know. I use Clip. Do you? I brush my teeth with it. You got it. Well, good. I'm glad that's what you're doing with it because that's what you're supposed to be doing with it.

It's fantastic. I mean, Ken uses it. Everybody should be using Quip. And if you don't know, here's something very special for you. When was the last time any of you got rewarded for brushing your teeth? And I don't just mean having a nice night with your significant other. I'm talking about it with Quip's smart electric toothbrush, good habits, can earn you great perks. You get free problems.

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The Bluetooth? No. You listen. This is what you can do with it. Tell me more. You can track when and how well that you brush. You get tips and coaching to approve. your habits so you get better trips to the dentist

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You get $10 off on a Quip smart electric toothbrush. That's $10 off a smart electric toothbrush at GetQuip.com. slash big thing. G-E-T-Q-U-I-P dot com slash big thing. That's Quip, the Good Habits Company. I'm a customer, and I think I'm going to upgrade. You should. You use that code, dude.

Yeah, I'll use that code. Use the code. What else been going on with you, brother? How's that, I know that you, like you said, you can get, you can get grouchy. I'm grouchy. Can I, let's, I'm, yes, I'm Larry David. Yes. I'm actually more positive than anyone wants to give you credit for.

I just don't like, I don't like false toots. False dudes? No, falsitudes. Oh, false tux. Scrimshaw's great at just analyzing stuff through your action. So one time we were talking about a Clone Wars episode, and there's a ship that's completely cloaked in it, and we were talking about it, and I go, you know, it's not my favorite thing.

Star Trek does a lot. I don't really love ships that are cloaking, and I don't understand why. Joseph goes, I think because knowing you, you don't like when people get away hiding who they really are. I was like, dude can analyze. I sat for weeks,

drinking whiskey going, that's both good and bad. How do I get past that? And how do I grow from that? So everybody use a cloaking ship. Yeah. And we're in an industry that's cloaked. 100%. So yeah, I don't know.

That's going on. What was your question? I just know what's going on. But I want to jump back to that because like you said, like we're in an industry. It's so funny because when we were a Collider and we were doing everything, like even Shmo's, I felt like I was part of the industry. I don't know. I feel like I'm on my own island. And I love

it. I love it. It can feel, you know, yeah, it's weird. I feel pre-2012 a little bit. Yeah. It's down with more technology and we can do, get your stuff out there. Yeah, it's weird. I feel like I had a run. 2017 was kind of this peak. 2019 was kind of the end of it. And, you know, I'm not in the market anymore. Like, you know, I'm not in demand as a host or pundit and everything and I do my own thing. And I'm not saying that grumpet, that's why we're talking about me being grumpy. I just think I have changed and I never was fueled by ego, but it was great. 2017 Star Wars Celebration Orlando, you know, like people love watching us. People love coming out and sharing us on. And 2019 was a great experience for me in Chicago, too, a lot of fun.

I can't wait for Anaheim 2022. Hopefully we're there. You know, but I know what you mean. I can't put my finger, but I just feel out of it. Look, I look, I muted every word on Twitter and Star Wars. I don't go on Twitter to much about it. Instagram. I don't engage. I don't even do silly little jokes. I just, I go, I have this

this equipment that we have here 20 years ago, I would have died for this. In my radio career in the 90s, I would have died for this equipment. So I have it. Let me try to use it. And I'll just go here and do it. Well, that was the whole thing. Because you've got to make choices and how you're going to maneuver out. So

when I left Collider, it was just going to do SEM Live and I was talking to SkyVound. There was, there was nothing. I was talking to them. So when I started, it was Because the only way to be able to really make it on YouTube at that point was you've got to try to find a way to get the audience involved and do super chats and stream labs and all that. And I did. And I basically, because when I left Collider Live, S&Live got a massive push.

Yeah. It got a big push and we were doing real up. But I had to put that fucking robot in there. Yeah. Right. And the robot, it is fun for the audience when they're in. It works great for Twitch. Yeah.

