The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Episode 500! Are We Rooting for LeBron? Gobert Suspended, and Was Tanking That Bad? Plus, Comedian Nate Bargatze Returns.

Episode Date: April 11, 2023

It's the 500th episode of The Ryen Russillo Podcast! Russillo starts by handing out his annual NBA Care/Don't Care Awards. Recipients include the Mavericks, the Rockets, Rudy Gobert, the Western play-in tournament, Kyrie Irving, and more (1:07). Then, comedian Nate Bargatze returns to the show to discuss marriage, bombing comedians, the great Tennessee migration, Nate's time in Los Angeles as a young comedian, terrible acting auditions, and more (12:52). Finally, Ryen, Ceruti, and Kyle recap Season 4, Episode 3 of HBO's 'Succession,' "Connor's Wedding" (40:53), before answering some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (55:18). Host: Ryen Russillo Guest: Nate Bargatze Producers: Kyle Crichton and Steve Ceruti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Before we get started today, I want to thank you, the listener. This is the 500th episode of the Ryan Ruslow Podcast. It's only been a few years and it's done really well. So thank you for listening, for spreading the word, getting your significant others to listen to life advice, even though we know it's not just all about that. But it's very clear what the popularity of that. Thanks to Kyle, day one, my guy, sure youi jumping on board, and Allison who helps with booking an incredible guest lineup.

And again, thank you because without you, none of this is possible. We don't get to 500 in the last couple of years. Moving on and making some decisions. So thanks again and enjoy. Today, we'll talk about some of the NBA storylines that I care and don't care about heading into the playoffs. Nate Bargatze, who is really funny, and I saw a comic bomb the other night, so I'll ask him about that. Don't know if we'll pitch him jokes. A little succession recap.

Big episode, big storyline, and life advice. This episode is brought to you by Uber Eats. Winter is here, so be prepared and get almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. What do I mean by almost anything? Well, you can't get a ski slope, but dish soap, definitely doable. Sunshine, that's no. A bottle of wine, yeah. And a snow day, again, no.

But blueberry muffins with the delicious crumb topping? Total yes. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol and select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. I want to wrap up the NBA regular season into some of the postseason stuff here with the play-in games.

It's kind of the third annual Care Don't care awards for the NBA. And I'm going to run through it. All right. Tanking. I don't care. I'm never going to care. This is the toughest sport to be a GM in. All right. It just is. You use your cap space on guys. You don't want to use it on. You can plan for cap space in three years. And when all the good players go somewhere else, you're stuck with it and you still have to spend it. Trades are really hard. They're going to be even more restrictive. You can't just trade a pick for a player that you would want. A lot of times you're including a contract, a player you don't even want to get rid of. And the other team doesn't necessarily even want because they want cap space that

they're going to have to use in a way they don't want to. So I don't care when teams look at the lottery and go, this is our best chance of improving this because it's so hard to do it any other way. I like that we have trades for top players with a lot of picks because at least there's some vehicle for that kind of movement, even if we don't like the origin of why that player is going to be moving on with demands, et cetera, which gear up for because the next surprise is coming. I don't know who it is. So I don't get mad at Dallas for tanking, even though it felt like the packaging was grosser, that the marketing of it was a little bit grosser, even though it was the same product as some of these other teams weeks prior deciding we've got no fucking chance because

Dallas didn't have a chance. They didn't have the tiebreaker with OKC. OKC finished against Utah and Memphis. Granted, I don't know that Dallas knew 100% what the lineups are going to be like, but you can probably figure out some of that stuff. And if Dallas even got out of the plan, which I think is a reach, they weren't beating anybody in the playoffs at the top of everything else. Now, the lottery karma police could jump in here where they end up still losing the pick if it doesn't land in the top 10. But I don't mind it. I understand. Simmons and I argued about

it on Sunday night. I understand his position. If you're alive for the playoffs, this whole thing is about competition. What are you doing? My point is, be realistic. You weren't going to do anything, and this league is hard enough. The funny thing about tanking, and credit to the commissioner, credit for fixing this somewhat with a couple of changes, both the play-in, which I like parts of it, other parts I don't, and flattening the odds at the top, where the three worst record teams all have the same odds, which I don't know if they'll just cycle through in five years and change it back, being like, why are we not rewarding the worst team a little bit more? Tanking, I don't know if fixed is the right word, but it's not an epidemic the way it was years prior.

And considering it's for Victor Wimbanyama this year, considering that it was for that guy, the best prospect we've seen since LeBron James, not a better prospect than, but the best since, this ended up not being nearly as disastrous as people thought that it was going to be whether before the season started the first time you saw this dude on

video or even in the middle of the season. The tanking this year wasn't really that bad. And the hilarious part is like San Antonio still played hard. Houston played hard. I like it. We'll get Houston in a second. Portland went fucking absolute freak out mode here at the end. Detroit played tough in a lot

of these games. Some of the worst teams would have these first halves where it felt like they were in games because their guys actually just played hard enough and cared. The tanking thing wasn't that big of an issue. I'm just not going to hold Dallas to a different standard when essentially they were doing the same thing, even though so many people disagree.

I care about the Houston Rockets. I do. I know that surprises you. Let's look at Steven Silas, who's out as head coach. He was hired October 30th in 2020. Remember, that season started weird. It was an NBA start to that season the last week of December. So December 2nd, after Westbrook reportedly had pushed for Silas to be hired on December

2nd, Westbrook straighted to Washington. Silas was like, wait a minute, what are we doing now? Oh, cool, I got John Wallenhardt. Remember those stories? Like, now it's going to be like, it's going to be just as good, but different. You know, I've heard kind of replaying the

results here that Silas was hired to coach a contender. A contender is probably a bit of a reach for that Houston team, but certainly you thought with Harden or Westbrook, and then whatever you thought Wall was going to be, that you had at least a chance. You were going to make the playoffs to Harden alone. Well, Harden played eight games that season as he demanded a trade and was basically tanking fucking games on his own there the last week or so,

and he was traded january 13th so now silas goes from i thought we knew who we were going to be to a rebuilding team uh christian wood at one point was there kevin porter and a story i read yesterday it was like you know some of the pushback because you're all trying to like figure out how it's being sourced and who's saying what about who and who's making themselves look better who's blaming the other people a lot of stuff was very sympathetic to Silas. I thought some other stuff was a little too critical, being like, you know, they didn't really run any system.

Like, no shit. Like, 23-year-olds running out there dribbling the ball the whole fucking time. So, yeah, if you watched Houston, it didn't look super tight. But to suggest that Silas may have been at fault because he had issues with Christian Wood and Kevin Porter Jr., like, are you serious? I think the thing that makes me care about them is what happens in the lottery with Houston because Jalen Green got the keys this year, and it wasn't great.

He is dynamic. The counting stats were really good. The efficiency was not. When I say I don't think they pass much, there's two numbers that either tell you the truth or lie to you. One is that they actually pass the ball a decent amount, like passes per game. Pretty standard, pretty easy. They were middle of the pack. But the thing I noticed, assists. Were you passing just to pass

or were you passing with a purpose and some playmaking? They were last in assist ratio in the NBA this season. And if you did watch them, it kind of backs it up. It's like, yeah, that was a pass, but like that was because you gave up on the thing that you were trying to do. Jalen Green on the right night looks incredible. Over the course of the season,

it needs to be better. And I wonder if he's going to be just blindly handed the keys from the next coach. The coach will say all the right things in the interview. And it's up to Jalen Green to kind of figure out

how he's going to fit in with his other teammates. Because Jabari, I thought, was stronger with the basketball to close the season. Tari Eason's going to fit in with his other teammates. Cause Jabari, I thought was stronger with the basketball, the closest season, Tari Eason's terrific. Shingun needs more touches. Porter's really talented too.

And there's a ton of young guys on this team that are all trying to figure out what their NBA life is going to be. And that's why a lot of times these rosters, you can't have like 12 dudes. They're all a couple of years in the league wondering what their next contracts are going to be. But if you add one by Yama to that or a scoot Henderson, or even a Brandon Miller, like I don't, contract's going to be. But if you add Wim Banyama to that or a Scoot Henderson or even a Brandon Miller, it's going to be really weird.

And they have a really good chance of getting one of those three guys. But I do care about that outcome. All right. Rudy Gobert, don't care. Pretty harsh about it on Sunday. I'm completely over it. You know how there's a player that's criticized all the time and then he'll have a nice game? And just a side note, if there's a player that I don't necessarily like, it doesn't mean I think that player is going to have zero points per game for the rest of their fucking career. It usually is a player that has a standing that's high enough that I'm even talking about him knowing full well that player will probably have some big games. Does it sound like I'm talking about Russell Westbrook? Perhaps. That could be a good guess.

