Whiskey Ginger with Andrew Santino - Rene Vaca Didn’t Expect This Kind of Attention | Whiskey Ginger

Episode Date: May 1, 2026

Welcome to Whiskey Ginger a Wave series presented by Fanduel. Andrew Santino sits down with comedian Rene Vaca to talk about coming up fast in comedy, navigating the internet spotlight, and what it actually takes to turn viral attention into real stand-up chops. Rene gets into the pressure of being “next up,” learning on the fly, and why the stage will always humble you no matter how many views you rack up online. They get into bombing, confidence, the weird expectations that come with early success, and why staying sharp matters more than chasing hype. It’s honest, funny, and exactly what you want from a young comic figuring it out in real time. Follow Rene Vaca for tour dates, clips, and upcoming shows:https://instagram.com/renevacacomedy Follow Andrew Santino:https://www.instagram.com/cheetosantino Follow Whiskey Ginger:https://instagram.com/whiskeygingerpodcast #WhiskeyGinger #AndrewSantino #ReneVaca #StandUpComedy #ComedyPodcast #Comedians #StandUp #PodcastClips ================================================== This episode is sponsored by: FANDUEL Sign up now for your twenty-five dollar bonus on FanDuel Predicts. HEAD TO https://fanduel.com/whiskey TO GET STARTED! SQUARESPACE USE PROMO CODE: WHISKEY GET 10% OFF YOUR ORDER https://squarespace.com/whiskey SHADYRAYS PROMO CODE: GINGER GET 40% OFF YOUR ORDER https://shadyrays.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Welcome back to Whiskey Ginger, a Wave series presented by Fan Duel. Hey, Whiskinge fans, I'm out here jumping around. May 8th, Bobby Lee and I, my favorite little dumpling, are going to be at the YouTube theater here in Los Angeles, California. May 8th, doing a bad friend's live, maybe our only one of the year. Then June 28th at the Sound in Delmar, San Diego. I'm doing two shows. San Diego, come out and see me.

Del Mar at the Sound. June 28th, two shows. Then July 24th at the Ameristar Casino in St. Charles, Missouri, basically St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, St. Charles. Come out and see me. Go to Andrewsantino.com for those tickets. Andrewsantino.com.

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 and $75 for the horse. Ginger's, oh, hell no. This whiskey is excellent.

Ginger. I like ginger. Ladies gentlemen, welcome back to whiskey ginger. But 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 René Waka. Or should I say René Waka, man? René Waka, man.

What are you doing? Everybody thinks you're Indian, man. You do give a little bit of Indian vibe. I'm not going to lie. That's a funny finger. René Waka, man. Because they point to God. God bless God, man.

Everyone in the Internet does think you're Indian for a hot minute. Dude, everybody, bro. At one point, I really thought I was Indian, man. I didn't do that 23 and me shit, bro, because it's getting ridiculous out here, man. No, you're a Mexican kid from L.A. Dude, when I first started going viral, people were commenting, Indians were commenting on myself, I don't care what Mexicans say, we own him. He is ours for the taking. No one real. You could compete with you, it'd be you and Russell Peters going head-to-head to sell more arenas in India.

Have you played over there? No. You've got to go over there. I'm so scared. Why? Go over there. People say it's dangerous. India?

Is India dangerous? Google that. There's no way. Come on. Really? I have a high rape percentage out there. No one's catching you like that, brother. You're good.

But for women, not for men. Yeah, you stay strapped in that bag. What's in there, a little 22? No. Hell no. Dude, there's a mess in there. My passport's in there. All right.

Well, cheers. You're on the road. You're on the move. Cheers, my man. Thank you for coming. I appreciate you having. For having me. A little sip.

Tastes good. That's nice. You and I are about to play Vegas. This will be out after we're already gone, but we're about to play Vegas this weekend. You're going early. I'm playing the win. I'm playing the win all the time because I'm a white guy. I play golf.

Yeah. I love golf. Golf is out the back door. Do you have a top golf there? No, no. Well, there is a top golf in Vegas. But out the back of the win, like literally, if you walk outside the back door, there's a golf course right there.

That's why I like it. That's my, I'm in my early 40s white guy. See, it's like every year I do Hawaii I do the blue note The blue note, yeah I've never done it It's just to I mean it's not a big venue

It's like three hundred years Yeah just to go out there for two Three days You like Hawaiian girls? I just like Hawaii man Is there Hawaii? Hawaiian girls? Beautiful

Every time I go there They're just white and Well you're probably at the resorts and shit A lot of tourists where you are A bunch of tourists around You gotta go off the beaten paths And a bunch of people that move there From over here

And just like It's a lot of California people yeah yeah but you got to go off the beaten path go where the locals go go get some local fish they're big aren't they the girls bro we were talking before we started the show a little bit about um about your chain and about your your boy that you brought out here and then rest and peace can flores and then we were talking about ken flores one a phenomenal comedian who still uh to this day is uh very present online people still circulate his clips which is yeah he was he was about to explode I think into the

atmosphere yeah so crazy story here the day before the day before you passed we had just gotten a call from our agents saying that the tour is going to happen me Robert Bosa and Ken Flores the three beaners that was the name of the tour that was the name of the tour So it was like life changing. We were going to make our first time making seven figures all together. Wow. And it was like, you know, and he, I remember like,

it was like, damn, this is going to change our life. And the next day I was going to call him to be like, boy, are we excited or are you excited? And he wouldn't answer. And that was the day he passed. God. Did he die here in L.A.? Yeah.

