WHOOP Podcast - Comedian Tom Segura discusses finding success making audiences laugh, and improving his well-being with WHOOP.

Episode Date: April 22, 2020

Tom Segura is one of the biggest acts in comedy right now and recently released his latest Netflix special, Ball Hog. He joins the WHOOP Podcast to talk about his career and how to best optimize his WHOOP data. Tom discusses why he wanted to be a comic and how he broke into the business (2:25), discovering stand-up (6:25), what it was like the first time he took the stage (10:21), the rush of performing (13:33), how he develops new material (16:35), why this age of political correctness gives him an advantage (19:48), finding WHOOP and participating in the Sober October campaign (21:38), how WHOOP has helped him sleep better (23:15), discovering he has an Olympian-like resting heart rate (25:19), breaking down heart rate variability (26:33), using the WHOOP Journal to track THC and other supplements and behaviors (31:29), working on material while high (35:28), performing in English and Spanish (38:10), and tips for aspiring comics (39:10). Plus, Will Ahmed answers your questions in this week's mailbag (44:20).Support the showFollow WHOOP: www.whoop.com Trial WHOOP for Free Instagram TikTok YouTube X Facebook LinkedIn Follow Will Ahmed: Instagram X LinkedIn Follow Kristen Holmes: Instagram LinkedIn Follow Emily Capodilupo: LinkedIn

Hello, folks. Welcome to the WOOP podcast. I am your host, Will Amid, the founder and CEO of WOOP, and we are on a mission to unlock human performance. So if you're unfamiliar with WOOP, we build technology across hardware and software and analytics to measure the human body. We measure things like sleep and recovery and strain and provide a membership to help you perform at a higher level. We have a fascinating guest today. but first I'll remind you, if you don't have a whoop membership, you can sign up with code Will Ahmed, that is W-I-L-L-A-H-M-E-D, and get 15% off your W-W-M membership. This week's guest is comedian Tom Segura. I think we all need a little laughter to lighten the mood of the global pandemic. And so Tom is a phenomenal guest in that regard. He is one of the biggest comedians in the world, his new Netflix special.

ball hog is out now. He's the host of your mom's house podcast. And he's been a long-time WOOP member. So he was a participant in Sober October with Joe Rogan and a group of comedians and he's been wearing Woop ever since. We talk about how he became a comedian and what the life of a comedian is really like. I definitely learned a lot there. How he finds humor in everyday life and tries to bring those experiences to the stage. I think in general, hard work was a really interesting theme. I think there's this presentation that comedians put on of being slabs or being self-deprecating or doing the least in a situation. And in fact, comedians and I think the very best comedians are actually constantly working on their craft. And Tom is no

difference. We talk a lot about his process. Tom actually asked me a ton of really good questions about himself from wearing whoop. I think a number of questions that many whoop listeners out there may have themselves. So listen for that. I will also be doing a Q&A from WOOP members at the end of this podcast. So stay tuned. And without further ado, here is Tom Segura. Tom, welcome to the WOOP podcast. Thank you for having me. I'm a big fan of yours. I watched your Netflix special last night. I'm sure we'll come back to that ball hug. But let's just start with like, did you always know you were going to be a comedian? Um, I mean, I always thought that I would do something in comedy, like when I was pretty young, I thought that like, um, you know, we moved a lot when I was a kid. So, uh, I always would try to, you know, make kids laugh. And when I saw, you know, I always thought I would be in movies, actually. I didn't think I would be a standup. I just, I would watch funny movies and be like, oh, I can do that. So that's what I thought I would be doing, just like acting in comedy movies. And you thought you could do that because you recognized you were funny. Yeah. And I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I, and I,

recognize that I could do like, you know, I could, I could deliver a line. I could, I could act. Like, even though I wasn't necessarily acting in plays and stuff all the time, I could just pick up on that I could, you know, like act in the moment, like do a bit in front of somebody, like play along, improvise. So I was like, oh, I thought I had those skills. So I was like, it makes sense. I'll just pursue people always telling me I was funny. So I was like, I'll just pursue comedic acting you know that's what i thought i would end up doing and like when you say you were good at improvising you mean like at you know age 10 or 14 like around a lunch table like yeah make everyone laugh i could kill at a lunch table that was your wheelhouse yeah and or on the

bus you know things like that and then like you know usually so you start with like one kid and then two kids and then you know pretty soon if you have like a little group laughing you're like you're like I mean you start to actually go like well I must have some skill at this you know like you think you have a skill at it because you're seeing you're seeing that you're able to do it like repeatedly in different settings with different kids so you're like you know I have some ability I guess you know started to believe that at what stage were you actually doing stand up for example like what was the entry into this being a career well I was really trying to pursue that like comedy acting you know movie stuff by I was trying to figure it out you know

and you don't know what to do you I was doing like funny videos in college and then I took I did some real jobs for a minute right out of college and then I was like now you know I got to move to LA so I dropped everything I moved to LA and I had I had read or heard that um a number of SNL stars had studied at a place called the groundlings in L.A. Okay. So after I moved here, I was like, oh, that's it, man. I'll just go there and then I'll do S&L. And like that in my mind made sense, you know.