But whenever something happens and that player lights it up and he's been somebody that's been criticized a lot, it's like, man, we need to apologize to this dude. Rudy Gobert needs to apologize to me for having to watch this for this long. Here's what I would do with Minnesota because he's suspended in the play-in game here in the Lakers. And I do care about the West plan. I'm not sure that I care that much about the East plan. were to lose this game, right? If I were the team, I would quiz him. I would quiz Gobert about the Lakers game tonight. And if it seems like he passes the quiz and he watched and he cared about the outcome and he was rooting on the Timberwolves, then I would

be like, alright, you're ready to go. That is if Minnesota doesn't just win tonight against the Lakers. Nobody is picking them. ESPN.com started looking at some of their picks there. 17 people picking these play-in games. 17 people picked the Lakers. Not saying they're wrong, but again, 17 zip.

That's a landslide. If Gobert failed the quiz, if it was pretty clear that he was watching, I don't know, beef on Netflix, I'd be like, you know what? You're not playing in the next game either. And maybe that hurts them.

Definitely hurts them in the Lakers matchup. But it just seems to be pretty clear whether stuff you saw on the court or some of the lingering stuff after this altercation with Kyle Anderson, I think his teammates are a little over him, which also seems to match

that a lot of his teammates in Utah were also over him as well. Thanks for the screens, bro. Thanks for the help side defense. We can never trust you to actually catch the basketball and hang on to it. Sorry.

Enjoy the next three years at like $170 million. Okay. I do care the next three years at like 170 million bucks. Okay. I do care about the West plan, like I said, but I am a little worried about the risk. We've covered all my thoughts on the plan before. Remember two years ago, Steph, Golden State, the eight seed, and then they weren't in the playoffs. I was like, oh, cool system. This is awesome. They lost the Lakers in the 7-8 matchup last second. Well, under a minute left. Huge three by LeBron. Wins the game. And then Golden State lost in overtime to Memphis.

It's like, cool system. Now Steph's not here. Not that that team was loaded, but we were denied Steph. I would hate, I would care if we were denied LeBron James in the playoffs. Doesn't feel like they're going to lose to Minnesota. We know how good the defense is. The talent is better. One game scenario, Anthony Edwards goes off. Mike Conley starts hitting shots. J.O. Russell is no longer a plus 15 like he was with the Lakers despite having

a net negative defensively his entire career. Will Russell match the intensity that is needed in the playoffs? Will he feel that? Because the weird thing about Russell is he's so talented and the game is so slow for him, he can actually go slower than he needs to. Will he not do those things in huge playoff moments? I don't know. That's one game. You're a little nervous, Lakers fans, even if everybody's picking you. But if they were to lose that and say, I don't know, lose to New Orleans, if they beat OKC on the other part of that, then it's like, cool, cool system. We don't have LeBron in the playoffs,

even if it feels a little unlikely. I'm not sure I care about the East playing games. Miami can't score, they can't shoot. They were net negative on the season. Their defense has actually gotten worse since the All-Star break. Atlanta's offense is awesome since the All-Star break. The defense is terrible again. Chicago's defense is awesome since the All-Star break. Atlanta's offense is awesome since the All-Star break. The defense is terrible again.

Chicago's defense is awesome since the All-Star break. And Toronto and Chicago have done some things. But not to be dismissive, it just feels a little bit like it's a reach to pick any of those teams to come out of the plane and then start beating Milwaukee or Boston. It just doesn't. I know every Celtics fan seems haunted by Miami in the Eastern Conference Finals last year. I just wonder how much Miami they've watched. How could you watch this Miami team this year that goes 44-38 and go, yeah, I'm scared of them. If you're any good, you should beat them, despite Spolster's ability in a series to maybe out-coach everybody else. But I'm not sure I'm super worked up about that.

else, but I'm not sure I'm super worked up about that. Kyrie Irving, do I care? I'd like to say I don't, but I care. I definitely care. I can't wait to see what fucking happens. I can't wait to see what happens. And I can't wait to care an unhealthy amount about the next guy that decides that he's going to start calling his shots. This will be different because he's a free agent, but there's a chance. There's a chance here. It's always going to get spicy with this one. The last thing is I care about history. Boston has, and I couldn't even find it beyond the last 26 seasons I was looking up, Boston at a plus 6.5 point differential is the worst one I could find in 26 seasons. That speaks to this season.

Think about that. That's the worst net rating point differential. It probably goes like 30, 40. I don't know. I don't know how much longer it goes, but all of these great teams in the past, Lakers team, San Antonio, prime Duncan stuff. Um, the Sacramento Kings get a couple of big ones in there. Milwaukee one year was like double digits and astounding. Now they didn't do anything. They lost to Miami in the second round of the playoffs just a few years ago, but that is a very, very low number, which speaks to what we saw this season. Because this is wide open. It feels wide open.

And that's why I can't wait. Get ready for the playoffs. He's back. It's our 500th episode. So we're like, who are we the closest with we're like oh nate nate brigazzi joins us now so thanks man you're part of history hey uh i've been watching uh every day so uh this is a big deal to be on this one and uh congratulations 500 is a lot some say too many some say too many. That's other people. Not the

sponsors. They love it. They love it. They want 500 more. I know you're a big golf fan. As a non-parent, I'm not sure this is even a smart question because maybe the shutdown moment doesn't exist as

the man of the house, but is the Masters the closest you have to like leave dad alone if you're not touring is that a moment where you actually can get that time to yourself you know i set the tone pretty early in this marriage uh to not be bothered uh but beyond just masters just uh in general um you know wait just in general you're just you gotta shoot you gotta go you can't just go for one thing you gotta set the tone for all of it and then you know and then you can you uh you grant some uh all right please come in come in say something uh you know stuff like that so you got to set the tone early luckily now i it's uh i do get the only one a day i get i feel like really left a lot like my birthday i golf a lot and my wife lets i

go golfing my wife uh she does not i never understood like when dudes were like my wife can't said i can't go i was like i don't even know what that means, dude. And I'm married. I've been with my wife since I was... We've been together dating since I was 20. So I was always like, you just do it. I think some of those dudes do that. They don't want to do the thing you do. If they did, they would go.

I think a lot of people use their wife as excuses. We're very aligned on this. Because when I hear from guys, like I have one friend group that they do whatever they want. And then I have another friend group that apparently can't do anything. They're all the same age. They're all in the same health bracket. They're the same wealth bracket.

Seriously, there's not that many differences between the two. but I think that there's a real buy-in at some point where I, I kind of land where you do. It's like, I don't think you want to do any of these things. I think you'd like being the beta. I think you'd like being told you can't do stuff. It's, it's almost like the kid who his parents fill out, like, Hey, I'm going to camp this summer. Can you fill out all this paperwork? And they just do it for him. And he's just looking for that next stage where that other person is in charge of everything he does. And I can't, I can't fathom living that way. Granted, I'm still single. So if I meet somebody, I'm like, I like to be left alone. It's like my

intro. Yeah. It's you just set the tone, is, by the way, I've never found someone, but, uh, if I ever did, I would like to, and I like that you said health bracket. You have friends that are, you're like, I got some that are beat up,

dude. It's bad. They're in the, they're in the, not, not the right side of the health bracket, but then I got some other ones. Uh,

yeah, I agree. I think it's, uh, you know, you gotta find a woman that's independent. Uh, just as a, if you're a, you got to find a woman that's independent. Just as if you're a woman, you got to find a man that's independent, that somebody can be on their own. That's I always tell comedians, like young comedians, they talk about their relationships.

And it's like I think the most important part is you got to have your partner needs to be able to be independent and be able to like do stuff on their own and like they don't need you know so it's the ones that need the person the most or something uh either either like for this scenario the dude wants to be needed or it's uh yeah or it's yeah are there weak men you know i mean look there's a lot of different ways to look at it yeah right i didn't want to say that maybe i shouldn't have said beta on the deal but i don't know man i just feel like there's sometimes i'm like what what are you talking about like do you ever get to do anything like why would you want to do that you sleep on that uh chair behind you at nine you just said i'm not i just think it's very funny big seller stuff you

you got a pat a pallet on the floor not that window alone you're like what's your deal dude what's your what's your problem man i got the pallet joke i i was like oh yeah man that was good that was good uh all right the reason i can't believe we had you to say i went to go to open mike last night not to perform i'm just i'm honing the skills but to watch to watch and a guy fucking bombed yeah and it was it was awful and it was so bad the only time people were laughing is they were laughing in their groups with each other going, I can't believe how bad this is. And he did five minutes on like Instagram videos. And then he started trying to like double down on it by doing some real physical comedy where he was like impersonating things. And then it just went on forever. Cause then I'm like, why is this going so long? And

then at 12 minutes, Nate, he looked in the back and said, did you guys flash the light? And the guy goes, yeah, seven minutes ago. And he was like, yeah, because this felt long. And he's like, goodbye. And he walked off. And he also had like a weird phase where he kind of started blaming us like, hey, tough crowd.