Because Twitch is an interactive show that is a lot of Twitch. Yeah, it's different. It's different. It's like it's an interactive show that you're throwing stuff and then you want the audience to throw in those schmobots and do that. But when you're trying to do like a podcast, a whole through like we used to do. We would have done schmows with a robot. You would have quit the show after like week one.

Yeah. I did a parody sketch on my show called Great Speeches in History. Great Super Chat speeches in history. And it's Abe Lincoln trying to do the Gettysburg address. And then a robot keeps interrupting. It's, it's, it's, it was a necessary evil, you know? And it's like, and it kept. I don't think people read.

I know you took a lot of heat for it. I don't think people. realize, not that it was from above, but it was like, it was, you had to do it. We had to do it. And it's like, and it was, it was no way for me to have everybody here. Mm-hmm. And to be able to employ people and be able to keep food on my family's table. We keep food on other people's table. It was the way to do it. Plus, you run patrons and everything, too. But as time went on, you have to always, you have to evolve because the other thing is that people were always, I remember when the pandemic hit, and everyone's like, oh, man, this is going to be great for YouTube.

It was the worst thing for YouTube. Yeah, it changed habits. It changed habits, but it also, it doesn't, it's like, well, there's so much to watch. There's so much to watch that that's the thing is you have the, instead of saying, you know, oh, I'm going to watch this, this, this and this. You start, like you said, finding new habits. And people, it just, YouTube changed dramatically. Yeah.

So that's when I was like, I'm not. And for SCE on Live, when I was doing the shows and having fun with Brett and we were doing these things. and we started to do, because that's when the Twitch idea came about, but I was like, I like to do this. Yeah. And so when the idea of this show came about, I was like, this is exactly what you're talking about.

You have the equipment, you can do it, and it's like, and it's been working. You know, it's been working. People seem to, I'm getting a lot of comments from the audience about the, having stuff. Like, I've had Riley on. I had now have you on. I had Josh on.

I had like the old crew on. And it doesn't mean that you get the band back together. It just means you can have good conversations. We got history. We got, we experienced us, and those stories are fun to tell. I got, I'll go on a rabbit hole. And I love, you know, I've met Bobby Lee many times. You know Bobby Lee, but like, I don't know him from anybody, but his podcast, clips will come on.

And I just, I'll love hearing comedy stories from 2005, you know, and I wasn't even there. You know, right, right. Hey, Rob, but so I think, I think that can be part of the fun for folks. But, and, and looking back, but always moving forward is kind of what we've been doing here. But it's, no, and I think you made the, I think you made the right decision here. I mean, could you imagine. And you've always, by the way, you always want, I'm looking around the studio, you were always like, if I could just get the schmose in my garage, that would be my dream.

That's all I'd want to do. But also, I have a radio station in my house. I'm on air at Hall of Fame Music Radio in Pennsylvania. I record from my studio. Every Saturday, I'm starting this thing on Mix Cloud, which is just me doing a radio show, pop rock and radio. And it's just been so fun and taking those chances and just going and we'll see where it goes. And so, look, and it's okay. It's okay.

S-E-N, it's okay to go down a path and go, eh, this didn't work. We got to go this way, go that way, or go back. It didn't work. It's okay to do that. I've had people say to me, like, even powers it be. It's like, hey, I want to move it to Twitch. I want to cut things down.

Well, but the donations will go down. It's like, yeah, but it does, it's not, but the views are going down on that show because it's not a YouTube show anymore. Right, right. It's just not. And like, it's not for the quality of the show. everybody on the show is crushing it. They're killing it on Twitch right now.

Right. Like we're going to apply for partnership now because they've been doing some of something. They're getting new subscribers and people are interacting over there. But it's like, and then getting back to the basics of what I like to do. And like I could, if we and I wanted to, if we had the time, we could fucking sit here for three hours. Yeah, I'm not even done yet, man. Yeah, no, I, yeah, no, it's fun. It's fascinating.

It's a great time to get content out. And I just like to have my own little corner on doing it. figuring out what's next. And we're having a lot of fun at Good People Association. We're launching a Kickstarter soon. I got to remember that. We're getting in the board game business. Because, again, it was Josh's heart was what I'd love to create a board game.

