Whiskey Ginger with Andrew Santino - Sebastian Maniscalco

Episode Date: July 3, 2020

Santino sits down with Sebastian Maniscalco to talk about becoming a family man, working at the Four Seasons Hotel before he made it and rubbing elbows with some of the greatest minds in both comedy and the real world. GO TO www.andrewsantino.com FOR ALL THINGS CHEETO SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS! GOLF! - Win 25K by simply going to https://golfcritique.com enter code 25000 for a chance to play with Brian Urlacher and Holly Sonders Use promo code WHISKEY when singing up for 15% off SCREWBALL WHISKEY- Drink the original and most awarded peanut butter whiskey. Enjoy it responsibly. Don't be a dummy. Join our Patreon : https://www.patreon.com/whiskeygingerpodcast Follow Santino on Insta and Twitter: https://www.instagram.com/ Whiskey Ginger Insta and Twitter: https://www.instagram.com/whiskeygingerpodcast/ & https://twitter.com/whiskeyginger_ EDITING AND PRODUCTION DESIGN BY THE AMAZING WHISKEY GINGER TEAM JENNA SUNDE https://www.instagram.com/jenna_sunday/ JOE FARIA https://www.instagram.com/joseph_faria Intro Music by Rocom: https://www.youtube.com/user/RocomTelevision Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What up, Whiskey Ginger fans? Welcome back to the show. If this is your first time joining, I've said this before, please subscribe, tell someone you like it, you love it, give it five-star reviews, do all the things that you need to do to spread the Whiskey Ginger word around town. Here's what's going on as far as the stand-up goes. AndrewSantino.com is the place for dates. We're changing so many different things,

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Gingers are beautiful. You owe me $5 for the whiskey and $75 for the horse. Gingers are hell no. This whiskey is excellent. Ginger. I like gingers. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Whiskey Ginger. My guest today is one of my favorite people on earth. I say that for all my guests, but I mean it once again.

Today is Mr. Sebastian Menescalco. Sebastian, thank you for coming on, dude. Como esta? Como esta? Como esta? Como esta? Brother, thank you for doing this. We've been trying to connect. I tried it. We were going to have you in the studio, but sadly that didn't work because the pandas got us all locked down. But you're in one of your 17 libraries. So thank you for doing this from one of your many libraries. How many of those books back there are actually readable? Are they all decoration? Yeah, I haven't touched one book. These are all for my Zoom calls. Oh, nice. Yeah, that's good. Yeah. This is your Zoom room. Is that your Zoom room? So how many of these things have you been doing in terms, not just podcast stuff, but have you been doing in terms not just podcast stuff but have you been

doing a lot of like uh like meetings and stuff like that in the business over zoom yeah so once a week probably i have a zoom meeting uh just to go over um uh really nothing uh with my team regards to working I have done to zoom corporate events Which I was reluctant to do just because I was unsure how comedy would translate through a laptop and When the offer came in they wanted me to do like 45 minutes of comedy standing in front of a laptop I go that that's that doesn't work. Comedy is more enjoyed in a live setting. But it was, we had a moderator. Basically, I describe it to like a late night

talk show when you're sitting down with Kimmel or Fallon and they have set questions to give you a launch pad to talk about some stories. So it really worked. I was shocked how well it went. And then I did some crowd work through Zoom, just picking on people. And after being really reluctant to do it, I found it to be quite enjoyable. And I would never do a Zoom stand-up comedy show. But if corporations are looking for some type of entertainment to give to their employees while we're in a three-year-old and a one-year-old and for the last 75 days i've been just at home cooking and just like everybody else just waiting waiting to get out i'm like a lion bro i know i'm i'm like set up

to work that's just kind of my, it's in my DNA. Don't get me wrong. I like that there was a pause button here where we can kind of relax a little bit from everyday life. But, you know, after a while, you just, you know, you're running out of things to do. It's just not normal. Right. Now, I feel the same way. At the beginning, I looked at it kind of as a blessing.

I was on the road. Like I ended my last tour and I started a new tour, and I was just kind of going, going, going. I didn't have a promise to leave. I just kept doing leaf blowing. Sebastian's calming down his leaf blower outside. And people might not know while he takes a break that Sebastian's leaf blower is one of five full-time leaf blowers on his property. He's a collector of oak trees.

You have 35,000 oak trees on your property. Is that right? That's right. So he's got five full-time leaf blowers, six full-time gardeners and three full-time kitchen staff. No, you're right, man. It's been a nightmare. Look, I kind of, me and the old bag, that's what I call my wife, podcast listeners. No, the old bag and I, it was a happy time because at the beginning I was like, oh man, I don't have to be constantly going, going, going. So it felt good, especially because last year I did, I stopped filming a TV show and then I went right on the road. So it was nice to kind of hang out for a little while. And then you hang out with your wife for a little while longer.

And then you're like, I'm done. I got to go. I don't want to do this anymore. I like seeing you, but not all the time. I don't want to see, I don't think I want to see anybody all the time. We need like a separation both for, you know, for physical and mental, uh, enjoyment in the relationship. It's been hard being like these schedules are cramped now. She works from the house now, you know? So it's just kind of like a, it's, it's getting a little too chaotic. So doing podcasts is my favorite. This is like my relief system for me. It's like, this is the only time I get to check out from home and not thinking about how much i'm not touring because i saw you posted your tours are are rescheduled all for 2021 right nothing this year yeah as far as uh as of now everything's kind of moved or adjusted to 2021 um i mean, I told my agent when this first started,

I said, I don't see me performing until the fall of 2021 just because this pandemic has scared people so much. I don't see them gathering in a 3,000-seat theater anytime soon. However, I don't know. I think that's changing based on the fact that we went from a pandemic. I went to listening to Fauci for 69 days and now I can't find him. I know, he ran.

He's gone. He got on a plane. He's out, bro. He left the United States. There's no chance he's still in the US. Fauci went right to Trump. He's like, listen, I'm out. I'm not doing this shit anymore. He jumped on a jet and was gone. to be no conspiracy. Everybody in government, they got to have the cure. They have to have a vaccine. And half of those guys, I think, just took off. They were like, give me the thing. I got to go. I'm going to go to, I'm going to Italy. I'm going to live on a boat for seven months. Like David Geffen and these guys on these yachts, you know, that's what I, that's what, if I had

enough money, I would have done that. I told Rogan, I was like, you should be on a, on a boat somewhere living. I wouldn't be in LA. If I had enough, I'd be gone by now. I have to be here doing this shit. I don't have a choice. Hey, I want to talk to you about some Chicago connections. I'm from Chicago. You're from Chicago. You're an Arlington Heights guy, right? Yeah. My grandfather worked at, uh, both. This shows you my, uh, level of class, the dog track and Arlington and, and the horse track. So he did both Maywood and Arlington. My grandfather, what'd he Huh? What did he do?

Oh, he was a window guy. He was a ticket guy. Yeah, he was pulling tickets. Yeah. What he really did was lose my grandmother's house four times. That's really what he did. He gambled away my family's. We can laugh at it now because she died and he's got the house again.

