WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 1588 - Mo Mandel

Episode Date: November 4, 2024

Mo Mandel would like you to enjoy his new comedy special, see him perform live and, if you’re a studio executive, greenlight one of his scripts. But Mo also wants to make sure he doesn’t become too successful, otherwise he’ll lose the sweet deal of essentially being a stay-at-home dad. Mo tells Marc about adapting to his OCD, giving up on self-improvement, and getting sober at the same time he was hosting a show called Barmageddon. 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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What the fuck buddies? What the fuck, Nick? What's happening? I'm Mark Maron. This is my podcast. Welcome to it. How are you feeling? It's not a great feeling, whatever this feeling is today in relation to tomorrow.

Look, I voted for Kamala in the primaries in 2020. I've been a big fan for a long time and I like her. I like what she represents. I like the impact she could have and does have on the culture of this country and the way she represents this country. So obviously, I'm going to vote for her. Now Now I don't know what your family looks like or what you're doing or who you are, but just go vote. And don't be swayed or frightened by these pseudo-libertarian, nihilistic,

chaos junkies or these neo-Nazi fucks or these burn it all down lefties. Just think about the quality of life that you wanna have and that you want your family to have. And I do think, I heard someone else talking about it, it's not a bad time to, today, if there's still people in your world that you know have not voted I don't know how they could still be on

the fence but I mean it is a good time to make a case for fucking sanity and for you know a future in this country that is tolerant and embracing of others, it's still possible. I don't know how anyone justifies or rationalizes putting a criminal, mentally ill person in office who is a complete narcissistic chaos junkie. I mean, it's just insanity. It's gonna be insane anyways. I'm sure this thing is not gonna be figured out

for days, weeks, who the fuck knows and whatever it's looking like that's gonna cause insanity. But I can guarantee you if Trump gets in office again, the chaos and the damage that is gonna happen in weeks is going to happen in weeks is going to be irretractable. You know, whatever he's planning and his minions and his apparatus checks and his stooges and his grifting colleagues,

it's just going to wreak havoc on the system. It's going to bust it. It's going to make life in this country insane and unbearable for millions of people. If he tries to initiate massive deportations in the first week, just the chaos and pain it's gonna cause. For what?

I mean, do you have people in your family or do you know people that thrive on that? I mean, I don't know how we've gotten so disconnected from a basic sort of compassion or sympathy For people we don't know and people that are struggling. It's just it's mind-blowing I I think that people have voluntarily disrupted their ability to have a conscience to have empathy To see other people as people a lot of it has to do with a steady stream of garbage and propaganda they dump into their brains on a daily basis. Because I would imagine most people, if you're just driving down the street or you're just living your life

or you're walking to the store or whatever the fuck you're doing, if it's quiet and you've got the equipment turned off, what does your life really look like? What are you reacting to? Just stuff that's being dumped into your fucking head from your phone. But look, I'm not talking, I know that most of my people here, I'm preaching to the choir to a certain degree, but just know, and if you need to make it more known or take a shot at it, I know a lot of people have written off people in their family already and that they're just, they're lost. And look, I've seen, I've seen narcissists unravel before.

And really what's usually at the core of it, when a narcissist is losing his grip on his ability to see himself as all important, when that comes unraveled, what's at the core of a narcissist is something very young, very damaged, and usually all it can say is, fuck you. And I just, I cannot understand what kind of damage people come from to sort of justify or rationalize, you know, voting for, for really a monster. I mean, the funniest thing that happened at that rally, uh, in Madison Square Garden, the funniest thing was not, you know, Tony Hinchcliffe bombing or whatever comedy he was doing. The funniest thing in that rally, a speaker called Kamala Harris the Antichrist seriously Seriously said

She's the Antichrist That's fucking hilarious That's like that's like Trump calling Democrats fascists. I And I've said this before and I don't believe this shit, but I'm a fan of a good fairy tale of a good story But we have never seen a politician That more closely resembles the Antichrist Than this fucking guy

Hey, I know like you think he's funny. You think he's you know, kind of a Kind of belligerent asshole that you know just speaks his mind But I'm telling you as a prince of belligerent asshole that just speaks his mind. But I'm telling you, as a prince of chaos, this guy is going to wreak so much fucking havoc on this fucking country and people's lives when they're just scrambling to deport hundreds of thousands of people, millions of people. They're firing all the federal government employees who operate on a nonpartisan level. They're just going to have to scramble to find enough stooges and fucking acolytes to

fill these jobs with no experience of anything. The cabinet that he's thinking about are just a bunch of fucking whack jobs, grifters. It's just like, it's a joke. The joke is on us, it's a cosmic fucking joke. The kind of language that these fuckers are using in terms of who the libs are, who the Democrats are, who the woke people are, they're using the language of annihilation. And I know that there's so much going on to fill your brain with just on a day-to-day basis that it doesn't seem real or that they would never do that.

But I mean, I think it's important to understand that they have done that in other places in other periods of history over and over and over again just slaughtered people who didn't agree with them and the ones that saw the slaughter who didn't agree with them learned to shut the fuck up and that's really how fascism or authoritarianism works. You can't kill everybody because you need somebody to run the fucking place. So you kill a few as an example. Just the possibilities are fucking horrendous and we can no longer say it can't happen here because we're on the precipice of something truly awful

or truly relieving, and at least with the possibility of maintaining a way of life that is relatively democratic and at least tolerant of all people. But I do think that you should encourage people to vote for Kamala Harris by all means. And if they're on the fence or they're going to not vote or going to throw away their vote as a protest vote, no one gives a fuck about your protest. Try to save the fucking country, will you? Today on this show, I'm going gonna talk to Moe Mandel. He's a comic, I've known him for a few years, I've always thought he was kind of a character.

And I don't know, it's one of those things where it's like, hey, why don't I talk to that guy? He was a regular on Chelsea lately and the creator of the show Comedy Knockout on TruTV. He's got a new special on YouTube called Moe Mandel, trying to make it. So that's going to happen. I'll be back on tour starting in January. I don't know what the world will look like

or what the nature of that tour will be, depending on whether it's going to be a terrifying hellscape or something at least moving in the right direction, for sure. But I'll be in Sacramento, California at the Crest Theater on Friday, January 10th Napa, California at the Uptown theater on Saturday, January 11th. I'm in Fort Collins Colorado at Lincoln Center Performance Hall on Friday, January 17th Boulder, Colorado At the boulder theater on Saturday, January 18th, Santa Barbara, California at the Lobero Theater on Thursday, January 30th San Luis Obispo, California at the Fremont Center on Friday, January 31st and Monterey, California

at the Golden State Theater on Saturday, February 1st. So you can go to wtfpod.com slash tour for all of my dates and links for upcoming shows. And look folks, if you worry about the safety of your home or family, now is the best time of year to get home security. And right now, SimpliSafe is giving exclusive early access to its Black Friday sale for WTF listeners. We always tell you to trust SimpliSafe in keeping your home and family secure. Now trust us to get you the best deal possible on home security. But before I get to that deal, let me remind you that SimpliSafe stops intruders before they break into your home. SimpliSafe stops intruders before they break into your home.