It was the most unfunny performance I've ever seen in my life. And it made it even worse. The guy didn't realize he'd been done for seven minutes. So he was having like an anxiety attack on the stage. And I would just want to talk that, that through with you. Cause I'm sure you've seen it. Yeah. Yeah. I love it. And, uh, it's, it's, you know, I've been there. I've got been in that scenario. I mean, I remember doing a show once at Boston comedy club, New York, and it went so everybody was destroyed. Why did it happen to you, do you think? Because you're funny. Why did it happen? Well, I mean, I was very early on. I mean, some of it's like, you just don't

have the, I mean, you're new, so you don't have the, I don't know, you haven't bombed enough. You like have to have those moments, but you have to be aware. So the problem is if someone has those moments and they're not aware, self-awareness is my favorite. Like, I think it's one of the more important things to be really self-aware. And if you're not self-aware and I've seen a lot of people not be self-aware and they do comedy and they don't hear laughs, but they think they're doing good because they've never heard laughs. And so they're like, they're going to, they kind of learned to be like, Oh, that's what it's supposed to be. And you're like, it's not at all. Uh, so self-awareness is a big part of it. And in open mics, like when I did it, it was like all these people were destroying. And then I went up and got just absolutely nothing. And, uh, I mean, I was sick to my stomach. Uh, I didn't wear that

shirt again on stage. I took the, I threw the shirt away. Here's a, I had a button down green shirt. I had it tucked in. I'm a big, I like tucking shirts in. I, if I can lose the proper amount of weight,

I'm going to be tucked in the most. I love it. But I'm tuck it right now is with their marketing team being like, Nate, no, fuck that guy. Yeah, no, never, never advertise on his show.

I'm going to start a business called Tuck It. And it's just, it's shirts that are made to be tucked. And there, so it's, it was like, you blame it on everything. You're like, ah, it's this, it's that. It's, you know, you just, you felt awkward. I remember walking around the village, like in West Village, like just having to go walk around alone. I like sitting in a wine bar. I've never been in one.

I mean, I've lived in New York for a year and a half at this point. I'm from Old Hickory, Tennessee, and I'm sitting in a wine bar in New York. I don't know what wine is. And you're just sitting there like, I'm like, I'll take whatever. You know, you just needed a moment to like lose it. One of my favorite, though, I'll tell you a favorite story. I saw a guy on my open mic. It was in Nashville, uh, years ago, 20 years ago.

And, uh, this guy, so he'd go on stage every open mic and using open mics. It's the same people going every time, you know? So, uh, we'd all go watch it. This guy had these, he had these he had a ponytail he had five his five minutes with just about a ponytail good stuff he'd wave it around and come flying all over and i mean he would destroy dude like he would i mean he was like great it was fun and fun whatever so next week he comes back he's cut his ponytail off so we were like well you know what are you going to talk about and he's like you know was like a mad at us like offended that he's cut his ponytail off. So we were like, well, you know, what are you going to talk about? And he's like, you know,

was like a mad at us, like offended that he's like, I got other jokes, you know, like, I'm not just this, he didn't want to be this, just this ponytail guy. So we're like, all right. And then, so he goes up and I mean, his first joke is just the most silence you could ever, just absolutely nothing. And so then he's panicked. And then he just goes, so I used to have a ponytail.

And then he just does all his ponytail material, but no ponytail. And so none of it is funny because when you start waving your head, he's like describing it. And it just bombs so hard hard and that's i mean that's my favorite bombing story that i've seen he just didn't want to be the ponytail guy anymore and i mean is he out of comedy now or do you grow it back i don't i don't i mean i you know i got it's i can't imagine is that jeff foxworthy that's who it was uh i i have no idea what he's doing uh but i enjoyed that you learn to i mean comics can be brutal we can go sit and watch someone bomb but usually we like watching we like watching our friends bomb because scenarios happen where like

the crowd can be weird or whatever reason there's plenty of times like someone's bombing and you still think i can get them and then you go up and then you bomb because it's just chaos and i've done shows where i don't think the people know i'm on stage like there's just they're talking that much tvs are on i mean it's insane to be on a microphone and be like no one knows I'm talking in a microphone and so you do enough of those shows you know and you watch your friends have to sit through it because it's you know that's always usually something very different you get to watch your buddies that are funny just like you know make fun of the situation make fun of them I I wonder when you go to the blame the the crowd move though, because two guys did it last night early and it was like, Oh yeah,

right. It's us. Yeah. Well, it's, it's not a good, you know, Seinfeld was always a big,

it's never the crowd's fault. And, uh, I tend to agree. Like, I mean, it's not the crowd's fault. You can have situations where the situation is bad.

So the set where they, they put you or the, uh, you know there's guys have done shows at funerals like awake like this someone thinks that's a good idea and you're like that's going to be bad so there's there's situations where you're like you're putting me in a dying situation i'm just trying to get this hundred dollars you're going to get you promised me and then i'm going to get out of here. But, yeah, you can't really blame the God.

Because you can feel it. Like, even I go up now, there's nights where I can feel a little off. But it doesn't go bad. But I can just tell. I can tell some crowds sometimes, like, they're not laughing. They don't get every little joke. They just get kind of the big parts of the joke. But I have like a bunch of little tags, a bunch of little. And, you know, some crowds like get every single joke you say and some get just the big chunk at the end.

So you just learn to deal with what the vibe is. I was watching the Hello World special on Amazon Prime. Make sure everybody checks it out and you were talking a bit about andrew jackson your big history guy big andrew jackson guy and every time every time i read any of the american history thing i'm always kind of comically like reminded how we worry about the same shit now that we did then and like the big thing even if you're going back to the 1700s it was like man immigration and you're like there's so much room how could you guys have been this freaked out about immigration um but it was a major concern it was like all these different talking points the reason i bring that up that

is a a lead into as to, as a Tennessee native, what has been the Nashville, the Tennessee migration been like for a native? Because everybody is moving there. Yeah. We have an immigration problem. Just like Andrew. Yeah, we're trying to close our borders here in Tennessee. And it's, yeah, a ton of people are in. I mean, no one's in my neighborhood.

Like, I mean, I'm the only one from here. It's, you know, I remember going to Zaney's, our local club here, and I'll do like a local reference joke and no one really gets it. And it's kind of crazy. Like you're like, because it's like, I just remember doing these jokes at Zaney's. Or if you do a local joke, it's like destroyed. Like it was like fun to come home because you could you could have a joke that's a broad joke but then you can make it

it happened in tennessee so you're like oh i'll make it very specific to the place it happened and people go like love it and then you do it now and people like i don't really know where that's at you're like oh oh it's like insane so yeah it's, look, a lot of people moving here, uh, but you know, it's good. I mean, you know, as long as no one messes it up, uh, we like it. So, you know, but you're not, you're not like close enough to it though, where it's messing with your day to day, right? No, I mean, where I live, no one's, I mean, where I grew up, everybody, I think that my old hickories, uh, that's starting to explode a little bit. Like a lot of, you know, younger people are moving over in that kind of, you know, because it's places where you can't afford.

And so you got to just, you know, they kind of go everywhere. So it's not it's not insane, but it's I mean, it's definitely a lot. It's it's it's more than it's ever been, man. I mean, skyscrapers are just going up left and right. It looks like a completely different town. I'm just shocked being from the Northeast. That's kind of how I grew up. It's where I went to school and all this different stuff. Guys venture out. Maybe they go to Colorado and like, okay, that makes sense. Some guys end up in Chicago, but the number of guys that I'm like, yeah, I'm thinking about Nashville. I'm like, what did you want?

Was your, was your prerequisite of like what real estate has been on fire for five or seven years that I can get in at the absolute top? Like, is that what you were looking to do? Because this seems like terrible financial planning, but, um, for a bunch of different reasons, people, people have Tennessee as a destination now, which I just seems like impossible as a kid growing up being being like everybody wants to move there. But I hear it from all sorts of people now. Yeah, it's definitely crazy.

