Whiskey Ginger with Andrew Santino - Phil Hanley's life as a dyslexic wordsmith | Whiskey Ginger

Episode Date: January 16, 2026

Welcome to Whiskey Ginger — a Wave series. Andrew Santino sits down with comedian and writer Phil Hanley for a sharp, funny conversation about stand-up, writing, and why precision matters more than volume in comedy. They talk about Phil’s book Spellbound, the discipline behind joke construction, crowd work that actually works, and how subtlety can hit just as hard as chaos. It’s a comic-to-comic episode loaded with insight, laughs, and real stand-up shop talk. Rest in peace Bob Weir. Phil Hanley’s book: Spellbound Phil Hanley’s website & tour dates: https://www.philhanley.com In this episode: • Writing jokes with intention and restraint • The balance between crowd work and prepared material • How Spellbound came together • Santino and Phil break down what separates good comics from great ones #whiskeyginger #AndrewSantino #PhilHanley #Spellbound #ComedyPodcast #StandUpComedy #PodcastClips #Comedians Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome back to Whiskey Ginger, a Wave series. Well, ladies and germs, I'm on the road. Tonight, I'm in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Canada show up to your boy, right across the river from Detroit. Hop on over and come see me at Caesars. Tomorrow, I'm at Wind Creek in Bethlehem. Then I'm at The Hall at Live in Hanover, Maryland. Then I go to Atlantic City, the Borgara down there in Atlantic City.

And I come back to Southern California. I play Valley Center. Hara's down there that's near San Diego. San Diego, come out and see me. Then for Lovers Day, February 14th, I'm in Canyonville, Oregon at Seven Feathers. Then me and Bobby do a bad friend in Lincoln, California, up by Sacramento. Then, of course, I do the Win Casino in March. Come see me, Las Vegas. Viva, baby.

Then I'm at the Lil Roady Fest out there in Providence, Rhode Island, the end of March. Come see me at Andrew Santino.com. Once again, that's Andrew Santino.com. In here, we pour whisk, whisk, whisk, whisk. You're in the ginger beard. Sturdy and ginger. Like vampires, the ginger gene is a curse. Ginger's up fugitive.

You owe me $5 for the whiskey and $75 for the horse. Ginger's, oh, hell now. This whiskey is excellent. Ginger. I like gingers. Ladies gentlemen, welcome back to Whiskey Ginger. My guest today is one of my favorite people on earth. I say that for all my guess, but I mean him once again today.

It's Phil Hanley. Phil Hanley's on the pod today. By the way, he's got a new book out for the kids that need to know that want to know. Spellbound. His life is a dyslexic wordsmith.

One of the best comics working today. A guy I've known for quite a long time. Oh, thank you. Where do we meet? We met. I want to say we did, did we do half hours together? No.

No, we didn't. I don't think we... I thought we met at the cellar. Yeah, we must have. Yeah. But you were so cool right from the... The jump? Yeah, as soon as you met.

We got a lot more in common than you think, by the way. I do notice that you're a deadhead. I do know that from the... Yeah, they're my lifeblood. You really are, huh? Yeah. Have you gone to a bunch of these new shows, or you're not into Dead and Company?

I go, like, it's a celebration of the music, so I'm into it. But, yeah, I don't, if I'm listening, like, I was listening to The Dead on the way here, I would listen to The Dead. You don't, you don't. You like the idea of Dead and Company because of what it is, but it's not. I love it. I love it, and I've probably seen Dead & Company, like, maybe 25 or 30 times. Like, I've seen them a lot. Okay, so you're in.

Yeah, but it's, yeah, it's, you know, it's great. But I got to see Jerry. Yeah. And that is... That's the big difference. Well, it's, it's, yeah, he was just like, you know, you get, if you're lucky, you get to see. Like, he was just such a phenomenal musician that you can't even, like, I could get all heady for like a full hour to talk about it. But it's like actual liftoff.

Yeah. Like, you, there, there, when he's playing, uh, there. There were times, and I was young, but there'd be times where everyone in the, like, arena would exhale at the same time. Because everyone was so focused on just him and his solo, and the final note would hit, and everyone would exhale at the same time. It's so fucking crazy. It's so crazy. And you get it, because, like, there would be, at the dead at one point, 10,000 people would follow the dead. That's crazy.

10,000 people are like, I'm not going to have a place. I'm going to follow the Grateful Dead. I'm going to raise my family. I think he grew up on the lot. He better believe it, dude. His name's McCone and his brother's names are... Bobby and Jerry. No, what's the first letter?

S and Fenneph. Yeah, Seamus and Finnigant. Flannery. What? Combine him. Flanagan. Are you the youngest? McComb?

I'm the oldest. Holy shit. McComb under the gates. Yeah, dude. They swung hard. Yeah. His parents. once are eternal free spirits.

Oh, okay. Eternal Irish free spirits. Yeah. But yes, dude, you, you, I do get that. But I love, don't get me wrong. I love Dead and Co. And, I mean, I've loved the Dead for so long. And sometimes you have just human nature, and it's awful,

but you have, like, kind of gatekeeper stuff or whatever. For me, I'm like, more people, more people, like, I'll have, like, old Deadhead friends are like, oh, the Dead or Dual Golf Clubs. I'm like, have them do microphones. stands. I'm like, these dudes deserve to make dough while they're alive. And every time I see a steely or a daddy bear or whatever, it puts a smile on my face. See, that's a good attitude. And that's the attitude that you should have. I get the other like, I heard him first,

or they're my band or the ownership thing. The dead belong to everybody. And that's good. And I really think they make, and it's, it's so dense. You can, you can just listen to American Beauty or you can fucking go so deep. They played, you know, over 2,000 shows and they're all on tape. And you can listen to them and you can talk about each one and you can write about each one and read about each one. It's amazing. It's deep.

Very deep. I've got down miniature rabbit holes. Have you gotten to meet any of these men? I want to meet Bob where I've no. I've met like it's like there's a dead lyric. I shook the hands. I shook the hands. I've shaken the hands that have shaken a lot of the hands.

And I have, if you go to my Instagram, I have these people, there's these dudes, these collectors, these really cool guys that will. buy their instruments and they'll bring, I was in San Diego a couple weeks ago and a guy brought Phil Lesh's bass and Jerry's guitar

from kind of one of their best periods from the 70s. And from like kind of mid to late 70s. So they both, these guitars knew each other from on stage and it was crazy. And I had a guy in Chicago give me one of Jerry's picks.

He bought a Jerry guitar and in the case was a pick and he gave it to me. How much was that fucking guitar? These dudes are spending a lot of money on these guitars. I mean, that's got to be hundreds of thousands of dollars, right? I mean, their instruments are crazy. I mean, the main, Jerry's main guitars would be... This guy that I met in San Diego is the only non-billionaire that owns one of Jerry's main guitars.

And then, you know, he had tons of guitars over the years, but there are main... I'm surprised they're not like in a museum somewhere. Well, a lot of this one... Yeah, a lot of them will be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It was a guy who owned the Indiana cults. He had a couple of them, and he would play it. That's right. He's a huge deadhead.

