WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1523 - Eddie Pepitone

Episode Date: March 21, 2024

This is Eddie Pepitone’s 25th appearance on WTF, by far the most appearances on the show for anyone other than Marc. And yet Eddie and Marc have never had a full length one-on-one talk in the garage. They attempt to do so in this episode, despite of Eddie’s aversion to linear logic and his aggressive style of comedic free association. Will they stay on track? Will they be able to follow through on at least one thought? Find out as they also try to come up with a central concept for Eddie’s upcoming comedy special. 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.

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See app for details. Alright, let's do this. How are you? What the fuckers? What the fuck buddies? What the fuck, Nick? What's happening? I'm Mark Maron. This is my podcast.

How's it going? What's happening? Today, people, Eddie Pepitone. Eddie Pepitone is here. He's probably been on more episodes of WTF than any other guest 24 times. That's crazy. Oh, I know why, because in the first two years of the show,

we did a lot of live ones and we did a lot of shorties, but we didn't, I don't know that we never did a full-length one-on-one talk With no one else on the mics So this is a historical day. It's Eddie Pepitone day Yes Look, I'm gonna be in Atlanta, Georgia tomorrow night at to be in Atlanta, Georgia tomorrow night at what's in Buckhead. I don't know if that's sold out or not.

Here are the new cities and dates I've announced for my tour this year. I got Asheville, North Carolina, Nashville, Tennessee, Louisville, Kentucky, and Lexington, Kentucky. Those are from like August 8th through 11th, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, California, August 22nd through 24th, Iowa City and Des Moines, Iowa, September 5th and 6th in Kansas City, Missouri on September 7th, Tucson, AZ, September 20th, Oklahoma City, Dallas, Houston,

and San Antonio, oh my God, October 3rd through 6th, Boulder, Colorado, October 19th, Joliet, Illinois, Skokie, Illinois, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, that's in October 24th through 19th, Joliet, Illinois, Skokie, Illinois, and Grand Rapids, Michigan. That's in October 24th through 26th and I just added Napa, California on November 9th. You can go to wtfpod.com slash tour for all the venues and for the links to the tickets. And I've got all those dates that are coming up in the next few weeks too. My God. This is it though. As you know, as I always say, this is probably the last one. Um, uh, yeah, I don't know what's gonna happen. The shows have been good. I don't mind being out there, but I did get pretty exhausted.

The last time I went out there, I don't know what it was, but in looking back on it, in Providence, Rhode Island, I ate at a place called the Plant Factory and it was good, but they had these onion rings. And they were like heavy, big ass onion rings. And they were just fried and had like a real thick batter to it. They were fucking amazing. But in all honesty, I do think it took me a week to recover from it, both physically, mentally, energy wise. So I got to be careful out there. Got to be careful, man. I got to be careful on the road with the with onion rings, with too much fried food. It's the tricky thing about the vegan thing.

Sometimes you got to find the place. And also, hey, thank God, right? Thank God this is my problem now. Where do I find something to eat that's not going to exhaust me or ruin my body? It's a little easier now. At least I'm not doing the drugs, right? Not out there partying. Could you imagine that? That fucking 60 being out there, hitting that shit, the booze, the drugs. I could- man, this is my 25th year sober. It's fucking crazy. But you know what's even crazier? Is that uh, I had a weed dream last night, a weed dream. And they're not dramatic. They're just like, but it was one of those dreams where I woke up and I felt like I'd smoked weed. And in that waking consciousness I was like, have I always been smoking weed? How many times have I smoked weed since I've been sober?

Am I living a double life of a weed smoker? And I just remember in the dream, I think it was like, it's a dated weed dream. Cause when I did weed, they didn't have it in stores. Like you couldn't just go buy it. Like I've noticed people who smoke weed now, they'll just leave roaches around. They'll put them out in an ashtray like a fucking cigarette with plenty of weed left in it.

That's fucking crazy. Back in my day, you smoked that thing down. You smoked that roach down to you, burnt your fingers and there was nothing but maybe a centimeter of resin soaked rolling paper left. And if you were industrious or whatever the word is, you could throw that in a pipe with a half loaded bowl and kind of get that resin hit.

But that's old school stuff. But in the dream, for some reason, I was opened the trunk of a car and there was a roach in there. And there was a couple of guys with me, I don't know who they were. And we're just hitting on this roach in there and you know there was a couple of guys with me I don't know who they were and you know we're just hitting on this roach like it was the last bit of weed on the planet earth and I felt in my dream that that that compulsion that need like you know I gotta smoke this, man. And yeah, I woke up high, kinda, or guilty,

or not knowing what was real and what wasn't. But it's not always a great sign, when you're a sober person, to have the old drug dream. Maybe it's some sort of like, hey pal, maybe you should go to a thing. Why don't you go to the clubhouse? Yeah, do a secret society meetup. Why don't you do that?

I did do one. Last week it was a specific one I ended up at for weed. Actually, because I brought a friend there and maybe that's what did it. It didn't plant the message of recovery in my brain, it planted the message of weed. Oh my god. Let's break it down people. Let's fucking break this down. Should we? Sometimes it's nice to be surprised and our sponsor Rocket Money surprised me with something I didn't even know existed. You know all those subscriptions you signed up for over the years? Sometimes you stop using them and then they just sit on your credit card costing you money

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But these are things I don't do anymore and I no longer have the obsession to do them. But I think we should acknowledge together that the wee dream was pretty specific. And I have to think about that. My question is, is there some part of me inside that's sort of like, dude, you know, when you get to the other side of it, like let's say, you know, you finally figure out a way to wind down, pull out and go sit somewhere,

perhaps in New Mexico, perhaps in another cabin like place, somewhere. Is there part of me that's sort of like, yeah, then I can sit down, smoke some weed. Finally, I can reward myself for a lifetime of sobriety and hard work and just fall into a perpetual cloud of cannabis. Yes, just sitting there, old man Marin. Would it be okay if I pulled out my old timey pot pipe that I used to carry around my pocket?

Just me and my, not even an old man, kind of classic old man man not a corn cob pipe just a little kind of a teak wood kind of little teeny but just me holding a little teeny pop pipe on my porch eyelids half open thinking the big thoughts understanding the big things connected to all of it now making a good case a good case. Making a good case for the big payoff. For the... Finally! And I can just go into a store when I'm 70 and be like

I'd like to buy me some weed for the first time in 40 years! However long it takes. Oh man! I gotta deal with this. Gonna have to nip it in the bud. The stinky bud, right? however long it takes. Oh man, I gotta deal with this. Gonna have to nip it in the bud, the stinky bud, right?

Am I right? Don't worry about me, I'm okay. I'm just living, I'm just doing a little fantasy. I'm just doing a little kind of a, but isn't that weird that when you have that kind of brain, like what is the big payoff? I've already, you know, I already figure, you know, like obviously no kids, got some money saved, but it's going to be me sitting there with me, maybe somebody else,

and it's like what is it? What is the trophy? What's the big win? But when you got a when you got an addict brain, it's sort of like finally I can sit down and just smoke a bowl after 40 years That's crazy because right now I'm back in the nicotine loop with these dumb zens and like, you know It starts off sort of like hey, these are better like I can only I just do a few a day But it just fucking escalates God damn it never ends But I'm okay. I'm alright doing the gym I just do a few a day, but it just fucking escalates. God damn, it never ends. But I'm okay. I'm all right.

Doing the gym. Everything's all right. Gonna get, I'm gonna do some ankle stabilizing exercises. Got a new pair of boots. I'm all right. We're going out there. Hey, I'm gonna do a music show at Largo. It's up, I think it's on the 27th, it's at the website.