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plan. Their best offer of the year. Head to SimpliSafe.com slash WTF to claim your discount and make sure your home is safe this season. Don't wait. This offer won't last for long keep your home your family and your peace of mind protected with simply safe There's no safe like simply safe. I Don't know. I guess I'll talk to you Thursday about whatever that hell fucking happened or what is still happening or what might be happening For the rest of our fucking lives. Okay. Look Moe Mandel

Has got a new comedy special called Moe Mandel Trying to Make It. It's available on YouTube. I like this guy. We've never had this long a conversation. I didn't really know him going in and I'd assumed a lot of things that were not even true. You know, you think you know a guy, but this turned out to be a fun and interesting conversation.

This is me and Moe Mandel. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What comes to mind when you hear the word gratitude? Maybe it's a daily practice, or maybe it feels hard to be grateful right now. Don't forget to give yourself some thanks by investing in your well-being. BetterHelp is the largest online therapy provider in the world, connecting you to qualified professionals via phone, video, or message chat. Let the gratitude flow.

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Go further. Apply to Algoma University today. So, all right, Mo, what, what, do we have a problem? We don't have a problem. Do me and you have a problem? No problems. I mean, I'm here, so I guess we don't. I'm surprised to be here.

I didn't think I would be. Why, why not? I don't know, I just, I talked to you in the hallway of the Comedy Store, you know, for years, but it never goes anywhere. It's fast, you're nice, but you don't, like, you don't ever, like, I don't know. It was funny, here's my, my, uh, impressions of you.

Oh. No, no. I mean, like I was like, well, he's sort of a burly Jew. That guy. Right. You know, he's kind of got the, he's like, I break Jews into, uh, you know, there's the professor, kind of a symphony composer Jew, and then there are the sort of like the workers. Like the- I'm a worker too. Yes, you are.

You're calling me like a, like from the pale. Like my wife's grandmother's from Austria, she was, and she and my wife said she would always look down on like pale Jews like myself, from like the Eastern Europeans. The German Jews were the worst. Yeah, no, you're like a James Kahn Jew. That's so funny you say that,

because I've always heard I look like James Kahn from The Godfather, and then I auditioned to play James Kahn in that movie. You didn't get it, so I was like, well, I guess you still have to be a good actor. Yeah, well, that's the other thing. I knew you were loud, and I knew that you you know, you definitely took hold of the stage. And I think when I met you, it was one of those things where

I think you had been cast in that J. Moore show. Was that it with Al Magical? What was the show with Al Magical? It was Hank Azaria. I know exactly the moment you're going to reflect. I'm so glad you brought this up, because I've been angry at Al for this moment for a long time. What moment was that?

Please go on, because I know what you're going to say. No, I just saw it. Like, I've been in this business long enough to where I got the sense where, you know, when you got that, there was part of you that's sort of like, I'm in, I'm doing it, this is it. And then I just watched it go away, and I'm like, well, he's gotta do comedy now.

Oh, man. What was the L moment? So one time, well, I gotta also tell you, though, it's the first time I've ever heard of you. But I do remember seeing you at Moshe Cashers house and Al introduced me to you as, here's Moe Mandel, he's from San Francisco. He's got a lot of stuff in the industry right away

and everyone up there is like resentful about it. And I was like, why would you introduce me like that? First of all, that's not how I've seen myself. I feel like I've done like a million open mics. I was like a bartender, a barista. Wow, you just took a shot at you right in front of me. Yeah, right in front of you. And I was like, thanks, Al.

Mark will hate me forever now, because who likes that guy? I mean, it was just like, that's not. But it's also funny how I didn't start comedy with Al, so he wasn't even around. You were a little after him? I was, yeah, after him. So it's not like he was, like I didn't start comedy with Al so he didn't even he wasn't even around you're a little after him I was yeah after him so I was like it's not like he was like so I don't know when he said that I was like Oh, that's such a fucking San Francisco thing dude. Yeah, because when I got to San Francisco in

fucking 94 93 94 For some reason me and Patton Oswalt and Blaine Capac all showed up within weeks of each other. And by that time, the scene had been decimated because everyone moved to LA. And, you know, there was, the people that were left up there were very specific. You know, like Carlos Alzaraki, Johnny Steele,

proofs were still around. But all the big hitters had gone away and it kind of, maybe, I guess it went through a Renaissance. I don't know, but when I got there, it was always sort of like, that's a comedy city. I was there when the Holy City Zoo was on its last legs. That's why I moved there is because I was starting, I was a creative writing major in college.

Where? UC Santa Barbara, this little teeny college within a college called the College of Creative Studies. Okay, is that all you could get into? I barely got it. I mean, yes, you're right. So I was there and I decided I wanted to go into standup. I hit up Al Arge Barker, who I had seen

doing the marijuana logs in Santa Barbara. That's the only reason I never heard of him. Oh yeah? Yeah. Oh, that's right, they had a thing. It was him seen doing the marijuana logs in Santa Barbara. That's the only reason I ever heard of him. Oh yeah? Yeah. Oh, that's right, they had a thing. It was him and Tony Kameen and- And Doug Benson. And Benson.

That was a big deal for a while. Yeah, it was hilarious. Yeah. It was right when the vagina monologues was like a thing. Yeah. So anyway, I asked Al, I mean, Arj, I hit him up. I was like, where should I move? I want to go on a standup.

And he's like, San Francisco, that's the place to start. Yeah. And that was it? Well, I took a detour to go on a stand up. And he's like, San Francisco, that's the place to start. Yeah. And that was it? Well, I took a detour to England for six months. After college? Yeah, I had a girlfriend. This is complicated. But I had a girlfriend from the Bahamas that I met while doing a study abroad in England.

I thought I was going to marry her, so I moved back to England, lived in a dorm room with her illegally while she was finishing school. And I started doing open mics in London. In London? Yeah. What was that like? Well, my first one I did at the Comedy Store in London,

and it was the Gong Show. It's hard. Hard. Yeah. So the Gong Show was like, you have to go up, and they gong you off if they don't want you on there. Yeah. So I go up there.

This is right when America's bringing England to the Iraq War. And I took the bus up from Brighton or the train. It took me the whole thing to go up there, because I'm an hour away. And I go, hey, what's up? Got gong. They heard my action.

They just bombed me off. That was it. Over. I did it to like a Scottish guy. So I'm like, all right, they're just assholes. That was it? And then I did other ones too. Yeah.

That was my only one. That's a hard audience, though. Oh, yeah. It was not easy. For Americans and just in general, very vocal. Very vocal. And I lied about having a career in America to get on stage at a real club before I left.

And it was awesome. Like somehow the chutzpah and just the adrenaline, I got through it, but it was like really cool. Everybody was smoking cigarettes in the clubs at that time. But like, where did you grow up? I grew up in the woods, in a little place called Boonville, California. Boonville?

It's in Mendocino County. Oh my God, like what is that near? What's the city? It's about two and a half hours north of San Francisco. Holy shit. No Jews. No, no body. Not a lot of bodies, a lot of pot fields.

It was just like. It's so pretty up there, man. I used to, when I lived in San Francisco, to drive up to Point Reyes and shit. Oh yeah, so I'm not, well yeah, I'm farther than that, but yeah. No, no, I get it, but like why up there? So my parents are both from New York City.

