Whiskey Ginger with Andrew Santino - Gary Owen

Episode Date: May 10, 2024

Gary Owen, a master of laughter, brings a unique blend of humor that resonates across diverse audiences. Known for his sharp wit and relatable stories, Gary's journey from sailor to stand-up sensation showcases his ability to connect with everyone from small comedy clubs to large theaters. His appearances in films and TV, alongside his acclaimed specials, mark him as a comedic force who turns everyday observations into comedy gold. #garyowen #whiskeyginger #podcast #andrewsantino ================================================= SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS SQUARESPACE Get that site up and running now! 10% off your order https://squarespace.com/whiskey MANDO $5 OFF YOUR ORDER https://shopmando.com USE PROMO CODE: WHISKEY DOORDASH PROMO CODE: WHISKEY25 For 25% OFF YOUR ORDER DOWNLOAD THE APP! RABBITHOLE $5 OFF YOUR ORDER https://rabbitholedistillery.com/buynow USE PROMO CODE: RABBIT MAGIC MIND SPECIAL OFFER https://magicmind.com/whiskeyginger ======================================= Follow Andrew Santino: https://www.instagram.com/cheetosantino/ https://twitter.com/CheetoSantino Follow Whiskey Ginger: https://www.instagram.com/whiskeyging... https://twitter.com/whiskeyginger_ Produced and edited by Joe Faria IG: @itsjoefaria Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In here, we pour whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey. You are that creature in the ginger beard. Sturdy and ginger. Like vampires, the ginger gene is a curse. Gingers are beautiful. You owe me $5 for the whiskey and $75 for the horse. Gingers are hell no. This whiskey is excellent.

Ginger. I like gingers. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Whiskey Ginger. My guest today is one of my favorite people on earth. I say that for all my guests, but I mean it once again today. It's Gary Owen. On time, by the way. Thank you. Perfectly on time when you showed up. Did I think you were going to be late?

I think you did. Yeah, I did. I think you did. I did. I thought you might be on BPT because you're honorary, so I thought he'll be late. And when I checked in, I thought, no, he's actually going to be prompt and on time. And you showed up with a caravan filled with people.

I'm a Barack Obama black. Oh, yeah. On time, punctual, all about the business. Are you good at sports? Can you hoop? Average. Yeah, because Obama could hoop. Or we saw a little glimpse of his hoop,

and you were like, is this just one good clip you know what that you know it's like uh if a comic did 10 minutes but they only put up one good joke and you're like did i just see a good joke i was there that night yeah you did 30 minutes but that one joke that one joke killed they got one turnaround jumper and they're like post it post it post it which is smart no i'm glad you came uh uh directly after doing club shea shea so thank you very much yeah i appreciate it. I feel like I just went from Dr. Phil to ridiculousness. That's right.

Yeah. Now tell us about your deep history with your father. I don't need to get into all that stuff, except for the fact that we're both Midwest boys. That's a good thing to touch on, because I feel like Midwest comics, we kind of get overshadowed by all the people that come out of these other, you know, the Boston comics or the Philly scene or, you know, the New York heavy comics, which a lot of those guys are from other places anyway. They kind of pass over Midwest people. Like we're, you know, we're second.

I would say out of the black comedians, I think Chicago's got the best. Best black comedians are the best from Chicago? Not Atlanta or any of that stuff? No, I think Chicago's got it over Atlanta. Ohio's pretty strong, the state, because we were talking about Cat Williams. Chappelle's kind of D.C. and Ohio. I give him D.C. for some reason.

Because he started in D.C. But I think his... He started in Ohio living. Then they moved to D.C. I'm just going off where you Sure. Then they moved to D.C. Sure, yeah. I'm just going off where you started. Where they birthed you. So I think Chicago Strong's, you got Deion Cole.

Love Deion. Lil Rel. Love. D-Ray. Love. Bernie Mac. Oh, yeah, that's right. R.I.P. Leon Rogers, radio guy.

Damon Williams. I mean, there's just, and guy and funny guy. Damon Williams. I mean, there's just, and they're all different. By the way, you could be making up any black name, and I would just agree. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you were like Jamal Crosson, I'd be like, oh, yeah, yeah, he's fucking fantastic, that guy. No, we had this discussion in the black community. We had this discussion. I said, I think Chicago's the strongest because they're so

different. Yeah. They all have their own vibe, their own point of view. Atlanta's got funny people, but it feels familiar. You know what you're getting. Yeah, what do you think that is? Also, though, the accent, the cultural tone of Atlanta

talk has a... The cadence is similar. In Chicago, the only people that sound really chicago are usually white guys you don't hear black guys don't talk like this you don't have a black guy get on stage you go yo it's going down shite town you're not going to hear that it's like a white cadence of chicago so atlanta black cadence that's got a similar tone to it yeah so that's what I think you mean by that, which I understand. But yeah, comics from Chicago,

and you get in the alternative world, I mean, even though that's, I don't like the phrase, but Hannibal Buress, Chicago. Yeah, I'm thinking, oh, Godfrey. Godfrey, yeah. So these guys kind of don't, they are very different,

which I do think, I never thought about that until you said that. They don't really have that, there's no through line to those guys. Who's big out of Cincinnati? Cat Williams. There's no through line to those guys. Who's big out of Cincinnati? Cat Williams.

He's Cincinnati? Uh-huh. He got the key to the city a while back. Really? Yep. He's Dayton, but it's Cincinnati-Dayton area. Yeah, for some reason I thought he was outside. Yeah. Anytime you're – Dayton's like the cutoff.

Like, Dayton-Cincinnati is like the same almost. Yeah. You know? Any other... I think Tom Segura is from Cincinnati, right? Yeah, he is, but he doesn't really claim it. Josh Sneed? Josh Sneed, yeah.

Tom claims Florida because he lived there, or went to school down there and everything. I think so, yeah. I'm trying to think. Any other... It doesn't matter. Who cares about all these people, man? George Clooney? He's Cincinnati? Yep.

Sarah Jessica Parker? Really? Woody Harrelson? By the way, you're digging. This is my favorite thing. This is what Ohio likes to do. Because I'm a Chicago guy, Ohio likes to prove to you how deep their roster is. Chicago's like, you know our roster.

It's publicized. You know who we are. Yeah, you know who we are. You know who we are. Right? Right. Well, Farley's actually Milwaukee. He's publicized. You know who we are. Yeah, you know who we are. You know who we are. Right? Right. Well, Farley's actually Milwaukee. He's actually Wisconsin, but-

Oh, is he? Claims Chicago. Loves Chicago. Yeah, he went to Marquette, was a Wisconsin boy. But he's one of us. Yeah, we'll take everyone. Chicago, we take them all. We'll take Cat.

You can have him. Yeah. This motherfucker. What a wild follow-up. Did Cat talk shit about you on Tuesday? He said I haven't. Cat said I- He was talking about the Illuminati. He goes, tell me why Gary Owen hasn't crossed over of what I say isn't true, which basically

meant I haven't crossed over to white people, been in any bigger white movies. Sure. Because I haven't joined the Illuminati is basically what that meant. Right. So I was like, huh. is basically what that meant. Right. So I was like, huh.

It is interesting, though, my career, because I think I'm the one guy that I'm really famous with a group that isn't me. You know, like Sebastian, Italian. Gabriel, Mexican. Joe Coy, Filipino. Right. My fan base is the complete opposite of who I am. Right.

It's like, I don't know if there's someone else like that. No. No. You might be the only dude that has. Well, maybe like, no, no, that's it. Like Russell Peters, same thing. I think Chappelle's kind of the opposite, where white people knew Chappelle before black people was familiar with him like that. Yeah, and I would say his audience

is probably still dominant white. Yeah, you go to his show. It's all white. Yeah, that's pretty mostly white. Right. Why is that? They buy tickets earlier? On time.