So we created a board game called Futility, the actual game of Living on around September 1st. We're launching our Kickstarter because that's how that industry works. We actually, we didn't know. So we're like, can we sell a game to Hasbro? Right. And I went to my friend Brittany Wallach who works a critical role. And she was like, no, kind of the higher, all the industry, even like Hasbro and stuff, they go to Kickstarter.

It's kind of like Hasbro Pulse. I actually could have told you that because from working with Skybound. Yeah. You do it all the time. All the time. So we're launching the Kickstarter really soon, Fitility, fun little kind of satire kind of game. And doing that sort of fun, taking chances.

And, you know, again, you're always going to reevaluate, head on a swivel and see what's next. Well, I mean, so you mentioned stand-upsters when you're talking about Bobby Lee and everything. You and I have a ton of them. Yeah. everything that we did. You used to ignore me when I used to go to the improv. You didn't. Okay. This is such a bullshit. It's such a bullshit. You're so stupid.

This is so not true, though, but I'll let you tell it. But there's also, I get it. This is the way you see it. I'm the quiet kid in the back of the class. It thinks everyone's cooler than me and your case. In 2004 or five, I started doing shows with the horribly named white boy comedy productions. But it was at the time, it was a very diverse group of comics that did these shows every week. And you were, you were, no more. you're, here's where it starts.

You were really good on stage. So it's like, all right, already, it's not your fault. That's me going, those guys are really good. Does he even want to talk to me? And two, because you had a,

you had a thing. You had the little beanie, which by the way, where be beans now, I apologize. Do you really, used to make, I used to give me shit all the time.

I still will. But Grace's mom, we were in Prescott two years ago, snow and everything. She got me a, and I was like, oh, this is, comfortable.

It was great. I wore it for an entire year. Grace is like, Can you at least get a new one? Did you wear it on stage? I haven't done it yet because I sweat. I sweat so much. I wore my glasses.

Winter was the best. Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah, I remember ex-girlfriend, who you know, when she came to see me one time at room five, and I was like, I wear this thing. And she's like, it's kind of hot tonight. I was like, it's been coming a thing.

She's like, hey, if it's your thing, it's your thing. But yeah, so the beanies. So, yeah, so, and now you would sit upstairs to the improv. We had all the comics meet there. And I had a process. So I can respect that. You have a process. You know,

and we're not going to, I'm not going to bother you before you set. You didn't know it was a process. But I know, I didn't get, you know, it's easy to put your agenda, your narrative before in front of another person.

I, I see this last year with vaccines and everything. And so I, but you had, our friend Martini, Perthory were there hang out. You guys would talk and, you know,

and I just was like, what a talented asshole. Just doesn't even want to talk to me. I made no effort, too. That was the main. That's where it really came down to. It has nothing to do with that I didn't want to talk to you. Yeah.

So I was about as awkward as anybody else. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because a lot of that times, even to this day, I'll walk around. And sometimes I'm like, I don't, like, you see me in a room. I'm in a conversation for a little bit. And then I walk away from it. Like when we went to the conference for recently, I'm there and it has nothing to do with me not wanting to be there. I'm like, okay, I think that everyone's done talking to me at this point.

So I walk away and I do my thing. And I can't stand still. But when I was doing stand up and at moments of the improv, I felt like, I was going into a fight. And I felt like I was, so I needed to sit back. Headphones and I'd sit back and I'd watch it. And it had nothing to do with, because I would talk to everybody after the sets and everything.

Was that, was that the night when you, because I know you got in trouble for it at the improv when you gave the girl the birthday shots? That might have been. Oh my God, that's actually, if you go on my YouTube channel, way, way back, I have a collection of things I did,

sketches with Kristen wig and all that kind of stuff. And there's a shot. Yeah, I was hosting the improv. I was in the crowd. I remember watching it. But it was hilarious, right? I killed that night. I killed.

And this woman, she was like, I celebrate her 50th birthday. She looks like she was 70. And she's with her friends, and she's already drunk. And I didn't know. I didn't know. I totally get the liability of it now,

especially in my industry I used to be in. And I, and I, I'm doing the comment. I'm doing crowd work. Oh, you celebrating your birthday. Name was Cheryl.

