wellRED podcast - #45 - An O.G. Liberal Redneck: Stewart Huff!!

Episode Date: December 13, 2017

This week we are joined in Nashville, Tn. by one of the guys that inspired us early on in our careers, and who undoubtedly help blaze the path for left-leaning comedians with a southern drawl.. Stewart Huff!Stewart is a brilliant comedian and even better dude so we know you're gonna throughly enjoy this chat.StewartHuff.net for his tour dates, and to pick up a copy of his new album God Hates Ann wellREDcomedy.com  For all our tour dates, the book, the newsletter and more!

And we thank them for sponsoring the show. Well, no, I'll just go ahead. I mean, look, I'm money dumb. Y'all know that. I've been money dumb ever, since ever, my whole life. And the modern world makes it even harder to not be money dumb, in my opinion, because you used to, you, like, had to write down everything you spent or you wouldn't know nothing. But now you got apps and stuff on your phone.

It's just like, you can just, it makes it easier to lose count of, well, your count, the count every month, how much you're spending. A lot of people don't even know how much they spend on a per month basis. I'm not going to lie, I can be one of those people. Like, let me ask you right now, skewers out, whatnot, sorry, well-read people, people across the skewniverse, I should say. Do you even know how many subscriptions that you actively pay for every month or every year? Do you even know?

Do you know how much you spend on takeout or delivery, getting a paid chauffeur for your chicken low mane? Because that's a thing that we do in this society. Do you know how much you spend on that? It's probably more than you think. But now there's an app designed to help you manage your money better, and it's called Rocket Money. Rocket Money is a personal finance app

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language learning services that I just wasn't using. So I was probably like, I should know Spanish. I'll learn Spanish. and I've just been paying to learn Spanish without practicing any Spanish for, you know, pertinent two years now or something like that. Also, a fun one, I'd said it before, but I got an app,

lovely little app where you could, you know, put your friends' faces onto funny reaction gifts and stuff like that. So obviously I got it so I could put Corey's face on those two, those two like twins from the Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland movies. You know, those weren't a little like the Q-ball-looking twin fellas. Yeah. So that was money.

What was that a reply gift for? Just when I did something stupid. Something fat, I think, and stupid. Something both fat and stupid. But anyway, that was money well spent at first. But then I quit using it and was still paying for it and forgotten. If it wasn't for Rocket Money, I never would have even figured it out. So shout out to them.

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What up guys? It's the show. I know I mention this every week, but if you guys are not signed up for the newsletter, this is the time to do it because we're about to announce tour dates in about 30 states for the first part of 2018. I'm super pumped about that. But we're going to announce those, and newsletter subscribers, as always, get the pre-sell notification code and whatnot to purchase tickets first.

And we have actually had a couple shows that sold out just on pre-sale. So go to well-readcom, W-E-L-L-R-E-D, spelled just like the podcast. Join the newsletter. You'll get all sorts of updates. We write funny letters to you from time to time. It's like being pen pals with three dumbasses. It's a super lot of fun. So I'm super pumped about starting 2018 already.

We just stopped the 2017 tour to take a little break and rest up, but we'll be hitting it hard in 2018. A lot of places we ain't ever been. I think I saw Maine on the list. We're going to Hawaii. Not going to tell you when yet, but again, it'll be on the newsletter. This week on the podcast, we finally have somebody that we've been trying to get for as soon as

as soon as we started doing it Stuart Huff. Stuart Huff is a guy who we are constantly telling people about when they are like, oh, you guys are the only this type of comedian we've ever heard. Stewart's been around for a long time and everybody should know him, especially our fans.

So we're super pumped up to have him on here. We recorded this podcast in the condo in Nashville, Tennessee, and it was super fun. Before we get into an interview, here's a clip of from his latest album, God Hates Ann. Hope you enjoy.

Subscribe, take your friends, download. Love you. Scoo. We got to start with beliefs. That's what we're talking about here. Beliefs. Right now, my son's 14-month-old. He doesn't have a belief in his head.

None. He's more open-minded right now than he will ever be his entire life. He has emotions. That's all he's got. The kid's happy. He's sad. He's poopy.

He's tired. Those are emotions. He loves Mexican restaurants. He loves them. The Hispanic culture has bright, vibrant colors. You ever notice that? The music is so upbeat and happy. The saddest Mexican song in the world has 10 trumpets and 14 moroccas.

Right? And I carry the dude in, and as soon as we open that door, he's so happy. He has no opinion on immigration. He doesn't have an opinion on immigration. I haven't taught him yet that we divided the land up into little sections, and we judge each other depending on which section

you happen to be born in. How am I going to teach something so idiotic to a child? How am I going to teach him that's the way adults behave, you know? I'm going to teach my son that no human being chooses where we're born. We don't get to make that choice.

I was born in Kentucky. I wouldn't have fucking chosen. I got nothing against Kentucky but Copenhagen over Paducah every day of the week. We don't get to choose where we're born. So therefore, judging another human, based on that fact alone, is an incorrect way of

thinking. That's what I'm going to teach my son. My father-in-law, on the other hand, will teach my son that the damn-ass dirty Mexicans are the reason he's missing a fucking finger. And that weird is so weird to even say that. My father-in-law is missing his ring finger, right?

And he walks around my house going, hey, hippie boy, that's what he calls me. I know. He's like, hey, Hippie boy, you want to learn some shit? Put that book down. Come here to listen to me. You see this? Mexicans, that's all this shit is.

The damn Mexicans and the Chinese took my finger. And I argue with him. I'm like, look, man, it is not the Mexicans' fault that you drank 17 coronas. And it's certainly not the Chinese fault that an M80 went off in your damn hand. You lit the fuse and then threw the lids. lighter. That's what happened to. And he thinks it's the Mexicans of the Chinese fault, right?

That's what he believes in his heart. And no words out of this hippie mouth are going to make him change his mind. Boy, once a human being really gets a hold of a belief, it will take forever in a free t-shirt to get us to change our damn money. We do not like to let go of beliefs, you know. I met a woman in Ocala, Florida, who believes Mary Magdalene appeared to her in a pork chop. Mary was Jewish. I think what you got there is a non-coher apparition. It is amazing how tight we hold on, is it not? It's amazing.

I was doing a show on Montana. I like Montana a lot, right? I'm in this weird little bar, you know, do my show. Guy comes up to me after the show. About 55, maybe even 60. Grown man, right? Comes up and he goes, hey, buddy, you're pretty funny. Can I buy you a drink?

I look at him. He's wearing a huge cowboy hat. and he has a glass eye. So I'm in. Right? I'm going to drink with a cowboy with a glass eye. Fuck yeah. And we're sitting at this bar,

and this dude is shooting whiskey. He's not sipping. I mean, this dude is knocking them back, you know? And after about an hour, he starts to tell me some pretty personal shit. He's telling me some stuff. I don't think he would have told me 11 whiskies ago. So in my head, I'm thinking,

I might find out about this eye. He takes one more shot. He looks at me and goes, You know, my youngest son's probably the dumbest son of a bitch I've ever met in my life. I said, is that right? How'd you lose that eye? He goes, oh shit, that's a good story. He goes, I was driving along my pickup truck, hit a patch of ice.

Damn truck flipped three times. My lucky horseshoe came off my rear view. I said, oh my God, man. I'm sorry that that happened to you, but that's funny as hell. You lucky horseshoe poked your eye out. I guess it's no longer your lucky horseshoe. Right? The guy looks at me and goes, what?

Of course it's still my lucky horseshoe. Who knows what would have happened if it wouldn't have been there? Look, if you want to believe in trinkets, fine. But when one attacks you, let it go. Phenomenal to me, you know. Evidence does not change a closed mind. It just pisses it off. All right.