If you're in LA, I can tell you the song list, if that'll entice you. I don't know who the other comics are, but it's me and the band. I think I wanna call the band the Song Butchers. But we're gonna do, he's gone by the dead. We're gonna redo Photograph by Ringo Starr, which we haven't done in a while. We're gonna do, you can't put your. We're gonna redo Photograph by Ringo Starr,

which we haven't done in a while. We're gonna do You Can't Put Your Arms Around to Memory, Johnny Thunders. And we're gonna do Wild One Forever, Tom Petty's first album. We're gonna do Going, Going Gone because that's just become necessary, the Dylan song. And I think we might do,

I'm waiting for the man, the Lou Reed tune, because Keith did it, I think maybe we should do a version of that, but I'm also toying with the idea of Alejandro Escovedo's Last to Know. I talked to Alejandro, that'll be coming up in the future. That album, Alejandro Escovedo's Gravity, is one of the best albums ever. And I was so thrilled to talk to him,

but I'll talk about that more when he's here. All right, so do we do all the business? I'm not gonna smoke weed. Don't worry, I'm not. Oh my God, so much weed around. I'm not building toward it. This isn't a cry for help. I know where I'm at.

Just sharing a dream that I had, the feelings that it made me feel, and also a you know a possible Future plan but way down the road way down the road Don't worry about it. It's not it's not real. It's just a fantasy. You know, I mean kind of like the cabin All right Eddie pepitone is One of the greats one of the underappreciated greats, and I love him.

You can listen to Eddie's podcast, Apocalypse Soon, and if you're in Chicago, Eddie just announced that he'll be taping his new special at Lincoln Hall on Friday, May 31st. Go to eddiepepetone.com for tickets and to check out his other tour dates. This is me and the wonderful Eddie Pepitone. on select locations. See app for details. On April 3rd. You must be very careful, Margaret. It's the girl. Witness the birth. Bad things will start to happen. Evil things of evil.

It's all for you. No, don't. The first omen. I believe the girl is to be the mother. Mother of what? Is the most terrifying. 666. It's the mark of the devil.

Hey! Movie of the year. It's not real, it's not real. What's going on? Who said that? The first Omen. Only theaters are full-fed. Dude, injuries, wow. What do you got?

I tore my Achilles on first on my left foot, then on my right foot, 10 years apart, both times playing basketball, but tearing your Achillesilles man. How do you even fix that? Surgery the way they got to stitch it back together. They got to reach up and pull it down like a fucking rubber band Yeah, and and and try to yeah First time yeah, I had just gotten a Colorado What what do you mean? You just gotten a Colorado? I had just gotten to Colorado to teach kids improv in a place called Perry Mansfield performing arts camp. Is this some other life you led?

A little bit. A little bit. Ha ha ha! Fucking, have to get a special mixer for your fucking laugh. See? Ha ha ha! Look at all these fucking guitars. Wait, there's only a few. Wait, so tell me, okay, so you get out there. Oh dude, first night. Where was it, wait, so what era was this of Eddie Papatone?

Is this earlier, just post-New York? Let's see, I'm 60 fucking five now. How you feeling? I feel good because- Any heart problems? I'll tell you, I'll tell you, man. The fucking, the doctor like years ago told me you have a calcified-

Yeah, I got some of that. You have a calcified. Yeah, I got some of that. You do? Calcified calcium. Neck. Neck? What do you mean neck? I guess there's a neck artery.

I got some plaque in my pump. Checked it like a decade ago. Right. I got the calcium scan, because Kinler was like, oh you can just go pay for it. Just go to see the sign and pay cash. Get the calcium scan. I'm like, okay. You know, they got a full body now that you can pay a flat fee and they'll fucking CAT scan your whole body

or MRI or something. Full body scan. Why would you just pay a flat fee? You have health coverage, right? Yeah, because it's not something your health coverage, right? Is there not coverage? Yeah, because it's not something you're health covered. Yeah, you're just sort of like, hey, I'm a fucking nut job, and I thought maybe this full body scan would be good for me.

What do you think, will you pay the 25K or 10K or whatever the fuck it is? Is it that much? I don't know, don't you have any rich friends? Ask Apatow, I think he got. You didn't get it then? No. How come?

You're rich. I didn't know it was an option. And I don't know if I wanna do that. Did you just found that? I just found out about it. I like to go- They scared me. They scared me to fuck.

I went to Cedar Sinai for this scan. Yeah. And they fight this fucking cardiologist. I was doing the vegan thing back then. I'm vegan now. Over a year. Is that right? Good for you, man. I, I did it. I remember when you did it. Close to eight years. now, medical grade glucothione. But what does medical grade garbage mean? I don't know why you're so angry at that. I'm not. I take all kinds of fucking supplements.

I guess, well, they're very expensive. But what companies? Made by doctors, it's called. That's the name of the company. Oh, they got you on the hook, huh? Made by Doctors, that's a hustle. What brand supplement do you have? Frank, put on the machine that makes the pills.

Yeah. What the fuck are you doing? We're gonna sell these in a lab coat. These fuckers will come crawling to us. Glucothione. They were recommended by. Glucothione. Yeah, have you heard of it?

Yeah, maybe. I think maybe I've taken. You're supposed to clear out your liver and I do feel better. I've had, you know what, man? I've had a bad fucking stomach for a long time. How's your pancreas? You know anything about it?

What do you know about the pancreas? We know anything about it? What do you know about the pancreas? We should be on a park bench. Yeah, we are. We are. This is, this is what happens. Virtual. Every, every, anywhere there are guys over 60 talking, it's a park bench.

I'm doing a new joke about that. About how when you get to a certain age, every conversation you have with somebody about your age is sort of a personal-based trivia game. Here, like, so where was that place we went that time? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Santa Fe, yes, all right, that's one for you. All right, you go. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The glucazion is like my latest little... Made by doctors. Doctor, yeah.

What is it? That's the brand? Doctors Made. That's the brand. It's called Doctors Made? Something like that. Made by doctors. I don't fucking know. But I have to tell you, I feel better. Sure. I don't know if it's psychological, but my stomach has felt better.

I was taking, this is really funny. Let's pull the mic back a little, just because you laugh so much. Yeah, yeah, this was really, I was just so funny that I'm about to mention me taking antacids at night, every night, famatidine or something. Sure.

And then they, then my fucking gastroenterologist, I do all these through cedar cyanide, you know, I try to get the best. Do you call it cyanide when you get there or? Well, how, how is it pronounced? Cyanide? Look how it's spelled. I'm such an asshole. Cyanide.

Cyanide. What did I say? There's no Y in there. You're like, you're very close to cyanide. Cedars cyanide. Oh, cyanide. Ha ha ha ha. Hmm.

All right, so the gastroenterologist. Anyway, and this is so funny. I'm just thinking that I try not to. Let's finish one, let's try to land one thing. So the gastroenterologist said what about the anacetamines? I get a colonoscopy every three years. I'd get one every week. Just to fucking clean out my system like that.

Okay, so how did it end with the gastroenterologist? What are you saying? Well, I think he's really good, but these fucking antacids, famatidine, they then said they give you cancer. Do you remember that about a certain antacid? No, I'm not reading the same papers you are. I mean, I don't keep up.

It's my college newspaper. That's the only one I read, College of Staten Island, which... They're the cutting edge of truth. Absolutely. Yeah, in research. Absolutely. Pete Davidson, the editor. Yeah.

So, okay, so he said get off of those because they cause cancer. And then what are you doing for the stomach? Anything? Now this glucothione really helps. Oh, so this is where we're at with the glucothione, made by doctors. Medical grade, glucothione. Medical grade is where they get you, you know, where I'm like, wow. Made by doctors, medical grade, glucothium. Medical grade is where they get you, you know, where I'm like, wow.

Made by doctors and medical grade, that's a double whammy for a sucker. Yeah, yeah, oh, you think it's a sucker, yeah. I feel like it's- I'm not the only one that thinks that. It is a lot, is that right? What about vitamins? I mean, look- These aren't vitamins.