Yeah. Not Ursay. Is it Jim Ursay? Am I wrong? Look that up. Indianapolis Colts, Jim Ursay, or is that wrong? I know the guitar is not the guy. Carlisle Gordon?

Maybe I'm wrong. I thought it was Jim Ursay. That sounds familiar. And he would play... Yeah, the Ursay family. Yeah, but I knew he's a huge deadhead. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And collects all that shit. Yeah. So, yeah. But the guy gave me the Jerry pick, and I was... It was him and his wife. He's a really cool dude. He lives in Chicago. And I just can't. I couldn't keep it together. He, like, gave me a bag full of stuff. There was all these, like, cool shit. And then there was, like, a pick.

And I picked it up. And I tried to say, Jerry touched this. And I just got real emotional. That's cool. And the same thing happened. The guy gave me a pick from Phil Lesh a couple weeks ago. And I tried, there are certain things. I just can't play it cool. But where is that pick? Both picks are at my place in the United. Framed somewhere. They will be, they're in something special. They're in a special place, but they will be... Don't say it in case you get robbed. Yeah.

Imagine some dude comes just to rob you for that. They don't want anything else but that. I would love to get, I mean, ultimately, I would love to get like a, you know, a historical piece of dead, stuff like that. But the big thing is just, yeah, beginning to go there. But no, so I love Dead and Coe and people should go see Dead and Co. Yeah, I've seen him a couple of times. They're great.

You're going to be mad if I've said hello to Bob Weir, but never anything more than that. Oh. Don't get mad. No, well, I... I didn't deserve it. It's always someone that doesn't deserve it that gets the access to be like, he, like, walked by. I was like, hey, man. Oh, heavy.

He was like, hey, man. And I was like, cool. That's it. As fast as I could get away from him, I did. Because I thought, don't, don't spend more than five-tenths of a second in case he goes, what do you want? You know what I mean? I don't want to get the fuck away from me. I talk about Bobby in my book.

It's mostly about my life as a dyslexic, but Bobby, Bob Weir is dyslexic. Yeah. And when I was a kid and found out that he was dyslexic, he was dyslexic. It just kind of changed everything. It just made it. Well, I mean, it wasn't good up until that point. That's what I mean. It helped.

Yeah, because when you're a kid, everyone's like, Tom Cruise is dyslexic. And you're like, oh, I'll be fucking in Top Gun. What is that? Well, you are a Scientologist now, so that did work out to your favor a little bit. That's a parallel. But, no, so in, yeah, so, but when I found out, and Bob Weir is such a unique approach to music. And just, I mean, you watch and play. I'll bring a guitar player to a day.

show and they'll be like, what is he doing? Because he's like playing a G here and G there, you don't know what me. Yeah, and guitar players get a little... They're just like, what is he doing? He has such a unique approach and the songs that he wrote, the timing and stuff like that is crazy.

Yeah, he's the man. And this, you wrote about him in here because how old were you... How old were you when you... When I found it, I was just like six, six. Yeah. It was rough, dude. But that's the thing that people can't bully you for

visually. They don't know. I had red fucking hair, man. Yeah. Yeah, that one was a pretty easy target to shoot at. Yeah. Especially when you're skinny with big ears. My grandfather used to be like, you look like a taxi cab coming on the road with his doors open.

That hurts. Yeah, as a child, your grandfather being like, look at how fucking dumb you look. Yeah. So not to down this, but fuck me, dude. When it's physical, you're like, God, I can't get away from this shit. That's true. But people only knew if you told them. Well, they knew when you were getting dropped off of the short bus at school.

Or they knew when you were in special ed. Or they knew when you were like, taking. out a class to like practice reading or when you got like like kindergarten was like so good and then they like first grade it was like day one you're just like oh shit so it was heavy trauma for you as a kid uh it i think it is for kids in neurodiversity i i'm sorry that that happened with the red hair oh brother i'm teasing i don't give a fuck at all i became a comedian it worked yeah is that what did i think you need to bully more kids into feeling bad about their insecurities and then they get stronger they use it it's like their it's like their it's like their superpower underneath that's

But I talk about my main thing, like my mission in life is to get people to listen to early 70s dead. That's working. That's so far. That's working. No. To, I talk about a lot and I talk about on stage and I meet a lot of parents of dyslexic kids come to my shows and special ed teachers and dyslexic people. Deadheads. Kind of the coolest group.

Yeah. I love the people who come. But the main thing that I say to parents have. disliked kids and kids that are neurodiverse. It's like, you have to maintain their self-esteem. Yeah. And if you do, when they finish school, school is just not designed for us. No, it's just, that's just the way that peanuts aren't designed for people with peanut

allergies. Like, you just can't do it. But if you maintain their self-esteem, when they get out, it's like just a coiled spring because it's like they have grit. Like everything you want to instill in a kid, you get that if you're neurodiverse. Sure. Like tenacity, just, you know, being able to like never give up, except. you know how difficult things are and stuff like that.

And also knowing you're not alone. There's other people that have their own little hiccups. Exactly, but you do feel you're the only kid in the class that gets zero every task. Like you do feel like the reason I wrote my book was years ago I read, or my mom read me, no. I read a book about dyslexia and I was like, holy shit, because you are the only one in the class. Like you, even in special ed, it's like a kind of a mixed bag of kids with challenges. You know what I mean? Sure.

but you were you felt like maybe you were the chosen one no no you just but yeah so I anyways that's why I wrote because you do it feel you feel very isolated and then you when you realize other people are experiencing the exact same fucking thing

yeah that's cool and it never stops when I was in the Uber today the chances of me typing in the address to your studio like one thing wrong and I don't know L.A so I'm cruising around like I think we're going to Burbank I have no idea but easily I could put, I could think I'm putting in your address and I could put in like whatever.

Yeah, something to the opposite. Yeah. But you, but now, you know, you've kind of utilized, it's, it is funny. I mean, the title is wonderful as well. This is my life as a dyslexive wordsmith is very funny because you're a great comic and you're, you know, to have a job as a orator to speak for a living. Yeah. The irony is staggeringly beautiful. Well, it's kind of like because the words appear wacky different. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's worth, but it's worth, but it's works so well. Well, yeah, because yeah, because that was just school was so stifely. You wouldn't know

what was going down and then recess would hit and I think I was really just like fucking, you know what I mean? Johnny's calling me out. Yeah, well, I think like, well, you said something powerful as a school wasn't built for you the way peanuts aren't built people with the peanut allergy, but like school, I

you know, maybe this is a very heavy handed position, but I don't think traditional school is built for most people. I argue that like, like, I had terrible time in school. I was a really bad student. Not because I was stupid. It was because it was boring and it's completely, I was so

not interested. That I was like, this doesn't do anything for me. I don't like it. It doesn't feel good. I feel really vulnerable and anxious and I don't think it's using any of the things that I like. So, you know, the thing back in the fucking 90s, when, you know, because we're the same age, I feel like, what are you in your 40s?