So because like Will Ferrell had done it, Fallon, a bunch of people had come out of the groundlings, which is like it's a, it's a place you can go watch a show, but it's also a school. So it trains. So you actually went to the school? I went to the school. I signed up. I skipped a level. They were like, you can.

Oh, I was like, yeah. Like leveled up, boom. Leveled up immediately. I was like, I'm decent at this. I did that. I did the next round. So then they have like, they have tears, you know? So I was going through those tiers.

And in one of them. Is it purely subjective? I just have to ask this. Like, who decides that your tier one versus tier two versus Yeah, definitely subjective. It's, like, veteran performers. Okay, right. They start watching you do, like, exercises.

And, like, it'll stand out if somebody's really bad. Yeah, I bet. Like, they'll watch them and be, like, this person has no idea, you know. And then also, like, the notably good ones, like, sometimes you watch people in these classes, and you're like, oh, shit, like, that person's really dialed in, you know, and quay. Yeah. So, yeah, it's subject. but it's also to a degree it's it's pretty obvious I think you know yeah but what I had a couple

like stand-up comics in one of the classes okay like so they were taking the class but they were actually stand-up comedians and separately they both were very encouraging like they both were like do you have you ever done stand-up and I go no and they were like you would like stand-up you should do it and I was like okay I don't know what to do and they basically showed me around They drove me around town, like showed me like that. It's amazing. Yeah, even though it's like, we know what stand-up is, I was like, yeah, but how do you do it? Like, what do you do?

Well, that's what I find so fascinating in talking to you because it's such a, it feels like such a unique career path. Yeah. And I feel like there's this misperception from the average consumer that you can just kind of get on stage and do it. But the reality is, I bet there is so much work. behind the scenes. Like one thing I've enjoyed about doing this podcast

and actually just a lot of the cool people I get to meet who wear whoop is realizing how the people who are so good at what they do and make it look effortless are actually the same people that are always working when you're not looking. Just always working, yeah. I mean, you know, you watch like a really high level, let's say superstar pop star and you go like, oh my God,

effort the way like Justin Timberlake or Beyonce comes on stage and they do like some crazy routine as they're singing you're like well they're just talent they're like yeah dude and they've been running that routine like six hours a day yeah literally six months you know and then it's so like beat into their muscle memory that they don't it looks effortless but they put a hundred hours into that you know or whatever a thousand well I just finished the book Born Standing Up by Steve Martin. Have you read that? Yeah, that's great. And for me, it really hammers home like how much work it is to be a performer. He talks about, I mean, 15 years practically go by in that book where he is, literally no one knows who he is. He's performing

at empty bars and he's just grinding out routines. He's thinking about how to introduce magic to it. and it just makes you appreciate like it is so hard you have to work so hard you got to work so hard another thing that blows me a lot of times you know when you do these specials now especially on a platform like Netflix you know millions millions of people will see it right millions awesome yeah it's awesome but what but I found like or maybe it's not awesome for you because you're offending someone with every joke right well yeah yeah but I mean the amazing thing to me is I discovered through just like doing that and then meeting people is that a lot of people think that when they see a special

you just like did that that night yeah right right on top of your head I'm like dude I ran that show 200 times in 11 countries literally huh literally yeah that's amazing and like and then and then get to a point where you're like, okay, I'm ready to shoot it. And they're like, because I figured that out because somebody told me one time, they were like, oh, I saw that, I saw your special, but I also

saw you do some of those jokes when I saw you live a few months ago. And I was like, yeah, like, that's the thing that got ready to do the special. And they were like, oh, I thought it was like just different every night. I was like, no, dude, you're, you're like trying to tweak and hone and perfect those jokes every night. Yeah, I mean, I have a bunch of questions about that process. Let's go back for half a second. So you've got these guys who are mentoring you. Yeah. You take you to do stand-up for the first time. What was it like the first time you got on stage? Did you kill or did you bomb? So like in the week leading up to it, first of all, I got booked to do it completely by accident. Like I was tagging along with one of those guys

and he introduced me to somebody that like basically books bar shows, you know, like little shows. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And when he introduced me, he goes, oh, this is Tom. he's a he's a real funny comic and she goes she's like doing something she turns to me she goes oh do you want to do like the april eighth show and i was like yeah sure and she goes okay and then she like walked away it's just like boom i'm like i'm booked to do a show yeah so then i started writing and it was like a month away i was writing writing writing and i was trying to figure it out figure it out and then like the week of that show i remember i remember vividly that I would shoot up out of a dead sleep like at four in the morning just with nerves