My dad's from the Bronx, my mom's from Brooklyn, and- Both Jews? Both Jews. I heard you on one of your episodes talking about your percentage of Ashkenazi. Oh yeah, hi. Mine's real high. Yeah, mine's like 99.

Yeah, like 97, 98. I did that show, Finding Your Roots. Oh, you did? And they were able to track back my dad's line into Belarus, into Palo settlement, further back than they'd ever tracked a Jew. Wow. Yeah, tracked it back to like a Jewish tailor

with a Hebrew name. Okay, so I gotta tell you this story with 23 of me and Jewish percentages. One time we went to this free Yom Kippur service with my wife and- Where is this? It was at the Laugh Factory. Okay.

You know how the Laugh Factory would do like free rush shutters. I never go in there. Yeah. So anyway, this rabbi, this is a long time ago. So I don't know. Maybe he's got- You're trying to make connections.

Maybe he's got that. No, I just like, I didn't want to pay for services. Like where I grew up, it was like in the woods. They were just lucky if any Jewish people from any county showed up, you'd have to pay to go there. We didn't even have a synagogue. Yeah. So for a while. Anyway, so we were watching this rabbi, he was so bad and he was talking about, you know, he was trying to tell a story about how Jewish perseverance. And he was like,

I was talking to a woman and she said, I'm a hundred percent Jewish. Everyone in my family is married to Jew, you know, through all the generations. And I asked her, so the rabbi says, I asked her, I said, what percentage are you Jewish? She said, I looked at my thing, 98%. And he goes, and I had to explain to this woman that if everyone's married Jews and you're 98% Jewish, someone was raped. And the crowd just got dead silent. Like, what? What? And he just like, it was like, I don't know what he thought was the response. It just bombed. And then he's like, And he just like, it was like, I don't know what he thought was the response, it just bombed. And then he's like, but Jews persevere.

And that's the point of that. I'm like, what the fuck? Well, I mean, I had hoped when I did the 23andMe that there was an outside chance that the Vikings had come down into Poland. And at some point injected a little bit of Viking DNA into me, but it didn't pan out.

Yeah, they're like, no. Like, yeah, no, I did the 23andMe and then that was reconfirmed on the, Finding Your Roots. It's just all Ashkenaz, which I'm happy about. I, yeah, I mean, my wife's half Jewish. I mean, she is, you know, her dad converted or whatever, so. Her mom's Jewish?

Her mom's Jewish. She's Jewish. Way too Jewish for mom. She's Jewish. I tell a story about like, I mean, my wife's half Jewish. I mean, she is, you know, her dad converted or whatever. So... Her mom's Jewish? Her mom's Jewish. She's Jewish. Way too Jewish for mom. She's Jewish. I tell a story about like, you know, that orthodox supply store next to Kanner's, like right across from Kanner's on the same side of the street. It's just all whatever, you know, that stuff, Hasidic supplies. And I walked in there because there was a lot going on. It was late at night and it was pre, it was before one of the holidays that regular Jews don't know about. You needed

some sort of ritual equipment, but it was just boom, it was hopping in there. And I'm like, I want to go in there and see what's going on. And I walk in, there's a guy like, you know, just right out of Fiddler, you know, just like gray payas that had little beardy shorties hunched over. And I'm like, what do you got going on this place? And he looks at me and goes, you Jewish? You Jewish? I'm like, yes, I am. Okay.

I'm like, wow, full phlegm. Yeah, you're like that phlegm, you're at least 99% Ashkenaz. Jewish. But like, you seem to have fared pretty well. I think we did all right with our looks for 99% Ashkenaz. Yeah, it's a lot of, I mean, it's funny you say that, though, about like, well, that area in particular

of the Cantors, because my cousin is a comedian. Sue Kalinsky is my cousin. Well, fuck, I know Sue forever. Yeah, and she used to have, she's great. She's your cousin? Yeah, second cousin. I fucking go back to New York where her, she's my generation.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, like, she was, I just saw her, I guess I think I probably saw her at Silver Friedman's funeral. Bud's wife, ex-wife. Right, right, right. But I hadn't seen her in years. Yeah, she was funny.

Oh yeah, she used to have this joke about that area. She's like, it's weird because it's like, and you know, it's all Hasidic Jewish places, and then it's punk rock, so there's like tattoo parlors. Yeah, yeah. I wonder if there's ever an intersection where like a guy walks in, hey, can you turn this nine into a smile?

Yeah. An old guy. It's pretty dark. I like it. Very dark, yeah, very good. I like it. So you're up there in the woods. Yeah.

Wait, so like, you're gonna tell me that Kalinsky's knowing that, like I know how Jewish families work, where you get to like, you know, you have a cousin. Yeah, no, that's how it was. You know, we would grow up- You have a cousin with you, who was a comedian in New York. Right.

You had that? Yeah, yeah, we would watch her on, you know, the old VHS- Caroline's Comedy Hour. Yeah, we didn't have cable or anything, so we would always like, we have like two channels that we can get in the woods, and so we would watch like a VHS,

and like, here's your cousin on the Bob Hope special. Yeah, but that must have planted a seed. Yeah, for sure. It was really cool. I mean, I always wanted to be a writer. I really wanted to be like Raymond Carver or Hemingway. That's why you did the, what'd you write? You went to writing school.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I wrote a novel. You wrote a novel? Yeah. When did you do that? I didn't quite finish it, but it was in college. Still not finished? No, and I went back and read it, I was so obsessed with like the Beat Riders.

Yeah, of course. You know, free association. Not only do I not quite understand the emotion that I had at like 20 years old, I don't understand what I'm even saying half the time. It's like these long flowing sentences and passionate things that is, you know, it's all this sexuality and just like, just emotions I don't even feel. It is, you know, it's all this sexuality

and just like, just emotions I don't even feel. It's so weird. And I'm just like, God, I kind of miss that guy, but I'm really glad I'm not that guy. But how much of a beatnik freak were you? Cause I was pretty dug in, you know, with those guys. I was dug in. Yeah, like I went to Carowack's grave

when I was in college up in Lowell, you know left some booze But I was like I really I was a big kind of like nerd for that shit Oh, yeah I'm not like that I don't ever get into like culture like that like where I like would go visit his grave or whatever I don't usually either but like I was dug in with those guys Oh, I love them and I had this teacher in college who said he was coming up at a publishing house, and he remembers Kerouac coming in right towards him

and like drunk with a crate of old manuscripts trying to sell them. Oh, where, in Boston? Yeah, in New York or Boston, he was just like, Zayn, I got this one. He was just like, just really. Got very sad. I mean, he died so young, it's crazy.

But he drank himself to death, he turned on his legacy in a way. He became very close-minded. He became very sort of of that town, Lowell, in the bad way. And his last wife, Stella, I think her name was maybe, had a brother, George, who ended up with the estate. And I kind of knew his, it was like a nephew, I kind of knew the guy who ended up with the estate, a young guy, to try to keep getting juice out of it, you know.

But yeah, but like who were, like what were you reading? Like how'd you get turned onto that? I don't know, I just like, well on the road and then I read like, you know, just like, you know, all of his books, really. Were you into all of them? Berlinghetti, Ginsburg, Burroughs? I was really- Did you go the whole nine yards?