Oh, yeah, great. So I go, I bring up the first comic and I go back out and I go to Eddie at the bar. I go, Eddie, two shots of tequila. And he doesn't know. But he's like, Eddie, Eddie's the best.

He's still there. Is he still there? He's still there. He's still there. I love it. So, yeah, every time he hasn't seen me in years, like, Ken, rum and Coke and cheesecake, right? Yeah, you panty.

And so I go back and I, yeah, I do the shot. I do a big cheer. The crowd's chair. And she's, like, dancing. And we do a shot. And she says the line, she goes, I don't even drink this much. And I do this bitter. I'm like, I don't even.

I'm sweating in the grocery store. Crowds, oh, man. Yeah, I remember. And I get off the stage. I'm like, man, I arrived. I'm going to have an NBC deal by tomorrow. And the manager Like Graspin' Pools over

Because you ever do that in my club again I'll ban you forever And I'm like Oh get it now I don't think you told me that though Until after we became A house manager Yeah

We became friends Like because yeah I remember I don't even remember the first time When we really started hanging out I mean I do remember being I know exactly what you're talking about Because Mark Franco

He used to run those rooms He used to do Which I thought was a very good idea What he used to do He would run these rooms And he would have all the comics up Yeah there and he'd say, okay, look, so it was like a baseball line.

He was a baseball guy. So he would do it there. And he'd be like, so on, you're going first, you're going, Kenny, you're going to be hosting. You're going to bring up so on. If we get a pop in, we'll do that. And that's one. And I would, and I think, and it wasn't meant to be dushy,

but I clearly can see why people thought it might be dushy. Because everybody, because I didn't, we didn't work for the guy. We were doing sets. So everybody was at, like, at the table. And there was a booth in the back. Yeah. And I sat in the booth. And I sat in the booth.

And I listened and I listened to everything, but I just didn't want to sit around the table and, like, doing it. I didn't, you know, it was like, I just wanted to listen. And what's the, Larry David has a, you've got asshole shy confusion going on. Yes. Because I'm, because people, ask anyone who comes on the schmows, like, the wangers and all those kind of wonderful cats. And they're like, who was the most intimidating? They'll all say me, right?

They'll all say, oh, I was most intimidated me, Ken. Why is that? Because at time I was wearing ill-fitted suits and coming straight from work and probably just fought a gang member and arrested them. And you had a nickname, and you had a nickname. Yeah, yeah. There was one night I almost got stabbed and hit with the chain, and I had to show up the Schmels, and I'm just like, uh, white skinned, everything.

So I was, and I just don't, I don't talk. I'm, because I assume no one wants to hear me. Right. And so most comics feel that way. That's why they went on stage. I don't get, I got anything to say of value. I'm just this slump. I'll just sit here, do my thing and go home.

And everyone naturally just goes, what's, what's going on with that, A hell? So I get it's what you feel. Yeah, I get. So I get, so retroactively, I get where you were going. That's all it was. And it was just like, okay, I'm going to do my thing. but like, you know, I don't, and it's, you always hear things about comedians. Like, they don't want to, like, whether they want to hear your stuff.

They don't want to hear you. They don't want to talk to you. They want to just do their bits. I feel, like, I felt that everybody was like me to where they want to, like, just concentrate on their set and do their thing. And conversing and all that stuff would come afterwards, you know, so afterwards. Yeah. And that's ultimately.

Look, yeah. No, I don't think you're wrong. And then those, but those are a group of comics we did, we did two, three shows every week. So it was kind of a team. And you go hang out of the bar afterwards. It's some of our greatest memories. But I think the process is totally fine and the correct. I think you had the right idea.

Yeah. So for those people who don't know, Ken and I, well, Ken hosted that show, and it was originally called The Rebels of Comedy. And they split off. Rebels is still existing. TK. is still going, yeah. So Mark Franco was a guy who was the guy who kind of ran all this stuff.

