WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1244 - Rick Ingraham

Episode Date: July 15, 2021

Comedian Rick Ingraham is a Comedy Store institution. But he's also the last of a system that was in place going back to the ‘70s, where young comics were baptized and raised in the rites and rituals of the Store. Rick and Marc compare their early careers trying to break into the business and become a club regular. Rick also recalls some of his memorable moments in the different eras of the Store, from when he was touring with Andrew Dice Clay to when he was breaking up fights between Joe Rogan and Carlos Mencia. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So, no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Gold tenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those, too.

Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details. Death is in our air. This year's most anticipated series, FX's Shogun, only on Disney+.

We live and we die. We control nothing beyond that. An epic saga based on the global bestselling novel by James Clavel. To show your true heart is to risk your life when i die here you'll never leave japan alive fx's shogun a new original series streaming february 27th exclusively on disney plus 18 plus subscription required t's and c's apply all right let's do this how are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fuck nicks what's happening i'm mark maron this is is my podcast and this is pause day. Today, I'm going to be taking the heavy pauses.

I'm going to be fooling around with pauses. It's part of the medium. It's what I do here. How are you feeling? Are you okay? Is everything all right? What am I doing? for respect which means i go to the four seasons here in los angeles and there and i enter a clusterfuck of media who all converge on the four seasons to do the respect press junket and you just kind of go from room to room some of them are on camera. Some of them are print. Some of them are still photos. It's just, there's like a hundred outlets. I can't even explain it to you. I've done it before.

I did it for Glow. I never know what to wear. I've been wearing the same shirt and the same suit for press for probably almost a decade now. It's fucking ridiculous. But man, people are getting excited about this movie uh look today on the show i talked to a comic rick ingram who right i know that some of you may say that but if you've been to the comedy store you've certainly seen him rick ingram has been at it for a while but he he's unique in that he, you know, there was a type of comic, and I was sort of one of them for a while, where they live at the comedy store.

They exist at the comedy store. Their home is the comedy store, and they are part of it. They are an appendage of the comedy store. Now, I don't really know how he'd feel about me saying it like that, but it's true. There's somebody who is in permanent residence there and he came out here years ago and he you know was uh well he'll tell a story but i just need you to know that so there are some dudes that live at the comedy store and uh and they're a unique breed and they've always been there he's one of the people that's, it's like Jeff Ross. He's always been in show business, since the beginning of show business.

Rick is sort of like one of those guys. Young guy, though. I'm not trying to make him sound like an old man, but I talked to him. I want to update you on a story, because I think it's very sweet. I told you the story about getting the flat tire and when i went down to dynasty typewriter to do my thursday night it was a story i was with jerry stall i got a flat i mean if you listen to the show you know what i'm talking about and there was a couple there he seemed like uh very italian philly kind of scary his wife was a fan he thought he thought i was an asshole it turns out his name

is dan her name is alexis and i told you that whole story about you know him like trying to help me and then me being afraid of him and he was making a skyscraper the boat from south philly his wife is the fan yada yada he was gonna help me with the flat tire then i came out at the end of the night and his tires have been flattened because he parked in the driveway it was a convoluted tale but she sent me one of the nicest thank you notes like this beautifully hand-printed handwritten with illustrations she's she's a big fan of my IG live this Alexis woman dear Mark thank you for Thursday night you were such a gentleman shaking my hand and speaking with us. You killed on stage.

My stomach hurt from laughing for 50 minutes straight. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. We know you were having a rough day, broken Sammy vase. You were feeling anxious, i.e. your process. Had to prepare for your show. Had friends with you. And you had to fix your tire. We sent you a gift for contingency's sake.

And even though you can change your own tire, we thought you might like to have the inflator. You can always use it for tires, bike tires, inflatables, for a pool, footballs, et cetera. They sent me one of those inflators, like you plug it in. What do they call it exactly? A tire inflator air compressor. That's what she sent me, Alexis and Dan. What do they call it exactly? A tire inflator air compressor. That's what she sent me.

Alexis and Dan. What lovely people. She goes on to, she drew pictures of the box. And it's sort of, this whole letter is like, it's almost like a beautiful sort of illustrated children's book. For a grown up. For me. What a thoughtful gift. Been pitching the tv show and uh it looks like

someone's gonna give us someone's gonna step up someone's gonna tell us that we can write a script me and the lip site who got a lot of exciting juice those lip site stories from James Murphy the other day, huh? What about it? Talked to Rick Rubin the other day. That'll be coming up. Everything's, nothing's okay out there. The fascists are coming. The fires are coming. The future is wobbly for everybody.

The disease is kind of pestering it's not going away i've had to push back idiots who just resurfaced from my moments in my life you ever have one of those guys you don't really know them that well but at some point like 30 years ago you gave them your phone number and you haven't changed the phone number. And every so often they just pop in and you got to deal with whatever stage they are at in their fucking life and whatever they're thinking. But you don't really know them. But 30 years ago, you gave them your phone number. You might have talked to them a couple of times. They might have glommed somehow.

They might have been peripherally involved in your life or what you do. But now you don't know what the fuck they do or who the fuck they are. And all of a sudden they're texting their opinions about why vaccines are bullshit. Oh, this got specific all of a sudden. Yeah, I had to block that guy because whatever he thinks, I don't have to fucking deal with it. I don't have to fucking engage that guy. I don't know to fucking deal with it. I don't have to fucking engage that guy. I don't know that person. What?

Just because I met you 30 years ago and we had words? We're fucking friends? I don't think so. And yeah, it's good luck. And I wish you well. Spreading the word that can bring more death into the world good for you you're doing the

the lord's work stranger guy who i gave my phone number to and maybe had a meal with once twice in 33 years leave me the fuck alone i get it i know where you stand you stand with the dummies so look rick ingram is a comedy store fixture and i don't mean that in a bad way great comic crowd working dude uh unique but he's always there and he's the host of the comedy store podcast which you can check out wherever you get your podcast also before i forget dark fonzie six is up now dean del rey and myself are doing the dark fonzies a couple a month it's a good. We've got a good rapport. Easy listening. So that's Dark Fonzie 6 from me and Dean Del Rey, the Comedy Store podcast from Rick Ingram. And this is me talking to Rick Ingram here in the garage. You can get anything you need with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get snowballs on Uber Eats.

But meatballs and mozzarella balls, yes, we can deliver that. Uber Eats, get almost, almost anything. Order now. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. Death is in our air. This year's most anticipated series, FX's Shogun, only on Disney+. We live and we die.

We control nothing beyond that an epic saga based on the global best-selling novel by james clavelle to show your true heart just to risk your life will i die here you'll never leave japan alive fx's shogun a new original series streaming february 27th exclusively on dis Disney+. 18 plus subscription required. T's and C's apply. I've been meditating. You? No, never.

Never. You never even thought to? No, I don't want to be at peace. that's when i'm at my worst i i i think i used to think that but the thing is is like you know what it even if you did meditate you're not gonna it's still gonna be angry right yeah the moment you come out of that zen you're like but that doesn't mean it doesn't do something it might not be about peace but it might be about being able to quiet down your brain when necessary. That sounds all right. It's like a muscle.

You know what I mean? It's sort of like, how do I, you know, why am I sitting here furious about some other comic's bit that has nothing to do with me but is wrong-minded in its entirety? It's insulting to what we do is the reason why i get i get angrier about comedians bits more than anything in the world where i'm just like that's not even funny why is the crowd laughing at that well there's that i uh you know i've grown over the years my many decades in this business of watching comics kill who i'm like am i not understanding the tone

is how how does this not and eventually sort of like well who am i to judge you know what what makes me laugh really yeah it's it's been it's been happening it's been coming back you know i was able to shut that off just in terms of the need to be diplomatic and not be a total dick. Okay. You're trying to. No, I think I was for a while. No, I don't. I mean, you definitely seem more pleasant.

But I just I felt like it was probably due to, you know, not seeing everyone for a long time. No, it's a decision. But actually now I'm more pleasant. But there's more of that kind of like, what the fuck is that guy doing? It's coming back, that tone and saying it to people. Truth is positivity.

That's how I look at it. If that was what you were feeling at that moment, then it would have been wrong to say anything else. But there's the choice of like, is it necessary to say that? Well, I mean, it depends on how you feel. I think it is. And listen, I've been, I've been burning bridges in this industry as long as I've been in this

industry. Well, yeah. How long has it been? I mean, like, I'm trying to think when I first met you, you were like a child. You were like a, like a, a child at the comedy store. Yeah. That showed up abandoned. Basically. Yeah. I was at the comedy store yeah i showed up abandoned basically yeah i yeah i was uh i was 21 when i showed up there it was uh what year 2000 beginning uh end of 2002

really it's been that long i've been there that long because that's oh jesus okay so that was right when i sort of came back yeah you i was there for maybe a year and a half or maybe two years before you started coming around. Were you a door guy? I was, yeah. I started, I did the open mic and it was just a, I mean, it was a clusterfuck of insanity. I'm trying to, like, I don't know that time. So where do you come from? I'm from Kansas City. Oh, that's right. Kansas City. Originally, I'm... Missouri or Kansas? I'm from the suburbs of Kansas. So I grew up in a nice suburb and... With nice parents? Yeah, got great parents. Really? Super nice, super supportive. Brothers and sisters? Older brother, three younger sisters. That many? Yeah. Religious people in Kansas? Lots of them. We weren't. Oh,

that's good. But yeah, I was raised by, you know, some of the few liberals in Kansas. Really? Progressive people? Creative people? Yeah. Supportive people? Yeah. They're very supportive when I... Still? Yeah. Oh, good. More so now, honestly. Now that I don't need anything from them, they're even more supportive. They're like, phew. Yeah. Huh? Okay. You did all right. You did all right. I guess you're okay. Yeah. There was four kids until I was in high school. My parents had the surprise fifth kid, the sitcom. These actors are getting too old.