I would be dead asleep and just be like wake up in like a bit of a panic and the closer I got to the show day that panic would be stronger you know I was like holy shit man um because I was getting more and more nervous about it then I get to the venue it's called the good bar it's closed now but It was here in L.A. And I get there and they have a set list, like the running order of the show, right? So you know, first, second, third. Well, I'm like six or seventh on it.

So I realize I have some time. And I don't do this now. But then I started pounding beers. You start drinking. Yeah, because I was so worked up. Yeah. And so I pounded like the second beer. I hear the post on stage and she goes, all right, we're going to bring up your first comic.

and she goes, Tom Segarra. And I was like, what? I'm sick. And she goes, Tom, Tom, like she's saying my name over and over. And I run up on stage and I was like, I thought I was six. And she looked at her sheet and she goes, oh, yeah. Like, but I actually think it was good because it was so, it threw me in the fire. And I didn't have a chance to, like, build up more nerves, you know?

Or have, like, 12 drinks. it sounds like you're on a decent clip maybe i was yeah i was going pretty hard um but anyways i it went you know what it did it was like good and it was passable yeah right wasn't i didn't kill i didn't bomb i just i did like well enough to really want to do it again like that first one was all i needed to get me like hooked you know and describe that feeling of hooked what is it is it the euphoria just making everyone in a room laugh. I mean, there's so much, there's so much focus on you. And I guess the spectrum of what can happen is so wide.

Like, from literally people being like, this guy is so lame to this guy's the funniest guy on earth. Yeah. And that happens to this day. It's like that, that's like, that is people's reaction no matter who they see in comedy, you know, but yeah. I mean, the feeling is, it's almost beyond description, but it's like, you know, it's, It's tied to the fact that you go, this is an idea that I had, that I think this will work.

And then you're taking that idea from your mind and presenting it in front of people. And then when it does really work, it's this incredible rush. Like it's validation, it's euphoria. It's like all combined together and you just want to do it more and more, you know. And then when you get it wrong, you're like, well, it feels horrible. but you want to correct it. So you want to figure the, like, where did it go wrong? And you're constantly wanting to go back to it.

It's kind of like, in a way, I feel like if you were a chef and you're like, what if I made this ingredient, you know, and then you gave it to people. And if they were like, holy shit, this is amazing, I mean, the feeling you would have of like, I came up with this idea. I decided to throw these things together, you know, and you just, you want people to be like, damn that's good man that's really good you you want to hear it so one thing i've noticed from running whoop for example is that i am constantly looking at people's wrists right because i'm so interested in what they're wearing on their body from a technology standpoint is it a watch or they're wearing

something else or da and so i realized that i'm so perceptive to what someone's wearing on their wrists or what someone's like interest may be in wearable technology because i've been building it for so long right in your life like do you feel like you're always trying to find something that's funny about about the world around you like is your brain just sort of tuned now to just be looking for humor and everything i think your brain ends up being auto tuned to certain things uh as being funny but not all like you can be in a zone where your hyper comedic sensibilities are like tuned up yeah okay yeah you're like dialed into it and you're like dialed into it and you can also get in a zone where you're like, man, I haven't had a funny thought,

observation feeling in, let's say, you know, a week or something. Like, you could be split into something else. Sometimes I feel like if you get really business-minded, let's say, and you're just like, you're so about the numbers and the data and blah, blah, blah, blah, your mind will kind of lock in on that type of thinking and I'll almost be like oh yeah I haven't like thought about anything joke wise in a while you know almost have to like tell myself that but I do think that like every comedian kind of has their lane of funny like I remember conversations verbatim with with people all the time sometimes for years and years I'll remember

or like, this is exactly what you said. This is exactly what I said. And I'll be able to tell people sometimes if they're in my life, that they'll be like, holy shit, I can't believe you remembered that. And I think it's because I've always found the way people, like what somebody said is like fodder for a bit or a joke. So I remember conversations a lot. I remember.

