We're Out of Time - Nick Thune Inspiring Sobriety & Comedy Stand Out

Episode Date: April 1, 2025

Join comedian Nick Thune for a raw and hilarious conversation about his journey to sobriety—how it’s reshaped his comedy, strengthened his family, and transformed him as a father. With his signature wit, Nick shares deeply personal insights, proving that even life’s toughest moments can come with a punchline. Don’t miss this compelling episode of We're Out of Time with Richard Taite.For all things Richard Taite, the We're Out Of Time podcast, and Carrara Treatment Wellness & Spa: https://linktr.ee/richardtaiteIf you, or a loved one, are struggling with drug and alcohol issues please contact us:https://www.1callplacement.org/For more on Nick Thune:https://www.nickthune.com/Key moments from this conversation with Nick Thune & Richard Taite. Intro 00:00 "I heard your sober? Who told you?" 01:03I can handle this. I couldn't 02:49Nick's depths of addiction 08:54Fear of not being funny sober 12:25Clear minded in sobriety 15:25Nick on talking with his on about drinking and substances 22:4815 Minutes of fame 30:33Sober & Present father 39:20Nick, a pro snowboarder? 44:31

I want to write comedy about the stuff that I really liked was Steve Martin, Martin Moll, these guys that could look like they're selling you something, but it's actually nothing. And I loved that. The most ideal reaction to my comedy would be a person in the audience laughing, saying to the person next to him, that was stupid. I heard you're sober. We told you.

You did. I was on my way to Vegas, and I just decided I'm going to land and have a drink. And I'm performing tonight at this casino, go down to the pool, have a drink, go to my show. Just so much alcohol. and took it to my room and just drank it and then fell asleep and then woke up to pounding on my door, the casino and hotel security

because I was supposed to be on stage 20 minutes ago. And that's how quickly alcoholism just wrap me right back up. We got to go to the bathroom at 2 in the morning, go downstairs, take the equivalent of like five shots because my heart hurt, my chest hurt. It didn't like make me think, you guys shouldn't do this.

How long did you go on that run for? 10 years. Thank you for listening to the We're Out of Time podcast with Richard Tate. If you haven't already, please follow the podcast, rate and review. And if you're getting value out of where out of time, share it with someone else you know. Nick soon. All right.

Thanks for coming, man. I appreciate it. Yeah, thanks for having me. Yeah. So I heard you're sober. Who told you? You did before the gig. That's when I do all my preparation for the show.

It's very voluminous. It's about six minutes. Yeah. Yeah. It's nice. I mean, it's nice. I do the same. thing when I'm about to do a show.

I'm like, on the drive there, I should really investigate this. And luckily, the LAS is doing a, do you ever do that where you're like wanting to listen to NPR and they're doing a donation drive and you're like, there goes a week of me listening to radio because I cannot listen to them begging for money. I wish they had money. That'd be nice, but that would be nice. Yeah, when you don't have money, it kind of sucks. Yeah. I've been so poor that I couldn't pay attention. I went ahead and I was so poor, I had to buy six of the fake top ramen for a dollar instead of five for the real top ramen. Yeah, that was a bad time.

There was a six, was a package of six? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. No, I've been there. Never really cared much for money or about it, really. But it's nice. But yeah, so Bridie for me, it's my second round of it. Final round. round. I don't she had the first time. 12 years of how of like from Seattle, got sober at 17, moved to L.A., stayed with it for a while. And then just decided, I think I, you know, I think it's what everyone does. It's like, you know, I'm an adult now. I'm like, I've been on the Tonight Show. I've got a Comedy Central special, like, I can handle this.

and could not handle it from the first time that I did it, actually, which is kind of funny. Like, I was on my way to Vegas, and I just decided I'm going to land and have a drink. It's going to happen. I'm performing tonight at this casino. I'm going to go down to the pool, have a drink, go to my show. Went down to the pool, had a beer.