Before they sell out. There is a rumor, and I don't know if it's true. Yeah. There was a rumor that when D.L. Hughley had the D.L. Hughley Show late 90s 90s before the kings he was starting to really blow up in the improvs and stuff right he was like he would all this is what i heard i'll ask dl one day i heard he said hold like the late show saturday to the day before before you put them on sale because he wanted to make sure black

people had a chance to buy tickets because they but i i asked i asked a lot of black comics like why is that why are why do black people wait so long and somebody broke it down they go you got to realize especially with black women who buy a majority of the tickets that's the high majority of ticket buyers like your shows is mostly black women yeah the guys will come because the women are coming you know what i mean but they're like biggest consumer, period, of products. So when a comedy show's coming where white people just go buy the tickets, right? Sure, yeah. Black people, especially black women.

Okay, the comedy show's in three months. Three months out, I'm going to buy the outfit. Two months out, I'm going to buy the shoes. Then I'm going to get my hair done. Then I'm going to get my hair done. Then I'm going to get my nails done. The last thing they buy is the actual ticket

even though they're getting all this stuff to go to that show because it's no longer about the show. It's about, nah, you're going to see me.

I bought this for this show. I'm coming to your show and you're lucky that you're going to see me like this. Gary, you're welcome. I'm here.

Yeah, exactly. Now look at this. You ain't seen nobody with this and it made the most sense. To be Gary, you're welcome. I'm here. Yeah, exactly. Now look at this. You ain't seen nobody with this. And it made the most sense. To be fair, if they don't get tickets to the show, they're still laced up looking good. They'll go do something else anyway. They don't give a shit.

Go to F-Sport. For whites, we're like, we have to make it. And we have to be there early. And if we're not there early, sometimes we see people when we tour that are in the venue an hour and a half before showtime. And it's shocking to me. You do this.

Is this weird to you? You're in your hotel. You're not even close to getting ready for the show. And somebody will make posts on their story and tag you. I'm here. Waiting for you. I'm at the Fox Theater. Ready for the show.

You're like this. Holy shit, I got to shower, eat dinner, shave. Most of the time I'm in the gym or I'm at the restaurant and I see people having a drink inside the venue I'm going to be at in two hours. Yeah. And they're like, hey, with the stage behind them empty. Kudos. I'm just the opposite.

I show up either right on time or right after something started. I actually love showing right after it started, like with music shows. I love that. It's the same thing with a plane. Getting in line, beating the line and all that shit, I'll get on after everybody's on. I like to board early because I don't put my bags up. I know.

See, I get this, but there's always a space. I feel like there's always a space. Someone's always like, oh, you're not going to have a spot. You will. You'll have a spot. Yeah, you're right. They somehow find it all the time. Yeah, you're right.

Or they do the thing where they go, ma'am, is this your purse? We're going to have to put this below. You can't put that up with the bag. Unless you're row one. Row one, you've got to board early. Row one, you're right. Or they do the thing where they go, ma'am, is this your purse? We're going to have to put this below. You can't put that up with the bag. That's where the bags go. Unless you're row one. Row one, you got to board early. Row one, you're cooked. Because that's where the oxygen tank is for some reason.

Your bag's like row eight. Right. And now you're like, now you're stressing when it lands. You're like, God, I got to jump up and be like, excuse me. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Did you get that? That's me.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I do? If people try to get up and get off the plane, it's not a not it's not a connecting right we land in los angeles you're not connecting anywhere i know you're not going to hawaii right now you know so when people when i land here and people try to get up as the ding goes off and sneak up i block the aisle deliberately i will shoulder you out of getting you're not getting fucking forward no way it's row to row you wait turn, and people hate it. And I'll hear a guy be like, buy your ticket.

Buy your ticket early, pre-plan, and pick the row. Right. How dare you try to rush up to save 45 seconds? Now, are you one of these guys? Because, look, your success is long-reaching. I've known you for so long in my mind, not as a person. But, like, you've been in the game for so long in my mind not as a person but like you've been in the game for so long are you uh are you a private jet guy no never i have yeah and it hurts yeah i'm not

like i ain't worried about it oh no i was i was sweating you're worried about it yeah yeah it hit the the one time i've the whole month i had to fly private was I got this movie called Dottie and Soul. And our shoot days was Monday through Friday. And I was on a tour. And I was like, you know, I told them, I said, I don't want to miss my tour dates. People think in this business you get a movie, you're a multimillionaire. For comedians, a lot of times we're taking pay cuts. Big time. Because if they want six weeks, at six weeks you can't be on the road. So this movie comes along. And you're definitely making

less than you would if you were out. Yeah. For sure. So now a movie comes along and I want to do the movie, but I didn't want to cancel being on the road because it's just Friday, Saturday, two different cities. So I was like, I can do the movie if you guys can work it out where i can be off early enough friday to get to my shows and i gave them this it was only three weekends but it was three weekends that i had to get friday we rap and only way i was getting to the show on time was to get a private so basically my check was cut in half yeah so I still made money, but not as much as I'm used to on the road. And it wasn't a big private. It wasn't like some Drake shit.

There wasn't even a bathroom on it. I thought I was like, I'm about to kill it. I don't know if it was a G5 or something. I was like this. It's a G1, my friend. I got on and I go, oh, this is very Memphis belly. And you know where I got it from? My buddy is like the guy for Harrah's.

For Harrah's Casinos? Yeah. So he knows a lot of gamblers. It was some gambler that has his own plane, and he basically was like, look, I've got to pay the pilots, I've got to pay for gas, which is quite expensive. It's so expensive. So I kind of got it at cost, so to speak.

So you get a little bit of a discount. A little bit of a discount. It made it worth it. Still, though. Yeah. It was the same pilots for the three weeks, the same plane. And I was flying out of Oklahoma City, which is good. I was in the middle of the country.

Yeah. And I remember one show was in Nashville. One was in Memphis. Those are quick flights, at least. One was in Charlotte. Charlotte was a little rough. That was the middle of the country. It was a little more expensive. Right. Those are quick flights, at least. One was in Charlotte. Charlotte was a little rough. That was middle country. It was a little more expensive. Right. It depends on where you're going.

I'm definitely not a private jet guy every week. That's nowhere near my world, and I see guys doing it a lot online, and it's always like, man, I don't know if this is a status thing, because it's so, so, so expensive that I just can't. I don't understand it.

But I see in the stand-up world, you see guys doing it a lot more and more. Well, I think it goes back to you're flying first now, I'm assuming. Maybe. Most of the time? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's hard to go back to coach once you're in first. Yeah, that's tough. Once you start flying private, it's hard to deal with i've been a guest on other people's private jets but i i i gotta tell you too i don't have the

scaries or anything but when those things hit bumps give me put me in that big ass thing to fill a bump i don't want to feel a little the bumps on those little shitty planes i'm like these wings look small yeah i don't know there's something about them i don't i just we took me andrew schultz uh um mateo lane theovan um stavros a bunch of guys we got flown a year or two years ago now to go to paris for fashion week they were doing a comedy show it was crazy shut up i swear. I swear to God. And they were like, hey, we're going to, we'll get you guys a jet. Puma is sponsoring one of these guys. He'll give you their jet, but you got to be in New York. And I was like, I'm already in New York.

This is fucking perfect. Yeah. And they put us on this thing. I was so amped. I was like, dude, we're going to, we're on a Puma private jet going to Paris. Yeah. Then I forget, it's January, it's winter, and I'm going over the Atlantic. And bro, the whole flight, they were like, sleep if you want to sleep.