Yeah. Sherman Oaks, man. And we both got our apartments near each other at the time. Because you guys started together, yeah? Yeah, he was in Chicago. He opened for me. And I just saw how funny he was. And I was like, dude, and we just clicked.

It wasn't even like that he was funny. It was like, I want to be around this guy. Yeah. You know, and I was like, come with me to Detroit. And then we went to do a show there. And from now, I was just like, bro, let's just keep going, bro. Like, what are you doing in Chicago? And he's like, I've got to work.

I was like, bro, fuck that, bro, let's go, let's go do a weekend at the Haha. Here in L.A. Yeah, shout out to Terry, man. That's where I started at the Haha. And I was just like, bro, they'll give us any day we want. And like, we'll run the whole weekend. Me and you, have you been in L.A.?

Like, you know, I haven't performed in L.A. I'm like, bro, they love you right now. He was already popping online. So I was like, bro, they love you. They want you. Like, let's go. We sold down. I don't know how many shows.

And I gave him a fucking, we split the check. I wouldn't go get it cash. Went to go split it. I gave him a fucking fat water of cash. And I was like, here you go, bro. Move to L.A. Yeah. That's great, man.

Come to L.A., brother. And then once he came here, it was over, bro. CA wanted him really bad. All the management companies wanted him. Every comedian that saw him live was like, who the fuck is this guy? It's so funny because it was like, you guys kind of all started this re-revolution of Mexican comedians because there have been little pops of people that have come.

gone and there's a lot of internal beef within. I don't know what is about you guys. White guys don't like each other, but you guys really don't like each other, man. But you guys were the first young crew of guys who was kind of holding each other up instead of pushing each other down, which I thought was great, man.

Yeah, before it was like, you know, the George Lopez's, the fluffies, and Paul Rodriguez, it was like all these guys that kind of like, they made it in their own terms of their own time, and the industry was different back then. And they could only be one. Right. You guys were the first crew of young Mexican kids

that were like, we'll all do it together. And that was really cool to see. I mean, it's still happening now, but it is, it was kind of nice to watch online. Finally, I was like, oh, this is what comedy groups, you know, like, you talk about Kings of Comedy and all that stuff. That's how all those guys started. They all bonded it because they popped at like the same time. So all those guys were like, we're all going to go do it.

Yeah, that's exactly what Ralph and I were talking about. And just like, you know, it was just cool to see because you can tell the world needed it. Oh, yeah. At least the Latino part of the world. They needed it. And you can tell, by the way, by the people coming out to the shows, a lot of these people have never been a comedy show. Right.

A lot of these people have never, they don't like anybody else. Right. They're just like, we're just here for you, bro. It's just for you, dog. It's for you, don't even like comedy, homie. You fucking hate comedians, bro. You know, I like the Indian one is the best, dog. That little Punjabi guy is good, though.

Hey, hey, rest in peace to your homie, Kevin, bro. Kevin. Yeah, it was good. The rule. Kevin? Kevin died? Kevin died? Our manager? Little White Kevin? Kevin's dead? So what's the deal now in your career now? You're cruising around and you're, are you going to, you did Netflix already, right? You did that Netflix up. Yeah. And then what are you going to put out a special now? Yeah, we're putting a special out, hopefully on Netflix.

It should be, if they know better. Well, Netflix, you know, they told me what to do. What do you mean? They let you know what they wanted? Yeah. That's funny. So now I'm just here like, should I do? I mean, here it's interesting, right? It's like Netflix is like the hot girl at the party where everybody wants her.

And she's like, here's what you got to do to lay me down. And you either got to play the game. And I'm only going to pay this much. Or you got to go. Right, right. You either got to do what she wants or you got to go get the fat chick and have more fun. But, you know, you want to be with the hot chick and the fat chick. Who's the fat chick YouTube?

Yeah. Yeah. Because it's a fat check. Fat check, fat check. No, I mean, I mean, obviously, you know. And shout out to big girls, by the way. We are not making fun of you. My God, the internet gets sensitive.

Shout out to the big girls, man. BBWs, bro. You guys... Did you date BBW ever? Did you have that... There was a moment in my life where that's the only point I would watch. Really? I think I was like 16, 15, 15, 16 years old.

No, I was fucking 12. I was 12 years old. I was just like, BBWs are nice. And then you get older, you're like, I don't think I want to BBW. No, I do. In college, I was all about it. In college at one point, I wanted girls that were taller and thicker than me. I wanted girls that were taller.

You wanted the volleyball. Yeah, big girl, yeah, I loved it. I was obsessed. I hung out with a big girl at University of Colorado in Boulder. And she was like a pro athlete. She was... Just imagine putting those legs up. No, I jumped in her arm.

She carried me through the hallway. I loved it, dude. I was all about it. But no, you're going to maybe do what they want you to do, and it's a good move. You know, put your stuff back on Netflix. I mean, I'm going to do it. My agents and my manager are making sure of that. Now, Renee, you've got to do what they want you to do.

Be a good boy. It was my agent's birthday yesterday. Shout out to my agent. You don't even know his name. Fidel. Cisdell. Fidel Castro is your agent. Fidelajas, man.

Barajas. Yeah. Who's his birthday yesterday? I fucking was drunk and I dooredash them Orchids from Gelson's and McDonald's I'm serious

You doordashed him Orchids and McDonald's Yeah look It's a brilliant combination What was the order for McDonald's? Big Mac with extra cheese And a kid's meal Because I had a toy

That is beautiful actually That's very nice of you That is very sweet At the pink orchids It's very nice You gotta send me that photo We'll have to show the audience at home. Yeah, I got you, bro.

