The School of Greatness - You Win When You Fail | Jo Koy

Episode Date: September 28, 2026

Every stage you never took is the only real failure. The rest is just data.Jo Koy, the comedian who has sold out SoFi Stadium and won Showtime at the Apollo, sat down with Lewis and told the story of driving Vegas to LA with a broken taillight for a $40 set, getting a ticket both ways. He rode a Greyhound nine hours home from an unpaid audition. He walked to the front of a line wrapped around a building with a fake resume and a headshot his dad took, and asked a promoter for five minutes she did not have to give him.She gave it to him anyway. Three weeks after crawling through a curtain as an unannounced warm-up act at Def Comedy Jam, he won the Apollo. Years later, when Netflix passed on him, he paid for the special himself, shot it, and brought it back to them. They bought it, and then he broke Mariah Carey's attendance record in Hawaii with 22,000 tickets.He still prints flyers. Ten thousand of them, for sold-out shows, put on windshields by hand. He talks about his mom rolling lumpia to sell at work during her divorce, about his stepdad teaching him that a messy bed is a messy head, about hugging his son on stage in the same arena where he watched Eddie Murphy at fifteen.This one will make you uncomfortable in the best way, because you will start counting the lines you did not walk to the front of. Jo's definition of greatness is doing what you love for absolutely nothing, and he says he is still asleep, still dreaming the thing he dreamed at nine.Mixed Plate: Chronicles of an All-American ComboJo's WebsiteJo's InstagramJo's YouTubeWatch Jo Koy: Blue in the FaceIn this episode you will:Hear how Jo Koy talked his way backstage with a fake resume and turned one stolen set into a careerReframe bombing as proof you showed up, because you win the moment you accept the challenge and failOvercome the insecurity of broken teeth and hair loss that shadowed him for decadesBet on yourself the way Jo Koy did when Netflix passed and he funded his own special anywayRedefine greatness as doing what you love when nobody is paying you a dime for itFor more information go to https://lewishowes.com/1986More SOG episodes we think you’ll love! Get More From Lewis! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Everywhere I go, airports, events walking down the street, people stop me and say, Lewis, this show got me through one of the hardest seasons of my life. And it's one of the coolest things when people come up to me. So if you see me, please come up and say hi. And let me know how this show, the School of Greatness, has impacted you. It lights me up because our mission at Greatness Media is to impact 100 million lives every single week. So if today's conversation hits home for you, do me a favor and push the follow button right now. it means that the next conversation will be delivered to you and will find you exactly when you need it.

Again, thank you so much for being here and listening to The School of Greatness. Make sure to follow right now to stay up to date on the latest and greatest. You know what's crazy? I don't hope. I never say hope. When you say hope, you're asking for something else other than your own talent to get it. That's Joe Coy. And if you've ever caught yourself saying, I hope this works out, waiting on the

some outside force to hand you your shot. Sit with that for a few seconds. Because what if the thing standing between you and the life you want isn't luck, it isn't timing or connections, it's just you finally deciding to bet on your own work. In this episode, Joe takes you behind the mic and behind the mustache drawn on with eyeliner nights when he bombed on stage over and over. You'll hear how he turned insecurity into his greatest material. how he financed and shot his own Netflix special after they passed on him,

and why he still hand delivers his own flyers to car windshields, even when the show's already sold out. Joe Coy is a stand-up comedian, actor and producer with multiple sold-out Netflix specials, including his newest, blue in the face. He's shattered box office records at some of the biggest arenas in the world and built a career by simply refusing to wait for someone else's permission to start. This is Joe Coy, and welcome to the School of Greatness. That's one of the best in the world at what you do. You transfer energy. Thank you. So well,

whether it be in person, one to one, one to many in front of thousands of people, or hundreds of thousands of people in person, or to millions of people on a screen. You transfer energy, and it's very hard for anyone to do that well. It's hard for comedians to do that well, effectively, consistently, and it's hard for just everyday human beings to transfer energy well. Did you always know how to transfer energy well when you were younger growing up, or is this a skill that you had to learn through trial and error or through failure and defeat and trials that you experienced? You know what's crazy is when I was a kid, like when I was like five or six, I'm not even making this up. I already knew I was really funny.

Really? Yeah, it was the weirdest thing because my mom would always be like, oh, Joe is so funny and my dad always laughed at everything, you know, and like if they had parties, I'd be funny.

I knew that there was a group of people laughing, something that I would do. And then I knew I had that skill set because my dad was in the military. So every three years, four years, we were bouncing. But I didn't care because, like,

in my head, I already knew, I'm going to be the funny one. in the school. Like, right away, it would be the funny guy at the school and it would be a funny guy at the school. So I was never sad

that I was leaving a group of friends. I was happy because I knew I could get new friends. Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was the weirdest thing. And there was this one elementary school called Elk Plain Elementary. And I was moving from the Philippines.

And I remember we were so sad leaving because my dad got an extension in the Philippines for another year. And we stayed for one more year. because we were begging them, please don't leave. But that was it. That was as far as he could get it. And then we had to move to Tacoma, Washington.

And I remember I was so sad, but then that sadness turned into excitement. Because I remember I was like, oh, I'm going to be so funny. Like, everyone's going to think I'm the funny guy. Like, I remember saying that. Now, did you think I'm going to be funny, even though you're switching countries and cultures? Did you believe, like, oh, I'm going to come to America and I want to be funny? Yeah. You just believed it at eight years old or something? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Really? Yeah, we remember, I'm military, too. So, but, and, and, like, the Philippines has always been bilingual. Like, they speak English better than Americans, man. You know what I mean? Like, very articulate. They get all the humor. You know what I mean?

So it was there. It was, and I was speaking Tagalog, which was crazy because we were living there and my aunts lived there. So it was, it was cool. It was a good time back then. But I remember coming back to the stage just like I was excited. I was excited to like see like this new school

and be the funny guy at the school. I swear it was the craziest thing. Like if you look at my junior high after sixth grade, seventh, eighth, nine, I went to Spanaway junior high. Class clown, class clown. Like seventh, eighth, ninth, it was always me, the funny guy.

It was, and I knew it like right away. I mean, sixth grade, seventh grade, that's when I was listening to Richard Pryor and watching Eddie Murphy. Like, I was watching Eddie, you know, do delirious. Like, already I already knew I wanted to be a stand-up comic at that age. Was there ever a time where you weren't funny? I mean, yeah. I mean, always not funny.

Really? Yeah, there's times where you're trying to figure out the audience. You're trying to learn. And that's all just how. it is. That's just, that's, that's what I love on stand-up is, uh, that moment where you have to figure out, uh, how much you love it. And it always comes out going, no, I love this. And you just keep pushing. Even if you weren't funny that night or that day. Yeah, yeah, you just keep pushing. There's just, there's this addiction that we have. I don't know what it is. Us comics love it,

but I really love it. I really, really love it. I'll do an arena. I'll get on my tour bus. And this has happened a couple times. And I'll literally be like, is there an open mic around? And I've pulled up to open mics.

Right after an arena. Yeah, I've done it. I've done it a couple times. It's just a bar with 15 people. 15 people. And all they did was turn the lights down because they don't have a spotlight, like that type.

And I love it, man. I love it. Love it. But do you ever have periods of time where you feel like you bombed? You feel like, oh, I gave it my all, but that crowd, they didn't really laugh at the jokes and they weren't really as engaged. Yeah. Was there ever a season where you weren't as funny as you thought and you thought maybe I lost the gift? No. No. You're always like knew you had it. No. If you're talking stand-up, no, yeah. Never stand up. Mm-mm. So was there ever time where you just bombed though? I mean, always, like, when we first start,

how do you respond to that and not let the negative effects of an audience if you bomb when you begin affect who you are as a person in your identity? I mean, that's what makes us strong is, like, the failure. Like, everyone fails. You know what I mean? But, like, it's when you don't try is truly when you fail. So it's like if you're thinking about something and you decide not to do it, to me, that's failing.

But if the opportunity arises and you accept the challenge and you fail, then you won. Does that make any sense? 100%. Because I know a lot of motherfuckers that pass on because they're too scared to do it. You know what I mean? That's the real failure. To me, that's failure. To me, that's just cowardice.

You know what I mean? I don't mean that in a mean way. But it's like, I think that's what I love about comics so much that, yeah, we do put ourselves in situations like that. And then we do also say, oh, well, we do that a lot. And we don't care. But some people care, right? If they bomb, they really care about how people perceive them. Then that taps into a new era or a new generation of people with social media type feelings.