Not a chance. You were worried? Oh, no. This the whole time. This the whole time was like this. It was bumpy the whole fucking flight. And the whole time they were like, sorry, we're still trying to find good patches. But, you know, there's nothing we can do.

So you didn't post? You didn't take a picture? Didn't take a picture. Didn't post. No. I talked about it on another podcast. I said it was cool. It was a privilege to be on it. It was cool that they gave that to us. But I didn't post? You didn't take a picture? Didn't take a picture. Didn't post, no. I talked about it on another podcast. I said it was cool. It was a privilege to be on it.

It was cool that they gave that to us, but I didn't enjoy it, and I thought, I would have rather them give me an Air France first class lay flat ticket on one of those big fuck off planes. I'll do that any day of the week. I would much rather take that. No, not me. I'm going to go. You want to go quiet and private, yeah.

And I'm going to do like a fake floss, like act like I'm not. Just say, hey guys, I just want to let you know, happy Thanksgiving. So let's do it. Or it's about some other bullshit. But then I'm like, yeah, say, Andrew, say hi. Yeah, yeah. All right, guys. Happy Black History Month, everybody.

Just loading up real fast. Guys, I know it's January, but I want to get a heads up before it gets here because everybody's going to do it. I like to be early because they're not. All right, guys, we'll be right back. Yeah. No, I just, I don't, I see it now and I think it confuses me a going to do it. I like to be early because they're not. All right, guys, we'll be right back. Yeah. No, I see it now, and it confuses me a little bit about it. The private?

I don't know. Yeah, it's just not for me. It's not for me. Let me ask you this. Hold on. I want to go back real fast because I skipped over in my mind. The Illuminati thing about you not crossing over. Yeah.

But don't you really think the truth of where we find our audience? But don't you really think the truth of where we find our audience? It is so out of your hands that once it happens, it's a snowball and you almost have zero control. So like once the black audience picked you up and then embraced you as theirs, it's almost as if nobody can get to you. Where it's like they don't even allow you to get as big as you'd want to be in another audience. I mean, it's almost like the another audience i mean i like it's almost like the audience grows so organically it's on them not you yeah well it goes back to you don't choose your audience they choose you that's what i mean and they kind of keep you a little bit in a weird way it's almost like you could like you look at like uh let's go music

like a kid rock he started out hip-hop and now he's a redneck but made a drastic music you would have to switch the way you do comedy which which is not you. You would have to change everything about the way you present yourself. Here's a good example of like I took a car ride with Bobcat. We were doing like Toronto or something or Just for Laughs Toronto or maybe

it was Vancouver, but yeah, Vancouver and you know Bobcat from when I was young. You remember? Well, young guys, Bobcat from when I was young, you remember, he used to tag. Yeah, Bobcat, go with it. Well, young guys, young people may not know that, but Bobcat now is a director, but he still does perform, but he talks like him now. He doesn't do the character anymore. And I asked him in the car, did your audience change?

And he was like, oh, yeah, dramatically. I lost a lot of people, but he's like, I wanted to get to do what I didn't want to do that anymore. So you would have to just change your whole game. And that would be so strange to do. Well, I've seen, this is what I know. I've seen a drastic at the clubs more than the theaters. The clubs is definitely, it's not as black as it used to be. In comedy clubs?

In stand-up, comedy clubs. Because theaters still, it's is still, it's black. Yeah. It's 80%, right? Comedy clubs isn't anymore. And what I've noticed is the newest people that are coming to see me, I'd say within the last five years, are ex-military. Because I really started doing Navy jokes in my experience.

So I've noticed through the power of social media, and in particular, Facebook, my biggest clips are the military clips on Facebook. Oh, damn. They really kind of took off, and I've noticed a lot of guys will come up and be like, yeah, I was stationed here, I was stationed here, and they'll give me those coins. Yeah, we get those coins sometimes.

Yeah. So it's real. I was like, oh, because I just did uh my newest special which we're shopping right now right so i shot it in san jose so we get done friday with the hour i've been working on for the last year and saturday i still got the camera crew but i was like i think we went clean right yeah and i called the guys and the dps and like yeah we're good so we're getting a coffee delivery right now look Look at this. He's got to be one of the best managers in the game.

Oh, no, they didn't. But be careful. What? What's wrong? The best part about the coffee bean is the ice. And they put barely any ice in it. Barely any ice. Look at her. You're gone. And you know what? I don't know how much you're paying her, but I saw that backpack she's got on her back.

She's carrying around bullion, gold bullion in there. Oh, is that what it is? Don't we all wish we had that? Yeah. A rich ex-husband. That was the best part.

That's my fault. The little cubed ice, that is the best. When I order for coffee bean, I'm always like, can I get another cup of ice? And I mix it myself. That was on me.

That's okay. But you will yell at your manager when the cameras are off. I do know how that goes. So what I was saying is, so we get done with the one Friday, right? Yeah. So Saturday, the same way I just brought the coffee bean to me, Lisa, I said, I think I got another hour. And she goes, but is it good?

I said, yeah, but this is the only time in my life I need my jokes taped to the floor. So I got my flow of show. Right. So I did a whole different hour Saturday, and we got that clean. Damn. And Saturday, on purpose, I don't do one race joke. So it's all very military, observational, kind of growing up type stuff. Family, like more family shit.

So it's like, I went, okay. So I really think, and I asked her, when you talk about crossing over, and we talked about this, I said, the one we really worked on, that's going to the core of my audience, right? Sure. But that second one, if it comes out and the clips come out, like hopefully you should, that could be the one that I could see a crossover effect. Not eliminating my black fan base at all.

Open it up, though. Open it up to people that might not be as familiar. And if you never saw me, you're not even going to know I have a black fan base of that special. Until they go to one of your shows. What the fuck just happened? Some old white couple like, oh my God. Glenn, are you sure this is the show we're going to?

The Navy Man? This is the Navy Man show? Andrew, I don't have a ghetto fan base. No, no, no. I always say, the black people that comes to me have W-2s. I don't have the drug dealers

and hookers and shit like that. You have metal detectors with credit checks on top of them as they walk in? That's good. They're all HBCU brands. You see metal detectors with credit checks on top of them as they walk in. That's good. They're all HBCU brands. You see all the Howard.

Yeah, it's all Howard. It's all Howard and Brown. No, like, I think that is, well, what's interesting with time as comics go on, too, I always, I'm interested as I'm growing older in the game, I'm 16 or 17 years, I see, like, I'm thinking now what this hour that I'm working on now is the next stage of what i'm really wanting to talk about and it's it's interesting you say that because the being in the navy the fact that you haven't talked heavily about that

is kind of strange because what a what a poignant part in your in your life but you just kind of kept it in the back because it wasn't well you just didn't feel like it it was not uh because i never knew that about you at all i didn't know your yeah how do i make that funny you know i mean yeah i was a cop in the navy i did let everybody go because you you're living on the base with the criminals let's say the guy you're arresting you see him at the chow hall that's your boy yeah and some guys are some guys are assholes and 90 guys you just be like dude interesting story like not interesting but okay i'm on the gate waving cars on the base you we used to let taxis on the base to drop guys off at the barracks right taxi comes on

guy has to show his id and you're good drop him off taxi guy comes back the guy didn't pay me i said what because the guy didn't pay me he got on, what? He goes, the guy didn't pay me. He got on my car and ran. And we was on a big base, so you can go, wait. Well, I knew the guy from playing pickup basketball. I said, wait here at the gate. I get a guy to leave me off the gate. I go knock on his barracks door. He acts like he's asleep.

I go, dude, I just saw you pull in. I go, come on, man. Just pay the guy 15 bucks. That's all it was. That's nothing. He goes, all right, let's go to ATM, man. And I'm not going to take you because I don't want him yelling in the argument, right? He goes on ATM.