Oh, why, supplements. Yes, that's what I would say. So, okay, that's an interesting differentation. I don't know. I don't know, I feel. Is there a way that we would call, would we call a vitamin a supplement? Yes, that's true.

I don't take a lot of vitamins anymore. I take a bunch and I'm not trying to be a dick. I mean, I take- No, I know. I got a vitamin sponsor now, Solgar. Old school. Oh yeah, that's old school. Yeah. I take a bunch.

I kind of think that red rice yeast lowers my cholesterol a little bit. You're high cholesterol. Oh, that's why you went vegan, is that right? Borderline, yeah, borderline, not high. It's really not high. It wasn't high, it was just a little over. So I take-

Did you panic? No, I didn't panic, but I knew a little over. You know? So I take- Did you panic? No, I didn't panic, but I knew I had the gunk in my pump, so I didn't wanna fuckin' add more shit. And, you know, after I got a colonoscopy, I was like, I'm gonna just go vegan then. And it stuck, and I like cooking for the vegan thing, and I've been pretty, I've been totally good about it. What about the road, when you do the road?

I'll find places, most cities have places about the road, when you do the road? I'll find places, most cities have places, vegan places or Whole Foods or some way how you can make by. And the thing is, if you're on the road and you're there for like three, four meals, whether it's you get there dinner, breakfast, lunch, if you find one good vegan place, you can do all fucking three meals there.

True. Right? True. So that works out, usually works out. I'll bring protein with me in case. The, yeah, the powder. Powder. Sometimes I bring a bag of nuts.

I don't like the taste of hemp. Oh, it's terrible. Terrible, yeah. I like soy, old school. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Soy milk, old school Eden soy, the classic. Eden soy original, I'm all about it. Yeah, I still don't do much dairy, but I kind of snapped after eight or nine years.

Yeah, it's a long time. I mean, you know, you do see yourself doing it or you don't know. You did what you could, you know what I mean? But getting back, so now we know we've got one through line here that we landed at the glucothione, we got the full back story. Now somehow or another you tore your Achilles tendon teaching improv to children in Colorado. 30 years ago. 30 years ago. I believe. So where were you at in your career? Ooh, I was in New York,

and I was in an improv company called Chicago City Limits. Sure, I remember them. You do? Kinda. Yeah, yeah. It was like this, it was like a second city knockoff. Kinda, yeah. And they did short form, they call it,

short form improv, where it was games. You know, like we would play Jeopardy, the audience would yell out the answer, like frog, and you would go, what I have in my throat right now, like just kinda bullshit. Hilarious. And I was, you know me, like I, Dana Gould has called me the human id. And so I would have, I would, I was really the human id back then, just this pent up

craziness and playing games like that didn't help me. It didn't help you. I just want to make a note here. Do you remember how fucking annoyed you got when I said, like I've always said? No, no, it wasn't that. You said, I didn't get annoyed, I just started laughing. You said, you know, that reminds me of something I once said.

Okay, you're the guy that just said, Dana Gould has called me. Yeah. Is that also very egotistical? Well, it's referencing, you know, a comic we both respect. Right. In order to sort of, you know,

heighten your. Oh, you mean I shouldn't have mentioned who? Would it have been, it's nice. Well, Dana's great. I just was trying to, you's nice, well Dana's great. I just was trying to, you know. It reminds me of something. No, I don't think it was the same level of yours.

You know, that reminded me of something I. Was that condescending? Was you thinking it was condescending? That reminded me of something I once said. Ha ha, it still kills me. Yeah, so you're the human id, that's true. No, but I mean. Back then you were crazy, and you know the human id, that's true. So back then you were crazy.

And you know, you're, but you, but so, but what's happened over time is whatever that was, because you've gotten older and more experienced is that now you can sort of drop into it and get out of it. You don't have to live in it. Yes, that's very true. Right? That's very true. I mean, if this were even 10 years ago,

we'd be yelling already. You'd be like, Mark! And I'd have to record it differently. I'd have to put you in the corner over there and mic the room. Man, I look back, I don't know if you do that, but I look back on, because you seem to be, I don't know, your arc is pretty amazing too. But you seem to be a lot more even-keeled to me, but man, looking back on... Pete Slauson We were both sweaty, yelling people. Pete Slauson Were you yelling as well? Pete Slauson Not like you. Pete Slauson No.

Pete Slauson I mean, I was yelling in my private life. I didn't do it. Right. I wouldn't yell in my private life. In my private life, I would be seething. Oh, just quietly seething and occasionally laughing in between bites of something. Exactly. Oh my God. So. So you're okay. so you're at the, you're doing the improv, Chicago City Limits, you're playing short form improv, doing games. Games, games, shit. Who's in that improv group, anybody we know? Sean Conroy.

Oh sure, I know Sean, how's that guy doing? I feel like he just reached out to me for some reason, and I forgot to get back to him. I'm not. Ha ha ha. It's so weird, I read emails and I answer them in my head, but I don't answer them in reality. You must have a lot of email and stuff like that.

Not that, I mean, not really, I guess so. But I just forget, it's weird, you read them and you have your side of the conversation in your head, and then you look back and you're like, holy fuck, I didn't get back to this guy a month ago. Well, the technology is such to the point now, or getting to that point, where you'll be able to compose an email in your head and just kinda top your nose and hit send.

Really? Well, I don't even think it'd be called an email at that point. Let's see what, like, all right, so Sean Conroy's in it. Anyway, so Sean was in it. I'm trying to think if you would know any other people in it.

Not really, not really. I don't think so, but talented, funny. I got it. What? Hey Mark, I have my doubts you'll even get this, but I figured it was worth a try. That was two weeks ago. That was from Sean.

I probably gave it to him. My email address? Probably. Why'd you fucking do that? Because I knew you wouldn't mind. Probably wants me to do a podcast, right? I don't know. I have no idea. Come on. What else is there?

Why would anyone reach out to anybody anymore? For a podcast? Other than to do a podcast. Yeah, I don't know. I'm doing a podcast now, Apocalypse Soon, where I am just, like you said, can we land one thought? Yeah. And what I liked about what I do is that I can do a podcast.

I can do a podcast. I can do a podcast. I can do a podcast. I can do a podcast. I can do a podcast. I can do a podcast. I can do a podcast. I can do a podcast.

I can do a podcast. I can do a podcast. I can do a podcast. I can do a podcast. I can do a podcast. soon, where I am just, like you said, can we land one thought? Yeah. And what I liked about what I do is that I can just free associate absurdly. Yeah. Because making sense to me is highly overrated. Sure. Like linear logic is just bullshit.

And I think it's actually anathema to a comic. like linear logic is just bullshit. And I think it's actually anathema to a comic. I think when I go on stage and I'm trying to like, okay, I wanna convey this thought to the audience, it really isn't the best way to do standup or comedy in general. I always, do you know what I'm talking about? Yeah, you're saying that you write things down

that you don't like. And then you get on stage and you just wing it. Some of those things come up, some of them don't. Some of them come up many times, but you're not gonna call those a regular bit because it's not what you do. Oh man, you know, I, no that's just, what you were just talking about just reminds me

of how disorganized I am, but I don't give a shit. But then when I am getting ready to do a special, which is when I am getting ready to do a special, which is what I am getting ready to do in May, I haven't done one in like three or four years. Yeah. Then I'm like, ooh, time to pay the piper because I'm... What's working, what isn't working. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not that organized about,

like, people ask me, my manager, director to Stephen Fine Arts, and he'll say, okay, so what have you been working on? And I go, I don't know, I've been having a good time, though, and I've been really killing. Yeah, I did, well, I understand exactly what you're saying. Just an aside, how long did Stephen Fine Arts follow you around when you made the documentary? I think it was a little over a year.

Really? I'm going on three. Are you really? Yeah, you might want to ask him what he's doing. I know that he's very committed to it. No, no, we're doing good. We're doing good. I'm making a joke.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it just kept going. It just keeps going. You know, but yeah. I think you're a bigger project. How could I be a bigger project than you? Well, I think that, you know, there's more involved probably with you.