Do you really care about what they say? or do you look at a sold-out Sophy stadium and go, well, I guess it doesn't really matter what you said. Right. Because it doesn't make sense. You know what I mean? Yeah. So that's how I look at it.

It's like, I mean, we live in a time where, yeah, it's like things are accessible. Everyone has a voice now. And you just take it with a grain of salt. Yeah. It's like, you got to remember it's like, but we're all supposed to fail, you know what I mean? Like, you're not going to sit there and tell me Michael Jordan sucks

because he lost Larry Bird when he scored 63 points. I dare you to say it. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It's like you're joking right now. When you were starting out, I think you said you started in the late 80s, early 90s, kind of when you were starting out in stand-up, right? Was there ever a moment where you feel like, oh, I've made it?

When I started at 89. 8 to 9, right? Yeah. But was there a moment where you were like, I made it or I know I'm going to make it or was there a period of time where you just feel like, man, I'm just grinding on these local shops or local comedy stores. And I'm not seeing the momentum.

I never got into the store, the comedy store. I got into the Laugh Factory. And then in Vegas in 1989, there was no comedy scene. That was just like national headliners. You know what I mean? So they never had an open mic there in 89, 89, 90. All they had was a couple coffee houses back then. And I got to the point where I was getting good.

There was this one nightclub that had, did a comedy night upstairs where the pool tables were. And, you know, you had to get there before the nightclub opened. The night club started letting people in at like 10, 30, 11. So you had to get there at like 8. So we'd have a show from 8 to 10 or something. right the host was dating a manager of like a big comedy club in at the mGM it was called catch rising star and he saw me because he came that night and he saw me and literally when i walked off stage right he goes hey uh i'm gonna have you open for a blah blah blah something i forgot the guy's name some headliner

i'm gonna give you a week and back then a week was basically 12 shows It was like Monday through Monday. It was like two shows Friday, two show Saturday, two shows Sunday. It was the craziest schedule. And he gave me like $80 a show, right? So I think it was like over $1,000. I still zero. I remember going to Kinko's and printing up that check.

Wow. I have it somewhere. But at that moment, I thought, oh my God, I'm about to be a comic. I'm about to be a famous comic. I thought it was over with at that point. I was like, oh, it's on. They got the money coming in. Yeah, I'm a regular catcher rising star.

I remember calling my dad, like, oh, dad, it's, it's happening. What year is this? 90. Oh, my God, it was like 1999. Or something, like right around there, we're 94, so five years in. And then nothing happened. Really? I think I got it two more times.

And it was just like, oh, man. And then it just stopped. I guess what I'm trying to say is there were several times where I thought I made it. Really? Yeah, but that's the beautiful thing about this journey. You know what I mean? It's like it's a long, bumpy-ass road with a bunch of roadblocks and a lot of gravel roads, a lot of like U-turns and start over, flat tires, all that shit.

Like that's comedy, especially when you're a road dog. It's like, it's rough, man. A lot of, I'm not going to be there for my son's birthday because I didn't really need this money. saw I took the gig at St. Charles, Illinois. Right. In the middle of nowhere, Amish country. You know what I mean? I took that gig because, man, they're paying me $2,500 this weekend.

So I've missed those, you know what I mean? But then at the same time, I knew I was winning. Wow. I'm losing, but I'm winning. And, like, there was so many, like, obstacles that I had to deal with mentally and physically, you know, so it was. It just kept going on every year. It just felt like a win and a win and a win.

And then it was like, I lost, lost, loss. I won the Apollo, showtime with Apollo. I thought I was going to blow up. And then boom, boom, nothing happened. Really? Then I did Def Jam. Got the Def Jam comedy circuit, like the tour, comedy tour, not the one on HBO.

I got BET's Comic View. Like, I thought things were going to happen for me, but it didn't. But they did, which is crazy. And the way I got them was amazing. because I never said no to the gig. Wow. You know what I mean? Like the way I got BET's Comic View was crazy.

Do you remember BET's Comic View? It was on, well, it was on Black Entertainment Television. Yeah, yeah. And this was in the 90s. It was huge. It's what made D.L. Hughley huge. It's what made Cedric the Entertainer huge.

It made Gary Owen huge. Like, those were the hosts. And I was such a fan. Like, every night I would watch Beatty's Comic View. And then, I was a tour guide at the Mirage. And see, you ask that question, and now you get a long answer.

I love it. So I'm at the Mirage, and I'm a tour guide. When the tour guides was like, hey, BET's here. I go, what? Yeah, they're at the country star. It was like some kind of restaurant. I'm like, I'm there. And I literally asked my manager if I can go home early

because the show was at eight. And I knew we worked until like seven something. I need to get home. So I was like, can I please just get out here at like 5.30 and leave early so I can just go home and change and put on a suit. Because Eddie Murphy said, I always wore a suit. That's what he always said. He goes, I always wore a suit when he was like a kid. He was like in high school when he was wearing a suit.

And he goes, every gig I got, I wore a suit. So I was like, oh, I got to put on a suit. Like, this is a big gig. So I drove all the way home. You know, this is Las Vegas. It's like 120 degrees. No AC. I was a tour guide all day.

I'm covered in sweat. I don't even take a shower. I just put this suit on. Get back in the car. This fake resume that says Catch a Rising Star because I found a folder at Catcher Rising Star. They had a stack and he gave it to me. The manager gave me a whole stack.

I'm going to put my resume in this. And I put a resume that I made and a headshot that my dad took. All of it was awful. And I brought it and I went to Country Star and there was this line wrapped around the building. I brought additions. No, no, it was a show. Like people were, it was trying to get in to perform. Yeah.

Yeah. And I walked all the way to the front and a security guard was standing there. And security guards never help. Right? Security guards don't give, go wait in line. And I go, hey, man, I'm a local comedian. And my name's Joe Hoyt. And I showed him my resume.

I go, is there. Anyway, I could just speak to the promoter because I'd love to warm up. Just like if I could do crowd warm up or whatever, like a lot of people know who I'm here. No one knew who I was. And literally he looked me at the face. I still know what he looks like.

He was a big heavyset guy with dreads. And he goes, I'll be right back. And he left. He left the door and went and got the promoter. And her name was Yvette Anderson. She's still my friend to this day. I swear to God, her name is Yvette Anderson. What did you say to her?

She came right up to the door and she goes, she goes hi I handed her my resume I go I'm a local comic is there any way I could do warm up like I know your show's book but like I can warm up while they're getting ready and while you're sitting people just if I can go up I love BET like it would be an honor

just to go up and just warm the crowd up and then she goes oh we already have the show booked and but you know you're more than welcome to come in and I'll hold on to your resume because this is a tour we're coming back to Vegas and I'll look at your stuff I go yeah I would love to go in right This is like 90.

I'm making up a number, but it was like 97, right? 97-ish, right? Yeah. So she brings me to her booth and she sits me down and she's got, remember, this is 97, she's got cameras like that,

but studio camera, Canon, like the XLR cannons, right? Like, I couldn't believe my eyes, like on sticks like those too, right? And I was just like, look it at it. I'm like, oh my God, this is real. Like, I've never seen a studio camera before. So I'm looking at this.

And I'm like, oh, is that? It's just how they shoot the show, man. Like, I was tripping. And I was so excited. It was just packed. And then all of a sudden, all the comics are late. They're not there. This is the crazy.

She says, go up. She literally, and the crowd's going crazy. Like, start this show. What the way? It's 835. Start this. And I'm literally like, I'm smiling from ear to ear because I know, like, bro she's gonna need me because they're not here

I'm ready let me and she walks right up to me and she goes can you go up up swear and she goes can you go up for for like five minutes or until they get here I go yeah I go can you please record it I go if you record this would be the that's all I want if you record this and she goes hold on let me set it up oh my and she literally set up and press record and she goes can you go and she had no one introducing me I had to literally walk up oh by the way I had that suit on This was crazy. I have it all on video.

Oh, my gosh. I have it all on video. And I walk up, do my set, fucking standing ovation. Shut up. This back in the day when people do the raise the roof. And you'll see this one black lady doing this. It was the coolest thing. And I walk off stage and it's Bo Pei, who it's like one of my favorite comics that

was on BET all the time. His name's Bo Pei and Yvette were standing right there. And Bo Pea got like that southern twang. He got like a Louisiana act there, like that. And he goes, hey man, what the fuck are you? I go, Joe Coy, man. I'm a local comic here. He's like, okay, man, that was, wow, that was amazing.