He pulls out $20. Literally, he goes, you going to bring me my change? I go, take the L, bro. I'm going to tip him. This is over. You're not getting arrested. Five bucks. You need five bucks, bro. But that's a situation where when I ran into him later he like gave me kind of head nod like appreciate the other night because i'm sure he was drinking

sure i'm thinking straight and it's it and uh the cab driver was an arab looking dude that i was like he was all like he he left without paying he's yelling and shit and i'm going i don't want this to go left i don't want him showing up there arguing. So technically, I could have arrested him. Could have got him in trouble. Technically, there could have been a big... I was like, it worked out that I knew the guy, knew where he was. And the guy left happy because he got a $5 tip.

He got a 25% tip. Right. And the real lesson is, pick a basketball saves all. That is the real truth. That will save your life. That's a fact. Now, did you, when you were in the military, because I've had a lot of friends that have been in the military,

and they always say, like, the coming home fucked up thing, coming home drunk, it's not a violation, right? If you're driving. Well, no, but I mean, no, no, if you're just coming home drunk out of a taxi, it's not, that's okay. Yeah. But you can't, if you caught drinking on the base, they clip you, right? Now you're 21. But I thought i don't know some of these bases there's no drinking allowed are they dry

i was never on a dry base okay i was in san diego maybe i think it's more overseas san diego probably has to have drinking yeah yeah i'll never forget the one time we had these because nab coronado you would have like foreign military people staying there, right? You know, officers and stuff. I'll never forget this group of Australians pulled on, and they were so lit and didn't give a shit. Like, you guys drinking? Oh, yeah, you know we are. We got to drink, man. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie.

Oh, my God, I can't pull you over because I'm laughing. And they're just laughing and stuff. Guys, you shouldn't be driving. They're like, ah, we know, mate. We know. They don't give a shit, dude. If you've been down there, you know that is pride and joy, getting drunk.

They are experts. I mean, they are professionals, man. So then he goes, you guys drinking Fosters? They go, ah, rat piss. Rat piss. Rat piss. Fosters, because you know Fosters, Australia for beer.

That's all we ever knew, yeah. No, that's rat piss. Yeah, they hate it. They was offended by it. Yeah, well, that's the same thing as my college, one's, Australia for beer. That's all we ever knew. Yeah. No, that's rat piss. Yeah, they hate it. They was offended by it. Yeah, well, that's the same thing as my college, one of my college best friends. His dad, he was from England, born in England. His father was a Brit, and he would come over, and he'd visit us in Arizona. I went to Arizona State, and he'd come over and stay with the boys.

He'd want to stay with us, which is insane. A bunch of college, you know, scumbags. And every morning, in the morning, he would go get, you know, read the paper and go to the liquor store and go get two 30 racks of Bud Heavy. Bud Heavy. And he'd come back in and... What's Bud Heavy? Bud Wise. Bud Wise. Bud Full. Yeah, instead of Bud Light,

Bud Heavy. You never heard that? Bud Heavy? No, I've heard Bud Wiser. Do you ever heard of Bud Heavy before? Oh, yeah. Instead of Bud Light, Bud Heavy. I've never heard that. You've never heard this? Oh, wow, that of Bud Light, Bud Heavy. I've never heard that. You've never heard this? It's the first time ever. Oh, wow. That's insane. He would go get two 30 racks and come back with them.

And he would just sit and crack a few by the pool. It was his vacation. And one day I was telling him, I was like, Mr. B, why Budweiser? Like, of all the beers. And at that time, Budweiser now has a factory in England. They have a plant there. So they distribute it. But Budweiser was so hard to get in England.

He was like, it's the best beer in the world. And to us, I was like, it's shit. It was like filling shit. I was like, that's a terrible beer. He's like, no, you don't know what you're talking about. Wait till you get older. This is the best beer on earth. Obviously, now it's over there.

But back then, I was like, that's the only reason why we like shit like that. Because we're like, oh, you. That's like when i first went to uh and i had a stella i was like oh stella and then you get back here you're like it's just warm pit it tastes like piss i don't know i'm not gonna pretend like i like this shit anymore it was just like when stuff's exotic we get into it and then when you're able to get access to it you're like this is not as good as i thought yeah i remember zima's yeah oh man like a zima was such a cool thing then you drank you're like this is fucking terrible. Why am I pretending?

Remember Hypnotic was a thing? Oh, Hypnotic was huge. Mixed with Hennessy. It was Incredible Hulk. Yeah, that's right. That's right. This is a black drink for people that don't know. This is a very black.

I forgot what podcast I'm on. Yeah, this is a black drink. I fall back. I fall back into my family sometimes. No, no, no. Full throttle. Full throttle. No, yeah, the Incredible Hulk.

I remember that. Full throttle, full throttle. No, yeah, The Incredible Hulk, I remember that. Hypnotic was like, hypnotic was to young black America what Jägermeister became for young white America. You know what I mean? For a short period of time, too. It came and went fast.

Yeah, it was quick. Well, because I think everybody realized it was dog shit. Yeah, the blue bottle, the blue liquor. Right, there was another one called The Genie. Do you remember what was called The Genie? It was hypnotic and, oh my God. I don another one called the Genie. Do you remember what was called the Genie? It was hypnotic and, oh, my God. I don't know what the Genie was. Hold on.

I'm going to find out. Hypnotic Genie. I have to find this out. What was your drink of choice? What is your drink? You don't really drink much, right? I drink a lot now, but if I do, it's just vodka and club soda. That's it?

Yeah. But back in the day, it was Captain Morgan Diet or Captain Morgan and Coke. That was the one for the long-term. I'm talking probably 10, 15 years strong. That was my drink. But are you cleaned out now or it's just not of interest to you anymore? I'm older, so you feel it when you drink. You're not that old.

What are you? It doesn't matter. I'm old. You know what I mean? I'm white. 13. No. But the older you get it and now it's like i remember telling my buddy like 10 years ago go we're at a nightclub i go when does this end

like yeah i could feel it coming to an end shortly and it was shortly after that i was like yeah i'm not hitting the streets like i used to. It's got to be worth it. Well, the days you wake up, you feel a little bit, you just, you feel less and less like you feel like doing that again. I don't know where, especially because the road kills you. Airplanes and hotels. How about this, as the road, right? What I notice about the road for me, and I think this is more for most comics. First you go on the road, getting attention, socially you're tapped in. You're getting free drinks bought for you. And it's a rush.

And then it becomes less of a rush. And now I've got to the point where I'm going to cities. I'm literally Googling coffee shops. And I'm getting up in the morning. Cafes. Taking my walks and be like, this is good. This is life. Now I'm looking around Phoenix like, Phoenix is nice.

I've never seen it during the day. Yeah, because all it was before that was like, I'll see it until 4 in the morning, then I won't see it again until 6 p.m. at night. Yeah, Scottsdale, late at night. Well, I'm about to go there in two days, by the way. Oh, are you? Stand up live? Yeah, stand downtown, yeah.

It's one of my favorite spots, man. Me too, man. I love that. And for me, it has this, you know, the affinity towards it is so big because it's home. You know, I've got the nostalgia. Not home, but I went to school at Arizona State, so Phoenix was such a formidable point in my life. That was where I realized that I was going to go west, go west, young man, and I was going to be a comic.

I mean, I wanted to do comedy, but I was so scared to admit it, and I didn't want to start in Chicago. So I started out here, and I packed up and left on the 4th of July in 2006 and moved here. That's crazy. And I never left. I know. This is why I love Phoenix.