No, you know what? Thoughtful. You seem like a thoughtful dude. I don't even know you well enough to know you, but you seem, you seem like a really good dude in your heart. You're funny, but you're thoughtful. I pay a lot of my family's rents and they need to fucking step it up, right? You guys, uh, Renee Baca can be paying your rents forever. I know I'm the first of my family to make money, but you guys need to step it up, bro. Step it up. My accountant said so. Your accountant called you was like, you can't, you can't pay your cousin's rent.

You can't keep paying these people's rents, bro. But you know what? You're the first one. You're leading the charge. You've got to lead the charge. You're from the Valley. Aren't you a Valley boy? 818, man.

Van Ice. You're Valley boy? Well, I'm not from here, but I've been living here for a long time. Yeah, I love the Valley, but I don't understand the whole hype. I don't understand the hype down the freeway over there, bro. I don't fucking, you ever gone to like L.A. Like, downtown? Like, it's disgusting.

It's crowded. Traffic. Oh, my God. No, I like the Valley. I stay in the Burbs. Mexican's. I like it out here. Black's out there.

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Use that offer code whiskey. Save yourself 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. I like cinders Yeah, but back in the day when you were a kid, right? You're not that old, but even when you were a kid, the Valley had something

was really tough at one point. Oh, yeah. Especially up north. That was really tough. Yeah, I mean, I grew up around with the gang life, I guess, you know, my dad, my uncles and friends.

You show everyone you know. My mom, my grandma. Yeah, my mom was a leader. My grandma was a leader. No, my grandma did sell cocaine on the block. Did she? Yeah, so my grandma, When she started, she was selling Coke.

And when my dad met my mom, he was also selling Coke. So when my mom introduced my dad, my grandma already knew him, she was like, oh, you bring home the competition, bitch? What the fuck's wrong with you? Did they bond forces together? Oh, yeah, no. She visits him in jail to this day. He's in jail right now?

Yeah. Your pop? 40 years, yeah. 40 years? Yeah. Good God. He just got transferred to the same jail as R. Kelly. I'm certain it's not the same crime

Hope not Your dad's doing 40 Yeah So when's he gonna get out When did he go in? 2012 Good God So 52 he'll get out

I think they reduced like five years So it's probably like 2048 You'll come out Damn I just pay some lawyers Hopefully they do the job Yeah Was it drugs?

No Yeah drug trafficking Drug trafficking gives you 40 years You can kill someone And get like six Yeah I don't know What's the

They made him seem like he was El Chapo. Right. Like, oh, he's the leader of his organization. Oh, my God. Look at this guy. He's running whole crew. It's like, dude, you caught my dad driving with the drugs. That's it. Oh, Chappo's not driving with the drug. Right. Chapo didn't drive. Yeah. Yeah. Like, stop treating him like that. And he didn't snitch. So he went down by himself hard. Yeah. And they're trying to put my brother in jail. So he was taking all the blame at that point. He took everything on your your dad took it all. Yeah. He's like, bro, I made him do that. Fuck that. You're not taking my son in jail, blah, blah.

You're sending him money. Oh, yeah. You got it. You got it. You got it. My dad's living good, and hopefully, I mean, he's living good. He's in prison. He's living as good as he can.

He's living as good as he can. Damn, that's wild. 40 years. Yeah. My dad was in, my dad was in jail when I was a kid, in and out for drugs. Never, never, like, never that scale, you know? Yeah, yeah. But he was in and out a lot when I was a kid, which sucked.

You know, I didn't understand that at all. On here? In Chicago. Oh. When did your dad go away? old were you? I was a junior in high school. Oh man that's that's tough. He got sentenced though when I was a senior. I remember I was in piano class and I got him again I got the text you're in piano class yeah you got fingers huh you can roll no no no it was elected that you take in high school

we didn't have piano I don't we didn't have it was a the teacher was nice she's just fucking passed all of us um so I get the text and I get the same mom my mom's saying my mom's like your dad's just got sentenced to 480 months. And I'm just like... Yeah. That doesn't sound that bad, though. I thought we were going to do years.

And then... And then I do the man, I'm like, fuck, 40 years. Like, no fucking way. I didn't want to be in the class, so I use this excuse for him. I'm like, man, my dad just got sentenced to 40 years. Oh, my God. Do you need to go to the principal?

Yeah. I'm like, I do it. Yeah. They're all fucking... Oh, my God. Renee, you must be going through. I'm like, I don't know. I'm going to go home.

No, my mom's not home. Your mom's not home? No, she's not home. Do you need food? Maybe. In and out. Dove a cheeseburger, please. Someone's got to have a come up.

Hey, bro. I just, but my dad, going to Joe 40 years, it was around senior year, so I didn't have nothing to write for my college essay. And then he got lucked on. Yes. Got it. Got it.

And then it got me into a four-year university. It got me my story in stand-up. Some of my biggest jokes are about my father going to jail. And I think without my dad going to jail, I wouldn't have never won stand-up NBC, which is that competition they do, the diversity competition. Looking for the next brown or gay guy. Looking for the next brown on NBC.

Are you brown and gay? Right to the day. top. So I was a Mexican Indian, my dad was in prison. I remember when I was walking into those meetings, they're like, so was your dad really in jail? I'm like, yeah. Yeah, they thought that was all bullshit.