And he, and I was very, and I mentioned Mark a couple times on this show, I was very thankful to Mark because he called me up. I've been in, I was in these, I had broken up with my ex and we were broken up for a while. And he, he called me. He's like, when are you getting back on stage? You got time anytime you want. I was like, I just kind of been out of it. He's like, what are you doing?

I go, I'm just like working as, it wasn't a PA, but it was like, I was working at Alcon. I was done doing. He's like, what the fuck are you doing? He's like, I got spots for you three nights a week if you want. You haven't done comedy in a year? You're a comedy store regular. What the fuck are you doing? And I'm like, all right, all right.

So he started giving me spots, and that gave me the confidence to go back up and do more shows at the improv and the comedy store and get on the road and do all that. But it was that what he did that was very smart that not a lot of people did, was that for people who didn't know the comedy scene, that you would do bringer shows. Everybody did this. And bring her shows are for those people who were coming in that,

all right, hey, so-and-so, you've got to bring five people, and then I'll let you do a spot. And if you brought like five to six people, you've probably got a better spot. If you told him you're going to do five people and you bring two people, as matter how fucking funny are you going to go. first or last, right?

Yeah. But what he started to do, because I was way past the bringer stage at that point. And so what he would do is he'd bring people in like myself and Lou and Tom Connell, these other people, and he would give them spots and make them as regulars because it was smart for him because he knew if he had some newbie in there that brought 20 people, even if they're going to, yeah, it wasn't funny. If they were going to eat shit, he's got a heavy hitter in front. He's got a heavy hitter right behind him.

So his show is people are going to leave that show. show saying that was a funny show. Yeah. Even though the guy we came to see fucking a show. Oh yeah. You and I seen some of the worst comedy in the world. Ever, but they brought like 35 people. And I remember the room, room five was one of my favorite rooms to

go up on because it was home base. It was home base and it was like, it was a comedy store to me OR's is my favorite room of all time. OR, okay. The ORA is my favorite room. Because to me that's, that's like the real gym. Like that's where you, if you, if you really are a comedian, you know how to work that room.

Main room is a fun room. Main room is a fun room. Like, that's big room. You do your thing. You have your tight set. You'll do well. Or you've got to work. Right, right.

But room five was like a smaller room and it was packed. I just would, I remember that I felt like when I would go and I'd watch like Caparillo or or Sebastian at the comedy store when I would go. That's how I felt walking in a room five. Yeah. Because I knew that I was going to get a good spot. And I knew I was going to do well in the room because I knew how to maneuver the room. And I knew how to look at the room. And I remember just going there and having.

And I could improv on that, too. Yeah, you would do your thing. Yeah, my wife told my daughter, she's like, you know how the first time I met Daddy? He was slamming on a piano. And I was, she didn't say this part, but I was shit-faced for that. Do you remember Tom Connolly's roast? Yes, I do remember.

And your roast, too. But, yeah. My role, but that was when I wasn't even doing stand-up anymore at that point. Yeah, yeah, that was later. Mike Beatrice is a mutual friend of ours. Yeah. And I told this story. Mike Beatrice is another guy who is maybe always going to be the funniest guy in the room.

Yeah, yeah. But never the funniest guy on stage. Yeah, yeah. And Mike was up there one night, and Mike no longer drinks anymore. And Mike was drinking at the time. And he was up on stage, and he went, you're supposed to do like six minutes. Mike was up there for 17 minutes. That's right.

And I was already hammered. Do you remember what I did to him? No. He sprayed air freshener on him. And he's in the middle of his set, and I'm going, and he goes, in the middle of it, and people are losing their minds. Yeah. A girl's hair caught on fire in the crowd.

Yeah. Do you remember that? It was cricket. It was cricket. our hair caught on fire. Yeah. It was a, it was crazy. I said,

Connolly's idea of foreplay is punching a wall. Exactly. He's somebody I wish that we would have brought along into the Shmo's journey. Him and like I would, and Brett, I wish I'd brought earlier. Early, yeah,

Tom's still up there. He would have got us in trouble. He would have gotten us in trouble. He would have gotten us in trouble. He's, Dagnino with no shame. Dagnino's got 2% of, shame.