I think we're the same age. I might be a little younger. Back in the... More sexually experience, but a little younger. That is a fucking fact. I'll tell you, I can see it in your pants, right now. Kid is bulging on camera. Back in the 90s, dude, teachers used to go, your son is a bad kid, he's a bad student, and you know, he's very disruptive and da-da-da-da-da.

And thankfully my mom, who is like the most badass bitch on earth, was like perhaps what you're teaching him isn't interesting to him. Like perhaps he's just not engaged. Yeah. And your job is to be engaging and not just follow a curriculum, which I think nowadays is different. This is 40 years later. Yeah. But when I was a kid... I don't know how different

it is. Well, maybe not. But there's more there was more options now. Now there's options, yeah. You can send your kid to other kinds of schools. Yeah. But back then, it's public school. I mean, I'm public school kids. Yeah, me too. Get in there and learn the thing.

Yeah. And don't disrespect Mrs. Rose because I'll beat your fucking ass. Yeah, that was, some kids, that was the attitude their parents had. Oh, but. Dude, mine was, that was it. You do the thing and shut up. And then once my mom learned I had something else going on. Yeah.

She turned to my side a little bit because she was like, oh, this must be hard for him because he's not interested. No. He's completely disconnected. Which is the sign of someone that's more intelligent than... Or someone that's just unique. I just maybe... I don't know if I'm smarter or I was just... Those weren't the functions I enjoyed working.

You know what I mean? It's like those synapses weren't firing over there. I could meet kids that could read a book and literally peel apart all the important parts and regurgitate it back. I could read the same thing five times and be like, fuck, I got to read it again and I still didn't get any of it. Yeah, and it's just so... I mean, it wasn't that long ago. clearly there's you can see if a kid's smart or not it doesn't have anything to do with their

social study test or exam or their jugger they memorize metamorphic rock or whatever the shit that you know we know that you knew that yeah you knew that you felt it but they still went through that charade and and and i just got so lucky my mom would go in they tried to fail me every single year every year they'd say i was stupid they would say and my mom would go in just like just calm and negotiate. And then I would go home and my dad would be like, you're goddamn smart. You know what I mean?

So I had kind of like a good cop, bad cop kind of thing. Are your parents still together? Yes. Yeah, I know. I can tell. Oh, really? Yeah, Canadians, man. They're solid, wholesome people.

These people are good people at their core. Canada? Yeah, they love each other, your parents. They're still hooking up. I bet your parents still bone today. Well, I mean, that's something I could. Call them. Ask them.

Ask after the podcast. I like how he was like, dude, after. I will, but not right now. Yeah, it's funny. Yeah, I mean, I love Canada. You had a wholesome growing up. Yeah, yeah. I mean, both my parents are very good people and very...

Are they still working or they're retired now? They're retired now, yeah. Isn't that nice? You're going to become their parent. You know, that's on the ride. They live in... I grew up in kind of a suburb of Toronto, kind of like a big hockey town.

Yeah. But kind of like not like a cultural epicenter. but then my parents at some point retired and moved to Vancouver so yeah so they live in like kind of the ultimate place for parents to live west coasters yeah went from east coasters to west coasters now were they still leaves fans over there no uh they changed hands i know my my parents my family wasn't like huge hockey fans uh yeah but i am which seems pretty antithetical for a canadian my dad's a big he's a big Notre Dame fan a big college football but like call but like it's odd for a Canadian But he's like, I remember being a kid and I'd be coming home, like, bombed.

And my dad would be, like, on the driveway with the transistor radio, trying to get, like, the Notre Dame, before they had, like, an NBC contract or whatever. So it's odd for a Canadian. Why Notre Dame? Because he was taught by Catholic priests and they were Notre Dame fans. And he's just, like, a lifelong. It's funny. Yeah.

We're as Midwest, as a Chicago kid, because, you know, that's our neighbor down there. Yeah. You're either kind of groomed to love them or to hate them as a kid. I bet you can tell which one I'm just by the way I'm talking about it yeah yeah yeah we just was never it was either like you grew up and the most offensive thing was because we're Irish and we come from like Irish family in Irish Catholics they're always like you love Notre Dame right yeah yeah fuck you I hated that people like put it on us a little bit yeah so I think part of my hatred was the um there was so much of it in Chicago like

everybody love Notre Dame yeah and I was just so like yeah fucking Rudy stinks it was It really stinks. It's not even a real story. It's, like, bothered me for some reason. I don't know why. I get it. I get the lore of why people... It's got a lot of that juice to it.

Yeah. It tastes good. But I was... Anything that was... Like, growing up, if you saw someone wearing a Notre Dame shirt in, like, Oshua, Ontario, you'd be like, I'd tell my dad that night, I was wearing a Notre Dame. Like, it was so rare. But any time something's forced down my throat...

Oh, I hated it. Yeah. I didn't like it. I grew up. I was a hockey fan, but I wasn't a league fan because everyone was an elite fan. I just got into them later in life. You're a Winnipeg Jets fan. I like the other way.

I like the rain. I always love New York, so I like the Rangers. You're so close. You guys are, it's like you can adopt the New York team. Yeah. You're allowed to. Have you ever been to, uh, see, that's funny because any Canadian I know, there's a lot of good Canadians in my life.

Football, it's a rare one for American football, but. Especially college ball. College football, even more specific. Well, like, CF. I went to a CFL game one time, and I was like, I do understand why they don't really love pro football. It's not, it's not wild. The field is like round. Totally different.

Like the field's so wide. It's just a different size. Yeah. It's a little strange. I mean, still fun. I went to go see Edmonton Eskimos. We did like a whole, I did a sports show, and they were like, go watch an Eskimos game. And we went, and it was cool.

Yeah. But I was also like the level of play in the United States, professional football. It's like, oh my God. It's unbelievable. The difference is insane. Yeah. It looks like high school to pro. I mean, it's...

Yeah, I was never... Yeah, I wasn't a CFL Fet. We'd go to games when I was a kid and stuff like that, and it was fun. Because the tickets were probably like six bucks. Tickets were probably inexpensive. I wasn't buying them at the time. No, no. You weren't purchasing tickets from the little bit?

No, no, but next time, when I go home for Christmas, I'll be throwing on CFL tickets. You were hustling out in the parking lot, man? You got to hustle. You got to get out there and fucking... Like the old barking days in New York. When did you move to New York to do stand-up? Probably about 12 years ago.

I missed all the barking stuff. I had actually done... a little bit of like American TV and stuff before I moved to New York. That's even better, man. Yeah, so I missed all the barking shit. I walked by them every night. See, New York, East Coasters bark for people at home, like they, you know, guys will stand out on the corner

into a comedy show, comedy show. It's rough. It's a thing that a lot of young comics have to do. And then the West Coast guys, we don't bark because there's no walk, we have no street traffic, foot traffic. So for the West Coast guys, we have a lot of bringer shows when you're young. You have to get and listen to all the people in your office or your day job to come see you at night.

The last people you wanted to see you. But you're like, I need this because they only let me on if I bring three people. It's disgusting. It's such a scam. It's so gross. I started. So I had done, I had done like some stuff in Canada and I'd done some like, I did Craig Ferguson a couple times. And I thought I had credits.