They're like, oh, my God, it's gold. We thought you made it up? We thought you were a good storyteller. But like I said, bro, without my dad doing that, I don't think I'll be where I'm at right now. Well, I told my dad that all the time. I'm like, don't feel bad about yourself. I know it's harder that you're not able to provide for the family anymore,

and you're not able to be here to be here to do anything but But now it's on you to provide Yeah, without you I wouldn't Have my life so Yeah Don't feel so guilty about what you did And you know

We got some good lawyers I asked Chad DBT for the best lawyers And that's what I got Really? Is that what you know I'm like I need the best This is what I said at the time I'm like I need the best lawyers No cheap shit

Wagu of lawyers Grass fed lawyers Populating now You know it's so funny though That it is true It's like you turn something So shit Into something so good

and hopefully when he gets out you still get a life together Yeah You know? Yeah I mean he'll be How old will your father be When he's out? He's gonna get the porter

As soon as he gets out But it's like another thing We have to go through But god damn I'm you know I wanted to buy property In Mexico for a long time So would you?

Where'd you go? I mean obviously somewhere Close to me He's got to... Like right over the border Yeah like somewhere Like in Baja, man Or somewhere

Yeah, it's great By the beach Yeah It would be right on the water Would you live down there full time? No He'd just have a play He's like

I'll go sell drugs again man Fuck this shit The cartels here. I need to call them. I got to check in. I got to check in, day one. I'm checking in real fast. Where's your family from?

Metsroakan. Mishuacan. Michokan. Some of the best food. Yeah. Best carnitas, bro. Best carnitas. Avocados come from Mertracan, man.

Yeah, they do, right? That's what the commercial one. They go, avocados from Mexico. No. Michokan. They should plug that in there. They don't do that. No, they should.

They fucking should. They should let them know. Do you have a spot in L.A. that you loved as a kid that blew up, that you hate that blew up, like a taco spot that you were like. We used to go all the time, and then it became, like, a popular spot. My dad owned a Mexican restaurant, bro, so we just ate at my dad's spot. Where was it? It was on, right next to the Haja, on...

On Lancashim? On Chandler and Violin. Oh, really? Yeah. What was it called? It was called Super Tago's Mijtrakhan. Super Tacos Mishuacan. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, my dad, uh, my dad, uh, You know, he lost it after like 10 years because he was just going in jail. Yeah, but those businesses, they're hard to run. Would you ever reopen it in, like, in memory? No, yeah. Like, to shout out to your dad? Hell yeah. I'm a franchise of McDonald's first, but yeah.

Is that what you want to do? You love McDonald's, huh? You've talked about it three times, even before the interview. Fucking love McDonald's. What, what? Are you every day or every other day? There's moments where I'll fast until like 9 p.m. You won't eat all day?

Just to eat McDonald's. Shut up. What's your order? What's your order? So I'm a ghetto kid, so I still order off the dollar menu. Like, it's not even a dollar menu anymore, but I still act like it is. It's a $2. It's a $2.00 menu now, right?

They fucked up. The value menu is what they call it. Yeah. Double cheese burger, make chicken with cheese, fries, and a Diet Coke. Or a Big Mac whacks of cheese fries. God, I love a Big Mac. That's still my favorite. The new burger, the Big Archie is bad, even.

I've heard it's okay, though the CEO didn't sell it well because he was eating it like, This is delicious. It was good. Yeah, I've heard it's okay. I'm going to try it. When I was coming up in comedy and I was rubbing nickels together and I didn't have a lot of money. There used to be on the way from my house because I live down by Culver City off National and the freeway. Not so nice. And I used to go up. There used to be a Burger King up there. And now it's like a Starbucks or something. And I used to go to the Burger King and they would have those dollar burgers. And I would just get five of those and put them in my fridge. And that's why. I would eat every single day. Yeah, that are Wendy's, because Wendy, Burger King used to have. They would have been good friends, man.

Bro, they had a great value menu. So I would eat a burger, go do a show. You know, in the morning I would get food at my job because they had a kitchen so I could eat breakfast. Then I would get home and eat a burger out of the fridge. Yeah. I did it every day for a long time. I mean, I lived across here from McDonald's for a while,

and, like, that was probably what I'm fat. But it was like, when I was a kid, I remember just finding quarters in the sofa. I'm like, oh, that's enough bread. Double cheese bag. And, like, go cross street. My whole family story, I'm like, I'm going to go eat, guys. You guys figure it out on your own.

I got it. Oh, yeah. No, I mean, it was one of those things where, you know, just McDonald's. I don't know. I do believe when they say they put something in it. It's a big thing. Sure. Because it is.

It's sugar and carbs and everything we like. Have you seen that lady open that burger after 20 years? It's the same. It's the same. Yeah, nothing changed. Nothing changed. I know they sell that as a bad thing. RFK is like, that's terrible.

That's too many. preservative. I think it's good. It lasted. You're gonna shit it out. Yeah, you're gonna shit it out. McDonald's, you're gonna shit it out. Like, you're gonna shit it out.

Like, it's not gonna be in your body for 10 years. What are you worried about what it looks like 20 years from now? Right, right. You'll take what you need from it. Yeah. And then it'll get out of you.

I'm sure, look, I'm sure everything else is killing us anyway. I don't think. I like what you said earlier, man. That's why I like white people, man. You guys fucking come up with some cool fucking things.

What? Rubbing two nickels together. I was rubbing two nickels together. Yeah. That, if you're drunk, that could sound really racist. But if you fucking get drunk, I was rubbing two. Well, I was rubbing two nickels together. Trying to get by in these streets.