Yeah. But he's one of those guys. I love, Tommy. hope you're watching, but like, I always was begging him to adjust to the new world of digital media. Yeah. And it was, sometimes it's, it's harder for people to do that. It's true.

I mean, that's why I'm, I'm looking, what my goal for people who are wondering at all, maybe you're not wondering. I don't, I don't know. My goal is that we start doing stand-up together again, right? And whether it's New York is the, is the catalyst of it. And then we start, I think probably 20-22, we start putting on shows, right? And we start doing shows, whether it's at the, the ballet room and, in the comedy store,

whether we start to, because, as you were mentioning, I don't know where to go up, right? I at least have that end to where if I know, if I work, I could, is it a guarantee I'm going to get back into the store? It's not a guarantee at all,

but I, but I have the end because I'm a regular at the store. Yeah, yeah. But I can at least try, right? But there's also, because we are going to the store often, the conversations, we both know that we can find places to go.

Yeah. And we also know, because of the audience, whether it was a GPA, Big thing, whatever it might be. There are people like we're doing these can't, the canteenas chitinahs for Shmodown, right? Right, right.

We're getting between 30 to 50 people in there every time. Right. We've done two of them and those are for, those are higher priced CSPs. You're doing four matches a day. Yeah. Comedy shows every, yeah, once a month or every week. You know, it's like, I believe that we could,

we could start to do some stuff. It'd be full circle to what we, like you said, we didn't have the chops in terms of, of, you know, the broadcasting every week and finding our personalities and not having the audience yet, but we had the desire and the great nights. Yeah. It's just doing it, dude. You know, it's always been that.

It's always a matter of, we've, how many times have you and I had this conversation? Too many. But, but, you know, yeah, it's all about moving forward. But it's all about finding yourself in the right place, right time. I'm not talking about stand-up conversation. I'm talking about conversation as far as, just got to do it. Oh, just good. Yeah, and I've gotten better at that.

But even, you know, it's, it's, yeah, it's, yeah. That's a trip up for me a lot. Like, just got to do a guy. Talking about it, talking about it, talking about it. I can get in that circle of, uh, and you know what's funny? I noticed that's what my dad did. I mean, he's still alive. I said that it was past tense.

But, um, he did that. He was a great artist. Yeah. A 2D and everything. And I heard a lot of, uh, I should do. I should have done it. And I caught myself doing it about 10 years ago. Yeah.

And, uh, had a break down and breakthrough in Las Vegas, uh, in 2012. And was like, I'm ready for the next thing. Um, and you, you, you, called two months later. Now that wasn't a full-time gig, yeah, we were getting paid, but it was like that start of the next journey. And I think I'm ready for that now too. Well, I mean, that's, I think that that's what it's going to come down to because it's like, I think that we, I don't want to say worn out our welcome, but I think that we, in our heads, it's just like what we just talked about on this show is that what we used to do was great. Yeah. It was a lot of fun. I just don't want to be

doing that the way that we used to do it, nor do you. And I think that, and that's why even Ellis and I when we're doing, people like, oh, you and Mark don't do stuff. When Mark's coming on, Mark would be on the show on Friday. And we even said to the two of us, we have so much more fun doing this. Yeah. Like, it's just because you can just, because Mark, Mark would edit all the fucking reviews and we'd have to go. And Mark would be like, oh, I was supposed to play basketball tonight.

I got to go see this fucking Smurfs movie, you know, and, and like, that's, that's gone now. You know, it's like, it's gone now. And there are younger, and there are younger kids that are out there doing that shit now, and they're doing it great. I'm all about the next generation. taking up the mantle doing their thing. Yeah, after a while, you become, you know, think of wrestling.

It's, at one point, you're an alumni. It's right. And you come by and you wave and, you know, everyone goes, I remember, then you go home. And you get the dickheads. And you get the dickheads who are, you know, like, oh, remember long gone of the days. And it's like, well, look. Yeah.

It's, there are other people who come in and understand, oh, that's what you guys are doing. Yeah. That's what you want to do. And that, to me, is why I'm very, I'm very excited to get, like, I wish, I know that I'd get on stage earlier. Yeah. If I was able to, um,

sans the pandemic. Yeah, I've got a tripped up a little bit too. I was going to get back out and yeah, yeah, but, hey, we're still here. But we're still here.