Well, here we are. And I tell you what, I've been excited about making this episode happen for a long time. I didn't know when we were going to get to work it out. And we finally have. So we're in Nashville, Tennessee, and joined by the inimitable Stuart Huff. Hey, Stuart. Thanks for being here. The inimitable.

That's right. So, and look, I'm going to try to make this as not weird as possible, but I'm going to have to, like, falling over you a little bit. So, like, just, you know, I apologize in advance. You've had some incredible people on your podcast. I'm way down the list. Now, well, you know, not in my eyes. I'm like at the bottom of the cereal aisle. So, you know, I'm the bag cereal.

So for everybody listening. We grew up on bag cereal, though. That was good shit, wasn't it? Yeah, it was. Yeah. The ones, when I was in, like, a. college age at least for a while the bag cereal at walmart they had the little you know how most cereal had like little cartoon mascots uh-huh well the bag cereal had their version of that and it was a

a uh a kangaroo yeah with like a bag i remember their names anybody's remember their names no the big one and then the little one respectively cool blue and little odie well little ody cool blue and little odie so i mean to my buddy thompson when we were talking about when we were high in college and if you were saying i'm about to go fix me a bowl of cereal. The word, the terminology for that was, man,

I'm going to holler at Cool Blue and Lil Odie dog. Corey didn't know about that because he didn't have to eat bag cereal and I have, I had parents, so I didn't have to memorize their names.

We didn't have to, but we absolutely did. Eat the bag cereal because my grandmother would get it because, you know, Granny ain't have shit. And I found out that I like, I can't remember which one it was.

The off-brand Apple Jacks was better to me, even though I honestly they were the same shit. Yeah. But in my mind, Probably because it was what Granny got, and I was like, I like that bag cereal.

And then when Mama found that out, she was like, well, she got the bags. Yeah, save a buck, no, I did. Yeah, for sure. I had a cat named Dr. Thunder. Yeah. The Walmart Dr. Pepper? Absolutely.

Yes. Well, okay. What were the rest of them? It was Bubba Cola, right? Bubba Cola, Dr. Thunder. Mountain Lightning. Yeah, I remember that. Yeah.

There was more, wasn't there? No, that was it. What else would there be? Sprite. It was just one. One was just Sam's Cola, which was the Coca-Cola one. It was not very creative. I thought Bubba Cola was Coca-Cola.

There had to be a Sprite one. There had to be, but I don't remember it. I don't remember the Sprite one at all. I don't either, but you know they had one. I had to. But I never bought it. Sprite don't have caffeine in it. Who the fuck wants that?

They didn't sell Sprite. In a Walmart. In a Walmart. Dude, you know what? One time, I worked at Old Charlie's in Cookville for years, and you never believe this. Clientel there, fairly red-ass. and this one time I was working in the bar area and this couple came in and sit down and I you know they was in from damn you know white county somewhere or something like crawled out of the holler clearly like they were red as fuck and that was immediately evident and I walk up to him and the old boy goes well they have two sprites and I said I'm sorry man we don't we don't carry sprite I was like I can get you a Sierra mist if you want he goes he stared at me for a second just in utter disbelief and he goes, you ain't got no Sprite.

And I said, no, man, we have Pepsi products. We don't have Sprite. But, you know, same deal, whatever. And he goes, well, I can't drink nothing else but Sprite. Verbatim, that's exactly what he said to me. And so in my head, I was like, is he want me to run the goddamn store or what? Like, what does he want me to say right now? But all I did say was, well, I'm real sorry, man, but I don't have any.

and he goes, come on, baby, let's go. And they got up and walked out. My man stands by his principal. I like it. I like it. He stands up. Yeah. But Cookville, Tennessee, really?

Mm-hmm. That's my mom's whole family's from Cookville, Tennessee. I'm a Tennessee Tech alumnus. Really? I went to Tech, yeah. That's where I spent my childhoods. In Cookville? Yeah.

Cookville, Tennessee. I talk about Cookville on stage a little bit. So do you know where Salina is in Clay County? Well, that's where I grew up. That's my hometown. But that's like 45 minutes away from Cookwell. So like, and also Cookwell is known as the hub of the upper Cumberland because all those little small rural counties that surround Cookville, everybody in those counties, they all, if you're going out to eat, you go on the movies, you're going to the mall or whatever, you're going to Cookville for it. You're heading straight to Cookville.

Right. So it's like not that big of a town in and of itself, but when all that combined, you know, there's a lot of, you know, mostly shitty channels. restaurants and stuff there. Right. There's a lot of stuff there. No Sprite. But yes, I grew up going there for those reasons. And then I went to school there for five years, met my wife there, all that stuff.

I like to think about that old boy going home and telling that story to his buddies. And they're all just indignant about it. You need to tell me. No Sprite. No, Charlie. That dude, he was lying. He didn't like you when you came in. It's weird that it's Sprite, too.

That's just such a weird. Well, that's what brought it up. He said, he was like, hey, I'm going to be fucking with Sprite. And then I remember that. immediately. I was like, do my buddy porno for years wouldn't drink nothing but Sprite.

But like he wouldn't do what that guy did. I mean, he'd be upset, but quietly so. Eat him up on the inside. Yeah, but he's actually, he's gotten better about that type of, he's living a little better over the past few years.

He's doing good. But he literally, he never drank a drop of water, milk, juice, nothing, just Sprite all the time. Well, I rudely interrupted your right. We got off on a table.

because I want to talk about bag cereal. Right, I know. And now we're just talking about shitty food stuff. But to get back to the damn point, Stuart Huff is a comedian, originally from Kentucky. Originally Kentucky, yeah. I don't remember the...

Campbellsville, Kentucky. No shit, where Campbellsville University is? Campbellsville University. One of my best friends, he's like a big brother to me. He also lives in L.A., and he's from Salina. He played football at Campbell'sville University. Weird! I went to Campbellsville Games.

See, I always thought he was a Knoxville University. because I've always known you've been... Well, I started comedy in Knoxville. Right. And I lived in Knoxville when I was, you know, beginning in comedy and stuff. Because when I graduated from college, the job I happened to get was in Knoxville. So I landed there. It could have just as easily been Nashville or Atlanta or wherever the hell I got a job at, but it was Knoxville.

I had no idea we had so many connections. It's actually kind of creepy in a way. It is weird because like... And I'm getting... I'm putting the cart before the horse here. Stuart is a comedian. And how long you've been doing it now, Stuart? I don't remember.

23 years. Yeah, a long time. He's a seasoned vet. And so, yeah, he's from Kentucky, live in Athens, Georgia currently. You can hear him talk. I mean, you know, he's a southern man, as we are. And so I met Stuart for the first time I was a baby comedian.

I've been doing it like right about a year. And it was literally my first weekend working. as the MC at Side Splitters Comedy Club in Knoxville. It was the first weekend. And Stewart was there that weekend. And first of all, I don't remember how many different sets there were. I think it was five, one Thursday, two Friday and Saturday. So five sets, Stewart's doing like 25-minute sets or something like that.

I don't think I heard the same word or joke twice. And they were all five just flames the entire time, like, set in the room on fire. And I've been a comedy nerd my whole life, so I'd appreciate it. that in and of itself. But the thing is, the type of things you were talking about appealed very much to me because it's very similar to the type of thing that I was very badly trying to do then and that I've been trying to do ever since, which is basically, you know, you're very clearly and outwardly southern and talk about being a hillbilly and stuff like that.