No, but my grandfather is a gambler who's been a gambler his whole life, never was into drugs or drinking or never got mixed up in any kind of scene, was like an athlete, was always in great health and great shape. And then at some point in his life, stopped kind of his all positive moving parts of his life and put everything away and then started gambling and then gambled bad for a long, long time until, I don't know, probably his late sixties that had calmed down. It was, I mean, it was nuts. His whole life was at the track. I mean, when I was a kid at this, I'm curious for you, when I was a kid,

my grandfather used to take me to the track at night. There would be like, but have you amateur boxing nights? Did you ever go to see those or no? No, I didn't quite grow up on the track uh hey man hey man some of us are a little bit trashier than others i used to love it man i used to love going to see amateur boxing nights it was it made my like of all the negative things that i was taught about from my mother years later about the culture of what was going on in those late night rooms of betting and OTBs and stuff. It was fun to go with my grandpa and go watch amateur boxing because to me they were superstars. Like I thought it was ESPN.

You know what I mean? Like I thought I was watching. And truth be told, I was watching two guys from Cicero just beat the shit out of each other. But I thought it was the highlight of ESPN boxing HBO night type of stuff. But no, I used to go there and watch. Do you, you didn't know about any of that stuff though? Did you ever hear about that? The boxing stuff? No. Oh, I, I lived right by Arlington park racetrack. Uh, so my grandfather took me there to watch the horses, but I had no idea that there was an amateur boxing event. Is this, what, in the 80s?

No, 90s. Well, maybe. Actually, no, you're probably right. Probably the late 80s, early 90s is when I used to go. That's when my grandfather was really in the thick of it all. And I used to say when I was a kid, I didn't know my grandfather's business associates. You know, I didn't know what that was. And my mom, when I was older, it was like, I mean, his best friend's name is Joe the hat. That's not a legal name, Joe the hat. I was like, right. But I just, it never registered. I didn't,

it didn't make any sense. Cause for me, I was, I grew up in the city until junior high, and then we moved to the western suburbs. Where did you live? In Naperville. Oh, you did? Yeah. My parents moved out to Woodridge. Well, my mom remarried and moved to Woodridge. My dad still lived in the city.

And when I would go see my dad, it was always like, go to the track or, you know what I mean? Like I got to, I got to live that other lifestyle. And then my mom would, of course, because of the divorce, my mom was like, you know, there's nothing good going on wherever they are. I'm like, I loved it. Cause it was nothing but excitement. You know what I mean? Like to take me to go see box, I go get food at three 30 in the morning. I was with degenerate gamblers. You know what I mean? It was like the, to me, that was like life. That was, that was super exciting. But when we moved to the Western suburbs, you know, everything was, everything changed. Everything was so, so different for me. My mom just continued to work downtown and still to this day goes downtown every day. So the piece of me that like misses Chicago the most is missing all that culture and life like

you ever miss that a lot living in LA do you ever miss all that culture and all that life yeah you know um I do miss Chicago because that is kind of where my nucleus is for my friends uh when I moved I you know I have acquaintances i wouldn't say i have like really deep relationships with anybody other than the four guys back home and we kind of talk uh every week and you know you know chicago chicago guys there's something about chicago guys and hanging out and breaking each other's balls you have to have like a thick skin to kind of hang out with guys back home. And we just got your kick out of it. It's, it's just, you know, and I came out here in 98,

I never really had that kind of camaraderie with a group of guys that I had back in Chicago. So I do, I do miss it. Although it sounds like you grew up in a very kind of colorful, So I do miss it, although it sounds like you grew up in a very kind of colorful, exciting, you know, whether it be the boxing or racetrack or gambling or Joey the Hat. It's probably bad for me, bro. It was probably terrible. What do you mean? You probably grew up in a stable home.

I grew up in a – it wasn't bad. It was really nice. You know, I can't complain. It was just, my two worlds were so different. You know, my dad's life and city life. And then my mom, my stepdad, the suburbs was, it was just so different. And I had been a, a single, my mom was a single mother until she met my stepdad and they had a kid together. My, my sister and I are nine years apart. You know what I mean? Like we're most families, you know, you grow up with your brothers, your sisters, you have this, this bond. And I didn't have any of that. So for me, when I would go to visit my dad, you know, like that was, you know, I didn't have the brothers and sisters to play with and hang out with and talk about that was kind of my, these two extremely unique,

separate worlds. You know what I mean? So I, I got to bounce back and forth, but it wasn't, you know, it wasn't, it wasn't like a life of chaos. I wasn't out at nine selling cigarettes. You know what I mean? I was, but still, but you're right though. There is a thing about Chicago guys that, yeah, my friends are the, like, you know, you, your, your agents or managers or whoever out here can compliment you to the day, you know, to the day is done. But one phone call from one friend from Chicago can put all that in the trash, right? Like every nice thing everyone's ever said to you out here can go within seconds from a friend from back home. Oh, you think you're a big shot?

You think you're a, I saw you on TV. Do you look fat? You know, like one word from one friend. Do I look fat? Yeah, you look fat and you got no lips like that right it's like just a couple of hits and then you're like all right i'm back to square one i'm not such a hot shot anymore you you yeah yeah go ahead go ahead oh it really does you know to echo what you're saying it's uh they kind of keep you in line not that you were getting big-headed at all but it's just you know the the ripping and the you know i went back home and uh i was doing a show and it was just like

there's no real like um i think it's just a negative vibe you know like back home yeah it is it is it was until you know i met my wife and i came out here and you know people are like very like you know good job namaste namaste namaste sebastian now yeah it's not it's it's not there isn't a lot of that uh you know bobby lee says this to me all the time he's like you have this anger this like, this, it's not really anger. It's just kind of like a, um, aggressive sense of reality. I feel like that's what most people from our area feel this aggressive sense of reality. They have very passionate opinions about things. They're very forward with their thoughts out here. People are kind of more mass. They're much more, um, you know, in the gray, they're on the fence about stuff about what they should say and who, you know, back home, it's just very, I used to

make fun of my dad would, uh, the first thing my dad would do. And it's embarrassing. A lot of the behavior is embarrassing, but funny. He would find out the waitress's name or server's name. Sorry. And, uh, you know, Margaret and okay. He go, okay, okay, Margaret, nice to meet you. I'm Rick. Okay, nice to meet you. And then abuse that till the day is done across the restaurant. Margaret! Margaret! Can we get some more, please?

Like, I mean, that's the culture. But for some reason, that's okay back home. Do you know what I mean? Like, out here, that would never fly. It would be, a blog would be written about you. You'd be condemned, but it's just this very people friendly, aggressive. None of it is, um, has any intent to be negative. It's just heavy handed. We're very like heavy handed people, you know? Yeah. I mean, especially during the pandemic, you know,

I'd call home and it's like, uh, fuck the mask. Not wearing no pussies where man, you know, it's like, fuck the mask. I'm not wearing no – Pussies wear – It's like that. That's so true. Oh, you're wearing a mask? What's it going to stop, huh? You from talking to a broad if you see her?