Burroughs, Neil Cassidy, of course, me and my friend were just like, we just thought he was the coolest guy ever. Yeah. And then I read a bunch of Carrick's. They're all nowhere near as good as On the Road. That's the problem. Like there's a big, steep drop off, I think. I think some people think that, you know, that straight ahead novel,

I think it was called The Town and the Country, or was kind of a great novel. But it was different, it wasn't as stylized. And I think some people, I don't know, Dharma Bums is pretty good. Dharma Bums is good, yeah. Yeah, I don't know, I was just like, I mean, this is a long time ago, I was obsessed with him.

I was, I read a lot of Japanese fiction, actually. I got turned on to this Japanese fiction professor in college, and he got me into all these great writers in Japanese fiction. It's so weird, because I don't read ever anymore. So you're growing up in the woods, but why are your parents in the woods? So they met in San Francisco,

well, no, they met at SUNY Buffalo. My dad was in medical school, he met my mom there, and they moved out to San Francisco in the summer of love. Hippy-dippy stuff, lived in a dome, a commune dome in the Oakland Hills. So they met in the late 60s. Yeah, I guess, yeah. Yeah, or the middle to late 60s,

and everything was changing. Yeah. And so they got on board. They got on board big time. And they moved to the heart of it. The heart of it. San Francisco. They went to Altamont, I mean, they've been it.

They went to Altamont? They were at Altamont on acid. That must've been horrendous. Horrified. I mean, I've read books on it, dude. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that movie, right? So I- Oh yeah, give me shelter.

Yeah, so I read Joel Selvin's book on Altamont and it's fucking mind blowing that more horrible things didn't happen. It was a shit show. It is actually, it's a good point. Only one person died and you think- Well, there were some other ones, but it wasn't the guy who got stabbed by the angels.

But there's a couple other like connected deaths from car issues and whatever. But yeah, there was no bathrooms. They had not prepared for that many people. There was no fucking place to park. No way in the hell. It was like the fire festival on steroids. Totally, and the stage was like two feet high.

Like it was crazy. The whole thing, you gotta read that fucking book. What'd your parents say about it? I mean, I did, I was just like, yeah, it was horrifying. They took acid and they were there and it was just. Was it the bad acid? Or you don't know? I didn't really get into it too much.

I mean, I don't, yeah, I don't know. They just said it was fucking scary. I highly recommend that Joel Sullivan book. He did his homework, you know, and really kind of built up how it happened. And it was, a lot of it had to do with Jagger and Bill Graham not getting on board. And it was, the whole thing was fucking nuts.

All right, so they're out here living in a dome. Yeah, they lived in a dome with a bunch of other families. Like it was called a siler place. Was that a cult? Not a cult, they were just like- Commune? Commune, real commune, yeah. Okay.

You know, passing babies around to be breastfed by the various moms. Oh. You know, all that deal. I missed out on that good stuff. Yeah. I wasn't born, my brother got a little of that. Oh yeah, how old's your brother?

He's two years older than me. Oh, all right. So he got that good communal- How old are you? All right early 40s What are you what are you a lady? I am a lady I've noticed him my grades are ready to freaking me out really oh, yeah Oh, what are you worried about? My dad's 80 and he has a great big afro. Well, you're not gonna lose hair I don't think I'm gonna lose hair. Thank God. Hopefully no that you have that hairline that fucking But he didn't go ever a hair line. He didn't go great to lose like 70. Yeah, are you like fuck?

I get a few what are you gonna do? I'm 60 and it's not total It's coming but you know another reason I thought you didn't like me why cuz one time like cuz people I post pictures my dad Yeah, everyone says oh your dad looks like Mark Maron. Yeah, I told you that one time, I was like, he's probably like, oh thanks, thanks for saying I look like an old Jew, you fuck. Believe me, no one's noticing that more than me. Like I watched them, they're doing a doc, I mean I'm watching this footage, I'm like, I gotta do something with my hair too,

because I just look like a crazy old Jew with that long ass hair, with the greys, and I'm like, what am I doing? I love it, I love my hair now. It took me a long time to love it. Were you coloring it already? No, I'm not coloring it, but I just hated the curl and the wildness of it when I was younger.

And now I love it. The full Ju-Pro. Yeah. All right, so they're in a commune. Your dad's practicing medicine? He's a psychiatrist. Oh, Jesus. All right.

So he's a psychiatrist who's coming up during that era. Yeah, he studied like real, like, Gestalt, R.D. Lang, all that shit. He's like, what was the guy he was in? This guy who built like these boxes that you would go into like, Skinner? Orgon boxes, I think. Oh, Orgon boxes, Wilhelm Reich.

Wilhelm Reich, that was his guy. That was his guy. That was his guy, yeah. Yeah, Wilhelm Reich was trying to free the orgasm. Yeah, oh, was that it? He was sort of, my dad cleaned it up when he explained it to me. The, he was the core of He was sort of my dad cleaned it up when he explained it to me

he was the core of The idea that villain hellmike had he did write, you know, he became kind of a lunatic Like he'd he created the Oregon box and he discovered Oregon energy But at some point he ended up on the East Coast on you know with a with a compound and a school and in this thing Called the cloudbuster. He was pretty sure he could change the weather with the Oregon thing. I would say bipolar, but he was kind of this renegade, uh, uh, uh, protege of Freud's who his idea was like, well, Freud's right. And all of neurotic behavior comes from sexual rep repression. Let's let's just unleash it.

Just start fucking. Everybody should be fucking and just like, free the fucking, free the dick, free the pussy, fuck. And no one will be neurotic anymore. This is not how my dad explained his thesis to me. And you're really opening my eyes up to things I've learned about my parents since I've gotten older that makes a lot of sense.

My dad was, he was like, it's a box! And he'd get you- Well, the box is different. You know, Burroughs fucked around with the box, and you know, it's a steel box, you know, that supposedly collects orgone. But he did write a book that was straight up psychology called The Mass Psychology of Fascism, I think,

that still holds, it's still read in schools and stuff. But, interesting guy. It sounds more fun to go to therapy when people were thinking of this kind of stuff. Because I am so bored of therapy, I don't go to therapy because I feel like it's so boring now, it's all cognitive behavioral crap, but if somebody was gonna go into my childhood dreams,

that sounds at least interesting, even if it's not true. Well, I think that style, well, I think that, by and large, therapy is kind of a racket, and you kind of, oh, I think the guy's name was LD Lang. I didn't mean RD Lang, it's RD Lang. Anyway, but. Also a good psychologist. Yeah, the best.

But yeah, I think there was a time where they, they were all trying to work an angle out between Young and Freud and figure out how to apply this stuff. And I think a lot of the hippies went with Young. My mom loves Young and she has a master's in psychology, so I have these two different sides of therapy from parents growing up.

My dad, despite all this Oregon Box talk, is a pretty by-the-book kind of psychiatrist, and my mom is like, maybe we need to get him a dance therapist. Maybe he needs to be on some sort of homeopathic clown remedy. Yeah, well, yeah, that stuff, you know, I think even today,

cause I think about this a lot, you know, philosophy, if it's not, you know, based in numbers and theology and metaphysics and also psychology, it's like, you know, there's all these points of view, there's all these systems and eventually, you know, if you need it, you can pick one that works. But it doesn't mean it's science.