I was like, oh, you know, I'll get like a mixed drink. I've never really done that because I was 17 when I got sober. So, like, and I go to the pool. the bar and I order this like absence filled concoction that's probably like a Long Island iced tea in some way. Just so much alcohol and took it to my room and just drank it and then fell asleep and then woke up to pounding on my door and it was the casino and hotel security because I was supposed to be on stage 20 minutes ago. And that's how quickly alcoholism just wrap me right back up. It was just, there was no question. At that point, it was, it should have been like,

oh, let me go talk to somebody to tell them what happened. But then, instead of doing that, I went home and didn't tell anybody and then pretended like I was having my first drink at a dinner with my wife and some friends after talking about it for a while and saying like, I think I could try it. Like, let's just give it a shot, see what happens. And it's so alcoholic. Yeah. And then pretended to have a margarita for the first time. I was like, wow, that's all I need. You know, cut to me almost immediately, you know, like sneaking shots of booze, like everywhere I go. Friends houses, my house, like, only booze, no pills? No, I did have a pill phase. I had a, no, I mean during this phase. Not, during this phase, everything, yeah. Everything. Yeah. Cocaine, though, I never really, I just,

did when people gave it to me. You never bought cocaine. Never bought it. Then you didn't do cocaine. Yeah. If you don't buy your own cocaine, unless you're like a hot girl who never buys cocaine, you don't have a problem with cocaine.

It never got there. But towards the end, it was a more and more thing, more and more regular thing, to keep me up, to keep me able to drink more. That's right. But it was never my drug of choice. Right. I really wanted to be subdued.

So pills and biz Yeah Yeah I had a really great pill phase I did have a way of seeing when things were

going to be really dangerous like oh this pill stuff is maybe more dangerous than alcohol Like you would never stick a needle

in your arm I would have but I never did no I'm not afraid of needles Oh so that wasn't your thing like

okay that's a bridge too far Yeah and nobody Nobody ever offered it to me. Oh, God. You know, like I, the Coke thing was, became offering.

And it was like, I would lose a weekend to Coke, for sure, if I'm performing in Denver and, you know, the wait staff gets it for me or something. Did you ever get to that show? Yeah, I did. And it was, I remember being horrible. I remember being, it was just in the same building.

Right. You know, I just got in the elevator and went down. But I just remember being out of it, like, it just bit set that it didn't efface me it didn't make me think maybe I shouldn't do this

how long did you go on that run for 10 years really 10 years what was the wreckage the wreckage is you know divorce

but that was actually after sobriety but I mean you know the wreckage happened in that time well that was during the 10-year run. Yeah. Yeah.

And it was just, I compromised everything. You know, I compromised. I didn't grow. Well, wait a minute. Let's go back to that. Yeah. You went ahead and got divorced and you've got an 11-year-old child

with that woman, right? Yeah. I know how it feels to not be under the same roof as your children. It's got to be, it had to be painful for you. Yeah.

And then the pandemic hit, which was, you know, like even a more weird thing to like have, you know, not knowing if he's safe when he's over there with all this stuff going on, making sure she's being safe. But she is. She's a great mom. And that was hard. But I also, it helped me kind of reclaim my life. You know, like it really helped me go to meetings. Like I had time on my own to do things. And that is. Do you go meetings? Were there meetings or do you go on the gym? During COVID, I was doing Zoom, but I got sober before COVID. Got it. But yeah, I was a big meeting guy my first time in sobriety. I loved it. I just, I would sit in rooms and smoke with men three times of my age. I remember when we could do that?

God, it was the best. Just bad coffee and cigarettes in Seattle, like, raining outside. Just the best Vietnam vets and just hearing it. like, you know, being like, well, I haven't lost anything yet, but, you know, I know that if I do it again, I will. And then I did. I mean, I just, I lost, almost lost my life. I mean, I ended up in the hospital and just from delirium tremors. I, that's, you know what, man, for those of you you that don't know, it's just you drink so much alcohol that when you wake up in the morning, you're shaking so bad and you're so sick, you have to keep drinking. You have to start drinking. Like,

at six in the morning, you got to start drinking. It wasn't even six in the morning. It was we got to go to the bathroom at two in the morning, go downstairs, take the equivalent of like five shots. Because my heart hurt, my chest hurt. And you had to get back to bed. Yep. And I remember being convinced for a long time

that our bed was lopsided because my blood was like rushing one direction of my body. I think it was like rushing up here. Like my legs were getting like numb. and I was convinced that the bottom of our bed was higher than the head and was constantly trying to and in the end it was just like

my body was so messed up that it was like blood wasn't transferring like how long did you have that bed? Years. Did you sleep in the same spot at the night? Yeah. Okay, your bed was uneven. Not to.