And I arrived in New York. And they were like, yeah, we don't get like, don't give a shit. So I was just above barking. I arrived and I was closing the show. Everyone else had to bark. And then I got to go on at the end. But it was, oh, God, those shows are so rough. It was a place called the World Cafe above Broadway.

Like, I was dying to get a spot of Broadway. I was in, like, the cafe. And the people that would sit on the stage. So it's like, there's one thing to do with check spots. It's the thing to be, like, in the crowd during the check spot. People are working the thing. And they're like, just the level of respect where if there was something wrong, I had people be like, hey, you know what I mean?

And I'm like, you're like. I didn't have a shardinette. That table had a shardinette. Yeah. Did you have a bit about that? And I'm like, I fucking moved here. I, like, ended a relationship with my girlfriend. I'm not watching my nephew grow up because I'm fucking in New York City.

Yeah. But it's working now. Yeah. Don't you feel good now? I do. I, I, I feel good now. You should. Yeah, you should.

Yeah, you should. Would you stay? Are you going to stay in New York, you think, or no? I think so. Like, I love New York. It's so funny. I was thinking when I, on the drive here, I was like, it's so weird how L.A. in New York, it's like, it's just so 50-fitt.

They're such strong things for both things. Well, I mean, we like it because it's easy and quiet and you kind of can just disappear out here. Yeah. You can't really disappear in New York. No. You could try. Yeah.

It's tough. I have tried. I've moved to, I lived, I moved to, I'd be walking just from the cellar. I was a 15-minute walk in the village? Oh, yeah. Forever. And then I just this year I moved to Brooklyn, and it feels, I feel like I'm in like a new little town.

You are. And you can kind of get away a little bit more. But when you're in Manhattan, it's like, dude, you're fucking, you're drowning in humans. You're drowning in humans. everyone else's emotions and thoughts. And here, dude, I go to my little fucking getaway and I've gone. I don't talk to anybody. I go to my little nook and I hide out with my dog and my wife.

But it's whatever suits you. But it's like nowadays, L.A.'s quieter than ever. So when I do go to New York, I get excited to go spend a week or two there because I'm like, this is more quiet now because the business has kind of dissipated a little bit and things aren't really the same in L.A. It's funny that now I feel this is the move. I feel like LA, this is the time to move to LA. I should. I would argue this is definitely the time to move.

I mean, we're definitely going to have an economic collapse here any day now. Knock on some wood. Let's go, baby! Government's going to fuck everything up. It's already ruined. I mean, might as well let the bottom fall out, you know? The rock is coming at us. Let's hope it hits.

Yeah. Let's hope, dude, it's coming. No, I think now it might be the time to move to L.A. I'll move out. You move in. You want my place? Would you move out? Where would you go? I've got a couple of places on the map that I've darted.

Really? What do you think I'm going to end up going after all this time? Colorado. Colorado feels like the one. Yeah, I do feel like Colorado. I had a flight home, like an early flight, leaving Colorado. And I bumped into Rory.

Yeah, I love Rory. Rory's cool. I mean, so fucking great. But sorry, I swear a lot on this podcast. I apologize. You say whatever you want. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

My grandmother edits it, so she will go, bad boys. Bad boys. No, no, I'm sorry. No, no. I'm excited. I've been wanting to do this following time. No, you're good.

No, Rory, you ran into Rourer at the airport? Yeah, at the airport. He lives in Denver, and I was like, wow, he seems quite chipper. He, I get, because you can kind of do that now. I think Colorado, I don't know. And I miss, I mean, I just, I miss Canada. I'm a brand new American citizen. It's been two weeks.

I know we were just going to say, don't come after him, ICE. I know ICE is also watching. He's one of us now, dude. As of how many weeks? Two weeks. Two weeks. And do you have to take that dumb test that we don't even know how to do? Dude, I take, like, from where,

When I was a kid, when we would cross the border, it was such a, like, my dad would start, like, advising us what to say and what to do. It was, like, a big deal, right? To cross the border and, like, you've got to say how much stuff, how much money you spent, blah, blah, blah, and all this stuff. So I'm, like, so intense about things to do with the U.S. government that I studied for that test. I was getting 100%. 100%. 100 questions. I have a crippling learning disability.

You'll read about it. And you will read it. Yeah, I will read. And I was getting 100 out of 100. I worked on it for months, and then they asked me six questions. I got the first six questions right, and then they moved on. But 100. Like, who was president during World War I?

World War I would have been... Get Seamus on the phone. Damn, dude. He would know. Would he? Yeah, he's a history major. World War I was... Give me the first initial.

W. Yeah, was it Woodrow Wilson? Yeah. I did think it was... You know what's so funny? my instinct was Woodrow Wilson, but then I bailed on it. You know when you like your brain goes, don't that's wrong.

Don't say it. Like I literally said in my mind. And then you're right. And then afterwards, like, blah, why I shouldn't have bailed. That's why I'd be so bad on one of those on, like, on Jeopardy. Yeah. We played Jeopardy the other night and we fucking stunk because your instinct is probably right. But you always go, that's an idiot.

Don't say that, you moron. That's completely, right? We did that like five times. Where were you guys playing Jeopardy? We did it here in the studio for fun. Okay. But we were all in the next. because your instinct you always second guess because you think well Jeopardy's got to have a curveball it's got to be you know it's like well that's what every moron would say yeah I have a hard one who was the president after Grant that wasn't on the test as you list assess Grant who was second who was after him after him term 1877 1881 after Grant was I didn't even give you the initials R H oh Ryan is it

Ryan? Is there President Ryan? Is the 1800s named Ryan? No, wait. R.H. Reginald,

Ronald. I don't even know if you'll get the first name. Remy. Nope. Wait a minute. R.H. Hammond is the last name.

Nope. Harland Hangnail. Hangnail. Is it? Hangnail. Reginald. Ryan Hangnau. What is his name?

Ruthabird B. Hayes. Oh, Ruthieverd. Who's the guy that died the tub? I never heard about him. Wasn't that Taft? Taft died in the tub. That's got to be the coolest guy to die in a tub.

The president died in a tub is so rock and roll to me. He was fucking eating. You know he had gout. He was all like slovenly and gross. What was it? Was it a heart attack? Yeah, I guess he didn't die. He didn't die?

He didn't die? He had a heart attack in the tub? It's a fable. Oh, so he's okay? He's alive. Yeah. He's 148 years old. He's alive.

I guess he just, yeah, Taff just needed a bigger tub. Oh, God. We all think he died in the tub. I've only heard you say it. Oh, no, I guess the myth was also he got stuck in it. He didn't die in it also. Was he a larger fella? He was a big boy.

Yeah, he was a fat hog. Are you a big history buff outside of that or no? No, but I just learned the hundred questions. And I'm really happy by the hundred questions. But if someone goes like this grant question, which I thought was kind of enough. It was kind of bullshit. Yeah, it smelled like bullshit. No, that was really hard.