So your process, I get the process. I don't know if it's, yes. I don't know if it's a linear thought necessarily as much as it is, this follows that. So I guess that's a linear thought. But you're not saying you break down logic. I mean, you just like to riff. And, but you are talking about things

that you want answers to, or you want to express your anger about, or your concern about. You just, you know, you just wanna wing it. You know, but in terms of... But there is, maybe I don't know what linear thought is, but it's not like you're just out there floating in some sort of random worded universe. No.

Right. Right. I'm not out there like in the Ionesco play. That's right. No, right. Okay. There you go. See, that's right.

I always remember a play called The Chairs. Said the guy that has done an Ionesco play. How long ago did you do the Ionesco play? Right after I tore the Achilles, it was part of the healing process. Get your mind off it. Get your mind off the Achilles. Oddly Achilles was in the Inesco play. He was referred to in the Inesco play along with a saucer and a cup. So By the way, when I tore that Achilles, I had one of the best doctors in the world. In Colorado? In Colorado.

Wait, okay. So going back to that, so you're in the improv group In Colorado? In Colorado. Wait, okay, wait, so, okay, so going back to that, so you're in the improv group, and they just send people out, and how'd you get the gig? Oh, yeah, no, yeah, what happened was that one of the guys I was performing with, a guy named Rob Schiffman, the musical director of Chicago City Limits.

You mean he played the piano? By the way, I was the worst, yes, he played the piano. How'd you know that? That's what they do in improv, right? That's what musical directors in improv go through. But he was doing this teaching gig and he asked me if I wanted to come. Oh, so you're going with him?

I went. You and Schiffman? Me, Schiffman and one of his friends, an actor. Going out to Colorado? We drove from New York, which was a fun fucking drive. Was it? It was so much... That can go either way.

Oh, yeah. You like these guys? I like these guys, and it was like... The driving was so brutal in a way, and I'll never forget, we stopped. Rob had a friend whose dad and mom, and the friend was gone, but his dad and mom said, we could put you up for the night. And it was in Nebraska.

And I'll never forget, we were so absorbed. Hold on, let me, so you're driving to Colorado from New York? Yeah. And you're in Nebraska. Does that not make sense? Not quite. Really?

Yeah, I'm almost positive it was Lincoln. Seems like you might've missed a turn. Is that right? I don't think so, but go ahead. I think you should check that out because unless Rob was trying to do something. All right, so you're in Nebraska at Rob's friend's parents' house.

And I'll never forget a lightning storm that happened right before we got to this guy's house. Like, such intense, beautiful lightning was lighting up the sky. Look at you. It's like you're looking up medical-grade glucothione with the expression on your face. Sure. All right. Yeah. I mean, depending where... So it's not crazy to go to Nebraska. No, you just have to come down. And I guess if, like, I think that if I was-

We were going to Colorado Springs. No, was it Colorado? No, we weren't going to Colorado Springs. It was gorgeous where we were. Steamboat Springs. Steamboat Springs. Where all the skiers go. Yeah, yeah, sure.

We were in the summer though. So yeah, so you came across, and you came across Iowa, right? Yeah. And the top of Illinois. And then you just go down into Colorado. Yeah, it's fine, that's fine. That's fine.

But anyway, we get to this guy's house, Mark. This guy and his wife. The parents. And we're just a wreck from driving, I don't know how many hours without stopping. We were smoking a lot of weed. We were smoking weed as well. So we looked like, I don't know how many hours without stopping. We were smoking a lot of weed. We were smoking weed as well. So we looked like, I don't know, just malfeasance. Like we looked rogue.

We looked like we were outside of society. Well, you are a part of an improv group. So you are out of society. You know, one of my lines, I still do this, I go, do you know how many improv groups perished during the pandemic? And I wait a beat and I go, not enough. If you see an improv group say something,

these people encourage each other. They're basically orthodontists trying to say they're funny in the evenings or whatever. Yeah, yeah, good. See how you drop into the anger now? Like you can just. Is that anger? I don't think so.

But I'm just saying what I'm noticing is because back in the day, you know, when you were, you know, an uncontrollable human id, as Dana Gould has observed about you, is that you couldn't just drop into it. controllable human id, as Dana Gold has observed about you, is that you couldn't just drop into it, you were living it. And just then, in order to do your bit, you're like, you guys gonna, you know, and you get right into it.

Oh, totally. Yeah, yeah. Okay, so you're at the guy's parents' house. Anyway, so we get out of the car, we're exhausted, and we're on the, you know, we look like we're on the... We look like we're on the margins of society, which we were, and these people had this beautiful home, and the guy was one of these guys with checkered pants, like a pretty big belly, but his shirt's tucked in.

Sure. Pants are high. Pants are high, shirt tucked in. It's like a Jeff Altman bit. Oh, I'll tell you. Jeff Altman! I was just gonna bring him up. Anyway, he was so straight-laced, and he tells us, we're exhausted,

it's about 1 a.m. when we get there. Oh, so you woke him up, and he's still wearing the pants? Yeah, but he knew we were coming. But he goes, you guys are gonna have to be out of here at 6 a.m. because I'm going golfing. At one in the morning, he's telling you that? Yes. So this guy tells you to go by his parents' house

and they don't even trust you or like you. That's right. And we started laughing in front of him. At one in the morning? In his kitchen, immaculate kitchen. One of those kitchens where it's so immaculate, you know there's a psychosis. Or an OCD or some control freak in the house. Probably the mom.

I don't know, but it was so funny to us and we're kind of like laughing so hard. And you know, it was one of those things where you're not supposed to laugh. Yeah, sure. So we laughed hard. But anyway, it was a nice trip to Colorado. Where did you sleep? On the floor? Yeah, in the basement on the floor.

Yeah. That guy really helped you out. Yo! He really did. What a nice night. All right, so how do we get to... So that's what I want to say is I get to, it's called Perry Mansfield. I don't know if it's there anymore, Perry Mansfield Performing Arts. Okay.

I get there the first night. Yeah. It's beautiful. I had never been to Colorado. Yeah. I was only in my 30s. And I just see these beautiful mountains ringed with, you know, their pink sunsets in Colorado. It's beautiful up in Steenburg.

Yeah, sure. And I'm playing basketball with the art teacher, Emile. This is how it happened? So you just get a pickup game with the art teacher? Yeah, just one-on-one. One-on-one you're going at it. Thin air. It is thin air. Right? Yeah, but what's one. One on one you're going at it. Thin air. It is thin air, right?

Yeah, but what's that got to do with your foot? I don't know. Maybe the oxygen didn't make it down to the foot. Anyway, with the Achilles, I felt like I went up for a shot and I heard and felt I heard... You hear the pop.

Yeah, I heard my bone pop. You did, in the foot? Uh-huh. Yeah, I heard my bone pop. You did, in the foot? Uh-huh. So, and then you feel like, I turned around and said, did someone throw a rock at my ankle? But then the weirdest thing is, I put my foot down, and I'm like, what's wrong with this pavement?

Your foot. It's wobbly. It's, yeah. Got no stability. There's, it just. Oh my God. How about that? When did the pain start?

Uh, pretty, pretty much. Right after you realized it wasn't the pavement? But, but it's still, in my head the pain is immense because I'm still going maybe, because I didn't want, the whole summer was gonna be fucked. I was ready to be there for. Yeah, you don't wanna have an injury.

Not like that, any injury. This one, like, you know, I had, you know, the mental fortitude and discipline that I have to exude right now to not be furious that I injured myself at age 60. You know, cause this is like, I was talking about this on stage last night. It's like when you're this old, one thing happens and then it's over.

You're like, all of a sudden it's like, he was doing fine and then he just injured his foot. Well. And now look at him. He's living in a box. Usually it's a fall. Usually it's a fall. Yeah.

