The Ryen Russillo Podcast - Giannis Stays in Milwaukee, CFB Rankings, Plus Comedian Nate Bargatze

Episode Date: December 16, 2020

Russillo shares his thoughts on Giannis Antetokounmpo signing a supermax contract with the Milwaukee Bucks and Kyrie Irving lobbying for more post touches with Kevin Durant on Instagram Live (4:30), before talking with one of Ryen's favorite stand-up comedians, Nate Bargatze, about his father's profession as a magician, pandemic comedy, his stand-up comedy origins, and more (13:30). Then Ryen talks about the most recent CFB rankings (56:30) before answering some listener-submitted Life Advice questions (1:09:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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I'm not going to say, hey, don't be upset, but I'm going to go over a couple things. I'm not even going to sit here and say, hey, the committee's right again, because I know I've done some of that stuff in the past, but I do want to talk about that. We'll do life advice. But the most important thing we have with this one, I'm really excited to talk with comedian Nate Bargatze, who is awesome. I ran across videos because I was actually watching. I saw Dan Soder do stand-up in New York, I think the last time I was in New York city and I was like, this guy's great. And then I saw it, it was like, Hey, did you like Soder? Well, you're going to love Nate Bargatze. So I don't

even know what that meant. Does that mean the, the algorithm likes Nate more than Dan? That seems weird and unfair. Um, and I don't want to play favorites here, but I just, I watched Nate special. It was hysterical and he's going to come on. And I don't want to play favorites here, but I just, I watched Nate's special. It was hysterical and he's going to come on. And I think we know a couple of the same people on the Vandy deal or just Nashville in general. Are you a big Nashville guy, Kyle? Not a big traveling guy,

but Nashville's on the list for sure. Yeah, you would like Nashville. I'm sure I would. You would do well. You know what I always thought was a great line in Ocean's Eleven was when, is it Chris Kahn? It's James Kahn's son who plays.

He's the guy with Casey Affleck, the two guys that are up in Utah. Yeah, okay. All right. You with me here? Yeah, yeah. And they go to the first meet, the money guy, Ruben's place, and they're all mingling. And it's Reiner who's old and he's the old con artist and he's very seasoned.

And the con character is like, have you been to Provo? I think you could do well there. I always thought that was really, really funny. I always thought that was such a great line because it's like a classic younger guy trying to break the ice with an older guy that wants nothing to do with them even though they're going to be in a crew together and just that line it was is a great line in a movie he's like you know he's like i think you could do well in provo i think you do well there and he's like oh yeah cool cool so yeah but i actually do believe that you would do well in nashville lots of people moved to of people move to Nashville from some elite cities. They're like, yeah, Nashville's for me.

So I think a lot of folks in LA go to Nashville too. Yeah, Nashville is kind of that cool. I think what it comes down to is there are a lot of people that kind of want to be cowboys sometimes. And it's also a party city, so that's part of it. And it's got a major university so that's part of it and it's you know it's got a major university that's that's great lakes i'm sure there's some lakes there a lot of history a lot of civil war history through the state of tennessee a lot of battles a couple forts that the north had to take out when it didn't look like it was going to happen but grant's army was able to uh to take

those out. Let's not get bogged down in specifics. I'm just remembering some things. Because I remember I wanted to go check out a couple of those forts when I was there. And Sarah Walsh and Matt Bushman were like, that's pretty far away, dude. That's like rent a car. You're going to be gone for the day. I was like, oh, all right.

All right. Well, maybe we'll just go to Vandy. So I want to talk about some of the NBA stuff. The first thing with Giannis' extension, five years, $, all right. All right. Well, maybe we'll just go to Vandy. So I want to talk about some of the NBA stuff. The first thing with Giannis' extension, five years, $228 million. There's a player opt-out at the end of that. And that is great news for Milwaukee. Great news. Actually, it's great news for Giannis because he's got the money. It's good news for Milwaukee because post-Kawhi, I will never, ever be surprised by any personality whatsoever, meaning NBA star personality that

decides, you know what? I think I'm out of here. And I'm not doing that to bum Milwaukee Bucks fans out, but I just, I'm now to the point where, okay, that's what the contract is. That's great. You signed him, but what if it doesn't really work out in like a couple of years, you know? And I think that's a completely reasonable way to look at any of these contracts. But as of right now, because when that drew holiday trade happened, we've talked about this on the podcast before, it was expected NBA circles were saying, yeah, Giannis extension, that'll be done Friday. And then it wasn't done Friday. And then like a month went by. And the fact that that's done is great. And it's great for Milwaukee. But I've heard a lot of people say this is great for small market teams. No, this is great for Milwaukee. It's great for Giannis. Why is it great for another small market team? Think about that statement. Think about what that statement means. Do you think if Zion and look, Zion's a year in, but he'll do the rookie extension because that's the way it works. Let's say Zion's seven years in and he's really productive and he's one of the league's best players, which I think he has a chance to, but he's going to have to work a little harder.

What if he's up and the money's good and there's all sorts of interest, it's bigger market, he hasn't been able to win. And I'm like, don't take this personally, New Orleans. I'm just using this as an example. What if in that pitch, David Griffin goes, well, Zion, you know, Giannis a bunch of years ago stayed in Milwaukee. So that was good for a small market. And, you know, we're a smaller market. So it has nothing to do with any other small market.

It just doesn't. It doesn't. And here's what's going to happen. Milwaukee's going to win a ton of games. Maybe they're the one seed. When I was trying to figure out the East in general, I could look at some of these teams and say, I could see like a two seed or I could see a four seed. I could see Brooklyn being a two. I could look at some of these teams and say, I could see a two-seater, I could see a four-seater.

I could see Brooklyn being a two, I could see them being a four. I could see Milwaukee being the one-seater, no one caring because of the playoff failures, even with a different roster. I could see Boston being a top three. I could see them outside of the top three, depending on Kemba. I could see Philly. They have to be better, right? They have to just be better with Doc and Daryl.

But if the Embiid-Simmons thing never truly unlocks, there's a cap on that. Toronto's always going to probably be a little bit better than you'd expect because they're just good at winning games. They just are. And that leaves out Indy, Brooklyn. I'm all over the place, and I haven't even mentioned Miami yet because Miami represent the East.

They could come out of the East again here too. So that one through six is kind of hard to figure out, but I'm pretty sure Milwaukee's going to at least be a one or a two seed and no one's going to care. But I think this news is good for two people, Giannis and the GM, John Horst. And look, we can talk ownership and all the different stuff. Now, as I mentioned, Brooklyn, I have to get to Kanye Irving here

and his IG video that came out with he he and kevin durant i'm gonna play that for you now so what about seven post-ups instead of eight i mean we negotiated i think i thought we was going to do two and a half or two and a half post-ups a game the half one is like i throw you the ball in the post and you just throw it right back out to me no but i'm also saying i feel like every play down i have a mism, no matter who's in front of me. So I think that that mentality mixed with having that post guard is a great balance, you know, for our squad, for our offense. Yeah, we're going to see, though.

Okay, the amount of times over the last week that I have laughed hearing Kevin Durant after Kyrie's talking about seven to eight post touches a game, where Durant goes, yeah, we're going to see though. I can't, I cannot express, I'm trying to express, but I cannot express to you how damn funny that is to me. Yeah, we're going to see though. That is him being like, no, we're not running you in the post. Just for reference again, the leading post-up players in the post. Just for reference again,

the leading post-up players in the league, I think it's Embiid, because I remember I looked at this, like Al Jefferson 10 years ago led the league in 20 post-ups a game. Embiid's at like 10, 10 leads. And Kyrie's saying, I have length, I have all these things that he says in the clip, and seven or eight, maybe a half.

And when he starts telling Durant, I'm who you were, none of this makes any sense. And it's a continuation of the Kanye Irving chapters here that get more and more absurd. The pawn thing, which again, I don't really care about. I would say that there's never been a time that the media has been more disliked than right now. And it's not specific to just news media. It's nastier towards news media, but sports media as well. We've been over this.

What I do is not that impressive to you. There are many people that think, whether it's me or other people that talk for a living about sports and they look at what happens and turning it into this kind of career. And you're like, I could have done that. I'm like, yeah. All right. Maybe, maybe you could have. All right. So I think that there's more support for somebody like Kyrie

calling everybody in the media pawns, which again, I don't really care. I'm just telling Brooklyn fans, you're the only ones defending this really. I mean, you're the only ones defending this, or if you're just a huge NBA fan and you love Kyrie and you're just going to defend Kyrie. And like, it's getting so crazy with Kyrie that I'm not even, I'm not even mad about it. Like, I don't care that he's not my boss. And I bet, you know, we've been over all of these different things and maybe they do win games. Maybe it does work out, but I think there has to be a sliver of you that goes, oh, wait, maybe this is why it was difficult in Cleveland. And by the way, I've had Kyrie's side on the Cleveland thing.

LeBron can sit there and say he was hurt by Kyrie. LeBron's crew would say, hey, we're the ones that got him the sneaker deal. We're the ones that put him in a position to win. That guy was going to score a ton of points and win like 30 games in Cleveland. LeBron's crew, I believe they're right on that part of it. But the part that I don't think they're totally honest about is that, look, you guys had Kyrie out of there. And LeBron was doing year to year, which was driving a guy like Kyrie crazy.