We need to introduce a new character kid. If we want to keep this show on the air, we better get another one. So you were in high school when they had one? Yeah. I was a junior in high school when my baby old was your mom was it a miracle yeah yeah mom was 40 or 41 um but a cancer survivor and wow had already had done radiation and chemo and not supposed to have kids when you have that yeah yeah and apparently she was told uh you know she went through early menopause yeah so she was like yeah you can't have any more kids right go ahead

party yeah exactly and you know mom and dad were handling business i guess still so four kids in the house couldn't slow that down but um yeah so surprise is it nice when you know that they're handling business i mean it's sort of a relief in a way. I don't think it's awkward. You guys are, how could you not continue to do that if you're able? Yeah, I remember people being like, oh, does that freak you out? And I'm like, no. I would hope. Yeah.

Hope the folks are still fucking. Yeah. What else is there? What else is there? It's truly my greatest passion is to make sure all the folks are still fucking. How old's your brother? He's a year and a half older than me. What'd that guy end up doing?

He just works a regular job. Like regular person job? Yeah, normal human being. Yep. Yeah? Yeah, he's got a family. Nice guy? Really nice dude.

Wow. Yeah, I mean, you know, bullied the shit out of me as a kid, but. Was he a football player? No, no. He played baseball until high school. Yeah. I mean, you know, bullied the shit out of me as a kid. Was he a football player? No, no. He played baseball until high school, and then he was just a normal. And what job did your dad do? Dad was a corporate lawyer, and mom was a teacher. Oh, so you grew up nicely.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, it's disturbing that I'm able to be funny at all. That's good. I thought able to be funny at all. That's good. I thought you were like a runaway. Listen, I had plans in all truth. Yeah. You know, I read a bunch of books and watched a bunch of movies and stuff

when I was growing up. I'm like, I had a plan ready to run away. Yeah. I'm like, as soon as shit starts going bad, and then it just kept being good. Really? When did that plan start to manifest? Like you were like, what, 10, 11? Yeah. 11 yeah i was just like you know what that seems pretty cool you know that guy's living

in a carved out tree you know one of these days my parents gonna get really mad at me they're gonna yell and that's when i'm hitting the highway yeah and finding that tree yeah yeah did you do comedy in high school uh the first time i did comedy was, I did it once in high school. I was vice president of my school. Oh, my God. Yeah. How did you get so fucking broken? It happened.

It got there. I just always disliked humanity, I think. Yeah. And so I grew up, most of the people I knew were very religious, like Christians. Yeah. You know, I've never believed in anything. So, well, Kansas is sort of one of those places where, you know, in the very near future, most progressives and good people, rational people will leave.

Yeah. Like there's going to be this sort of balkanization of the midwest and you know there's just not enough good people to to support it and they can only hang on to that so much but but our towns it's not gonna matter that's you gotta leave or get more good people there because it's no good i feel like they just they just accept that if they can just find like 10 good people well i think that's what most of us do, but I don't know what the solution is because some of those places where, what's sad to me is like,

even if fascism takes over, most people are going to be like, I'm okay though. I mean, it's not really, I'm okay. If you don't change people's lives that much, they'll never care. No, they're just sort of like, what is it?

Fascism when? Yeah. Now it's happening. They don't even know what that means. No, of course not. It's just like, well, I can still go to the store. Right, yeah. The scaredest I saw America was those first four weeks of COVID lockdown.

Yeah. And then people were like, we can't wipe our ass? Yeah, yeah. We can't? Oh, yeah, yeah. All we can eat is the low-carb vegan pasta. There's no, you can't even get that shitty whole grain pasta. The panic around paper products.

People were freaking out. It was spectacular. You know, I was telling Dean Del Rey, like maybe a week ago, you were crushing in the main room. And I said, man, he is fucking killing it right now. And I don't know if he's any different or if the rest of the world just finally understands. It's actually not that great. Yeah.

Everything is actually kind of shitty. Yeah, a little bit. And that's why every time people are like, dude, you're so negative. No one says it anymore. Yeah. Is that true? Yeah. I haven't had one person.

The parking lot guy one night when you and I pulled in at the same time. Oh, right. Said something about, oh, the two most negative people here. And we immediately gave him the fucking business. But it's like. I don't hear it anymore. People are just like, yeah, things are kind of shitty. They caught up.

Yeah. Finally. Yeah. The negative people have found their time. Well, it feels like that, man. I'm watching these people, you know, like, really? We're just going to go right back to your wife is a problem yeah yeah for 10 minutes well that was i was going to say earlier about it's not so much it i feel that anyone's committing a crime against our business or

because comedy really for the most part the the person that was inspired or actually spoke truth to power or or did anything uniquely interesting was the rarity. Most people are kind of run-of-the-mill, you know, B-room headliners. Yeah. In the history of comedy. And there were thousands of them. Yeah.

Always. Yeah, oh yeah. But what happens to me when I'm sitting in those rooms, it's like, you have 15 minutes. This is what we're doing with five? Yeah. The thing that always bothered me, and I think it's part of what made me do what I do,

which a lot of people hate, was when I worked at the comedy store, I worked six nights a week. And so back then, there was no one there. It would be like 10 people in the crowd. And I watched the same comics do the same 10 minutes or same 15 minutes every night, five nights a week. Yeah.

And I was just so dumbfounded by it. Why would you do that? Are we in a time glitch? Yeah. This hasn't worked yet. You're not working it out. It's not like they're adjusting how they're performing it. They're just doing the same shitty 15 minutes with the same beats and the same yeah

like uh like an automaton yeah i know like eventually they thought the you know what it is it's the crowd every night sure of course i mean i've gotten committed to lines that don't work because i enjoy them and they're throwaway lines and but i'm not gonna move them but they're that's not the the whole joke isn't hinging on them and yeah and that's not what i'm talking about no i know i know what you're talking about full bits full bits yeah there's sometimes like like sometimes like i well let's let's go back so you're you're in kansas city because i think that you you know you're a guy you are a true product of the store and you uh you choose to stay on the shelf there yeah yeah i mean i don't really have any other option. Right. One of my worst qualities in this industry is I can't hang out somewhere.

If I don't have a spot, I can't hang out there. No, I can't either. When people are like, dude, you should go to the improv. I'm like, I don't want to go there. They give me a spot like three times a year. It's always at 1230 at night. Yeah. What are you going to do?

There's always like seven people. Yeah times a year. It's always at 1230 at night. There's always like seven people. Yeah. And it sucks. It's terrible. If they gave me great spots, then I'd do it. But I'm not going to just go to comedy clubs and hang out. Look, I know what it's like to, you know, there's nothing wrong with living at the store. Yeah.

I mean, I literally live there. You know, I mean, not as long as you've been there. But I mean, I think that you were the last of that system. Because that system's gone. And when you got there, it seemed like it was still weirdly in place. Like she was still kind of active. She was still around. Yeah.

So how do you leave Kansas? In a huff? Did you go to college? What happened? I went to film school. You did? My original dream was to be a film director. Right.

I still would love to do that. I have no ability to do that. But maybe that's just, maybe, I don't know. It could happen. Well, you're going to have to apply some will to it. Sure. It's not going to be like, oh my God, it's happening. Well, I thought, you know, it was the 90s.

So, you know, people just still push that you can do anything. Sure. Some people still believe that. You know, the one I can't stand is like, if you work hard, you'll be a success. No, you'll be effective. Yeah, you can get work. Yeah, exactly. That's it.

It's like you can get work if you work hard. Yeah, that's what you can do. Right. You're going to have to make connections with someone at some point but it's like if you it's like it was upsetting me yesterday where it's sort of like you know this idea like because you're possessed by the demon of comedy you've chosen to do uh you know improvisation and sort of fly by the seat of your pants which is ultimately the best rush of what we do you know um but you know some people just think like, you know, if I just kind of work hard and keep working and, you know,

if I really kind of like put this amount of time in, you know, I deserve to be rewarded. I'm like, I don't know. Yeah. Because at some point, if you have undeniable talent and you don't kill yourself, eventually someone will come around. Someone will see it. Right.

But if you just do a good job, there's plenty of people that do a good job. Yeah, I think a lot of, I call it in the mirror comedy, which I think is like 80% of comedians. It's like they came up with a bit. Yeah. They could do it in a mirror. Right.