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Use that code ginger. Ginger. I like gingers. It is funny, though. You did get money and then you stayed in the valley because a lot of people get money and then they get fancy and they want to go to like Beverly Hills

and all that stuff. I mean, I went to my fancy. You went to the Valley fancy. Yeah, I went to the Calabasas's Will & Hairs area. That's making it to me. Right. For me, it's just like growing up, you're just like always like,

I used to go out and my dad had like a landscaping job for a while and he worked in houses and calabasas and I was like damn this is the dream living here one day bro and just I'm not there yet but I'm like five minutes away I'm next door does that ever hit you though do you ever think about that

that you're like look at where look I did it like hell yeah bro when I wake up in my house bro like you know it's a you know I think I'm the only Mexican in my block it's great it's a good feeling man hello Renee Renee Renee Renee can you

chill with the smoking of the marijuana please My daughter has practiced Do they rat on you? People not like it No, they're good Everyone's good I haven't even seen my neighbors

Brother, they're just so chill And the only one I've seen Is the one across street And she's cool, man She seems like a She seems like one of those That can be your best friend Or your worst enemy

Oh yeah, yeah, Karen Yeah Karen, she lurched But she hasn't been a Karen to me Yeah, but it's there It's inside It's one little Renee, do you have to park

on that side? Oh yeah. Yeah, it's that kind of shit. Yes. Oh, no. The first day I went in, when I went to go look at the house, that was the first thing she said. You have to park on that side. Oh, dude. 100%. It's inside. It's always a small street. So it's like, you're just like, you go and she sent her construction guide at something. Hey, man, you got to park on that side. You speak the same language as him, right? Can you go talk to him about this? Dude, I live, but that's a symptom of L.A. We grew up in the Midwest. I'm from Chicago. He's from Minnesota. Back where we come from, you know your neighbors. Yeah. You know your neighbors.

Like, it's not like L.A. Like, I lived in an old place for almost six years. It's like the movies, right? Oh, you know everybody. Yeah. Well, and it's not that everyone's like, you know, hey, what? Everyone's sweet, but you know them. Like, you have a relationship that's either like, we don't really talk to them, but I know that guy.

Yeah. That guy is, you know, he was in the army for a while. His wife works as a nurse. You just know everyone's story. I lived in this neighborhood for five years. We knew two people. I mean, you know. Yeah, it just, L.A. is different like that.

Yeah. Well, L.A. is more like you got a house so you didn't have to talk to people. Yeah. Dude, I got a house so I don't have to worry about fucking being loud or like stomping in the neighbors. Like, what the fuck? With the broom on the ceiling? Yeah, dude. Did you grow up in an apartment?

Yeah, that's all we grew up. Your whole life. Yeah, my whole life. We never had a house. That's why it's a big deal for me. Does your mom live with you? No. No.

Does she still live in the same spot? I try to move her out. She's like, I like, I like it when I'm at it's cheap. I'm like, oh, okay. Isn't that funny parents are like. That's why I don't go to your house. The fans will recognize me at the apartment we live at. Yeah.

Actually, there's people that know, like, I don't like that. Yeah, it's a little weird. Yeah, and she wanted, I got her at Lexus for her birthday. And she was like, I'm not trying to show off, by the way, guys. I sound like a fucking asshole. No, that's a proud moment by your mom-a-car. I got a mom a car, and she's like, a couple days later, like, you know I wanted the Cadillac.

I'm like, mom, you're leaving the fucking hood. You don't even have a parking. spot. That's insane. Like, what are you talking about? And I'm not going to get you an escalade. You're going to have the nicest car on the block. Alexis is a nice car. Escalades. It's a very nice car. Pretty expensive, bro. Escalades are like a hundred grand now. Yeah, dude. I remember when they didn't used to be like that. I remember when Escalades was kind of like a same level as suburban or one of these big SUVs, you know, the Tahoe's and stuff. Now they're like, what? They start at $80,000? Dude, it's crazy. I went into, I walked into Mercedes and I, and I was

just like, I want to buy this car. And they were like, and they were like, like okay oh yeah just put the 10 grand on payment well i was just like let me call my account and my account is like bro get the fuck out of there right now leave now fuck out now i was like what do you tell them thank you and you talk to your account just walk out and i walked out and he's like and i'm like okay i walked out he's like give it a day they'll call you yeah yeah 20 minutes later the manager calls me, Renee Vaca, oh my God, I'm a big fan. I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry.

We couldn't get a deal, man. Is there anything we can do? Anything we do? I'm like, I don't know, man. You got to talk to my account, man. I'm like, what should I tell him? He's like, telling him you want zero down payment. You don't want this, this, this,

and you only want the lease for 36 months. I'm just like, and I tell him like, I don't think they're going to go for that. And I sent it to him, and he's just like, okay, we're going to see what we can do tomorrow. And I'm just like, damn, bro, have we been getting ripped off from these fucking? Yes.

Car salesman forever? It's the only industry in the world where the price is dictated by the wind. Down payment? All that shit. It's all cash for them. That's what I heard. It's all bullshit.

I heard it all goes to them. It's all bullshit. And you know the fucking car salesman was like, yeah, man, my girl's in labor right now, man. Oh, he's trying to hit you with it. Yeah, I'm just like, how long has your girl been in labor for it for years? A fucking liar. She's perpetually pregnant.

We just can't have the kid. It's got to stay in there and cook. No, you can't, you know what it is so funny? I don't give them any weight anymore because I like cars and I've always, I learned as a young guy. My dad took me to get my first car. My first car I ever got in L.A. was a Hyundai Sonata. I could afford a Hyundai Sonata.

The payments on a sonata were like 220. Yeah, they were fine. They were $2.25 a month and I could just get by. And I remember listening to him talked to the car dealer. And I was like, oh, these motherfuckers are all full of shit. Yeah. Like I was like, oh, this is all a scam. Because he was like, no, we don't want to do that.