It's the first club. They always ask you, when did you start to sell tickets and blow, so to speak, blow up? Yeah, when did it start to happen, yeah. Phoenix. First club I went to, and I never seen a check that big for stand-up. Right. And I was, at that point, when you first start out, at least when I started out, you got a set rate. It was like a couple thousand dollars.

A guarantee, yeah. Guarantee, you get a bonus, whether it's paper or sold. If you sell out, you get a bonus like 500 bucks. I almost never got that fucking bonus. By the way, the club owners were like, we just didn't get there. It was every seat. Yeah, I't get there. It was every seat. Yeah, I know, right? It was every seat.

Yeah, or the bonus was $500 and you're three tickets short and your tickets are $20. I was like, I would have bought the last three for 60 to make the 440.

I know. So Phoenix was the first one that they said, hey, we're going to give you a door deal. And it was 50-50. And I was like, and then those contracts read weird because you've never seen them before.

You're like, my minimum isn't a lot. But then you're like, walkout potential. Right. And you don't believe in yourself. Like, I'm not going to sell that many tickets. I'm not going to see this. And I was like, wait a minute. I think I'm doing okay this weekend.

I think I'm doing okay. And do you remember Casey, the manager? Oh, yeah. I think he's got a club in San Diego now, right? Mic drop? Yeah. He was the manager, and he had seen me for years. I walked into the office on Sunday, and he handed me that check,

and I've never seen a check that big. And he was standing like this, like a proud daddy. He goes, ah? Ah? He goes, it's happening. That's huge. I told you, man. You were always funny. It's happening. I you i told you man you were always funny it's happening i knew you believed in me casey thank you bro and then i thought it was a one-off i thought ah just the

stars aligned that weekend right monday we get ticket counts for dallas the next week and they're bigger they're i was like whoa whoa whoa, whoa. I've sold that many tickets already? I was like, oh, my God. And that's when I was like, and it just kind of took off from there. It kept going. How old were you when that happened in Phoenix? Dude, that was 12 years ago. Wow. That was just, yeah.

We won't say how old you are now. No, but I'm guessing we're trying to do that. That was 2012. You see that little magic trick? I tried to pull a tarot on you. I know what you did. A little three-card Monty for your age. No, but you had worked for a long time

before you blew in the way that you wanted to blow up, which I think is a testament to good comedy because when people make it quick and young, that's a hard thing to last for a long, long time. So, you know, you've paid your dues, such an annoying phrase I hate, but it is such a grind I think people don't know. People think they just saw you and it's like, yeah, it just happened for them.

Like it was nothing, you know? Well, it's like I got a guy on the road with me right now. I got a rotation like three openers, right? Yeah. Two of them are a little older and they have other stuff they do. So the standard for them is like they like to get away, see new cities, they're making a little money,

but it's fun. Yeah. Right? They're not chasing the dream, so to speak. Right. They're doing their thing. If something happens, great.

Right. But they're kind of content with their life and they got a good life. But I got a young guy and he's called the mailman on TikTok. What's his real name?

Sean is his real name. Sean. But he goes by that one mailman on TikTok. He's a Cincinnati guy guy he comes to my show this is in January and it became very evident when I met him he's quick his little comebacks was quick and then we were talking and then my road manager was like yeah you ever thought about doing stand-up he was like nah he said

you should so he flew to Tampa just to come see me hang out for a weekend, right? And then all of a sudden, they book him for a one-nighter in Cincinnati. He's never been on stage before. To do an hour? No. Here's the thing. They're using my advice. It sold out so fucking fast. People don't know.

They're just going to see a personality a personality right oh right so now i'm telling i'm telling my robert i go yo you booked him at a comedy club he's never been up he said he got he got some stage time he said are you i said you have to surround him you got to put literally like six people on this show yeah and he's just got to keep coming on like hosting almost yeah right just to fill in the mid so he can kind of get rhythm. So he did that, and then now he's coming on the road with me sometimes, right? Once or twice a month, and he's featuring, but he's getting there, but he's not there yet, right? Doesn't really have a solid.

But you can feel it's close. Something's there. He's there. He just has to get stage time. Sure. So to the point, like when I'm trying to talk to him and my road manager's trying to give him advice, I said, look, I know you're making money.

You skipped a lot of steps and you're making money, but you still need to quote unquote, I don't want to say pay your dues, but you got to do those open mics.

Yeah, you got to. Because that's where you find your voice. Yeah. And you want to go on stage where there's no expectations. No one knows you're coming.

Right. So there's no, like if you don't do that great, who cares? But that's where you try shit out. And that's where it's like, I tell them, it's like our gym.

You gotta work out. you gotta go lift. But I think with him, it's like, he hasn't really been doing the open mics because he's so used to going on the road with me. Spoiled, man.

It's spoiled, but I get it too because it's like, it's hard to get motivated. With us, when you start, it was like, man, it wasn't about the money. What about tickets? Well, there was no fucking money.

You were just doing it. Yeah, but the goal was we'll hopefully eventually make some money. Sure, but at the time you were like, I'm just trying to get through. And you're just so happy to be on stage. Yeah. Like I literally, I miss the days of getting butterflies

by saying you made the open mic night. Oh yeah. You're going up. Or when your name gets pulled from the bucket and you're like, all right, dude, we're on the list.

Let's go. Seven to seven Oh eight. I'm up. I'm going to fucking destroy that eight minutes. I do. That was the excitement. Do you still, you don't get,

do you still get any sort of anxiety at all? And at like any sort of exciting anxiety before you go on? Do you still have that feeling at all? Because I know we lose it. It's hard. It's hard to keep it. I had it. The one time I felt it was just probably a couple weeks ago.

I did a benefit for Kid Rock in Nashville. Yeah. And it wasn't my audience that I'm used to. It's like white country people. Yeah. Yeah. And I had to close it. I'm used to. It's like white country people. Yeah. And I had to close it. So it'd be different if I went up early. Sure. And I went up after Adam Carolla.

So when Adam went up, the crowd went nuts. Like he was Chappelle. He's like, what's up with these drag queens? Yeah, right? Like Gary Owen! So then he goes up and I was almost glad I was going last because I was like, alright,, I'm going to have to work. Yeah, you had to put in some work. Let's see what we got here.

Two totally different styles. Who else was on the lineup besides you guys? John Reap. Yeah. Chris Porter. Love John Reap. Porter, great. Yeah, they're good friends.

Great bunch of guys. I mean, the vibe was great backstage. But when they said I'm going last, I was like, okay. And then so I go up, and I could tell it was funny. The crowd gave me the courtesy clap, but there was a couple screams. Like here, here, right? A couple of pops, yeah. Yeah, and then it took me a couple minutes, but then they got locked in.

And when they got locked in, I had them, and I was like – but I had the butterflies. When I saw the reaction when Adam went up, I went, oh, shit. They love this dude I'm going up after him so I was like I'm not going to get that reaction and I didn't so I had a little butterflies

before that show doesn't that feel so good I'm still here I'm still in the game the only thing that gives me anxiety now are things I don't want to do like corporates I'm not good at corporates and when they ask me to do those I've done a few because it's a great check those i get anxiety about because i'm like man this is not my people this is what about acting acting the only time i get anxious

is if i have a heavy load to lift the next day i'll get anxious at night if i've got a big scene or a lot to get through then i'm like i get a little uh i can't sleep have you ever worked with an actor and you was like oh shit i got this big scene with yeah no see i've never that i've never i i would be more anxious performing in front of an older comic that i really respect not nervous just like excited to like do it but with actors never, I never grew up idolizing actors. So it never, that didn't chime in with me. I was never like, dude, it's fucking so-and-so. You know what I mean? I mean, I'd be, it'd be, I'd be excited to work with, you know, if Daniel Day-Lewis was around, I'd be like, fuck, this is cool. This is amazing. What I've heard about him too is like,

he don't break character. No, he wouldn't talk to me. So that's probably part of it. That would be cool. It was like, well, I heard, well, I heard, um, who was, who was in Ride Along with me john mckinley john mckinley yeah mckinley yeah yeah no disrespect sorry no um he did lincoln with him yeah so we were in the van on on our way to set one day and i started asking i said yo what is he really like that like you don't break territory he goes yeah he goes the director would say cut i think it was spielberg right right? Yeah, right. Didn't he do that? Yeah. When they were doing Lincoln, the director would say cut, and me and him would continue the conversation like it's 1860-something.