Get it perfect how they want to say it, and then they do it on stage. Like most comedians aren't funny. Yeah. Like if you talk to them off stage, you like oh they're kind of kind of shitty you know they're typically bad people but like they're just not that interesting but they they learn a skill right that's true that's it it and it is like uh for five or six years if you work really hard at it you can learn how to be a comedian it's it's it's that that whole element of it

annoys me yeah that but but it's it's always been true you know like and i think that some of the people that i that i i think are not as funny or the you would think they aren't funny off stage i've seen people who who i thought just were never going to get the hang of it or weren't funny uh get funny uh because really it was about people not understanding they're funny it wasn't they weren't just joke machines they just didn't know how to do it any other way you look at someone like todd barry nate bargetzi you know like they're not going to change gears right either eventually people jeff ross was like that too i couldn't he was always kind of successful but yeah watching him was like watching fucking paint dry before he became an insult guy right like when he was jeff lifsholtz and he had hair it was sort of that was

a thing yeah oh i didn't even know about that what that his name was jeff lifsholtz that or hair yeah oh yeah he had a full jersey mullet wow back when he started we were all younger but i just couldn't understand he was one of those guys i'm like what are they i don't understand what why is this guy successful yeah i still have moments where i wonder anyways despite all that um all right so you wanted to be right i wanted to be a director right um so my first year at college i went to film school small film school in santa fe new mexico i grew up in new mexico yeah yeah i went to the college of santa fe which is uh now defunct it's one of the only colleges I've ever heard of that went bankrupt and no longer exists. During COVID or just in general?

No, about 10 years ago, something like that. I didn't even know there was a college. I knew that St. John's was up there. Yeah, that was our quote unquote rival, I guess. The philosophy school yeah we uh they were just these two small kind of liberal arts school the college of santa fe was like they had film theater a couple other things was it like more like a summer camp i mean it felt it felt really bizarre it was smaller than my high school yeah and um the teachers i just hated they were like super artsy and oh yeah um were they like locals probably no big names i've never heard of any of them outside of there what

would you have to take um it was all just like these introductory film classes but did you have to do other liberal arts things uh i took an English class that was amazing. The teacher was pretty crazy. I remember the first day being like, I think she's on mushrooms. And then maybe two months into the semester, she just didn't show up. And we were like, all right. So we hung out of class for 10 minutes and left. Then went back on the Wednesday, wasn't there.

Really? Missed a solid three weeks no explanation no explanation no one did it no one did anything college didn't care what I'm just like whatever yeah and so after after like three or four weeks someone I stopped going and someone was like hey I can't remember what her actual name was like miss Davis or something really normal yeah they said she's back yeah and so the following uh monday or whatever it was i i went to class yeah and she was there and just all trippy and really she was like uh so everyone i want i want everyone to call me marmica from now

on marmica marmica i was that's what she wanted so that's what she figured out over those three weeks. Yeah. And she told, someone goes, where have you been? And she goes, oh, I'm sorry for my absence. I was at the fair. The fair. No idea what that meant. No fair that anyone could figure out

anywhere nearby. I like that as a general answer for mysterious absence. For weeks. For weeks. I was at the fair. I was at the fair. Which fair? No. Yeah. Was it the fair? Was it the fair? Which fair?

No. Yeah, well. The fair. The fair? Yeah. Uh-huh. Yeah, so I had that class. I had some bullshit social science class.

It was like you learned about nonsense. Right. What about the actual film study? The film study was uh according to the other people who i became friends with that stayed there by their senior year they got to work on projects but there was no actual film stuff being done other than just basically film history history class they're showing us movies and yeah you know, oh, here's Citizen Kane. Take a look at the Zoom. That's the first time anyone ever Zoomed.

Yeah, the deep focus. Yeah, you're like, okay. Deep focus. I probably saw Citizen Kane six times, and each time they were trying to claim that there was something else about it that was amazing. There is, yeah. And I remember being like, okay, this is a cool film. I'm not learning anything by watching this. I've seen this film.

I want to make films. I watched this because other people were like, hey, you should watch Citizen Kane. So I did that for a year. Watched Citizen Kane. Watched Citizen Kane for a year. Yeah. I remember I had this one crazy teacher who made us do like this four week project on costume design or something. I want everyone to make an alien costume.

And I just remember being like, this is dumb. Yeah. I made some shitty costume out of, you know, poster board or whatever it was. Yeah. And I remember her being like, this is unimaginative. And what you're doing is taking ideas from other uh alien costume creators and just being like i don't i don't want to make alien costumes how does this fucking help me i want to make a movie yeah i don't i don't want to be the costume you hack

alien costume oh and looking back she was 100 right you just lifted some classic inspiration yeah it's like every from garbage aliens every dog alien that exists now in every film is the same shit you just stole it from me yeah you just and i stole it from the best recaptured the box alien it was from the robot so it was ridiculous you dropped out i dropped out and then i transferred to university of kansas because i could get in yeah is there anything good about kansas um not really i mean like i think i've driven through there you know and i think i've uh i don't think i've ever performed there but like is there something like uh like kansas city is it sort of like oh you got it well they got the ribs right barbecue that's i mean that's the main thing is food kansas city kansas but kansas city missouri it's different it's different i mean

it's basically the same but there's just a state line that goes down the city was created before there were states so oh so it's on both sides yeah it's a that's right okay the missouri river basically splits the right the city so i have been there and I've had this conversation before. I have done a show in Kansas City. Is that where Arthur Bryant's is? Correct. Okay. Yes.

I performed there. It was okay. Yeah, it's okay. I did a theater of some kind. I did all right. Yeah, it's a standard Midwestern city. That's right. That's what it is.

Standard Midwestern city. It's okay. No one's downtown ever. No. They're trying really hard to make it. That. Standard Midwestern city. It's okay. No one's downtown ever. No. They're trying really hard to make it. That's every Midwestern city. Yeah, they're all like, we rebuilt it. It's now the power and light district.

And you're like, you got the power company to sponsor your cool downtown area? We built the Sprint Center. You're like, but we don't have a pro team to play in there. What are you using it for? They'll come. If you build it, they'll come. We worked hard. When they built it, that's what they said.

We're going to attract an NHL or an NBA team. They never showed? Everyone was like, we're good. I remember the last NBA basketball game I went to was before the Kings moved out of Kansas City in like 86. Yeah. And I haven't gone to a game since. Whenever people are like, you ever go to a Lakers game? I'm like, no. All right. So you go back to Kansas City. You in like 86. Yeah. And I haven't gone to a game since. Whenever people are like, you ever go to a Lakers game? I'm like, no.

All right, so you go back to Kansas City. You go to college. Yeah, I went to college. And at this point are you like, fuck this. Fuck life. Fuck you. I was disheartened the moment I had to go back to Kansas. Did you like Santa Fe, though? It's nice.

I love Santa Fe. The school was worthless and was way too expensive. How'd you choose that fucking school, dude? They showed up at my high school. Oh, you did one of those college fairs? No, I took the standardized test or whatever it was, and I had marked on there that film and cinematography were of interest. And the College of Santa Fe, obviously,

were sending reps out to gather foolish middle americans that didn't know any better right and uh so i i got called to the office in high school my senior year yeah and they said yeah this college recruiter wants to meet with you and you're getting recruited by a small liberal arts college because you like movies because i i marked that I liked cinematography. This guy seems like a top movie-liker. Like, if we could draft this movie, the guy likes movies. Apparently, this guy has good grades and is interested in movies.

He's the only one. He's our draft choice. Yeah. Talk to the principal. Yeah. How can we get this kid? The kid that likes movies. We need him.

This is going to set us on the right path. And it's like all these weird, like Annie Letterman went to college there. She did? Yeah. She actually graduated from there. She graduated from that college? College of Santa Fe. And look how well she's done.

Yeah. So many big names come out of there. You both have filthy mouths. Yeah. If you would have stayed the whole four years, you would have been dirtier. We both started partying. Yeah. That's what we got out of.

Did you know her there? No, no. Is she older than you or younger? She's younger than me by a few years. I think I knew that about her. I'm sure we talked about that. That's wild. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, I've met a number of people who were like, yeah, I went there for a year. Yeah, that's the plan. So it was one of those schools where you didn't need to have grades, really. No. You just needed to have a little bread and the willingness. Yeah. I went to one of those liberal arts colleges. It was primarily like sort of upper middle class kids who were not living up to their potential, but they had a very seriously good program for dyslexics.

So it was this weird mixture of stoner Jewish kids from Long Island and earnest dyslexic people. Nice. We're trying to figure out how to function. That's a good combo. That's itself. I can't even read this guy. We both can't, but I'm just high um yeah it's uh it was weird it was a lot of rich kids i saw people shoot heroin for the first time i remember

when i first saw someone shooting up yeah the vomiting right after was that put the kibosh on it for me so does that always happen the vomiting i'm out yeah that doesn't seem like fun yeah i got into vomiting much later due to unchecked diabetes uh oh no but uh yeah i like maybe the second week i was at college it just seemed like you in order to drink and vomit you had to put a lot more work in you really got to drink a lot yeah it seems like if if the heroin is is just okay yeah you might be able to vomit yeah just by doing a little bit with one little bit yeah it's just the shock to the system i like to earn my vomit me too i want to put in the effort uh yeah i i walked into the you know i lived in the dorm and i walked into the little common bathroom area there's like three stalls or whatever and there was just a dude on the floor puke all over the place needle

did he die on the ground no i like i basically shook him awake he was trying to tell me that he was okay he was just sick that's what he kept saying like dude there's a needle on the floor and i'm just sick dude all right man you have your belt around your arm what do you what why are you lying to me i don't give a fuck i'm just trying to figure out why i can't take a shit because you're laying across three stalls. Why are you shooting up in the bathroom? Why don't you shoot up in your dorm room? It's like across the hall.

It was training. He was trained to shoot up in bathrooms when he's out. You know, yeah. You go to a stall. Yeah, you go to a stall. You close the door. You don't lock it. That way when you slump off the toilet of this glamorous lifestyle.