That's not what we want to do. I'm like, oh, you just tell them what you want to do? He's like, yeah, up into a point, they're just trying to peel more money off of you. That's all it was. So we got it down to whatever the original price was that I was supposed to pay on it because you walk out of there and you're like, I think I'm paying $80 more than I thought I was going to pay a month for what? Just going to them. What do you drive right now?

What's your favorite car to drive? What's my favorite car to drive is probably the key of soul? That's the one we have. or the accord. Oh, the accord, yeah, the accord of the key of soul. You stay low, dude. I like that. I'm not like you, man.

I like that. You're a fancy boy. Dude, I Uber black everywhere. And they say I'm racist. That's good. When's the last time you took an Uber? I don't even drive, bro, to be honest with you. When's the last time you took an Uber X, a regular Uber?

Be real. I think I took a cab at the Burbank airport the other day, and I was in a Prius. And I was like, what the fuck? God, you got hung up on that I was like, oh my God Can't do it I felt like And after I left

I was like you know what Enjoy this man Because there's moments Where you wish you had a Prius Back in the day That's right And you never know You never know

Life flips You know I just pretend I'm like Bill Burr's driving Pretend Bill Burr is driving you Right now Renee Dude I love you fucking shit

How many bags you got What's in there Fucking cash Fucking Mexican's flag all the time you carrying around your whole bank account on you that's a good one i've never heard a good bill burly he's the best man he's so fucking funny that guy no i can every time i get in a conversation with him does you know you do you know him uh no i never really i'm working with his company but oh you are yeah what are you doing with him yeah yeah what are you doing uh working on a jerry

springer type show no shit yeah with you as the host yeah that's fucking brilliant you know my senior ditch not like what um what tim dillon did Tim was like a Donahue type of thing. It was like a... No, that was... I mean, it was kind of like that, but it was like... Ours is going to be different. Is it you as the host?

Yeah, ours is going to... We already asked some fans to submit some submissions, and it's pretty crazy. Yeah. No, Tim's was good. I love Jerry Springer, dude. I love Tim, and... But you want it different. I wanted different.

I saw what Tim was going for, though. Yeah. And I was just like, I think a Mexican needs to do this. The Mexican doesn't. I think a Mexican does it. Have you seen the Mexicans in the honor? He's like, ah, fuck you, fuck you. Yeah, you want them.

I want to rile them up. I want to fucking, let's, let's have fun again, bro. Jerry was a genius. I went to, our senior ditch day. I went to go to Jerry Springer with a bunch of friends. We got high as fuck. And then, because he filmed in Chicago. You met Jerry Springer?

No, no, we went to his, we went to a taping our senior year. Oh, what? Yeah, because he films in Chicago, or filmed in Chicago. Yeah. Yeah. I just saw his documentary. It's phenomenal, right? I love it.

That's inspiring. He changed daytime TV because he understood pretty quickly, like, how to pit these things things against each other and show this world in a way where it's like, well, this is, this is all their world. Yeah. He didn't paint it. He just showed you what it looked like. Did you see how, like the producers preparing the...

Oh, bro, it was amazing. You're like, fucking... Yeah, you got to amp them the fuck up. I can't wait to do that. Yeah, that's going to be fun. They got a lot of criticism, but he was just showing the world what people, how people are when they're not paying attention, you know? You don't really know what's going on.

I'm so deciding if I'm wearing a suit or not. I don't think so. I think you should wear what you always wear. I think when you change your image for the thing, it doesn't look real to you. And that's why I told myself. I'm just going to be myself. And it's just, like I said, bro, something the people need, man.

And I've been doing that since college, man. I remember just figuring out what the people need. Yeah. Supply and demand. And you're always like, when I was in college, I remember there was this dean of the... Dean of Admissions? The Dean of Economics.

Oh. Some shit like that. I don't know. But shout out to him, bro. Fuck, what was the name? shout out to that guy what was I guys said shout out to him man

and I remember he he walked into my economics class and he was just like I'm looking for students with bright ideas we have a venture lab we're gonna we'll give you an office

if you have an idea that we can finance or find investors for and everyone was trying to come up with this next big thing like oh my God I have this that can save water I can this that can make water

And they're like, all right, dude. We live in Merced, California, one of the most boring cities on earth. Right? And you guys are thinking about factories and apps and things like that. So I went up to him. Not even while they were going out to him. I found them, like, having lunch. And I was just like, hey, bro.

That's not how I went up to. Hey, bro. Hey, fucker. Fucking bitch. I have an idea, putton. He's like, what is it, Holmes? I like that. I like that.

That's what's up. No, but I went up to him. I was like, look, everyone's trying to come up to you with this badass idea. They're not solving the real problem. Like, what's that, Renee? Bortem. We're fucking bored, okay? The city needs something.

They need, like, put a music studio. Put Disneyland. We're two hours from San Francisco. We're in the middle of L.A. and San Francisco. We're in the middle of L.A. and San Francisco. Put a fucking amusement park in here so both can come. Something nice. And I was just fucking going on.

Like, you need a fucking comedy club. Oh, blah. You need this. I was just like, you need entertainment in the city, bro. And he was like, I like that. I like that. And he just gave him all an office, bro. Fucking, like, was giving me support.

I was like his, he was using me as examples. As an example for other students. And I was just like a fucking, I'm selling shrooms. I'm fucking, fucking. You were his protege. Yeah, and I started comedy shows there. But like I said, it was just like the whole Jerry Springer, it brings me that same feeling. It's like, bro, people just need something.