But I'm glad you thought otherwise and it got you sober. When I got sober though, I wasn't like my blood wasn't run. running right yeah and your bed was fine yeah oh okay but but but it wasn't i'm not saying that i don't think that it could have been but i i do think that my body wasn't running right for sure you know like the pain that i was feeling and like the numbness of my limbs like that's what i would wake up with my legs being numb you had deep you had the d t's yeah that's so bad you have the ds

for any extended period of time, and it's very hard to get you back because you're a wet brain. Yeah. So you were right, you were, I don't know, a year or two away from that, huh? I was, and I, when I checked myself into rehab, well, I had friends do it for me,

but I kind of put my hands off and just said, I need help. I got into rehab, and they had me for two days, and they were taking care of me, you know, the nurses. Right. And that's when I was hospitalized when they couldn't take care of me anymore because they found me naked in the backyard in the middle of the night. Right. I'd been talking to walls.

I thought there was a radio station. You just need a higher level of care. Yeah. But once you were stabilized, you could have gone back. I went back. That's right. But yeah, I woke up in the hospital. Who knows, I mean, I was there for like five days, I think.

Yeah, how did you feel when you woke up in the hospital? Was it, I got to get out of here and have a drink, or was it, this is just kicked my ass? I've got to change my life. Yeah. Oh, no, I was never, I'm going to go out of a drink again. Because my son was five, and I just decided I'm not compromising the rest of,

right now he might never remember and know of me as somebody who drank, even though I'm going to tell him and he'll know. For sure. But he'll never remember that. Thank God. Yeah. And so I, and it was not an option.

I never was like, I was the guy in rehab that if people, you know, because there's some kids there whose parents have thrown him in. And then, you know, you're in meetings and they were, like, d-off, like, talking and trying to, like, derail a program. And it's like, hey, some of us care. Like, I need this.

I'm going to die. Right. You know, like, it was very serious to me. Right. And also, I was really worried about performing again. And in rehab, they were taking me out to the improv. That's great. I had a nurse that would drive me to the improv, and I would do a set, come back.

Do you know what that's called? That was a loving thing they did for you. Oh, yeah. Because that's called exposure therapy. And you told them this is what I do and I want to get back to it. And what happens with that, whether they told you or not, is, and you probably were feeling this, is you feel like you're not going to be funny anymore. Yeah. Right.

And so they want to titrate you into this thing for a couple of reasons. number one, you ain't drinking there, so you have the mindset of, oh, I'm going to go, I can be there and not drink, right? Yeah, really going into a nightclub scenario, which is the world of comedy. And that's what you know. Yeah. And it's neuroplasticity, right? So even if you're not planning to do it, unless you've done it a few times beforehand and it really becomes visceral, it could be, as easy as you're not even thinking about it, you're having a conversation. And because you've done it,

this is what you've done. And so you order a drink. And you don't even think about it or someone hands you would drink. It's no different than if you lived in a place for 20 years and you moved to another place for four or five months and you're talking on the phone, well, the car knows the way home. Which house does it go to? Yeah. It goes to the one that you've been to for 20 years because the car knows the whack. Well, this is what you actually said something before we were taping that I thought I wanted to know more about, but about nicotine. Right. So I quit nicotine in December, early December,

and I've been doing it for 30 years. You know, it's like the one thing I've just, it's been a constant, right? Never away from it. Sure. And then now, and you said, like, are you, is your head clear? You know, like, what is the time?

Because they say seven days or less, and the addiction, physical addiction is gone, right? Like, the body needing it is gone. The brain, though. Yeah. The more, more and more thing, the I need to reach for it is gone. It was gone for me. But for five months, I could not get my head clear.

And, you know, I think for a living. So it was really hard for me. So what I did was I didn't pick up the cigarettes again. And I was smoking four packs a day. I mean, I'm not an alcohol. I'm a real addict. I don't have substance use disorder, okay? Like, I've got alcoholism and drug addiction.

Well, I'm just curious about, like, how long it does take your brain to... I don't know because I folded after five months, but I didn't smoke cigarettes again. What I did was I would wear a patch, and I'm wearing one now. And until I have my coffee and a patch, I'm not really awake. So if I'm doing something critical at seven, I'm waken. up at five. Because I want to be clear. Yeah.

Yeah, you can't wake up at 6.30 and just roll into something. No, but how did you, but how long did it take your head to clear, or is it not clear yet? I don't know. I think it's clear. I mean, as far as I know, you know, I mean, it's never been fully clear. Because you don't remember what clear is. Yeah, I don't know at all.