Yeah. Yeah. So I just remember being like whoa i should start drinking that's what i remember thinking oh yeah i need to start drinking i need to do something this isn't it i can't i can't do this yeah yeah i'm gonna build up to it i'll start with pot and alcohol and work my way there did you hit a wall with that or you just you've always been able to manage it? With what? Booze? I drank considerably throughout the early 2000s.

I quit when I found out I was diabetic. So how long do you stay at the University of Kansas? I stayed at the University of Kansas for two years. Again, went to a film school. It's completely pointless. It was basically just a film, they have a film school. It's completely pointless. Yeah. It was basically just a film history degree. Well, I mean, apparently, you know, like, you wanted more of a, you wanted to at least be able to shoot a movie.

I should have just gone to, like, one of these L.A. things, intense year and a half, two years. So you can, Yeah, you can learn camera work and just basically worked for someone for free for a couple years. Get a PA job, I think is what people do. You didn't finish college. No. You just decided to come to Los Angeles? I started doing stand-up when I was in college at KU.

I started going to Stanford and Sons in Kansas City. From 2000 to 2008-ish, I would hang out at the comedy store almost every night, and I would get pretty drunk. And about two hours in, I would just turn into drunk Argus Hamilton. That was what I would do. That was your bit? That was my shtick.

I kind of remember it. That's how I became friends with some of the older comics. I did it to Charlie Hill, and he was like, Oh, this is the best. And he would laugh so hard. Remember how hard Charlie Hill would laugh? You could just hear it for miles. And so anytime someone would be up there,

he would be like, get over here. Argus, come talk to so-and-so. Oh, hey, buddy. Good to see you. I was always hammered. I never knew what year it was. I remember. So, all right.

So after Stanford and Sons, you do your residency. You get your $20. Yeah. Who do you open for? Because usually that's the time when you're in your hometown still. Like I did some gigs after I fucking got all fucked up on Coke at the comedy store before I knew how the business worked. But I remember I opened for, when I went back to albuquerque like jeff foxworthy before he had the redneck hook right guy named jimmy woodard who was like i don't know what

happened to that guy but it's sort of like you start to see how the job works who did you see when you know when you were hosting um i saw uh tracy morgan was the biggest name that came through there yeah what about some of the non-names? Do you remember them? God. Were they just B-room headliner kind of guys? Yeah. There was James Inman was a guy who was- Wasn't he from Seattle, right?

Or Portland somewhere. He was an angry kind of guy. Yeah, yeah. Did the Stanhope spectrum. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. He was doing like, he had a thing then called the greyhound

diaries where it's like a slideshow comedy show where he traveled around america on a greyhound yeah oh okay um but it was like it was different enough like when he would do the random shows throughout the week it was always yelling about uh how we got to take over the local radio station right because they keep playing 38 Special. And we're going to play NoFX and whatever it was, all punk rock shit. There was a whole sort of bunch of guys that kind of, there's not many of them,

but the people that were born out of Hicks have a sort of definition of, they get very angry about bad rock music yeah yeah they do yeah i you know he was i honestly i always thought he was funny he was very angry but um yeah you know that that was kind of one of the local guys he would he was local in kansas city at that point so i'd see him uh i'd see him a few times a month at least he's one of those guys where i'm like he was you know kind of like made a little noise for a minute a while back, and I'm like, I don't know what happens to those guys.

Yeah. That's where he is, huh? Kansas City, where did he end up with a woman? Yeah, I think so. And I honestly don't really know what he's up to. I just know he's still in Kansas City. I see him posting. He's very political-minded.

Everyone's an idiot. Yeah. So, yeah, so I was doing that i still was living uh k.u um walked in on my girlfriend fucking another dude and said all right it's time to make a move that's that's really what shattered me into being you literally walked at him? Literally walked in. And she was in the middle of it? He was pounding that thing out. And he was a dude I knew, a friend of mine.

What did they do? They stopped. And he kind of rolled off of her. And they looked at me like, oh, shit. And I just remember being like what the fuck is going on yeah um i remember the visual of it to me is still that he had a pretty large penis right and being like this is disturbing yeah and um yeah and then it was all the worst things that could happen every every nightmare you could imagine they're going at it they stop

they look at you dick is huge dick is huge still erect yeah and and and there's nothing they can really say no no and then uh yeah then i just remember uh there was a lot of shouting dude laughed obviously and there was a lot of work this out yeah we listen we have some things to talk about uh yeah, we fought. And then at some point, there's a knock on the door. And I answered the door. And it was the dude's roommate, who was also a guy we knew. Did he move his dick here?

He said he left his dick here. He literally was like, is he here? And I go, no, he's not here, man. What the fuck do you want? And he's like, our house is on fire. And I was like, perfect. And then I remember there was like 30 minutes where I was fully convinced, like, I did that with my rage. This is an amazing moment.

It created something within me. I'm powerful. I'm going to Los Angeles. This is the time to strike. And I do remember once I was out here just being like, being very thankful that I moved out here at rock bottom. Yeah. Because it's tough when you're first out here.

Heartbroken. Heartbroken. That first major heartbreak, you had no real skills. None whatsoever. I was an impressionist. I did impressions. That was what my comedy was. When you were hosting at Stanford and Sons, you were doing, who were doing who i wanted to be on saturday night live that was my my dream

that was the next so film direction gonna have to put on hold i i figured i would get famous from a solid three or four year run on saturday night live and then and then i could just make your own thing yeah what what who were the impressions of i did george bush george w bush yeah um uh i did a impression of warwick davis uh the the midget from the movie willow okay that was uh for some reason like a left field impression yeah i thought that was really funny yeah and most of the time the crowd was like who's he doing an impression of and that's how you know you're really doing a good one too esoteric yeah a little guy from the all right yeah i did uh i did impressions of uh dirty seinfeld that was right sure that was a pretty hacky stick i did yeah um yeah i mean that none of them were in any way

really good no dice no i was uninfluenced by dice until he took me on the road and i wasn't really influenced but that was like my first time being introduced to dice comedy was like 2003 yeah you just become an appendage yeah yeah yeah we're going to eat yeah i think i'm gonna stay my come on yeah that's pretty much how it was he was super to me, and he'd always invite me to things. I remember once he was like, hey, we're having a Hanukkah party. I was like, okay. And he was like, you got to come. So I went, and I got there, and it was just me.

And he was like, it's Hanukkah dinner. I mean, why am I here? He was like, if I told you it was Hanukkah dinner, you wouldn't have come. I'm like, yeah, that's true. And it was just me and him and his sons and Eleanor. Eleanor was his girlfriend at the time. Well, that's nice. Yeah, it was nice. He was just me and him and his sons and Eleanor. Eleanor was his girlfriend at the time. Well, that's nice. Yeah, it was nice.

He was always really nice to me. I think he is a nice guy at heart. You know, once you get past the whatever it is. The shtick. Yeah, yeah. Great dad. I remember being like, wow, he's- He does seem to have stability and he seemed to have held on to his money.

Yeah. Yeah, he's definitely like a good Jewish guy. Yeah. You know, loyal guy. People like morning radio people would always get mad when they would, you know, I'd be doing a show somewhere back when I could get booked at random places, and they'd be like, I see you open for Andrew Dice Clay.

You know, I saw him at a gym once, and he was really rude and blah blah blah you know is he kind of a dick i'm like no he's nice dude to me you know i mean he's probably a dick to random people who talk to him at a gym in in tampa or wherever it wouldn't be hey guys hey dickery dickery right i'm doing my workout every time i'm back he's actually a pretty pretty good guy they'd always be like okay yeah and then i'm like no dirt you're not gonna play along so all right wait so you get out here and and uh you're heartbroken and fucked up so how do you end up

at the store what happened what is that um before what's your what's your fucking store story how do you get in there uh before uh before my girl cheated on me she uh me and her had decided we were gonna move to la or new york that was the goal so we came out over christmas break from uh i think sophomore year of college or something i was 20 yeah and uh we just stayed with a buddy of mine's family who lived out in Redondo. Yeah. And my buddy Dave, his dad is one of those guys who's like- Redondo. Yeah, they lived in Redondo Beach.

Yeah. His dad's one of those guys who just thinks he always has the right connection to everything. Yeah. And so I told him, you know, I want to do comedy. I want to look at the comedy clubs. And he said, oh, well, you know, my business partner comedy i want to look at the comedy clubs and and uh he said oh well you know my business partner's son is a comedy manager and maybe he can hook you up yeah it's like yeah cool man yeah so he told me all right he his son said to meet one of his clients at the

comedy store in west hollywood and uh so i went and met this guy named a black comic named freeze love yeah and i guess he was opening for eddie griffin or something at the time um so he met me up there and then i got there early and i was only 20 and they wouldn't let me in and so i was like well this sucks yeah and uh then freeze love got there and he was like man this is the comedy store and there are no there's no rules yeah i was like oh really and so he walked back to the same door guy who i believe was caparillo yeah and uh he was like hey he's with me and he's just like okay and then we just walked in went up watched the show in the belly room like there was that time where where comics were at all the doors it was like they no one's gonna put their ass on the line frame. Hell no. It was just like, all right. Yeah, when I worked the back door,

if it's anyone who wanted to go in, you're in. Yeah, okay. Yeah. Harris-Pete used to yell at me all the time. Why don't you check in? Did you even send them to the front?