And, you know, I like like Nashville is awesome and Tennessee is great. And it helps like when I moved back home from L.A. to here, I was very nervous about moving back home. I didn't tell anybody because I thought people would think I quit comedy or something. It just seemed so like you can't move in Tennessee. And then within a couple of years, it was like, oh, it helped me being in Tennessee. And you have so many in the entertainment business even here, but there's just so many people moving here and it's so easy to get around and get everywhere that,

you know? Yeah. I mean, I would say it's the middle of the country, you know, it's all just kind of exploding where people are just going, going inward. Did you like LA when you lived here?

Yeah. Yeah. The weather is, the weather is, you can't get over the weather. I mean, that's, I know everybody says it,

but it's like, there's not, there's not much better than that. It's when every day is unbelievable. Every day you can walk out with shorts and it won't be a problem. Like that's, that's pretty crazy. for years where the LA part that people don't like, you know, cause a lot of that stuff is very true, but I always argue that like, once you get out here, you just kind of find your neighborhood and you find your routine. And it's not like you're involved with all this stuff, unless you're all about Hollywood every single day, which, you know, depends on kind of where you're at, but I would see you more of laughing at it than having it bother you, you know, like all the bullshit parts of LA that people are turned off by i can't imagine

you letting that get in your head as much as you would just use it as material to make fun of because of the way you are yeah you just kind of be or just do i mean it's like everything or just be you just do you i mean i like now that i move back here it's like i'm definitely happy not to be uh around it all the time because it's uh it also helps hurt you or create being creative you don't want to end up like you're in a town where everybody's being creative and then you're all like kind of thinking of the same things so it's it's a big part of leaving was i mean especially happens in new york too where you just end up being like, well,

I don't want to just be talking about the same things everybody's talking about. So if you get out of that and then you're in, you know, now, I mean, I can have a, you know, our daughter goes to school and we, you know, I see people I grew up with and I love home. I love people going home. I love when, I love people that when people love when uh i love people that when people love where they're from and uh and so yeah i don't know it just makes it great because the other part like sometimes you know i have this in my field a little bit where you're like you'll see

somebody else get something and you go wait should i be doing that like should i be doing that like it's one of the things with some of the nba guys now i think it's kind of funny it's like one guy starts a production company and then there's like a dude coming off the bench like he has a production company like what the fuck's going on here do you look at be like oh well you know should i be should i be in a sitcom you know is that something you would want to do because you know there's that fine line of like, how much do I promote myself? How much do I drive? But do I want to dip my toes into something where I feel like it's not a true representation of my comedy and all these things?

But you get one run at it. I wonder how you kind of balance all that stuff. Because I guess this is a compliment, Nate, is that you're so damn funny, but I don't think you want to push it as much as being for everybody as maybe some other comedians do and i and again i mean that as a compliment that you always kind of want to be you know your show and not like let me see how far i can spread my arms out and try all sorts of different shit that maybe deviates from what made you so successful yeah i want to be me and so i i learned uh you know a lot of times you see like comedians and start, they do a lot of things. And I've done stuff like they do sketches and they do, they're writing this. So they're doing stand up and they're doing it. And you're like, well, the more you do, then everything is kind of like, okay.

I looked at like very quickly, I wasn't a big auditioner. I wasn't going to get, I knew I wasn't, I would go audition for stuff. And I was like, I just never, I gotta be, I can only do this accent. I don't know how to not be me. So, uh, I'm, I was fortunate to learn early that I was like, all right, if I do get a sitcom and I've tried this and I've tried a bunch and they've all failed, but it's, they, uh, I was going to have to write it. So like I would write it i would create it and so like i'm still gonna be trying that but it's like it's through i'm gonna create it and i'm

gonna be me in it or whatever i'm gonna be like i'll be in control of it and that's the only way i'll be able to get the most out and with stand up i knew if i could get stand up to be great all that other stuff comes into play on its own because then people are buying into you like i like adam sandler like sandler's like his his world is is is awesome like he's created it's him and you're buying into him like you go the movie doesn't even necessarily matter it's like i'm buying adam sandler so like everybody's going to watch adam sandler and then his everything. And look, he did Uncut Gems. All that stuff came because he's so great at his thing that then people are like, well, will you come do Uncut Gems and you

come do these serious movies? And then he can go do that kind of stuff and then come back to like his world that he's created. And I love that mindset. And when you're in control of what is being done and what is, you know, people are seeing and you're not just everywhere. Like, I don't want to be just, you know, if you got a show, you'd be everywhere. But it's like, you don't want to be just everywhere.

You don't want to be like my social media is a lot of my standup. It's not a lot of personal things because it's like there's some that you're like, I'd rather you see it. I'll just tell you about it when I get off stage. Like you did when I hit the stage, that's when you hear about what's going on. Do you have a funny story from the beginning of being in LA though, and going to read and try out for stuff. And you were like, Oh my God, like this is, this is not going to happen or this is the worst. I did my resume.

You fill out the resume or whatever, like saying your special skills. And I put Southern accent as a special skill. It's the only accent I can do. And I put basketball and I can run and walk. And that was like, it was just basically like, just basic things. Like, are you a human? You're like, I am. I am. You need

like a southern guy that can walk? I mean, I can do that. You wrote walk down. You actually wrote walk, like instead of breathe in different patterns. You could click things that are like, what can you do? Walk is an option? Walk was an option. I thought, I mean, I can walk. I can also run. I mean, what do you do? Walk is an option? Walk was an option. I thought, I can walk.

I can also run. I mean, what do you want me to do? I'll do whatever you want. I can do both. I'm a method actor. I'll do whatever you think I should do. But I would go do auditions, and I mean, they would just go so bad.

It'd be uncomfortable. I had one go so bad that I wrote an email to the lady allison jones she's very she's a big cast big uh she cast like the office and like all judd aptale yeah right she was always very very nice to me and i would always get in because i was i was different enough like where i think they'd be like ah he's different. Let's see if this works. And then I would go in there. One went so bad. I was supposed to... I never committed

to the part that I was going to go do. I just went in as me. Then you're in there with people that are wearing the appropriate attire and all this stuff. I'm not doing... I didn't make fun of them. They were doing what you're supposed to do.

I was not willing. I wasn't willing to do it. So I don't deserve these parts. And I went in one and went so bad. I was supposed to like fall to my knees at one point and like say something. And I just was like, it was going so bad that I go, I'm not going to do the falling down part. And I just read that that part standing up.

And then I had to pause. I wrote an email to her because I was like, I'm not going to do the falling down part. And I just read that that part standing up. And then I had to apologize. I wrote an email to her because I was like, I'm so sorry. Like, you know, I was like, I'm just wasting these people's time. I auditioned for the Entourage movie. Haley Jo Osmond got the part I auditioned for, who he's great. And I've become friends with. He's a great dude. But when I auditioned for that, I great. And I've become friends with, he's a great dude. But I,

when I auditioned for that, I went to an acting coach before and we were going through it. And after we prize, like, so you think I'm good to go to this audition? And he goes, I think you should try to get out of it. He goes,

I think it's going to hurt you. If you go do this audition, he's like, you should just not do it. And, uh, I was like, well, I'm going to just do it. I don't care. You know? So I go do it and he's like you should just not do it and uh i was like well i'm gonna just do it i don't care you know so i go do it and i get a call back but she was like i have you know i'm i have a lot of gray hair so she's like you know if you if your hair wasn't gray i think

you could look uh the part this was years ago is that you could look the the part to this and then i just came back and did it again but i didn't dye my hair and i think i was supposed to but i was like i'm not gonna get this part like yeah you just know i was like i'm not gonna go dye my hair just to not get this part you know and i didn't even want to read the script because i love entourage and i told them that too they go did you read the script i was like i'll be honest i don't think i'm gonna get it and I'm a big fan of Entourage. I don't want to ruin the movie for me. I told them that and they were like, well, apparently you're supposed

to read the whole script. I didn't do that. I just read my one little part. Those are my awful days. To think how funny that is that you didn't read the script that you were auditioning because you didn't want spoilers. If you're not going to get the part why and i'm such an entourage fan that clearly no one's ever been a big you cost yourself a part in it because you didn't want to know how it ended uh you gotta look you gotta cut your losses you gotta look at what's ahead of you and you go like

the odds of me getting this are basically the acting coach told me not to go so i'm starting from that point that he goes you should get out of this and so then i looked at it as like well then i'm going to just not read them you know and i went and watched the movie and loved it uh you know max homer who's a friend of podcast and we get to hang out with a few times. His dad's an acting coach in LA. Oh, dude, it'd been awesome with the team. I'm a big Max Homa fan. And so it would have been,

I don't think it was his dad, but it would have been great. I mean, when you do acting lessons, you're supposed to like, there's parts where you're supposed to yell. Like, you know, you're just supposed to, you got to scream at them. And like, you're trying to get all the emotion out.