I mean, I know that I remember the amount of vodka that I was drinking, which was about two-fifths a day around and one and a half or two, depending, sorry. You're in no problem. I remember this guy in rehab telling me, one of the guys that was driving me around that worked there said like, oh yeah, I drank the same way you drank,

the way you're talking about vodka, and he's like, your brain is going to be years until your brain is like clear of it. And until it's functioning normally again. You know, like really kind of explain to me what I've been doing, you know, and I can't remember exactly what he said even. I've looked at sense and read and, you know,

it's a fascinating thing what you are doing to yourself beyond getting a buzz. You know what you can do that might be okay to clear that up? I do the fish oil every morning. That's good. Throw a patch on. That's really good. And it's healthy for you too.

Okay, I don't know if it's healthy, but it's not bad for you. It's all the delivery system, right? Yeah. So if you're smoking it, it's a bad deal. If you're putting the patch in, it's a bad deal. But if you have a nicotine patch on your arm, there's no problem. And it actually makes you more clear.

So I like that. But I like the hyperbaric chamber thing for you. So if you go and do a 40 series of the hyperbaric chambers at a 1.6. at a 1.6, which is a concussion protocol, okay, it'll work better. It helped with my concussion really well. And I mean, I'm still not anywhere close to the same, but it's certainly doable. Hyperbaric chamber. Yeah. What is that? Okay, so you sit in a coffin, in a loose-sight clear coffin, right? And they pump, this oxygen in and it

clears the brain because you have so much oxygen it clears you up. That's my understanding of it. Yeah. I like the idea too. I've always wanted to do one of those chambers, one of those cryo. No, where you just go in and it's

dark and you're in like lukewarm water and you're laying there. And what do they call it? It's like deprivation tank sort of or no. The thing where they do your body fat? No, the thing where you like get into a little tank and it's dark with no sound, pitch black, and you're in like salt water, like, that's like lukewarm and you just stay in there for an hour. That's the scary I've ever heard of. Yeah, it's like an MRI, but you're really

comfortable. People, people like, I remember people being like, you got to do mushrooms and do one of these tanks. Oh my God, that's a death trap way now. I mean, this is like a Joe Rogan thing. Like, Joe used to have the, I mean, when I did his podcast and when he lived out in whatever, he, Casab, whatever that area, what's that area that everyone lives in, like, Justin Bieber that's rich? Oh, Hidden Hills. Calabas. Yeah, somewhere. Calabasas.

But Hidden Hills is in Calabas, and that's the only place to live when you're in Calabas. It's secure. You get an acre of flat land. There's horses. Oh, yeah. Very safe, great place to raise children. Yeah, he had those just built in there. And he's like, you want to do one after the pot?

I'm like, uh, probably not. He's only not. He had these like deprivation tanks or whatever. Oh, my God. Yeah. And this was Joe, Joe Rogan? Yeah, I don't know if he still has that stuff, but I remember he had it at his Calabasas place.

Right. I saw him. Funny thing, I didn't know who he was. And my buddy, um, Chris Bell was on. was on his show because he did something called Bigger, Stronger, Faster. And it was like a cult documentary for weightlifting and fighting and stuff like that. And Joe loves that stuff. And then he did a new one called Prescription Thugs,

which is about the evil of opioids and prescription drugs. And so I watched it because I love Christopher. And so I watched the show. And as I'm watching it, I'm looking at this guy, and I'm like, that's the cool guy from ESPN. That's the fight guy. I had no idea he had a podcast. I had no idea he was a comedian.

I just used the cool fight guy. News radio. Did no. Did no. It's funny. Did know. It's funny how something finally makes it into your world. That's right.

And how you, I mean, it's like my son watching a Marvel movie. And he's like, wait, isn't that guy in Harry Potter? I'm like, yeah, he plays a couple different. mythical kind of creatures. Yeah, these are different guys that are playing. But also, he was in a movie when I was young that was like, you know,

it's funny. It's just like how they, how people find things. I'll never see Tatum O'Neill as anything but the picture in the bad news bears. Yeah. Ever.

Yeah. Right? It's hard to get past the first time you saw somebody. Right. Some people are never going to, like the kid from, and he's like around.

from McCauley Coakin? Yes, I mean, that's a tough one. That's a tough one. Yeah. One time I was doing a show in Michael J. Fox. Michael J. Fox, yeah. But he did some movies. He like had a career, you know?

Do you know him from anything other than back to the future, even though he was on that show? Milk Money. Milk Money. I think it was the name of a movie. I just remember I did like his movie. There was a couple movies that really like. Milk money should be the name of a band.