But you don't, but you espouse the opposite of the stereotypical beliefs. You know, you have layer progressive. mind a guy and you rail against all that kind of stupidity and backwardsness and stuff that gives all the rest of us a bad name like that's what you do and that's what you've been doing for forever and I saw you doing it and just murder in there and I was like God I love this guy and so you know I started you know trying to talk to you or whatever just as you know again just my little baby comic ass trying to soak some some of some of your uh your greatness and but you were like immediately so super cool to me you know what I mean like you treated me with

total respect right off the bat you were answering any of my questions you were giving me advice and stuff and also we were just talking about just life and all kinds of shit yeah and uh I mean I felt like we really hit it off yeah every night of that weekend we stayed after they closed we'd stay outside smoking cigarettes and stuff until like literally three or four in a morning and go home or whatever every night. And because like we have a lot in common or we're just, we're on the same wavelength in a lot of ways. So that is,

it is kind of doubly weird now that we're some of these other commonalities keep like turning out. You know what I mean? It's odd. Campbellsville and Cookville and Knoxville. It's odd. But no, and I've been,

I mean, dude, we've talked about you before. I've talked about you plenty. Literally any opportunity I ever get to bring it up, i.e. somebody will say something to me about like being the first one to like do this like the first like liberal redneck comedian or whatever you know what I mean and I always I'm like that well that's not true though I'm not the first there's a few other guys there's one dude in particular

that's been doing it for years and he's phenomenal and he's a genius at it and he's criminally underrated and his name's steward huff so I mean I sing your praise as any chance that I I really appreciate that. And I know you do. You know, I mean, I've had people a friend of my wife's, my wife came home and said, a friend of mine at school said that Trey was talking about you in the paper in Athens. That's really cool. You know, it's really cool.

Here's what I remember about meeting you the first week we worked together, right? I didn't know you, of course, right? Right. And you go up and you might call yourself a baby comedian or anything, but what I saw was someone trying to be interesting, to be real, to no bullshit no ha ha fart kind of crap no someone attempting

to really have meat and what Tim Wilson used to call teeth right he used to call comedy with teeth it would bite you if you don't watch out you know that's what Tim always said and I saw you attempting it

and that's what I was doing and that's what I'm still doing is attempting it and sometimes I succeed sometimes I fail you know but I saw Tray the only difference was he just hasn't been been in the game as long as I have.

But it was all there, you know, and I saw it from the first time we worked together. So I'm hooking up with you and talking to you until three or four in the morning. I just, you know, and that week was hard on me too because I'd had a volatile relationship with that club owner and I knew that was going to be my last time working for him, whether he knew it or not. It was my last time putting up with his crap. so you made me feel better like I'm not alone there's more of us out here you know yeah that's exactly how I felt too you know what I mean or like like I like I like people

also if people ask like who you're like inspirations or whatever like comedically uh or influences comedically like again always like the opportunity to bring you up because that's how I felt because I saw you doing and it was like not only oh there's more of me but also like that you can do this, you know what I mean? Like, I saw you like doing it well and it was like, all right, fuck, we need that, you know, no matter what you're trying to do. You need someone to go, oh, okay, so it can, I'm not an idiot. It can be done.

I'm not right. Okay, all right. I mean, everybody needs that in life, you know? For sure. And I mean, I had mine. And it, I don't know. To me, it was just a connection. I met a buddy that week.

You know, I met someone and meeting you and Stan. around talking to you to four in the morning, help me not be all pissy about what was going on with me and that club owner. Right. You know, I'd been working for him for a decade, and I knew I'm not going to work for him anymore. Am I going to be able to afford to keep doing this and lose this dude's, you know, money? Well, me and Drew can absolutely vouch as far as that go.

I mean, we nowhere near a decade's worth of experience working for him. But, I mean, yeah, that was the owner you're talking about owned that club. which was our home clubs where we got started from. And we've probably talked about it on here before, what happened with it and everything. But I mean, we talked about Bridgett specifically. We did not have a-

telling us the sucker dick. We didn't go. We did not have a good relationship with them. They didn't, they never liked me and him in particular. I always felt like because of what you just said, because like we didn't, we wouldn't just tow their damn life.

You know what I mean? Right. Yeah. I would do the shit they wanted us to do. I would do one joke she told me not to do. Right. Every, I mean, like, when she fired me a little,

I was like, yeah, I knew that was coming. You know it was coming. Dude, the right didn't have been on the wall for me for a while when that happened. She would be like, these are the topics you're not allowed to talk about when you're hosting. And I would choose one and do it. You know,

and she'd be like, I heard you say, damn, and you also were talking about getting drunk and you can't talk about getting drunk. Can't talk about getting drunk. That's what I'm saying. Like, as the host,

she was like, talk about yourself and your family or whatever. And I was like, I got religious jokes and you won't even let me talk about getting drunk, you know, the right was definitely on the wall. Yeah. And I was going to say earlier you said we could speak on it.

you recognized in Trey that he had the talent and ability to get fired from Sidesplitters very soon after that. Yeah. Right. I don't think we told the specific story, and it's pretty quickly, we got an email. I had a show Mike Kaplan came through. He had done the catch in Chattanooga, and they didn't put him on. Like, Sidespters wouldn't work him. He didn't have enough credits and have enough filing, and he might not have done well in that room.

He's a, you know, he's a New York guy, and he's a Jew, and, you know, not everybody in Knoxville is down with that. Of course. He's not here right now. I love Mike Kaplan, but Corey has told me that Kaplan's weekend after catch, it did not go well. So it might have been the right move. So, Matt Ward, put him up at like one of the underground bar shows. Right. And he said, you want to open for him?

And I was a fan of mics. And I was like, yeah, I do. Yeah. And I shared it on Facebook. And I remember Trey. Did this show was on a Tuesday or Wednesday night. Either way, side splinters wasn't even open. They weren't even open that night.

It was a bar show on a night. They were closed. Yeah. Drew was on it. I had such a good set that night. I was feeling so good. You got a smile on your face now. You remember that was a good set.

Yeah, well, it was my anniversary, and I asked Andy. I said, hey, I got a chance to do this, and we're going out this weekend anyway. We're not going to go out in the middle of the week. Do you mind if we do this and then we can go out after us? So I was in such a good mood, and then we had an email. I think it was at night. It might have been the next day. And I said, well, you know, to both of us.

There was no separate. They sent us both in it. Trey and Drew, I'm sick of the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you promote these. little bar shows more than you do our shows you're fired or whatever so because he you know posted about on facebook hey i'm opening for mike cap on night everybody come check it out i literally just shared that i shared it from his that's it and then she sent us that email but though and i know that i've told you this before i had worked there the weekend before that so this is tuesday wednesday i'd

been there all weekend and the last show of the weekend saturday night late show uh ended very acrimoniously the emcee there had to do this whole comment card drawing thing you know where the comment cards on the table the people fill them out if they want to hand them in at the end I draw one randomly like a raffle oh you win you know 15 free tickets

to you know whatever and they their thing with them was they had all these specific rules for the MC about everything it wasn't just your material whatever they just had all these little nitpicky ass rules and one of them was during that raffle thing, you bring the person up to the stage.

Hey, everybody, give it up for Tammy. Tammy, everybody. Okay, thank you. Come back. We'll see you next time. That's how it's supposed to work. The last show of that weekend, I did the raffle, the lady whose name I drew, Debbie, whatever, was sitting literally right here, right in front of the stage.

So I was like, Debbie, Debbie, oh, no shit, okay. And so she's right there. So I hold it down. I like, give it up for Debbie. everybody, look, Debbie, whatever. Yeah. You know, okay, see you. I get off the stage and immediately,

she comes up to me, the manager comes up to me and is like, what the fuck was that? And I was like, what? And she goes, you know how did, how many times have I told, bring the person, and I had never not done it the way it was supposed to be done. But she was like, what did, how many times, why don't you understand these rules we have? Like, how hard is it to get it through your head?