So it's like, one, you almost had me traded. And two, you're doing year to years. And this whole thing revolves around you deciding what you want to do every single year. Like, I'm out. I don't want to be part of this. And I don't blame Kyrie at all for deciding that he would want to do that because that would just plain get old. It just would but to see durant in that video go yeah we're gonna see though like he's like oh man and it's so it's

so weird that i've had a lot of people say no no it's it's fake it's actually not true there's no way that's actually true that's just kairi that's messing everybody. I think you're wrong there. I just think you're wrong. I don't think they're messing with everybody. I think it's just a different way of doing things. And Kyrie, on top of everything else, every time he makes some kind of statement, he always has to follow it up with some kind of correction from his own statement. So if you're going to be a philosopher, stick to the philosophy, stick to the teachings. Wu-Tang didn't come back like on a Tuesday to the village and go, you know what? Maybe our style is wrong. You know, they had a concept, a philosophy.

They believed in it. Right or wrong, they stuck to it. And so next time Kyrie says something that everybody's like, what? I want him to, I want him to stick to it more. I don't care how crazy it is. I want him to go. Yeah, yeah, no, no. That's what I meant. Because every time he's done one of these things, he's like, well, that's not really what I meant. But like, well, you're the one that said it. You're the one that said it. Although look, if somebody speaks for a living, there are times where I'm like, yeah, it's kind of could have done a better job with that. I didn't mean to do it, but I'm

also not saying stuff like we don't really need a coach. And then he's like, oh, two days of Steve Nash. Oh, now I get it. This coach thing. Okay. Yeah. Now I'm on board. This actually worked out. I'm excited about this. I sent a DM to a comedian who I think is funny. His name is Nate Bargatze and he is the star of the Tennessee Kid on Netflix. He has a bunch of stand- like, no, he's not available right now. And then Kyle was like, hey, just got in touch with Nate, said he's totally cool to do it. I was like, all right, good stuff. So that's what we're going to do. You can follow him at Nate and that's B-A-R-G-A-T-Z-E. In extensive research for this interview, I always like to understand people's backgrounds. And I think anybody that's like, hey, I want to be an actor. I want to be this. And it's like,

Oh, your parents must be psyched because they're like, but your dad was legitimately a magician. Yeah. Yeah. He still is. He's actually president of the international brotherhood of magicians, IBM right now. He's a, it's a, this is a big organization and with all magicians around the world and he's the president of it He's very much in the magic world man. I mean I grew up with all that just You know, it's funny. He's like when I first started comedy I didn't even do jokes about him being a magician because it was so normal That I didn't think it was weird and then it was like I told someone else later and uh they're like yeah dude that's

crazy like that's not and i was like oh is it oh yeah maybe i should talk about it uh but it was yeah it was very normal growing up because i had this feeling for a while that people are very anti-magician like they may like the act but then they don't necessarily like the person're afraid of them. Like, I remember when I used to bartend years and years ago, there would be this dude who would just show up and do card tricks. And it was his way of hitting on women. And eventually we were kind of like, Hey man, like you can't just come here by yourself and get like one Michelob ultra and do magic tricks like at the bar. Like this is, this kind of sucks. It's bumming people out. Yeah.

The fact that it would bum people out is great. It's like, what? I just had a couple beers with my guys. You had one beer. He was always alone, though. That was the thing. And he was a bad tipper, so we were like, oh, great. The magic guy's here.

So when you had buddies over and stuff as a kid would would your dad like break it out or what like how would that work yeah he would always do it i mean we still do it now like you know if you came over i'd you know i'd like i show around some tricks and you know we would be you you would see it and like everybody sees it he loves doing it uh you know we're proud of it but yeah growing up, I mean, he would, he would do him. He would try them out on us. That's what I always say. I can't do magic. I can ruin it for you though. Cause it was ruined for me. I mean, I just don't enjoy, I mean, I I'm very impressed with what he does.

I am impressed by magic, but I'm not, still have a lot of magicians will come up to me and be like, Oh, let me show you something. And you're like, dude, me and my brother, someone recently just showed me and my brother and we're like out of two people you know i have a sister too but like me and my brother just sitting there where you're like all right man yeah let's see what you got you know we just don't you know it's like i just don't care like there's no excitement we really give back because it's like i don't know man i've seen i've seen him not work i mean he used to always be trying all these tricks at home and like you'd watch you know

because he was coming up when i was a little and uh he would do these tricks and you'd see him just he'd be like he couldn't get it to work and then so i mean i'm just i'm going i'm like seeing the process of magic like behind the curtain and so you're just now it's just not as like glamorous as it was he did do all our birthday parties because he was a clown when i was like five he would do clown he doesn't like i have a special called full-time magic uh and that's from that like saying like he did he finally became full-time magic but he was a clown and so i mean every birthday party was my dad being a clown i mean everyone so much that you're you just you go i don't want this anymore you know i don't want my dad you know i mean i remember i'd be sitting on we were at a playground one and my dad's doing a

magic show and i'm like on a swing by myself at my own birthday because i'm i'm like i've just seen all these tricks man like i don't you know i don't do stand-up for my birthday because i'm i'm like i've just seen all these tricks man like i don't you know i don't do stand-up for my daughter like it just i'm like let me do five minutes let me just ask her her next year her nine-year-old birthday i'm like let me just i got some new stuff i'm working on i just want to see how it goes with these little kids you know full-time magic would be a great name of a special that would would be great. That was my first Comedy Central special. It was called Full-Time Magic, and it aired the same night of the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight.

So, I mean, I didn't even watch it, if that tells you anything. Well, now I feel great because maybe my research wasn't as extensive as I thought it was because here i'm like hey that'd be a great name you're like yeah actually dude we yeah it was 1987 ryan that's when i started comedy and that was my first album i wish you cared at all uh no no one knows that what's kind of cool is no one knows i mean like the fans and people that knew me before netflix obviously know that special and theious Radio plays a lot of that stuff. But it's kind of,

I mean, I have an hour special that not everybody knows that I have. It was on Comedy Central. They aired it that night at the Mayweather-Pecquiao fight and that was like it. Like that was the, we told them it was like,

it's not, you know, I said, hey, it's a pretty big fight, you know, that we're going up against. One of the bigger ones. One of the bigger ones. And then Comedy Central, they go, ah, it's like a hundred bucks that we're going up against. One of the bigger ones. One of the bigger ones. And then commisitio, they go, ah, it's like $100, though. That's kind of expensive.

I was like, I don't know if they thought it was like $100 a person. I was like, if you get 10 guys, it's $10. We're not in a third world country where people can figure out how to pay $100 for the biggest fight in a decade or so. And so I remember I watched the fight, they agreed to air it back to back and like, so at midnight and then 1am and then I watched the fight and I didn't do the fight started the second, my special started the second.

And I mean, just really, you know, put it out and then just needed to go to Netflix after that. Before I get to some of the stuff that I really like, I do like the background part of it because clearly with that performance family, like they'd be more excited about it. But in the beginning, like, look, I think you're hysterical. That's why I wanted to have you on. And I can tell you kind of how I was introduced to you, but were you the funny guy in the group? Cause I also like, I'll remember when I was

bartending, I go, you know, I'd like to be a talk show host one day. My buddies would be like, Hey, look like cool. You watch a lot of baseball, but I mean, shut the fuck up. Nobody wants to, I don't want to hear what you think about anything. And I mean, because you're funny, but you're also like, I don't know the best way to, it's not just dry. It's you're not just out there like a joke machine. You're telling stories, but were you the guy in your group that was funny? And did your buddy say like, look, we may laugh and stuff, but like, you're going to be a comedian. What are you talking about? Yeah. It's, i would you know when i was i would always joke about going to zany's i was i mean i definitely would get laughs and i remember uh you know the

one of the first times i remember in a way of doing stand-up i remember i was at like a party we had a party at my parents house my parents were out of town and so you know i had a party their house got super in trouble my sister that's nine years younger than me just ratted me out. She, I mean, she was like too young to completely know what she was doing, but just, you know, crushed me. Uh, but they, so I remember like telling a story or something on the, on the porch that night and everybody was really laughing. And I really think back to that and going like, man,

that was like kind of the first, uh, where I was like, you know, I'm telling the story. I mean, all my buddies are laughing. It's the people that knew me are laughing. And the next week we go to some other parents' house party and we're with kids from another school and a guy and my buddy goes, he goes, tell that story you told last week. And I try and just, it bombs so hard in these other, cause I'm with kids that I don't go to school with. So they don't know me. And I try and just, it bombs so hard in these other, because I'm with kids that I don't go to school with. So they don't know me. And I mean, I just, it was brutal, dude. I just was like flying through the story.

And it was almost like, oh, that's what it is. That's what stand-up is. You got to make people that don't know you and grow up with you like you. Same thing that you got to do. You got to, people that don't know you have to want to listen to what you're trying to say. got people that don't know you have to want to listen to what you're trying to say um so that so there was a little bit of me wanting to be a stand-up comedian and it wasn't that crazy for some people to think that i did want to do that but most stand-ups were not the most fun people

to be with you know if you ask my wife about it, like they think, you know, I think girls are just like, what is it? Just a fun time over there. And she's like, what are you out of your mind? It's the worst. It's, uh, it's not fun at all. It's, you know, you're not, cause you can't be on. I always say, my wife always says I give her a 30 seconds of fun, which is one of the meanest. It's more than that, but she jokes. That's one of the meanest it's more than that but she jokes that's one of the meanest i tell her go that's pretty mean that you just she'll go 30 seconds of fun and i'm like all right but my i say my fun is just at a high level though i don't mind i bring a ton of jokes but the jokes i bring are they're professional jokes you know right right high level so i know you guys all think you kind of suck deep

down, right? Like that's kind of the case. Are you, do you feel like other comedians look down on you? Cause you don't talk about therapy enough. Oh dude. I, uh, therapy makes me furious. The only reason I'm saying that is because I, the reason I met you or we didn't meet, but the reason it linked up is I saw Dan Soder. I was in the city for an ESPN deal. I walked up. I was like, I'm just going to go watch 10 comedians. I sat by myself, solo guy, and you have to put your drink order in.