I was just like, I'm not... You're in a guy's home. I was like his family's in the other room. He's just yelling like a nut job. It's maybe the self-awareness that hurts you that you go, I can't do this. This is this is insane, dude. They're, they're your families on the other wall. They're there. They just hear me yell like a lunatic. And then I got to walk out and be like, good to see you. You know, that's what that, you know, it's like, it was, it was the people that can do it. It is, uh, it's impressive. Uh, but yeah, it's a lot, but you know, maybe they they would they would struggle in front of a live audience maybe at an open mic in a mexican restaurant right down the street i told him i told him i go yeah

i go you think you're better than me and i yell at him but uh give us some more info on the tour um because i know it must be nice to kind of have everything. Because I thought you were great getting by and doing everything you needed to do during COVID. You found a way with the drive-ins and then getting a special out of the whole thing. I think you handled it as well as any comedian did. But I know it's kind of back to the normal. So I want to make sure we included everything here on the way out.

Yeah, I got the Be Funny Tour. I'm out right now. It's just going. We're I got the be funny tour. I'm out right now. Uh, it's, uh, I mean, it's just going, I will have fall dates announced. I want to say,

uh, next week. So, uh, we have some big dates, big places, uh, going everywhere.

I'm going to Australia, uh, in the, uh, in our summer, apparently their winter, I found out. Uh,

but it's, uh, yeah, we'll be out there and uh you can go to my website all that stuff's on there uh right and of course the nateland podcast hello world on amazon prime uh thanks a lot nate it was great catching up appreciate it great to see you buddy before we get to life advice let's uh do a little succession recap here spoiler alert heads up it's giving you a little time okay hopefully you've paused you know you're coming back logan roy dies on a private plane to sweden to close the deal it's unexpected in the setup people are freaking about this episode,

calling it one of the greatest ever. I don't know if that's a little Monday after the Super Bowl, but it was different. It was fantastic. I loved it. And I have a couple of facts on it here for you. Although I do think the people tweeting out, man, good luck avoiding succession spoilers, as if that's not a spoiler.'s like are you seriously that fucking guy like what just by doing that you know now you have this heightened awareness going into the episode so you thinking you're not tweeting a spoiler by saying oh man good luck avoiding spoilers you're kind of like you can't help yourself you are the guy in your friend group like hear about you're who died sorry i kind of have it kind of happened to me because i didn't watch it i watched

it monday night and so obviously i was following twitter and like people like oh my god succession and then whatever gift they wanted to use and uh you know like you go into it

having these incredible expectations it was a great episode um it wasn't my favorite succession episode of all time but it was fantastic it was so well acted though i mean we

and we also just saw like these characters in a completely different obviously state of mind than they've ever been before. And like watching Roman just kind of like still be Roman, but also like kind of slowly lose his mind and not really come to grips with reality. I thought he was incredible. I thought Kendo was incredible. You know, it's a great episode.

Like it has like a 9.9. I think last time I checked on IMDb, you know, that's basically a perfect episode. I thought it was great, but it wasn't my favorite succession episode. But I mean, the Logan thing, obviously, I think he had to go out this way. I liked that it was kind of like, holy shit, did this actually happen? And then you're just kind of wondering for five, ten minutes until it actually settles in. I felt like more than

five or ten minutes. It seemed like we were spinning our wheels there for like 15 minutes of the episode. I actually, I'm not going to say I didn't like it, but I too saw all the, I'm just saying, I too saw all the i'm just saying i too saw all the stuff you know all the all the hubla about this is awesome this is crazy even like cynical people that i follow like this is the greatest thing i've ever seen and i was just like all right i get it like they're distraught and what else it's like no not really it seems

like it's like next episode seems like it's gonna be great like i thought the best part of the episode is how i felt at the end of it, but not necessarily like watching the episode. I wasn't like, God, this is some of the greatest fucking acting. I don't know. I just,

um, I like Connor's reaction. The first thing he said was like, he never even liked me. He's like, well, no, sorry,

mate. No, nevermind. Yes, he did. Yes. Well, that's why we get a chance to make a pro.

They were like coming to grips with, you know, obviously this incredibly complicated relationship with their father. Like, all right, he's dead. Like they're sad make a pro they were like coming to grips with you know obviously this incredibly complicated relationship with their father like all right he's dead like they're sad but also they're like yeah but he was an asshole so i i when you say i thought it was incredibly active they talked about in the and you know like the post show stuff of these shows and some of the best content when the creators and the actors actually talk about the characters and then when they were talking about how they basically just shot like what a 30 minute scene um and had to like use different rolls of tape like i thought that was really cool so i thought

i thought it was incredibly well acted i just don't think it was you know i don't think it's a 9.9 as aggressive on imdb like the greatest episode of television of all time so that'll probably come down for you know a couple totally people always take screen grabs of like the 99 on rotten tomatoes when like you know a thousand people have seen a movie. But yeah, anyway, go ahead. Kind of sounds like dudes are shitting on a bit. No, no, no. I am a little bit.

Maybe Kyle, but not me. I am a little bit. You know what I liked is, okay, whenever you're mapping out a show, and again, it's a cool ride. You would know. Yeah, as a writer. You know, the first thing anybody's going to say, like, this is one of my issues with some of the creative stuff is like, the first time you come up with an idea, whether it's an agent or somebody else, they immediately present you with the problems.

Right. Oh, here's why it's not going to work. Because most things don't work. Almost everything doesn't work. Right. But it's like, oh, well, yeah. okay, but what are you going to do here? Why would you do this? Or doesn't that feel a little bit like the adventures of Natty Gann?

And you're like, what the fuck are you talking about? And so the fact that this one doesn't have to figure out how to cram another three seasons in to get to kind of that sweet spot of like really making fucking serious money for everybody which is kind of like season three really five and then it's like hey we can keep printing some cash here all right let's let's throw in another season and that's where shows kind of fall apart like who's sitting around writing going all right and then in season six know, like the story itself evolves from some of the things you didn't even expect when you were creating this world in your head.

So, I don't know. That's why the people that deliver and have amazing credits, you know, get, it's like, well, this guy came up with this or this person came up with that. So like, this doesn't have to do any of that shit. They're like, we're going four seasons. This is the last one. We can take the big swings. The whole point of this was the succession post logan so now we're going to get to see all that instead of having logan die at the end is the final act and what i also loved about the episode was that they melt you know this show is not like it doesn't feel like you're watching tv all the time it doesn't feel like it's watching TV all the time. It doesn't feel like it's these written out screen shots where it's like every fucking piece of dialogue

ends with the perfect ending note. Like you leave conversations at times where you don't think you normally were going to leave them. And in typical succession fashion, it felt like you were watching these people deal with the death in a way that it left a little mystery. Everybody reacted a little bit differently. It felt like that's how it would actually go down.