Um, this dog's still sleeping. I'm going to bring the dog over. Okay, bring the dog over. This is going to be excited. I don't know if you're going to edit this out, but I'm going to do it play by play. Uh, Harloff's grabbing the dude.

The dude is coming to the microphone. Look at the dude. Oh, hi, dude. He's so cute. Look at those paws. I'm sleepy. He looks like he's hanging out in Mazda's castle.

He's pretty great. Let's have, dude. What's up, dude? So this is the dude. He's a brand new, uh, he's a brand new member of the, uh, of the crew. He's been just chilling, sleeping the whole time. Get that pug snoot, a pug, pug sniff. He's, look at that.

He's like, put me back to sleep. I can't. I was sleeping about dog treats. Oh, it's the best. He's right back to sleep. He's right back to sleep. He's literally alone. He's phenomenal.

You guys, uh, how many, how many dogs you got at the moment? Uh, we, we just have, uh, Baxter. Uh, we stuck about a Ratsy in December. And we're not ready. Not yet. Not yet. And Baxter, we had a, the poor guy, he just turned 14. And he had a lot of issues.

And we had focused on Ratsy towards the end. And now it's, it's the year of the Baxter reboot. And he's got a great blood report. The vet's like, this guy, this dog, he's 14. He's got five, six more years as a Chihuahua. Wow. If you take care of it. So we just, you know, save up some allowance money.

And we got some teeth work done. He's got some cataracts. And we're going to fix those eyes because they're like, Yeah, he'll see you again perfectly. Wow. And so he's doing so good. Good, good. Well, if you guys decide you want one of those, let me know.

I'll take the dude. I got to, not that. You can't have him, but I got a, I know people. You know people. You know people. You know some people. You know some people. The other problem is that you live too far away.

No, you live too far away. Have you ever considered Burbank where adults live? No. That was the first time. I don't know. This, I can't remember. I've told so many people this. I don't remember if I've said it on the air, but I'll say it again.

when Fernandez and I had the conversation about not returning to Collider anymore, the first thing I thought was, oh, good, I don't have to drive the Burbank anymore. It was literally the first thing I thought. Yeah, and remember when they were like, not defy, what was our parent company? Complex. Yes. Complex is going to move Collider to the Beverly Hills office and I said, well, I quit. And Fernandez said, you quit over that? I said, absolutely.

It's so funny. I was the opposite because I was seven minutes away. I was so bummed when we didn't move. Everybody else. Everybody else. But I get what you're saying. Of course. Of course.

And I understand where everyone else was coming from. Everyone else is losing their mind. The GPA offices, Christian, are a two-minute walk from my house. Okay. Yes. And so we are going to potentially going to be moving and doing some stuff in the area. And where we're going to be is 10 minutes from you. Yeah.

And the good news. 25 minutes for me. Well, yeah. Burbank. Deep Burbank sucks to get to. I'm not, because I'm not deep Burbank. Yeah, your place wasn't hard to get. No, yeah.

No. But here's the thing, too. Like, in the difference of change, I used to, back in the day, yellow, you're like, what are you doing on the west side? But it's like, that's your family. You're comfortable. You're here. You and Sadie Lake this. Like, why am I trying to take that from you?

You know, I love, I've always lived in the valley. My dream was to get to Burbank, then maybe Pasadena, then San Marino, then F you all, I'm out. So that's part of your journey and my journey, and that's what I love. And yeah, it wasn't too bad. I got to, I got to pee and I hear you don't have a bathroom here, so I have to pee in my car. No, no, it's a bathroom. 2002 Mustang now peeing it. You can go.

It's because the air condition is so nice and cold in here is what it is. It's that, no, you need to piss behind the bushes or I got it, you can go in the house. There's no outhouse here. Anyway, look, it's a, this shouldn't be the last time. But the good news is that when we are moving, I'm having, I'd like to have you on a lot more. Yeah, yeah, if you close by. Yeah. And you're paying.