Yeah, I've given up on self-improvement. I don't try to do any of that, I have. I'm just like, I realize I've peaked. Maybe I've peaked with standup and maybe I've peaked with self-improvement, but I'm like, you know with standup, you're like, I'm just writing the same joke over andup and maybe I've peaked with self-improvement, but I'm like, you know with standup, you're like, I'm just writing the same joke over and over. I feel like the same with self-improvement.

I'm like, it is what it is. I've been the same since I was a kid. I have my same insecurities, which are numerous, but they're not going away. How, what do your parents think of that? Okay, before we go on, I just wanted to make sure we, the function of the orgasm is a Reich book. Okay.

Then there's the sexual revolutionm is a Reich book. Okay. Then there's The Sexual Revolution, also a Reich book. Sexuality and Anxiety, Reich book. That should be my, I should have named my special that, Sexuality and Anxiety, that's the perfect name. Yeah, and The Function of the Orgasm, did I say that already? I did. I don't know. Yeah, I mean, yeah.

The guy was all about coming. Well, I found out later in life that my parents had an open marriage for a while when we were kids, so this all adds up. Oh, really? Yeah. One of my dad's friends,

they had a falling out, and for some reason out of spite, he told my brother that my parents used to be into that stuff. Swinging? Swinging. I don't really know why I would bum me. I don't know. Apparently, you know who was really into it?

I shouldn't talk out of school, but she babysat me one time at the old commune when no one a rider babysat me. Well her dad was part of it. And her parents were real into it apparently. They were big MDMA swingers. I always wanted to meet her so I could be like, hey babysat me.

Yeah, I don't know how, she came up in that. Yeah, I know her dad was kind of, was he a psychiatrist too or a psychologist? I don't know, they were big swingers. I think he was a writer, Horowitz, I think is her real name. Right, right, right. Yeah, but so how do you come upon this idea?

All right, so let's track back. So they're on the commune, and then they're like, get in the car, honey, bring the one kid, we're going upstate. They went to live in a place called Rainbow, was a commune up in Mendocino County, they used to go up there in the summers. And I loved this place with Rainbow.

So they were full on smart hippies. Totally. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 100%, 100%. Which is funny because people always think of me as this son of like, whatever. I don't think, no one knows that. I don't show that side of my personality. I don't know, it doesn't really translate.

But people think I'm like a guy from like, hey, probably I'm in New Jersey or something like that. But like, I grew up like- Well, you have a, you know, you have a momentum to you. You know, you're kind of a loud, straightforward guy. And, you know, somehow or another, whether it was in reaction to- I don't know what it was.

Cause it's sort of like, it's like children of alcoholics, either they're gonna grow up drunk or they're gonna grow up hating drunks. Right. So, you know what I mean? You might have just pushed back on it. I guess, but I know it bothers me, because when I was in creative writing school,

I remember my guidance counselor at the end, she read one of my stories that she really liked. She goes, she goes, yeah, I just never really felt like you belonged here. Really? I was like, yeah, why? Because I'm not wearing goth makeup? I'm sorry, I'm sorry how I present.

I don't present a weird artist, but that's how I feel inside. Yeah, with Hemingway belonging? Yeah, I know. And then she's makeup. Like I'm sorry, I'm sorry how I present. Like I don't present like a weird artist, but that's how I feel inside. Yeah, with Hemingway belonging. Yeah, I know. And then she's like, but I read your story, you're really good. I'm like, thanks for taking four years to do that.

I just graduated, what the fuck are we talking about? It's unbelievable. Yeah, people judge people, but all right, so they moved to Rainbow. So that's what they wanted to do. They wanted to move to Rainbow. It didn't work out, I don't know if there was no vacancies. So they bought like 90 acres of just like

perpetually shady, unusable property in the mountains. And they were gonna build a commune of their own with their friends. Really? Yeah, yeah, that was a thing. So. And they're in their late 20s? No, they had me, my mom had me when she was 35.

Oh, so they're grown people. Grown people. Starting communes, yeah. Grown communes. They never got off the ground. We did live in a teepee, early cultural appropriation, for a whole summer, like a real teepee, like with like sticks and stuff.

Oh my God. It was wild. Are they doing drugs? I think the plan was to grow a little pod, I'm sure. Yeah, they were, I mean, I'm sure they were. I mean, you know. But they were responsible. Yeah, they had some friends who were big I mean, I'm sure they were. I mean, you know, they. But they were responsible. Yeah, they had some friends who were big time pot dealers

and they went to jail for a little while. I mean, like, you know, six months here and there. Yeah, well, that's that part of the country. Yeah, it was definitely like when I grew up, a lot of helicopters. That's why you can grow in the shade a little bit, I think, like you can hide it. Yeah, they somehow, I guess my dad freaked out

about like he'd lose his practice. So, cause my aunt says, she remembers being on one time, my mom, my dad went down and cut down all the pot plants in our garden. Yeah. After like an argument with my mom and she was really pissed that he had cut down the pot plants. Oh my god, are they both alive still? Yeah.

Yeah. And they still live in the house that I was physically born in. Oh, so they did that too? Home birth, no doctor. Uh huh. Insane. I cannot imagine. Now, but your dad has a practice, like he's worried about losing his practice in Rainbow?

Or wherever the fuck it is? He practices in a town called Ukiah, which is like... Oh, that's a bigger town, yeah. There are 30,000 people, I have a Walmart. So we're doing good. But he goes to work every day, he's got an office in Ukiah. He's got patients. There's like three psychiatrists there, maybe three or four.

Is he still doing it? He still works like minimally. He does like these like QMEs, which I think is like insurance companies get like sued for like a, you know, he does that kind of stuff. He still sees a couple of patients, but yeah, that was-

But he's a medical doctor. Yeah. So he went the full route. He's not a psychologist. So he can prescribe medicine. He can prescribe medicine. And my mom later on in life got a master's degree from a place called the Institute of Imaginal Studies.

Imaginal? Yeah. And no, I don't think it's any longer. Yeah. But one of those kinds of places. Was it ever? I don't know. Yeah, I don't know.

I know she left the house every week, so I don't know where she went. Maybe it was all imagination. That's a very good question. She'll have to answer that. I don't know if it's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question.

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I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question.

I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm not sure if that's a good question. I'm inner emotions through like kind of like trance dance. And so she's, and she does that in body work. So very different sides of the spectrum. In fact, I saw a pilot when I first got here, it was kind of about this as being like,

cause I was a really badly tempered kid with a lot of problems as a kid. Then it was like, my mom would be like, let's do meditation and let's do this. And my dad was like, we should put them on Ritalin cause they're gonna put them in special ed, which they try to do in school. And they, and I guess ultimately my dad lost out.

So in the pilot, the father is like, fuck this. my kid needs help, I'm gonna lose patience if this kid, like people in the community are gonna start judging me, so he started slipping Ritalin into his kid's food, and it worked so well that he starts then putting stuff into his wife's food, and then it's, because there was, yeah, that was the first thing I wrote really. That was, you wrote that?