Yeah. I mean, it's a great name. That is a great name. Yeah. Yeah, but one tell why, he's doing a show in Minneapolis, and one of the waitstap came back and they're like, hey,

McCollie Colkin's in the audience. I was like, oh, that's weird. Okay. And then hung out with him afterwards. I mean, great dude. Give me two scoops. I ain't driving.

That's so good. Yeah. So he's doing another movie now. Yeah. He's like a sequel where he's the parent. Oh, really? Uh-huh. And he looks the same.

Yeah. Just Begar. Yeah. No, when I saw him, he had like the long hair and he was kind of in his, because he was like dating Milakounis for a long time. Oh, wow. Yeah. Before Ashton Goetcher.

She's beautiful. And she married out. Ashton. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He's another one with a great style. Mm-hmm.

He's got, he has a barn thing too, I think. Oh, yeah, in his backyard? Yeah. No, no, no, no. The whole house. Oh, he's got like this really with the high ceilings like this, but I think they're 25 feet. Mm-hmm. So it's like, anyway, it's just a magnificent house.

Yeah. It could be Ryan Reynolds, too. I don't know. I get them confused. It's hard. I mean, there's just a lot of people. That's what I... I'm sorry.

Have you ever seen those two in the same place at the same time? No. I mean, there's multiple people that I'm curious about. Yeah. Right. How many... Yeah, it's like my son wondering. If that guy was in Harry Potter, too, it's like, maybe.

That's your son. Don't tell him about the drinking. If he, because there might be a slight chance he has like a thoughtlet, but it hasn't, like, formed full thought. Just don't bring it up until he's 18 because you don't want him to process anything. Because we lie to ourselves. We know each other a story. We tell ourselves a story.

and he's too young to tell a story. Oh, yeah. Well, that, I mean, telling him anything, but he's noticed. You know, he's brought up because I'm vegan and I don't drink. And there's just kind of like all these differences between mom's house and dad's house. Right.

And mom can drink fine and has friends and they drink. And he's asked that before. Like, why don't you, you know, because they start to learn what alcohol is. That's right. And I said, well, I quit drinking. But he doesn't remember. No, but he also doesn't know why I quit or what would be quitting.

It's like, yeah, I decided I don't want to drink anymore. That's it. Yeah. But he'll figure it out, just like every kid does. Right. It's funny to think about the way he figures things out. I just had to have the talk with them about bodies and sex and everything, which was really fun. I have the fentanyl talk with my kid all the time, and that's why we do this.

to me hear. You know anybody who's died of fentanyl? Yes. You tell me about it? Yeah, it's, you know, especially in comedy, it's happened a few times to comedians on the road, just hotel rooms, you know? It's scary.

I also know people whose kids got into things that could have fentanyl in them and the fear surrounding that, you know, like, but I wasn't in the drug. seen enough to fully... Like, I have a friend that he was like a full percocet, you know, oxycodone, all that stuff.

And he has a lot of friends that just keep going and going. That with alcohol, it was like, you know. But that is the thing. It's like somebody does coke on the road and then it's over. Do you know anybody's family that was left behind as a result of that,

no death in their family. Yes, yeah. What are they like today? So hard because you know that the person wasn't intending. You know, it wasn't, they weren't intending. It wasn't a suicide. It wasn't like a thing that they, you know, unless it was. But generally it's somebody who was just thinking, this is a Saturday night.

I don't have my kids. I'm in another city. Why don't I do a bump, you know? That's not a crazy thought. In fact, that used to be very common, more common, I think. but I think I don't know how they move on actually and I haven't looked deep enough into something to really understand

specifically how this new thing could be you know drilling holes in people's families like that I don't think that well I know because I did a public service announcement there was something called Alexandra's law and they wanted to pass it And all it was was you get caught dealing fentanyl. Yeah. And you get a like a ticket.

And what it says is, okay, this is your one get out of, out of jail free card. The next time you deal fentanyl, you're going to jail. Mm-hmm. Okay. And nobody wanted to pass that. And so in order to shame the legislature up in California, I grabbed a bunch of these parents that lost their children to fentanyl. And some of them were in Northern California.

I flew them right out. And in one day we did interviews with all of these people and put together a public service announcement with the SAMHSA, the government site that has all the rehabs on it. I didn't want anybody to think it was self-interested. and so we didn't have a phone number on it. That was the hardest thing I've ever had to do with it. These people were so destroyed

that I had to do a process group with them for 90 minutes because there's no way I could have let them out of my sight before I did that. And then I was so destroyed that I walked into a glass window and rip my shoulder because my eyes were full of tears and I couldn't see.