You ever watch BET? I go, yeah. He goes, you won't. You on next week. Shut. I swear to God. And I'm literally, I went to work, and I go, I remember asking my manager. I'm like, hey, I need next week off.

I'm doing BET's Comic View. No one could believe I got it. And now I'm on BET's Comic View. And then I get a Stanio on BET's Comic View. I was number 28 out of 28, I was number 27 out of 28 comics. We started filming at 10 in the morning. And I don't think I got on stage until like 11.30 that night.

Gary Owen, Gary Owen was the host. You should bring Gary on this show because he's amazing, too. And Gary Owen was the host. And we never met each other. And he went up, killed. I went out there. Murders. I murdered it.

And then that's how I met just some, you know, like black comics that were, like, that were doing things. And I met a couple guys in that. I met this one guy named, God, what was his name? Oh, I met Honest John. He's a white comic, right? And Honest John was like, hey, you need to call this guy, right? He had this thing where he could get you into colleges. college tour, but it was the black

what did he call it college program, whatever, like the all black colleges, not the all black colleges, like, you know, the black fraternities or whatever. So they would hire famous black comics that they saw on BET and Def Jam, right? And they would come perform at these fraternities or something. Yeah, whatever, right? And they'd be beautiful shows. They'd rent out the day at the theater at, like, University of Houston,

University of North Carolina. Now I'm opening for these famous black comics like Samor and Michael Blackson and J.B. Smooth. Like all of them. This is before J.B. Smooth was on Curb. Your enthusiasm. This is just J.B. Smooth from Def Jam. Wow. Like this is the 90s.

And I'm opening for all these cats, right? So now I'm making money off of this. I'm getting like 800 a show, right? Plus they're flying me out, right? So that's how I got that. So now I meet them. This is crazy. Honest John, actually, I've been Honest John on the Black College Circuit.

I met how I got on the Black Circuit was, I think, Yvette Anderson, right? And then, Yvette, yeah, she hooked me up. And then I met Honest John on the circuit because I opened for him a couple times. He was like, man, you're really funny, man. He's a white guy, right? He goes, man, you're really funny, man. He's like, you know who Bob Sumner is? Right?

And I go, nah, he goes, man, he runs deaf comedy, He runs the tour. He goes, you need to be on deaf comedy jam, man. He goes, when we're in Vegas, I want you to come to a show. I'm going to introduce you to Bob Sumner. So Bob Sumner and Russell Simmons created deaf comedy jam, and they had a tour, right?

And they were at Samstown, which was on Boulder Highway, right? And because the strip wasn't hiring black comics for anything. Unless you were Martin Lawrence or Chris Rock, you were not getting on the strip. It just wasn't like that. Like, I'm telling you, it was such a crazy time back in the 80s and 90s. And so they had to go off strip.

They had to play these weird rooms, you know what I mean? And anyway, I'm at Sandstown, and I'm backstage with my sister. And here comes Bob Sumner, right? He's eating something. She's eating like a muffin or something. She got food on his lips. And he's just like, hey, Aunt John said,

you're really funny. I'm like, yeah, he goes, All right. Well, this is what I'm going to do. We're going to put you out before the show starts. We're not going to open the curtains. We're just going to kind of open it up. We can just go through it.

Kind of like Carol Burnett. You remember the Carol Burnett? Sure. When the girl would walk in between it, he's like, we're going to go through the curtain. And then don't say welcome to death care. Don't say, are you ready for the show? And when you say, good night, just say, my name is Joe Coy, good night. And then come back through the curtain.

And we're still seeing people, all right? So, you know, the house lights be on, but, you know, it's a packed house. And I'm like, okay. And he walks off. And I literally look at my sister going, I'm going to eat my ass out there. This sucks, right? Like, what the, like, why am I even here? No war body ends.

Yeah, people are laughing at a day. Dude, it's completely cold. And then all of a sudden, the stage matter overheard everything, right? And he walks up to me and he goes, hey, man, I just want you know, we're about 89% full. like we're not going to leave the house lights on it's pretty much packed in there I'm going to turn it down I'm not going to turn them off but I'm going to turn them down so it's going to feel

good but all the other stuff that he said you're going to have to do all right but I'm going to turn those house lights down for you yeah it was really cool and literally these two stage hands pull the curtain like this and I sneak out and then a spotlight hits me swear to God dude and I'm like

hey I'm Joe Koi and I do like 10 minutes good night Stanio, right? Stanio. I did this Michael Jackson bit that I always killed. Stanio and I crawl back through the, I don't say, enjoy the test. And then he had this amazing set that said, Depp Comedy Jam, and, you know, they had the turntables. I think a kid Capri was there. It was just crazy. And I couldn't

even say I was involved with this thing. Oh, man. And I crawled through the curtain. And my sister hugs me. He's like, oh my God, I knew you kill it, blah, blah, blah. And Rudy Rush, he's a comic, a really funny comic, and he hosted the Apollo. And he was hosting that show that night. And he's standing next to Bob Sumner. And he goes, who the f*** this guy? He goes, oh, that's honest John's friend, Joe. He goes, why the f did you put him on now?

Why didn't you put him on the damn show? I got to follow this, man. He goes, what thing? He goes, I didn't know. Rudy looks at me, and he goes, you ever do that? the Apollo? I swear to God, bro. This is exactly that I went down. He goes, you ever watch the Apollo? I go

yeah. He goes, man, I'm going to have my producers call you, man. You got to do the Apollo. You're going to win the Apollo. I swear to God, do that same set. You're going to win the Apollo. I'm flying out to New York, like three weeks later, doing the Apollo showtime at the Apollo. This is the 90s where they used to

like people. Yeah, yeah. Throw it stuff on stage. And I won. I won that. Three weeks later. Yeah. I'm on the And I win it. I did the same routine that he told me, and you crushed. Rudy Rush.

Yeah. Yeah. Still my friends. I'm still friends with all these people to this day. This is 30 years ago. Yeah. I started 37 years ago. But this around 97.

This is 97. So yeah, you're right. There's three decades. But it seems like for a decade before, almost a decade, eight years before that, you just had to kind of sneak your way into any opportunity possible. Yeah. Not sneak your way is the right word, but enroll your. way. Yeah. Go up to the front of the line, do the thing. Say yes. Get off work. Whatever it took

to just say, all right, they're not going to give me the best opportunity. I'm still going to make myself available and ready. And I'm going to do it under the worst conditions if I have to. Yeah. What gave you that courage and confidence to be able to go for it, even when everyone else probably would have said, uh, it's too risky. I don't know, man. I don't know what it is. I got to get up there. Wow. I have to. And I don't care. I really don't give it like if you if you yeah, I don't know. I really don't know. It's my desire. It's my passion. I know that there's there's something that I'm trying to reach and the only way I can reach is if I keep climbing. Right. Wow. So if I say no to that, then I I I walk back two steps. Yeah. But if I just go one

step forward, I'm good. I don't know. That's cheesy saying that, but it's really. It's really. Like I could have easily said I'm out of here, which most comics would have, especially that Def Jam moment. A lot of comics would have been, you know, fuck this guy. And then they would be just like, especially now with the podcast, they'd just talk about it on the podcast and just on somebody. Yo, that guy. You know what you want me to do?

You want me to crawl through the curtain? What are? I'm better than that. It's like, so what? It's his show. Right. It's not your show. It's not your show.

It's his show. and you're asking for a spot. Like, this guy's a promoter, which means he paid for that set. He paid for the design. He paid for ads. He paid for these comics to be there. And now you're asking for stage time

on a show that he produced. And so if I eat my, on that stage, that reflects him. And that's how I look at it. Like, I don't get offended by it. I just get motivated by it. Like, that's why I keep saying,

if you fail, you fail. But it's like, you, you're not you win you win when you fail like there's that that famous Michael Jordan commercial where it's in black and white and it's just him narrating how all the things that he did that that failed remember that how many how many free throws that I missed thousands of shots yeah I missed thousands of free throws game winning free throws game winning three pointers game winning shots like I missed a dunk a blah blah but I failed I won six championships Yeah. I failed. I think the end is I failed and that's why I succeed.