There's no one there. Who cares? One guy wants to stand in the back. What does it matter? Harris-Pete holding the line of the old guard of doormen so mad the greatest harris pete performance i ever watched was him telling jeff garland that he needs to go up front and pay at the front and jeff garland i'm on the marquee yeah and he was

like i don't know who you are you got to go up front and just be like he's literally stopping that was the biggest celebrity at the comedy store yeah but someone who should go up front and just be like, he's literally stopping the biggest celebrity at the comedy store. Yeah. But someone who should pay up front. Most likely. We're going to get him fired. Like he's worked here for a thousand years.

You're not going to get him fired. Oh, Garland got him mad at Harris Pete? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Harris was, he was, I enjoyed Harris in that no matter who you talked about, he would be like, he's a piece of shit. Everyone.

What, who? Oh, piece of shit. Except for Jim Varney. Varney was our guy. Varney was the greatest comic that ever performed. Jim Varney? Yeah, that's great. So it's so funny.

You got in the death throes of that generation. So what happened? So you you audition for mitzi i just performed that night and then went back to kansas and was like this i'm gonna move to la because i got to perform at the comedy store in la and that's obviously that's my credit yeah my ticket so uh i i think i was in kansas another six or seven months saw the uh saw the the girlfriend getting fucked and then maybe a month later or two months later something like that i moved to la and uh started doing the open mic and back then

it was like just at the store just at i do all the open mics i did the factory where you have to wait all day you'd sign up at like noon are you doing doing potluck? Doing potluck. Standing on line, the guys dressed in chef hats and garbage bags. Yep, picking out of the bucket. Some weeks not getting a spot when you just see like- Who was running at dawn? No, it was dude Fat James. No, I don't even know Fat James. He was the parking lot guy.

He acted like big time. Was Chewy there when you were there? No, Chewy had been fired maybe two years before. He still came around. Chewy in his you were there? No, Chewy had been fired maybe two years before. He still came around. Chewy in his hat and his bad blow. Yep, his odd job look. Yeah, the odd job. And everyone always says, oh, he's a great blues guitar player.

That's what people said. No idea if that's true. I still would get, when I worked the parking lot, I would still get people once a month. Looking for Chewy. They would come in, hey, is Chewy here? I'd be like, no, he's not. Oh, do you know where I can find him? I'm like, you're going to have to find Blow somewhere else, man. Do you have any Blow?

Oh, man, I could tell you stories about this place. I don't want to hear any stories, man. You can't park here. You'll hear them. You're going to hear all the stories, actually. Yeah, so I did the open mic for like four months, and then Eleanor and uh renna zz and ari shafir those guys got me uh asked me if i wanted to work the door and kind of explain the

process as you know you start here as a doorman and then you get to showcase and then you didn't get the job from mitzi mitzi gave me the job but i to, in order to get in, because Mitzi wasn't watching the potluck then. She would come in, watch showcases. Like when she saw me, she said I could be a doorman. That was where I started. Like it wasn't like you can be a non-paid regular, regular. You can be a doorman. I had to, my showcase for Mitzi was to keep my doorman job.

Okay. So they gave me the job and they're like, at some point, Mitzi's going to watch you. And gonna watch you and she doesn't like you you're gonna get fired just so you know how it works yeah oh yeah and i auditioned for my doorman job there was this dude named drew who was just awful and uh i got hired the same time as him and he was such an idiot me and this other doorman named uh mark hatchell used to just we'd give him horrible advice and really push it yeah and he would always take it yeah we're like you know what people love dogs yeah and he'd be like yeah and he'd be like so if you had the mannerisms of a dog that would make you more likable you think so yeah man so this dude's up there chasing his

tail and stuff on stage, and Mitchie's there. And we're like, dude, you got to do the dog thing tonight. It's going to be kill. And so he's up there. You guys ever notice it? Don't address it. Don't address it.

Just do it. He's doing it. And he gets like a minute and a half into a set, and then you just get him off the stage. And then she fired him, and then we were like, we're kind of dicks. He never had a chance anyway so so the night i i showcased for yeah uh she had like eight people that she wanted to see she came specifically to pass ari shafir that was the the point of her coming that night yeah and uh to pass

the tall jew yeah he he had showcased 20 times everyone said wow he's the new gary shanling or whatever it was that was that was the word that took a turn for the wrong yeah yeah um so yeah she decided she was passing him and she came and she passed him and kirk fox and then she wanted to watch some people and they told me you're not getting up tonight because she has this list of showcase people i said okay and then they came back to me i was at the back door and they said we can't find all these people basically all these people bailed because they didn't want to go up yeah and uh and i'm like what you told me i wasn't going up and i said you got to go up yeah and so i went up and did my three minute set or whatever keep my doorman job. And I did the same bullshit I still do today where I go out and act like the crowd's really excited to see me, whether or not.

Yeah. And I just hear Mitzi cackling in the back. I'm like, well, that's good. There's maybe four people in the audience. There's like no way you can do good. Right, right. I did my three minutes. I got off stage and she gave me the scary old lady finger come over here yeah yeah i'm like

oh god yeah yeah i expected her to be like you know you're fired you're terrible yeah instead she was like oh you're great you got to do more stage time yeah i was like okay where are you from kansas oh good midwest that's good yeah like cool we're done yeah i stood there silently like what am i supposed to do and then she goes she literally goes you can go and i went oh okay i walked straight back to my doorman post and then duncan trussell was the talent coordinator then yeah and he comes back he got my name on the wall yeah that's it he goes hey man mitzi said you're passed and he used to fuck with me all the time so i just thought he was lying to me i'm just like okay man yeah no that's great okay yeah i'm serious okay man and uh and then

the next day they they called me and said i can put in my avails and stuff i'm like really and i had like maybe four minutes at that point i stopped doing impressions yeah because all the all my peers at the comedy store were like, dude, this shit is hacky and terrible. Never do this again. And I, of course, listened to them. And I was like, oh, okay. And so then she gave me a spot opening the show like that week on Thursday.

And I just bombed my ass off for 15 minutes just trying to stretch my four minutes the best I could. Sure. And then, yeah, bringing up Argus. for 15 minutes just trying to stretch my four minutes the best i could sure and uh and then yeah bringing up argus and he gave me the okay hi bud when you bring me up i'm just like uh-huh i remember being so concerned about getting his introduction right what is it it was like some this guy's syndicated exactly right yeah and everyone had told me the one rule of the comedy story is you don't make fun of argus and so i was like okay and so i tried really hard from then after like six months i was like no you know what i think i'm just gonna make fun of argus

this is gonna happen yeah and then that that became my the drunk argus yeah then became drunk argus actually it was just an argus impression has he became drunk Argus. Actually, it was just an Argus impression. Has he seen it? Yeah. And? Hates it. It was just an Argus impression. And then Johnny Carson died. And that night, the impression became drunk Argus.

Right. Because I showed up and people were like, Argus, sorry about Johnny. Well, it was just me, sloppy drunk, yelling about Johnny Carson. I was on there. 26 to 9. It was 1986. I was doing cocaine with Todd Bridges and a young Marky Post. And I was just trying to put together these random connections of 80s celebrities. Yeah.

And that was just what I did when i was not performing i basically lived as drunk argus yeah in my offstage time and so so then you from and that's 2002 yeah it was 2002 2003 and then you just that's when you became a fixture yeah at the store yeah and you were just always you were the guy that was always there because i mean i because i had that experience there myself and i was when i first met you i'm like oh he's the guy that's always here guy yeah it was i i would i stopped basically i worked there five or six nights a week yeah so i was always there and then after that once i got fired from working the door then it's like i could go how

did you get fired from working the door uh i i didn't get my shifts covered on a last second uh paulie asked me to go on the road with him uh-huh uh ren is he i think he was supposed to take steve ren is easy and ren is easy canceled because he booked a commercial or tv thing yeah so paulie called me on wednesday it, dude, we're going to Charlotte, bro. Yeah. And I was like, okay. And I got one of my shifts covered and the other one they wouldn't cover. And I'm like, who cares?

There's no one here. But also, that's the deciding moment. It's like, I'm here to be a stand-up. Yeah. I'm not here to be a door guy. Yeah. I'm going to go on the road with Paulie. And it's Paulie.

So, obviously, this is going to be cool. Yeah. And then, yeah, so then we were- Who fired you? Who was that manager? Dean. Oh, Dean, little bald Dean. Pauly's friend.

Pauly's buddy. Yeah. Really? They couldn't work that shit out? Nope. So you're there like from 2002 on. So you were there. You witnessed the Rogan-Mencia fights.

Yeah, I broke it up. I wandered on stage after like 30 minutes of the who has a bigger dick contest yeah uh dean the same guy manager was like dude someone's got to do something no and there's a bunch of comic doormen going like yeah i'm gonna do it so i i literally i did the the hackiest shit i could think of and i took my shirt off and i walked up on stage while they were arguing yeah and in drunk argus character i give it up for angel salazar and kippadatta and rogan put the mic down and just walked off like i'm not dealing with this shit and then mincia followed him off and then they went and fought off stage and uh and that was a long

time brewing between those two guys yeah it seems to me that when you got there there was always this sort of like jockeying for for leadership like somebody said to me it's like recently like well now that rogan's gone who's gonna be the new alpha i'm like maybe it's just gonna be an egalitarian place where people work on their fucking comedy stupid right like maybe it's just going to be an egalitarian place where people work on their fucking comedy, stupid. Right. Like, maybe it's going back to what it was supposed to be. You know, people, the weird thing is, I think, during the history of that place, people became stars, but it didn't mean they had the run of the place. Right.