Now they just changed the law had anything to do. They changed it to that law? They changed it. They buried a version of that law was. They buried in another bell so nobody could see it. Some stud did it.

Yeah. And it's probably a really good husband who did that, who knows how to like, you know, be like, wait, when did you say, say you were going to go golfing. Well, when we were talking about the funeral plans,

I said, oh, by the way, I'm golfing the next weekend. I like the idea of somebody just like, hey, let's just slip this. A bit amazing that it got through like that, you know? I mean, it's any way. Dylan, I'm so pissed that we don't, who is that cap that we had on where his eyes popped out of his eye sockets? Chef Boy Bones, I don't get anything to have him here. with you. You would have done a rant for 20 minutes that would have been gold. I just screwed up.

I screwed the pooch. Funny? Not funny? Dude, his eyes popped out of his sockets and I had a doctor sitting right there and after he did it, I looked at the doctor. I go, hey man, can you fix that? Wait, that's his bit that he does? Yeah. Oh. Uh-huh. Dude, do you think I'm strong enough not to have a guy on a podcast whose eyes pop out of his eye sockets? Sorry. No, I don't, this is,

I didn't know this coming in. I would have not prepared. If I knew you were a weirdo, I wouldn't have come. I mean, I'm interested in people's eyes popping out. I just saw an MRI image of somebody rubbing their eye. It was just like some stupid scroll by thing

I saw on TikTok. It was like, here's what it looks like when you rub your eyes in an MRI thing and it was just like that's not too bad isn't it funny that people have become famous

for being stupid right? When we were kids people were famous for like acting and you know singing and being great at sports

now there are people who are famous just for being stupid yeah I mean Andy Warhol you know the 15 minutes of fame thing I mean, such an insight into like what he, you know, what Pee was seeing. It's like, oh, yeah, you can get famous for this.

And that's before social media. I mean, you have people that like get canceled in a day for something. I mean, I had a friend that just this is dumbest thing happened to him. And then it just faded away and it's fine. But, you know, it was like a post that he made that was just totally lighthearted and whatever, or a bit taken a certain way, but then, you know, like hawk to a girl or all these things where it's like somebody in a moment is charming, good, make something, you know, and then it just propels them into, you know, and I'm sure she's great and I'm sure she's fine, I don't know.

But, you know, it's, yeah. How is it for you now in comedy when you can't just let it flow? and be you and edgy. And because I think ignorance done well is hysterical, right? I mean, when you, like an archie bunker type thing, but not dated. Yeah. Right? And funnier.

Okay, because funny changes, right? If I was a comedian, I would just say, I don't give you if you cancel me. My CEO, who is the best CEO in the world, she was concerned about this. She's like, babe, we're going to get canceled. I said, who can cancel us? Yeah, I mean, it's changing. How do you feel about it?

It's funny. It's like I, just like we just talked about the things that I want to ran about, I want to write comedy about that. The stuff that I really liked was Steve Martin, you know, was Martin Mole, these guys that could look like they're selling you something, but it's actually nothing. And I loved that.

And I loved the simplicity of something. And when David Lynch just died, I saw some quote of his or saw him talking about ideas and where he got his ideas from. And he's describing what an idea is and how you get it and nourish. shit and grow it into a thing for him was a movie or whatever. And I remember that day I thought, I'm never going to have a new idea. I'm like, just earlier that day, I thought that. And I was actually like, I was displaced. I wasn't displaced on, like, I just left town because of the fires. And I was an arrowhead for a couple nights just to kind of get out of the smoke and stuff. And I was

at my friend's place and I was like, I need an idea. And I listened to the way that David Lynch described this like room that the ideas are in that you're not really allowed in but you can peek in every now and again and you see it and then you got to know you saw it and you and then I was at the grocery store and I saw this woman she was getting tortilla chips she's two two people ahead of me in line and I just I couldn't see all the rest of her groceries but I just thought because the way my brain works I thought I bet salsa's coming pretty soon you know you see tortilla chips you think this lady's getting salsa and so you think this lady's getting salsa and so salsa never came. And I went back to his place and wrote a five-minute bit about this woman, this woman,

and her salsa. And this, what if she fought for that salsa? What if she said, hold on a second, and she ran back to get it. And that to me, I would write, I would rather write about that and this, like, me being a hero and helping her find the salsa in the chip aisle, you know, rather than like a rant about politics or whatever. Because I also a bit like people to, the most ideal reaction to my comedy would be a person in the audience laughing, saying to the person next to him,

that was stupid. Yeah, it was. I wanted, and you, and the reason that you're saying it was stupid in that way is because you believed it. You thought that I was going to say something real, you know? And then I just made you laugh, which is what my job is.