Yeah. And I don't know what that did to me. Maybe that burnt inside my soul, but you know what I mean? And the interviews, like, you got to remember, this is before the internet. So I was literally like trying to discover people like any way I can. I remember reading a Rolling Stone ad on Chris Rock. He would sit there and wait for time just to get a spot. And he was 17, like 8. Everyone knew he was a phenom, but, like, he couldn't get stage time because he was only 18. He had to wait until they put the chairs up or something. You know, same thing with Eddie, same story. I think that's what it was. It was, like, the same story. Like, same thing with Eddie.

Like, I think he was 15. You know what I mean? And then I heard the same thing about Chappelle. He was like 15. And I'm like, bro, I'm 18. I got to do the same thing they did. This is crazy, man. But how did you get the confidence?

I don't know, because I was so insecure. Really? What were you insecure about? Well, everything. My teeth were bad. I broke my teeth when I was a kid. So all my teeth were crooked and broken in half. That's why I have fake teeth.

And they were fake. I mean, I had bad teeth all the way until I started making real money. I think I fixed my teeth when I was like 36. So my teeth were bad for a long time. and super insecure. I had like a short tooth up here because I fell on a rock and it stopped growing. I say it all the time on stage.

I go, it got to the point where I had to like put my tongue in my tooth just to hide it because every time I'd smile, people would always do like this look like, oh, they'd be scared. They didn't know. So I'd always stick my tongue on my tooth and I had to laugh at my own, like I was share,

like share with all they do that in their tongue. Like literally I had to do that. And, like, I was always insecure about my teeth and how I was losing my hair. I had severe sleep apnea with no, no CPAT machine at the time. Like, it was just everything. I was just super, super insecure. And I think the only thing that gave me confidence was stand up. Wow.

I knew I'd kill you on stage, you know? So it's like you had to get on. It was my superpower, yeah. Without the stage, it was like you had a lot more. I felt very, yeah, you know, I had just like this, you know, traumatic childhood with, you know, like the divorce with my mom and dad when I was like nine, 10, you know, my brother with his, you know, his mental disability and just him in and out of like group homes and, you know, you know, hospitals, you know what I mean?

And police coming to the house because my brother's beating up somebody at the house. It was just a very negative, negative. My childhood was set up for me to fail. You know what I mean? Yeah, big time. I'm supposed to fail. Especially the times that we live in, like there is no positive reinforcement

with what I'm watching on TV. I'm being conditioned to think of my own race a certain way, which led into my comedy. You know what I mean? You watch cartoons with your friends, and every time they made fun of an Asian guy with the cartoon, you know, the slant eyes and the water buckets on the shoulder,

and they're hobbling around building a train. And here I am, I have to laugh at that because I don't know what funny is. I don't know they're making fun at me. And they are. You know, I'm being programmed. I'm not thinking about my mom and her feelings and the racism that she's enduring.

You know what I mean? I'm just watching it. I go, oh, okay. And then every Asian character that's in a sitcom has a heavy accent. These are all like mental conditionings that kids, my age, had to go through in the 80s and 90s.

You're being programmed, indirectly programmed. So it's like, yeah, when I first start stand-up, I'm like, oh, this is what they want to hear. This is what I need to do. Was it more like self-deprecating stuff then? Well, it's just, yeah. And it was like racist stuff about my own culture. And it's just like, that's the times we lived in.

And it was okay. It was acceptable. You don't know. I don't know any better. I'm a kid. In 1994, how old am I? I'm 23. Yeah.

You know what I mean? Like, I'm a kid. And you don't know. You just want to be funny. and you were programmed a certain way. And you don't know it. You just don't know that you're being programmed. Like, you know, until you get older and you're like, whoa, Pat Marina never had an accent.

Pat Marino used to chop it up with Robin Williams and Richard Pryor. And he was a badass stand-up comic. But yet for some reason, his roles had to have a heavy, heavy accent. When he became Al on Happy Days or when he was Mr. Miyagi, it's like legendary characters, but why did he have to have the accent? Like, what kind of racist is that? You know what I mean? And that's why it's hard for me to explain to this generation

the opportunities that we had back then aren't what they have now. Don't get me wrong, racism is still in Hollywood, but it was in your face and told to you in your face back then. Yeah. You know what I mean? When you get a Tia Carrere auditioning for a part where, you know, she's Filipino, but they're like, yeah, just, you know, you're, you know, Asian accent.

You know what I mean? You know, thicken it up. But yet, you could sing like a rock star. That was the role that she had to audition for. And a lot of Asian actresses that were like badass in acting, but for some reason, those are the only parts that they're allowed to go audition more. I'm just saying, like, the window of opportunity for anyone of color back then. That's why I said that on stage, you know, when I did live at the,

forum when I said that. Like not all of us get a fair shake. And it's hard to explain this to people because you don't see it. You don't see it through our lens. You don't understand what we have to go through. You can ask any comic that comes in here from my generation. Like, what was it like, you know, with these comedy clubs in L.A.? And they'll tell you there's the white room. And that was the room that we wanted, which was the weekend, Friday, Saturday. And we all called it the white room. White night. Yeah, man. It was White Night. Ask any comic. You could, if you could, If you had Cetrick the entertainer asking what night was the white night. Wow.

And he'll tell you, oh, that's Friday, Saturday, at the improv. And everyone wanted to give him to that. Everyone wanted that, because that was the night you got paid. That was the night that audience paid. Those were the nights that were completely sold out. But yet, you looked at, you looked at the list of comics that were on, and it was all white. Unless you were already, you made it, you know what I mean? Then you'll get a Martin Lawrence.

Right, right. You'll get a one person, man. You'll get one. one and but for the most part it's it's buried within four or five and it's like then you get us the guys that are trying to talk about my mom and try and also sell you my point of view but yet you know we we were always hit with uh i don't think they'll get it uh maybe on a tuesday you know it was just like some really indirect racist man so it's like when you ask us why we will the confidence and why we do is

because the opportunities were slim and far in between. So when you get that call, I'm not going to say no to it. You say yes whenever you can. I have to. Even though you know they're clearly racist. Right. They got in trouble for being racist. Then they're finally going to ask you to do something.

And you're just like, yeah. I mean, yeah, this is my shot. Let me do it. I can't say no. Right. You know, so you see stuff like the comedy store with Fat Tuesdays. And you're like, why was the black night on fat? Why was it on a Tuesday night?

Because Tuesday night was the only night that they turned the lights off. Like, who's going to anywhere on sunset on a Tuesday? But yeah, we'll turn it on and, you know, we'll give it to the black comics and we'll call it Fat Tuesdays. And Guy Tori took the challenge. Guy Tories, all right, give me Tuesday night. And it went from one, it started at eight and sold them out. And then next you know, they would do two shows, eight and ten, and ten, and ten. And now you're turning out famous black comics left and right on a Tuesday with lines down the street.

Like, it's crazy, man. I don't know, I'm talking too much. And it's all good, man. It's all good, man. You know what I mean? But it's just like those were the shows that I did. I would drive from Vegas because I couldn't get the weekend show. Yeah, with a broken taillight.

I remember I got two tickets, one going there and one coming back, and I had to come back because I was at the, I was a tour guide that morning with a broken taillight, and I got a ticket both ways. Shut up. And I didn't even get paid that much. I got like 40 bucks just to do a show with George Wilburn and Gary Owen and, you know, like these comics that I, oh, Joe Torrey,

like all these black comics that I admire at Fat Tuesdays. What is that, four hour drive, five hours? Back and forth. And this is back in the 90s when they didn't have all those. Now you drive to Vegas and there's so many things you can do, like every 30 minutes or every 15 minutes or something. Back then, man. It was Barstow, San Bernardino.

Man. Yeah, no AC. Oh, man. Trying to stay up with sleep apnea. Oh, my gosh, man. Just to do a 10-minute set. You were doing whatever it took. Whatever it took.

Yeah. I remember I caught the bus, the Greyhound, just to do this one no I caught the ground because I lost my ID yep lost my ID and I did I did

oh my God what's it called it's such a great room man I wish I could tell you with the name of it but a comedy act theater comedy act theater in oh god like somewhere in Englewood that area down that way

don't quote me on it But anyway, yeah, I had to catch the bus, bro. Back home. From Vegas? It took me nine hours. Oh, my God. From L.A. From L.A. back to Vegas.

The bus probably cost you more than what you made. No, it was cheap. It was like $25. Okay. You made $20. And I remember I held my backpack like this. Yeah, I've taken great hands a few times. Yeah.