Like, he just kept talking. Like, if you asked him a question, he would answer as Lincoln, and he would talk to you like it's 18-something. No, no thanks, man. I was like, whoa. Yeah. That's so, like,

I can't imagine when somebody never breaks man. I was like, whoa. That's so like, I can't imagine when somebody never breaks character. I would have to check. Could we go talk us to some of these hoseth? You're like, alright, do we gotta, let's kick out of here, Lincoln. My wife's black, it's illegal. They laugh like that too. Don't tell anybody. Speak none

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That's S-H-O-P-M-A-N-D-O.com. Ginger. I like gingers. I couldn't, that, I could never, like I, you know, the whole like people getting really emotional through their acting. If that's what you do, that's what works. I've never, that's why I'm not good at that. I check in and check out. So you're telling me John Cena? This guy. He never broke character?

You weren't allowed to look him in the eye. Cena, you couldn't even look him in the eye. He would choke slam you. He seemed like the coolest guy. One of the nicest dudes I've ever been able to perform with. And I mean that because he paid me to say that. But no, he's a guy's guy who, and by that I just mean he's affable and open and warm. He's a people's person is what I mean. Not a guy's guy. He seems like it.

He's a man of the people. He just is not, he doesn't have any rules. There is no like, hey man, John doesn't want to talk to people before nine. He doesn't have any of that bullshit. Which I respect the most because he's just a human. You have to respect people's space because they do get crowded a lot being that famous. But he was always very open and affableable and all and so malleable like he was down for whatever what does that mean uh oh it was just uh malleable moldable he was just

he was very he was very uh fluid you could just be like hey we're changing this whole thing today be like okay he didn't complain much he just he didn't fight back on stuff that i i do know in the history of actors i've worked with that people are like no fuck that and they take and they get you know and then it causes riffs between production yeah john didn't once go no i'm not doing that no way and if he did he would have been like hey could we maybe try something he would just vocalize it a different way where i've worked with people that i won't mention that you know they made a big fucking stink all the time who's the biggest star you've worked with, actor-wise?

I mean, he's probably the biggest global star in terms of, you know what I mean, in terms of scale and box office worth. Him and Efron, for sure, were the two biggest I'd ever worked with before that. But, you know, credibility-wise, people that I love. I mean, I did an episode of Curb. That, to me, was pinnacle because I think Larry is, think Larry is one of the greatest comedic writers of all time. I've touched on a few different projects over the years, but Cena's got to be the biggest dude I've ever even come close to working with. Being in the same room

as that dude. I mean, you've done enough where you've... I think of course it's all the big black ones. Not actor, not Denzel, not Samuel. Comedian-wise? Yeah, all of them. I think of that movie with all of them because I did Daddy Take Care of Eddie Murphy I did Rebound Martin Lawrence

did you get on with Eddie by the way yeah I was at Karen and Broccoli like we did our no but I'm saying do you guys get along are you guys buddies still

you're cool we're not but he knows all the stand-ups right I heard he watches it yeah that's so he kind of it was funny

my part wasn't that big but it stood out the Karen and Bro broccoli in there, but we do the table read, he's not there for the table read. Sure. So when I first meet him is when we're about to shoot the scene.

His stand-in ran through the scene before we got ready to set the cameras up. So blocking, he wasn't there either. Right. So right when makeup, uniform, we're going to do one take and then we're gonna shoot it I come around the corner

and he's this close to my face cause that's the scene he's right there and the whole time as he's talking to me I'm just going oh fuck

it's Eddie Murphy and I'm looking at his teeth his nose I'm like he breathed he talked Eddie Murphy's mouth Eddie Murphy's face

that's raw delirious and then but as soon as I came He breathed it. Eddie Murphy's mouth. Eddie Murphy's face. That's raw and delirious. And then, but as soon as I came around, he goes, hey, man. And he sends his hand out, and I got going. He goes, yeah, man, I did the joke about Tiger Woods and Eminem. And I was like, you're fucking lying. Knows your shit. You know one of my jokes? And that was the time when Tiger Woods was on top

of the golf world and Eminem was on top of the rap world yeah that's what I said we're in a we're in a weird age where the number one golfer is black and the number one rapper is white right it was just something silly simple but it's great he knew it and I was like oh shit no way so that was probably coolest most fun I've had it was was definitely held up with Jamie Foxx. Right. Because we were in Canada the whole summer of 98. And it was like he got me the part. He saw me on stage and asked me to audition for this movie.

So I kind of like wink, wink. I really had to fuck up the audition. But I was so prepared because I had like two weeks to prepare for this audition. So wherever I was going, I'm just reciting the lines to get ready for this and it was only like two pages it wasn't like a big audition so it's just like so i went in there and i was like i called him i said i think i did good i'm calling him i think i did good they did good jamie all right we'll let you know and then i was over his house and he was like just four cell phones he goes hey when you get home tonight you should have a voicemail and i

was like what do you mean he goes i ain't trying to let the cat out the bag but check your messages so we kind of like you got the bart i'm like oh i'm going back to my apartment after leaving his fucking hey they make it sound so nothing hey gary this is so-and-so from whatever production hey so we want to hire you so it's like like job. Talk to you soon. Yeah. Yeah, it was so nuts. And you're like, this whole shit, I think I got a movie. A week later, I'm in Canada. It was just the age frame. I was in my early 20s.

Jamie was like 29, 30. And then the whole cast was young. This was before any given Sunday. So he was still like, he was like me. He was black famous. But he was still like he was like me he's black famous but he wasn't like global famous like and it was just we had just had the best time hanging out and we were on this they made a desert in the middle of nowhere in canada right saskatchewan so every day we're in a van driving 45 minutes to set and we just were there all day whether you have one

line or you're in all the scenes you're just stuck in these trailers all day and it was just so cool I thought all sets were like that because I could just go into Jamie's trailer and hang out he likes people around though I assume that's what all movies are you just knock, what's up bro and you go in and hang out

oh it's not like that on all sets but everybody was like that everybody was so welcoming, come to my trailer come in, it's not like that on all sets. But everybody was like that. Everybody was so welcoming. Come to my trailer. Come here. Let's hang out. Most people, cool. I mean, you know, like I did a thing with Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg.

And, you know, like most guys know that they have to kind of be this way these days. The old days of Hollywood where it's like, don't talk to me. Don't come to my trailer. That's tough to do these days because everyone's got a cell phone and they have the internet to be like, you know who fucking sucks? You know what I mean? Like it's too easy to leak it. So I think nowadays I don't feel it as much where when I first started

getting on sets when I was 28, 29, it was different. You felt it a little bit more that people were like, you know, you stay in your fucking lane and you shut up and you don't talk to so-and-so. You got a good vibe, though, about you. I would think like you're very disarming. I just want to go kick. I just want to hang out. I mean, we're playing dress-up.

Like Seinfeld did an American comedian award one time, and he was making fun of actors. And I always remember that speech, and he was like, you know, you're playing dress-up. My daughter does this. He's like, you like, they tell you, wear these clothes, say these lines, what we told you to say, now stand there

and do the thing. It's like, it's for fun. It's all for fun. I agree. It ain't that easy, though. No, it's not easy. No.