You know, it felt like it wasn't even though it's obviously dramatic. It felt like peering into. You know, they didn't write it for TV. You know, it just felt like, like hey this is kind of how everybody would act in this moment so let's not make it polished let's make it very unpolished and that's what i think this thing delivered and i look i think connor's character too right in the beginning of the show i could kind of take or leave his scenes he has grown on me and how fucking funny he is and specific to this episode when the first thing he says is he never liked me yeah and then no no no no no what am i saying yeah and it's like

man i'll be right yeah yeah you know so i don't know what else you guys have anything i thought he did the most like like grown-up sort of stuff like he he ended up i mean granted there was like seven people at his wedding but everyone else was like oh my god what do we do and like you know ship was basically just saying like daddy you know and and he like everyone else was kind of just saying like you know you know what they wanted and kendall was like well we'll fix this or something and connor was just like when he when he especially when he said like he never even liked me he realized am I saying? Like, I'm the oldest kid here for a second. He was like, no, no, no. Like, it'll help. It'll help you guys if I take that back or whatever. Like he, he kind of didn't do his like selfish, but what about me thing? I mean, even

though that was his opening line to the news, I just, I thought he was like the guy, I mean, thought he was the guy that ended up like going on with his life. Everyone else's world was like kind of crashing down. And he was like, Oh, we still got a wedding to pull off here. And he ended up being actually the only one who was kind of happy at the end. I mean, I know he was crying when he was holding Willa because his dad died. But it seems like he actually did some grown-up shit there, which I was kind of surprised by. Well, it goes back to the previous episode, the line about how it's like a superpower that he doesn't need love which is again to your point ryan like that's i i agree like connor took this like weird step where i was like yeah i don't really care that much about him

he's kind of funny like he's irrelevant and now i'm like well actually he kind of he's a really important interesting character in the first three episodes of season three especially because you know in episode two and you and i disagreed on this right i thought episode two was fantastic i love that episode. I probably enjoyed it more than three, even though I understand why people love three so much, given what happened. But Connor, to me, this season was really cool. One thing I was thinking last night when I watched it was, obviously, now we're looking back at Logan Roy and this incredible character. And if you're going the history of HBO characters, behind Tony Soprano and like Omar am I like maybe I'm prisoner of the moment you could tell me

I'm prisoner of the moment like is he he's in the top five right is he three like I think Logan is going to go down as one of the all-time HBO characters that there's ever been even probably more than even anybody I don't know is there anybody in Game of Thrones that beats I mean Logan just every scene he was in I mean I just go back to what was it was the first

or second episode when he's in the ATN newsroom and he's just like talking to them and he's like it's like Jaws if everybody worked for Jaws just him in that presence he's just I'll really obviously I'm gonna go back and watch the show a million different times but I'll just every scene he was in was absolutely electric so for me he's

maybe a top three HBO character of all time yeah maybe Deadwood pretty good oh yeah higher usage rate though for Logan than Omar yeah Maybe a top three HBO character of all time. Yeah, maybe. Alastair and Deadwood, pretty good. Oh, yeah. Higher usage rate, though, for Logan than Omar. Yeah. Sure. Like, I'm looking now.

Like, Ari Gold, you know. No, he's better than Ari. Kenny Powers. Kenny Powers is a legend. Kenny Powers. Totally different vibe, but yep. Ashley Schaefer. Feed Stealer.

Maybe, yeah. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. I don't know. I just love the show. Oh, wow. Yeah, you know, the episode two deal now, though, feels like, okay, that felt like it was a setup. You can't go to a magic show and just see the guy

do the fucking reveal at the end. And that's the same thing with TV in a season like every single episode can't be oh my god oh my god oh my god because without the setup then you don't care about the result of the oh my god moment as much and clearly episode two was that big setup they have that kind of final moment together connor you know going through all his bullshit and everybody feeling like siblings again because there's just so many scenes where they don't feel like siblings, even though we clearly know that they are like they were actually having a normal moment, kind of like at Shiv's wedding, where they go out to smoke a joint and hug each other on the canoe under the bridge,

which is like a hiding spot for them when they would go there when they were kids. Like, I like that we don't have a lot of that schmaltzy sibling shit, but it's important every now and then to remind everybody that that's the deal. And now looking back at episode two into three, it plays out better. I just thought it was a really classic way of the show to present something that's this huge of a storyline thing in a way that didn't feel like it was being done for television and that's where i just always think the show wins yeah i agree with you on that it was good i think i think the reason i came in hot

was because i didn't see it until last night and then i watched it again this morning to see if i missed anything and of course i missed a few things but uh it was just seeing all the tweets and the oh my gods if i just watched it with everyone else i probably wouldn't be wouldn't have been so defensive about it but yeah it was good on the second watch i picked up some things as you always do so i like it did you vote on imdb are you the reason it's not a 10 yeah i'm the one guy i'm the one guy no i just i like the way at the end of both of those because i think i think episode two was where logan was like made that big speech at ATN, right? That was the last episode. Yeah, it was the beginning, right?

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But I just remember, I remember the way I felt at the end of the episodes has been like the best part of the season for me. It's just like, oh my God, I can't believe I have to wait. And shout out to waiting a week again. I'm glad we get to do that again. I got a week to be like, wow, what the fuck is going to happen?

How's Tom going to, you know, Tom just lost his protector, Greg. So what the fuck is he going to do? So um yeah i'm just excited for all this stuff just the endings have been great just so people don't get mad at me just so people get mad at me by the way i should mention tyrian lannister because i know people are gonna very annoyed but be calling him top three to me top 10 top five i just i i you know prison of the moment who knows i know it is what it is but uh he's definitely up there for me. I was a Tywin guy. I love Tywin too. Legacy, man. It's all about legacy. Jon Snow.

I get it. I mean, people, yeah. Tywin, the Logan Roy of Game of Thrones, maybe? I don't know. I'm a big Hound guy. Yeah, me too. That was great. Not the hottest. Likes to be by himself a lot. Holding on to his hair there. But he's like secretly a good dude.

Secretly a good dude. Look at Cerruti having somebody's back. He's probably tougher than I am. I had... I don't know how much more you, I mean, we can go as long as we want because the shit is our podcast, but normally like the TV rules are that Kendall would have to pay a price for being involved in the death of the waiter.

And this show, I wonder any other show I'd be like, ah, that's going to come home. Like something's going to happen there. Right. Can you, can you let kendall win can you let kendall win but i what i love about the show is they're like we're not just gonna do the easy pander thing so i have no idea other shows i'd be like ah they'll probably there'll be something at the end where kendall can't just get away with being involved in the death of this kid.

Well, Logan's bodyguard driver, that's the guy. That's like the fixer too, right? That guy's got kind of like a man without a country. If he decides to stick with like Tom and fuck those kids, like he could do something. I mean, you know, it's sort of showing that like things might get ugly. They're like quibbling over who makes the statement, who gets to approve what. And, you know, once people show their hands, I imagine imagine next episode like that dude might be like you know i do have

some interesting information for you guys like if i could be in your club like talking about like tom yeah right carl you know he does have that info so yeah i don't think maybe it won't go away because the tom card of like aligning with logan at the end of season three now it's like oh you know and then he doesn't have Shiv and everything else. And it's... I was looking at Jerry and Carl, like, uh-oh. This is the extent

of our team? Yeah, I know. Right. Okay. All right. There you go. Wrapping up episode three. We'll look at the life advice. You want details? Bye. I drive a Ferrari. 355 Cabriolet. What's up?

I have a ridiculous house in the South Fork. I have every toy you could possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So, now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. Today's life advice is presented by State Farm. Navigating the real world is never easy. Working, paying bills, buying a home, all the big stuff.

There's no instruction manual for any of it, so figuring it out on your own can be stressful. With State Farm, you can scratch insurance off that list of stressful stuff. So, when you ask yourself, what if I get into an accident? Or what if I want to renovate my home? State Farm is there for your what ifs. Look, grown-up stuff kind of sucks. And you don't really even realize how much it sucks. And there's still stuff where you're like, wait, I've been old for a little while now. Why am I still pretending this is grown-up stuff? Because it's all the worst, right? You fill out the form. You're like, oh, cool. I took care of

that. Nope, Form was rejected. Hey, you got to make sure you hit send in this paperwork. No, that's the wrong file. That's the worst stuff. I don't even have like a real job. And that stuff haunts me at times. I woke up today. I had two emails from things saying that they didn't work when I'm like, I can't be this dumb. Maybe it's on your end. Maybe it's the audience and not the comedian. Here's the great thing about State Farm is you can file a claim on the State Farm mobile app. Or if you prefer, you can talk to a real person, including your agent. Call anytime. It's what they do.

Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Call or go to statefarm.com for a quote today. Life advice. Life advice. The email is lifeadvicerr at gmail.com. This life advice is presented by State Farm. We've had a lot of people on this sandwich thing, and a guy just said, solution, use Tupperware.

Are you fucking maniac, dude? Who wants to lug that around all the time? I'll put a sandwich in a Tupperware. I've done it before. What did you think I was suggesting he would do? Yeah, what? No, like put a wrapped sandwich in it. You still wrap the sandwich.

I did. I don't know. I've done that before. Just like a casing. You know, like put a wrapped sandwich in it. You still wrap the sandwich. I did. I don't know. I've done that before. Just like a casing. You know, especially like a peanut butter and jelly. That's a fucking gamble. You start out with a peanut butter and jelly. You end up with like a ball.