And like if somebody says something kind of outrageous or inappropriate, my mind will immediately start recording, you know, I'll, I'll just dial into it because that's so cool, I'm a type of comedian that I'll get on stage and be like, I was at the coffee shop today, and then the guy behind the counter said this. And to me, it's like, those are the types of things that I can use on stage. So I'm always super observant of the way people are speaking. Yeah, you've got like a recorder for interesting conversations. interesting conversations yeah now will you literally go from the interesting recording that you had at the coffee shop to pitching it on stage to see if it works with an audience or is there a stage in between where you're like writing something or outlining something well what'll happen is if somebody something like that happens on stage like i usually will go okay like i got to talk about that sometimes you'll think for a second like is that does that translate to the state but most of the time if you feel like you want to take it to the stage, you have to anyway.

You just do it. Yeah. Yeah. So I'll usually present those stories like as they have. If they happen and I had an interesting interaction with somebody, I'll be like, I'm definitely saying that on stage. So you'll have a structure, I imagine, when you go on stage that's like here that, I don't know how many things it would be, but like eight to 10 types of stories that you're

already planning to tell. Yeah. And then you'll have these sort of. other little voice recording moments or little ideas, and you'll try to plant them in as these tests, so to speak, to see if they work for a new material? Yeah, to see if they work for a new material. And then usually ends up happening is you always have, like,

I'm going to say that I walked in, I bought a coffee, the guy said this and I said that, and then let's see if they laugh. But what will happen is, yeah, they might laugh. And then your brain, when you're up there, will end up saying additional things that you didn't plan on, you know? Like, it's just... You'll improvise. You'll improvise.

And it's not planned out. And it's like when those things take off, like sometimes the improvisation goes so well, that you're building the bit on stage in the moment because it's like new energy, like a new idea. and then they're responding in a way that is like fueling it, and then it just kind of goes, goes. And then, you know, usually what will happen is that's a new one, and it'll give you such a sensation that you'll perform your already proven bits with like a new energy, but you'll get off stage and you'll be riding high about the new bit. The new bit is always the drug that comedians are chasing.

Like you you want new stuff that just kills. That's what you're trying to get all the time. It's so interesting listening to you describe that process. Do you feel like today it's any harder than it's been in the past to be a comedian? Like one argument is that society's gotten as politically correct as it's ever been and you're constantly walking a tightrope of saying something that may have fed way too many people. But maybe that bottles it up too. is that maybe it's an advantage because no one else is saying the things that you guys are willing to say

it's a huge advantage and people that don't see that are stupid especially comedians like a great take yeah you're you're definitely have a leg up because you actually have all these people with a built in reaction already like you can lean into it man like yeah totally yeah so much better and comedy is super popular it's the best time to be a comedian i mean Netflix and not be uh for a while since no one can buy a fucking ticket, but it's still a great time to be a comic for sure. Dude, I want to ask you because you said you're always observing people's wrists, you know? Yeah.

Do you ever see a whoop and just go like, tap someone on the shoulder, be like, I'm the CEO of whoop. I do it sometimes. I mean, I'll not do probably not quite as aggressively as the way as you just framed it. But the first question I always ask is, oh, how do you like your whoop? I'll show that I've got one on. Actually, the entry point is more of a, hey, we both wear whoop. Yeah, that's smart. And then depending on where that goes, I'll leave things a piece of shit.

You're like, gosh, you. Yeah. I haven't had anything quite that bad because most people who think whoops a piece of shit won't wear it. Of course. Yeah. But it is super cool seeing strangers wearing whoop, like complete strangers on the sidewalk wearing whoop. That for me.

I got to tell you, man. And I really, you know, I first got introduced to the product when Sober October, like last year, I think. Yeah, we did Sober October with you and like Joe Rogan. Yep, and Bert. And, yeah. So we all had them on. I think it actually really helped that we were into a competition. Totally.

We're in competition and you're seeing data and you're able to see specifics about, like, how you felt and then is there data? that correlates with how you felt and then you start to be like oh man like now all this time later I feel like I would really feel like something's missing if I didn't have that data you know it's like the first thing I do in the morning is I wake up and I open whoop to just see the sleep data I have to see it yeah totally I know I know immediately like you know I don't feel well I'll I'll I'll just know that that number's not going to be where it needs to be. Like, if I wake up groggy, I'm tired, and I'm like, oh, man, I don't feel good. And I'll see like a sub, for me, sub six hours is a bad, like, I, it's a bad place to be.