Hey, man, turn your fucking mic off right now. You're not on the show, okay? You're skeptical. Dude, look at me. You're pissing me right. off and you know that, dude. He does this all the time. He's my son. I've raised him. For how many years have I raised you? Three years. Three years. And I shook his father's hand when I taped my special in Minnesota where he's from. Oh, really? And I shook his father's hand because I had met him

before. Yeah. But I said, you know, it's a pleasure to be a second dad to your son. And he was like so emotional. It was like, oh, thank you for taking care of him. Because when he moved out here, you know, they were afraid he was going to get drugs and hookers and, well, some of that's true. but I protected him graciously Oh, that's great Because I don't have children We can't have kids

So he's been my adopted son Oh really? Yeah, I do this now I'm learning I think this is a revelation I've had the past couple years That I'm like What if I just make people in my life

My family And help them Whatever it is Not saying like Pay for their life or whatever Yeah Although pay for your life Yeah usually

But like you know How do I How do I I'm writing about it a lot on stage right now about how it's like this weird time when people are like, you don't, are you married? Yeah, you have kids and you know. And then it's this whole next chunk of bullshit of like, inquisitive nonsense. It's so personal. Well, it's nobody's fucking business. Yeah. But, you know, I write a couple of jokes about it as throwaways. But the truth really is, I did, it did kind of ignite me to

start to find more purpose. Yeah. And be like, well, what do I want then? Do I want, do we want to try to like adopt a family? Do we try to have a family another way? There's many options, many ways to do it. Yeah. And I think the conclusion we've come to, so partially, is that I'll just start adopting people in my life's

family and friends. That's beautiful. And making them this thing and helping people if they need a thing or how can I facilitate someone to continue whatever dream or path that are looking to do? Can I help them? With my resources. That's amazing. I guess, right? I'm trying. You got to do something.

I've found recently it popped in my head that because I've just had friends for so long like dudes that I grew up with whatever you're like they're actually kind of family yeah they are they are brothers really totally yeah you're I mean do how many brothers sisters you got I have my sister yeah so like I only have a sister too I didn't have that brotherly thing yeah so I think you adopt other men in your life as like you get really close because you're like I never had this bro shit you know I mean like you had your pop yeah it's just different when you you know you see guys that grow with brothers you There's two sides of it too, because, you know, there's also the beat the shit out of you, fist fight. Yeah, Seamus could be quite rough. No, you're the oldest. You're the oldest? Oh, okay. Yeah, but Seamus could fuck him up, dude. He's a pussy. He talks a big game with that mustache, but it ain't true. He's a soft little boy. You should see when I do that to him, he gets so nervous.

And I mean, this is a compliment. When I met you, you have the best look for a podcast producer. It's unbelievable. Dude. You can't get better. You will be that for the rest of your life. You're like comic book guy from The Simpsons. You just get fatter. Nothing else changes.

You look identical as time has done that. Great, look, handsome young. He's a handsome kid. Young man. He does pretty good. I also wear my glasses today. I didn't want to put him on. Oh, shit.

You know, but he knows you like glasses. Yeah, you know about it. I know how horny you get for glasses. Are you single guy? What's the old Headberg joke? I don't have a girlfriend. I don't have a girlfriend, but I know a woman that would be very upset if she heard me say that. Yeah.

Yeah. What a good joke. It's so good. Yeah. Yeah. Did you ever get to see him live? Oh, dude. I loved

Headberg and we drove he was playing Seattle on a Friday and he was like a new club and he showed up and he thought

the tickets are too expensive he thought the drinks are too expensive for his fans so we decided to not do the Saturday show and we already drove down to Seattle

so we did like an open mic and then we found it at the last minute he did the show anyways so I didn't get to see Headberg

I know What a weird thing to be like, I'm mad at these things. I'm going to stop. It's like, just do you show for cheap then or something? Yeah, but I think he wasn't like happy with the way. It was like a new club. And I think he spent time in Seattle, right? So I think he is like, I think he went to this new club and was like bummed and he was in his hometown.

And all those like hometown people were coming and being overcharged and stuff. But yeah, I guess it, yeah. So I didn't. No. Did you get to see him? I did. Oh, man. One time in Tempe, Arizona.

Yeah, I got to see him. And this was shortly before he died if I'm not incorrect timeline wise. He wasn't, he wasn't dead too far after. and it was a bummer a little bit, dude, because he was pretty cooked. Oh, really? I just think he wasn't present at that point. I think he was just kind of like going through the motions or like he – I didn't look like he was enjoying doing stand-up. How far – how soon did he pass after that?

If I'm wrong – I mean, we'd have to look up the timeline, but I'm pretty sure it was – because he died in – what year did he die? Heedward died in – he died in 2005. Five, yeah, that's right. March 30th. Right. So that was my junior year or senior year in college. So right. Yeah, probably like a year later he had died.

Yeah, it sucked. Yeah. I was fucking bummed because the show was, I mean, like, and the girl that got me tickets is this girl that I like, you know, was head over heels for. And she was like, I've got Mitch Headbreak tickets. I was like, you're the coolest woman that ever walked here. I was like, I'll fucking get you pregnant now in college. Like, I was obsessed with her.

Yeah. And then we went to the show and she wasn't a big comedy nerd. She just knew I loved comedy. So she kind of was like, is that awesome? And I was like, not really. Oh, really? Just because he wasn't there, really. I could feel that he wasn't engaged.

Yeah. And kind of like, he was a little like, fuck this. Not as I'm too cool for this, but also probably. Well, if you're partying and stuff like that. He's probably dejected from fucking, you know, four days of being on the run and blah, blah, blah. Yeah. But it did also give me an early window into the nights that you feel that way. Yeah.

Without the fucking horse, you know, without heroin. But like the night. nights where you're like on your fourth or sixth show and you're like, I don't like the way this rhythm has been going, you know? Yeah. And you're just kind of in it. I had such a wake up call. I was playing some small club. I don't even think it's there anymore, but it was in Des Moines. And a guy had flown from England to see me in Des Moines, which I'm like, don't do that. Don't do that. Don't do that. Yeah. Anyway. Or just don't see me at all. Please don't waste your money. That's crazy. That's crazy. So I was so, that's always in my head now because I'm like, could you

imagine? And the show was fine, but it was like, it was a small club in Des Moines. And the show, maybe the show was good. I don't remember it being a bad show, but I do remember thinking like, oh, you got to bring it every fucking time. How did you know? He emailed you? I'd meet people after the show. Oh, he told you that. Yeah. Well, thank God you didn't know before the show. That would have fucking ruined you. Yes. It would have bombed so bad. It trips me out. It's like that time for love is over. He's got the pilot and look out. I would just be like looking at the British guy. But it's so crazy. How many, like, because you, there's not a direct, it's like Heathrow to Des Moines.

No, it doesn't exist. No, he had to go to New York, then go to Chicago, then go to Iowa. But why you'd pick Des Moines, and no offense to the good people of Des Moines. Well, a little bit, a little bit of a defense. That sounds like a little bit. The club's not open anymore. I don't think it is. I've never played Iowa.

Oh, really? And I'm from Chicago. I've never once, I played every state in the Midwest except Iowa. I've never even, I don't even think I've stepped foot in Iowa. I've played Des Moines a couple of times. I think I played Des Moines. I think I played Des Moines fairly recently, too. There's another club there.