Yeah, I sold that. Oh, that's funny, man, because like, because there's, did it pan out that the wife thought that it was working what she was doing and she didn't know about the Ritalin? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, no, but I'm gonna say yeah,

because that's a good idea. If FX calls and said, hey, 10 years ago, when we did pass on that pilot, we wanna make season two of like, I got the perfect. Yeah, I figured it out, man. It's gotta be that she thinks what she's doing is working and only he knows. I told you the Oregon Box.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, oh, so that was something you wrote about your childhood? Yeah, it was called Barry Mandelbaum Psychiatrist. Oh, well, yeah, they ended up with a shrink show, you know, or Apple did. I pitched sort of a social work show to FX that they bought and never made, but that's all water under the bridge, that's showbiz.

But so, okay, so you just have the one older brother? Yeah. And you're like, he's very straight and narrow, normal, successful, partner in a law firm. Growing up with somebody like that is wonderful, he's a great brother, but it's unbearable when you're a fucked up younger sibling, you just cannot live up to this perfect person.

Yeah, so he's somehow managed, huh? Oh, just cruise through. And you were just bouncing off the walls? Just out of control. Really? Yeah. Like criminal? Not criminal, like young problems.

Like young kid, like, I remember reading this essay by David Sedaris, when he had OCD as a kid, I'm like, wow, that is me. I had this crazy 55 point process I would have to do to go to bed. It was insane. 55. I mean, I don't know if it was actually,

I mean, it was probably less than that. I mean, it was more than that. So I would have to go up to my parents' balcony, I would have to like ring the bell. I'm just probably like nine or, you know, ring their wind chime, kiss a little knot on the wood. Yeah. And kiss another knot, then kiss another knot,

kiss another knot, look out, do something, look in the mirror, look in this mirror. Then I had like a, I lived in a loft when I was a little kid. So I guess I was younger. I was probably about eight. Was it an A-frame? My parents originally bought an old logger's kitchen. Yeah. And then they remodeled it when I was like second grade. And they still live there? Still live there, yeah. Was it an A-frame? My parents originally bought an old logger's kitchen

and then they remodeled it when I was like second grade. And they still live there? Still live there, yeah. Okay, so you're kissing knots? So I run to the loft and I would have to wind my body through the slats of the ladder to get up into my bed. I mean, this is all this, I mean, like just so much. It was powerful.

And I had to do this stuff till college, yeah, and still a little bit now. With the OCD style? Yeah, since I've become a father, it's really flared back up. My wife fucking cannot stand it. Are you on medicine? Yeah, a little bit. And so, wait, how does it manifest with the kid?

I just like, okay, she bumps, my wife's a doctor too, so that is actually kind of bad, because I expect her to like be able to weigh in on every bump, everything that happens to the kid. So you're nuts, you're worried. Thank on every bump, everything that happens to the kid. So you're nuts, you're worrying. Thank you, that's the right way to put it. You should have been a psychiatrist, you're good.

You really summed that up well. So you're panicking about everything. My dad was a doctor and he panicked about everything, so you're lucky she doesn't panic. I was taken to the hospital more times by my doctor dad than should have been reasonable. Cause with him, it was always like, yes leukemia, like I had my appendix out by what turns out

to be not a guy who should be doing that operation. Cause we just moved somewhere, my dad- It was like old timey Groupon? Almost, it was like, you know, we just moved to New Mexico and he had met one doctor who, you know, the incision was incorrect. They took my appendix out. And I think it was just gas. I don't even think I had appendicitis.

But my dad panicked and there I was in the hospital. That's the complete opposite of my dad. In fact, we have like a bit where like my dad's solution for everything is like, you want to try to ice it? Like, no matter what it is, like ice might be the answer here. He just like, what kind of fucking doctor are you? Well, but was there chaos? No, my parents have a wonderful marriage.

They're wonderful, wonderful people. And I just sat, like, that's the thing. Like, sometimes I think, like, what would my life have been like if I didn't have good parents? Because I needed a lot of help growing up. Like, I had a lot of psychological problems, and I have great parents. So it's like I had, I have that.

Outside of the OCD? Yeah, just like real terrible phobias, like scared about a lot of stuff. Hyperactivity, just, you know, it had like, I just, I don't know. How did it settle down or has it? I mean, it certainly has, it's been a process for sure. Yeah, through therapy?

I don't even think I would give, I don't know. Yeah. A little bit, I mean, you know. Just getting old. Just getting old and sort of slowly adapting. All right, so how do you freak out with the kid? Like, okay, this is embarrassing, but this is like real, like, and I do this like today.

Yeah. Like I'll be like to my wife, like, hey, do you think like, do you think when I slammed on the brakes in the car, like, did she hit the car seat or whatever? And she'd be like, no. And I'm like, so you don't think she did? She's like, no.

I'm like, okay, so you don't think she hit the car seat? She's like, no. Like, in my mind, I'm like, you gotta ask a fourth time. You gotta get that fourth one in there. You gotta get that fourth one in there. So then she's fine. I'm not doing this. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. But we're good on the... I mean, it's fucking brutal, dude. You can't stop. Because in your mind, she hit her head and then she's got a problem now and it's your fault and you go all the way? Oh, I go all the way.

Oh my God. I don't know what all the way is, but I go all the way to like... Like she's mentally challenged. It's just like, fuck, anything I could do would just fuck myself up. And it was in control, I was in control, and since I became a dad, it's really gotten bad again. Well, yeah, because now, like, all the stuff that you had when you were a kid,

it's just triggered, because now you're thinking for her. Like, can I just tell you, we're in a live example of how my brain works, but you just said there, all the way, mentally challenged, I'm like, do I need to get him to take that back, or did I curse him? Can I just tell you we're in a live example of how my brain works. What you just said there all the way, mentally challenged, I'm like, do I need to get him to take that back or did I curse my daughter? Thank you, just four times if you don't mind.

I take it back, I take it back, I take it back. There you go, there's that fourth. And I'm like, not even kidding, it makes me feel better that you did that. It truly does, it makes me feel a little calmer. Oh, why did someone tell us how to use God? It truly does. Like it makes me feel a little calmer. Why did someone tell us how to use God? Is this God's fault?

No, I just mean like my brain's the same way, dude. And like I, you know, yesterday, you know, I, my girlfriend just refuses to wash her car. So, you know, I took it, we went to the hand car wash and I brought a sponge to, you know, kind of, you know, scour off any bird shit. And I got two abrasive of sponge and I, and I just put micro scratches all over her car. And she doesn't give a fuck, she doesn't wash it anyways.

And it's cleaner. But like I woke up at 3.30 this morning, like, I got to get that buffed. I fucked it up. I fucked it up. And there are bigger things I fucked up in my life, but if I can find one thing, just to be my spirituality, to ground me,

the way I ground myself is always through panic. If I can get to a place where I'm full of dread and anxiety, I'm like, all right, this is where I live. Yeah, and for you, not to make you feel worse, but the worst part is you tried to improve the situation. That's right. And made it worse. That's right, that's the big thing.

That is the thing. That hurts. Yeah. So it's like, why did you even get out of bed that day? You know, I didn't have to get the sponge, and now like, all I'm thinking about is like, I think they can buff it out, so I gotta get it buffed, and this car is a piece of shit.