For people. Right. A hip thing. He fell. This was a fall. He fell and now he's kept in a vat of blue liquid. I guess that's better than a box, doesn't imply anything. Yeah, so, but that summer was fucked.

I- You were supposed to be there the whole summer? What? You were supposed to be there the whole summer? What? You were supposed to be there the whole summer? Yeah, but check it out. So I get surgery by the team doctor at the time. He was the team doctor of the Seattle Seahawks. So... He was at the school?

How'd you hook up with that guy? He was at the local hospital. And the reason why he's at the local hospital is that they have so many ACL injuries from skiing and ankles and knees that he was up there. What's his name? I don't remember. Oh, you gotta remember that shit. I don't remember.

I went to a camp in Pennsylvania. Lighthouse Arts and Music Camp, Potsville, Pennsylvania. This was kind of an arts camp. How was it? It was great. I went two years in a row. And for some reason, I think they let us smoke, or maybe we were just doing it.

But that was like a high point. No kids. Yeah. Smoke time. Those of you who want a nap can nap. The rest of you can smoke. Smoke them if you got them. But you just sat around and played guitar all day

and did art and watched other people do art. There was like visual. Any romance? When I was there, do art. There was like visual. Any romance? When I was there, not really. There was visual arts. One time my parents sent me to two camps and then I started to realize like, they just want us out of the house.

This is not about us. It's about them. Yeah. I went to tennis camp. I didn't love it. My brother was a tennis guy. I was sent to Auschwitz, no. Yeah.

Yeah. Go take it in. Get a job at Auschwitz for the summer Maybe you can make sure the pile of shoes is dusted Yeah, I'm on shoe detail, but then we get to play the guitar yeah, so so yeah But anyway, so I went there one summer with a I'd broken my ankle And I went to camp with a fucking broken ankle. See, you have a weakness, same foot, do you remember? Same foot, yeah.

I broke this ankle and this leg. But I didn't break the ankle. And the leg. Yeah, yeah. But anyway, so I go, and I'm just fucking off with this cast. My dad said it, he was an orthopedic. So I go with the cast, and I'm playing soccer or something, and I break the fucking cast.

So I went through two casts up there. So the camp nurse has gotta drive me to the doctor. And I remember one time we stopped at Muhammad Ali's training camp, which was in Pennsylvania, sort of on the way to one of the hospitals we went to. And I think I saw from a distance, Muhammad Ali's shoulders. Like, yeah, he wasn't working out that day,

but I think in a door, in a screen door, I saw the back of his head. And then we drove off. I was so in love with this nurse too. She was so helpful and I really had a crush on her. I was just the bane of her existence, really. And then she drove- How old were you?

I don't know, 15? Okay. 14, 15? I was in my 30s. Yeah, and then, but I remember the doc because my dad was an orthopedic, so I got to go see an orthopedic in a city. I think that, but I remember the doc, because my dad was an orthopedic, so I gotta go see an orthopedic in a city. I think that, I feel like the camp,

maybe I feel like I went to Potsville or something. I don't know where the camp was. That's where A Wonderful Life was filmed. Potsville, Pennsylvania. No, I'm, Potter'sville. But I remember the doctor, Landis Heistand. Dr. Landis Heistand. What a great name.

Yeah, and he smoked a pipe, and he put a fiberglass cast on me, which we didn't have in Albuquerque. That was the first, it was right at the beginning of fiberglass cast. You were living in Albuquerque? Yeah, and yeah, that's where I grew up. But, yeah, but I remember there was a little bit of like resentment on my dad's part.

You know, like he kind of did a little research into Dr. Heistand, like, this guy, I don't know if he knows what he's doing. You mean it's not just comics who have a little thing about other- What are you kidding? Have you seen how the world is working? Yeah, I know. It's grievance driven on all fucking levels. Yes.

So yes, everybody has a resentment towards somebody and they just, now it's just about nursing them. It used to be work them out. Now it's like, how can you keep those fires lit? You fucks. Yeah. Huh? Yeah. I, I got that.

I, I understood that when I, I forget that guy's name. He's great, but he wrote a his like a brief history of everything or something. Yeah. One of those guys. And he got it all figured out. No, it was like a history of everything or something. Yeah, one of those guys. And he. Got it all figured out. No, it was like a history of science. And just the fucking grievances.

Oh yeah, you mean like the petty resentments of scientists? Yeah, not even petty, they were. Ah, fucking Oppenheimer. Yeah, exactly. Fucking Oppenheimer nailed it. Gotta move on to something else. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha something else. The fucking Higgs boson was mine. That was mine.

There's always that guy. Behind every genius there's a guy going, fuck that guy, I came up with that before. He saw my shit. So anyway, what I wanted to say was, I had the surgery almost immediately because you have to. Right.

You know, your foot's wobbling. You're just an eyesore at that point if you're trying to walk or anything. No, you've got to. Like I went and worked on this. The Saturday night, I didn't go to the doc. I went and hobbled through two shows in San Diego. You didn't know it was broken? I thought I sprained it, but I thought I could deal with it tomorrow, just ice it up. But god damn it, I went the next day. And I did no good for it.

When you got a break, because you always think, it's your dumb brain, you're like, look, I can move it. I can keep it moving. You don't want to, you don't want to. No, you don't want to admit that you're injured for a while now. Yeah, well, that's what I'm saying. The fortitude and the discipline, I'm having to engage right now.

Do you get into, oh this happened for a reason? Well I talked about that on stage last night. You did. I did because- Slow down, you need to slow down? Well the thing is, it's sort of the way the brain is designed and I think also how hope works and religion works and all of it.

Because like theoretically I fucked up. I landed on my foot wrong. It was an accident but it was all self driven. And I blamed the shoes. What were you doing by the way? Step ups. Oh shit I've been doing that. Yeah so and when I came down, you know what I mean,

I had weights and I landed with a twist right. And I just, I landed with a twist, right? And I blame the sneakers, the Hokas, because they have like a three inch platform heel on them. So like, you know, with a little angle, all of a sudden you're falling like a woman in a, you know, walking up to receive an award. In a Cecil B. DeMille film. Well, no, just heels.

Like how women walk on heels, I don't fucking know. But again, it's not- They're amazing creatures. Well, you said that. So, they are amazing. But it's not the shoe's fault, it was just an accident. But either I can spend the day going,

I'm a fucking idiot. Now look at what the fuck is happening. Or what you have to do eventually is like, well, this is where we're at. This is what's happening. And you can just sit in that. But then when you have that moment of, not clarity, but of acceptance,

then you move into like, this happened for a reason. You know, maybe I need to be sedentary for a month and a half and see if I can handle it. Maybe I need to do nothing and then see if I get addicted to drugs. But you already told me, which I think is just amazing, that you're working out your upper body, which is the way to go because-

I can't stop. If you stopped, you'd be fucked, I think. Well, I'd be fucked mentally. Yeah, I was out. But we'll see. It might be the dumbest thing. I could go with a guy in two weeks. And he x-rayed and said, what'd you do?

My guy just walked on it, and I rode his recumbent bike, and I did upper body. Well, this isn't healed. I'm like, but I kept the boot on. I kept the boot on. You told me to keep the boot on. What the fuck is that? Is that supposed to do?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I kept the boot on. You told me to keep the boot on. What the fuck is that? Is that supposed to do? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we'll see. I love when doctors say things like, do not move for the next three months. Well, he didn't, like he knew. He said, look, you know, keep the boot on. I'm like, well, can I take it off the ice? Like, no, you can't take it off at all.

I'm like, can I take it off? I've never heard of that. I always would take the boot off at night. Yeah, but this is like, this is him, the alternative to putting a cast on it. Right, so he's saying, you know, wear the boot, but wear it all the time. I mean, he could have fucking put a cast on it.