And every single guy before Dan, male, female, anybody, was like, so my therapist says. And I'm like, look, I'm not trying to dump on the industry, but I just couldn't like, Hey man. And then when I, the thing I like so much about you is that you may be fucked up, but you're not like sharing how the whole thing is in a sharing part of it. So that's kind of my, like, I'm making a bit of a joke about it, but it's amazing how much of that seems to be in standup now. Oh dude. I mean, the fact that that's's you want to talk about this i mean i love it i uh i thought i didn't know if you were gonna be you know on it you're gonna be like this dick you know well so me and soda is one of my best friends and uh and so

i talked to soda about there like uh because he didn't do it he didn't do it like he was the headline at the end and i I was like, finally. You know? No, so it was super funny. He's got HBO specials out. It's unbelievable. But I was talking about, because therapy to me is, look, I'm not saying it's not something that's good.

I think it is a good thing, and people do need it. But it's the talking about it. I always think of it with comics as like, dude, not everybody can afford therapy. Not everybody can go do, you know how good of a life you have to have that you go, you know what? I want to get my feelings in check. You know, what insane life that you live, that you get to go blame your poor parents that just didn't have money. And you're like, I'd like to figure out, you know, I want to blame everything on them and not take any responsibility for anything.

That's what I think therapy is to me. It might not be that. And I'm not saying I would never not do it. I'm not like I if you have a crazy childhood or some stuff like that, if you can give a lot going on, maybe you do need it. But I think majority of people is it's insane. And it is because I don't talk about it because there is, there's a lot of comics that talk about therapy. And it's to me, I'm like, they talked to an audience and I'm like, dude, I, the guys I grew up with, he, I would, I mean, I would be embarrassed to go to him and go

like, I just want to talk to my therapy. I mean, it would be insane. And that's what these people don't have. I always think this was celebrities. There's a huge disconnect with celebrities. They get so famous and so rich and they just they have no ounce of reality. They don't. There's nothing that they do that's normal. And that's the ones that are telling people to vote and stuff is like ridiculous. Like where it's like, I'll tell you by the vote, dude, just shut up.

Everybody knows everybody. If you can log in Instagram, I'm sure you've heard that there's voting happening you figured that out so like don't we don't need you showing me you're dropping your ballot off like you're hey you know what i think this is i don't know how this goes over like people listen to this but i'm i'm totally with you and it doesn't mean that you don't think people should vote it doesn't mean that you don't think people should vote. It doesn't mean that you don't think people should go to therapy. But like, when I think of some of my friends that are really famous with a huge following, and then I think like when you wake up, do you go, okay, all right, to do list and see if the president misspelled anything in a tweet.

Yeah. Okay. Let me make sure, make sure everybody stays in. Let me say, all right, got to make sure everybody stays inside, even though I'm not going to probably, cause I got a cool party to go to late. Like, I just don't understand. Like I'd like to think, and maybe it's just, Hey, you have this platform, you have this voice and you should share it with people to do the right thing and all these different things. But I personally would go, I wouldn't want to start my day with making sure like, Hey, you need to hear from me on every

fucking thing that you're not even coming to me for. You're coming to me for sports. I'm coming to you like for me to go, I'm going to spend my day making sure you understand all these things that I think are important. It just, it blows my mind. The word platform is a problem. We have two, there's too many people that technically can have a platform now, and so they think they have to use their platform. I would technically have a platform. My platform is to let you know I don't care if you vote. I don't care if you do therapy. It's not my business.

I have a Vandy shirt. I'm a big Vandy fan. But I barely made it out of high school. I could never get into Vandy. I had trouble getting into community college. We had to finagle our way into community college. I made it one year, no credits. I have, I, there's zero reason that I should ever tell you what to do as a person.

That's I don't, that we don't live the same life. It's just, there's no reason ever to say it. And there's not enough people, not enough like celebrities that go, you know what, man, do whatever you want. Do you want to vote for, I don't care who you want to vote. You want to write in your neighbor's name that then do whatever you want to do. It's not my decision. It's not, you know, it's like we don't I don't know you. So like we don't live that we don't have the same reasons. These people. One thing that I think that hurts them, they don't have any regular people in their life. That's a gigantic thing. You need to keep

your like buddies from home. You got to keep them in your life. You got to keep some regular people in your life because they get where it's like, did you see this on Twitter? And you're, you need to like someone else. It's like, dude, I was at soccer practice for nine hours with my daughter. I didn't even, I don't even know what Twitter is. You need someone to yell that back and you go, oh yeah, you know what? That's right. Cause you, yeah, you're, he's like, I worked 50 hours this week.

You got to have regular people in your life to remind you that you are an idiot and your, whatever you say means nothing. It means nothing at all. Yeah, man. I look, I thought that actually tied together well. I didn't expect that question to go i didn't expect that you guys i mean but there i was like here we go i was like i mean i was like

i just do it i was doing it i i don't know if it's doing a new joke about it with like tom cruise like i love like the i mean like just tom cruise like the reality of like what he i like tom cruise a lot and i've always heard he's a great guy and i heard if you met him, he's like the most charming person ever. I've never met him, but I know someone that did meet him. They're like, dude, you just think. You're like, oh, we're going to be best friends. But Tom Cruise, there's no reality with that guy, man. That guy doesn't.

I don't know if he knows what cash is. He's been famous for 40 years. And I don't think Tom Cruise really. I don't hear him say a lot of politically. And we're talking about the rant that came out yesterday right oh i didn't even hear the rant oh you didn't hear the rant oh okay so go ahead but the cove age that's just kind of timing out together so yes so maybe i this will i'll hear that i'll be like never mind but like if you watch the science if you watch the scientology documentary you might not like tom cruise as much after the fact dude give me a room tom cruise i

wouldn't i would tell you don't let me in there because i'm coming out of scientologist that's what's gonna that's how much scared i'll be like don't let me go in there dude if i go in there there's no way i'm telling him no i think he's that good that i'm gonna walk in there and just and be like i don't i don't see how you are not all scientists uh i love the i love the idea though of how much money someone like it's been i mean dude i'm 41 my whole life he's been super famous and i mean there's just no way he knows how much gum call you know i think if you told him gum was a hundred dollars i think he wouldn't even he would think that's pretty good he's like oh still still a hundred dollars like he just would have no idea oh god all right i thought it'd be up more and you'd be like he doesn't know what money is like uh and that kind of person is the person that i think should not say anything besides

now he's ranted about something but yeah he went he went off about people not wearing masks um the mask thing dude they they keep you on to people. They're like, why do you wear your dumb mask? I'm in Nashville. Everybody's wearing masks. I went to a NASCAR race and everybody had masks on. They're sitting outside. And these are the people that you would think not to wear a mask. People are wearing masks, man. There's yes. There's a guy here and there that doesn't want to wear it and wants to argue

with you about wearing a mask. There's people that are like that. But in the most part, everywhere I've been going, I mean, I've seen people wear their mask. I don't, you know, let's quit yelling at everybody. I did love that you updated some of your material to deal with COVID. The line, and it's you, it's classic you in that the line itself, if you wrote it down, you'd be like, well, that's not funny. And I'm you and that the line itself if you wrote it down you'd

be like well that's not funny and i'm going to share the line like i don't want to deliver your material but when you were basically saying like everybody's decided they may have had it at some point and everybody's an exaggeration as part of the performance but that line we were like yeah february yeah yeah sneezing a lot it was perfect it was hilarious. Not because it was more than just an observation. It was the delivery. It was all part of that. And going back and looking at your videos, like when you watch yourself now, do you go, Oh, like I, whenever it clicked, it's clicked for years. I have it where if you would deliver that kind of line in the beginning, I I'm sure this is probably true for comedians, but I know a lot of people like us in our industry, we hate

watching old video of ourselves. Some people can't stand to listen to themselves. Do you hate watching your standup career at the beginning? Oh yeah. I mean, I have the first time I ever went on stage. Uh, what was that? Tell us that story on VHS. It's on VHS. It was, I moved to Chicago. I started as a guy still does lessons, uh, comedy college. This guy, Jim Roth, he's in Milwaukee, Chicago. And I took, I took classes and I don't, you don't need classes, but when you're first starting, it's just, I moved to Chicago. I didn't know what to do. And it was like, nice to be with other people that are just starting out as well. So you kind of like, at least have a place to go and you're being held accountable because at the beginning you don't want to go on stage. I mean, you're nauseous every night.

I mean, you're so nervous to go talk in front of everybody. So you need someone to kind of force you to do it. But so when I started, I mean, at the beginning, I have a chin beard. I mean, this is like 2000. Oh, like a strap? Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like a little Limp Bizkit deal or something?