Six is my baseline for like, I need to, I can get through the day, fine, you know. But like when I feel like, oh, man, I don't feel good. And I'll look. I'm like, oh, I slept like four and a half hours for whatever reason, like I was traveling or I was just working out late or something. Totally. And so like, and then when I wake up and I'm like, man, I feel great today. And I directly see like, oh, you had seven and a half hours of sleep. It's like, I'm fixated on all the data, but the sleep data, and I'll tell you the other thing that I love the most about it is when I get that notification that says you should try to go to bed

by this time. Yeah. And get up around that because that's the time you normally get up. I've used that reminder a number of times. I've been like, oh, man, it's getting to that hour. I need, so big ups for that stuff. I love the continued improvements in it, too. Like now the journal pops up. Yeah, great. I'm glad you like that. I've got some of your data read ads here. Our team gave me some interesting statistics on you. So this will be kind of fun. So you actually have great restorative sleep, which, of course, is the most important period of sleep. So there's REM sleep and slow wave sleep, right? Rem sleep, I have to figure for your profession is like you can't function without REM sleep. That's when your brain is repairing

itself. All those cool voice recordings that you do and your ability to improvise on stage, like that would be dramatically worse, I think, if you weren't getting REM sleep. And the good news is it looks like you average over like an hour and 20 minutes a night. Actually, sorry, over an hour 30 a night of REM sleep, which is really good. And your slow wave sleep, so that's where your body's producing like 95% of its human growth hormone. If you are like, you know, LeBron James, you want to get a ton of human growth hormone. If you're someone who, you know, just in general is trying to get fitter or build muscle, slow wave sleep is really the secret for that. Because like, you know, you're breaking your muscles down in the gym. You're actually repairing them doing

slow-wave sleep. People think you're actually getting stronger in the gym. You're tearing your muscles. Right. So you get over, on average, over an hour 10 of slow-wave sleep. Can I ask you a question I've never really understood about one of the data points? Yeah, hit me. So I know what my resting heart rate is, which I know that mine is phenomenally impressive. You don't have to get into all that. So just for people listening, and since you brought it up, you have a fucking resting heart rate of 39 beats per minute. What up? I mean, that's badass.

That's like Olympic swimmer, badass. Dude. And people ask me about that. I remember when I, at this point, it was probably close to 10 years ago. I went to see just my general physician. And he was like, what in the fuck? Your heart rate is so low. It's like, like an Olympian.

And I was like, cool. He was like, no, not cool. because you're not all right what do you want me to do he's like well we got to check you out because this could be a problem I don't know what's going on and he sent me to Cedars

in Los Angeles here Cedars Imaging Institute Cardiac Center I had like two days of full test done I mean everything and at the end of it they were like yeah

you just have like a strong effective heart we don't know what to tell you I was like, that's it. That's all you're like, yeah, there's nothing wrong. So that was. Yeah, great news, by the way. Yeah, yeah, no, that was great.

But here's the one I don't understand. What is heart rate variability? What does that? Like some days I'll see them in the number and the percentage. I'm like, what is that, though? All right. So heart rate variability is the amount of time in between successive beats of the heart. So if your heart is beating at 60 beats per minute right now,

now is literally not beating every second. But that's super counterintuitive. My heart's beating at 60 beats per minute. Why is it not beating every second? Well, it's because there's variability in between successive beats. Your heart might beat at 1.2 seconds, 0.8 seconds, and then 1.3 seconds and then 0.7, and it's still going to be 60 beats in a minute. But there's all this variability. And it turns out, and this is counterintuitive, that the more variability, the better. So you want your HRV to be higher. Higher.

You want more heart rate variability. You want it to be higher. What's a number you want it to be at or around? Well, a lot of this is based on you improving your own baseline versus my HRVs 100 and yours is 75. You know, like the comparative thing actually doesn't work all that well with heart rate variability because it's a super personal statistic and it's somewhat genetic. So my guess is just given what a low resting heart rate is, you probably have a high HRV. Okay, you have an HRV that's

averaging around 108. That's really, really good. How old are you? About 40? 40. Really good for your age. So a big thing is as you get older, you want your heart rate variability not to decline. Again, heart rate variability is this sort of lens into your autonomic nervous system. Okay. So your nervous system, it consists of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity, right? That's how your body's governing itself. Your body's trying to figure out how much blood and oxygen do I need to circulate, right? So sympathetic is what's activating that process, right? Heart rate up, blood pressure up, respiration up. When you inhale, that's sympathetic. Your heart rate goes up okay parasympathetics all the opposite heart rate down blood pressure down respiration down

parasympathetics what helps you fall asleep sympathetics what's happening when you're your stress you're exercising right maybe massage stimulates your parasympathetic nervous system boom yes remember this so what you want is for every sympathetic to actually have a parasympathetic response because that's a sign that your body's governing itself right? If you're all sympathetic, your sympathetic dominant, it's a sign that your body's tense or it's under repair or, right? It's trying to address things that are going on. The parasympathetic piece is what brings it back, right? And so you want those two things to always be in balance. And that in turn is what drives up heart rate variability.