There's a new club. Like a hilarities or a Funny Bone or something? I think it must be a Funny Bone or something. Gotta be, bro. Yeah. There's only like four now. It's like the comedy clubs that turn into like what Amazon, it's either Amazon owns it or Black Rock or Apple. It's like four companies own everything.

And that's kind of how like Funny Bone, Helium, you know, improv. Yeah. Funny Bone, Des Moines. Funny Bone, there is. We guessed it, baby. We got it. Funny Bones. Funny Bones.

You're on Funney Bones. You're on tour right now, by the way. Yeah. For people that need to go. see a great comedian. Go see him now. He's literally all over the place. December, I looked on your schedule for fun. I think you're all the December, January, February, March, and then you have April, too, or now? Yeah, April. I'm all the way till May. Yeah. And then you take the summer down? I do like fewer weekends in the summer and then it's in, and then I start up in the fall again,

which feels so, I remember there was a year where I didn't get booked for a full year. I just did seller spots for a full year. Really? So now getting to work all the time. Yeah. I remember I did the Comedy Central half hour and I was like, here we go, American Dream, here they come.

And then just, agent did not cost. What year was your half hour? How did you film it? I filmed it in Boston. At the Royal. I believe so, yeah, it was in a club. We did the same.

I think we did the same. We were two of the same, not at the same, we didn't film the same time, but I think ours were at the same time. Oh, really? Because I did it the year with Sam and List. Yeah, that's got to be us. Isn't that me? What year did I do it? I didn't film with them. Uh-huh.

But, like, I think we were part of the same. Okay. Whatever the, whatever, season. Season? Yeah. Whatever they used to call them when they were like, hey, well, yes. They're like, we'll give you six bucks to do this. Yeah, you guys. Fuck, you guys were the same year. We're the same year.

Oh, well, that's cool to know. Yeah, with Beth Stelling and Brooks. I was with Brooks Wheeling and Beth Stelling and Hampton Yount. Do you remember Hampton? Yes. Yeah, Hampton and Barry. And Barry. And Barry, Rothbart. It's exactly right. I remember Barry, too. I kind of got screwed because I went, I had like a sweet spot midweek.

And then I had like a weekend, and it was a good weekend. I think it was like Acme. And my, I ended up getting moved. I had to do it. I had to go first. And they were like fucking monkey wrenching cameras and shit. Like seconds before I was on stage. And I remember, it wasn't a bad crowd, but I remember, you know when you're performing and you're feeling them warm up? Like you can just feel it's like watching a flower bloom and you're like, God, this flower is going to be gorgeous for the next guy. Right. You're just like, God, damn. And I remember feeling the warm up.

And I was like, oh boy. Yeah. Those tapings are always tough. People have no idea. Like those things, they feel every camera. There's huge cranes in the way. It's like they know they're in a thing. It feels so not comedy clubby.

Yeah. So it does something to the crowd. Oh, and also I said to the. when they were the person that, and then she was really nice, and she does a lot of people's comedy specials and she's like very, very talented. But for me,

I think someone said, oh, we riffs with the crowd a lot. And she mentioned something, and I'm like, don't, don't take that into consideration when you seat the crowd.

Just put who, just as random as the universe wants the person to sit in the front, have them. And then before I went on, she said something like, you're going to be really happy with who I put up front.

And I was like, oh, you did it. And it was like, all these people, like dudes and women, who this was their opportunity to be seen on TV and you could tell they were all like dressed up

and miniskirts and stuff. And I was like, oh, this is just as, this was dedicated my life for this and you fucking put these morons in the front. It was like no one wanted. It was so bad. You didn't talk to anybody though. I did. I was like five rows back. I was like bird's eye like boom, normal person. How about that guy?

Yeah. And the guy in the front is like, what the fuck man? I used to do this thing where I would bring someone on stage and I was the whole show trying to find someone and I ended up just getting so lucky and getting this great person because the problem is if someone's too eager to do it I used to do this breakup sketch. It's on my Instagram

you've seen it. Yeah, oh yeah, we've all seen it. Shaman talks about it. He's a history buff. Seamus, look up the Instagram sketch. I know you love it very much. Anyways, so she was cool but it was hell because I was performing and I was trying to get the tape, like just to get the temperature and it was just like girls that were dressed up like they were going to a nightclub

that really had nothing. Yeah, well because they're for TV baby. They're ready for that This was their big break. This was their big break. Meanwhile, we go do it. It's not our big break. And you cry backstage to your best friend, which is what I did. I got off and I bawled like a baby.

Oh, really? I think the stress and the pressure annoyed me so much that when I got back there, I was like, it was terrible. And it ended up not being bad at all. It was fine. It was fine because they did whatever they did. Yeah, it was fine, but I hated it. Oh, this sucks.

Yeah. It didn't feel good. I didn't work for a year afterwards, so that's how mine went. So it went real good. Yeah, no. I think when you saw it, it looks fine. And it wasn't like I was bombing. but I was warming up the crowd or I was like yeah this isn't on me I had the opposite effect I think I went

second to last which was a bummer because everyone was already fucking cooked and they had shuffled in a few people and then they kept a few other people and I was like well this is weird yeah like some people stayed some people are new it's like I think there is a thing this is such stupid bullshit nerd talk but like there is a psychological thing that happens when when there's group think and there's the same kind of timeline that exists between people in a room yeah they can get together on something easier. Yeah. But it's almost as if, even though they don't know each other when they're like, new people,

it fucks with their head. Yeah. You know what I mean? It's when they shuffle people and move and they're like, what's going on? Yeah. Like, they get nervous, like, as if something is really different. But it's not. But it is.

Yeah. So it does something to the way that you emote and react. I mean, there's so much psychology to audiences. There is. It's kind of crazy. Like, the way that some nights you're like, this audience is unbelievably great. How are they so good? Yeah.

And then the crowd right after them, you're like, who the fuck are these people? Yeah. What do they learn to be audiences? Because people always say like, it must be so hard what you do. People say that about comedians. And I don't, I mean, you learn, once you learn how to do it, it's not, but there's factors that no one takes into account. That's right, yeah.

You know what I mean? You just can't control. Yeah, like, someone would come into a room be like, oh, this grand room, like, whoa, the show's gonna be amazing. You're like, the show's gonna be shit because you could park a 747 in this room. The ceiling and there's gonna be no, like, you know what I mean? You could just tear. baby. Can you put some of the crowd up there? Because then it'll be funny. If they're above

me looking down. There's so many little things where and you can't even express it. Like you're just got to be like, someone's like, oh, the show was good, you're like, oh, thanks. But in your head you're like, are you fucking serious? There was round tables. There was a fucking booth along the bat. Like there's just like

you know what I mean? Like you're like Yeah. The little things you would change. Yeah. And it makes all the difference in the world. And And you can tell if a crowd's good. You can tell if you... You just read them. You just learn that thing.

So once you learn stand-up, I don't think it's that... Like, it's not hard enough for people to... You know what I mean? Like a fucking... Someone who does, like, surgery to say to a comedian... Oh, I really respect what you do. You're like, don't.