Right. So this is like the cast. Yes. But he said I could walk on it. He said you can walk. With the boot. With the boot. Right. Because it's not weight on, what? When I, I don't know if this will be.

It's about this, it's about this. It's about moving the foot up and down where you get into trouble with this break. Yes, now, I wanna tell you. We're gonna talk about this every fucking day. When the boot came off is when I felt the pain. Like I was in the, you know, they did the surgery. Right. When I was in the achilla, you know, they did the surgery. When I was in the boot, I didn't really feel a lot.

When the day the boot came off and I had to walk again. That's just for the title of your next special. The day the boot came off. Ha ha ha! Go ahead. That hurt a lot and it took a while. A lot of physical therapy. to figure out how to walk again So the whole loosen it up right so because it was tight is new. Yeah, you got a new band on

Yeah, which supposedly they say makes it stronger than the original sure that's what else are they gonna say? Go easy This thing's delicate. I guess they do say that if they have to, but so the summer was shot, you're in a, what, a cast? Check it out. Or a boot, you're in a boot. They gave me a choice. They said you could go home. Oh yeah.

Or you could stay here and they'll, you know, make, you could drive around, we could drive you around in a golf cart and shit. And still teach? Yeah, and that's what I did. Did you teach? But I was miserable though, because I was on painkillers. Oh, wait, where's the miserable?

I was just, I couldn't move. Well, you were that acting teacher who just sits in the chair. Yes, and I had never taught before. And I was one of these guys who had favorites. Like, and the kids, the kids who weren't the favorites knew it and they were like, they were mad at me and they complained to the head of the camp

and I got sat down about mid semester, my fucking foot kind of throbbing. You're on, you're on, you're on. I'm on. A percocets. Whatever it was. CoDines. I think I was smoking weed back then.

Yeah. Cigarettes? What? Smoking cigarettes. No. Did you smoke cigarettes? Yeah, just take it easy. All right, go ahead.

Ha! I'll never forget going through a Jasmine cigarette. Oh. Period. You ever do that? No, never. It's hilarious. Fucking. Anyway. You ever do that? No, never. It's hilarious. Anyway, you coward.

So they said, Eddie, you can't play favorites. You're making the children angry. How old are these kids? Oh, one is a great story. They were about 13? Okay. So, old enough to know that, you know, to have, they're young adults. But so they... I consider them peers because I...

You're emotionally stifling, stunted. I'm emotionally their age. Oh, absolutely. I go to 12 year olds for advice. Kid! Yeah, yeah. I know how to handle this. What should I do? Absolutely, I go to 12 year olds for advice. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Kid.

Yeah, yeah. I know how to handle this. What should I do? Should I go to night school? Yeah. No, so one of them, her name is Mimi Cave. Yeah. She's become a pretty big director in Hollywood.

Oh really? Yeah, if you look her up. Does she remember you? Yeah, yeah. Was she one of your favorites? Yes. Oh good, thank she remember you? Yeah. Was she one of your favorites? Yes. Oh good, thank God. Yes.

Yeah. And you know, we'll see if the career gets a nice little bump. Dude, you're 65. I think if Mimi was looking out for you, she had a lot of opportunities. Well, she just got big. Oh, with what?

She did some kind of Marvel movie. Oh, that's good. Anyway. kind of Marvel movie. Oh yeah? Yeah, maybe Cave, if you, anyway. That's interesting though. Mm-hmm. So now, so you didn't have what it took to be a teacher because if the kid wasn't talented or wasn't funny. I didn't care for them. And another thing that I did was I would say to them,

let me show you, let me show you in the scene, like I would take it. What's the class you're teaching? Just improv, I think, comedy improv. But I wouldn't do the games thing with them. You didn't do the short games that you had learned? No, they sucked, the games. UCB, they kind of got rid of the games. It was all this Harold.

Harold, yeah, Harold. Anyway, so they would say to me, no, why are you always performing? Like they got angry at me that I would take their time. Yeah, you didn't sound like a good teacher. Oh, I don't think I was. And these kids sounded like they weren't putting up with it. They weren't, they were these entitled little...

But they were right, how were they wrong? They were right. You awful teacher, sitting there with your bum leg, hopped up on pinkers. I did not get invited back. I think the whole Eddie Pepitone experience to Perry Mansfield, who's like injured, older man who played favorites with children.

Yeah. I hopped up. Hopped up on opioids. But I wanna say too, I was broke back then, very broke. Right. And I had to pay for my physical therapy with a performance, a performance.

At the school? They let me, no, at the physical therapy office. They let me pay my bill. They got all the doctors. Come on. Yeah, you don't believe that, it's true. So, okay, so you get your foot fixed and you're covered with insurance or no?

Oh, no. But they just did it, what? That physical therapy let me do that. Now the surgeon, I'm still paying today. Yeah, yeah. He wrote me the nicest letter because I didn't pay him for a while saying, you know, it was just the nicest letter. Yeah.

He said, like, why trying to make you... Basically, underneath all the niceties was like, come on. Give me some money. Come on. Yeah, what are you doing? I did this... Don't make me take action. Don't make me take action.

Yeah, yeah. Still cleaning up stuff, you know? You are? Oh, I mean, that's wreckage of the past, as they call it. Sure. But you're not really still paying for that. No, no, no, no. But I did call that hospital

and asked for the former surgeon of the Seattle Seahawks and they couldn't find him. Really? Yeah. You're trying to make amends? Yeah. Oh, they didn't know his name or have him on record? I was trying to make amends, then I went out. On drugs?

Weed. Weed. Weed is always my thing. Yeah, where are you at with that stuff now? 60 days. No weed? Yeah, and I feel really good. You do?

Oh yeah. What do you find, I find weed, so okay, so we got closure on that story. You didn't go back, you went back to New York, you continued your improv group until- Yeah, I continued that for a little bit. You crapped out, started doing stand-up. Yeah.

Right. And acting, a lot of acting. I always found stand-up terrifying when I first started. I don't know about you, I would throw up. I was never a puker. But I- I a puker. But I was. I'll sweat. Yeah.

But I'll get the puke or the diarrhea thing from nerves. I sweat. Ah, you sweat. Yeah. Wow. I'll sweat on stage. I don't anymore, but that's how it used to, my nerves would get me, is I'd sweat.

I mean, I remember when I first went on stage, Mark, do you remember the club Pips? Yeah, in Brooklyn? Yes. Andrew Dice Clay. Is that, was that his club? Yep. I remember when I first went on stage, Mark, do you remember the club Pips? Yeah, in Brooklyn? Yes. Andrew Dice Quay. Is that, was that his club? Yep.

I think so. Joan Rivers, was there a bunch of people. I'll never forget being so nervous that I started, and I wasn't a big drinker, I started downing rum and cokes, and I got on stage, and the stage was spinning. Sure. And I threw up on the and the stage was spinning. Sure.

And I threw up on the Pips stage. And I was never invited back there. Different reasons than the Perry Mansfield. You threw up? Yeah, and I had a wig on, one of my bits, and this was me when I first started screaming with the wig on going, you know, going, I like to, and I took a British accent for whatever reason,

whenever I had long hair, I like to go into barber shops and box slope and yell, how much for a haircut? And I spun around and vomited. See, that story to me feels like almost a dark secret. I'm not gonna lie to you, I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you.

I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you.

I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you.

I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm not gonna lie to you. I was just doing, when I started, I was so frightened of myself and my past and everything that I would just do characters for a while. Is that all that character did? Well, he stopped vomiting,

but he would be in a British accent, be in like, how much for a haircut, man? Not much after that, you know, it didn't have much to go. What was the next character? You know what I realized, and I realized I've been doing this throughout my whole career,

is that most of my characters are versions of my father. Really? Oh yeah, of my father's bellicose operatic anger. Yeah, right, right, but not that guy with the wig. No, he was kind of a nice departure. Maybe you should revisit that guy. Just for therapy. It would be funny if I opened my new special.