You're a puss. You're a puss and you're never going to die from it. Get over it. Yeah, there is this condemnation of the behavior. I want to ask you this, this, the, the, the friendship thing reminds me you, um, uh, you, you were on, on comedians and cars getting coffee. And I think you asked the question to Seinfeld. You said, do you have a best friend? Do you remember that? Yeah. You said that. I don't, I don't want to mess up the rhetoric, but I think you said, do you, who's your best friend? I think

that's what you said. And he responded with best friend, how childish or sophomoric he said, is it if it's like, what a childish concept, right? And, and it made me laugh but then i started to think deeper about it and i go i bet you that's just the worlds of difference of jerry's idea of friendship as an adult and yours because i said i still have a best friend like cheesily enough you know what i mean like i definitely still have a best friend i probably got two of them you know what i mean and i was like i bet you sebastian still has a best friend but now he won't talk about it because Jerry said best friend. Like how childish. Yeah, right.

He's 60 some odd years old and he's like, yeah, best friend. No, I still have best friends like you, you know what I mean? Yeah. I got guys that I'm really close to back home that I consider my best friends. And I don't know if he hadn't heard that term in a while. I don't think he had. But I thought his best friend was the guy, Mario Joyner, that he opened up for him.

So he's a good friend. Or George Wallace, he's a good friend. So I don't know. It's one of those things where you're in the, you know, sometimes you do those shows and you're like, you know, that's friendly. So. Do you guys ever trade bracelets?

Do you have friendship bracelets? Do you have charms that you share? Yeah, it just made me laugh because you were so genuine in your inquiry. It was so honest. you were so genuine in your inquiry. It was so honest. And I could tell it was because perhaps his comedian response, the way we comedically respond to things,

is either because we're uncomfortable about it or we feel a little bit ashamed that it's not true. You know what I mean? Where you're like, if everyone in the room goes, yeah, we all love that, and that you really don't internally, so you go, what do you love about it? It's like a lashing because you're kind of embarrassed or what? I mean, there's a, you have to take a comedic take on it. I feel like you had to, cause it was almost like, Oh no, best friends is such a dumb concept, but I still have guys. I say my best friend. I mean,

I'll probably say that to the day I die. Cause it's guys that, you know, you've been through shit with, and so much has changed over the years even we've changed you know my wife asked me all the time she always goes um if someone i haven't talked to in a long time reaches out and she goes would you still be friends with them if you met them today and i feel like that's a good barometer for who i'm still good friends with and who i still talk to and it's a key it's a keen way of looking at it it's like there's people in your life that you were buddies with that i don't think if you met today you'd be friends with and who I still talk to. And it's a key, it's a keen way of looking at it. It's like, there's people in your life that you were buddies with that. I don't think if you met today, you'd be friends with them anymore. And that's kind of where I, that's where I gauge who I'm going to continue my relationships with. It's like, if I met them today, do we still have a

thing that we would connect on? Or was it just a thing from a moment in my life? You know? a thing from a moment in my life, you know? Yeah, no, I, I've heard that, uh, before, uh, that concept of, would you, do you still have anything in common or is your only thing you have in common is that you were friends in college and you keep talking about those times and not really talking about these times. Right. So are your friendships mainly back home? I mean, do you hang out with a lot of comedians? No, I mean, I have like a small group of comics that I've kind of like, I mean, that's an interesting perspective.

I'm interested in your view on of like over the years, you know, when you start, you start with a million comedic friends and everyone, you're all friends. And then as time goes on, people go different directions. Some people split off and stop standup. Some people get more into TV or this or that. And there's only so many guys that kind of, it really does whittle down to something tiny as far as a group. And I've stayed friends with, um, a fair amount of those guys that I started with if they're still doing standup. But sadly, if they quit, it's like, it's almost like they quit us. You know what I mean? Like when guys quit standup, you're like, you quit us, you quit us. And I can't, I can't, I have to keep on this train, you know? So I would say my tightest group of friends is a

couple of standups and then guys that aren't in our business. I mean, they're in ancillary parts of the business, but not what we do. Because this is something interesting about you to me is you're such a nice, cordial guy. And when it comes to standup, you're always saying hi, you're always polite to everyone. You always do the right thing, so to speak. And then when you're done doing standup, you're kind of out. It's like a, it's, it's a, it's a very, it's almost like a job to you. When I see you come to the store, you're so focused and it's impressive because a lot of us are goofing around and fucking off too much. Then I watch you go in and work and then you leave. You don't really kind of, you know, play that comedy store game a lot that's not that's not

your thing huh i did when i first started i mean when i 1998 when i first came out here i was hanging in the halls goofing around and you know parking lot till it closed and and uh you know it was just the culture which it which it is today um but as i number one got married yeah uh and had a wife to come home to i mean i had nobody i was alone yeah but you know i got married uh and then had kids. And then when you start becoming more involved in your family, you tend for me to, you know, I was having to get up at 530 because the kids were crying or what have you, start making food or breakfast. It's not necessarily I don't want to hang out and I'm super focused. It's more of a get it done and then go back because if I don't, I'll end up hanging out here until 2.30 in the morning. I think also the older I got, I didn't have the energy to do that. And like I said, I think I had my fill of it when I first started doing comedy from 1998 to 2005.

I was at the comedy store pretty much every night waiting. I put my name up on the fallout list. Right. And waited there from 9 to 2 o'clock pretty much every night hoping someone would fall out so I could do comedy. So, you know, I think I just, I, I think I just moved on in another chapter of my life and I really enjoy hanging out with the guys there. It's just, um, you know, sometimes it's like, uh, all right, get it, get in and out and go back home. No, I mean, look, the process is, is, is it, it's, it is a part of time and movement. I see guys do

that too. Like Segura also is a family guy too who comes and goes pretty quickly because he needs to. There's guys that need to. And then there's also guys that are older, of the older generation, that hang out. I mean, Jeff Ross is still there now. He's waiting for the store to open. I don't think he's left.

I think he's been there. I think he's playing music out of his car in the lot, and he'll be there until the pandemic's done. I think he said he's out of his car in the lot and he'll still be there until the pandemic's done I think he said he's throwing a six-month party but no I think it's I think it's a cultural thing that's good is like we learn to and I guess I'm tying this into our relationships our friendships and stand-up continue to change and mold and shift as far as the relationship that exists both from the from comedy and then what you remove and take out of it as far as who I hang out with away from the parking lot. You know what I mean? That's a whole

separate, you know, cause my, so my wife always jokes. She's like, well, that guy's more of like a buddy, not a friend. She's got these like little like subcategories and she knows better than I do. Sometimes I'll go, yeah, I guess I don't, I don't even really realize it until she calls me out on my, my shit, you know, like, and it's only because she's seen it from the jump, you know, like your wife has seen the stages of your career and they know better than we do. You know what I mean? Cause they're such, they're such an inside outside perspective. It's pretty, it's, it's pretty wild. Like, has your wife ever given you a piece of career advice or something in that realm.