And, you know, but they kind of did. You know, they kind of did. You know, in the 70s, you know, Pryor made that place, you know. Right. And Mitzi knew it. And Mitzi encourages shit mitzi was a troublemaker yeah and she you know she encouraged us insanity sometimes she'd let prior and robin williams and them do their shit for an hour or whatever but it was the thing and i could be wrong but from what i've heard over the years and like charlie hill used to tell me a lot of

stories i talked to him a lot about it well you's got to bend the ear of some of these guys it's a sad thing i didn't get to talk to charlie hill because he was like the main native american comic the one of the first ones that made it on television and stuff yeah nice guy super nice dude a lot of weed a lot of weed yeah when i met him he couldn't smoke anymore because of his heart oh and uh mitzi sent me first time in la jolla mitzi sent me with charlie hill for thanksgiving cowboys and indians theme because i was from kansas right cowboy and when i explained to her you know it that thanksgiving is about pilgrims and indians but whatever i was happy to get a la jolla spot um but i was nervous because i never met charlie

and uh i knew we were going to be staying in a condo together and before they redid it yeah when it was when it was like a furniture yeah it was like a murder scene but it was just stains all over that fucking wallpaper the wicker and the wallpaper from the green room the jungle room yeah yeah yeah yeah and it was disgusting like the carpet was right so gross yeah um here it's beautiful now but yeah he he was it was great he got there i'm just like fuck this dude's a lot older than me and you know i think i was 22 or something yeah but he was awesome super nice told a lot of stories generation like even argus how they can still do the job like you know like those guys that have been at it forever and are joke primarily sort of joke tellers like it's sort of astounding

that you know that despite the way argus looks or the fact that no one has any point of reference for him sure that he kind of kills yeah you know it's just it's kind of like it's a testament to because it's not easy no and now he's like it's kind of like soft republicanism and so it's almost like it's almost edgy because- He plays centrist, but I don't know what he is. It's hard for me to figure out what the fuck he is. I just remember he always used to talk about how he is one of the last remaining Southern Democrats. Right.

And I know that basically means Republican. Yeah. But yeah, a lot of his jokes now, I'm kind of like like i'm not even sure what the viewpoint is i just feel like yeah i got tiptoeing the edge of yeah i get that too i got that with eliza recently that's why i lost my shit it's like you just spent five minutes making fun of homeless people with no point at all right other than to make fun of homeless people and that they're an inconvenience to you and you can't punch down any lower than that really yeah and i'm not saying that punching down isn't funny but not all the way down yeah yeah i mean i'm pretty sure i punch down sometimes

sure to do an extended bit about it's too easy and it's weird uh you know it just doesn't plus it's you know it's very austin comedy vibe. All the Austin comedians who kept complaining about all the homeless people and how that's one of the things about L.A. they all want to get away from. Just ignoring the fact that there's a tremendous homeless population in Austin as well. Huge. Good riddance to the Austin comics. So you got to know Charlie. I got to know Charlie, and he kind of just, he told me a lot about the early days. I get very fascinated by places that kind of envelop me, I suppose. But the thing is, is like you're a unique thing.

I was the same way, and not everybody's like that. And you're sort of looked at as a weirdo. Yeah. That if that place speaks to you in some sort of way you can't understand, like if you feel like you're a part of that place going back centuries or whatever, I don't know what that is, but I had it as well. It was just sort of like, oh, I have finally found the place where I belong.

Yeah, that's how I felt. It was like I've always felt odd. I know a lot of it was growing up kind of being weird in Kansas. Everyone there is very much in line with the the we think of yeah this is how you think this is what you do right and i never fit into that and it was truly the first place i ever went where i i won i didn't feel weird like the people who were there were so weird i felt normal right and that was like a riddling effect yeah it was like i'm not the weirdest one here yeah like this is odd yeah like i'm a pretty normal decent person compared to some

of these monsters there was this dude jim painter who to this day was one of the funniest comics i ever watched yeah it just truly made me laugh all the guys of kind of my generation of comedy store people yeah loved him yeah but he was so deranged it was so weird and so what happened to that guy eventually barris kind of started fucking with him yeah and he legitimately just quit and never came back and i think he probably just works a normal job right but i don't know how like that's how weird he was like yeah i don't know how that guy exists in society when i got here in 2002 and that's when i met you and duncan how weird he was. Yeah. I don't know how that guy exists in society. When I got here in 2002, that's when I met you and Duncan. And he was like, oh, man, you know, you're Mark Maron.

I'm like, yeah. He's like, we'll get your name up. Because I was a regular. Yeah. She passed me in 1995 at the Aspen Comedy Festival. Yeah. But they hadn't written names in so long. Because when they painted your name up, it was the same time they painted my name up right and the only reason any of us got our

names was duncan was because kirk fox offered to pay for all of it he wanted his name on the building so bad that he he asked mitzi he said mitzi what if i pay for my name yeah she said no what if i pay for all the names okay really yeah he paid for my name? Yeah. She said, no. He said, what if I pay for all the names? Okay. Really? Yeah. He paid for my name? Kirk Fox paid for,

I think there was like 70 of us. Really? Whose names got put on the building because Kirk paid for it. Wow. And then after that, then it became, Mitzi then kind of started kind of fading out of,

of really kind of being in control. Day to day stuff. And then they started doing it. At first, it was like every two years uh kind of fading out of of uh really kind of being in control day-to-day stuff and uh and then they started doing it at first it was like every two years they would paint more names on there was it the same old guy yeah same dude yeah i don't know that he still does it no but for at least the first five times they started painting names in my era he was the same guy well there used to be a comic that used to like his pictures in the hallway that used to be the handyman. Yeah. Greg Hilbers.

Yeah. Greg, you've seen that picture? Yeah. He's got the camouflage mustache. You're like, is it there? Kind of an acorn haircut. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He was the handyman.

He was one of the main references I would make as Drunk Argus. Greg Hilbers and Greg Eagles, myself, and a young, and it was alwaysry lee reeves or whatever it was just pulling for the pictures yeah that's when i was there man all those people were kind of still around wow you know like i would see like joey cayman okay i would see, like, Damon Wayans was around a lot. Jan Hart, you know, Rick Wright. Yeah. Johnny Dark, Jack Perdue, Tim Jones. They were all, you know, Blake Clark.

Blake Clark was still working. I love Blake Clark. Me too. But, yeah. But they were all still hanging on. Jeff Altman was there all the time. He was still there when I was there. Steve Odenkirk. Yeah.

Oh, God. You know, those were the shows. Harry Basil was still doing comedy. This was what I was watching. Yeah. Fleischer would come in. Yeah. That's what...

Mooney was on all the time Bob was Robert William Aprovaya yeah yeah he would be around talking to himself one one night uh my 25th birthday I got hammered with Robin Williams at the comedy store and I didn't you were the one yeah I didn't realize that he had been sober or whatever and he you did he later told me that he had been drinking for like a couple months at that point yeah but i got smashed with him yeah and i just thought it was cool i'm like oh this guy is a legend wasted same thing drunk argus thing him yeah loving it improvising with that yeah he must have loved you he was loving it yeah he loved to play because he put did he did he duel drunk argus with you no he would just he played a version of himself trying

to calm drunk argus down and my thing was i would just go through his entire resume yeah and tell him how none of it was going to work yeah this tv show about a damn alien no one's buying that crap he's like it was actually really popular i guess no one wants to see that leave it on happy days august listen it was actually really popular and it ended a long time ago well the cadillac man no one wants to watch that and uh and then he his thing was he was like what's so funny about this is imagine someone is the teacher's pet at your school and everyone kind of resents him. And then you go away for 25 years and you come back and there's someone you don't know just mocking that teacher's pet. It's almost enjoyable in a weird twisted way.

The funny thing is, is that he's still the teacher's pet to her spirit. Dead. Yeah. Yeah. Still get spots. No one's going to fucking stop it now peter won't let him right because peter's just like yeah whatever he did his time he made mom happy i guess but it's so he's the only one though i know so at the end of the night though robin we're standing in the hallway just drunk and he's like telling me how much fun he had and how you know made him feel young yeah like back in the day and i'm just like this is really cool yeah he likes me he thinks i'm making his life fun yeah and then robert william aprovia goes on stage and he's like what the fuck he goes i was here 20 years ago and this guy was wandering around i go well he's worse

oh oh oh oh oh woman jello this guy's rambling on stage about jay leno conspiracies and yeah yeah wow but yeah i just remember the constant yeah yeah he's he's been here for decades yeah creeping people out yeah i still feel like i'm part of that place like they were like last year before the the pandemic so i wouldn't hang around at night because it was not my life anymore. But now that all the fucking swinging dicks are gone, it actually feels nice to be in the hallway. I like it. I remember one time I was back in the hallways before the pandemic and Lou Dino's come in. And nobody knows that guy.