Yeah. Oh, yeah, dude. Limp Bizkit was pretty big when I started. no so it played it played yeah uh yeah dude everybody had uh but it's there i i talked i forget my set yeah it would be i couldn't watch it i'm so young i looked down the whole time the whole time i'm looking down uh because i'm just so nervous and uh i don't like listening to myself now I can watch like when the tonight show came out or I'm having to go through my we just shot a special and so I got to go through that to like kind of keep an eye on what how the editing's going of it and stuff or

whatever we do two shows usually and you kind of just make sure it's all looks good and whatever and so sometimes those are hard my last special actually i had my opener edited like i had him go through it because i was like i can't it's just too much like i and he was with me a lot uh and so i was like just i was like you just go watch it and see because it was like too it's too much to it is it's too much to watch and uh you don't like hearing yourself i've gotten a lot better than i was at the beginning but you know now you're just watching higher production stuff so you're on the tonight show it looks better so it's a little bit easier to watch than you're watching some like grainy video and you're like oh god and then you sound awful

i think the first thing i saw you do that i just was was dying was when and i don't know if it's a true story or not i mean i imagine there's a lot of creative license and like something that sort of happens and then how everything i do is is true okay so the story about you being mistaken for the guy's wife was that was that when a walmart except that except that one dude sorry uh no no i'm joking you're like all right dude you picked the one no that was so what was it set it up olivia where the guy i'm standing at the i go golfing and i stand i'm standing with my shirt off at the trunk of my car and uh this old man just comes up and just goes olivia and he thought he and i turned around and i was like what's that and he he's looking at me he thought i was his

elderly wife he was like 80 and he's looking for his elderly wife and saw me with no shirt on and thought i mean there she is we and her me and her apparently have similar body types and she has a little hair on her back to be honest but they're yeah that was that's that's exactly true dude that that happened uh i actually golfed in west i was in like west palm beach i was driving to tampa the next day so i went and golfed that morning and then i go drive to tampa and um i was like my car's like up there. And that guy does all that stuff. And I was like, God, that's so funny. And I asked the kid, there was like a kid that worked there. And I asked him, I said, Hey, did that guy just call me Olivia? And the kid was embarrassed. He

doesn't know I'm a comedian. He's like, yeah, I'm sorry, man. I don't know what that guy's problem was. And I was like, it's the best thing that's ever happened to me. And it was two months before I taped the special. And I opened a special with that joke best thing that's ever happened to me. And it was two months before I taped the special. And I opened the special with that joke on the Tennessee kid, which is pretty crazy. Sometimes you get lucky and it's. So you knew immediately, you knew immediately. Okay.

I called some people on the way to Tampa. I was doing a show in Tampa and I called some people. Cause I just told him like, I'll do that. I just called some friends, tell them the story, what happened. I'm kind of trying to say it and how I'm going to say it on stage that night. And then they're laughing. And you're kind of like, that's funny, right? And they're like, yeah, dude, that's really funny. I was like, all right, all right. I'll call like Soder. And then I tried it that night on stage and it worked. And I just knew, I was like, that's the opening joke. That's a perfect opening joke to say. And so, yeah, some stuff you get, some stuff you got to mess around with. And then some stuff like that, it just happens, man. And you're like, anybody could tell that kind of, it'd be funny.

You know, it's just. Yeah, that was, that was killer. Cause it was your delivery. Like you don't really know when the punchline's coming, which I think is what makes you really good. And I, as I'm kind of thinking back, like, hey, do you have to go back and watch? You don't really have to if you're a comedian because you can just see. You can hear it.

You can see it. And you're like, all right, well, I killed. Yeah. You feel it. But you do it. I've been trying to. So I do. Like when you build a new act, I'm trying to get better this time around and listening to some stuff.

And I'll go back and listen to see what just make sure i didn't forget anything but when you're doing comedy as much as i mean now it's not like normal when you're normally on the road i mean now you're doing you know four to six shows a week i'm doing an hour every week i mean you're you i got it i got a pretty good memory of you know it's my. So it's like kind of easy to be like, no, you know, and I always kind of mix some, I always change some stuff up here and there, but you kind of get it and then you, you fill it out and you know, but the big,

the big problem is where I'm at in comedy that you do got to be aware of is now that people, people laugh at you cause they know, now they know you. So now you're back to the way like performing in front of your high school friends. And so like where now these people know you and they're going to laugh easier than they ever would have. So you have to make sure that your material stays up to par to be above that. Because that's where you can start slipping is you start getting laughs in some places that are really not funny, but people like you. And so they laugh at it. And that's a slippery slope into being six years from now, you're just like garbage. And then you

had no idea. And then everything starts dwindling down. So you have to be super aware to be like, I need to make sure this joke works. I can still go up in front of people that don't know who I am. If I go, like, if I go pop into shows, it's not like I'm Jerry Seinfeld, but you have to make sure that you're at least are aware that, you know, I can't rely on just like your fans laughing at you, you know, what's your, I'm sure you've done this before, but what's your, what's your best bombing story? You know, it's funny. I mean, there's just so many when you... What's it like?

Can you give me one that you can remember mentally? Like you're looking out and you go, I wish this was over and it's not. One was the first... When I first moved to New York, I used to hand out flyers at Boston Comedy Club. So if you watch Pete Holmes crashing on HBO, I did that with Pete Holmes. I was with Pete doing that. to hand out flyers at boston comedy club so if you watched pete holmes crashing on hbo i did that with pete holmes i was with pete doing that you hand out flyers get people in the shows and i remember one night going up there and and so we would get to go on stage we'd

hand out flyers all night and then we'd get five minutes at the end of the night and so everybody's going up and everybody's like murdering i mean they're just all destroying all destroying. And I'm like, you know, someone goes up there. What? I didn't think it was that good. And she and then she did really good. And I was like, you know what? I was like, dude, I'm going to murder if they like that. I'm going to murder. And I go up and bombed so hard.

And I mean, zero laughs at all. And then I got off and that was the first real hard bombing and i got off stage and i had to go walk around the village i mean i hurt in my stomach uh i threw that shirt away i wore i thought maybe it's the shirt and then i was like i'll never wear that shirt again i mean it that one like is one that like it it hurts you know i mean it like hurt it physically hurt later on you you have it happens so much you're in just bad situations uh where stuff you know i mean i would do shows at bars i mean we did one show at a bar and the stage so the stage was in the middle of the bar it was almost like would be like almost like a strip club there's an old strip club where they have like the pole and then the bar is like around like the bartender

walks around the stage and but then this so it was like that so we performed in the middle but they had uh wine glasses hung up above so if you stood up people couldn't see your head and so so the whole the whole show you gotta like kind of crouch down and you're just bending down a little bit and you see you're telling all your jokes from just a weird angle and uh i mean that that one's tough that one was you know that's definitely not you lose some laughs when you're making facial expressions to the back of wood uh but you said something though that that definitely relates to to my like my business i will see people be like you are the best we're so lucky to have you no one does a better job so and so did this you have and i'll be like you hate that fucking person yeah like

yeah you don't like you've talked to me about that person. So either ignore it or, you know, like I have to imagine that's a big part of comedy. Because like deep down you and other guys would be like, this person isn't as good. I mean, some of it can be competitive. Some of it can be jealousy. And also with comedy, I mean, there are just different styles that work where you're like, hey, this person's really successful. I don't necessarily get it. But how much of that is a part of comedy where it probably drives you guys nuts when you

know people behind the scenes don't like that other person, but they're just trying to latch on just to be approved? I mean, overall, you know, that's the beginning. You hate everybody. And then the longer you get into it, you know, when you're first starting, dude, you're just like, this guy stinks, dude. He stinks. Like, you think you're, you know, and you're nowhere, by the way. You're doing nothing. You're making $800 a year in comedy randomly.

But the longer you get into it, I really respect the longevity of guys. So guys that are doing it forever, you're like, yeah, dude, you know how hard that is? We're making a career out of nothing. It is nothing I am tricking people into paying to come see me tell jokes. It's no one needs me That's i've always lived by that motto. No one needs me to do comedy at all. I'm Like, you know, I got to make myself where you want to come see me And if you don't ever want to come see me, like that's, that's all me. Like it's not on you.

And so the longevity, you, you start kind of respecting that a little bit more where you start seeing guys where you're like, yeah, that might, that guy might not be my cup of tea, but,

uh, it's like, I get, I get why people like him and you know, that stuff like that. But for me, like with comics, I like guys that,

you know, if it's like a Chappelle Burr, uh, it's, it's, it's guys that are really trying to do it forever. I mean, Louis was like that, like where it's guys that are trying to be the best standup comics. That's what I want to do. That's what you want to be. Gaffigan, Brian Regan, like these guys where you're, you know, you, I don't know if you can ever really have like Mount Rushmore of comedy. There's just, it's so subjective.

But if you want, if someone's talking about the greatest comics of all time, you at least want your name to be thrown in with the other names. And that's so like, when I look at that, that's, that's going after that. Like Jim Carrey, Jim Carrey was like a funny standup comic, right? But it would be a comic that I would like be annoyed with. Cause it's like, then he quit. Letterman was like that. Letterman was this standup comic, then he gave up on it.

So I always liked Leno because you know what? Leno kept doing it. Leno always kept doing stand-up and he never left it. And so I like that. When someone leaves it, to me, it's like, you're like, I don't know. So if you get a huge movie deal, you'd be like, no way. I'm not going to watch him carry it. No, no, you go do that stuff, but you go do stand-up.

You go do all that. You can do all that stuff and never quit your stand-up i mean seinfeld yeah i guess right he had the greatest tv show of all time like and he did and now he's back doing stand-up it's like that's what you want is like just the people that love it jay leno hosted tonight show did stand up every week uh it's it's i't know. It's something like that. I get now that that being said, I understand Steve Martin quitting. Steve Martin got as about as big as you can get. It was like not even a show anymore. He's going out to these stadiums and it's, I mean, they, you might as well just play a video. I mean, it was, there was no react. There was no, what you're going for. I mean,

it's just this gigantic thing. So our Eddie Murphy, Eddie Murphy is would have been is still one of the greatest but eddie murphy got so big that i think if you get that big i i kind of get it where you're like i don't know what else i can't even go do a regular show it's just too hard like it's like chappelle a little bit too yeah you just go you know what like if it's not on my terms I don't really want to do this anymore. Chevelle, that's the ultimate dream. I mean, he just goes, I want to do a show tomorrow in Nebraska. And it happens. And like, that's what you want to do. Bill Burr would do that with, you know, I've been to, we went, me and Burr have been to

Daytona 500 in Talladega. And I went and opened for him both of us. So he just books a show the day before Daytona 500. I opened for him at that show, then we go to the race. And Talladega was the same way. We went to Atlanta, did a show, and then the next day we drove to Talladega. So Burr, if he wants to go to a football game, he just books a show the day before that football game. And so when you can get that big, where you can know you can sell those tickets, I mean, that's that would be my that's that's the next step you want to get to. You know, I want to go follow Vandy's schedule.