That's sketchy, man. Just to do, by the way, didn't even get paid for that show. I was auditioning. Oh, man. I was auditioning for Guy Tori. My friend, I hope you're enjoying this episode. and the School of Greatness drops new conversations every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday around money, mindset, healing, manifestation, and relationships. And if you're not yet following the show, then you're missing all of them.

Please tap the follow button right now, and you'll get notified the moment every new episode drops because the next one might be exactly what you need. Now, let's get back to the conversation. I think the theme that I'm seeing about your career and also your life has, just you are 100% all in committed. Yeah. To the craft and to creating opportunities for yourself. Yeah. Most people, if there's a four-hour drive, if there's a line, they have to wait in,

if it doesn't seem like there's an opportunity, they're not going to make the opportunity. It seems like you've spent 30 plus years. Yeah. Of saying, I am going to not only do whatever it takes to get in front of someone to make the opportunity. Yeah. Then I'm going to beg, claw, scream, dance, whatever. Yeah. To show them I'm willing to do.

do whatever it takes. Yeah. I think that level of commitment and full ownership to your dreams and your goals, it's got to be one of the reasons why you've accomplished so much. Yeah. Obviously, you need to be talented. Yeah. Because some people might do that and not have the goods. Yeah.

But you got a combination of the, I'm willing to do whatever it takes, and I have the goods. Yeah. And I'm willing to master the craft constantly. Yeah. And be a good person. Yeah. And I think that combination is what sounds like has had, you know, multiple, you know, Netflix specials, what, five Netflix specials now? It could be my six. Six Netflix specials sold out so five, sold out some of the biggest arenas in the world on multiple continents.

And it's because your willingness to do these things for decades before you, quote unquote, made it. Yeah. That's what it sounds like. Yeah. And I'll keep doing it. I think people lose, I don't know what it is that they lose, but. This fire burns inside me, man. I love it.

But I remember reading like this article, and I'm pretty sure it was Aerosmith. Don't, it's either Aerosmith or Bon Jovi. I always mess this up. Maybe I should look it up again. But they said that they used to make their own flyers and Xerox copy them. And they would put it on windshields everywhere. Everywhere.

They would go to the parking lot anywhere, any, any mall or a grocery store. And I remember after I read that, that, I literally went to Kinko's and taught myself how to make a flyer. Really? Yeah. And literally, I would hand out flyers everywhere. And to this day, look, I can show you a text. I swear to I'll show you a text right now just to prove that I'm not lying.

I asked my guy that does a lot of my graphics. I need 10,000 flyers for Netflix because I'm about to pass these out. Right now? Yeah, I don't give up. So you're going to go and still do it like 30 years ago. Well, like, it's a little different. It's a little different now because I'm selling out places. Yeah, of course.

But I got three sold out shows this weekend. Like, you know, they're completely sold out. I'm going to Miami. Why post flyers if you've already sold it out? Because not everybody knows you. That's true. You got to be the most narcissistic human being to think that you're that famous. You're not.

There's people that do not know you, man. That's fine. They're not supposed to know you. You don't need to know me, but you can get to know me. And when you do, it's up to you, whether you like me or not. Give me a chance. Watch one segment. Watch a 10-minute thing.

Yeah. If you don't like it, that's fine. That's what this is. We live in a world of choices, bro. Like, I fall under the umbrella of stand-up comedy, but there's different genres. It's like saying, I do music. It's like, okay, what genre music? Country.

I don't really listen to country, but I'll give it a shot. That's what it is. So you got 10,000 flyers you're about to go or your team's about to go and pass them out. Yeah, and what? Everywhere of the city or anywhere you're going on tour. Everywhere. Every parking lot, I'll have a stack. That's incredible, man.

I'll stick you in a car window. I don't, I am humble. And you'll do it yourself, too? Hell yeah. If I got, I'll have three boxes in my car. This is amazing. And they will be empty. And you'll just put them in windshield.

It's just about to. I don't care, though. I like that. Don't care. That's amazing. And I'll pick them up. if you drive it on the ground, I'll pick it up. I don't care.

It's amazing, man. Your level with your success, you're still doing that type of work. Yeah. That is impressive. I don't understand where... That inspired me. I don't understand where the laziness comes from. That inspired me.

Like, I loved, I dreamt this when I was nine. Like, I'm still asleep dreaming. Wow. When I wake up, the dream's over. You know what I mean? Does that make sense? 100% man when someone tells you to do something

you're like oh yeah maybe you're right I'll stop doing that bro that you just woke up to nothing wow uh uh I'll stay let me sleep and continue this dream

wow man yeah this is all the dream right here this right here I'm just dreaming I'm living my dream bro like imagine me laying a bed as a kid going someday and I close my eyes and this is what's happening while I'm dreaming as a kid.

If you could go back, I guess, 40, 50 years then when you're a kid, when you were going through that traumatic time and your parents getting divorced, you're struggling with all this stuff, and you were very insecure, what would you say to him if he was sitting right in front of you right now? Oh, you're good. Keep watching those specials. Really?

Oh, hell yeah, dude. I watched every special. Like, I got a master's degree in stand-up. And I didn't watch it for the funny. I watched it for the art. Like, how did Carlin do that? Like, how did Dennis Wolfberg do that? How did Richard Jenny do that?

How did Louis do that? How does he, those voices? How does Eddie Murphy just command that stage the way he does? You know what I mean? That confidence. Like, what is it? I really, like, I was a student, bro. Wow.

I remember there was this one year. I can't remember what year was. 90 something, late 90. And Comedy Central said they were going to do a New Year's Eve marathon. And it started at like 8 in the morning. And they were going to keep going until midnight. And I literally woke up and I watched stand-up. Because you got to remember, there's no internet.

And there's no reruns. There's no reruns. Yeah, exactly. There's no reruns. You don't watch it live or you miss it. Yeah. Yeah. And you had to hope to God that, you know, I hope they played that again sometime this year.

Well, this was a day. were going to play a stand-up marathon. And I remember I got up at eight. I was ordering food. Ask my mom, bro. I was ordering food. It was being delivered. And I literally sat there and I watched every half hour special, hour special, premium blend,

whatever it was, 15 minutes. They played everything that night. Wow. And I watched all of them, man. And I remember my mom. I remember my mom and Fred, my stepdad. They were going to a party. at like 10.

They left out. They got all dressed up. And my mom looked at me and she goes, you sure you don't want to come with me? Like, let's just go celebrate New Year's Eve together. I go, no, mom. Seriously, I'm good. Wow.

Like, she thought I was pool. Like, oh, he doesn't have friends. Wow, you're enjoying it, though. Bro, I was good. I had dominoes. I got the two liter. I got the two liter of Coke. Let's go.

That's all you need, man. And it was two pizzas for like eight bucks. I think it was $7.99 back then. I'm not choking, bro. I was killing it. And I was literally sitting on the floor. Are you just kind of... Yeah, I have the book.

Shut up. I have everything, bro. I have a spiral. I have a spiral that says, I think it said something like first applause break, 30 seconds. Oh, you were timing it too.

Yeah. You were like, the cadence of it all. Yeah. Like I was saying stuff like that you were a real student yeah i was like oh oh that's okay blah blah blah like how many words to set up bah da da da da da okay okay like what are we talking about right out the gate like yeah i was doing that shit because it's like a it's like a dance when you're on stage yeah in a sense right

and you've got to have like almost the timing the rhythm it is a song but it has to be yours yeah you can't copy someone else otherwise no fake right that's why i don't believe in like Oh, teach a class. There is no class. Like, it's you. Who are you? You know what I mean? It's just like asking Denzel to teach a class.

He'll teach you the basics. Right, right. But he can't teach you Denzel. Be yourself, yeah. Like, Denzel is Denzel. Yeah, it's true. He's beautiful. You don't need to give him words.

Don't give him anything. He'll get you on the first look and you're just like, yeah, well, let's cast this guy. Yeah, yeah. What the, what the f did he just be right there? You just looked at me. Like, you can't, that, that's you. And that's the same thing with stand up.

What is it that separates you? What is that you want to talk about? What is, like, and it can be anything, as long as it's your voice. I'm not saying, like, I'm a storyteller because I love to tell stories, but I got you, man. Like, it's going to be delivered the same way you write a joke. Like, watch it. It's everything that you want. You got the set up, the premise, the punch, the tags, the callbacks.