But I didn't really know him but I knew of him and I'd met him before you know he was like you know Lou Dino was like one of Dice's guys I think briefly and he was you know he was a guy right and like these people I always love when they come in and they kind of like they're amazed that the place sort of still looks the same but they don't know anybody right so when you go like hey Lou Dino they're like they light up they get so excited right someone knows they exist right yeah greg hilbert same thing yeah i saw him at the store they kind of sometimes they'll just they literally kind of manifest out of the

picture yeah in their own their their current cells yeah i saw hilbert's one night uh he i think he was doing argus's basement oh is that what he was there for it must have been the same night yeah because him and bruce bomb were both oh bruce were both there and i just remember being like i i saw him i'm like is that the dude and then i asked him i'm like who's that i don't know some old comic yeah and so i went down uh to see what they were filming or whatever argus was doing someone was like yeah oh do you know greg i'm like i knew it yeah i recognize him just from the the ghost the photo so so tommy's the guy in charge tommy's running things for the most of your tenure early on yeah and he's giving like half hour spots to caprulo and to rogan which seemed unorthodox to me yeah and everyone just was okay with it and

basically every night eddie griffin would come in at like 11 30 and nobody's there no one's there no audience no audience it's the dark time yeah the dark years so these guys like eddie are coming in thinking like wait wait let's go let's go to the store yeah and he's he usually would bring a crew of like three or four guys with them and he would go in the he'd literally just walk into the walk-in freezer and take a bottle of champagne out and start drinking it. Yeah. And at like midnight,

he would go on stage and then he would ramble on. Nobody there. No one there. There'd be like, there'd be as many people in his crew as there was in the audience. Wow.

And he would ramble on for like three hours. Wow. He's like, I'm smart. I went to Harvard and Yale. Andble on for like three hours wow i'm smart i went to harvard and yale and i'm like looking it up he didn't he didn't go to college at all why would you yeah it always blew me away when people lie about their history in modern day which is like we can literally check all that no it's like but just the, like when that place gets untethered, like imagine when she started to drift. It's my belief that once she started to drift,

you know, the place was losing its life force. Yeah. But Tommy had the run of the place and he was like, it was, I used to say like, it's like, is she even alive? Yeah. Like he used to come up to me and go,

Mitzi, what do you want? So you have the fourth spot. I'm like, it's like the Bates house. I mean, he would, we all believe that there was a weekend at Bernie's scenario going on for a solid five or six years. Yeah. Because he'd always do the same thing. Well, you know, Mitchie said the kid from Kansas, that's how she refers to you.

Yeah. No, it isn't. Yeah. And he used to do it to everyone. And one night, Holtzman flipped out on him. And he was like, well, you know, Mitchie said this. And Holtzman's like, I was at her house today she didn't say that he started screaming at him at the front cover booth and was he at her house today yeah holtzman had gone over and visited her so he knew that

everything tommy was saying yeah was utter bullshit yeah but it was just tommy truly believed that she spoke through him without having to speak to him. Right. And it was like this weird, like he felt possessed. It was like Steve Martin and all of it. Was he writing in her handwriting too? Probably. I remember she used to write to all the schedules. Yeah, so he was in charge. And when he took over talent coordinator.

From Duncan. From Duncan. It was 100% based on on Paulie was making that fake reality show minding the store yeah and he wanted there to be a talent coordinator character that he could abuse basically yeah and Duncan was like I'm not doing that yeah and so Tommy fell into the role what was he doing how did he get that where was he he was the he was a phone guy a couple days a week, and he worked a cover booth three nights a week.

That's where he started. And that was literally all he did. Yeah. And he would just sit in the cover booth, at this point not a talent coordinator, and still tell everyone, well, you know, I'm one of the funniest people here. I choose not to go on stage.

Oh, right. And he'd be like, oh, okay. Anyway, I'm just checking in. Put my name on the list. No audiences. No audiences, right. And he'd be like, oh, okay. Anyway, I'm just checking in. Put my name on the list. No audiences. Dark times. No audiences, yeah. And so the one thing Tommy did that I thought was good

was he really started trying to just, I guess, push out some of the element of the leftovers from the 90s who weren't making an effort. Then it was basically, like, Rogan was basically the 90s who weren't who weren't making an effort then it was basically like rogan was basically the only name who would he would do like an hour in the middle of the show right and that was just kind of the way it was yeah and then uh you know he'd put in sebastian's and caparillo's those guys started kind of being the the meat of the right lineup uh brett ernst maz jabrani yeah um i haven't seen brett ernst around i think he moved away i think he moved away like four or five years ago he moved to ohio or something out of the business i think he just

does road gigs now he's on cover kai yeah yeah yeah um yeah i think he yeah he got married or whatever i believe that's what what happened to him but yeah they those were the guys who basically the lineup was basically the same yeah every night and then rogan was like super aggressive then i don't know if he was not smoking pot yet or what what the deal was but it was like it was way more yeah aggressive right and he would fight with people a lot in the crowd yeah i remember there was a lot of like choking people out on the patio threats to do so right and he always had like the mma guys with him right um but yeah it was it was way more aggressive and maybe he just got more famous and just

didn't want to deal with people. I think he made a choice to be better. Yeah. Yeah. It was... Pot, I think, made a difference. I do too. Yeah.

Like, it went super mellow in comparison. Yeah, it's just like... I mean, that place, you know, there was a period there where it was sort of like gang-ridden. Yeah. Before you were there. The late 90s, mid-90s. You know, it was a period there where it was sort of like gang ridden. Yeah. Before you were there. The late 90s. Yeah.

Mid 90s. You know, where it was people shooting and guns. Yeah. Like, it's weird how- Tupac and people were hanging out and fighting. Letting things take over. Yeah. Forces.

But then all of a sudden she was no longer a force and Tommy was doing his number. And I had to kiss Tommy's ass because when I got back to LA in 2002, I had no traction. No one gave a fuck about me. And I was running around trying to do alt rooms and you know i just wanted to be it took me a long time when i finally got comfortable in the or it was such a huge day for me to to to finally and that was you know in 2003 or 4 where like i was getting spots tommy was giving me i was getting the respect i deserved as a guy who was a professional comedian and they're like part of that place but like you know i was still terrified to go on you know do you know when you start going doing the or and you're like i can't see anybody yeah i'm just i can't just float who am i talking to

yeah is there even anyone listening yeah i i had many nights going through that psychological but once you don't give a fuck what a great room yeah it's about my favorite i don't it's ridiculous that they still only pay 20 for it but at the same time in terms of just a good comedy room low ceiling everything's dark all of a sudden not be afraid of those rooms was such a huge thing for me like there's still so much of me that lives at that place. Like, now that, like, all the, like, now, you know, all the people that were just cowering in cracks and crevices are now sort of like, hey, we can talk in the hallway. You know, like, Fahim. Yeah.

And, like, you know, like, you know, people are hanging around. Yeah. Like, nice people. Excited. It's like, oh, my God. I honestly love the crew that's there now. It's great. Since we, since the COVID. The sweep. Yeah. crew that's there now. It's great. Since the COVID.

The sweep? Yeah. Yeah, since the sweep. It's awesome. It's the first time in probably 10 years that I enjoy offstage as much as I, not as much, but as close as can be to the onstage feelings. It feels sweet. It feels like there's people excited to do the work.

Yeah. What is your job there now? the onstage feelings. It feels sweet. It feels like there's people excited to do the work. Yeah. You know, and to sort of like, what is your job there now? Do you have a job on the inside or are you just doing standup? I just do standup. I have a podcast I started doing at the store. That's part of like,

they're starting their own podcast network. Didn't I do it? That was the old one I did. We're talking about bringing that back. That's just the comedy store podcast. Right. You and Eleanor. Me and Eleanor, yeah.

And now I'm doing one with Sarah Tiana where it basically influenced off of crowd work where she just brings in normal people. Oh. And I basically crowd work them for 20 minutes. When did you realize that that was going to be your thing? was gonna be your thing there was a comic named Freddie Soto yeah who passed in the mid 2000s and he he was he was like one of the bigger names yeah kind of up-and-coming guys when I was working there I remember a Latino guy yeah a very funny guy loved him and he he'd watch me some nights just because he was hanging out. He'd always tell me, always, it was like three conversations, but he would be like, you're

way funnier than you are on stage. And I was just doing straight jokes. Yeah. You know, this is happening and blah, blah, blah. Right. It was like last comic standing style. Right. Obvious jokes. And he'd just be like, dude, you're funny off stage. Yeah. You got to figure this out. Yeah. happening and blah blah blah right it was like last comic standing style right obvious jokes and

he'd just be like dude you're funny off stage yeah you got to figure this out yeah the robot you are on stage it's not who you are it's so hard because i've told people that and most people can't really hear it they don't know what to do with it yeah but like there's a lot of people like that it's like you know what are you doing up there yeah like yeah you're making up a thing It's like, you know, what are you doing up there? Yeah. Yeah. You're making up a thing that is like not serving who you really are. Yeah.

They're not getting anything about you. Yeah. And it's not, it's not like it's doing so well that you're like, well, this is what I have to do. It's like, yeah, you're doing mediocre at best. Well now like there's no truth to it. So that's when he started to. So he just, he was like, even if you got to start going up there with no plan and just trying to figure out who you are.

Do it. Then do it. Wow. And so I started doing that more. You got hooked on it? Yeah. And then it was like the rush of like. Yeah.

Because when I started comedy, I didn't realize that people do the same shtick every night. And I should have known that. Yeah. But. We all, even you, you got to repeat a few things. Yeah. night. And I should have known that. Even you, you got to repeat a few things. Yeah, and I do. Now I do, I would say half of my set is probably material. But the material I do feels authentic to me. Yeah, because you can throw it in any time.