No one's even down there except me. Like just but I do have time. I know they're like, dude, we're wide open. Like you want to come down? I mean, but there you know, you want to go do that where you want to go like I want to go, you know, to the Orange Bowl night before I'll do a show. And then, you know, and then you're it's that's that's the dream right there. I think you're going to get there. I really do. I have a great eye for these things. I have two more things before we finish up here.

You're doing some stuff now, like you've been trying to get through this. So how how have these appearances been? I don't know what the very latest to the date is for you, but I know that through this past year, you've been, you've been getting out. I've been watching some of the videos you've done some social distance standup. So how has that worked and what are you doing now? Uh, we did now I'm done. And then, so we did, uh, we did a bunch of drive-in movie theaters and that was cool. Yeah. It's fun, man. At first, when it first started, it was did a bunch of drive-in movie theaters. That was cool. Yeah, it's fun, man. At first, when it first started, it was like a couple of them where you're like, all right, you got to get used to it.

But that's all how you go into the mindset of it. You got to go in the mindset of like, these are not going to be normal. You're not going to be able to really hear anybody laugh. And you're going to just do it. And you're happy to get out. And these people are happy to come to a show. And I i mean one of the best shows we had was in chicago it was 45 degrees raining everybody's kind of staying in their cars some people sit out front people up in the front could sit out you hear some laughs but people would honk for laughs and it actually kind of worked

like it was at first it threw me off when i watched the video i was like was this driving him crazy but it was kind of funny funny as I got used to it. And you're out there, it's huge. Yeah, you just need noise thrown back at you. And once you hear the reaction, it makes it where you go, oh, this is going good. And you can learn because it's about us. It's like our timing comes off the audience. And so it made it be where we were able to time out because of that.

And I mean, dude, there's 500 cars. And to see 500 cars honking and flashing their lights at when you go on stage, I mean, that's something that I'll never forget in my entire career. It was so unbelievable. And so the whole experience of it was unreal. Now, the flip side of it is when I saw people leave early. And I mean, that's tough because headlights just hit you right in the face. They're just driving. Dude, I saw one guy had trouble finding the mean, that's tough because headlights just hit you right in the face. They're just driving.

Dude, I saw one guy had trouble finding the exit. He's just going back and forth. And it's just a truck just during the show, just driving back and forth. And he can't get out. And you're just up there like, God, somebody help me. Yeah, help this guy out.

Yeah, I'm just up there like, telling my dumb jokes. And he's like, you see him start backing up? And you're like, oh, God. Reverse lights going. So this is the last thing. This is so stupid.

So I was up in my house, and I was watching your videos. And you were getting changed in one of them on the road. And I know you talk about your level of fitness a lot you were always impressed with the before guy yeah and i always thought that was great and then there was a bad i don't know if it was a bad camera angle james harden's dealing with this a little bit right now where the angle was bad it was it was a tough look for you and and i got bummed out yeah and i was like and then after a minute i was like why the fuck are you bummed out. Yeah. And I was like, and then after a minute, I was like,

why the fuck are you bummed out? You don't even know. Like, you're not friends with them. What were your expectations? Like what? He makes fun of his lack of fit. Like,

what were your expectations when he took his shirt off? Like, did you, so I don't know. I don't know why I'm sharing that with you. So it was as bad as you thought it was going to be. My expectations weren't high to begin with. And then I was like, what the hell is going on?

I was like, well, he's been on the road and now they're in this van, I think. And so I'm not. Yeah. We were on tour bus. I mean, yeah. So, yeah, I don't always like show that. It was like, that was like a funny, because Bert Kreischer takes his shirt off. So we like did that.

I haven't really, I watched, I watched the video kind of briefly. I didn't want to watch it either. Like it's, and it's kind of, you're just trying to be funny. So, uh, you know, it's, I didn't see the angle. Maybe the angle is bad. It makes it, it's a bad angle. I think it's a bad angle. Cause I don't think, I think, I don't think it's a bad angle. I think if you dove in there, look, you know, you want me to take my shirt off right now? Is that what you're asking? Like, uh, you want to get, maybe the second time, maybe the second time. Cause I don't know what it is. Like as you've seasoned, I think you look better. Like when you were, you know, when you were, it's like you went from age 25 to 45 in a week, but it looks

better. Well, I grew a beard. Well, so I was, I mean mean back when you first started in new york you're just a master you're like you're out drinking every night till 5 a.m and then uh you're eating just fast food which i've still kept doing that but you're still eating bad and so you're just kind of a bloated mess but you're so young in the face in those old videos it's hilarious yeah i get made fun of that too i've changed a lot of looks. That's what Katie Nolan, she says her favorite name is the puka necklace name. Dude, I used to have a,

I would wear that puka necklace. I wore rubber bands on my wrist. Do you remember, did you ever remember that being popular in high school? Like Kevin Garant wore rubber bands. That's exactly what it was. Because the NBA guys, like I always make make this point like in eighth grade or high school

we'd all do the same stuff and then i always thought it was weird that 30 year old millionaire nba players are basically the same way it's like well kenyon martin has two rubber bands now well i have to have two rubber bands i had rubber bands until i was 30 so my problem is i hang on to stuff like i like it's like everybody's already veered off and they're like yeah we're not doing that anymore and I'm like dude I've been doing it for eight more years like not you know not where it's like dude I look like a jerk I don't you mean y'all just quit last week I mean like it's like eight to ten years I go past when everybody quit doing something so I did all that and then now i've like caught up

but yeah the body look i am working out now i've worked i worked out today i've started working out that body's gonna come down dude i haven't started eating good but once i start eating good it's all gonna come together i'm gonna take my shirt off next time it's gonna be i'll do my own before after they would be great It's just a before. Yeah, a before and then just a, you have the next one say before, but it looks better. And you're like, I'm not an after yet. I'm not an after yet.

I'm going to go back to like a high school picture and just throw that in there, you know, and just put that. I don't even have it. It's funny, in high school, I don't think I had any pictures of my shirt off because I was more reasonable. And I was like, that's when you could have your shirt off. You have the body to have your shirt off.

And weirdly I've waited until my daughter was eight years old. So, uh, she'll be embarrassed about that forever. You know, I'm a huge Nate fan. You could check out his special on Netflix, the Tennessee kid,

make sure you check that out and all the other videos. And, um, I can't wait to see when this thing all gets, you know, we're all, we're all in the same thing, trying to figure it out. So I really appreciate it. Yeah. Look, everybody wear masks, vote, remember to vote.

I'm a big fan of YouTube, man. I'm very excited to talk to you. So that was awesome. Get some college football and life advice. Remember, but by now you've probably heard about FanDuel Sportsbook, world-class sports betting app. Well, there's a reason why FanDuel is America's number one sportsbook. FanDuel makes it easy to find and place your bets.

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So that's a Chiefs-Saints game. Just bet up to $10 and win up to $150. Even though this is going to New Orleans, I'm going to say Kansas City. I think that Miami game was going to say Kansas City. I think that Miami game was sloppy enough that Kansas City, even against the Saints defense, that Damian Woody said is the best in the NFL. Other people think it might be the Rams right now. Washington is worth mentioning.

I'm going to mention them a little bit later. State farm piece. I'm going with the Chiefs because I just think the sloppiness of the Miami game, they're going to be tuned up a little bit more the week leading up to this game. All right, so there you go. If you've never tried FanDuel Sportsbook,

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in Colorado. 1-800-BETS-OFF Iowa. 1-800-9-WITH-IT Indiana. 1-800-GAMBLER. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois. Tennessee Red Line. 1-800ambler.net in West Virginia. backing their guy, which I cannot believe that this player that wants nothing to do with you and everything was catered to him and you made every trade for him and moved all these picks for him. And then he's like, ah, fuck it.

I'm out of here. That Houston people are still defending this fucking guy. It actually blows my mind. Although I will stick up for Harden here. That first picture where he looked high key, as the kids say, thick, it might've been, um, a bad angle because then, then when he was warming up, the angle looked a little better. So there were a lot of Harden jokes out there. He looked, looked a tad overweight,

but it might've just been those tight fits. People like compression shirts. People like to work out that way. They like to feel it on their body. Baggy pants are out. So that could have been it, but the rest of the stuff. Good luck with all that. All right, college football.

The rankings came out late last night. No change in the top five. Bama, Notre Dame, Clemson, Ohio State, and A&M. So the issues are Florida only dropping one spot after losing to a very disappointing LSU team this season. Iowa State scenarios at 8-2, sitting there at 6. And Cincinnati dropping from eight to nine. And then coastal Carolina moving from 13 to 12.

So like any ranking, if you want to find something wrong with it, you can definitely find something wrong with it. Stu Mandel at the athletic who's terrific at college football has been forever. I'll cite him often is worth pointing out this point that he makes because he was upset about it. A bunch of people were upset about it. And I think sometimes being upset about it, it's like, okay,

but what are we really talking about? Because I don't like doing a, hey, it's all going to work out. It doesn't really matter. It's just going to be Van with Notre Dame, Clemson, Ohio State anyway. Well, that's not the point. That's not the point of any of this stuff. If that were the point, then none of us would talk about any of it or get upset about things.