I got it all. I'll go into the crowd and I'll show you how to go into the crowd. Wow. I'll show you how to go into the crowd. I got it. I'll do it. It's, I love this. Is there anything about comedy you haven't mastered yet?

To me, yeah, I think I've, there's my particular style, I've masked. I love it. I love it so much and I know how to do it. I can literally go up there and just tell you what I want to talk about. And I will deliver. it the way it's supposed to be delivered it's like if someone puts you on the spot and says all you got three minutes ready go do you already like have a if you already know like different sets you have time limits stories do you have it all if you're like just going to watch you're not planning

to go up i'm so hey we need you now like and you have to go up what would you first of all there's stand up and then there's a gig i think that's the thing about stand up that that has this uh weird uh perception, right? Like, oh, you're a Santa comic. So, um, here, go inside this broom closet and there's two guys standing there. Ready? Kill them. Yeah, yeah. It's like, no. Like, you would never do that to anybody else. Like, we're not clowns. Like, you got a bunch of people at round tables eating sushi right now, getting drunk. Not a good seven. And you want me to what? With no opener? You want me to what? Like, Get stop. Like,

like. So that doesn't work. No. And anyone will tell you that. Everyone's got one, dude. I got, bro, everyone's got,

you know how many comics, you know, take these corporate gigs and they, eat it. They hate it, but they take it because you guys pay so much money. I stopped. Like,

I stopped years ago. And it hurts. Because the audience isn't as engaged. No, because you feel like a, it's a, It's clownery. It's like these big round tables with big giant table settings and knives and forks clanking.

And people are asking for more wasabi. And you want me to be funny. They pay you a big check. Yeah. Yeah. Out of here, dude. Like, we have the greatest, we have the hardest and the greatest art form when it comes to entertainment. You can't, you can't with a comic, man.

You can't. I say it all the time. Like any comedian, I will never say anything bad about a comic publicly. Did you know how hard it is it? Because I know. I don't care how, what style they do, whatever. It is we, we are a different class and in this game of entertainment. And it's untouchable.

It's untouchable. You can't, you can't with us. Yeah. You just can't. Like, you talk about. we have to be therapists. We also have to be a psychic. We have to figure out every single person in this room.

What's going to make them laugh? And adjust in a way. And it's crazy, man. You can have 70,000 people in the stadium, but for some reason there's this one cat I'm looking at. Just one. And every comic will say that to you. Who's just kind of like.

Yeah. And if there's not a comic that doesn't say it to you, they're not telling you the truth. So how do you deal with it when there's people in the audience. It's not that. One, who gives them? Right. That's the thing. Who cares about that guy? Yeah, yeah. Or that chick. We don't care. But the thing is, it just, it bothers you. Like, we'll literally go on the green room. We're like, did you see that? The crooked hack guy? What the fuck was that all about? Who the fuck was that? Like, literally, we'll all stand in the green room. Yeah, yeah. Just like, what the, we don't care about the standing ovation. We don't, like, it's crazy.

dude and we that's the kind of we got to go through like and we don't sit on the same song don't get wrong I love to go see live music I love it because every night is different because the crowd is hyped and you know you get to hear a different version of the song live and it just sounds good you get to hear all the instruments at once live it's a beautiful feeling stand-up isn't like that bro like We're not doing the hits. Like, I can't. I can't go up there and be like, oh, by the way, I'm going to do a live from Brooklyn today.

Like, they're going to be, everyone's going to want their money back. It's like, no, bro. We've already heard that. We want news. That's a lot of work. I always come up with new material. Yeah. And you've got to give it to them.

Wow. That's me, by the way. Like, once this special drop, September 15th, it's such a, like, a fun night for me because I'm like, you know, everyone's going to get to see that routine that I worked on. But at the same time, it's a sad night because I'll never do those jokes again. Like, I'll never talk about my stepdad again after that. And I love doing that story. I love telling that story on stage.

But it's done. After this, it's done. You can't ever talk about that stuff again? No. Not even like a part of it every now and then? Even if you yell it out, I won't do it. Really? And if you yell it out, I really won't do it.

Yeah. I just, I can't. there's no reason. Man, that's a lot of work. Yeah, it's crazy because an hour special to me is like a marriage. Wow. And it's like we get divorced, but it's a happy divorce. Oh, man.

It's like a happy divorce. Like I, you know, I wave to it. And I don't do, I don't do greatest hits at the end of my show. I don't think that's a. Because you got six specials now. So it's like if someone watched three of them. I got eight. Eight, but six on Netflix.

Yes, six on Netflix. Eight specials, but six on Netflix. So if someone watched the first couple and they see the same material, a little bit of it. They're saying, I already watched this. Yeah, you did that already. Dang.

What about on tour? Could you do it at us? Really? Man. We can't. That is a lot of work. Yeah, but I love it. No, I mean, it's great,

but it's like, you've got to always be thinking of a new material. Yeah. That's a hard job. Yeah. But it's not. It's not. It's a lot of fun.

Yeah. It really is a lot of fun. Gosh, man. I mean, you talk about people will watch this after the special's out, or hopefully they'll watch it, you're special after they see this. When you talk about your stepdad,

and you were telling me a little bit before, you had a tumultuous childhood. You were mentioning a lot of trauma with the divorce and stepdad and the dad. What was the biggest lesson your stepdad taught you that has guided you throughout your life? But my favorite that I like to tell people and smile is fix your bed.

Fix your bed. A dirty bed is a messy bed as a messy head. And he was military. You know what I mean? two purple hearts, two bronze stars, and the CIA leave edge. Your stepdad. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. And yeah, when he came into my life, you know, don't get me wrong. I love my dad. And things happened. You know, there were fights. We had to call the cops. He fought my dad a lot, you know,

and my brother was scary. It was a very scary guy. Small, but he could fight. Be like three cops on his back. Really? And it punched in the back of his head. You know what I mean? Because they won't put the cuffs on.

He won't let him put the cuffs on. And he just look at me like, yeah, they're scared, they're scared. And I remember looking at my brother going, I'm scared. I'm scared. Robert, like, come on, stop. And then all of a sudden, this guy, Fred comes in and he picks my brother up and slams him. You know what I mean? Because Fred's like, two, six, three big.

And when my mom met him, he was like 275, Army grunt, you know what I mean? Like this guy was in it. and wasn't scared to fight, man. And I remember he threw Robert to the ground, laid on him. And he was like, I'm going to lay here, brother, all right? You know, I don't want to hurt you. I'm going to lay on you. You step up.

Yeah, I'll wait. We'll wait for the cops. We call the cops. So what do you want to do? You want to get up and leave? And we'll tell the cops that you're gone. We want to lay on you right now. You tell me, my brother, lip him, lip him.

And they let him up again. My brother swung on him again. Then, bam, threw him to the ground again. He goes, look, I'm going to do this. I don't mind doing this. We can keep doing this. Wait till the cops. You're going to go to jail again.

We ain't going to see him for a while. What you're going to do, Robert? And then Robert's like, yeah, let me help. Let me out of here. And he let him up. We were walking down the steps. He swung on Fred, and then Fred grabbed his hair, hit him a couple times at the face.

And then I think that's when Robert, just looked at him. It's kind of crazy, too, because I think it was at that wake-up moment where my brother was just like, okay, I'm not that guy anymore. And then Robert just walked down the steps and they just walked away. And I remember looking at Fred, because I was, I think I was like 16 or 17 when he did that. And I was just like, oh, okay, we got, I got this guy in my house right now. I got someone who's got my back right now. So I looked at him different, you know? Step that. Yeah. I was like, is you were fighting your brother. Your brother was doing this to you.

You know, he was doing it to Fred. Okay. But Robert always did it to us. He was pulling my sister down the steps. He would, you know, hit me, hit my dad. And, you know, he's scary. But now we got Fred and Fred's like, oh, we're not playing that here, bro. Wow. This isn't happening in this house. Now while I'm here, and I was like, oh, shit. All right. And that was my guy.

I remember looking, I'm like, I'm going to go fix my bed. Like you said like this, right, sir? Like this, right, sir? Wow. It's not messy no more, sir. Wow. Swear to that. And to this day, you can go to my house right now.

My room's got bags from this weekend just open and all over the place. You know what I mean? My bed? Nice full pillows. You go to any hotel room across anywhere you go see me. I do not leave that bedroom unless my bed is fixed. That's great, man. That's Sergeant Fred here.