Okay. Another question. Yeah. With regard to those sleep stats, you said, the REM and what was the other? Slow wave sleep. So you mentioned the numbers that I had, but is there a baseline or average that, so like comparatively I know where it falls? Yeah, so on average, you're getting about two and a half hours, somewhere between two and a half and two 45 of restorative sleep in night. But what are most people getting?

most people are probably getting less than two hours okay so what a lot of people who join whoop are trying to do is not just spend more time in bed because intuitively you know if it were that simple more people would do it right everyone's time compressed so how can you actually maximize the sleep that you're getting and if you spend seven hours in bed tom you want as much of that seven hours to be the restorative sleep that we just talked about. Right, not just laying down. Yeah, you don't want to be awake and you don't want to be in light sleep. Because your body doesn't get much credit for those.

And in fact, when you meet these people who say they can function on five or six hours of sleep, it's not actually that they're functioning on five or six hours of sleep. It's that the percentage of time that they spend in bed often is off the charts for restorative sleep. So it takes them six hours in bed to get two and a half hours of restorative sleep versus seven or eight hours in bed like the rest of us. The other thing that's interesting is looking at how different behaviors can improve these different phenomenons. By the way, what am I supposed to answer?

You know, it'll be like, are you taking any new sleep-related medication? No. What if you take like an edible, like THC and sleep? Well, you can track that now. Really? Yeah, we just added it. question or I just put it in. So you have to go into settings.

Yeah. This is becoming a funny tutorial. You go into the settings and you literally can choose what are the things I want to track. Oh. And so like you can add marijuana. You can add, I mean, there's 50 different things in there. I like mild edibles. And you'll take those how often?

All the time. And what's a mild edible, like a gummy or something? 10 milligrams or less, pretty mild. With THC in it? Yeah. And will you do it right before bed? or will you do it like... I'll do it like an hour before I want to go to bed.

And do you actually feel like a sensation of high from it at this point? Or does it just relax you because you've taken so many of them? I think, well, that's the thing is that I haven't been doing it that long. I really struggled with like staying up. I would stay up really, I used to stay up really late every night. And it's been like a process to go to bed. earlier yeah hours yeah not I mean I don't know a few months ago I started to to take like mild doses they still have an effect on me you know that's why I didn't I didn't have to knock it like I have friends that eat 50 and 100 milligram things I'm like that puts me in the hospital man so these five seven 10 milligram amounts they basically make me feel like I had a glass of wine or two you just kind of have like a buzz like a mild buzz that um I And I do the Indicas, which are, like, the more sedative feelings.

So it's an edible that's more designed for... For sleeping. For sleeping, yeah. For rest of the sleeping, yeah. I started taking those, and I don't do it every night, but recently I've been doing it more. I don't know. For me, it's like, if I, I know if I take it at 9.30, there's a chance that I might be going to bed at 10.30, you know, or 11, which to me is like a victory, you know, because... For a long time, I was going to bed super late.

So you should definitely track the edible versus, like, other things versus no edible. And who will literally tell you whether you sleep better with it or not. Okay. I mean, it would be pretty interesting. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's the fun part about this thing, too, is like all that data, you know, like seeing, I got to add in my activity for yesterday. That's the other thing. Sometimes I forgot to add that.

Yeah, you want credit for that, don't you? My friend, yeah, absolutely, yeah. Your big weightlifting pump. Yep, absolutely. Have you ever tried magnesium or melatonin? I have tried melatonin. I did find it to be effective. I guess I should probably try it again.

I feel like I want to say the last time I was, no, it was a, what is it, Valerian root? Yeah. Giving me wild dreams, like super crazy dreams. It's interesting. I remember you guys talking during Sober October about, how cutting out alcohol and drugs and everything, like, changed your, you're dreaming, didn't it? Yes. Yeah, but I mean, I think, for sure, of our crew, I am the lowest consumer of everything.

Yeah. So the departure for me wasn't that dramatic, you know? Like, Bert's drinking is legendary. Not drinking is, like, a real change. A real shift, yeah. Oh, yeah. Ari and Joe, they're more chronic, heavy users of cannabis, you know, smoking and eating, and, like, they'll eat, like, way higher doses than what I was talking about.