I don't want to encapsulate it with just that, but has she ever said something that you didn't think of that you're like, how did I not, like, how do I not see that? And it's only because she's in it with you and not literally on it with you, like not on stage, but she knows all of it, you know? I think my wife, as well as your wife, kind of sees these things just because she's not so immersed in it. However, my wife is kind of involved in my career in a creative sense when it comes to putting a poster up or looking at stage lighting for a special or what have you. She's an artist, so she has that eye. But yeah, I think it's very critical to have those those moments, those those moments of input from a wife, a father, a mother, a sister, whoever you're close to, because they know you so well.

dictate where some of this might go, where we might be a little bit more blinded to it. Yeah. How long have you been with your wife? Married for four. Yeah. So did you know her a long time before that? Yeah. Before we got married. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I thought you meant how long we've been married. Yeah. No, we've known each other for a long time. I mean, we knew each other when we were, you know, when Wendy's was the only meal options. Do you know what I mean? It was like when it was nickel and diming and scared to not pay my car note, you know, so nervous about making my Hyundai Sonata car note that I was like, what if I just, I used to, I used to joke. I was like, what if I just, I used to, I used to joke. I was like, what if I just get it stolen? You know, that's the, that's the racetrack in you.

I did used to think, I was like, when I got nervous about not making bills, I was like, how could I, how could I scam the insurance, but, but not hurt anybody? You know what I mean? Like, what if I help the community? if i tell a guy at a gas station like hey the fucking keys are in the car it's running you know like what if i do that i used to get so nervous about not paying stuff i didn't know yeah she's been around since then and she was in the same position we both were we're broke broke we didn't have uh i didn't come out here with billionaire parents. I didn't come out here with the, you know, my family certainly, I would never even say like we, I wouldn't say like, oh, we grew up broke and we struggle. No, we, we were fine. We were a

working family. You know what I mean? My, my, my, both my mom and my dad always worked my whole life. My mom still works, unfortunately. I wish she didn't. But yeah, we were an average middle-class family. And I didn't come out here with the advantage that some friends have, which I'm jealous of. I'm not hating on that. You know, they didn't have to get a gig. And I had to get a couple of gigs to get by until I could finally quit and just do stand-up, you know?

And I was jealous. Like, I know you did too. You worked when you got out here. You served right away, didn't you? You bartended or served? I served. I came here in 98, March 3rd, 1998, and wanted to get a job waiting tables.

I, you know, kind of basically grew up in the hospitality business, working at restaurants my entire life. And I couldn't get a job for the life of me. Six weeks, I applied everywhere in the city and uh eventually ended up at the four seasons hotel where i worked from 98 to 2005 which was a great job i i really had oh i'm gonna say a lot of money but you know i i had a nice little chunk of cash i wasn't't really worried. There's one time I screwed up. I hated waiting tables. I was getting really salty. I changed directions. I started working

for Dish Network selling satellite dishes out of a kiosk, out of a mall in the ghetto on Martin and Crenshaw. Oh, shit. Baldwin Hills. Baldwin Hills Mall, man. Yeah, I know it. That's a place to get sneakers. If you're going to get shoes, you might as well go down to Baldwin Hills.

They got the best shoes. They have the best shoes and apparently satellite dishes. You want some kicks? You want a dish? Come down to Baldwin Hills. Yeah. You want some kicks? You want a dish? Come down to Baldwin Hills. Yeah, so I went there and I wanted to see if I could sell satellite dishes, which didn't work out for me. I spiraled. I went into debt. I had $10,000 worth of debt. My father and mother bailed me out. They paid off my credit card.

And then I ended up paying my father every dime back. And then after the four seasons to work. So that was kind of my deal. I didn't want to come out here because I really had no experience in doing stand-up comedy prior to leaving Chicago. And I didn't want to live on somebody's couch and try to get a gig for $15 here and $28 there. I wanted to not worry about bills so I could focus on the comedy. Because I become wrapped up in like, oh, man, am I going to make the rent? And then I lose focus maybe on the comedy.

So I just want a job where I can pay my bills and focus more on the comedy. So that's what I did for seven years at the Four Seasons. And so I just started headlining comedy clubs for $1,500 a week. Yeah. You said March 3rd, right? Isn't that the date? Yeah. Everybody remembers their date. Isn't that weird? I mean, mine was significant. Mine was the 4th of July. I moved out here 4th of July 2006. I broke up with my girlfriend and I packed up the U-Haul and I left and came out here.

when I was a miker, you, you guys were, I remember seeing, you know, names I remember all the time, like Dov Davidoff was around the store a lot back then when I first came out here. Um, you know, you, Caparulo was around a lot. You know, there, there was like a chunk of guys that I remember watching and I used to sit in the back of the room a lot, uh, and watch. And it's weird to watch and to see like, you know, not to kiss ass, but to see your career progress so much, it's kind of a beautiful thing to watch and a well-deserved thing, truthfully. Um, cause if you didn't, I would tell you, I'd go, you fucking, you don't deserve an ounce of it. No, but because there's a couple of guys now, there's some guys that don't deserve it, dude. some guys that don't deserve it dude no but to watch to watch uh guys that i that i really did think it um had you know just had that had had that thing that i'm like man i can't wait to see

this thing progress and get bigger i feel like burr was like that too when i first moved out here i remember watching and knowing about him and hearing about him and then seeing him more and more i just was like oh man to, to see the growth of certain people was always great to watch. You know, it was a beautiful thing. And, you know, I think it just gives hope for younger guys when you watch people that you like who you think are good do well because it gives you this idea that you're like, oh, okay,

if you're good and you work your ass off, it gonna work you just you don't know when you know what i mean like there is no timetable you know what i mean your dentist goes to school and then you become a dentist you know i mean we don't have that advantage of like oh i just if i go to the club every year for 10 years straight i'll make it it's like you gotta, you gotta have, you gotta be good. You gotta, you have to be good. You have to work hard. And there's like a window though. You know, it's funny. You see guys that I started with and it's like, you see the window start to close. I mean, I'm not saying you can't make it in your fifties or your sixties or whatever, but what I'm saying is there's this window. and if you don't jump through it, it closes pretty quickly.

And I was just fortunate enough to just develop my voice, get a point of view, get a fan base. My fans basically – it's funny. I was talking about this on another podcast that I started doing this kind of Italian. It's not Italian. It was really more personal stories. It just happened to have this Italian take on it. And I was going to put it in a special.

It was this joke about going to Italian weddings. And I was like, hey, should I leave that in there? Is that too specific? Are people going to get, hey, should I leave that in there? Is that too specific? Are people going to get this reference? And I left it in there. And that kind of one little joke spawned this following of the Italian community, which kind of globbed on in groups. And then I just started really enjoying my lot more comfortable exposing yourself to the audience. And those jokes, to me,

are the best when I really start getting to know a comedian and kind of his life or her life or what they've done. And then peppering it in also with observational humor. But yeah, it's been a long road. This is not something

for, at least for me, that happened overnight. I have no TV or movie credits that kind of catapulted me into, um, what I'm doing today. It was just, like I said, just going to comedy clubs and shaking people's hand after the show, taking pictures, just to sit out in the lobby. I used to look at it, and I still do, as my comedy shows are coming to my house. They're going to entertain you, give you food and drink. And then when you leave, I'm going to stay at the door and thank you for coming. Right. Making that personal connection.