And I said, wow. What about your mom? I got a couple final questions for you, but what about the biggest lesson your mom has taught you? I think what my mom indirectly taught me was hustle. And I think that's where I get it from. Because when my mom moved here, I always tell this story. And I feel like I'm on repeat and I feel bad.

But, you know, there was no Facebook. There was no Instagram. There was no X. There was none of that. You know, there was no websites. You know, now you, you know, you come to this country. You know, if you're an immigrant and you come to this country and you just, you want to find a community that speaks your language, eat your food.

And it's easy. Yeah. Literally, it is easy. Just go to maps and type in Greek food. Boom. A thousand restaurants right by you. Facebook groups. Yeah. Yeah.

Facebook group. Greek. What friends. Blu. Yeah. Boom. Here we go. You can meet them that day.

Find a friend. You didn't have that back then, bro. My mom would go to church. on Sunday. We'd all be sitting with her. And she'd be literally looking around, just looking for someone brown that looked like her. And at the end, real quick.

You know, Josephine, are you Filipino? Oh, nice to meet you, huh? Next you know, they're talking. Now she's got this friend. Now she got that friend. Then they start renting out the nights of Columbus Hall at the church. It's the 80s. And next you know, it's Potluck Night. Now it's all Filipinos. My mom's going through a divorce. Now it's just her.

and her kids. So now we just got to find, you know, we don't have family because my dad's family is all we had. And now they're not with us anymore. So now we got, you know, the Portugal's and all these people that are taking us in like a family. And that's why I identify with Filipino culture so much because of that. Like those moments were so special to me.

And that's where I was performing. Like I was dancing like Michael Jackson at these potluck nights at the nights of Columbus and see my mom roll Lumpia. up, you know, our Filipino egg roll, she would roll them up and make a bag of 25 and freeze them and then sell them at work. Book these nights at Columbus Hall shows and everyone had to perform and just seeing her do this indirectly is probably why I make flyers. That's cool.

That's really cool, man. That's why I rent out theaters. That's why I paid for those specials when I had to instead of complaining and going public and saying, but. Wow. Yeah. That's beautiful, man. Yeah.

You gave some advice to your younger self. Yeah. You said, we're good. You know, keep going. But if you could go in the future and imagine the last day of your life or the last days of your life, you live as long as you want, but it's the last days. Yeah. And your future self is looking back at you right now. Yeah.

What do you think he needs to say to you for this next season or chapter of your life? Mm. man, you know, there's a comic there's a comic that I used to take on the road. Well, I still do. His name's Chase. Chase du Russo.

And I've said this a lot on stage before, but Chase is the one that burnt it into my head. And he goes, everything that you've done up until this point is the DVD. Like, it's the DVD. you made that DVD.

Whatever it is that you wanted was a DVD. Like everything that you wanted in like your movie, you did it. Here's the DVD of Joe Coy's life. Boom. You made it. Everything that you're doing now is the bonus features on the DVD. So that hour and 20 minute DVD is everything that I dreamt up when I was a kid. Everything that I thought that I, you know, even the ones that I thought was be impossible.

Like, I remember going, oh, he could never play an arena. I remember going to see Eddie Murphy. I went, I was like 15 when I saw Eddie Murphy live. And it was at the Seattle Coliseum at the time. That's what they called it. And I was sitting in and I was looking up. I couldn't believe how many people were there to see him. I've sold out.

And I remember, like, that'll never happen. Cut to me selling out the same arena that Eddie Murphy was at. And I'm sitting in the same chair and I have my son next to me. Shut up. Yeah. Oh, gosh, I just got the chills. Yeah, it's the craziest story. Wow.

By the way, the way I bought my ticket is with my mom's credit card because they didn't have websites back then. He had to call in and her name's Josephine. I just used the accent. I like to get two tickets to Ed and MRP. Boom. Two tickets were waiting for him, picked it up after school. Swear to God, bro.

And then now I'm at the Coliseum, and I remember seeing that looking up. That's the first time I saw Paul Mooney, performed too. And then now I'm sitting in the same exact. seats where I sat and watched Eddie at my show, same arena. And now it's called the climate pledge arena. And I'm with my son.

I just remember put my arm around my son going, this is exactly where I saw Eddie Murphy, Joe. It was amazing. Wow, man, that's cool. Yeah. But to think like that happened or selling out SoFi Stadium, the way that was nuts. And being able to hug my son on stage and have,

Oh, that was nuts, man. Wow. So many crying moments at that time. Man, you're right. Make me cry. There's a new dad now just thinking about these things. Especially with what we do, Lewis. It's like, it's hard.

Like, whenever you go, I'm a comedian, right? They're like, you know, but they don't know you, right? And I don't have a postcard. I don't have a flyer on me. And they go, oh, really? Oh, so where do you do this comedy at? And they're like, there's Sylphi Stadium. That's where I do it.

That's crazy. But before that, he's, don't have that. You don't have that accolade, right? And you have to go, oh, well, you know, I'm at the improv. I was on this show. Yeah, I do this. You know, I've opened for. And, you know, when you're a dad with a lot of pride, you got this, you know, my son. And you're just like, man, I don't want to say that his whole life. You know what I mean? I don't want to be like, well, you can see me at the improv. Like, I do it like every Thursday. Like, I want my son to be like, yo, that's my dad sold out. little five state. You know what I mean? Like I want you know you dream that right and I wanted that to

happen while he was in school like it was like a goal of mine like I have to have this while he's in school. I don't know what it was but I wanted it to burn. It is brain. My dad did that and I want him to walk around school like yo and it finally happened like I remember he was a sophomore when I shot my first special that I sold the Netflix so I shot it. So I shot a myself. Wow. I mean, I've told that story before. Shot at first. Then you pitched and sold it. Well, they turned me down. So they said no to me. And, you know, we were like, hey, we love to, you know, do this hour for you. And they were like, no. And there's no problem with that, dude. I'm not, I, you know, like, it's a business. You know what I mean? They passed on me for a

reason. Fine. And there's a lot of comments that deserved that spot. And they gave it to them. And I get it. I just had to prove to them that I deserved to be on it. So we got the cameras. we shot it ourselves. And then we shot it and we brought it to them. And then they bought it. And I'm glad. Thank you Netflix for everything because it changed my life. And when they watched it, they were like, okay, we get it.

Our bad. Let's put this on. And when they put it on, it was a rap, bro. It was a rap. When live from Seattle dropped, it was over with. They're like, what's the next one? It was crazy. Oh, yeah.

Like right after it dropped, I broke Mariah. Carrie's record in Hawaii. Wow. Like 22,000 tickets sold. I broke the forum, the forum record. That was crazy. First comic to sell six shows out. He was crazy. And I remember when I brought

I brought my son to the form when I sold it out the first two times. And he brought all his classmates. Oh, that's cool. And he was a senior. Oh, not a senior. He was a junior. And I remember like, yeah. Yeah, man. That's cool. And I brought him

out on stage and hugged him and all his classmates were there. I was like, damn, what a gift. What a beautiful. What a beautiful gift. Yeah. So now it's like, now I'm on the bonus features of the DVD. This is all a bonus. This is a bonus. Yeah. Talking to you. Joe, I want to acknowledge you for even that story right there of like, you know, a lot of people who said you would have already made it by now before this first Netflix special. Yeah. You toured everywhere. You'd done it. Like you've, whatever. You've done it. Like you've, whatever. you've sold out a bunch of places, but you still don't have that Netflix special, right?

Yeah. And still, that story to me is still inspiring because you said, you said Netflix passed. Yeah. And you say, you know what? I'm still going to do the special. Yeah. And pay for it myself and invest in it.

And I'll shop it to you or someone else if you don't take it. And you step, you went to the front of the line and you asked again. Yeah. Just at a different stage. Oh, yeah. I didn't even think of that. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, man.

You had your resume. Yeah. He said, here's my resume. They said, no. You said, can you give me five minutes before the thing? Can you get, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you just said, I'm going to film it and do it myself then. And then I'm going to show it to you.

And you just kept showing up. Yeah. Like, that's been the theme for 30 plus years. Yeah. Even when you've been on the top, essentially. Yeah. And so for me, I want to acknowledge you for just being an incredible inspiration. Thank you.

For so many people who feel like they have to have everything perfect before they start. Yeah. They feel like they have to have all the school. the credentials, the opportunities, the branding, whatever it is, before they actually get started and launch their dream. And you started when you're a kid and you said, I'm going to show up at every stage, every moment, and go to the front of the line and ask, can you put me on stage?