I mean, she's just reading me the right act. And I was like, over the fucking. the raffle thing and she was like that's not the way it works you don't listen or whatever like something like that just losing her mind and i taught and i said in the middle of all this i just said bridget give me my fucking check and and and she handed it to me and i just left and that's the last i'd said to her and then i shared your thing and we got to email at the same time on wednesday saying that we were not welcome there anymore i think that you know that that's happened after that they closed down right yeah i did the last show

ever on that stage. And since we're in this shit on them, I want to throw my... First off, I did not mean to be rude. I had to take a shower for this goddamn show. Okay. So, yeah, she hollers at me about, you know, we're with the clubs in dire straits right now.

I don't know what's going to happen, but we need you to come... Can you come do the weekend, you know, pro bono? And I will... Once this is all taken care of, I'll take care of you. I'll give you two headlining weekends next year and I'll pay you double for the one or whatever.

whatever. And the part of me, looking back, knew it was all horse shit. Right. But I was like, man, you know, there's not a lot of, I wasn't getting a lot of work out my hour for a weekend at the time. So I was like, yeah, I'm in. I'll come do it. And so that Sunday, I do, step on stage, do the last show. And she's like, hi, thank you so much for this. You know, we're going to make it right. You know, you'll get your weekend, blah, blah, blah. Literally within 12 hours, like the next morning, there was a presser put out that side splitters is closed. And it's like there's no fucking way that that was just a surprise.

Yeah, so they, you know, just completely fucking me over. Sure. There's that. The thing that happened with me there, my last straw, was the week with Trey, right? They had booked me to headline the club, okay? And then I get there and I remember and I'm featuring. Yeah. Right.

And it would have, you know, like if it was Kaplan, right, if Mike, if they booked a bigger name than me. Right. And they said, look, we booked Mark Marin and we're going to, okay, fine, I get it. I know business. But I know the guy. You remember the guy that was headlining. Nice guy. He was a nice guy, yeah.

Nice guy. But not a bigger name, right? Right. Both of us had no name whatsoever. So they just bumped me back to feature. I was counting on that money, you know, to pay bills. So now I'm making feature money. Then halfway through the week, Thursday, night, Friday morning, something,

she tells me the money that they're going to pay me, it's less than feature money. So to me, that was the last straw in a series of last straws. So I'm sitting at the bar. They had just shown me this brand new camera system that they put in the club. And she showed me on the computer screen. There's like nine different views that they can watch in the office. They can watch the cameras, right?

And I'm thinking to my head, you bought this piece of shit security system and you can't pay me. You promised to pay me, bastards, you know. So I'm sitting at the bar. I'm staring at the camera that I know is looking directly at me, you know. And there's a poster. I'm sorry if you guys liked this guy, but there's a poster coming soon, Midnight Swinger,

and I took a black magic marker, and I wrote Hack on his picture, and I looked up at the camera, and I flipped her the bird, and just sat there and waited to get fired, and she came in there and drugged me in the office, started screaming and yelling at me, you know,

and then he called, the owner called my manager, and was like, you're employing a vandal. I remember all of that happening, though, and I just remember even then thinking it was bullshit, but also like, you know, was very much, I'm staying the fuck out of this. You know what I'm right, yeah, which is what you should have done, yeah. I'd like to switch gears slightly.

No, let's just shit on side splier for an entire hour. No, you're right. We should shift. Well, after that weekend, and then Trey and I met, we met right around that time. He gave me one of your CDs. And I guess my question for you, And, well, I heard it and I was like, holy fuck, you know, all the things he said, not only hilarious, but right in line with what we thought our goal was.

I'm wondering when, like, starting out, were you doing it kind of the way you're doing it now? I tried. And did you have people you looked up to? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, when I started, I tried. In Chattanooga, Tennessee. Chattanooga, Tennessee. I was living in Atlanta.

I was homeless. You know, I was living in my car, driving around, trying to get stage time anywhere. sleeping in Kmart parking lots and stuff like that. And I heard from some comic that in Chattanooga, it was easier to get on stage than it is in Atlanta. Right. So I started driving up Chattanooga. And I started,

and I was trying to do this, you know, left-wing, progressive hillbilly philosophy kind of thing. But it's, it was too hard. I couldn't figure it out. I couldn't get it to work. And so then at some point I just started,

I said, all right, back up, back up. You need to learn how to write a joke. Right. Learn that. Learn how to pedal the bicycle before you're going to try to do flips off the ramp, you know.

Yeah. So I started just writing jokes about my girlfriend and my house and, you know, whatever it was, you know. And then after I kind of got a little bit of, you know, knowledge about how to do that, then I started, you know, kind of easing my way back into that. But in my head, that's always, I just wanted to be myself on stage. Right. And that's what it is. Right.

When did you know that that's who you were? Are you asking as a person? Yes. Yeah. It's like, okay, as a comic I decided early on to be myself. What was it that made you? I think, from Kentucky the way you were.

I mean, I didn't know it at the time, but looking back on my life, as a teenager, people would say things and I'd be like, why are you fucking kidding me? Right. You know, I'd hear a relative say, well, you know, all the faggots are going to burn in hell. Right. And I'd be like, what? That's so stupid, you know?

And so I was questioning shit. And when you, that's all this is internally. Like you'd hear that. Yeah. Yeah. To think to yourself what like, yeah. Did you ever say anything to those people like as a teenager? Not as a teenager.

Right. Did you have friends at that time in Kentucky who you talked about that stuff with or were you kind of? Yeah. But by the time I was a teenager, I was live. I was in Knoxville. Okay. But yeah, I had one or two friends and, but not deep conversations. We'd bring, I'd bring something up, you know.

Like, I heard your dad say this when we were eating meatloaf. was you agree with that you know and you know and so as a teenager i was kind of questioning stuff around me but by the time i was in college i think i was like all right this is bullshit right this is just bullshit is what this is you know and then i and then i went through a period of uh kind of what you and i talked about before where you're kind of arrogant about it right you're kind of vocal about it right you keep it inside for so long as a southerner it's like you're ashamed of it and you got all this history and all this heritage that is weighing down on you and you don't agree with a lot of it and when it comes out boy with me anyway it came out

yeah it comes out like a kettle you know yeah and then so by the and i dropped out of college and started to do comedy where were you at in college uh berry college in rome georgia yeah barry yeah and um so it was like early days i was just upsetting people on stage. And I'm talking like first year. You were just more mean or more angry or whatever than you were being funny. Like you were just like abrasive on stage. Yeah.

Yeah. And I think I didn't realize at the time that I'm not an angry person. Right. I'm just not. So, but it was coming out of me. And I, and it was coming out like, plus it's, you know, it's open mic and Chattanooga, Tennessee. It's not like these people, they didn't agree with me. Right.

You know. And they, so they certainly didn't. agree with me when it was coming out as anger right now it's like this little piece of shit i'm 22 or something i mean what the hell do i know you know so i think it took me a long time to figure out that you know if you're gonna if you're gonna stand in front of people that don't agree with you anger is not going to change their minds you've got to lay out an argument so common sense that they almost don't see it coming yeah that's actually that first off I mean, I still be screaming and stuff like that, but it's easier now.

It is easier now, but basically I've always, Michael kind of told me this. He's like, when I started out, I was 16 and then I was not, I didn't directly start doing what you're talking about. But when I hit 20 and stuff, I was. And not only was angry, but I was so goddamn young that even if I was making a good point, nobody respected me. And now I've kind of grown into my act because I'm bald. I look like shit. and people were like, well, he seems like he may have been there before, so, you know, whatever. You've earned your opinion.

Yeah, now. But, dude, yeah. 22. Dude, I don't want to hear a goddamn 22-year-old say shit, even if I agree with him now. Exactly. So, yeah, no, I hear you. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, that thing you said about, like, anger ain't going to work.