It's a piece of shit. But I gotta get it to a buffer, like soon. And I got bigger things going on, dude. I gotta do a movie, and I should be working on that, but I'm waking up shit. But I gotta get it to a buffer, like soon. And I got bigger things going on, dude. I gotta do a movie and I should be working on that, but I'm waking up thinking about the movie and thinking how I'm gonna suck. I don't know the guy I'm playing and I'm the lead. And then I just rose, I made the buffing a priority

to ease the pressure from the other thing. Okay, so you're a guy who clearly has put a lot of thought into self-improvement and therapy and stuff. Why are you still so fucked up then? Well, I- I don't mean that offensively. I just mean like, maybe does any of this stuff work? And that's why I've given up.

Cause like, case in point. But I don't think you really did give up because the thing is, is that ultimately what happens, cause I can break it down like I just did. Like, I, yeah, okay, I wasted a little time, but I knew it was ridiculous. And because of sobriety and because of knowing that my imagination left to its own devices

is not going to do creative things that will help anybody. It's usually just reflexively does worst-case scenarios and obsesses about bullshit. So I know those things. So that means that I have to disassemble it when it's happening. So in that way it's helped. Like you said, I don't know that we can fully change

our wiring. I think that with some, if you have trauma or whatever, you can process that and maybe integrate that. And I think that's possible. But I think with those kinds of things, you just have to have that other side of yourself that's like, you know what you're doing, right? Yeah, but I'm doing it. Yeah, but if you want to waste your time.

So I think that that dialogue, which is cognitive, I think cognitive therapy is helpful because if you can start making different decisions, whether you can carve new neural pathways, I don't know, but you can at least fight the good fight and not let it destroy you and your relationships. So you're saying that the best case scenario or really what you can hope for, which it sounds like you've maybe achieved in a certain sense, is you have a little bit more perspective.

You can step back and witness your own. Well, yeah, you just know that like, all right, this is a thing that I do that's not, you know, it's not serving anything. Right. Like my buddy Jerry in recovery, like, you know, if I'd be spinning out, he'd say like, what are you getting out of that?

Because somebody had said that to him. And then that's a really interesting question. What are you getting out of what you're doing right now? And if you usually break that down, it's just like, oh, I'm enabling myself to beat the shit out of myself and live in this fiction that is driving everyone around me crazy. Are you in a good place, personally?

No. Oh, I feel like you, I remember I used to see you at Tiger Belly, and you seemed like you're more like... Well, Jesus, I was going through divorces. I was always in relationships that made me crazy. Yeah, I'm in a better place, for sure. I always think of you as a guy.

I'm like, he's someone who really, like, clearly has a mind that's not dissimilar to mine in sort of ways that I've tried to work on. But he seems like he's sort of, like, he's someone who really clearly has a mind that's not dissimilar to mine in sort of ways that I've tried to work on. But he seems like he's sort of, like maybe the sixth, maybe when I hit my mid-50s. Yeah, no, mid-40s, you'll have enough of it. You'll exhaust something.

You'll get someone so fed up, or a number of people so fed up that you'll have to be like, well, maybe it is me. That's why I got sober, it was purely that. It was just witnessing how much people fucking hated being around me. Really? Well, how long have you been sober?

10 years almost. Really? Did you do it like the old school way? I did it the classic way, midway through seasons of a bar show on TruTV. I got sober. And so then I had to host a whole season of a bar show sober, secretly.

But did you go to meetings and stuff? No, I went to one addiction class and I just like, I just hate groups. I'm such a loner. I should go to meetings. But you don't do anything? No. Oh good.

So you're just vigilant. Yeah, I was just like, I would binge drink and I would just kind of like drink too much and it was like this perfect thing where like I got out of a long relationship and then was on the road for like two months straight hosting this bar show for True TV called Bar McGinn. So single for the first time five years,

in a bar every day with reality TV crews who are like pirates. They just live like road comics. And you could just go behind the bar and drink whatever you want. It was amazing. It was so much fun. It was like, I could have sex, I could have some,

hook it up with chicks. Online dating, that was easy. It was great. And then all of a sudden it was like, I could have sex, I could have some, I could hook it up with chicks. And the online dating, I was using it. It was great. And then all of a sudden it was like, holy shit, I cannot handle this. You know, wow. Yeah. How did that, why did that happen?

What tipped it? Just a lot of just, you know, the producers being like, whoa, dude, like we're- Blackouts? Just all kinds of, it just wasn't good. It just wasn't good. And the producers being like, you know, you're slurring. Like you're not supposed to be slurring

while you're talking. You're like hitting on this woman that you're talking to. Like, what are you doing? She owns the bar. So I'm trying to hook up with her. I'm like, what? No, this is the show, man. So then I was like, but I was like,

I don't want them to fire me. I was like, if I tell them I'm sober between, cause they were just like, you know, they were like, dude, you're just like, you're not listening to us. And then I was like, I don't want them to fire me. If I tell them sober, they'd be like, all right, we should replace this guy. So I just showed up and then I just like, dude, you're just like, you're not listening to us, you know, and then I was like, I don't want them to fire me. If I tell them sober, they'd be like, all right, we should replace this guy. So I just showed up and then I was like,

oh yeah, but I don't drink anymore. Like, what? A huge part of the show is you trying the cocktails. What are you doing? I was like, yeah, we'll just have to fake that. They're like, well, fuck, we're already on the road, I guess we're stuck with this asshole.

And you faked it? Oh, I faked it, yeah. And it was an awkward second half of the season there? It wasn't as fun. Yeah. It certainly was not as fun. And that was an awkward second half of the season there? It wasn't as fun. Yeah. It certainly was not as fun. And that was 10 years ago? 2015 or something.

So what made you think you weren't gonna be a writer? Well, no, I mean. Did you get into comedy thinking you were gonna be a writer? I wanted to be like a novel writer. That's what I really wanted to be in. Yeah. You know, and then I got into comedy.

The same reason I heard somebody else on this podcast talking about it. They're like, yeah, I just got sick of nobody reading my shit. Like, I can write something and say it. So yeah, I got into comedy really wanting to be a writer, and I've done some writing, and that's what I want to do, really.

You sold the show and stuff. Yeah, it's just like, it's hard to get into those writers' rooms, dude. They don't exist anymore. They don't exist anymore. And there's like, I feel like every white guy who's a writer is kind of the same guy. Yeah, for sure.

And they don't, they're not me. Yeah. And I somehow put, they're not me. Yeah. And I somehow put them off, I think. Well, they're getting pushed out too. Good. Yeah, not good, not good. Where do you start doing comedy outside of England?

You come back from England? Yeah, so I moved to San Francisco and got into that scene at a time when it was like, the big guys were like, Louis Katz, you know, Jacob Sieroff, Alicia Cashier. Allie came a couple years later. It's kind of weird, you know, comedy's such an impossible thing to get into,

but I'm like... So you saw me at the punch line? I never did. The first time I ever heard of your name, I think I texted you about this, but Shang Wang said to me one time, he goes, hey, you know, you're kind of stealing a Mark Merrill joke.

I'm like, oh, I don't know who that is, so I don't think I am stealing it. No, yeah. It was a joke where you're- We're on the angry Ashkenaz spectrum. Yeah, the joke was like, you ever just wake up and you're just like, fuck, and people are like, what's wrong?