Yeah. Even when they say no. Yeah. And you're going to keep asking and keep mastering your craft along the way. So I acknowledge you for the incredible inspiration that you are for telling these stories. There's so much I'm going to talk to you about, but I want to get you out of here. And so maybe we'll have to have you back on for the next special. Okay.

I want people to watch your special that's out right now, once this episode is out on September 15th, called Blue in the Face. And it's going to be a banger, just like the rest of them, man. This is going to be so good. It's going to be a banger. It is, man. And you were telling me about some other projects that you're working on behind the scenes that hopefully coming out soon. Don't say hopefully. You guys come out.

Yeah. That is coming out soon. You know, I hate to say this to someone like. like you, but the one thing I never say is hope or hopefully. I don't. You'll never hear me say it. What do you say instead? I literally got it out of my, my, I don't even, it's not even in my brain when I talk.

It doesn't even process like unconditionally. It just doesn't come out. What do you say instead? When it comes out. When it comes out. It is going to come out. I said hopefully it comes out soon. I knew it's going to come out.

Yeah, yeah. It's just about about when. Yeah. I like especially with what we do, I feel like when you say hope, you're asking for something else other than your own talent. Interesting. To get it. And I don't, I don't hope for anything. That's good.

I will. It's coming out. Yeah. I'm not a motivational speaker, bro. I love this, man. I love it. I'm not that guy. I just, I just know, like, I don't like hope.

I hope that works out for you. Like, what does that mean? It will work out for you. It's going to work out. Yeah. If people follow you, Joe Koi on social. media, they're going to see when all these these books come out. Yeah. It's coming out.

This Martin Lawrence project is killer. That's what I was saying. Yeah, yeah. Martin Lawrence and I produced this special together, which highlights and showcases top headliners that just have not been given the opportunity. And they are headliners, bro.

Like, these are animals. Yeah. They are beasts, man. I've never seen so many standing ovations in my life before. And I was so happy, man. I was just like, it made me teary eyed. There was one point where I got teary eyed. Wow. Because me and Martin

literally went through every single submission ourselves. We casted this thing ourselves. Like, we handpicked all 24 of them, and there's no denying who we picked. There's no question. All bangers. Yeah. And any comic that's like, well, I submit you passed on us.

Well, then watch why. Watch why. And no disrespect. When we do another season, we'll look. And, you know, we'll if you deserve that spot we will get you but i'm telling you there's no denying these 24 you're going to watch it and go all right yeah these were good yeah they were good i got a level up next time they were good maybe i should have submitted a different set or whatever it is i don't know what it was but all i know is this these 24 comics caught martin and i's eye's they had the juice they had it

man and they they shine that night i saw some behind the scenes before we recorded and it looks pretty epic yeah it's crazy when that's come out. People will see that. I'm sure you'll be talking about it at Joe Coy on social media and everywhere else online that you share your content. I've got two final questions, Joe. And again, I appreciate you just opening up and being honest and real about all this stuff. It's so inspiring. I know people are going to be inspired by this conversation. This question is called the three truths. Yeah. Hypothetical question. Imagine you get to live as long as you want. This is your bonus features, right? You get to do all the extra bonus stuff, all the fun stuff now.

But whatever reason, many years in the future, it's your last day on this earth. And on your last day, you have to take all of your work with you. Okay. So no one has access to any of the 50 specials you'll have by then, all the content. It's all gone for whatever reason. Hypothetical. Yeah. But you get to leave behind to the world three lessons.

Three things you know to be true from your life. Okay. What would those three truths be for you? Three lessons. This is what my dad said to me, but don't say what if. right? What if I would have done it? Oh, man.

What if I tried? Like, don't ever say what if. Just do it. You know what I mean? Be that kid, man. Like, be the kid that you are, that kid that thought they could fly when they jumped off the roof. I know that sounds stupid.

But, man, we can really fly, bro. You can do whatever you want. I'm flying right now. Yeah. Not in the literal sense. I'm literally, I'm living out a dream, man. And I want everyone to feel this. Because it's, it's an incredible feeling.

Like, I used to stand in the shower and pretend I was winning the Apollo. I'm not joking, dude. And they won it. I swear, I used to do it all the time. I used to self-introduce myself in the shower. Like, I used to do this whole intro and live, you know, this next guy. I used to do all that. And with no routine, I had no jokes.

I would just do it. Like, I don't know why I was doing it. What was that like when you finally got to that stage? Insane. Insane. I still remember the bar that I went up at, and I lied. I said I was 21 just to get in to do this competition. It was called, oh, God, what was it called Starmania?

It was called Starmania in Vegas. My sister was in it. She was singing, but she didn't know I was doing the stand-up part of it. And I went to this bar on Eastern and Tropicana, and I drew this mustache. I remember I grew my baby hair I grew it I remember I wouldn't shave for like a week and a half

until the show and then I just made it really dark with my mom's eyeliner and I just made it really really dark I looked so stupid man and I wore this big suit I never had a suit before so I think it was like Fred's jacket

and I walked in there like all confident like this and then the guy at the door he goes I go here for Starmania to show and they're like yeah yeah come on All right, all right, sir.

And they sat me down. The waitress came, and I remember, don't order a drink. So the waitress came over, I go, I'll just have a Coke. Oh, my God. And I got a Coke. And there was a Lionel Richie impersonator that was sitting right next to me. And he went up and he killed it, he sang all night long and crushed it. And then he got off stage.

And then I went on, and I bombed. Really? So bad. And there was this lady at the bar. I was like 18, bro. And there was this lady at the bar. Right. It was just a dingy bar. And he crushed. I went up. I did nothing but sex jokes.

It was like insane. Blah, my blind condoms, right? And they were just tanking. It was just not funny. And then my mouth started getting cotton mouth. I was getting all cotton mouth. And then I go, you ever get so cotton mouth that your tongue sticks to the roof of your mouth? Like, I don't even know why I'm even talking. Like, just get off stage, right? But I'm not. I just keep going.

And they're like, yeah, we're talking. While your tongue gets stuck to the roof of your mouth. And the lady in the back of the... Because I was talking about condoms. The lady in the back of the bar, she goes, put a condom on it. And everyone started clapping. Oh.

And I was like, oh, my God. And I remember I got off stage and I was just like, I bombed so bad. But the lady, the heckler got the callback. She got the... Oh, my God. They're all depressed. I'm wiping off my mustache or whatever.

But you know what? That Lionel Richie impersonator, man. I wish I knew his name, man, because I just want to hug him. He said, he goes, man, I don't know what you got, but you got something on stage. He goes, like, there's something there, man. Like, maybe not tonight, but you on stage, there's something. Wow. You're that crazy?

You get a little confidence boost. Yeah. Lionel Richie. Man, I wish you would stumble on this. And I would love to hug him, man. Because, like, literally, because that was so depressing. I remember I came home, my mom and Fred were sitting on the couch. And I had that suit on, right?

And she goes, ooh, nice suit. Where did you? Were you on a date? And I just literally walk. Oh, man, right to the room. Shame. Laid there. Yeah.

Man. And I remember, I think, I forgot who said. I think Eddie or somebody said. I bombed 18 times before I got my first laugh. I forgot who said it either Chris or something. And I remember just laying there going, yeah, I got 17 more. No way, that's... I swear.

Wow. Yeah. How many more times did you bomb, though? Probably 25 more times. Really? Yeah, it wasn't until I got to this copy house. I remember I joined this one competition. It was just brutal because I invited everybody to it, and you bombed.

Oh, tremendously. Never bring your friends when you're getting started, right? Yeah. But then again, why not? Yeah, that's true. And they're laughing with you. No, they weren't laughing at all. They were just like, I remember.

And I had to leave the same way that all the guests, the patrons left. So it was just like this walk of shame with your family. And everyone that was there is watching. You're just like, oh. No, man. And just got to suck it up. I don't know if I answered your questions. It's good.

I got one final question. Okay. What's your definition of greatness? Oh, my God. man, your definition of greatness is doing what you love. If you're doing what you love, there's nothing that gives you that stamp of approval. Oh, I'm getting millions of dollars because I'm doing this pod. That doesn't give you the stamp of approval because you make music.

There's people making millions of dollars and they hate what they're doing. There's people that make a million in one day and hated what they did. but it's when you're doing what you love for absolutely nothing. That's the true definition of greatness. True. I appreciate you, man. Love you, man. Powerful, man.

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