And I didn't do it out of a business uh move i did it because i really was appreciative that somebody had actually paid a ticket and and came to see me do comedy and um it worked because those people came back with their neighbors their family members i mean people just like 14 people would come as a group right and now that's that's really cool so yeah it's uh they got for the Comedy Store if I didn't have the Comedy Store it's really yeah right it just really get a place to kind of play and and hang out with other comedians and it was a place that I felt play and and hang out with other comedians and and it was a place that i felt safe and um i can't wait till do you know when this thing's opening up no man you know i

spoke to uh adam uh egott uh and he said september is the earliest that la the city said they could even let um you know half crowds or whatever that they could even start to let in half percentage crowds in around September. But who knows? I mean, it's so vague. Have you done comedy? No. And like you, I don't. I've been offered to do a couple of those Zoom shows and I refuse to do them.

And, you know, not to shit on people that do, it's just, I know it's not what I would do best. So that's what I've said. I've said, and also I've said this before, I feel like it's disenfranchising my fans that paid. I sold out a tour this year that's supposed to be happening right now for the first time in my career. I've never sold out rooms like this. And I was so grateful. And then 2020 stepped right on my nuts. I was like, great. I worked, you know, like I finally started selling out theaters and, you know, four nights at a club across the country. My last date was in Philly and I sold out all four shows

at Helium. And that was my last date. Cause I went to Chicago to play Dahlia Hall for two, for a show. And, uh, and they had to cancel it that day. You know, the, the mayor was like, you can't. So that was like the end of my run. And, and I feel like I'd sold all these tickets for the rest of the year. And I was like, man, this is like disenfranchising my audience that bought tickets to see me. And now I'm saying, I know you bought those tickets. I'm not even going to be there in July. You want to watch me on the computer for 25 bucks? I just, there's something about it that I'm like, it's, it made me feel dirty. So I was like, I'm just going to give them their show when I can give them their show and their money is tied up with Ticketmaster and

Live Nation and whatever. So, you know, I was like, I'll do podcasting and give them entertainment this way. And then when they can see me on stage again, that's when they'll see me on stage again. That's, you know, that's how I figured in my head because I just, I don't know. I watched a Zoom show. A friend gave me a code to watch our friends do it. And not for me. I just, yeah. Oh, man.

It's not how comedy should be enjoyed. No. And I would, I'm with you. I mean, you cheapen your brand, I think, when you start doing, hey, come see me in my living room for $10. It's true. Yeah.

I didn't want to do it. I just was like, it's not, it's also not how I translate. And I imagine you, even though we're very different comedically, but like you, you, you really do connect with an audience. You, you are, you have the ability, especially the way you perform. It's extremely cohesive with the way that they're feeling. You do very well at digging into the audience and getting in with them, even though it's not like you're saying, look at this guy over here. Your jokes are, you have the ability, the way you write and the way you perform that it grips people. It like gets them inside of this thing with you. And I think through this medium, I just don't think that works. And I'm not a guy who just does like set up, punch, set up, punch, set up, punch. That's just not who I am anyway.

And I need to feel the audience a little bit more too. You know, I just, it's, it's something that I physically, I would need, you know, because it's just not, you know, and I've had comics go, you don't even know until you try it. It's like, I, I see, I have eyes. I could see. I watched you and it was. Yeah. I saw you do the shit. I don't think so. Let me ask you this. You can plead the fifth on this if you want. But I'm curious to know, not too long ago, D dice came at you online for some reason and i don't know why and was attacking you and it was kind of put to bed really fast but what why was there weird beef what was

the impetus for all this stuff i don't know i i i believe it started with um i had a chapter i wrote in my book about dice and hanging out with him and there was no nothing i had a great experience with both for two two years and uh this is when i was still waiting tables i would go out with him to las vegas and indian casinos all over the country and had a good experience i got a chance to get in front of really large audiences and some of them were really hostile and I build off stage one night because the crowd really got to me and I Flustered me and I ended my set early and I came off and he told me, you know you never you never come off early you do your time and

Because now I was, because he was preparing to go on at a certain time and I fucked up his mojo. So, I mean, I just learned a lot about standup and performance. And then, uh, I don't know. I, I, you know, I, I saw some, some tweets or some Instagrams that he was posting that I was, uh, you know, I was wearing jackets and whatnot. And he thought maybe that I was, I was stealing his look or whatever, but we never spoke about it. You know, I,

I actually don't know where it came from. Yeah. And I didn't address anything online. I never really look at things online when it comes to someone tweets at me or Instagram comments or whatnot. And I don't really engage with it because I feel if you engage with it, it just kind of snowballs. But, yeah, I don't know. It was unfortunate. I don't think that beef is still there. I think it's kind of quelled. I never had a beef with Dice Clay.

He's someone that gave me an opportunity, and I, was appreciative of it. I just don't know, you know, I don't know. I don't know where it all came from, but, um, right. Can I give my opinion as an outsider, um, you know, who I respect and love comedy more than anything. It's probably why I started it. You know, that I'm, we're all fans of, we're all fans of comedy before you get into it. Now, whether you stay a fan of comedy when you're in it as a whole nother thing, whether you fall out of love with it is another thing. But I liked Dice when I was young and watching him was impressive and it was unique. And, you know, I do feel like as now I've embedded myself in this world and I understand the dynamics and the politics of comedy. Um, you're a guy who uniquely popped extremely hard from being who you are. And, um, I think oftentimes the generations above us at any level get jealous,

at any level, get jealous, whatever the word you want to use, envious of success and career movement because perhaps theirs isn't like that anymore. Or it's common jealousy. We all have jealousy, but you popped so significantly in a way that was unique. It was deserved. It was organic. Do you know what I mean? So I think a lot of times people are going to hate those things. I mean, you know, like people are going to hate you because you're good and successful because people get jealous. And I think that has nothing to do, it's not because they don't like you. It's just because they envy your success and your growth and perhaps they envy the fact that you've settled so deeply into you and making yourself great that it's something more people wish they could do or have.

Now, whether they had it before and don't have it anymore, wink, wink, that's a whole thing. I just think it's just you settling into who you really are and harboring that is awesome to watch if you're a fan, but it also can make you jealous if you feel like perhaps that's not what you have anymore. That's my two cents. Yeah, no, I mean, that's understandable. It's also societal too, and not to hop off that train i i just don't know when it became uh looked down upon it just seems that way now to have success and and you know people shit on uh people who are thriving and are building whatever a business for themselves a career for themselves and you know none of this was given to us uh like you said you you were you were wondering when your wendy's you went to sell your car or light your car on fire at the insurance and you know i was going into financial ruin working at a kiosk

in the in the in the mall so you know we we figured it out and now we are flourishing and for me growing up man i i used to love watching or seeing what people, you know, I still do. I still, you know, I give you an example. I went to the Grove when the Grove first opened here in Los Angeles in 2002. And I fell in love with the Grove. I was like, this place is a nice experience. I would love to meet the guy behind this whole thing. I found out who it was. His name is Rick Caruso. And last year I got the opportunity to meet him. We went out to lunch and we became, you know, kind of fast friends and, you know, the guy's a very successful real estate developer and I learned and strive to

kind of be not him, but like just you get inspired. Yeah. And success became frowned upon. Like, am I supposed to do what? Like, you know, like, and I'm like, I don't like to show off. It's not my style. I'm not a guy that shows off things or whatever. But am I just supposed to, like, act like I'm, what, still working at the mall? I don't know.