So I think also for them, cutting out is a dramatic shift, you know, dramatic shift. What is it with comedians and drugs and alcohol? Is it a thing that helps sort of unlock ideas? Is it that you guys have gotten so comfortable with being uncomfortable? You know what I mean? I think it's a combination of things. It would be like disingenuous to just say it's one thing, you know, because it's, you know, look, for a lot of comedians,

there's serious addiction problems. Totally. For a lot of comedians, there's like depression and they're using for the same reason a lot of people are heavily using. For the ones that like don't have, let's say, an issue with it, I think it's about a combination of, like, it's fun, it's having fun. You know, comedians like to have a good time. Yeah, right.

We're hanging out late at bars and clubs, and it's like, let's have a drink, let's have a smoke. Some of them take it to another level. But, yeah, I think when it's like when you're trying to be creative with writing and you have a, you know, a little smoke or something, yeah, it can definitely make your mind. What happens, though, is like, if you get high, you start thinking that you're having genius ideas and I've listened to I've had voice recording from like talking and like going on with this idea for a joke and I'll be like oh man this is the greatest idea ever and then the next day I play it and I'm like oh my god like this is just me too unaware because

I'm so high so you'll literally be high and then you'll record an idea to yourself yeah is that is that your favorite method of document documenting an idea or like I know some people have little journals or like I have journals I carry journals around and I'll note that there's something about dictating it though we're like if you dictate it you can actually hear what your intent and inflection and tone that you wanted for the idea and you can also talk and talk and talk so it's like it's not as limiting as like you know writing word word like you can really riff and go most of the time there's a kernel in there that's good, and you're just talking and talking and talking about.

What's next for you? What are you excited about, you know, what do the next five years of your career look like if you could wave a magic wand? Well, I think I'm going to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, get back to the road, administer it at my shows. You know, luckily, we're really lucky that we have a big podcast that we can keep putting out there and kind of work during this time. And then hopefully when things I'm praying, go back to, let's say, normal or semi-normal, I'm supposed to shoot another special actually in Spanish later this year. Oh, that'll be cool. Yeah. So I've been working on that. And I would... Are you funnier in one language or the other? I mean... Or is it kind of like... It's like your

Amidextrists like that. You can kind of play them. I think of ambidextras. People tell me that I'm nicer in Spanish. I don't know. I guess we'll find out if I put it out there. But that strikes me as really quite remarkable that you're funny in two languages, like, on that level. Yeah.

Maybe it shouldn't, but like, to me it seems like a unique thing. How many other comedians do that? Do bilingual stuff? A few, a handful, not so many. I mean, there's a few that have done it that should. definitely be credited. Eddie Izzer performs in English, German, and French. Apparently his French is like really top tier. If someone listening to this is like, I want to be a comedian when I grow up or I think I'm funny, but I can't, you know, break through. What's your, what's your

bumper sticker advice for that? I mean, if you're saying you want to do stand up, there's, it's really simple. It's like it's not complicated. You need to get on a stage. People will figure out all the reasons why they... Yeah, but I'm like, dude, shut up. Just go to an open mic. Don't tell people. Like, you don't have to invite friends. Yeah, definitely don't invite friends. Yeah, go, go to the one in the next, whatever. Just find an open mic and get up there. And if they're like, but dude, I'm telling you, That is step one, like writing and performing. And you got to, at the beginning, you should get on every stage you can get on. It doesn't matter how shitty you think the place is.

Just go do it. That is literally, it's like saying, like, well, how do I become a basketball player? Like, do you have a ball? And you need to start shooting a lot of shots, man. Yeah, yeah. It's like, but yeah, but I have these shoes. I don't know if they're the right shoes. Like, dude, do you want to play or not?

Like, that's, that's really the answer. It's like, I've met people like, I have all this material written down. Oh, okay. Well, go do it then. I want to hear your scoop on what's the best water because you came at me on Instagram. Oh, that was great. Because I drink smart water. I love smart water.