They need that thing. They just need this. You started a comedy club in college. Yeah, it wasn't a comedy club. I just found like three restaurants and used them to do shows. Yeah. What year did you start when you were 19? 19 years old.

What school was that at in Merced? UC Merced. UC Merced. Why did you go there? Why up there? I got accepted to UC Riverside. you see Santa Barbara and you see Merced and I was like

Santa Barbara was too white Yeah Riverside's a little too Riverside's a home Yeah And Merced was new Far enough away The only thing I didn't like

Is that they were accepting everybody And they still I think they still have a 90% Admission rate Yeah it was the acceptance rate of UC Yeah it was the acceptance rate of UCSid What's the acceptance rate right now But it was the UC

Dogg I went to you know I went to Arizona State We can I can go back now And start all over again Do we want to place bets? Oh yeah, let's place bets. All right, let's make it.

Is it a 90% still? Let me say, no, no, what's your guess? What's your guess? I'm going to say it's 82%. What's yours? I'm going to say it's still around 90%. Wow, what is it? Recently reported at approximately 95.1-197.

Oh, my God. Dude, everybody getting in. Everyone's getting in. Hop in. Imagine if you're on the 5%. I mean, who wants to go to Mercedes-Bron? But imagine if you're on the 5 that gets a no. Like, I mean,

How bad does that sting? Oh, that's so funny. If you read that online. Oh, UC is crazy for 95%. Well, because it's... Their fall 2025 except in 3, it was 97.7. They said, come on in. Bro, imagine a UC.

Like, you're talking to top-notch. Yeah, UC schools are great. That's why I went there. So I went there and, you know, it was a new school. So they were handing out opportunities. Like, they gave me a fucking office, bro, at my freshman year. They give you a scholarship to go there? No.

I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I don't remember. I think I paid those off, I think. You think, we hope. Call the account. I definitely had some financial aid. But, yeah, it was, you know, it was, if I didn't go to Merced, I would have never became a comedian, bro. It made me, first of all, I was bored.

Yeah. Second of all, it made me realize, like, oh, my God, all these kids are dumb. First of all. And two... All these kids are dumb. All of them. And they don't know what they want to do until they die. And I was listening to motivational speeches.

I wanted to be a motivational speaker. I was listening to Jim Rohn. I was into Eric Thomas. You know, I was into all of them, bro. And I was like... They always said, like, you know, find something you're passionate about. Find something that you know that you'll never quit. you know something that's easy for you hard for others and i'm just like damn but i need to figure out

what i'm going to do till the day i die because these kids are majoring in this they're majoring in that they're majoring in this but they really don't know that's what they want to do to the day they die right they think it's what they want to do right right but that's what most people right most people most people are figuring my my dad retired and he was like i wonder what i'm going to do for a living it's like a you know he it's just you know i think it's hard yeah it's very hard so when i found at 19 I was doing acid I was did shrooms

I was really searching for myself I was I'm a big Steve Jobs fan and watching the Ashton Coochoochoo movie He did fucking acid and was like

I'm gonna build Apple I really thought that's how it's gonna be I'm gonna build avocado I'm gonna be I'm gonna be Chakana innovate on the avocado innovation

I was just so when I did acid man I was really searching for myself. I remember just doing shrooms and acid and just having my friends over and outperform for them thinking I was funny. We're just all

fucking high. Yeah, but you're probably coming up with something. You're probably finding your voice. 100%. I used to... And then I told myself, I'm going to be a comedian, bro. And I stopped going to class. I stopped. I just, I cheated on my test to get financial aid. I dropped out 10th year,

my second year, officially. And I was just like, 10th year. Still bad. And then Yeah, but I remember I snick into the auditorium And perform for some friends Because at night the auditorium was open for cleaning And we stayed in to the cleaning He tells to get out

And I would just fucking be there Just fucking performing and just getting ready for my show And it was fun, bro I would have never be I did a year and a half in Merced and then came to LA I was like, I'm gonna go home with this And you knew Yeah

And you started the Ha Ha ha that was like That's your home club Oh man Terry took me in it was like my mom bro did you ever go there when you were a kid like when you were a high school kid you ever go no I passed by it I never knew

right what it was but um yeah bro that Terry you know that she changed she she had me following hard acts bro like I mean

I mean the hard acts that would come to a hot huh huh yeah there's so there people will come through yeah no yeah no yeah you know like um his Sutsupuverro was a big one when I started

yeah he's funny of shit and I remember just having to follow him was one of like, fuck, I would get nervous as shit. Shout out to Assoos. And, you know, just following like a Greg Wilson or, you know. Guys that were seasoned. Yeah, you know, just, you know, and, you know,

it was just cool, man. You know, like when Joe Coy or Fluffy would pop in, you know, terror would be like, go up before them. So they could see you? Yeah, hopefully they'll see you. And, you know, yeah, I owe a lot to the Ha-ha, bro. Cheers to them. Shout out to Ha-ha.

Did you ever open for Fluffy or any of those guys? Did you? Yeah, Fluffy gave me my first arena. Did he? At the Toyota Arena, and that's where I'm doing my first arena. And you're going to be at the Toyota Arena. I know, and God bless you. Thank you for asking me to come out there.

I can't do it because we're filming. Really wanted you there. I know, we too, man. I wanted to go down there. We're shooting game. We're shooting game that week. Yeah, Ty Dollassine, when I asked him, like, do you know, Anderson, you know, he said that...

Yeah, he was going to bring, for those that want to know, nobody knows, but he was going to bring Ty Dallis on. he called me, he said, I'm going to bring Ty Dahliaz on, and I said, bro, we had a good, one of my favorite jokes from the show, Dave. Yeah, he said, yeah, he was on a little digger. He called me Todd Dillerson. Yeah, Todd Dillerson. Yeah, yeah.