And I take it off and now I'm just so honest on stage. Like I take it off and I go. And you throw up. Ha ha ha. That folks are the benefits of glucothione. Yeah. No, and just take it off and go, that's how I started my career, folks.

Yeah. With a character asking for a haircut. Yeah. And this is. Look where I am now. Look where I am now. Now let's get down to it. Ha ha ha!

This is the real Eddie Peppertold. Let's get down to it. This is the real Eddie Peppertone. Let's get down to it. Is not the world a shit show? I'm thinking of doing like a circus theme for this one. How'd you get home from Pips? I was, fuck dude. I was driven by a guy who I used to, I was floor sanding at the time in Staten Island.

Floor sanding. Floor sanding? With a mask on. A lot of times, no. Which is why I wonder if I had, because I suffered from bronchitis after that. And also I've had tinnitus ever since that job because the machines were so loud and they didn't give us proper...

Motherfuckers! Those cocksuckers, they really... Yeah, it was an Italian guy. I remember his name was La Rocca. Remember that guy but not the Seahawks doctor. No, I don't. Well, the Seahawks doctor just did me a solid. And Sal LaRocca just fucking tortured me

for a couple of years. So you got home with... Yeah, you're a comedian. Yeah, who drove... That's him? Yeah. So who drove you home? My friend Andre, who was quote unquote my manager,

he got me the Pips cake. It was an open mic. And the reason why I got so drunk is that I was at the end of the list or whatever. Sure, no, you waited all night. You saw everybody else. Yeah, that was how everybody got drunk. You just watch the audience drift out. Yeah, I never got drunk again after that shit. Barely wanted to be there in the first place

and you just watch everyone go on and then watch audience leave. What horror. And then it's like, oh yeah, you're next. What horror. Four people, yeah. Oh, so it scared you straight though, no more drinking. I didn't drink at shows after that.

All right, so circus theme. Tell me how that plays out in your head. Well, you know, that's what I was thinking that that... And I think this relates to the absurdism. I like absurdism as in some sort of a... But I think it relates to the absurdism that I'm talking about on stage. I feel like the world doesn't make sense. I like the word absurdum.

Is that a word? No. It's not a word. It's like a substance or a material thing. Oh, you've just traveled into the absurdum, which is the seventh level of, yeah. See what I mean about this is good. Like, that's pretty funny.

Well, I don't know if it's funny. It's just a pitch, man. It's just a pitch. It's funnier than the haircut thing. Yeah. But anyway, the world makes no sense. There's no truth. Lies, lies have become the norm. Yeah, sure.

lies have become the norm. Yeah, sure. The cyber stuff has made us completely fucking insane. Dissociative. Yes, that's a great way to put it. Yes. Dissociative. Yeah, we're all living in the absurdum. What? The absurdum.

I may say a word. Well, I came up with it, so. It's yours. It's all you. I couldn't sell it. You sell it. But what else was I gonna say about the cyber stuff? Circus.

The circus, yeah. It's just like, what the fuck is going on? I was thinking of being like, you know, what do they call it, the emcee in a circus? The guy who's in you know, the, what do they call it? The MC in a circus? The guy who's in the center, the ringmaster. This is a word. No. It is.

Read it. And how's it spelled? It's spelled A-B-S-U-R-D-U-M, noun. Disproof of a proposition by showing an absurdity to which it leads when carried to its logical conclusion. That's the name of your special. Absurdum. You think so? Reducto ad absurdum. Oh, I've heard ad absurdum. The argument from traces back to ancient Greek philosophy and has been used throughout history

in both formal and mathematical and philosophical reasoning as well as in debate. Okay? Wow. The absurdum conclusion of reductio ad absurdum argument can take the range of forms as these examples below. The earth cannot be flat otherwise since the earth is assumed to be finite in extent, we would find people falling off the edge. Right, right.

So it's a logical- Reducto ad absurdum. Yeah, it's a logic thing. Yeah. Okay. But also, you know what we really, guys like me anyway, I think a lot of people, way too much information. For you to take in?

Yeah. No, it's a brain breaker, dude. Your phone is just a, it's like a trauma generator. Yes, a trauma generator. Yeah, it's like, hold on, I wanna check. I'm feeling okay. I'm feeling okay. Let me blast my brain with 900 things in four minutes.

Exactly. Half of them, very disturbing. So, and I've had rules that I follow for a little while then break them like, okay, when I first get up, I'm just gonna not pick up that fucking phone for the first 40 minutes of the day. How's that go? It comes and goes. Because there are times when I'll wake up in the middle of the night, I'm terrible sleeper.

What do you go? Yeah, I don't look at my phone. I try to get back to sleep. Because I looked at it the other night. Huh? I looked at it the other night and I look at a story. I go to CNN, let's say, which is one of my stupid, like, because that gives me a buzz. You want to hear my new joke?

Yeah. Like, I say, is it even possible to have a good day anymore? Yeah. Me and you are more similar than you think. No, we are very. And then I go like, you know, you get up, you're like, this might be it, I feel all right. Then you look at the newsfeed on your phone,

you're like, fuck, not today. And then I realized, that could be an Eddie Pepper tone joke, without the fuck. But you're not a big fuck guy. Oh, I am. Oh, you are now? Okay. But anyways, so here's the tag though. Like then I realized you can change the settings

on your newsfeed. I am mindset on panic. But if you put it, if you set it on celebrities and weather, it's an easier day. By the way, weather has become a thing with me now. Like I... All he knows it's raining in California and I love it. I do too.

Dude, not to worry about fire. I don't give a fuck about the flood. I'm just sort of like not to be daily on the daily, worried about things on fire. By the way, that's maybe my second biggest reason that I'm gonna move. The fire. I'm gonna go back to... Well, my sister has a beautiful house. Go back to Colorado?

Can you teach us the school? I'm back, you guys. I figured some stuff out. Look, I'm walking. I'm walking. They have my boot hanging from there. Never again. That's a warning to you.

Your sister what? I'm walking, I'm walking. They have my boot, they have my boot hanging from there. Really? Never again. Never again. As a warning to you. Never again. Your sister what? She's got a beautiful house with her husband and it's a house they're only in part time

in Woodstock, New York in the Hudson Valley and I'm thinking that's the place. That's the place to sit this shit out. Really? For me because Southern Cal, for me, is the fire thing scares me incredibly. And I think we had super lucky last year. Oh, dude, the rains, it's been great.

And there's a lot of, we got some stocked up water now in the ground and in the holes, plenty of water around. Do we? Yeah. We're out of the drought, for sure. Well, I hope so? Yeah, we're out of the drought for sure. Well, I hope so. Yeah, I don't know how long that was. You know, when we came out of the drought. I'm now gonna get emails like,

dude, do your research, drought isn't over. Right, but when we came out of the drought, part of me was unhappy because it totally affected my apocalyptic scenarios that I've been talking about on stage. Interesting, selfish. Yes, very, well obviously absurdly selfish. Yeah, absurd. But the amount of,

the amount of information that bombards me, the other night I wake up and I don't know why I looked at the phone with the news at 4.30 a.m. but there was an article that I just happened to click on about bullying about a young girl who killed herself being bullied and it made me so upset thinking of the people who would bully her. Like what kind of...

Yeah, like a teacher of an improv class who didn't quite know how to do it. Oh. I would never bully, I would ignore. Oh, okay. I was dismissive the way I was dismissed. There you go. But no, I mean, I just think that it's a breakdown. The bullying to me is a reflection

of the breakdown of our society. Yeah, there's no tolerance or decency. Out the window, double down on the bullshit. Yeah, there's no, it's like this or that, zeros and ones, black and white, go fuck yourself. Exactly. Exactly, and you know, I don't know, do you think, I guess we combat it with comedy. Combat it?