Like this. Look. He's shitting on it, but I know it's not easy. Some of that shit's hard. No, it's hard. It's hard, but it is dress-up.

We get to play dress-up, so it should be loose. You shouldn't feel like the. No, it's hard. It's hard. But it is dress-up. We get to play dress-up. So it should be loose. You shouldn't feel like the end of the world is coming if you screw up. I always felt like that was it when I was younger. I felt nervous. Like, if you screw up a line, you're cooked. They're going to fire you. See, I'm a terrible auditioner.

Oh, that was my strong suit. I could get in there and go get them. No, especially if I'm not motivated. If I feel like, oh, they won't get this. They probably got an offer out to somebody already. Well, they definitely had an offer out to somebody. Yeah, they always do that shit.

I'm always like, ah. And then, especially as a stand-up, when you start making a little loot, you're like, ah. I'm not motivated. I don't feel like this is going to change my life. Yeah. You know?

And then when you get those roles that you feel like could change your life, you put so much pressure on yourself. I've had some really legendary bad auditions. I left there like, whoa. There was one for Jag. Remember that TV show, Jag? Oh, yeah.

It's so funny. I got two. I auditioned for the Wayans Brothers and Jag on the same day I get the part the Wayans Brothers was such a small part though it was just one episode and

they called me before I got to the Jag audition and said you got it I said shut up I got it I was like no way so now I'm all happy so I'm not focused

on this audition now because I'm still thinking oh my god I want to call everybody and tell them I got this part and then uh i go to the jag audition i'm just butchering this it's going it's getting worse and i was playing a marine on the run that me and my girl were wanted for murder or something we kill somebody and we're getting surrounded now by everybody and get us on the beach and she got shot and i'm holding her and it's supposed to be like you know i just i'm crying i just want to be a marine man oh everyone if he was a marine i could tell it's going bad and i'm feeling it and

i go i just want to be a i don't even like this bitch i'll be honest with you take her back so there's like four people in the room three of them are stone face and almost like I saw them scratch my name out thank you we'll be in touch

yeah the one girl went I was like okay that's a win yeah that's a win we got something we got something

yeah that's that's okay I had a deal you know who Yvette Lee Bowser is mm-mm she created Living Single okay That's, okay, I had a deal. You know who Yvette Lee Bowser is? Mm-mm. She created Living Single.

Okay. And Half and Half. So we had a TV deal together for Fox, and we put this show together, and I never did a table read before. I didn't know what it was. I had one movie, and that was the jamie fox movie yeah and that was an audition and then we went to canada so i don't really have a lot of acting experience and all these deals so we get to script and they cast the show holly robinson pete was gonna be my wife things like that and then we do the table read for the network. And I thought you had to memorize the script. I didn't know it's a table.

Put the script on it and you read it. Yeah. Table read. You're off book for a table read. That's hilarious. I'm racking my brain for a week. It's 38 pages. So we get there and I'm the lead.

So I got the most lines. Right. So I don't even open my script. And I'm so into my own zone, I'm not realizing everybody else is just reading. Because my head is on a swivel because I'm talking to this person. I'm talking to my mom and I'm talking to my wife. I'm talking to my kids. I'm all over the place.

And then I was like, we got to like page eight and I got lost. And I go, it's my turn. I'm turn I'm going fuck fuck and now I realize everybody's reading I go oh shit so I'm opening script scramble I'm trying to find the page butchered it right we can have a table read air my claps good job everybody great job I'm like no not really Yvette takes me in her office I remember she kicked her feet off. She goes, what happened? What happened? I go, I thought I had to memorize it.

I didn't know I could just read it. She goes, it's literally called a table read. Table read. I said, no, I told me. We did. We told you the name. The name of it. I didn't know.

She didn't know. Long story short, Fox passed. UPN wanted to see it. They brought in Jason Bateman to read for Gary Owen. Oh, wow. As Gary Owen. That's so funny. And Jason Bateman, he was like at a lull in his career at that point.

This was like 2000. So he wasn't, he was like at that, you know, it's inevitable. It's a roller coaster. Yeah. This is an Ozark Jason Bateman. Yeah. Yeah. Or was it Modern, not Modern.

No, no. Rest of Development. Rest of Development. Yeah. Before that. So he's kind of, because even a Jason Bateman, he ain't in it in a minute. So they told me literally they go look

if the show goes you're not gonna be in it you will have an executive producer credit a creative by credit but based on the stand up of Gary Owen but you're not

it's your whole life though and he was gonna be called Gary like Jason Bay would have been playing Gary Owen so it didn't get picked up and Yvette went on to do Half and Half and Jason went on to do half and half,

and Jason went on to an amazing career. And we're all doing fine right now. I avoided everybody in that room for years. Out of fear? I thought they'd be like, that guy. That guy. He can't act. I run into Holly Robinson-Pete at the Think Like a Man at the premiere party.

I literally pulled her aside and said, hey, Holly, you Man at the premiere, like the premiere party. I literally pulled her aside and said, hey, Holly, you know I avoided you for the last 10 years. And she was like, why? I go, that table read for the show. And she acted like she didn't remember. She goes, what are you talking about? I go, my show with Yvette. You were playing my wife. And she goes, I didn't think it was that bad.

I go, come on, Al. Yeah. Like, literally. No bullshit. I was like, that's when I knew Hollywood was kind of bullshit. Because when everybody clapped, great job, everybody. I was like, come on, Al. Yeah. No bullshit. That's when I knew Hollywood was kind of bullshit because when everybody clapped, great job, everybody. I was like, come on, Al. You just recast me. You saw what happened.

Should have went, great job, everybody. Except you. Gary, not great. Not great at all. In here, we pour whiskey. Hey, everybody on here knows about DoorDash. I know you know about DoorDash because we love DoorDash and we use DoorDash, but you know you can get whiskey on there.

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minded comm slash whiskey ginger. That's magicmind.com slash whiskey ginger. Get your mind right. Ginger. I like gingers. I mean, I had the horror stories that I used to, when I was first auditioning for sitcoms, I was always scared of, you know, people do get fired at these table reads,

and you've heard this historically, this happens, and I was nervous. The first sitcom I booked, we had a table read at abc and probably one of the most experienced people there she got clipped after the table read and she knew it was bad and she has gone on to have a fine career it didn't matter but uh i remember her calling afterwards and being like, was that really bad? And there was no other way. I was just like, I don't think it was great.

Like, the rhythm was all weird. So you told that to Monique? I had to. Baby, baby, how bad was it? Monique. Yeah, Monique and I, we had a long run. A long run together, me and Monique. No, but when people get clipped from those things, it just sucks. It's uncomfortable.

Well, it sucks because you're like, it's not a reflection of your talent or lack thereof. It's just those moments are, it's almost like when you have shows sometimes where you're like, man, it's fine, but it's not what it was for the early show. You know what I mean? Oh, my God. but it's not what it was for the early show you know what i mean or whatever isn't that the weird thing how and even a theater i've seen people comics just not get laughs i go it's crazy to me that like 2 000 people can all come together and be like we're not gonna laugh at this yeah it's not our vibe at the same time right right and then you got other shows like 2 000 people

like this the greatest guy ever and you just saw him do the same joke i know but i'm like it's wild to me something happens with the rhythm of the room and the way that people are moving with each other that is so magical when it works it's amazing when they kind of all feel that they're not really into something man it's it's so um i don't know it's. It's just so infectious where like some nights where it's a dull, it's dull. But I mean, you know, we take the hit and we keep moving. Are you touring a new hour now? It's a combo. Because when you do two hours and two nights.