Yeah, please not. You know what you do is... No. This is clown. I'm clown. Me clown. Yeah, like, it's gray. And you take an experience in your life

and you get a bit out of it. That's like somewhat of an artistic... I'm not like saying... it's terrible, but it's really if it's in the right circumstances, if it's in the comedy cellar, and you know what I mean? If it's a McDougal hot room.

What are the four is your favorite? McDougal, for me. You and me are the same. It's just... Most people say VU, and I disagree. Yeah. I love that room. I really like the VU.

But there's, these rooms have just, like, there's just been so much laughter and so much, it's just, you feel it. You're like, whoa, this is like a really special place. They do too. That's what we're saying. about the psychology of an audience member, they also feel it because they're like,

it's tiny and it's us. And it's us and no one knows we're here. And we could do anything in this. It just feels like so you feel powerful. There's a mystical thing. There is. And there is in certain. That's why I enter the stage like this.

Certain rooms. I walk on. Every time I do that room, without a fucking doubt, I do better in that room than I do in any of the other rooms. And it's not even close. The only one, I mean, V you have had some. We used great shows. It feels so busy.

You got the band. Great shows. Yeah. But great sets happen for me at McDougal because something in there tickles me in the way where you're like, ooh, we're in this little fucking cave in somebody. It reminds me of growing up in the Midwest basements where we hung out. Yes. And it reminds like we're in a basement and we're just someone telling dirty jokes.

And you're like, shh, they're upstairs. I talk about that in my book where it's like, I started in basements. Yeah. And a good friend of mine came to see me at the cellar. And she goes, it's so crazy that I'm now, I'm in this, like, you know, world famous basement and you're doing the same, you're still smart ass and you're still making people laugh. It's perfect. Yeah. And also, I mean, I started comedy.

I watched comedian and I watched Jerry stand on those stairs and look at his sets and they go down. So for me, my whole goal, like from the first time I did stand up was get to New York and get to the comedy cellar. Right. That was my whole dream. so much so that like I got there and I was so content doing spots of the stuff and then I started watching my friends like

they're like playing theaters and shit and I'm like oh I better I gotta do that. I'm gonna amp this up yeah yeah I gotta turn it up to 11 well that's just to be for the store I wanted to move to the West Coast and like the comedy store was kind of this lore cool thing and being a part

like getting your name on the wall that whole thing getting passed and all that like that shit to me was like oh yeah it's so fucking bad yeah I mean the comedy store and I've played there I normally don't do spots when I'm in LA, but I'm going to start. But, uh, it's,

no, I think it's cool that you don't. Dude, there's days, there's weeks where I've gone in New York and I won't do spots and people are like, mind boggled. I'm like, sometimes maybe I'll just go get food and disappear for a little while, go shop or go write and goes, it's kind of like an excuse for me to pretend like I'm on a work trip, but do no work. Well, because my thing is, if I was going to do a spot in L.A. tonight, if I was doing a spot in New York, I would, you know, drop in some new and I'd get some work done.

But L.A., I'd feel like people don't. know me, I have to make a first impression. You're doing older stuff. Like, I'm not getting any work done. You know what I mean? Right, right. It feels like it's a waste a little bit. Yeah. So what are you going to do instead at night? I'm going to go for dinner. You're going to go out and have a nice dinner? Yeah. Going to get

fucking ripped? You know, I, dude, I kind of stopped drinking. Good for you. Yeah, do you drink? Anything else? Anything else I've stopped? Yeah, well, I mean, are you doing anything else? No. No, do you consume anything else? Uh, not really. No weed. No. No mushroom.

Yeah, you do. A right occasion, if I'm going to like a dead show or something like that, I might have a little something to put a little pep in my step. You know what I like to do? I like to take a little microdose and go golfing. Oh, that's great. Maybe one of the best things I've ever discovered. Yeah. Have you golfed your whole life?

Nah, you know, I learned it kind of when I was a kid and then I got turned off by it because it was like, I didn't like it. I was like, my dad was like, you should do this, you'll like it. We can do it together. Then I just really loved basketball. And I was like, I don't want to, I just want to, play basketball. Yeah. So I kind of quit, so to speak. And then in college, uh, once in a great

while, I'd go out with a few guys, but it was really just getting fucking drunk and it wasn't even really it. And then when I moved out here, you can't afford it. You when you're young, so no, I never really played. And then I'd say like around my, around 30, I really started to get in again. Oh, cool. I really was like, okay, I have time, a little bit of money and I could do it. It's just it's time consumption. Yeah. If you have the time. But if there's something that you do that you love that is so I like... I'm obsessed. That's why I like watching the Leafs and I love

Listen to the Griffith Head. Yeah. Because it's so far from... Like, you need something that's far from comedy. Couldn't agree more. But I would love something where you're outside and you know what I mean? Talk to people.

That's my cell. Whenever somebody's like golf is stupid, I'm always like, look at this. Like I did, I think Rogan and I got into an argument about this and I was like, dude, he's like, golf is so dumb. I was like, first of all, do you like hanging out with your buddies for a couple hours

and like maybe having a drink or maybe not? Yeah. Yeah. I was like, great. because he does it on his fucking podcast. I was like, that's what you do. I go, this is me just hanging out with a friend, having a drink, walking and talking, and also doing an activity.

It's basically just like a mobile bar. Totally. I'm just like, I'm throwing darts with a friend at a bar. It's the same idea. It's an excuse because if you're not doing that, you're not going to go, hey, dude, do you want to get like a beer each and walk around like a field? You know what I mean? You need an excuse. Which is rad, by the way.

And I will do that. If anybody wants to do that, I'm down. I'm down. Every Friday Saturday night. Well, when I was young, when we were young comics, we did used to go get a sixer and go sit in the park in the summertime. And nobody wants to do that anymore because everyone is adult. Yeah. Everyone is adult now.

Yeah, people have kids and families and responsibilities. Yeah. They can't now. But those days were good days. So, no, you're clean and sober from everything. No, well, yeah, like I, this is, yeah, pretty much. I think I've had maybe 10 drinks this year. There's certain people that I will drink with.

Sure. My best friend, Pugs. Love Pugs. Yeah. Who's that guy? I love Pugs. Toronto. Yeah. I'm going to see. Yeah, I would have drink. And then I have another best friend who's in the book.

You'll learn all about him, Ronnie, in England. And I was in England. I was like, I did chose in England. I was like, I'm not going to not have a drink with my favorite person on the planet. You know what I mean? Where's Pugs in life right now? Pugs is in Toronto, working from home, wearing slacks, wakes up, showers, puts on slacks, works at home. Pugs rules. Pugs is in the book, too. He, Pugs is, yeah, he's friends in high school.

Our lockers would beside each other. different. Yeah. And... What, he works in corporate America? He... Or corporate Canada? Canada. Yeah, he's got like a office job. Cool dude. Yeah.

Yeah. He's great. He's one of those dudes who he's just so cool. He's a good egg. Yeah, and he comes to dead. Like, he'll, like, drop everything. I'll be like, dude, we're going to go, we're going to see the Denicoat the sphere and he's like, there. See you there? Yeah, we're going to... Where did we go? Oh, we just saw the dead... They did the 60th anniversary in San Francisco?