Prostini. Yeah. Look, I'm not saying I've never done it. A little meal prep and then bring it in the next day. But I don't know. You like washing dishes at work definitely not no i'd like to be done be done yeah throw it away i mean be nice for the environment i think we're just being honest here with it so that guy's out of control uh another

guy chimed in and said that he uh used kyle's thing about zillow and the hinge thing and he's been using it now where the title of his hinge profile says hinges like Zillow for people um and then somebody who works at hinge who's really hot because he sent us the picture she liked it she's like we're gonna start using this here's my question are you ever gonna tell the person that you didn't come up with it and that Kyle did because then I think if you don't admit that that's not your joke, it's really fucking lame. You're going to be writing into Life Advice in like three months. Like I'm being billed as this guy who has awesome one liners and I just got nothing.

How do I keep it up, Kyle? Feed me some more. You can have it, dude. You can have it. No, I think he needs. I think he needs to tell the person he didn't come up with it and that he heard Kyle say it because it's that good, Kyle. Kyle, it staggered me. It was like a punch.

It was like a creative punch to my nose where my eyes got all watery and I couldn't feel anything for a little while. And I thought I was going to go down. And I was like, no, you still are conscious. Just get your hands up. And that's how good that was. So maybe he could do it like a yearbook quote where it says like it says the thing and then dash and then it says my name but yeah it looks like he's straight up stealing it and then he's getting credit for it from somebody who

actually works at hinge so thanks a lot you know and i i think younger dudes could give a fuck about stealing content from each other there's a few nba twitter handles that i mean i don't know what the fuck you guys think you're actually contributing to the world i gotta stop that yeah yeah no you're right so rudy you just started looking at me you're like oh here we go again um he was about to hit you with that glad you glad it doesn't bother you though like oh obviously it does It does bother me because I'm like, this is all whatever.

All right. Okay. So yeah, no. Good luck. Great stuff. Give Kyle credit. That's all we're saying. He's not going to have. Okay. First one here. 33 years old, 5 nine 200 pounds love hate

relationship with working out currently going strong hoping to get down to 180 hopefully a quick one for you just moved into a new house must be nice small town nice neighborhood there's currently construction happening on my street they're putting in frontier internet lines don't really have a preference between frontier or xfinity but competition is always good right hey you don't have to deal preference between Frontier or Xfinity, but competition is always good, right? Hey, you don't have to deal with Spectrum, so count your blessings. Anyway, on the fourth day after we moved in, I was outside moving some things around when one of the construction workers started a conversation. He was the guy that stood at the end of the work stopping traffic and ensuring there weren't cars coming the other way. He was asking how many

bedrooms we had and was just making small talk about how nice the neighborhood was. We talked a little about the work they were doing. Overall, a nice friendly conversation. But of course, at the end, he asked if he could use my bathroom. I said, no, we have two dogs. They go crazy anytime a new person comes in, which is true. And it would be a five minute ordeal to move them into a spot where this guy could easily walk to the bathroom. I know I'm not going to change how I approach the situation. Even if you guys roast me for not letting this dude pee in my house, the next time a stranger has to come into my house, I'm going to say no. But I'm curious on how you guys would have handled the situation. And Ryan, with your construction experience, shouldn't these guys have a bathroom plan? Awesome work as always. Thanks. I'm on your

side on this one, especially if it sounds like he was sort of teeing you up and didn't give a shit about the layout or the floor plan. And he's like, I'm just going to be nice to this guy. So I go in there. The other problem is the science behind why do you need to come in here? Like, what kind of damage are we actually talking about? Right. I've told the story once before when I moved from Boston to Hartford, which is obviously a day I was really excited about. We had some movers come by

the old one-bedroom shithole that I was living in. And they showed up two, two and a half hours late. They were deathly hungover, these two guys. I mean, they were right off the fucking pike, dude. And I'm looking at them being

like, oh, they're like, oh, we had, you know, we had a work order or whatever. I'm like, you guys reek of fucking oh, we had, you know, we had a work order or whatever. I'm like, you guys reek of fucking rumplements right now. Like, give me a break. And then the first thing the guy says, like, can I use your bathroom? And I had this small little like the place. I think it was 700 square feet. He destroys my fucking toilet and then is like, all right, now it's time to get to work.

And then on the back end, he clogged in fucking mud on the carpet. And then immediately was like, there's no tip in this bill. There's no tip in this bill. There's no tip in this bill. So you check here. So he was he was like, really? He was intimidating me. Give me the business.

And he was pretty big, dude. But it was like you were late. You were fucking hung over. You shit all over the place. You then got mud in the new place and then demanded a tip. Like this was an awesome transaction guys. So, uh,

I'm on your side on this one. I'm, I'm totally on your side. And I, I think they should have, I mean, unless he's a little bit older and you got to go a little bit more often, you know,

but normally, normally you should be able to figure out a way to get around this. And you actually had a legitimate excuse on top of everything else it would suck to deal with the dog part yeah i think you know i think it's a good t-shirt unless it's like you know encroaching on some other sort of like movement but i think normalized no i told you i just start saying no to don't say why you could just say no i don't do strangers man sorry don't do strangers in the house i think that's fine like i just don't i don't do strangers in the house. I think that's fine. Like, I just don't, I don't do strangers in the house. I know we're technically not strangers because you know how many bedrooms I have weirdo, but like, I don't think, I just don't think I'm

letting you in this house. That's all. And you don't have to, it's just, just no normalized. No, it's good. So I think that's good. And you also don't want to be the mark where it's like, you know, that dude, he lets us in the bathroom. Sometimes there's three dudes just waiting in the wings for one guy to seal the deal. And they're like, you know, who also do you mind is just be real quick and whatever so you don't even want to open yourself up to that you don't want to be vulnerable so just know without a sometimes without even a reason it's just pretty freeing so good for you i agree with kyle normalize no is great i also i have two dogs who are the exact same way like they just that when there's somebody that they don't know that comes in the house it's a fucking ordeal they're loud it

stresses me out um you know obviously when we have somebody doing work don't know that comes in the house. It's a fucking ordeal. They're loud. It stresses me out. Obviously, when we have somebody doing work on the house or coming over, we had some lawn people over yesterday. It is what it is. But I'm avoiding that mostly at all costs. It is a massive annoyance. And again, I'm with Kyle. Normalize knowing this.

So this is a clean sweep here. Great point by Kyle, too. He may have just been the tip of the spear for this, speaking of tip. And this reminds me of hitchhiking when we were kids in Martha's Vineyard, where if it was rough going, you'd throw one person out there. And the next thing you know, four dudes are jumping in the back of a truck with boogie boards or whatever. And you're like, okay this this guy's super bummed out i remember i couldn't get picked up forever because i had all my wetsuit and shit with me and there's sand everywhere and like because i'm a kid and i'm an asshole i think i was 16 and i was hitchhiking back to the beach and uh a guy pulled over after i hit all my stuff in the bushes and i was like hey you can pop the back real quick and i was like throwing stuff in it was getting sand everywhere wax like total asshole absolute asshole move um and you know would have been great though like to counter it and gone to like whatever this guy's name is let's

call him hank you're like i thought you cared about my floor plan man i thought really connecting here is this whole time just about using my bathroom but just the part in your game dude yeah do you care about square footage do you care about it do you care about me do you care about any of this was any of this real it gets so weird and deep and emotional with them immediately that they don't even want to go into your house and they tell everyone not to ask you yeah stay away from that dude that guy's a fucking weirdo i don't even think he has dogs uh yeah i don't i don't, I don't really blame you on this one because I'm going to tell you right now, construction guys are going to figure out a way to get it done.

They're going to get it. They adapt. They adapt. There's a jug or an empty can. Where isn't the bathroom? Between two cars. Yeah. So they know how to make moves when they need to make moves,

so don't worry about them. All right, we got another one here that is like an early 2000s greatest hits talk radio topic. And now is like one that almost dips your toe into like, should you even talk about this stuff? But the title of this one

is Caitlin Clark versus Ryan. Ryan, we're having enormous debate with our group of friends about a 50-50 split. The question is whether or not, oh, the emailer could beat Caitlin Clark from Iowa in one-on-one. I'm not trying to belittle her or what she's doing. That's the problem.

It turns into, why do we have to do this all the time? I do find it kind of interesting what would happen with a WNBA team against an awesome high school team, but then it's like, why are you doing that? Why are you doing that? In the same time, you can have Gayle King argue with John McEnroe

that Serena Williams is the greatest tennis player of all time. And McEnroe's like, what are you talking about? And then McEnroe has to apologize about the whole thing. So it's weird how, like, sometimes when it's talked about, it's like, oh, you're being dismissive or you're just being an ogre and all these different things. And then the other side of it, you're like, wait. Like, the McEnroe-Gayle King thing, like, I was watching again the other day.