If you're starting from a place of just, like, total polarization or whatever, you had to, like you said, lay it out in a way that you almost can't argue with it or whatever, or hopefully anyway. like that's always that's how I always felt or attempted to like you know try to approach it too with that kind of thing and like I would have other comics and stuff tell me after I said that in front of a very you know clearly conservative ass or red ass crowd in Knoxville or Chattanooga or whatever it's be like and this is true for these guys too but it's like I can't I can't believe like the shit they let you get away with you know what I mean me in the crowd like I can't like because you know they're making Bible jokes for you know they're making Bible jokes for you. or whatever, like that type of shit. And, but I always felt like, and I mean, maybe I'm off base, but I thought part of it was me was like they, I'm one of them, though, like, and they can tell that, you know what I mean?

So it's more leeway, you know what I mean? I mean, to me, it's like a, you know, like a black comic, you know, making black jokes that obviously, you know, a white comic couldn't do. And clearly that's different, but still there's some parallels there. like that's part of it you know what i mean i felt like i was always i always at least back then was always i tried to be like you know i'm one of y'all i understand like i'm this person too also this is bullshit though whatever you know what i mean i think there's i don't know about you guys but with me here's what i find when i go to seattle or canada like i was in canada right and i

walk up on stage and say how y'all doing yep there's a judgment Right away. Without a doubt. Right away. Without a doubt. You can be the dumbest French person in the world, but you sound smart as shit. Right. You know, you can be the most intelligent Southerner, but you sound dumb as hell.

Yep. And so there's a judgment right away. Now, with me, if I'm in front of a good crowd in, you know, Aspen or Denver, L.A. or wherever, right, out of the South. There's a judgment. And then two, three minutes in, right. There's a moment of like, holy, holy, Holy shit. I see what's happening here.

This. Holy shit, this is cool. Yeah, this is cool. This is different. Yeah, right. I actually have people that, yeah, they get it. Right. They're like, people come up and they'll go, you're an open-minded southerner?

Right. You know? Yeah. And I'll be like, yeah, there's seven of us. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right. In the South, I either get one or two reactions.

Either, oh, he's one of us. All right. So we'll give him some slack. Right. We'll let him say that shit about the church. We'll let him say that. shit about you know Trump or whatever it is it would give you a little slack because you're one of them or I get this indignant hatred right you're a blood traitor yes that's what it is I say how y'all

doing right and then I and then I jump into my stuff and they feel betrayed right yeah for sure if I was a black guy from New York they didn't like me to begin with right so I didn't betray them right right no that you're so right it's the same thing I mean first of all I agree with all that just from stand-up perspective but like with my videos because of all you know getting all the comments and stuff direct feedback from the people and uh there's that's a hundred percent the case with or also just from like talking to my good buddies from back home who have to talk to my not good buddies from back home about me yeah and it's this you know like who's he think he is he's selling us out man yeah you know what I mean like that kind of

I think, you know, like, yeah, like they're betrayed by it or whatever. And, you know, my thing is like, no, I'm fucking not. Like, I'm not trying to betray anybody. I'm trying to. It ain't about you. It ain't about you, Daryl. Be better. I mean, we all are entitled to our opinions and our thoughts.

And, you know, every bad thing that's ever happened to me on stage has happened in the South, every one of them, you know. I mean, I've had bad shows in Illinois, you know what I mean? where people hate me or whatever. But, you know, everything where, you know, they have to lock down the club or I get punched or, you know, someone's shit on my car in Arkansas. Wait a minute. Hold on.

You know. That kind of shit. It's all the south. You already told it to us at lunch, but I think you have to tell the story about them locking the club down. At least the – Is any story? Yeah.

Sure, yeah. I mean, it's – At least the bullet points of it. So a buddy of mine, Reno, right? Reno Collier, buddy of mine, right? And he was cool. He was being nice. He's like, Stuart, I was doing a split week at Zaney.

So on Sunday, I'm headlining, right? So he's like, I'm going to get Larry the Cable Guys agency to come see you, all right? I'm going to get, they're going to come out. And I'm like, and I was like, they're not going to like me. And he's like, oh, they'll love you. You kidding? Fuck, they'll love you. You're Southern.

They're going to love you. So I was like, all right. So Sunday, I go out there, Larry the Cable Guy's agency's there. You know, this is, if they want to sign me, this changes my life. I can afford Kudoba. You know what I mean? This is like, this is going to bump me up. So I walk out on stage.

For those of you guys listening, Zanis is you're in the green room. Okay. We got people coming in. Come on in. It's Corey's buddy, I reckon. Keep going. So at Zanis, you're in the green room and they announce your name. You open a door and you walk out on stage, right?

So that night, I didn't know what the crowd was. I'm in the green room preparing for my show. I walk out on stage. there's a scattering of people six or eight kind of not even sitting together the agency's in the very back of the room there i can't see them there in the dark right in front of me i got two tables pushed together and that's the majority of the crowd right in front of me right and i look i look down at this kid and he looks up at me he's got white power tattooed on his neck and i'm like jesus christ this is a bold move i mean yeah even for a nazi right i mean when they come out they're usually marching with tiki torches They usually don't come out and enjoy, you know, the town. I mean, right, yeah. And I look around. It's a Nazi date, right?

Yeah. Yeah, some kind of date service, you know. Yeah. I look around, I see a couple swastika tattoo. I mean, this is like, in my head I'm thinking, this is the clan. I mean, this is, you know, at least white supremacist. I mean, close enough. Yeah, clan adjacent.

Right. This is, in your mind, it sounds scary than the current version of the clan, to be honest with you, because it's all like fat dudes who can't run up steps. but this is at least in your mind a coincidence right oh yeah i mean i don't you know i never actually thought about it until you brought it up i just figured holy shit i'm i'm fucked wait i mean like i'm sorry what are you saying they hadn't they didn't know who you were and went there too oh yeah they didn't know i mean they as far as i know they didn't know who i was nobody knows who i am so that happened to him tray and nobody knew who he was i mean you're getting all this internet fame

somebody's going to murder you at a show anyway go ahead i think that that hasn't occurred to me you're out of your goddamn mind. It's fucking glad of crazy people out there. But as we always tell people when they bring that up, at least for now, there are absolutely plenty of people out there that hate me. But so far, they don't hate me enough to, like,

leave their basement and call me a queer. You know what I mean? Like, it's a YouTube comment level of hatred. Exactly. It's not enough to get them out of the house yet. Yeah. So far. Yeah.

Well, that's a good thing. Fingers crossed. Yeah, fingers crossed. Yes. But anyway, continue. So you've got these. So I launch into my stuff, you know, and I don't remember why I said. I just basically said a couple sentences and one of the guys at the table, the clan table,

said, hey, buddy. And I went, fuck you. Just because that's the way I felt. I mean, that's pretty much what I want to say to any white supremacist, you know. And then he got mad. The whole table got mad. And there were, you know, there's six or eight other people in the room. That's it.

Right. So there's not a crowd to support me. Right. To back you up. Right. Right. So I got into some pretty heavy stuff. And I had a, at the time, I was doing a big bit about Obama and people that hate him because he's black.

And I mean, it just, I got into that and it was just chaos. And they, they were, you know, moving chairs around. And at one point, I'm kind of having trouble like picturing in my head. It's like, you're up there like, you address them. By saying, fuck you. Right. Yeah. And then.

I introduced myself. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And then. But so for this part you're talking about now, like you're up there, like, you're just trying to do your thing. Like you're just trying to do your time and are they like fucking with you throughout the whole thing like yelling shit and stuff? They're like they're like adjusting chairs loudly and you know a lot of arms crossed and you know that you can hear that underneath their breath kind of stuff you know but in my head I'm still thinking I've got an agency in the back that's here to see me right yeah I want to do the best I can that's what's in my head what fucking love that's the luck of my entire career right?