Right. Fuck, man. You work so hard to get where you're at. And then it's not like I'm, I listen to a lot of that, but it's just like when I just look around society today, when is it frowned upon to be successful and make something out of yourself. In here, we pour whiskey. Attention all whiskey drinkers.

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golf with Brian Urlacher and Holly Saunders. Go have some fun across this great country. Golfcritique.com is the best search engine in golf. Back to the episode. Ginger. I like gingers. Right. Yeah, no. Well, what's interesting is people want you to become successful, you know, when they are fans of you, like they want you to grow. They want to support your brand. They want to come to your shows and tell your friends and, and buy this merch and go see him here and dah, dah, dah, dah. They want you to grow. And then at some point when you do receive the growth and you

get what you deserve, so to speak, there are small little ancillary characters that are angry that you are winning. And I only imagine, and it's a cliche, but it's because they're losing. I think people get mad because they're losing and you're winning in whatever fashion that is, even if they're not in your same industry. I think it's, it's, it's, um, it's annoying to see people doing well when you're not doing well and you don't have a positive outlook on, on those things. I think there's never been a winner jealous of, uh, jealous of somebody else doing well, right? It's, it's tends to be a loser. You're a loser. If you say, Oh, did you see Sebastian's got this and this? Yeah. Yeah. And I heard he sat and had

lunch with the Grove guy. I mean, it's like that guy, that guy would have the Grove guy, you know, he had lunch with the Grove guy. Yeah. At the grove they had lunch at the grove um at his new restaurant called sebastian's it's an italian but like that guy must be a loser to care so much if you're winning and i this is something that i was taught a long time ago um is that there's plenty of there's plenty of food to go around. We can all get our own little slice. So why are you focused on some guy's meal? Like, worry about your own meal. My dad used to joke, worry about your own dick,

was an old phrase of like, worry about your own dick. Like, you worry about your manhood and your responsibility and your problems and your issues. You're going to have a lot of them. Like, don't worry about somebody else's dick. And's, and it, you know, it made me laugh as a kid and I got older and I realized, oh, it's levels. It's what he's saying is your, your, your private, your private information, your private life, your, your career, your hopes, your dreams, everything that's lives inside of you. You as a man, you should worry about all

that stuff. Not about another man's shit, success, failure. It's a waste of time. You're going to have so much time occupying your own space, figuring out your own relationships, you know, in and out of love, your career, your friendships, all these things. You'll have enough weight worrying about all those. Wasting time worrying about somebody else's detracts from yours. You know, it just takes away from your growth. So fuck people that don't like, you know, success. And in that regard, now I want you to drive around in one of those nine Ferraris that you have. I say, zoom it around town, baby.

Don't be ashamed. I have a bird. What's that? I have a bird scooter. I thought it was a lime I thought you're a lime guy I didn't know yeah Sebastian he's giving away all of his cars and now he's birding around town you can't be I'm not that guy I don't even have I got two cars that's it I'm not I'm I'm not that guy I'm not what are that guy. What do you indulge in? Is there something that you do? Yes. I indulge in vacations experience. That's where I spend my money. Two years ago, I took my family, my mom, my sister, her kids, her husband.

We all went to Tuscany for a week. Lovely. And I'd rather just spend my money and do it right in Tuscany than spend money on a car. I mean, I like nice cars, don't get me wrong, but we get extreme enjoyment out of family time and vacations. I mean, if I wasn't a comedian, I would love to open up a small boutique hotel. Where? I haven't really thought of the location. I'm more, I'm more thinking about how I, every time I go into a hotel and my wife is like

this too, we kind of critique the experience for seasons hotel. So I have knowledge on kind of the inner workings of a luxury branded hotel. And, you know, I just see things things that maybe the average person that's attending four or five day stay would not pick out sure my experience is uh at hotels you could have the most pretty uh lobby you could have unbelievable uh pool and all these amenities but if you don't have the people uh and the hospitality that those people provide your hotel is really just a building right and yeah i mean i really get a kick out of going and and just seeing the presentations and and just seeing the presentations and I get,

I don't know. I don't know if I'm sick, but like if I go into a show and I come back, I love a turndown. Yes. Yes. I love to see how they did it. Like what they did. They took whatever I had out in the bathroom and made it orderly.

I'm a little mat. You know, like I'm excited. It's so true though. It makes, it gives you, um, it's like in a weird way, sexy. It's like this sec, it's like sexy to see. I mean, maybe it's also cause I have severe OCD because my dad is a psychopath who made, you know, like if shoes were by the door, he'd be like, are the shoes going to go outside? And I'm like, what do you mean? He's like, why are they by the door? Are they waiting to go out? No, then put them where they fucking put them away. He was, he's a psychopath. Nothing could

be left out. So my cleanliness and my organ, organ, my house, Whitney, uh, Whitney came over and she goes, your house looks like a, a fucking, uh, it's from a TV show set. She goes, nothing is not where it doesn't belong. I was like, yeah, that's cause my dad, everything had a place. It's like, it was militant. I mean, he was a, he was a, uh, a military kid. So it was just kind of like, everything has to be where it is. So when I go to the hotel and I see how they do it, it's something sexy about it. There's something like invigorating. You're like, Oh my God, they remapped my life. Like when our, when the cleaning lady redoes my fridge, it like gets me horny, you know? And I see how she, she reorganizes the drinks. I'm like, God, is this, she's played sex Tetris with all my

the drinks. I'm like, God, she's played sex Tetris with all my items inside of my fridge. It's like sad that I get off on it. It's like, there's something about the cleanliness that gets me like, I don't know, it's sexy. But you're right. You're right to say that the difference of a good hotel, especially because we live in hotels, the difference is tremendous when you go from a hotel that's just a place to a hotel that has particular very specifics about how they how they do things there is this experience is it makes a big difference you know a lot of people like well hotels are hotels a hotel you're like no not when you stay in a lot of hotels like we have there's it makes a huge difference you know small stuff to me makes massive differences in hotels

because we live in them. Yeah, I totally agree. And especially coming up and staying at the places that we stay, comedy condos. You have a comedy condo that sticks out in your head that you're like, I mean, I mean the old store condo in La Jolla was one of the most disgusting places I've ever seen in the history of my life. I mean, that place, you know, the old, also the old Denver Comedy Works, downtown Larimer Square. Did you ever stay in that with the old, on the top floor or whatever? Yeah. It was so gross. The carpet.