Yeah, that's insane that you did two. I'm like, I'm literally going, I don't think I did that, did I? And my manager's like, I don't know. There's some jokes I'll put bullet points in my phone, like a word, and I'll know. I use notes. I do notes. Yeah, I'll be like, Waffle House. I'll be like, okay, I know I didn't use a Waffle House joke in the last special.

The hour, right. Yeah. So when you do two hours like that, I was like, I think it's like a hybrid. And then you don't want to do them because you could be adding on to it. And now it's better, but you're like, I can't do it once it airs. So I know there's about 45 minutes that I know is put to bed because I know what that's about. That was about my divorce, avoiding a process server.

That was about the issues I had with my family and my divorce. So I know that's gone. I'm not doing those jokes anymore. I've moved on. But the other stuff, I'm like, am I? I'm not doing military stuff right now because I know I did a lot in the second hour. So I'm going, it's kind of a hybrid. There's a lot of new stuff, but I think I'm still touching on a couple topics from the special.

But it hasn't, nobody's bought it yet. Well, they will. When they do, when I air, then I'll know, but it hasn't nobody's bought it yet. When they do, they don't know to put it to bed. Now that you are, I don't know if you care to, but now that you're single, are you out there? I'm dating somebody, though.

Are you in the streets? Are you out in these streets? You are. You're too grown to be out running around. I'm not saying that. No? I'm not saying that. I'm just saying,

yeah, I'm tired. Yeah, you're tired. Yeah. I'm tired. Yeah, you want someone that's... That's why I come home.

You don't want someone that's like, let's go to the club. Let's go out. No, I can't do that. No, no, no. No, no, no. I don't have the energy.

I'll go out every now and then. Like, I don't... Sometimes I just want to... I don't know. Sometimes I just want to go, but I like to go to clubs and just watch. I can't just go and be in the people. I need a section and not the floss to sit down.

Right, just to, yeah, to take some weight off. Yeah, I don't want to be out all night. I want to be like an hour. I'm good for an hour. And if you're with your boys or something, it's always good just to listen to music and hang out a little bit. But I can't do like I used to. We're shutting it down. Yeah, no. We're getting tanked. I'm shutting it down yeah no we're getting tanked i'm shutting it down i'm shutting this down i'm gonna go to bed i irish goodbye every time i go out now i always leave you don't say goodbye yeah you don't

say goodbye you just disappear you know my my my easiest irish goodbye to lead myself into getting there is maybe telling one friend being like i'm gonna um i'm gonna go to the bathroom and then i'll never come back that's smart i'm gonna go to the bathroom, and then I'll never come back. That's smart. I'm going to go to the bathroom, and I'll never come back. And then no one gives a shit. They don't know that you're gone.

And even if they did. On social media, they said if you, don't say goodbye when you leave a room, you literally save like, it's some enormous amount of time in your life. Like you literally save six months of your life. You said years,

I went months. Okay. Because the amount of time that I've spent being like, bye later man, I'm gone. You're leaving? Yeah. Wait,

come over here. Well say hi to Mark. Mark's here. Yeah, it... Bye later, man. I'm gone. You're leaving? Yeah. Come over here. Say hi to Mark. Mark's here. Yeah, it's like, fuck, man. I don't want to say hi to that guy. Well, listen, dude. I appreciate you coming on the show. I knew you had a busy day already, so this means a lot.

It's great to sit with you. If you want to plug dates, please plug away. Tell these people where to go see you. What do you got coming up? Go to andrewsantino.com. I like to plug other people's dates. got coming up santino.com i like to plug other people's dates i'm dude i'm out i'm already i'm only doing six six little six clubs and then i'm doing theaters down in the fall i'm done i'm cooked for the year i'm i'm like

i don't want to do six clubs so where are you going i don't know when tell people this air as soon as whenever you want it to air when do you start are you out right now? I'm out year-round. Yeah. I'll put dates that I know this is going to air. July 27th, I'm at the Pearl Theater inside the Palms in Las Vegas. Is that where you always play? Do you always play the Palms? I used to do the Orleans. Oh, yeah. Then the Palms stepped up, and we, yeah.

Yeah. They pay well, and they, it's become kind of a tradition. It's always like that last weekend in July. It's great. And same with New Year's Eve. I always do the Texas Trust Theater in Dallas, New Year's Eve. Now, what is that about? Why Dallas?

They, probably about 10 years ago, I did it because they said they were doing music acts. Music is a lot more insurance. Sure. Moving parts. Sure, sure. We tried it. Did pretty good. sold enough tickets that everybody made money the next year we came back i headlined again we sold more tickets third year we sold it

out i was like oh but now i'm going dude year four guys a new hour every year in the same venue tough i was like oh you're trying to remember what you did the last year, right? Right. If you'll come back. I said, okay, we're going to switch it. I'm going to host and we're going to

really go after big headliners. Oh, that's smart. And we'll do two nights. We'll do the 30th and 31st. So that's what we've done every year since. I've had Cedric. I've had Epps.

I had Dion Cole this year. Oh, that's super smart. Then've had Epps. I had Deion Cole this year. That's super smart. Then you get to have fun and goof off. And we do two nights and we pack it out both nights. You'll do that again this year? We're not only doing the 31st. I think it falls on like a Tuesday this year or something. Does it?

Yeah, it's a weird day that New Year's Eve is. So we don't have... People got to go to work on the 30th. So they're going to be like, let's just do the 31st, pack it out, and then we'll go back to two days once it falls on like a Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're going to fill it up this year.

So we'll say those tickets aren't on sale yet, but... They will be soon. But the Palms is on sale. And Vegas is a tough, weird market sometimes. So come out to Vegas. July 27th. Yeah. And then, hold on.

Okay, the Keswick Theater in Philadelphia is July 28th. Keswick Theater. I think that's what it's called. I mean, you know better than I do. I don't know. I've only played the Met is the only other theater that I played there. You know the Met? I'm pretty sure I've done it at some point in my career.

I'm sure. But, yeah, Keswick Theater on the 28th. The Pearl Theater inside the Palms on the 28th. That's in July. We'll just go with that. We'll go with that and knock it out. We don't know where this is going to go. In a couple of weeks.

That was the longest pump your date end of a podcast. Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. They get what they deserve. Yeah. You know what I mean? But go to what? GaryOwen.com. It's got. Go to what? GaryOwen.com. It's got to be, yeah?

GaryOwen.live. The divorce, I lost.com. You lost the.com. She will take everything. She paid the domain. She was paying it to keep the domain. And then refused to give it to you. Wow.

Isn't that crazy? That is ice cold. I don't know if she refused to give it to me. Yeah. Wow. Isn't that crazy? So I had to go to, well, that is ice cold. I don't know if she refused to give it to me. It's just at the time, the payments due just for the domain, which isn't that much,

and we're in the middle of divorce, I can't call her and be like, hey, can you pay for the website? And everything was going like her email, her password.

So we just said, let it go. I'll just get different websites. Now it's GaryOn.live. Now she'll take over your website and just start putting up fake shit on there. HeAin'tShit.com. All right, dude, I appreciate you. We end the show the same way.

Look in that camera right there, and you say one word or one phrase to end the episode. It used to be a word, and then some people wanted to say a phrase. So however you want to end the episode in that camera, whenever you're ready. Fuck you, Bobby Lee. I forgot we need to talk about that asshole. Fuck him. In here, we pour whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey. You are that creature in the ginger beard.

Sturdy and ginger. Like vampires, the ginger gene is a curse. Gingers are beautiful. You owe me $5 for the whiskey and $75 for the horse. Gingers are hell no. This whiskey is excellent. Ginger. I like gingers.