Is God hate you? Yeah. If he existed, he didn't. He probably would. Yeah, right. We hate all of us. So anyway, I got to some bit that just was like really pissed him off. And one guy stood up, started screaming and yelling.

And I didn't say a word. I just stared at him. And then I said something back to him after he was done yelling. And then he punched a plate of nachos, which was hilarious to me now. Yeah. Back then it's scared the shit out of me. I'm sure. So I finished the set to say.

It was Mexican food, right? He hated Mexican, clearly. Yeah. I finished the set. I seriously don't think I got one laugh for 45, 50 minutes. There was total silence. Yeah, everyone thought they were going to die. Everybody scared to death, probably.

Everybody who wasn't a Nazi thought they were going to die or watch you know. Right. So I leave the stage. I go back into the green room, and I'm thinking to myself, calm down, Stuart, just calm down, go out there to layer the cable guys agent, find the president of the company. find the president of the company. You know, you introduced to him. Shake his hand, be a gentleman, say, thanks for coming.

Nice to meet you. Take care and walk away. No small talk. Don't even harbor any long shot that they actually like you. They don't like you. Okay. You caused a riot. They don't like you.

So I walk out there. The Klansmen are gone. I finally do the president of the agency. I shake his hand. I said, hey, great to meet you. Thanks for coming out. Manager of the club. at that exact moment comes up and said,

Stuart, you can't leave the club. All the doors are locked. We have the alarm on. They're out of that group of table, that Klansman, they're outside with guns. We're waiting on the cops. And then the agent, big time agent, the big millionaire agent said,

can I leave? Which is funny as hell to me. Right. You know, because he's like, I don't give a shit. Right, yeah. It's like, okay, well, you're not sucks,

but can I get the fucking air? I'm going to go sign that guy with white power on his neck. I think he's got something special. Yeah, he's got a point of, you that might sell. So I had to sit there and make small talk and I was like, you know, he's like, so how old are you?

And I'm like, do you really care? Right. And he's like, no. And then eventually he said, so does this happen everywhere you go? You cause fights and stuff? I said, no, I do well, sometimes, you know, but, you know. And he's like, well, I can't imagine where you think you're going with this. And I said, well, I don't either.

Be honest with you. And, you know. It's a good way to get signs, too. But the cool thing, the cool thing about it for comics listening was, I don't know, there was five or six comedians in the room when that happened. They're all outside in their cars texting me. You know, Stewart, do not come outside. Stuart, don't come outside.

Hey, buddy, hey, Stuart, whatever you do, don't come outside. Like one of my buddies said to me, he was sitting in his car with his girlfriend. The Klansman came out. They went to their car. They get guns out. He sees them get guns out of their trunk. And then they walk back over to the door and they're just standing around waiting for me to come out. and my buddy of course sends me a text

whatever you do don't come outside but I asked him when we're at I hop later I said what was your plan if I if that door would open and you saw my face what was your and he said his plan was to slam on the gas and run him over and I was like you would run over the clan to save me that's family

yeah buddy that's family hell yeah so I like that about it you know comics that cared you know for sure yeah I mean I know that sucks but that story like there's a little bit of rock and roll in that man now that it's over oh yeah it's definitely one of those things

like yeah I'm sure at the at the time it was oh my god fucking terrified but I'll tell you what Trey it's like um and I know that both you guys can identify with this once the emotion was gone once the heartbeat slowed down I had some pancakes

at I hop right and I'm back by myself I thought I'm proud of you Stuart you stood in front of the enemy and you didn't change your act, you didn't bail on it, you didn't say, well,

let me just tell this story about my girlfriend. You stood in front of the enemy and you did your shit and you set it right to their face, you know? And at the end of the day, you know,

I didn't get signed by the big agency. I didn't get any of the great things, but I didn't wuss out. I stood there and told them what I thought of them. Right. You know, for sure. I'm proud of that.

You should be. But, uh, so, that happened and we all had to go through like every one of these stories but that happened you've been punched on stage twice twice yeah and someone literally shit on your car or threw shit on your car no well i'm assuming they shit on my car there was because it wasn't smeared it was like no it was smeared okay here i'll tell you a quick story on that was in arkansas i was in a bar and just

oh my god just pissing off a tremendous amount of people in arkansas right one guy gets mad at me he threw his flip-flop at me, right? He threw his flip-flop at me, right? Hit me with it, which was impressive as shit. I mean, that's good aim. You know what I mean? I picked it up. I put it in my back pocket.

I still have it, by the way. It's nailed to my wall. That's awesome. I dropped out of college. That's my diploma. Right. Yeah. When he threw that flip-flop at me, I picked it up.

I put in my back pocket. I didn't even address him. I just kept talking, and he was furious. He didn't get my attention. So he was just, so he goes over to the bar, he's yelling at the bartender. It's liberal motherfucker. It's Obama, piece of shit, I'm going to kill him. You know, they kick him out of the bar.

Okay. To me, I'm on stage. That's the end of the story, right? Show's over. I get paid. I walk outside. People are outside smoking. They start giggling when I come out.

And I said, what's so funny? And they said, go look at your car. And I'll go over there. And there is human shit on my windshield, right? with a I mean it looked A footprint slid down So what the smokers told me

Happened was he walked around the whole parking lot looking at license plates And he found one without Arkansas plates He climbed on top of my car And took a shit on my windshield And then he lost his balance He's drunk

He's got one flip flop He loses his balance And he slipped off my car He fell in his own shit Yeah his foot was in his shit And slid down my windshield Oh my god and then he, boom, hit the hood of my car,

and they're all laughing, you know. I mean, it's just, you know. I hope he died of a concussion that, not all. I just sat there like, man, I don't, there's a lot of people I don't like on this planet. I don't know if I hate anybody enough to shit on their car. My God, that's dedication. That's usually like a romantic situation.

You know what I mean? That's a relationship that's been for years falling apart before somebody shits on somebody. these things. Yeah, that's like a deep level of hatred. Yeah. Yeah.

But I mean, I wanted to get into some of that anyway because I was going to say, like, you know, over the years, you know, in the first six plus years of getting started and stand up and stuff, which was mostly in the South, but I, you know, go outside of it whenever I had an opportunity to. But in the South, though, yeah, there were plenty of times. There were plenty of times, obviously, where, like, the crowd just. wasn't into it.

There were plenty of times where they absolutely hated me. And I've had, like, I've been yelled at to get the fuck off the stage. I've been booed or whatever for all these same reasons. But like, I've never been, I never once was like physically accosted by anybody. One time, though, this semi-pro hockey player tried to fight my friend over one of my jokes because he was so drunk, I guess, that he thought that he had done it. was a friend of mine who also did comedy and was on that same show. And the guy came up to an afterwards and was trying to start a fight with him over one of my jokes.

I was like outside smoking. I didn't even know what happened to it was over. But that's the closest I'd ever even come to anything like that. So like, that shit's crazy to me, man, because like... Was that the hockey team? Yeah. Yeah, I started that. I was shitting on them for being bad at hockey.

One of them heckled me and I went in on them for sucking at hockey. Oh, yeah. They didn't like us for a lot of reasons. But one of them, at one of my jokes, he did not appreciate. and he went up to my buddy that I would start to shit about it. This old drunk girl, so hammered, she didn't have her pants buckled. I could see her panties. Yeah.

And she's screaming at me at a bar show about because I said, God damn. Okay. You can't say that. And she was so drunk, her panties were hanging out. But like, I was wrong. We're staying goddamn. But that's the worst confrontation I can remember. I've certainly had, like, people leave because of the Jesus jokes and, you know, getting a hug.