But when it comes to the rankings, people seem to get extra upset about it because I think they're always fighting for something that's not really part of it. And that's, Hey, I want the little guy to have a chance. I think the system's telling us the little guy doesn't really have that much of a chance. And like I've said, I'm, I think I'm okay with that. So here's something worth looking at here. So the college football playoff, this is from Stu's piece, has never included a team that lost its conference championship game by any margin. All right? Notre Dame could be the first.

So Clemson, if they lose a second time, is out, and then that starts turning into the Texas A&M Iowa State deal, which we'll get to here in a second. So all right, so that hasn't happened. We haven't had a conference championship game loser get in. Notre Dame could have a close loss to Notre Dame and still stay in at number four. It has never

included a team that lost a regular season game to one of the other playoff teams. So say Clemson loses again, A&M moves from five to four, and then that means Bama's going to play A&M. Cannell and I were over this last week and I know that people say, oh, they'll never do that. They'll never want to rematch.

I don't know why you say never, because I could totally see that scenario. And it's not like they can move Clemson or, excuse me, Ohio State. Are they going to just move them to four to avoid the rematch? I mean, maybe they would do that. Or maybe they'd say, you know what? Ohio State, it's all said and done. It's 6-0. And A&M had played 10 games if they beat Tennessee this week, which is not exactly an impressive win.

So that's never happened. And it's also never included a two-loss team, which we could have with Iowa State or Oklahoma sitting there at 10. But it's only been six years of the playoffs. So because these things have never happened, we have six years. I don't know that anybody would ever start making big-time predictions based on what the future. As much as we want to say the past predicts the future

or the past has nothing to do with the future because I've heard those concepts applied in different things all the time, but with sports, at least with this, to have six years of results for four selections, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. At some point, there is going to be a two-loss team in there. At some point, there will be a conference championship loser in there. If Bama loses to Florida, Bama's still going to be in. And I know that drives you crazy.

And Florida might be out in that scenario. And that'll mean, well, what's the point? Well, what the point is, is that the committee is not going to use conference championships the way I think the public wants them to be used. From the very beginning, they said our goal is to put the four best teams in. So after all the results in a normal season, 12 to 13 game results, they're saying, okay, let's look at the full body of work. Let's look at this as a credit score. And what's on your credit score?

Well, Iowa didn't pay some bills in the very beginning of the year. They lost to Louisiana, 31-14. But apparently the banks like what they've done a little bit more in the last five weeks, winning five straight. Alabama's credit score is impeccable. Maybe they lose to Florida in a close one. We say, oh, I missed a payment, but we're going to submit that as some kind of deal where the credit card made an error, so that'll be off your credit score next month, but not in seven years like it happens with other mistakes

that people can make, and they're still going to like Bama at 10-1. I just don't think the committee could tell you what you already know, and if the committee said, ah, you know, conference championships, they're part of it, which they've said, but it's not really that important, then people will go, wait, are you kidding me?

Conference championships aren't important? They're already telling you conference champions aren't that important. They said four best teams. And that's the part of this where I've always been okay. Now, this is the part where it's pretty clear what they're doing here. And this is, I think, where the complaints are completely justified. The way they have this now with A&M in front of Iowa State, they could change that. I mean, A&M is going to have one win against the top five, excuse me, top 25 team.

And that's going to be against Florida. And if Iowa State beats Oklahoma, that would mean they have four wins against current top 25s. Because that would mean Iowa State has two wins against Oklahoma. Oklahoma State's still in the top 25. And Texas is still in the top 25. Now, when you say it that way and you go, oh, wait, our team has four top 25 wins, which is exactly what I would be doing if I were a Cyclones fan. If you win that rematch, which I don't think you're going to win. I think Oklahoma is a better football team now, and you beat them 37-30 in the beginning of the year. I like Oklahoma in that game. I've had the

Big 12 nailed all year. I've been good on the SEC. Pac-12, I've had no shot. ACC have been okay with Miami going into that game against North Carolina. I didn't expect it to be that bad, but I'd look at them and go, why are they ranked? What are they ranked? Because eventually you run out of teams too. Everybody that gets mad about the rankings, go ahead and rank your own 25. Where do you start putting it?

What would you do with Florida after the LSU loss? Are you going to put them at 15? That doesn't seem to make a ton of sense. I mean, USC at 13 doesn't make any sense either, but I think the worst news for them is losing Washington and maybe playing a more talented Oregon team.

And then, like, what does it cost USC? A 6-0 season when they weren't going to get in the playoff in the first place? So what's happening is it's setting up for a weird A&M-Iowa State debate. You could say that as of right now, this means that A&M will still be in, even if Iowa State wins the rematch with more top 25 wins.

But at least on these rankings, it looks like A&M is more impressed with the one loss against their number one team in Alabama than the two losses with Oklahoma State and Louisiana for Iowa State. Florida stays in front of Cincinnati. Now, Cincinnati hasn't played since November 21st, and it seems like there's been a committee correction going from being into Cincinnati to now no longer being in Cincinnati or being into them. I don't know where they're located. I know they're not located in Cincinnati. It's Texas. But are you supposed to put Indiana ahead of Florida? I mean, I guess you could.

That doesn't really bother me that much. I mean, is Coastal Carolina supposed to be seven? And would everybody be happier now knowing that they're not getting to the playoff anyway? Okay, I guess you could be happy there. I think the part where it feels a little calculated is the committee covering for themselves if they actually wanted to put Florida back into the top four. And that's why they kept them in front of Georgia where,

look, they have the head-to-head on Georgia, but they want to keep them ahead of Cincinnati. That's the one where if Florida beats Alabama, they can jump Iowa State. They can then not maybe care as much about A&M winning the head-to-head. I'm starting to ramble here a bit, so I'm going to stop myself. But I think it all comes down to a lot of times they're giving us the answers. They're telling us how they feel about things. And because they aren't being more transparent, you're mad about it. Like, what if they actually just said, yeah, you know what? The conference championships, it's not as big of a deal as you guys think it is.

And they would just get crushed for saying it when that's exactly what they're already saying. Now it's time for the State Farm Surprisingly Great segment of the week. Getting great car and home insurance from State Farm at a surprisingly great rate. That's like the surprise defense in the NFL, your Washington football team. Okay, I, like a lot of you, wrote off the entire NFC East because we should. It's not a great division.

But there's a story going on from your first place leading Washington football team. And that story is on defense. Let's run over a million stats because they're all impressive. This is, without question, one of the five best defenses in the NFL. And I was dismissive of it at first because of competition and the fact that they weren't winning many games. So sometimes your defensive numbers don't really hold up. But over the course of almost a full season, these hold up. Defensive metrics, they're fourth. Number two against the pass. Number 10 against the run. In some of the more traditional numbers, they're number four in yards allowed. Number six in points per game allowed. They haven't been in

the top 10 in either one of those categories as a franchise since 2009. They're fourth in opponents' yards per play. They're sixth in opponents' third down conversion rate. They were a terrible fourth quarter defense last year. Now they're the sixth best in the league. This is all while having their offense be 18th in time of possession. So it's not like their defense isn't out there all the time. They are out there a lot.

This is the best number from this group. Their number three in red zone touchdown percentage allowed at 50%. Who's the worst? The Kansas City Chiefs actually are the best team in football, allowing opponents to score touchdowns 75% of the time they're in the red zone. So the Washington football team's only half at that number. All right. And the really, the big thing is we're talking about five guys in that front. They're all first round picks. It's not just Chase Young who had a remarkable weekend with a touchdown and just wrecking teams, offensive game plans. There are all sorts of

guys on this team. Montrez Sweat, also Jonathan Allen, Deron Payne. You remember those guys from the SEC. Kerrigan has been picking up a little bit. So this Washington football team has put together a defensive run that in the beginning I was skeptical of, but now when you check it out, we're almost done with the season. It is held up and now they are in first place in the NFC East. State Farm agents provide personal service so you can customize your insurance to fit your needs. Like a GM putting together their very own roster, you need a team that supports you, and State Farm's got a great one. In addition to agency, award-winning mobile app helps manage coverage, pay bills, file claims, and more with a great price and even greater service. State Farm goes from strength to strength. Choose insurance

that always brings its A-game. When you want the real deal, like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Our surprisingly great player from last week. It's not just a player. It's the entire defensive unit for the Washington football team. 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 can possibly imagine. And best of all, kids, I am liquid. So, now you know what's possible. Let me tell you what's required. Lifeadvice, rr at gmail.com. I have a couple of heaters here. Really like them.

This one I'm super fired up about. Actually, two, you know, whatever. All right, here we go. My HOA is a problem. For people who don't know what the HOA is, when you live at a condo association apartment, you know, you pay fees on top of everything else so that somebody's out there raking stuff. Sometimes it includes garbage.

In Connecticut, we had a nice little pool. There was also a common area where you'd play billiards or maybe cards. I never went to any of those things, but I did jump in the pool every now and then. All right. So our guy is checking in saying the HOA is a problem. I've run into a financial and moral quandary. I need your advice. Big fan. All right. So the story built a backyard shed two plus years ago in my house and fence after getting written permission from my HOA president and neighbors. Well, that seems okay. The shed a aids in storage for my family's ever-growing tools, toys, and sports stuff. I'm 36 yearold insurance broker from Colorado. Three boys.