Yeah. And he's just there. I heard that was awesome. Yeah, it was good. It was really good. It was great. I just big crowds and I get nervous. Oh, really? Pretty tough.

It's got to be pretty coordinated for me to go. Oh. I just get anxious, man. Big crowds give me, I'm just, I start getting like, what about like sporting events and stuff? Same thing, too. I like them, I go to them, but I'm also like, I do think about it very heavily. My social anxiety gets flueging.

Oh, really? Yeah, I just think I just get like a little, like. It makes sense. I feel people's energy a lot in it. So when we're going to a place, I'm thinking about it the whole fucking time. Oh, okay. I'm like, I'm going to go to the thing. Yeah.

And then I'm hoping if we have an easy way to get in the thing and then out of the thing. Yeah. Yeah, I think about it like that. And then usually I'm like, we either leave really early or we stay way too late. Oh, okay. I don't want to, like, sit in the car and have the anxiety of the people and the traffic. Like when we go to Dodgers games, I love it because I can walk. Oh, really?

You can walk into the neighborhood, which is fucking rad. Oh, and then you get a car from there? Later, yeah. Go to a restaurant or a bar and just. Oh, okay. And then just hang until... Oh, okay. But that's why, you know,

I think it's important for baseball stadiums as a massive baseball fan. Please stay or replace a stadium in a dense metropolitan area. Baseball stadiums should be in places where you can leave and get a beer afterwards. Because now all these new stadiums,

they build them out. Yeah. And you have to drive and you get into a fucking car. And it takes away any sort of communal... Like, I don't have you ever been to a Red Sox game. No, I've never... I've been a baseball...

I've been a baseball. baseball fan for a couple years okay oh because because the Jays yeah because I started watching the Jays and World Series and I was like this is great yeah and uh oh it's the best dude all the yeah so I'm I am gonna I'm gonna watch baseball this year it's baseball but like one of the best feelings you can have is like walking in the neighborhood stopping off at a bar something to meet up with people and then going into that game and then after the game same thing and it's it's it's it is so specific to baseball because football stadiums usually kind of out and about yeah and basketball

stadiums are usually kind of inconvenient a lot of cities too that you don't really want to go out there afterwards but like Chicago Wrigleyville Boston it's just there's something about going in a neighborhood and like being like house house house

baseball stadium oh that's a minute yeah it's a cool feeling well you want to go when I go to a show if I go to a dead show whatever you're like I want to get food like you want to do the thing and then have either a drink or somebody to eat yeah so I don't really drink that much but if if I went to a baseball game with someone that was into it and then was having to beer.

I was like, with me, you would. We'd get hammered. Yeah. I'd make sure you get hammered. Okay. Because it's fun to do, man. Yeah.

It's one of the best feelings. I just stop because, yeah. It's toxic. It's, yeah. Yeah. So I started not drinking on the road and then that is a, I feel like that's key. The few times that I have drinking on road, if you're before you start a show and you're a little bit hungover, you're like, what the fuck am I doing?

I hate that. Yeah. What am I doing? Yeah, that does suck. But there's places where I go on the road where I'm going to run into people and I'm like, I'm going to see those guys. I'm going to have to go say hi. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's hard.

Yeah. But at home, I don't really drink at home. I'm a social, I'm a little social girl. So if I'm out and about, I'll have a couple. Yeah. But at home, like, we have a liquor cabinet at home slammed full for guests. But I don't think my wife and I have, we almost never have a drink at home. I'm just not interested at it.

I like, I want to go out. I want to make it like a thing. Yeah. It's like, let's go out and have a. Let's go to the thing. My thing is I love the taste, too. Like, if I have a Nogroni, I'm like Seamus when it comes to that. If I have a Nogroni, I'm just like...

That's more like Flanagan. Audible, audible, like groans and moans. It feels good. Delighted, yeah. No, beer, though. Not a beer. No, I love beer. Yeah, I'll have a beer.

A little Moulson? Canadian's own. Yeah, I would probably go something a little more pretentious than Wilson, you know? Don't say that to the Mulsson. The fine people at Moulson, although I think it's an American owner. company now. Is it really? Didn't Americans buy Molson? I feel like they sold to probably InBev or one of these major conglomerates. Again, we're going back to the same everyone is owned by three people. Even you, you're owned by Black Rock. I looked you up before

you came. Yeah. Yeah, Coors bought it. Coors bottom. Oh my goodness. Curse. The five people at Coors. Wow. By the way. Also earlier when I was talking about Jim Ursay. Yeah, stat boy, do some, do some updates. So he's died in this year. Yeah, he did pass. So Jim Ursay was the guy we're thinking of. Yeah, but then I went to his daughter, who I said... But I was right. Jim Mersay was the guy. I said Carlyle, but it's Carly. I said Taft.

Yeah. Taft. Yeah. Was that his name? William Taft. Yeah. Great president. Who is in the bath?

Tubman. Oh, was that? Okay. That's tub word taft. Yeah. Okay. And by the way, Taft Tubbs. Click on the link in the description down below for the tough tabs.

I do a plug for a fake thing about it. Tubbs by Taft. Okay, listen. I appreciate you wholeheartedly. Love these shoes, by the way. I just saw this for these are very comfy. These are very dead forward. Okay, because these are dead forward.

They look like festival shoes. Yeah. They look like you can wear them out to dinner, to a festival. Also, these are around the house kicks. Yeah, I wear them on stage. You can get away with murder with these things. Don't kill. Please.

I won't. Please don't. People at a home, people of the world, lovely humans of whiskey ginger fans, do me a favor. Please go grab this book. Go grab Spellbound right now by Mr. Phil Hanley. Also on tour, I'm assuming, it's philhanly.com.

Yeah, Philhanly.com? God damn, you're good at that. I've been doing this for a couple years. Go see him on tour. He's touring all the way until May. And then in May, he is, of course, going back to his butterfly farm that he owns in northern Canada. And we'll disclose the location about that. Yeah, 17,000 butterflies he breeds every single year.

One by one names them, which is actually pretty remarkable. Yeah, and I got a couple interesting names for butterflies just today, so thank you. So thank you. Cohnie, boney. We end the show the same way. Also, oh yeah, we'll put the link in the description down below for the book to go buy the book. Oh, thank you. Go buy the book and go see him on tour.

We end the show the same way. Look at it at that camera right there. You're single, if you will. One word or one phrase to end the episode. One word or a phrase. Could be a phrase of words of wisdom. Could be just a single word that really stands out to you in your mind. Whoa, really?

Shoot for the moon, baby. I've listened to these episodes. Don't think about it. I've never... Just from your gut. Okay. One word or one phrase whenever you're ready. Come together.

In here, we pour whiskey, whisk, whisk, whisk, whisk. You were that creature in the ginger beard. Sturdy and ginger. Like vampires, the ginger gene is a curse. Ginger's a fugitive. You only $5 for the whiskey for horse. Ginger's, oh, hell now. This whiskey is excellent.

Ginger. I like gingers.