and hopefully in that time I'm taking you away from whatever your, you know, door pushing thing, whatever bothers you, I want to take you away from that. That's nice. But worrying about being canceled, you watch and you think,

you know, people say that, they're worried about it, and I can, I know friends of mine that I hear them talking, I'm like, man, you really share your opinions like, you know, on your podcast, or your thing, and people can take that stuff and cut it up and run it any way they want. That's right.

And it's so scary, but if you're just being you, at this point, you know, you see people that were canceled for things that they said, they have another audience that they've just gone and found people that that's right. Not only agree with them, but also agree that like, or people that don't agree with them that think, well, I don't care that they said that, you know? Right. Because I remember when I was young. I remember when I was young and I was in church.

I grew up in church and I went to go to see Pearl Jam. Yeah, thank you. And, you know, Pearl Jam, like Eddie Vedder would go on like a rant about left politics or whatever. And I remember my youth group like leader was next to me and be like, oh God, just get to the song. You know? And I remember thinking like, yeah, I hate this part, you know? And but I still loved Pearl Jam. And then the song started and it's like, I don't love Pearl Jam any less that he just went on that

And so now I'm like, I don't, like, unless it's like something like hatred or something that is really hurtful, like that hatred isn't funny. No. No, and it doesn't come off as salvageable or likable or... No. But that to me was like, you know, like the version of canceling somebody just because they share their opinion, you know,

like we were still watching Pearl Jam and I can still watch whoever. Yeah. So buddy, what do you got? What do you, what do you doing next? What do you want to leave us with? Well, I've got my new stand-up special that is on YouTube called Born Young, which I was. And the Nate Bargettsey produced it, put it out. He's a friend of mine.

and we started together, and now one of us is doing stadiums, and the other one is putting out the special. But he'll let you. Oh, no, I do. I do. The stadiums? Oh, no, I do for sure. He has me out.

And no, he's supportive. He supports his friends, which is such a cool thing that people do. Rare and very cool. Yeah. And he produced it and put the special out on his channel. And, you know, for me, it's just fun to, like, have a thing put out. you know what you guys should do because comedians are all kind of friends and you guys all know what you're going through you guys should all be helping each other on social media you should

all be posting that stuff and collabing with everybody it is pretty good there there is a um a great supportive nature you know and just like any business there's also a i feel like comedies change more and more people are comedies are more supportive of each other and They used to be a rat, right? You know, like, I mean, just. But also, they didn't used to be social media. So you didn't used to have to say, like, check out my friend's thing. Right.

Your friend would just put out a thing. And the only way your audience would know that you liked it is if you told them live. Right. You know, like, or you're in an article and you get interviewed and you say, what I like is this person. Right. You know, and I, people ask me like, hey, well, you post this and post that. And, you know, I always do because what does it say? skin off my back. And I, people that I like that I see post things, I never see them post

something and think, I don't like that. Now I'm unfollowing them. Right. I just think, oh, they're supporting that person. That's nice. Right. You know, I mean, it's, it's also worthless, you know, like I, it's all, all of it. I mean, money, all of the things. Okay, stop talking shit about money. Go on. No, I don't mind money. I just, when I, um, it's when the moments you have with your kid where you just all of a sudden realize, God, this is really like, this is what I want to do the most. That's right. And so if everything else provides the vessel for me to be able to do this, then I love it. And I don't need any more. I don't need any less. I hope there's no less. I would love a little more, you know, but in the end, it's, my son is happy. Like, I'm succeeding

right now. He's got a roof. We're doing it. We love life. He's on soccer teams. I coach one of them. You know, it's like a fun life that I get to do. He loves you. I was watching your social media. Your son is beautiful and he's just happy and you with your kid is amazing. So I get the whole, I realize what's really important when I'm with my children, right? That goes without saying, but the money thing does what you talk about. Yeah, I love, well, no, of course I love him. money, who doesn't? It's a great thing to have. And it's nice, too, and you can give it to, like, you know, because in the end, it's all going to be his. Whatever, whatever I buy with it and do with it, eventually it's going to be transferred over to this guy. Right. All your, he's going to have