Oh, my God. Like, it gives me flashbacks of, like, feeling anxious. You know, like I almost would stay out all night just to not go back to the condo. Cause I was like, I don't want to go back there and go to bed in there. I'd rather just stay out and drink all night. Cause it was, it was so gross. So gross. I think you hit it on the head with that one. That one, I had a specific experience. I was going to bed the first night. I got there late. It was probably about 8 o'clock in the night.

Went to bed around 10.30. And I heard like a buzzing. And I turned on that kitchen light and there was a horsefly in the conduct. I can't go to bed with a mosquito in the room let alone a horse oh it was three hours or four hours trying to like locate it kill it and whatnot and that that that experience that night i actually checked checked out of the condo and went down the street and stayed at the four seasons and I literally told myself I will not make any money this weekend I just want to be comfortable so yeah I was making like two thousand dollars for the weekend and the And the hotel stay was like, whatever, 1200. Right. Yeah.

I pride myself on hotels. Yeah. I can feel it. You know what? Honestly, I'm not kidding around. You should. I don't know why a business venture wouldn't be in your future to open up a boutique hotel because, you know, why not? You say it like maybe one day. Why isn't it something that you'd want to do rightique hotel because you know why not like what you say it like uh

maybe one day why isn't it something that you'd want to do right now i mean what's why not because of time focus yeah yeah i mean for me right now my my energy is really kind of concentrated on stand-up comedy and uh and i just don't i'm not a guy that has a lot of energy to dedicate to multiple things. I mean, you know, like I give you an example, Kevin Hart, you know, he's got his toe in every, he just has the energy to do that. I find myself, if I'm spreading myself too thin, the things don't get the type of attention they need and they they're not as as good as they should be so yeah for me now it's more like you know i would like to concentrate on my podcast more i've been doing a podcast

for six and a half years with Pete Correale. It's basically under the radar. We do it once a week. We have no guests. It's been a challenge for us to see if we can get any true momentum with it. I just look around at these podcasts and i'm like my god you know like you know the the rogans the marins the the chrysers and yeah it seems like there's like a little family of uh like podcaster kind of like came up together similar to like the way you were yeah it's like a little network it's like a little baby. It's like a little baby. It's a little tiny network for some reason that's been created kind of on its yeah that was one of these little things that existed but i think but but but it also the beauty of podcasting i love it to death but the the the beauty is that you get to connect with an audience the the unfortunate thing is a lot of times it um it kind of subcategorizes you as like a podcast person. And you're like, well, I'm a standup and

I also act and podcasting is, it's like my fun. But there's a lot of people that just, they love podcasts. Like they don't give a shit about standup. They don't care about the other stuff. They just want to have this, this part of their life when they're going to work. And that's fine too. It's just, it's interesting to find i have new audience members now that i don't even know if they're stand-up fans but they'll come see you because they love your podcast and they're like yeah man i you know this is my first comedy show and i and i love it because i'm like oh shit did i turn you on to stand up like am i introducing you should watch these other guys my other friends and sometimes they're like yeah i think we'll start going to

shows but sometimes they're like no i don't you know i don't really just wanted to come see you you're like oh okay have you uh had in your experience more podcast listeners come to see you or have you had stand-up fans listen to your podcast does your does your does your stand-up fans also your podcast fans uh yes yeah yeah yeah I mean but I would say when I do a show now like a good gauge for me uh sometimes I'll ask you know I'll ask afterwards you know I'll talk to people I'll talk to like you said I I you can't do it anymore you you've you've grown to a level where you couldn't meet people after the show you can't meet every person your Your crowds are massive. But I'm still doing clubs and tiny little baby theaters,

and I still get to touch hands and still see them. And most times I ask people, you know, are you a fan of podcasting or do you know? And I would say it's a pretty even splits, maybe 60, 40, sometimes vice versa, each way of their big podcast fans, or they're just standup and they're not really into podcasts and it shifts depending on the city. Some cities it's so dominant standup, you know, I would say Denver, we referenced it already. Denver is a big standup city and there are certain cities. I just, I think hardcore comedy

fans and they just love standup and they follow the world. The world in a parallel tends to be part of this podcast thing. Cause we're all kind of on these networks together and we all intermingle. So they all, they've kind of started a layer, but, um, podcasting has grown my standup business a lot because I couldn't get it done on. I wasn't a late night guy. I did one Conan set, you know, uh, I didn't really, I didn't get to do Letterman or Leno or any of that stuff. And I didn't really do any of the new ones and you know, I had a comedy center half hour, which might as well been, you know, me just talking to myself in my garage. I mean, no one saw that, you know, so it's just a lot of times I like, you know, and I did a Showtime special a couple of years ago when our show came out and that didn't get a lot of

traction and I didn't really love it anyway. So, but it's just, I didn't have a lot of, I didn't have things to put out there standup wise. So it was kind of like, they can't see me enough. So this helps people connect. And then when I get them to show and they go, shit, I'm a fan, this was kind of my entry way to, to gaining more fans, you know, because today it's hard. There's so many standups and there's so much standup online now. It's really hard to compete. I mean, guys are putting their hours out online. You know, there's guys that are throwing out their hours just, just on the internet. And it's great. It's just that, you know, I'm not, I'm not up there yet. I'm not at that speed yet.

I don't know if I want to, I would want to put out an hour just on YouTube yet. I don't know. You know, it's tough. It's a, like you, you, you, your generation, I feel like might be the last one to grow the brand as organic as you did. That might be ignorant to say, cause we don't know yet, but this next wave of standups, I feel like has to find so many new ways to connect now because there's so much noise, you know, there's so many ways for people to see stand up that I don't know if the traditional way will work anymore. Who knows? You know,

your audience is organically your audience that you grew from being on the road for years from you did. You did a few TV sets. You know, you did some late night stuff. And then it just yours grew from from that organic, honest standpoint of fans telling fans, telling fans, fans, telling fans. And I don't know if that's still going to be the experience in the future. It feels more like you have to connect with them on the Internet. It feels more like you have to connect with them on the internet. You have to connect with them on podcasts and to show that you are,

want them a part of this world. It's, you know, we used to kind of have ambiguity, you know, Mitch Hedberg could be this ambiguous creature, one liner who put out a few things here and there and, and that was it. And then, and then blossomed in this, you know, and especially posthumously became this mega-famous comedian. I just don't know if that would work anymore if you didn't connect at all. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I think, you know, you do have to have a lot of irons in the fire.

Not a lot, but just adjusting your approach maybe. I don't think you still can make it going to comedy clubs and building a fan base that way. In addition, your podcast or your TV show or your book or whatever you have out there. But yeah, I mean, I don't know. I'm in starting comedy now opposed to when I started't know. Starting comedy now, opposed to when I started in 1998,

I don't know if I would take a drastic change of anything that I did. Obviously, YouTube wasn't really around back then. But I think it was a culmination of things. I think it's the podcast. If it's a YouTube video that you got that went viral it's a Showtime special it's uh you know it's a Showtime series or a Netflix special whatever it is I think it's like it's just all of this and yeah you're right there is a lot of good stuff in my opinion. Yes, that's true.