I don't know. I mean, we talk about it a little bit. You said something, I don't know if you talk about this on stage, but what do you tell audiences that, what's the job of the entertainer at this point? Yeah, right. Do you talk about that? Sure, I mean, I'll say that on stage, but what do you tell audiences that, what's the job of the entertainer at this point? Yeah, right. Do you talk about that? Sure, I mean, I'll say that on stage.

You will, yeah. You know, what do you want from me? Well, you want me to distract you? Well, that actually, you want me to distract you? I don't think I'm that guy. Yeah, I know, I've definitely explored that. There's not much I haven't explored really up there.

I know. But I mean, I'm aware of that, that I'm not an entertainer. Oddly, I'm not, I'm an entertainer. You are. I know, but it's not, like, I don't go up there exuding, I don't love to be loved, which is a fundamental problem. Like I think- I love to be loved.

I know, and I think people feel that. I think that people feel that. And I think that with a lot of the great entertainers, it's a trauma-based thing too, is they go up there and they want the adoration. Me, like- You never were like that? Not really. If you adore me,

I'm like, what's wrong with you? You love me, but why? Yeah. Yeah. So I'm always on a tight rope between receiving whatever I'm getting on a tightrope between receiving Whatever I'm getting back and pushing it away Yeah, yeah, but when you don't have a good set in quotes, yeah

You get pissed I would think I get more embarrassed. Oh, I do too Yeah, I mean I don't like like I get angry at a crowd if I can't get through and I know I'm more embarrassed. Oh, I do too. Yeah, I mean, I don't like, like I get angry at a crowd if I can't get through and I know I'm doing okay. But a lot of times it's, you know, it takes two to tango with that shit. You know, sometimes crowds are shitty. Oh, they are. Yeah, but sometimes like it's like I got,

I'm coming into it wrong or I'm a little defensive. Lately, I've been a little snappier than I used to be. I'm kind of like- Ever since the foot. Yeah, I'm a little untethered, which is good for me to write. It's better. By the way, one thing you said before,

is there a filter for the news? Like can you set it to just- Oh, probably, I don't know. That's funny, set it to panic. I was gonna say- That's the, set it to panic. I was gonna say that meditation, like the answer to so much shit is, okay, just fucking let it go. Which is basically meditation summed up.

Let it go. Let it go. For 20 minutes at a time. But then you have to remember to do it during the fucking day. No, I know. I did it for a minute. You don't meditate?

No. You're too active, man. No, I don't know. I sit. I can play some guitar. I had no problem meditating. It didn't drive me nuts to do it. Like during COVID, I sat sometimes.

By the way, we were talking about what is the message. I thought the message of COVID was human race stop, completely fucking stop, stop the growth. Like the fact when COVID hit and we all noticed, my God, there's a lot more birds in the sky. There's the... Pete Slauson The animals are coming down from the mountain. Pete Slauson The what? Pete Slauson The animals are coming down from the mountain.

Pete Slauson Shit like that. Pete Slauson Yeah. Pete Slauson I thought that was... Pete Slauson They're taking it back. They're like, they're gone. Excellent. Pete Slauson They did when that... What was the thing in Chernobyl? Pete Slaus? Yeah. I don't know if you've ever seen or read about how... Those animals didn't fare well when they took over Chernobyl.

They took it over. Now there's all kinds of new species of animals. The three-headed duck is very violent. Very violent. Yeah. Stay away from that three-headed duck. Do you like this joke? I have a new joke. I go, um, I go, uh, my credit is so bad that my

credit report is just a picture of a duck getting beaten with a pipe. Absurd him. You're living in the absurd. I'm telling you. And I'll just go to the audience. Doesn't make sense, but funny. Right? Of course. And they're. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd.

Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. Absurd. made sense. Not really. Not really. A lot of attitude. It was all timing. It was all timing. Yeah. Timing. This guy with the hair. How about those ears?

What do you got going there? Come with shoes? What is he talking about? Got pockets on that jacket? What does that mean? Could you imagine him sitting in a coffee shop and writing that? Do you have pockets in a jacket?

It was just a flow. Yeah, so are we back to the circus theme? Okay, the Ringmaster. Fine, we're gonna wrap it up with you kinda walking me through the circus. Well, I think that we live in a circus of shit. Another thing I wanna, it's a shit show. that we live in a circus of shit. You know, another thing I wanna, it's a shit show. Welcome, welcome.

Like I see myself in this special with the top hat and the spotlight going, welcome to the shit show. Yeah, do that, yeah. What do you think? I like it. You like it, right? Yeah, it's better than the English guy in the wig. Ha ha ha ha ha!

Welcome to the shit show. And then what do you do? It's like Cabaret. Well, then I have to. It's almost like the movie Cabaret with Joe Gray. Where are you going now? Oh, there you kind of. You should start some music and dance a little.

Come to. Yes! Yes. That's pretty good. And like, we've got the climate breaking down. Yeah, there you go. We've got fascism coming. Yeah.

Yet people keep having children. Yeah, there you go. What are you gonna teach them? How to gather your documents in 30 seconds will be the biggest cl- you know. Yeah, but that's interesting because Cabaret was on the verge of fascism too. That's right. There we go. It's coming together.

Totally. You can have all that. I can have all the shit I thought of. No, I- No, I know you put it to- Yeah. The music. Yeah.

That's a big shit. You'll definitely be an EP on this thing. Maybe you can get the music director of that improv group to come. Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding. Good talking to you, Eddie. Great talking to you, Mark. There you go. Exciting Eddie.

He's taping a new special on May 31st at Lincoln Hall in Chicago. Go to eddiepeppetone.com to get tickets and see his other dates. You can also listen to Eddie's podcast, Apocalypse Soon. Hang out for a minute, people. Calgary is an opportunity-rich city home to innovators, dreamers, disruptors, and problem-solvers. The city's visionaries are turning heads around the globe across all sectors each and every day. They embody Calgary's DNA. A city that's innovative, inclusive, and creative.

And they're helping put Calgary and our innovation ecosystem on the map as a place where people come to solve some of the world's greatest challenges. Calgary's on the right path forward. Take a closer look at calgaryeconomicdevelopment.com. Uber Teen Accounts. Invite your teen to join your Uber account today. Available in select locations. See app for details. Folks, listen, weight loss plans are not one size fits all. A lot of plans and diets forget that, but Noom builds personal plans that are meant for your individual needs.

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you have to do comedies, you have to do, and you know, like I wanted to get into the grid of stuff. I wanted to do black box theater. Yeah, yeah. So I started doing college theater, but then I also did camera coaching with a woman who worked just out of her house, Colleen Patrick. And what was the intent? Commercials and like practical things or really just a broader? Not really, just getting comfortable with cameras and auditioning. Huh.

And language of film. When I was taking camera acting classes, a lot of my curriculum was just watching movies and studying performances. And I got a really strong sense of angles, how to play the camera. That's great. How little it takes to say so much. Yeah. Because I think that's a transition that's hard for a lot of actors who are theater trained. It's like trusting that if you think it,

the camera will see it. You don't have to amplify it. Yeah, you don't need to be demonstrative. You just have to be. That's so good, because I still don't know what camera's mine, generally, when I'm on a set. I just, I'm focused on you. Exactly.

I don't know what's happening. And I don't know if I ever noticed it until I interviewed Jeff Daniels, and he just looks at me, he goes, you gotta learn how to work your face. He's like, 90% of film acting is your face. Yeah, that's true. And I'm like, oh my God, and I'm a mouth breather,

so my mouth's always hanging open. So now I gotta laugh to worry about my next role. To get every bonus episode plus every past episode of WTF Without Ads, go to the link in the episode description or go to WTFPod.com and click on WTF Plus. And a reminder before we go, this podcast is hosted by A-Cast. Guitar time. I'm gonna be a good boy. I'm gonna be a man. I'm gonna be a man. I'm gonna be a man.

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