to deal with these stupid jackets. That is the most motivated I ever get is when I realize, I want to leave him something, you know, like, I want him to have something, and that makes me want to work harder. Yeah. You know, people. don't understand. People say I can't afford a child right now. They don't understand that when you have a child that makes you money. It doesn't cost you anything. It

makes you money. It puts a drive in you that you don't understand is possible. But it doesn't have anything to do with the parents of the new kids that your child is becoming friends with. I heard on your podcast,

on your podcast, on your Instagram video. It was, you went on this rant about the thing about your kids is the only thing about being a father is having to go to school and meet the other parents. Right. Yeah. As they get older, it's my friends and you meet those friends' parents. And it just never ends, really.

Yeah. My friends that have older kids, it's like they're, they're still there. They still see the people. Also, though, with age, you get better at just not having to engage people, you know? That's so true. I mean, but I, one thing that I really love about the drop-off pickup situation is the, like, I do like to watch these people and think, what's their version? Like, do they hate me, you know?

It really opens up a nice, now, I guess, just. a better person than I am. I never had that thought. Does this person like me? I've never had that thought because I've never given a show. Well, I don't care if they do, but I'm wondering, I'm curious. Yeah, I'm not even curious. I don't even raise to rise to the level of curiosity.

And I'm curious, well, because also my job is so different, you know? Like, are they like, oh, here comes a comedian guy. God damn it. Or, oh, here comes that comedian guy. Dude, nobody he's a comedian coming and says, this is a bad time. Like,

doesn't happen. So you don't know Gallagher's friends. I don't know. Okay. You know Gallagher? Remember Gallagher? With the pumpkins? No, the watermelons. The watermelons. That's right. I found this woman's wallet, I guess, driver's license, her debit cards, cash. And instead of returning them, you thought you'd keep them like baseball cards? Well, no, I'm putting it in the mail today, but it's a Canadian driver's license. Oh, well, then you've got to give it back to her because Canadians, who doesn't like Canadian. Yeah, yeah.

But I wrote her a note. I'm going to send it. You know, I just, it's, it's, it's funny to, like, write notes to somebody without saying love this person, you know. Right. So how long, when did you find that last week? Oh, God. He's just, yeah. She's going to, no, you're not allowed.

He's not allowed to say this on, on camera. You're not allowed to say it if you've had it for a week. No, but here's the thing. Okay. She's freaked out. She already bought all these shit. She canceled all her credit cards. Great.

Well, now, though, this is going to get there, and she's going to be like, well, I went and got all new things, and I learned better how to take care of my stuff. And now I also know that my shit's not out in somebody's house, somebody who's going to steal my identity. I've got it. You know, like, okay, that's a seven.

She learned a lesson, right? That's a seven. Hey, something. It would have been a tan that how'd you, like, ran right to the post office. Oh, yeah. And then in FedEx, next day air, would have been a 12th. Well, no, it's got to be by foot

and it's got to get up to Canada. I mean, that could take... You're spending it by... It's spending it in months. What happened when you just could steal one item and that was okay? You know, that was what I did. And they did it in a stealthy way.

You'd walk in in a trench coat and put all the eggs and the bread. You know, I locked out of when I was like 16, I wanted to impress this girl I was at the mall with. and we were in like a Burton store or some snowboarding store and I just grabbed a snowboard

and we walked out. I was just holding a snowboard. And she was like, what? And I go, you think that they're thinking a guy would just walk out with a snowboard? No one in there is thinking that. This snowboard is mine. Why else would I be carrying a snowboard right now?

Unless I went to the register. Right. That's right. And I walked out with a snowboard. And now I'm a professional snowboard. snowboarder and that's how it happens. And that's my origin story. And that's why we have

comedians on the program, people. All right, man, where can people find you? Well, I'm not going to get my home address if that's what you're asking. That's exactly what I'm asking. They can find me. And your personal phone number. They can find me on Instagram and TikTok. It's just my name, Nick Thune. That's nice. And your social?

Security number? I think it's two. We'll see you next Tuesday. Good. If you were a loved one is struggling, we have a number that you can call and we'll help you find the best treatment that is right for you.

Our company, One Call Placement, is dedicated to helping you, and we'll find the best treatment that is right for you. So call now at 888-808-6159. Again, that's 888-8-8-8-6-159. 808-6159. Thank you.

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