This is nothing but funny in my. opinion this wasn't an all scary or nothing but this is my favorite uh walking somebody story that i did i walked this lady in a show that me and corey were co-headlining in knoxville at a brewery uh before all this a couple years ago right corey had went up first and so i'm on stage cori's outside smoking and this lady storms out and i mean i saw her leave from inside but i was like what the fuck ever yeah and i never would have thought nothing else about it but cori was out there when she stormed out. And I'll remember if she's on the phone or with somebody, but she's bitching about that motherfucker on stage or whatever. And Corey said, he was like, man, if you don't mind,

like, can I just ask you what it was that he said that, uh, that's, that you're so upset about? And she goes, I just, I just don't think you ought to make fun of Dale Earnhardt that way. And for the record, Stuart, let me be clear. Oh, my God. Stuart, let me be clear. I would never. I was talking about Del Earnhardt. I wasn't at all shitting on him. Oh, my God. But I have been doing the shit that I do.

And then now I'm talking about Del Earnhardt, and I guess she was just like, well, fuck, that was the last straw. You know what I mean? That's it. No, she wasn't going to have it. I will sit through all the political stuff. I will sit through the religious stuff.

But once you talk about Del Earnhardt, buddy, that's when I go home. but yeah like that's just that shit's crazy and obviously you know i mean you did it longer and you also started earlier like the one thing i was thinking about but i might be wrong about this because i mean i wasn't in like the comedy scene at the time but like when we were coming up in the south there was plenty of like we do a lot you know clubs and shit too but there was plenty of these like alt rooms or bar shows or whatever yeah typically the crowds there were populated with like you know the cool kids

cool kids hipsters whatever like people in like so like you know in any given Atlanta or Chattanooga or wherever and it's like some like hip you know dive bar that's having a you know alternative comedy show type thing the type of people that come to that

it you know what I mean it didn't matter what state I was in I knew that they were that they were gonna be on board with me as far as that type of shit goes you know what I mean on your home turf yeah I was like yeah I'm not going to Mind it or whatever. Pretend to be mad because he likes gay people. And then, yeah, I go the comedy catch too,

and it'd be more of a coin toss. It depends on the night in the situation. And I've had plenty of bad sets there. But, like, when you were first starting, were there things like that? Or was it like, right? I didn't think there were. I didn't think those types of shows were a thing back then.

So it's like, yeah. Anytime you're getting on stage, you're in front of at least some of that element, right? Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, for the first, I don't know. don't know, seven, eight years. I mean, there was no alt shows. There was no hip coffee shop that with 30 really cool, open-minded Southern.

There was nothing like that. Right. So, yeah, we were lucky in that way. Well, it's a generational thing because not just comics. I mean, I think everybody from the South, there's a difference of experience. Like, we have some fans, older fans who like, like cry and stuff. Sometimes they're like, we've been waiting to, you know, it's like, oh, you know, for you, like for me coming up it was annoying that my culture and society and politics and religion was the way that it

was where I grew up but me and my friends like we weren't that way yeah yeah you know what I mean that's yeah me too man I tell people that all the time like it because it's not just like when people are surprised because you know uh some people think like part of what made my video go viral initially and stuff was that people in other places were like I literally didn't know that existed. You know what I mean? That people like that existed. I've never in my life for one second considered there might be a human being like this out there. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like so we encounter those people all the time when they say something like that and I'll tell them like it's just not at all true and like you know first of all in any given election you know and we've

harped on this a lot but in any given election it's going to be somewhere around like 4060 Democrat to Republican in any given Southern state and also in the blue ones it's also about 60-40 but blue to red you know what I mean so if you put the whole South together all those 40% of the population of each of the states

I mean that's millions of people that are voting Democrat but it's also it's not just it's not just people in the cities and stuff like that at least in my experience that I tell like my good buddies that I grew up with and fucking Salina. Like, they were cool in that way.

We didn't sit around and talk about politics and shit all the time, but like, they were open-minded people. They didn't hate gay people. They weren't racist and that type of shit and still aren't. And many of them, as we've gotten older and have gotten more politically minded,

are liberals on the left are like, agree with me. Not all of them, but plenty of them. Or they're like the gay-loving conservative where they're like, give me my money, but, you know, we don't have to tell everybody how to live. Even a lot of the conservatives I know that are my age,

guys I went to college with and stuff, that identify as conservatives, it's that. It's money. It's the fiscal stuff or whatever. But they don't hate people. You know what I mean? They're not,

they're like, I don't get a shit if anybody's gay or whatever. You know what I mean? So like, yeah. And that's been a shift that's happened, I think, you know, recently enough that,

you know, our experience is different from a lot of people, like not that much. older than us maybe i don't know i think my brother who's four years older than me or but five in school school years i think he had a different experience than me like m tv it was completely different right generation in a way that his just barely missed it just it just missed it yeah in the comedy world what's going on now is in my opinion so much better than when i started the uh the quality of comedians is better now.

I go to these clubs and I'll see open micers that are doing interesting, open-minded shit and I think, oh, this is so refreshing. It's so great. I mean, if you were at the punchline in Atlanta in 2000 or 1998, yeah,

you're going to see some quality comedy. Absolutely. But you're at the comedy catch or the Stardome or there was a chain of clubs through South Carolina that was god-awful. And, I mean, comic after comic would go, hey, let's hear it for the faggot, you know.

I mean, it's just misogynistic, homophobic, racist, just, you know, I saw so many comics when I started that would literally look like, look around the room and see if there were any black people in the audience. And if there wasn't, then get ready. Because here comes the racist material, you know? Dude, well, I mean, I kind of feel like I should also say, though, like, because I'm running this shit all the time.

I start saying stuff like I was just saying, minute ago and I start to come off as like an apologist more so than I mean to for like the other shit, the bad shit I also have seen plenty of like I've never tried back like it. I ain't saying that it don't exist it absolutely still exist I'm saying but people already think that about it so we've got to point out

right what they don't right exactly realize exactly that's exactly fucking it like these comics I'm talking about they weren't just southerners right I mean they're bringing in people from all over I'm talking in the con when I started in the comedy world, it was an extremely male-dominated, almost macho kind of situation. Which is hilarious because we get up there and beg for attention for, you know.

It's the opposite of like tough, I think. But if you went up, I had a buddy one night at the punchline, which was at the time and probably still is the best club in the South, right? I love the punchline. And I had a buddy that got up on open mic, right? And he did a bit about comic books. okay and every comedian after him just raked him over the coals for being a wussy and a geek and a nerd I mean the headliner 45 minutes after he'd already done the bit right

the headliner gets up there and just goes into what a wuss this kid was who reads comic books what a nerd blah blah now I see comics going up doing incredible material about odd bizarre shit right you know and No, but if you went up today in a normal, and not even a hipster play, in a normal club, and just were outright homophobic, then you'd have a problem on your hands. Yeah. The comedy world has changed, you know, it's gotten better. It's gotten more progressive, more open-minded.

You know, the field of topics has widened, you know. Have you seen the, Bill Burr calls it the alt hack? Huh. So that, like, that's, you're completely right, and it absolutely is for the best. but like you know i was in new york and in brooklyn like there's like the other end of the spectrum of like someone who's there's just no jokes there's just like being woke on stage or whatever oh sure yeah yeah good for you white guy yeah we get it yeah i like black people i totally yeah i get that completely and i see some of that too but to me it balls down to this which one

do you want to fight absolutely you know which one would you take dude that's my thing with safe spaces and people railing against those and uh people talking about how like we're going to have witch hunts on campus with rape and all that. And it's like, hey man, do you want some kid who maybe didn't rape a girl to get kicked off campus or do you want a girl to get raped? Like, right. I'm always like, why are we trying to fight that? You're right.