That was one of the best bits we ran on that show was, and I don't know who wrote it. I don't know if Love wrote it or Vanessa or Dave. I don't remember who wrote it, but it made me laugh so hard when I read it. I remember reading that shit, and they were like... These are the worst coasters about that. Yeah, they're tiny. Don't worry about them.

You can drop it on the table. It's all for style. No, but I remember reading it and they were like And they were like You're you're at this rap party You don't know anybody in rap And when I read Todd Dillerson My instinct was like

Oh it's like one of the managers He's like no no wait look And I was like oh right He doesn't know that that's Thai dollar signs So when we did the scene we were cracking up Because I was like it's Todd Dillerson He's like who I'm like That's what he said his name was Todd Todd Dillerson

And then he was like you're saying Ty Dallison And I was like that's what his name That's his name It sounded the same Same to me. I mean, who the fucking cares. Howell this is funny. We had a bunch of rappers on the show

and... I love seeing you in black movies, bro. Dude, I stayed in black movies for a minute. I want to go back. Black movies! I just saw you at the house party. House party, yeah. That was one of my favorites, too. They let me fly. They literally let me answer the door and go off. They were like, do whatever you fucking go nuts.

Dude, you know what's so funny? Because as a kid, like, Friday was maybe the most quoted movie out of my friends. Yeah. I mean, we watched that movie we burn that thing down we watch it so fucking much i love that and i thought i want to be one of the white nerds in one of these black movies yeah like like next friday it was who was it was a love next friday oh oh you're talking yeah rap yeah yeah i i just love those movies because they were like so impactful on my youth and now no one's making fucking comedies anymore anyway i mean

unless you're uh what's his name uh unless you're doing a medea movie or whatever because he's the only one doing these kind of wacky comedies in the black world and by the way the wayans brothers aren't they making scary is coming back right yeah i was mad i wouldn't get a part in that fucking movie yeah man are you acting are you doing a bunch of acting or yeah i mean i'm i've been trying to get out a stand-up comedy bro you want out you you want out i don't want out i'll never say that i don't want the comedy guys and be like, oh, you want not, huh? All right then. Yeah.

Cancell! Yeah. Get out of here, Renee! But I do want to find another avenue. You want something different. Yeah. You can still do both. You can do it all.

But then you hear how much these guys making. Like, damn, I think I should just stick with stand-up. Well, nowadays, the acting world is not the same. I mean, you know, you don't, most people are kind of fighting to get by. It's a job, it's a, you know, they used to go, I remember in Steve Martin's book, he called his father, this stuck with me forever, a plumber actor. Yeah. Where he was like, I think it was Steve that said that.

That's funny. I'm either conflating. It's either Steve said that or no, no, no, no, no, I know who it is. I know who it is. Kurt Russell, he called his dad, Bing Russell. Bing Russell was like in 150 things. He was in Bonanza for like years. Yeah.

And he called him a plumber actor. And he was like, you know, he just was a go day by day. Like, it was like a blue collar worker because back then they weren't making a lot of money. And then there's a lot of money in the business And now it's back to the old days Where people aren't making No one's making money Unless you're fucking

The Rock Kevin Hart You know what I mean Unless you're like one of five guys I mean I don't want to say the company But they paid me for an idea that I had And

We wrote the script with the writer And Pay me six figures But nothing happened Yeah they go away They throw them away I'm just like dude You just gave me money to have fun

They pay you to throw it away Yeah They don't want to do it. And now someone has to buy the script from them and they want to do it and all these things. And it's just like... It's a grind. It's, I mean, but hey, man, you're getting paid to write. No, it's a good life, but it's a good life to be able to have the opportunities that you got.

The rejection is what's hard, I guess. Yeah, because in stand-up, we know how to navigate it. With that stuff, it's annoying because you're like, what, I thought I did the thing you wanted. Like, in stand-up, you know, if it's a good enough joke, they're going to laugh. Yeah. In that world, it's like, you know, they said it was great. Still didn't like it. I don't understand.

Yeah, you'll play. You know what we should do is we will talk off camera about maybe having him come aboard the bad if he's, you know, when you're around. We got a thing that we're doing that I want you to try to come along for the ride. We're going to wrap it up here because you've got to go to an appointment. This guy, he's got Mr. Appointments all the time. Yeah, I do have a two o'clock. He's got an appointment. So, hey, do this.

Go see Renee Live. He's sold out in Vegas already. And this episode's already out by the time that Vegas happened. Go see him on tour. I'll see you in Vegas, man I'll see you in Vegas, yeah, I'll hit you when I get there What is it, René Vaca comedy On all platforms, man

And, you know, shout out to Andrew for having me, man You're the man, Renévacacom, Look at that camera, we end the episode the same way You say one word or one phrase to close out the episode A piece of advice, a phrase, or just one word I'm gonna say a piece of advice Okay, okay

If you're in a relationship And you know what's about to end but it's not ending, just end it. You're saving yourself time. You could die tomorrow, man. I had my best friend for two years, rest and peace can flores. And a year of that was,

for one of those years, I didn't get to see him that much because I was with a toxic woman. So leave that bitch. In here, we pour whisk, whisk, whisk, whisk. You were that creature in the ginger beard. Ginger Like vampires

The ginger gene is a curse Ginger's a bugress Ginger's a pugil You only $5 for the whiskey And $75 for the horse Ginger's all hell no This whiskey is Exort

Ginger I like gingers