Maybe for stand-up. Maybe for stand. You can fucking guess on this. You can promote your shit. Why don't you go do that now from what you got? Yeah, well, please, good people association, launching their Kickstarter. Look for that soon. Most Good People, GPA.

Forceder, me, Joseph Crippelin, Jennifer Landa, when she can't, diving deep. We did two and a half hours on one of our favorite scenes in Star Wars. Do you know what that scene is, Christian? Two and a half hours. On what, can you come about an episode? From episode two, we call it one of the most important scenes of Star Wars. It is George's thesis statement on the Jedi. Is it in the council?

Is it a council scene? No, Dexter's Diner. The fuck out of here. We did two and a half hours on that episode. You did one episode two and a hour on that scene? We think George's thesis statement on the Jedi. in that scene. Okay, when you,

where the show's never going to end, when, when, when you do that, yeah, is half of it schick? No. It's all fact.

It's all, you all, you all think that that it's, it's legit. It's interpreting what's in the scene line by line and how it relates to all other episodes of Star Wars. I mean, look,

give it a listen. I would love to. When you're driving to Burbank. I will listen to it. And I'll tell you why, because I listen to a lot of the stuff that you and, and both Jennifer and,

and Joseph did. I think Joseph's one of the most brilliant Star Wars analysts out there. Just life. He's just brilliant. I love Joseph. Joseph's a great guy. Jen brings joy and infectious joy and Joseph brings just insightful stuff. 100%. So like that's why when I say that, I don't know because you get, the reason I also ask that, is not because of, oh, it's just absurd.

It's because you guys are comedians and Joseph is a comedian. Oh, yeah. No, I totally get it. But yeah, no, no. No, we approach it pretty seriously. And we have fun, obviously. But yeah, no, it's that. But anyways, Forre Center, check us out there. And then I still have my own. on podcast feed Napsock Files. But my show Saturday Night NapSock, currently a bi-weekly satire of radio and life

and everything like that, where I play a whole version of myself, fighting with the different parts of his personality. And then I just started a great thing. I'm so happy I'm doing. It's called Pop Rockin Radio. It's on Mix Cloud, which is its own format, and I get to play music.

I don't have to worry about the FCC. I get to play music, and I have a weekly playlist I do, and I get to be DJ Cat, Rock DJ Cat. That's where we find that? Something on Mix Cloud. just look for Ken Napsox pop, rock and radio. And what about the one with you,

they're doing the characters? Is that on GPA? No, that's on Saturday Nightstock. That's my own. That's your own channel. Yeah, I have too many things, but I castley talks back on my Game of Thrones show via GPA as well. I just, I'm a workah,

I'm the laziest workaholic in the world, Christian. If I'm not working, I don't know who I am. I'm with you. I'm with you. All right, listen, it was awesome to see you. Great stuff. And I'm excited to have Ken on and we'll be doing it again for sure. And please, if you are going to be in the New York area,

or can be in that area, you should be. I mean, look, if you weren't going to get tickets for me and Ellis, well, now you've got no excuse. Napsox can be on the bill. Let's do it. So me and Ken and Ellis, we're all going to be doing stand-up on October 7th and 8th in New York. I might pop in for the 7th.

I'm not sure yet, but the 8th, I'll definitely be there. I'm going to be doing anywhere between a 15-20-minute set, which I haven't done in years. I'm going to run the light and you'll do 9. That's fine. That's fine. Maybe you'd be doing me a favor. But anyway, thank you guys so very much.

If you didn't subscribe to this podcast already, please do it. It's so helpful to the show. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever podcasts are found. That's what helps us. That's what gets us these wonderful sponsors like Manscapes and Quip. That's what helps us throughout this journey in general. And it's because of you guys and everything that you have been able to do and the support that you've given us.

Thank you. Please comment. I've been commenting a lot every single person that's doing these episodes. I've been trying to respond to at least 90% of them. I'll continue to do it. It's kind of the old days for me. So thank you guys very much. much. Thank you to Ken Napsock. Thank you to all of you. We'll see you on the flip sides.

Homie? Are you going to use that walking desk? No.