What do you got to get smart water? Okay, I'll tell you, I'm only parroting what I've learned from America's first water sommelier, Martin Lisa. Great, dude. My wife and I were having this competition, who's the water. champ who drinks more water and we were like really arguing about it yeah yeah i'm constantly crushing water crushing water and we were we were arguing like no i'm the water champ going back and forth about it and so we had him on to teach us about water because i had like genuine questions like dude how come

sometimes you go to like a water fountain or something or you drink out of a faucet you're like this taste different and he broke it all down for us and like one of his things that stayed with me that like really stayed with me is that smart water is bullshit. And so are not just them, but other heavily filtered water is like for somebody who like him whose whole life is like celebrating water,

he's like the whole thing that's what I was trying to tell you in that message is keeping the minerals in water. That's what makes water so distinct. That's what makes them taste different are the different minerals. Like that, I gave you the example of that, Fiji

I like Fiji It's tasty Drink it There's like a silkeness to it And that is the mineral silica His whole thing wasn't actually against the company Smart Water When water brands go like

This is triple filtered He's like yeah You stripped all the minerals out of the water There's nothing in it anymore Did you ask him how he became a water Somelier? Is that a real thing? I asked him and I just don't remember it

I did a podcast with it. Oh, really? Yeah, yeah. He's an awesome guy. And he brought like, I mean, 20 bottles of water, set up all the glasses. And like we were sipping and you would taste different things, just like if you were doing a food tasting. And then he would break down like this water from Norway.

They go into the ocean. They scoop out icebergs. And the iceberg never touches a surface. It just drips into a thing. So you're getting, and you're like, oh, my God, this tastes like it came from God. And he's like, yeah, that's this. That sounds amazing, yeah. He broke it all down for us.

And the main message wasn't like just against smart water, but he was like, you know, smart water is so heavily filtered that for someone like him, the whole thing is you've got to have minerals. And if you strip it up minerals, there's nothing in it. All right. Well, this has been super fun, man. It's been a real pleasure spending time with you. hopefully when we're on the same coast and this world changes, we'll get to meet in person. I would love that, dude.

I would absolutely love it. And proud to have you on Whoop. Where can people find you? Yeah, Tomsegura.com has all my touring stuff. I'm Seguera Tom on Instagram and your mom's house podcast every Wednesday. And I do a bunch of podcasts out of there on my, if you go to YouTube and you go to your mom's house, you'll see all our shows. And a great Netflix special that's out now, which I watched last night. Yeah, please check out Ballhog streaming now on Netflix.

All right, man. Well, this has been a real pleasure. Thanks so much. Thank you. I appreciate it, man. Thank you to Tom for coming on the Woop Podcast. You guys should all check out his amazing Netflix comedy sketches and more in the show notes. As a reminder, you can follow us on social at Whoop at Will Ahmed.

And you can always email us The Locker at Whoop. I'm going to take a few member questions. This is Jenna. I absolutely love the WIPP podcast and I'm enjoying my whoop. Thank you, Jenna. I think the information about respiratory rate is interesting. What does a decrease in respiratory rate mean? Okay.

So as a reminder, respiratory rate is the number of breaths per minute. We record this while you're sleeping and we have seen very interesting indicators within individual cases around respiratory rate being increased prior to. to symptoms of COVID-19. COVID-19 is a lower respiratory tract infection. So an increase in respiratory rate makes sense if you have a low respiratory tract infection. In general, you want your respiratory rate

really not to change at all. And what we've seen with the WOOP population in general is that it's remaining really constant. Your respiratory rate decreasing is probably a good thing. It's probably a sign that It takes less breaths for you to distribute oxygen throughout your body. There's ways to do this.

One is getting fitter. Another is really improving your breath work. So certain mindfulness techniques and even breathing techniques can help your body get more comfortable using less breaths. So that is respiratory rate. In general, if you see a decrease, don't be concerned. Okay, question here from Instagram. How come my recoveries have been low despite getting good sleep? This is at Sweets, 2318.

Thank you, sweets. Well, so your whoop recovery is based on three metrics, right? It's based on your quality of sleep, your resting heart rate, and your heart rate variability. Now, sleep obviously plays a major role in recovery, but it's not the only driver. And in fact, you know, sleep and recovery are independent scores that you get on whoop. Now, an extreme example would be like, if you are sick or if you're hung over, you might actually spend a lot of time in bed. You might spend a lot of time sleeping, but in turn, you would have a low recovery because your body is trying to get alcohol out of its system or because your body is trying to recover from illness. So that kind of drives home the point why your sleep shouldn't be directly correlated with your sleep shouldn't be the same as your recovery.

excuse me. In terms of day-to-day how this might be happening, especially in this specific moment in time, we've seen across the Wu population actually people getting more sleep. I think that reflects that there's less people commuting, people working from home, but it's also a very stressful time in people's lives, right? Global pandemic, psychological stress. And so people are getting more sleep, but that psychological stress, in turn, is driving down their heart rate variability. It's increasing the resting heart rates. So that combination nation actually levels out to still get you're having good sleep but you're not getting as high of recoveries at least at suites two three one eight it sounds like that might be what's going on

for you great questions thank you to our listeners and as always stay healthy out there stay green best to you and your families Thank you.