Shed stats. Cement foundation. All right. Slab? Or did you guys dig it out? Doesn't matter. Stands at 12 by 10 by 8. Architecture style.

Mimics house. The same roofing, siding, and paint. Double barn doors. Window. In August, I received a letter in the mail from my HOA management company threatening legal action and a $5,000 fine if I don't remove my shed in the next two weeks. Our HOA is small, only 68 houses on four streets next to a golf course. Dues are low and everyone gets along. I called the HOA president, basically said, what the fuck, man? You said we could build the shed two years ago. He responded, there's been

complaints in the board and its management fine warrant violation of hoa covenants and needs to be removed i'm no uh now i'm no lawyer but i've been awake my whole life and simple google searches and common sense show their decision is illegal i don't know if that's true or not i'll defer to you that you googled it and you're more passionate about it than the rest of us are statute of limitations of colorado for homeowners building and outdoor structures one year president and neighbors giving prior written approval.

Violation of primary. All right. I have a lawyer buddy named JW. He agrees that HOA is violating the law and I have a slam dunk defense, but he costs us. It'll cost a lot of money to fight in court. More money than the shed is actually worth. Apparently, HOAs are powerful and claim insurance to cover legal costs. And apparently, they suck big time, bro.

I love my shed, but is it wise to use a chunk of our savings and upset some of our neighbors to fight for the shed survival? Okay. I look, man, I am totally on your side. I'm actually in a bit of an HOA battle myself right now. Um, they sent, uh, this is a contact information sheet. I've lived in this house in two plus years and they sent it to a different address and I didn't get any of it. And then I got something certified in the mail. It was like, we had a meeting about you and you were fine, $25. And I was like, all right, whatever. I was fine, $25. What I didn't realize it was fine, $25 a day. So that's been going on for like a month. I was like, hey, you know what? Can we come to a better agreement here? You sent it to the wrong stuff. We've updated the address. I filled out the new forms. we come to a better agreement here. You send it to the wrong stuff. We've updated the address. I filled out the new forms and they're like,

well, people weren't taking this seriously. We had to find you. I was like, okay, well now it's being taken seriously. And I didn't, you sent all the other stuff to the wrong address. So there's,

yeah, I was like, there's a reasonable way to handle this. And by the way, everyone can just handle it. Like all of you people are like, well, now that it's in the system,

you're all full of shit. Okay. Someone can just say, yes, I now have a, as a person in power with the HOA can decide, let's figure this out. I don't know how this thing's going to go. I also know that I went back in the day with my HOA in Connecticut. When I was moving, I called up the Veterans Society because I wanted to donate a bunch of stuff that they could either use that I wasn't going to bring in the move or they could sell. And there's this whole thing. You could look at it. If you have stuff that's laying around and you set up, they actually bring you the right bag so that they know what to pick up.

And then you pick up a time. You just put the stuff in the driveway. They have people loaded up and that's fine. So, of course, when your boy did that for the veterans thing, trying to be nice and donate some stuff. And I was actually donating like nice stuff. I was just like, look, I'm over it. And the landscapers in the HOA started picking it off left and right. Like it was a flea market with no, I was like, Hey guys, what are we doing here?

And of course they're just looking at me, walking away with my stuff being like, Hey, we don't speak English. I'm like, well, can you, what part of the not understanding each other? Is it that I'm asking you to put the stuff back on my driveway? And they're like, oh, and they just play dumb, play dumb. And then finally, like, hey, look, guys, like, no, it's not garbage. And they're like, oh, OK, OK, high five it out. Everybody's good.

They did a painting thing. I think they hired two stone kids that may have been related to somebody else that painted the pillars in the front. Again, this isn't exactly like some Southern mansion here, little entry to the cement walkway. And they painted it, but they power washed it first, which was nice, except they didn't know how to use power washers. And they basically dented all of the wood

with the pressure of the water into it. I'd be like, what are you guys doing? Like, oh, we'll just get another, we'll get another coat of paint on that. And like, no, you just ruined all the wood. Another neighbor decided to, with permission, um, change the back patio brick. And, um, they went ahead and got the permission, put in the patio and then got a letter like a month later from an HOA saying you owe $5,000 because of damage. And look, I'm just, uh, you,

you said 5,000. So it's stuck in my head. It was thousands of dollars that they were accused of doing damage to. And the great thing is, is my friend that took the pictures of the before and after showed that there was no damage done whatsoever. But here's what happened is that neighbors get involved. And this gets back to my favorite lesson in the book, Sapiens, and that when we were upright, once the crew was 30 deep, people were just over it. Like, hey, what's going on with Ned?

Well, he doesn't, you know, he's not bringing enough berries back, and he's not sweeping his cave. And you're like, ah, Ned sucks. And Ned's like, are they talking about me? Like, I always bring plenty of berries back, and I've been great on the hunt. And yeah, I like my cave differently, but it's my fucking cave. So why are they talking about me?

And then it would just go back and forth. And Ned decides, all right, fuck it. I'm going to get my own clan. And then guess what happens to Ned's clan? People keep reproducing. And then they're at like 31, 40 people. and then they're at like 31, 40 people. And then Ned's like, you know, our stick inventory is low.

Like we need more sticks. This is ridiculous. And then they would break off. And basically the whole point of Sapiens is that once we were 30 deep, we couldn't control anything anymore. And we would just break off into clans. And then, you know, fast forward a few thousand years and there's 8 billion of us. It's the same thing with HOAs. we would just break off into clans. And then, you know, fast forward a few thousand years and there's 8 billion of us. It's the same thing with HOAs because I don't care who you are,

how nice you are to everybody. That number could be 40. It could be 200. When you put up a shed, if you change your back patio or like me, I don't know, that actually has nothing to do with it. I was just trying to give away free stuff, but there's going to be somebody else that you live next to that's going to have a problem with it. Okay. I'm surprised we get along as well as we do now. And no one thinks we get along, honestly, because I don't know. People are bored. Sometimes the HOA people just like to be fucking bullies about it. And it's stupid. And what happened here is somebody else, you got all the sign offs and then somebody else decided like, oh, I don't like that shed. It's in my sight line to the to the other stuff that I don't look at.

And now it's a problem because maybe that person is bored. Maybe that guy's wife is leaving him and he's sitting around. He's 70. He's like, what can I do? I'm like, I know what I can do. I can write a letter and complain about this guy's fucking shed just because I feel like it. And now that I did that, now the HOA has to do it. The other thing with HOAs where I sympathize with them on this is that for our HOA listeners here that feel like they're getting beaten up unfairly is that you don't want to say

yes to something that maybe makes sense because now you're afraid there's going to be 68 sheds out there. That's why the NFL will do things where like, that's stupid. Why can't that guy just do this with his Jersey? Or why can't he do that? It's like, well, if I let you do this and somebody else is going to ask,

well, how come he gets to do this, but I can't do that. And we're all a bunch of children. And that's why sometimes we need a little HOA in our life. Is the HOA, is it a name for a type of organization or is it like the evil empire? And it's all HOA.

They all have like the same like lawyer network and whatever like is the hoa the same everywhere or is that just like a name for this organization that like keeps people's neighborhoods in check wait are you talking like is the hoa the illuminati no not like is it i'm just saying like is it a brand or is it like no no it's homeowners no no it's it's a type of thing? No, no, it's a homeowner's. No, no, it's a type of thing. The Homeowners Association. So it's not the same group. Like it's not like Nigel Columbus. No, no, no, no. There's like one guy.

It's like your shed. Like, all right, we got a shed in Colorado we need to deal with. No, no, it's just a, it's like a term. Got it, got it, got it. I never owned a home. I don't know if you know that, but. No, I get it. But here's the's the deal like think of it this way if you pay dues well dues aren't one thing like if you pay dues your country club if you pay dues in a fraternity if you pay dues

um as i think as a union member you know you pay dues well it's not just one guy like you know that guy is he's he owns dues no no it's. No, no, it's, it's, uh, it's just the title of what it is. Everybody just calls it your HOA. Cause when you move into a place that's like communal living, you'd be like, okay, what are the HOAs? Cause I remember I was looking at, there was this very sliver of a chance that I would end up in Chicago. And just cause I like looking at real estate, I was like, all right, let me look. And I started looking at where I wanted to live. And I was like, these prices aren't as crazy as I thought they would be. And then I looked at the HOAs in Chicago. I was like, oh my God, these are absurd.