Congratulations, Contrary. And you're right. Sometimes these things go too far. But what's the worst evil here? I would much rather, I would much rather live in a culture where we're a little trigger-happy on stopping rape. and occasionally we get it wrong than the other way. I'd much rather live in that course.

Or just like the idea of like safe spaces have gone too far and it's like, well, that's better than people getting, you know, raped. You know what I mean? Sure. Or people being openly homophobic or whatever. Like you were just saying, you're saying, you know, I'm talking about the comics here and not even just Southern comics, just comics in general. There was so much of that.

And it was like, I think about all the guys that we came up with and shit in the South or whatever, and how, like, just not at all, you know, the whole macho, alpha male fucking, give it up for the queer, everybody, like that whole thing. Just polar opposite of that. Dude, I was a new thing about how I think every, me and you, was the closest thing to that guy. In the Knoxville scene. I think that's true. I would do bits about playing football in college, and everybody was like, oh, this guy,

you know what I mean? It's like, well, that's what's a lot. That is wild, how, you know, different that is, because. Yeah, it's, but I think you're, I think you're absolutely right that I find myself defending the South too, you know. Yeah. And I think the reason is because everybody outside of the South automatically has an image of what they think it is. Yes. And then if you say, well, have you been to the South?

Right. They'll say, I've been to Dallas. Dallas isn't the South. Right. Go get in your car, drive outside of Dallas. Go down into Louisiana, you know, meet people, blah, blah, blah. You know, so I find myself saying, you know, there are plenty of open-minded, progressive, intelligent, curious human beings all over the South. And I think, you know, and sometimes I do feel that kickback where in my head I'm like, but there's also a shitload of races.

Right. But they already think that. Sure. Right. You're totally right. My thing with it is, and again, I'm still very prone to it, even though I'm aware of this and everything. but like I start to get fired up and defensive about the whole you know some you know fucking Yankee or somebody from Oregon or whatever like thinking saying just some shit about the

South is just ridiculous whatever and I can tell they don't know nothing about it now I'm fired up and it's like god damn it ain't like that whatever you know what I mean and then I'm in so I'm not taking any time to be like but you know also yeah there's some shitty stuff like I'm I'm upset about this thing but I'm not thinking about how it can come across, which is just like apologetic. Totally, like overly apologetic, which is not at all what I'm trying to do. Again, I'm not trying

to deny the bad shit. All I'm trying to say is, the bad shit doesn't define the entire region or everybody from or in that region is all I'm fucking saying. The hurry with which you want to do that person I'm talking to from the north is kind of

revealing about who you are. Sure. That's the chip I have on my shoulder. We get asked a lot, do you change, or we used to, do you change your material when you leave the South versus when you're in the South? We were like, no, of course not. But after a while, like the third or fourth time I got asked that, and I got to think about it. And it occurred to me that I was doing that, but not the opposite of the way that they expected.

Oh, okay. I have these jokes. Like, there's one joke that comes to mine in particular, and I'll do it tonight. But the joke is, you guys know what the County Fair is, right? I was at the County Fair. You guys know what the County Fair is right? Yeah, it's what we have in the South instead of museums. I hated doing that joke in the north.

And I stopped. Like I was like, fuck them. I'm not giving them that one. But like in a side. So like, so the opposite of what people expect, I was going harder on the South in the South.

Yeah. But then outside of the South I was going harder on like liberal culture or what, you know, in its own hypocrisies or whatever. But you know, if you widen the view, I don't know what time it is. I'm just talking. It's four.

I was about to say, I totally knew this would happen because again, we've had a lot of long conversations. I know how quickly they go. But yeah, we've covered an hour and we do have. a show to do. Let me say one more thing.

No, no. Finish what you're saying. And also I want you to talk about like, you know, obviously where people can find you and what you got going on and shit and everything and what Drew is it. I'll see you soon. No, I'm going to go take care of something. Corey just asked me to go take care of and then get over to the show on time. Cool.

Okay. I think in a wider, much wider point of view, here's the thing. Wait, man. I'm sorry, Stuart, real quick. He's saying after his set, I thought it's at 530. Is it at 5? You better find out. Yeah, find out if we're on at 5 or 530.

in a wider point of view, if we're going to win, if our side is going to actually make a change in the country and win, we're going to need everybody. So the people in Oregon should give a damn. Right. Okay. 530?

Okay. The people in Oregon should give a damn. The people in Montana, the people in San Francisco should care about the Democrats and the progressives that are in Mississippi. I did this thing, honestly, it was right around election times it's been a while, but it was some project

that this organization put together where they reached out to literally like 100 different people to each make a 60 second clip that was about all these different things related to like basically what the fuck just happened kind of thing. And they contacted me and what they asked me if I would be interested in talking about was like

and it was a question I got endlessly at that time which was like, you know, what can Democrats do to reach these, you know, conservatives in these places that think we just hate them or whatever else like that whole thing, you know, like change their minds, turning around or whatever. And what I ended up giving them, which I mean they used, but I don't know if they liked it or not, but what I ended up saying was like, fuck reaching those people. Like, you know, the people on the extreme far right, like what you need to be trying to do is reach the people that are on your side in the South that, you know, that think you don't

give a shit about them, that think they're completely alone and are completely defeated. in their meant you know what I mean and they think it's that's pointless for them to even try to do anything yeah that's step one in that arena like you know let those people know that you want and value their presence and everything too like get you know reached out to them let's all get together first yeah and then we worry about that shit because you know that's the thing they don't even they're not acknowledged at all like people in as far as you know in the political I know I mean, until Roy Moore, you know, we found out he was a child molester. I guess I should say accused.

Alleged or alleged. Whatever. Right. Until that, the Democrats weren't even, didn't you really care about Alabama. They just basically said, well, we got no chance. So there's millions of Democrats in Alabama. Right. That they don't even want to go down there and say, hey, team, let's get together.

And who cares if we win or lose? Let's take a shot at this thing. Right. Yeah. You know? Exactly. That's step one is to give a damn. about I don't care if there's a hundred Democrats in Alabama.

Somebody needs to be in contact with them and teach them how to organize and get together and put up a damn fight. And then maybe after that, then we can have a discussion about how are we going to turn some of the Republicans to our side. Right. I completely agree. So, yeah, we are about to have to. Yeah, let's wrap it up. Again, you know, I could sit here and do this for at least another two or three hours. I love talking to you. I know, man.

It's just like back in Knoxville. It is. Yeah. Something like that. But so before we go, though, well, first of all, again, thank you so much for, uh, doing this. I've been, we've been talking about for, for, you know, as soon as we can work it out. Yeah.

We won't have Stewart on, so I'm glad it finally worked out. Thanks for having me. But, uh, it, you know, tell us, tell us, tell us, tell the people, you know, how they can find your stuff. Well, I got a website, Stuart huff.com, uh, you know, I'm on, you know, I'm on Facebook. You can send me a message. I'm not a big Twitter guy. I have a Twitter account, but to be honest with you, another comic runs it.

Really? Okay. I'm not a big Twitter guy. So, but, you know, Stuart Huff.com, you can email me through there and my CDs, like physical CDs, I'll mail them to you, are on the website. And if you want to download them, their iTunes and all that stuff, you know. All right. And again, guys, if you're listening to this, presumably, you like me, Corey and Drew, and I'm telling you right now with 100. percent certainty. If you like me, Corey and Drew, you're going to fucking love Stewart.

So please check him out. Thank you so much, man. Let's go do this shit. Let's go do it. All right. Thank you all for listening to the well-read show. We'd love to stick around longer, but we got to go. Tune in next week if you got nothing to do.

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