I consume entertainment, and I think nowadays everybody thinks they can do this. And I'm not begrudging those people that think i am do it i am okay i'm begrudging them i just don't know why comedy has become the default yeah of like you could you if you have a fan base in another realm of whatever you're doing. And then you come, people always come to stand up like, yeah, I could do it. It's like, no, I mean, it's just, it kind of cheapens the brand of standup comedy. Totally. I just don't know why.

It's like, I can't go and play drums tomorrow and be a part of my group. It's like. I mean, you could, they're actually looking for a new drummer, to be honest. You'd fit right in. No, yes. You're not, we can't just jump ship into some other thing. Yeah, it's, it's, it's, uh, it does cheapen the brand, but, but to your, to your point, ironically enough, good, the good standups will always shine through, right? There can be a lot of shit,

but then someone sees you or sees a very talented comedian and goes, Oh God, this is fucking so different. I mean, you know, at the end of the day, it's, it's such, such a cliche, but the cream does rise to the top. The best will eventually just be seen as the best. It's just a fact of entertainment for what, for some reason, you know, what, is it fair? No. Does everyone that's good make it? No. But you know, I still hold onto that thought that even though there's a lot of dog shit, when somebody comes and sees you, they go, Oh my God. I mean, that was, that's leaps and bounds different than what, than, you know, than what I've seen that my buddy showed me on YouTube, you know, or something, you know what I mean? Like, it's just, if they, once they get an eyes on something good, you know, it's good. I

mean, it's the same with athletes. You know, when you go watch a great athlete that it's just, you know, you know what I mean? And everyone around you goes, holy shit, that thing is just better than all the other things that are trying to be this thing. And that's just for us, there's way, there's way more people trying to, trying to get in that don't have any credentials. I mean, right. You can't go, you know, I'm not trying to go walk on to the bears. You know what I mean? I'm not going to be like, come on, man, I can run routes. You know, like they like get the fuck out and take a hike, you know, like, like but but for some reason we have an open door policy anybody's allowed to try our thing anybody's allowed to come in it's like any asshole is allowed to just walk into the house and try it

on but at the end of the day you know the good are gonna are gonna still stay up top i i believe so either good or throwing you know you're right i mean the good the cream always does rise i do are going to still stay up top. I believe so. The good are still growing. You're right. I mean, the good, the cream always does rise. I do believe that. But being in the business 22 years, I just find it odd that comedy, like you said, has this open-door policy where if you were doing something else

and then you have a fan base, that fan base then comes over to see you do stand-up and to me stand-up doesn't you just don't hop into the shit this is something that you've got to work at night in night out and i'm still learning uh every time i go on unique little whatever whether it be a flicker of the eye or man it just it's always a learning and you grow from that and it doesn't it's just it's just repetition you got to do it yeah night in oh uh in order to really master it uh i don't know if you can master it but you just you have to put the time in. I just find it.

No, and I know what you're saying. You're being very polite about it as well. There's a lot of fucking yahoos that step into our game and are allowed to just kind of do it. And all of us know. We all know. We all go, this fucking guy. We just don't talk about it. It's almost like it's a polite thing from it. It's just like, uh, it's almost like a, it's a polite, um,

thing from like our youth that you're like, just, you know, just be a nice guy, let it go because you know what you do and you know how hard you work at what you do. And you can't help those things. You can't help that when somebody fails in another, you know, when you, when someone fails at something over there, they became famous and they get kicked out of that thing. It's strange that they're allowed to just hop into our boat. You know what I mean? Like I brought my life jacket. You're like, well, you didn't fucking, you didn't, you wouldn't, you not, this isn't your boat. You're, you know, but it is what it is at the end of the day. You're, you know, you're still going to be, uh, you're still going to keep killing it at your, in fact, let me say this to, we'll get off of that, but I have people sometimes

come to shows, um, that will come up to me afterwards and go, you know, we've gone and seen some different shows and they'll name people that perhaps are like who you're talking about, that they've seen them because they came into town and they'll go, man, and I saw your show and you did an hour of standup. I mean, it was like, it was like a fucking show. And they're like, God, that wasn't like that with so-and-so. And you open their eyes to them going, oh, that's not, this is standup. That was a fucking sideshow. That was a guy that was just allowed to waltz in and he took my money because I know who he is and yada, yada. But I oftentimes do get that where people go, I came and watched you and you did a fucking show and you didn't do anything I thought

you were going to do because the only thing we knew of you was we heard your podcast a few times. And then they come see you do an hour of material of a show and they go, fuck that standup. Oh my God, that's different than, you know, what I saw the last time. And I think it kind of changes their viewpoint and people are smart. You know, people don't, people don't get enough credit. I feel like people, we talk shit about the American public, like they're dumb and they don't know, you know, people do that too often. Do are keen they know true stand-ups and they know who is or they you know a lot of them know you know who's a real comic and who's been a comic and who's in a part of a part of this world i think the the real fans begin to you know teach other

people they're like now you should see so and so you should see so-and-so. You should see so-and-so. But that being said, if anybody gets a chance, go see Sebastian because he's very funny and he needs another library. So you better go see him in 2021. Have you ever walked up that ladder? There's no chance. My daughter has. That's yeah. I haven't walked up that this is the definition of uh when you're doing well that you just have a computer on the floor that doesn't get used that's well it's at the floor computer that's just there just in case all the desk computers are done well listen this is a computer and again my wife is so

talented when it comes to like design and whatnot so i have a desk and i have this this computer on the desk and she's like take it take it off the desk i go what's my computer yeah she was yeah you have a laptop just Just use the laptop. The big computer on the desk, it's kind of what, 2008? Out of the desk that's clean that you can't put anything on it. Yeah. Can I tell you something? She's right.

Your wife is once again right. Can I tell you something? She's right. Your wife is once again right. There's something about those iMacs on a big desk in a room that just has that outdated executive feel to it. That's like I walked into an executive's house and I know he never uses it. You know what I mean? It's a fixture of it. It's like a decor. It's like, go buy the big iMac and put it on a desk in case somebody wants to know if I do computer stuff. It's like it's a it's almost like hotel art. You know what I mean? That's like a piece of hotel art. Yeah. It's really what you see when you walk into the office is a large. The only reason you should have something like this now that I've been on the other side of this is if you have three of these and you're trading.

Yeah. Yeah. You're day trading. In fact, you should just get a few more just to put up in there. So when people come over and they're like, what's going on? You're like, I've been trading. Come on, let's go to the kitchen. We don't want to take it easy just to throw it away. Listen, I really appreciate you doing this and taking the time, Sebastian. It means a lot to me. You're the best. I respect you

and I really do. I'm a fan of you as a person, as a comedian. I really do appreciate you very much. People need to listen to you and Pete's podcast.

They can find it anywhere podcasts are found. iTunes, Spotify, all the good jazz. You're going to be touring again in 2021. Everyone needs to go see you. We end the episode the same way. Every time I ask the guests to say one word or one phrase to end the episode,

whenever you're ready, you can go ahead and do it. In here, we pour whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey, whiskey. Work.