Yeah, and it comes from something that I probably developed from talking to a crowd. Right. But it just feels genuine to me. Because you don off stage i don't know when it's gonna happen yeah yeah you know there's sort of like like because like i have bits like i've been doing it so long i know that you know i did three or four fucking cds and specials before anyone knew who i was right so there's this weird resource yeah of bits and pieces that kind of drop in occasion I'm like that's that's okay I know no one knows that joke yeah no I I remember when you first started showing up just being like yeah I guess he was around someone told me like yeah he was

around in like the kinnison cocaine days I'm like oh okay and then uh a girl that I knew from college was out visiting and we were hanging out the the comic store, and you walked by, and she was like, is that Marc Maron? And I was like, yeah. And she was like, oh, man. She talked about your radio show or something. Oh, yeah. And how great it was.

Yeah. And I'm like, oh. And then the girls, super cool. Yeah. A girl I knew whose opinion of funny things and movies and stuff I liked. Yeah. So I'm like, oh, Maren must be cool. Passed her test.

But other than that, I honestly didn't know that much about you. Well, I was thinking about that last night because I almost brought it on stage last night. I was going to, you know, like some nights I'm just sort of like, I still get this seeing where like I've gotten like I just right when the pandemic lift, I'm like, I'm going every night. I got to work out. Yeah. I went and plowed through an hour night. I got to work out. Yeah.

I went and plowed through an hour and a half last week at Dynasty Typewriter. But then, like, last night, I'm like, I'm not feeling it, man. Like, this crowd's really good, and it makes me hate them. Yeah. You know, like, and I was going to go, and Segura was on. But, like, it wasn't like, you know, it wasn't like his crew. It wasn't. Yeah.

It was just a good crowd. Yeah. Crowds have been pretty good. Yeah. And I was like, fuck it. I like his crew. It wasn't. It was just a good crowd. Yeah. Crowds have been pretty good. Yeah. And I was like, fuck it. I'm going to go fuck this up. And I just started thinking about how, like, I'm relieved to be a guy that just kind of plugs along. Like, you know what I mean?

It's like I never got the type of success where a large swath of the country would be disappointed with my next special. Right. Do you know, like, the weight of me is not competing with me. There's a lot fewer of them, and there's more of the, like, who the fuck is this guy? Right. There's still, most people are still like, I think I've seen this guy. You can exist in the world. And do the work.

Yeah. Yeah. You can work shit out. People aren't like, like oh it's not like if you watch chris rock not have a great set it does it on purpose though yeah it's like if you watch chris rock in the club you're being used right to just see if the mathematics of his jokes work sure he's just he's just gonna sleep through his jokes yeah and then when he has to do them for real money he will turn on they'll turn it up, for sure.

Does the skeleton work and then add the body? Right. And I get that. Yeah. That's working out. I've actually been doing legit jokes lately, a few of them. I get bored with them so quickly.

Yeah. I wrote this joke about how, you saw that one about my cats are acting weird. Yeah. I think there's going to be an economic collapse. Yeah. And that's, to me, it's a great joke. It is. But I'm tired of it.

You're already burnt out. Yeah, I can't sell it. You know what I mean? What I think is funny is you're doing a bit now, and I won't do the whole bit obviously, but it's about people having kids and how you have cats. And the difference is, when I follow you, I'm standing in the whole bit, obviously, but it's about people having kids and how you have cats. Yeah. And the difference is, when I follow you, I'm standing in the back like, fuck, I had a kid during the pandemic. Oh, you're the guy.

Yeah. And then I'm like, God damn it. I don't always put that in there. And then you said something about having to put your cat down. Oh, yeah, yeah. And then I'm like, oh, thank God I had to put my dog down during the pandemic, too. So I'm both worlds. It's not personal.

Oh, yeah. I don't take it as a personal attack. When I watch the crowd love that bit, I'm like, fuck. That's what I was noticing, too. The stuff that you're doing that's political or motivated by anger and real social criticism, there's more of that yeah and there's more lines about and they're solid and you kind of slip them in you know in the middle of the reverie yeah yeah absolutely i love that because people are like what what just what did you just

and then boom you're on to the next thing yeah yeah but i try i feel that the focused anger is good yeah i i honestly feel like you know i've been doing comedy for 21 years now i've been in la for 19 years doing comedy all the time yeah and i've never had any level of success to where i can take time off right and so i i never would have felt comfortable doing it but being forced to do it i honestly feel like it really helped me for a solid four or five months i was like i just needed to depressurize yeah from doing it and then after that then i started getting super antsy about it where i'm like all right well now i'm my brain feels rested and oh that's weird because i felt like i'm not gonna do it anymore really yeah i

don't miss it at all and maybe i'm'm better. That's really what I thought. I think I'm all better. Yeah, no, maybe six months. That's how I was. I'm just like, this is good. And after that, I'm like, fuck, I got to do something. And you had a baby. Yeah.

And you have a wife. I have two kids, yeah. You have two kids? Yep. And yeah, met my wife at the comedy store. How's it going? It's good. Yeah, what does she do?

She's a journalist. Okay. She's a writer. She was a Reuters correspondent. Oh, okay. You guys It's good. Yeah. What does she do? She's a journalist. Okay. She's a writer. She was a Reuters correspondent. Oh, okay. You guys are holding up? Yeah. Got health insurance and everything?

Yeah, man. Okay. She's a legit adult. Oh, really? It's pretty nice. Yeah. Oh, good. Yeah, she's cool.

She's Israeli, so she doesn't have American- Wild, keeping you in line? Yeah, definitely. She definitely is. Look at Luke Schwartz. He's like, I got married. I'm like, yeah, to a doctor. I'm like, what the fuck?

Yeah. When he got married, I was saying, I'm like, wait, that guy has a girlfriend? Yeah. Yeah. Good for him. Yeah. Got married to someone with a real life. But he's one of those good kids.

Yeah. He's a good kid. I used to see people like, I remember when I first met Esther Povitsky, you know, and she was just sort of trying to figure out where she belonged. And I was literally like, don't go to the store. Yeah. It's going to ruin you. Yeah.

Little Esther's not. Yeah. It's like, you know, just take care of, you know, who you are because that place is going to be in there. But she did all right. She stuck it out. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I always advise people, get out of here. Yeah. Where were you in 2004 when I needed that, Mark? I was there. I would have told you. If you would have just told me. I told fucking Duncan Trussell, I'm like, you don't want to be a satellite comic.

Get out from under Joe. Yeah. And he was like, he remembers that. Yeah. It didn't quite happen too quickly. Because he's one of the guys that built Joe. Yeah. Like, he gave, like, him and diaz gave joe

fundamentally was not a drug guy there's sort of that side of him like for sure you know that the mellow out and yeah alter your mind and uh yeah there's a big chunk of uh trussell perception in that joe implanted yeah i agree yeah yeah i love duncan duncan is great he's one of the most genuine and bizarre human beings i've ever met but has like a truly good essence yeah yeah he's like wow this is a good dude it is great he's one of the funnest people to make laugh yeah because he'll cackle yeah yeah yeah duncan's great yeah he was like i said when i started and again i remember being kind of like irritated by it yeah but having been a part of that place for so long now now it makes perfect sense i'm a 21 year old kid who shows up yeah and i'm talking shit to

people yeah like i just remember being such i remember at one point paulie pulled me aside while i was talking shit to some old paid regular yeah and he's like dude what are you doing yeah there's this guy named jeremy dingle i don't even know that guy yeah he did this weird you know he had an audio track that he played and you know he acted out sound effects and shit and so one night he was there and i just started ripping into him just being to his face to his face wow i'm just being yeah why don't you go up there and do some fucking sound effects, man? Whatever it was.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just trying to show I have a big dick. The brittle swagger. And just like, no one laughing. Everyone just kind of looking at me like, why did we hire that douchebag?

Yeah. And Pauly being like, dude, you gotta stop that. I've grown to love Pauly, really. Pauly's a lot cooler than he used to be.

It's just like, you know, he finally is completely self-aware in some way. Yeah, like he does self-deprecating jokes. But I like how he's like, I used to be the weasel, and then by the end of the 15, he is the weasel. Yeah.

That's who I am. Pauly grows there. Yeah. He used to be such a douche to me that I had this resentment for the longest time it's so impotent now whatever like like he can't he can't manage it anymore i remember giving him a line yeah when i was on the road with him and him being like dude that's not funny but it was like a self-deprecating joke yeah but it was 2003 and he wasn't far enough away from being in movies sure to where he was

ready to oh yeah he also thought he was he also was you saw his future as being the the king of that place yeah and that all that whole someone's got to write that fucking book yeah if anyone cares i'm just so happy everybody the people that love the place love it and they worked it like even jeselnik has come around. I remember years ago I said to him, I said, like, what if they can't sell this place? He's like, well, it's just another fucking room. And now he's sort of like born again. He's like, I love this place.

He's a dude that, he's one of the guys that I've talked about with like, who's the alpha. Yeah. And I'm like, yeah. To me, it honestly feels like now there's a bunch of what the alphas would consider betas right but we just respect each other right which is yeah an amazing yeah vibe no it's just about the work yeah it's not about like you know this fucking weird energy that has to pervade everything you know all right buddy. Thanks, man. Did we cover it all? There's more. Yeah.

We barely dented. Yeah. What about more Tommy stuff? Dude, we're only to 2006. We'll pick it up another time. Yeah. All right. I'll talk to you tonight probably.

I appreciate it, man. Yeah. Okay. Rick Ingram. You can listen to him on the Comedy Store podcast, and you can see him at the Comedy Store almost any night that they're open. Here comes the noodling. Here it comes. Thank you. ¶¶ Boomer lives. Monkey.

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