Like, McEnroe, people were demanding he apologize. And he's like, what are you talking about? As if McEnroe doesn't have better perspective on the gap than everybody else. So that's why I bring all this stuff up, because it's like really. It can come from a place that isn't meant to be anything but a question, but then it can be kind of like fast tracked into this other thing. And right now, Kyle and Steve are looking at me being like, how long are you going to keep going on this?

All right. So, um, not keep going, dude. I'm similar in your size, six, three,

two, 10. Sounds like you got me a hike, not weight, strong history of hoops, still play regularly at lifetime. Did not play in college, still play regularly at lifetime. did not play in college still play regularly at lifetime did not play in college do you realize how hard it would be to guard kate and clark for anybody all right i'm not talking about like fucking drew holiday here

i'm talking about lifetime guy caitlin clark can shoot can shoot off the dribble their cardio is going to be so much better than all the guys that like oh i've got some size like yeah if you played d1 basketball and you're six four six five and you're going to take her into the post like it's just fucking science but if you're talking about like the guy like me in my early 20s who probably would have this debate with all of his buddies and i know where i would land on in my 20s all right like i'm admitting admitting it. I'd be like, dude, come on. Um, that guy's wrong. So you're wrong. I'd be wrong back then. She's fucking awesome. She's really good. It doesn't mean I think she played an NBA game. It just means that for all the dudes that are watching that stuff, like the evolution of the female game here has, has gone a

lot faster because there was more room for it to grow the stuff that is happening in some of these games i'm not saying i like it better i'm just telling you like if you if you've ignored it all then you've missed like some of the stuff offensively that happens i'm like oh damn like i didn't even see that three or four years ago or it didn't feel like you saw it as regularly as you do now so the guy's saying that he believes his four inches and 80 pounds would be such a competitive advantage that she would struggle to get clean shots

that could back her down. Dude, she's going to just move left to right and step back. She's getting this against people that are conditioned to defend at, you know, again, a D1 level here. So I couldn't fathom playing a guy that's 6'7 and 290.

So that's what he's doing. He's going, he's 6'7, 290 so that's what he's doing he's he's going he's 6'7 to the average size of an NBA player to a regular dude like look maybe look if you were actually a d1 player and not the gym membership guy which I was that guy I was the epitome of take it way too seriously at fucking Boston Sports Club in Watertown you know right like three four days a week I wasn't even lifting I'd show up to lift, see there was a game, be like, I'm doing this for two fucking hours. I know who you are. I was you. And in my 20s, I wouldn't admit it. I wouldn't want to admit it. I'm telling you now with more perspective

and seeing how well she plays, you wouldn't be able to fucking guard her, dude. Almost every single one of us would not be able to guard her. And I'm talking about not me now. I'm talking about 20s, pretty good pickup player, didn't play anywhere. Dude, there'd be guys that play that have a hard time guarding her. But then on the other end, obviously, physical disadvantage would show up if we're just talking about sports here. So just be careful with these topics is what I'm telling you, dude. I'm not scolding you. I'm just. No, no, no.

I think we did. I think you did all right there. I would say, I don't know, without knowing this guy's lateral quickness, you know, because part of me is like, OK, I actually think if she was in a five on five game with a bunch of guys, the why she would obviously dominate. with a bunch of guys to the Y, she would obviously dominate. I think her game would be more suited to play with other people because she's playing within... I think the physicality thing would probably be less of an issue. One-on-one, I just don't

know what this guy's athleticism level is. Maybe he's a crazy athlete. He doesn't seem like he didn't play in college. Here's what I'd say. Is there a non-D1 athlete that plays pickup hoops at his local gym in his 20s that would win? I'm sure there's a guy. Maybe, yeah.

All right? I'm not saying that guy does not exist. What I'm saying, and I'm generalizing here because I am including myself, I was the captain of this fucking group for a long time. All right? I was this person. That person would have lost to the woman I saw playing for Iowa. And he just wouldn't have admitted it back then.

The other thing too, really quickly, we make this argument about Brian Scalabrini all the time. Dude, how many dudes have been like, Oh, if Scal was at the Y, like he wouldn't be that good.

You know how many people like he's talked about it. You know how many people have said that, tweeted it, whatever. And it's a great point. The reality is Scal would smoke anyone at your local wide well he did any decent athlete yeah he's exactly he's on it they did it as a radio promotion where he guys showed up to play him one-on-one he fucking destroyed everybody he's

six seven like i don't like anyone at the end of a bet i mean even like guys at the end of a bench in college would i mean it's it's so stupid this i mean this whole thing is stupid but i'm glad you brought that up equal doubt for both sides so scowl or iowa yeah progress there you go i just gotta say as the only guy who saw her in person at the wooden awards dinner last weekend uh she passes the eye test six foot tall broad shoulders looks great in a dress too uh i think i think she what i went to the wooden awards dinner i'm plugged in guy that's what i'm trying to tell you i'm just saying she passes the eye test i mean she's got a limited range and all that so i just think i my money always be on her i just saw her up close and personal and you know that's uh that's a real that's a player right there man

okay she wanted some boots on the ground reporting. I do. I didn't. Oh, my God. I didn't even realize what. Just saw her this past weekend. I didn't know we had access to this kind of information. So you liked her shoulders is what you're telling us. Broad shoulders. Yeah.

Six foot, but like a tall six foot. That makes sense. Yeah. She just put that shoulder right in your fucking chest plate. Chauncey Phillips style at the ESPN run. Do we have anything else on this? I think we're done. I think we're done.

Shout out to the Quinnipiac Bobcats, national champs. What's up? That's right. I knew there was still something. Were you watching that live? Hell yeah. Okay, I'm not going to claim to be like hockey guy or whatever. I watched most of their.

We wouldn't believe your claims. I think I watched all their tournament games, just four games. College hockey. I mean, everyone's at playoff hockey. It's incredible. College playoff hockey is awesome. That was one of the...

I mean, the championship game, they were down 2-1, but they've been dominating the game. They score with three minutes left because they pull the goalie and they were on a power play. Incredibly ballsy move by the coach. And then they score 10 seconds into overtime

to win the national championship. So shout out to Hamden. Shout out to theinnipiac bobcats what's up do you think a guy who plays club hockey could score a goal i don't know the club hockey scene is i don't really know like that i feel like that's all like you know you're waking up at 6 a.m in the morning your parents pay like thousands of dollars for you to be on the rink i don't know i have no idea what the club hockey scene is like yeah as you get older and you start realizing what hockey parents had to do, it's crazy. They should be allowed to get their pension a year earlier or something. Because it's funny now looking back, like granted, there was no chance I was ever going to play

hockey, not with a basketball dad, but also realizing the commitment to it all. If I'd said, hey, I'm only playing hockey, it's like, well, it looks like you're not playing a sport because that is, that's like the all-time commitment. You know, like there's parents, there's thousands and thousands, tens of thousands, maybe millions of parents right now going,

whatever we do, we're discouraging him, discouraging him or her from hockey because we're not driving to those fucking rinks at 5 a.m. It's crazy because hockey dudes seem like great dudes like the per capita, like the hockey guy seems like a very good, solid hang. Yeah, I agree. The only dudes I ever knew, especially in college, all those guys are super nice.

I mean, they were probably the nicest sport group of the athletes we had at Potsdam. But you're right about that, like 5 a.m all the extra stuff you have to do i don't even know how it works i went to high school with a dude and i i kind of heard whitney saying it when we when he was on the pod i told people like my buddy plays for the rangers he was like 18 he was like i'm basically on the rangers but like that's like the juniors thing he was talking about like i don't even understand any of that shit i was just like the guy was basically telling us all yeah i basically play for the rangers like how does that work he's like nah dude i do trust me and uh what the hell was that is that a construction worker using your

bathroom i don't know i don't know that was ominous for those that are listening there was a mysterious figure that just walked by ryan's window and looked right in by the way oh they looked in? Oh, you need to check on that, dude? Yeah, I don't know. Maybe it's time to wrap right now. I think it's time to wrap. Maybe he's looking for a fucking Wall Street Journal. If you want to get us on speakerphone, like Tom and Logan,

just in case anything goes wrong. Enjoying your free copies? Alright, I gotta go. Thanks to Kyle. Thanks to Saruti thanks to Quinnipiac Title Town this is Ryan Vercillo podcast from your Spotify Outro Music