And sometimes the HOA, you're like, what is all of this going to? Like I had a place in Boston where there were reserves, but they never wanted to use them. So, and now I'm giving you a lesson on finance stuff that I'm not even a hundred percent sure about. So I'm just going to stop. All right. So back to the case, back to the case. This is one of those classic life advices here. Um, I think in these cases, you got to go back at them with an absolute sledgehammer. Let me give you another little story. When I lived in New Jersey for like a short six months stint, I didn't know if I was going to last. I didn't. I did six months. I signed a lease for six months. They had some absurd like 90 day out thing that you had to tell them you were renewing. And I was like, no, I'm not. And then because I

didn't meet some stupid deadline about renewing, then that meant I automatically renewed. And then they tried to whack me with all of these fees because they were like, well, now you are responsible for the apartment, even though they're definitely going to be able to rent it out. It was pretty low income, um, you know, back then. I mean, the whole thing, and I actually think they were doing it to mess with, because there was a lot of foreign people that lived in this complex I was in because, you know, I didn't have any money and it was a place where people without money lived. And, um, I was basically never there because I was at the ballpark nonstop. And as I was moving out, they're like, oh no, you owe us all these fees. I'm like, how do I owe you all those fees? I told you when I

signed the lease, I'm not renewing. I told you at this point, I'm not renewing. And they're like, yeah, but there's another deadline in there. And you're like, this is such bullshit. So they tried to sue me. And then I came back at them and wrote a letter demanding back payment for stress. I mean, I've never done anything like that before, but I just got so sick of them. I was like, I actually want interest on the deposit that hasn't been released. I calculate the interest at this absurd rate. I want back pay for moving expenses. I just started listing stuff I was going to charge them for and come back at them for. And it went on and on and on. And they finally gave up. I forget who taught me that it

was, it had to have been some agent or something, but this is way before I was really even in the industry. When you're in this kind of fight and when you're right, like some people do it when they're wrong too, where you just got to go back to them and say, okay, here are the facts. You approved it. Neighbor's approval, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You are going to have to pay for removal. You are going to have to pay for reseeding. You are going to have to pay for all of this stuff. So if you want me to take this down, not only am I not paying your fine, you're going to have to pay for all the removal. And you could also do it in a nicer way, which I wouldn't because it doesn't sound like you're wrong here at all. I think there's

a way you go around to every single neighbor and be like, look, I'm trying to get to the bottom of this. And I'm sorry I have a shed and maybe you want a shed too, but I got approval on all this stuff. So I don't know, man. HOAs are bullies here. And I would fight this. But then again, if you have a lawyer buddy named jw why can't he help with this and not charge you a ton of cash for it please follow up yeah please kyle is locked in okay all right we'll read we'll read this one because i was i was going to do a different one but i'll do that different one a little bit later because there's there's some similarities um it's

not another hoA thing. Like, hey, all right, coming up this week on the HOA part of the podcast. All right, checking in. Ryan, I've been contemplating this email ever since you started doing Life Advice. I never sent it because I know that my issue happens to most guys,

but I think it's why I'm finally submitting it. I met a girl in high school who instantly became my biggest crush. She was gorgeous, funny, and could hold a conversation. When she was in the right mood, she was into me. She'd flirt with me, tell me she wanted to be with me. We even made a pact to get married. If they both weren't married by 25, they made a pact to get married. Then, almost always ending up dating some guy, her interest would understandably drop off

until I was in a relationship. So he went dot, dot, dot here. So here we go. She'd be in a relationship. Her interests would drop off. Makes sense. But then she would start to like you again once you were in a relationship. All right. Bad sign. Then all of a sudden, she wanted me again.

She'd flirt with me constantly and tell me how she could always make me happy. Surprisingly, I never cheated. Eventually, we went our separate ways to college and never hooked up. Fast forward, sophomore year in college. Uh-oh, here we go. I come home from school. You're so cool when you come home from college, like those first couple of times, no one's cooler than freshmen or sophomore. And then by the time you're a little bit older, you're like, okay, wait a minute. I don't think I want to come home so that seniors in high school

think I'm awesome. I come home from school, run into her at a party. I'm single. So is she. I come home from school, run into her at a party. I'm single. So is she. However, I tell her I'm not. Oh, look at our guy here playing the game. He tells the girl he's not single. Instant attraction from her end.

We end up drinking. Eventually, you know, start hooking up. Exactly how I hoped it to be, except somebody walked in midway through. She got embarrassed. I went back to school and hadn't talked to her since. Here's where my issue lies. I'm now in my mid-30s, engaged, have kids, and I'm happy. I actually love my life and being with my family. Last year, she randomly sends me a Facebook request. I accept thinking nothing of it. It's been almost 15 years since I'd seen her last. She messaged me

instantly about our pact. I felt like it was just a way to start conversation, but to a degree, to think nothing of it. It's been almost 15 years since I'd seen her last. She messaged me instantly about our pact. I felt like it was just a way to start conversation, but to a degree, she's serious. She tells me I always was the one that got away. She wants to finish what we started that night. She thinks before I get married, I should live out that fantasy one time. Oh, man. She posts pictures of herself, and of course, she looks great. I'm happy in my life and my relationship, but there's still immense attraction to her and the feeling i used to have i eventually blocked her but she creeps into my mind way too often your comments last week about sometimes missing things you don't actually miss at home i still fantasize about a woman who isn't my fiance and i'm scared of what

i'd do if the situation actually presented itself okay um not not unlike you know look there's a lot of guys this happens to makes a lot of sense, but you said something here that is the, is the goal. So keep repeating yourself this. I'm now in my mid thirties, engaged, have kids and I'm happy.

I actually love my life and being with my family. 90% of these emails are from people that are miserable, man. You're telling us you're happy. And I shouldn't say 90% are miserable. Maybe 90% of the ones that I don't read 90% is miserable emails, but a lot of people are bummed out. You are happy. And yet by even thinking this way, it's almost like, do you want to fuck it up? I don't think you do.

Okay. Now you keep thinking about somebody else. I look, I don't, I don't care who you are. I don't care if it's your grandparents, the way they look at each other after 50 years. And that scene from Catch Me If You Can where DiCaprio's at that nurse's house. It's Amy Ryan, right? Plays that character. She's awesome.

I hope I got it right. And Martin Sheen, there with his wife and they're dancing, trying dishes. You don't think that guy's thinking about some girl from his 20s every now and then? Like, give me a fucking break, right? Like at some point he's thinking about that. So whenever we keep saying like this, this, the one that got away, it's a cool phrase.

We all understand it. It's been repeated for decades, but there's not another part that means the one that got away and that you always have to get back. Like the one that got away. All right. You're around long enough. They're going to be people that you date that you still think of from time to time. And it doesn't mean that you're like a bad

person. It doesn't, it's not a unique thing. It's pretty normal. Like to completely shut off all memories or all feelings or just those moments. And it doesn't even have to be a relationship where all of a sudden you're like, oh man, I'm really, I'm like at peace now because I thought about something or, oh, I, you know, oh wow, that girl, man. Yeah. I was really attracted to her. Wow. That was great okay now here comes my kid running in with a snotty nose and i can't wait to play catch with them outside so i mean the fact that she's apparently the pattern only interested in you while you're with somebody and now she knows you're engaged and you have kids

she's kind of a shitty person but but she wants to mess with that. But here's where it comes into like you have, I don't understand you blocking her. So if you blocked her, that must've freaked her out a little bit. But according to this, my guess would be you blocking her probably revved it up even more for. So don't feel bad. Don't feel guilty because you have thoughts or you think of this one. I think a lot of people have that stuff. I think almost everybody does. And you can have that popping in your head from time to time and still be incredibly happy with your family and all that kind of stuff. If you were miserable with your current situation, then I'd say, all right, well, now we're worried. But the part that I think leads to all the trouble for guys and girls

is when you let yourself kind of like, you know, you start like texting with somebody they're not supposed to text with. And then it's like, oh, hey, you should meet up. And then you're like, okay. And then you keep putting yourself in vulnerable positions to not only feel this stuff again, but here she is basically saying like, Hey, do you want to live out your fantasy from 15 years ago? I'm down. You can't ever talk to her. You can't, you can't talk to her because if you're thinking about it as like, Oh man, that would be awesome. You can't like give yourself an invitation to trouble. And that's what you would be doing by continuing to correspond with her, which apparently you haven't so i think you've done the right thing here i don't really think there's a ton of advice to

give you i think you've kind of nailed it but the next time she reaches out to you is like hey let's meet up you know if you start having that dialogue or if you meet up like you know what you're going to jeopardize and in the middle of this it sounds like you're pretty happy so why would you want to jeopardize any of that stuff yeah you ought not do shit you're ashamed of seems like he's got it yeah i mean look some guys will you know the the the whole like act like you would with no one's watching be like yeah that's not like that's not always true you know yeah it'd be that'd be nice that'd be nice but you know it's it's not always true. You know? Yeah. It'd be, that'd be nice. That'd be nice. But you know,

it's, it's not really true in this case. This isn't a difficult solution. So, you know, Kyle, you probably got a couple, couple lasses.

Oh, I mean, I think about from time to time. Yeah, sure. 27. There's something weird about it too. Like when you hear from the one that got away and then they chime in,

it's like, Hey, you look one that got away and then they chime in it's like hey you look and you're like ah no way exactly exactly that's why it's like it's happened to me you keep having the doorpost and it's like all right we're talking and then it's like oh we're gonna be in the same place at the same time and then who knows what so yeah it's good to just i think it might be weird that he blocked but i mean he has got the right idea yeah because i wonder what what her response to being blocked, but I mean, he has got the right idea. Yeah. Cause I wonder what, what her response to being blocked was, but I know that there was something that happened to me. I don't know if I want to share the timeline, but it was, it was something that I couldn't

figure out for a couple of years. I was like, what? And then it came full circle and I was like, oh, like I was right. I was like, this, this person wasn't to me. I was like, oh, like I was right. I was like, this, this person was into me. I was like, what? I was like, why, why did you ever, why did you read that any differently than what you knew deep down? It was, but it just got messed up. It just got messed up. You couldn't get the answer. You kind of knew the answer. And then you ended up getting the answer you always believed in that you always kind of wanted. And yeah, probably pumped my

ego up for a couple of days where I was like, yep. All right, cool. And then it was temporary. It didn't mean anything. Didn't mean anything. It was like a fleeting moment where I was like, oh yeah, all right. I am the man. Awesome.

That's not really what I mean, but that's a good note to leave on. That's a good note. We got the actor actors studio this Friday. He's not the most famous guy, but he is very successful. And I want to talk about a guy who's kind of like at that B level of actors. So we're doing some different fun stuff. So, all right, that's what we're doing Friday. We'll talk to you then. Please, please subscribe. Rate, review Ryan Russillo podcast, Ringer Network on Spotify. Thank you.