I'm like, I don't know yet, I just got up. And I was like, well, I don't think one guy's allowed to have depressive mornings. Well, I used to do a whole joke about, I think, I did that joke, a version of it. I used to have a joke where I got this new self-help book. It's really working for me. It's a very simple system.

You get a gun, and right when you wake up, you put one bullet in the chamber, spin it, click, and like, yeah, carpe diem. But I did do a joke where, first first words out of my mouth are fuck, but who cares, yeah. So that's how you knew me. Because I was up there, I'd go up there, Moshe Cashler featured for me back in his,

kind of white hip hop phase. Oh yeah. Yeah, and I found him very disconcerting. He had an energy that was like pretty intense. He was real yelly too. Yelly and just like, you know, untethered and a little, you know. Yeah. Okay, so yeah, and Ali featured for me once.

I mean, there's so many great people came out of that. It's crazy, it's weird to think that Hassan Minaj, Ali Wong, W.Kamau Bell. We were all like doing open mics again. And before that it was like Dana Gould, you had moved out there, DeGeneres I think, the punchline was a mecca. There were other people, Robin, you know, Steve Kravitz.

I had an amazing Robin Williams moment. I was opening for Chappelle. You know, when he first came back, he would always go to the punchline and do these, like, nine-hour shows. Yeah. Did you stay for him? I would stay for him. One time I did. Then after that, I was like, I can't take it.

So I'm too tired. I don't know how you're still. So one night I opened for a chapelle and midway to the show he goes, there's a young comic here who I think is really good. Robin Williams, Robin Williams came out of the crowd. He went on stage. And then at a certain point, most deaf showed up

and I'm sitting at the back bar with Robin Williams and most deaf is like real hip hopped out, he's got a backpack and I go to Robin, I'm like, what is he like on his way to school or something? And then before I know it, Robin's on stage, hello son, welcome to school, can I take your backpack please? And he's doing the whole thing and then he starts

beatboxing while Mos Def and Chappelle battle rap. But it was- And you were the Colonel, he took, you saw exactly how it happened. What everybody has been talking about. Yeah, so it became his thought very quickly. Right. But you were fl Colonel, he took, you saw exactly how it happened. What everybody has been talking about. Yeah, so it became his thought very quickly. Right. But you were flattered, right?

Did you call him out on it? So I was gonna use that bit when I had it. That was one of my best bits. Was that one of the nights that Tom Waits was hanging around? No, but it was an interesting night because Robin kind of bombed. Because he tried to do what Chappelle does,

that casual thing. And then I heard Robin talking to like Molly or someone in the hallway, he's like, yeah, it's like, he's so conversational, I tried to do it, but it's just not me. I'm like, it's so weird to think that you could be Robin Williams. Yeah, and still be that insecure.

And still forget what makes you funny. Well, you know, he had some trying times. For sure. It wasn't easy for Robin after a certain point, certainly stand up. So when you're starting out, is the competition still happening? Did you do that?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got third. Oh, you did? Yeah, it was pretty awesome. What year? 2008. Oh, yeah. Or 2006. I think I was second in 94.

Oh, you did? That's pretty good. I actually just went up there and hosted one of the semi-finals. Is Jon Fox still running? Still doing it, dude. Did you do those Fox gigs? Yeah, I did.

Oh my god. I still do them. You still do them? Gotta make a living. What's he got left, the Underground? He doesn't have that. He does like little theater shows every now and then. So that's cool.

You get to do a theater. I don't get to do a lot of theaters, so it's like if you can do like 700 people, it's like, this is awesome. I'll do it. So when you started coming up, how long have you been doing stand-up? 20 years.

I even got third in that competition within three years, which is crazy. I didn't even realize it. Yeah. So somehow I just like. It's not what it used to be. Well, thank you. Well, you're really good at this therapy stuff.

You really have a knack for it. I just try to get you, you know, I don't want you to get too, you know, too big headed. I just told you I still do John Fox Theater gigs. And I'm still busting your balls. And I'm still getting the same price. I just tried to get $100 more out of him. Are you lucky you get paid?

He's never not paid me, but literally I'm like, John, this is what you'd give me in like 2011. He's like, take or leave it. I'm like, fuck, I'll take it. So you still go up there and do them. Every now and then, every now and then. Yeah, like 20 years, dude. Dude, get this, in the semi-finals when I was in it,

the Smothers brothers were gonna be the celebrity judge, and this is in 2006, and they canceled, and they go, well, we got this food guy, Guy Fieri's gonna be the guest judge, and no one had ever heard of him, and he showed up, he's like in a blonde hair leather jacket. I'm like, who the fuck is this guy? And then like six months later, you're like, oh, he's doing pretty well.

Well, yeah, because the competition was so huge. Like I was in San Francisco in 93, 94, I guess it sounds about right. And you know, it was still kind of like it started with like what? 40 guys, 40 comics. And they still had the shows at the winery, at the Masonic, the finals were at the Masonic. But I know it's kind of the venues have changed and it's kind of become less impactful. And people-

Most of them are not in San Francisco anymore. They're all over the place, but not really, not a lot of big venues in San Francisco. And like it was weird, cause I ran into a casting agent just the other night who was a big casting agent venues in San Francisco. And like, it was weird, cause I ran into a casting agent just the other night, who was a big casting agent back in the day, and she had seen me at the finals because there was no internet,

so they would come up and watch the semis in the finals to see new talent. And it didn't have that kind of juice, it kind of went downhill. Did they still have the winery show? I think they had a winery show, either way, I made four grand, which was a huge deal.

For third. Yeah. Yeah, it's good. And for me at that point, when I'm working at, I mean, at one point I was working at Pete's Coffee, a taqueria and a bar all in the same block. I was like, bugs, bugs bunny. So I watched the part of the special that you sent me.

And what's interesting about it is I've never heard somebody aggressively and proudly own the cuck disposition. The cuck disposition? Is that what I was doing? No, I'm kidding. I just, being a kept man in a way. Oh yeah, yeah. Cause I think that you can't help,

and I'm the same way, you can talk about your brain and you're gonna talk about your life, but to sort of talk about like, yeah, my wife makes all the money. It's fucking perfect. What are you kidding me? Like, I don't think I've ever really seen that before.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know how I ended up married to a surgeon, it's weird. How did you end up married? So I was doing a Harvey's in Portland, which was like the B club. Sure, I know, yeah. It's gone out of business now. So I'm on stage, you know, I'm like newly sober.

I just got vocal cord surgery. Like 10 years ago. Yeah, I had to be silent for a month. Why, because you yelled your vocal cords out? Basically, yeah, yelled my vocal cords out. I had to get like what singers have to get. Yeah. So they had to like...

Did you learn how to use your voice properly? I did, yeah. I did, yeah, a little bit. In fact, I did my vocal exercise on the way down here. And it really fucked up. It's just from yelling. You're a yelly guy. Yeah, I did, yeah, a little bit. In fact, I did my vocal exercise on the way down here. Anyway, fucked up. It's just from yelling. You're a yelly guy. Yeah, I mean, I'm a little,

that's why you notice how conversational I am now on stage. I'm sure you've noticed it. No, but I was louder, you know? No, you were always loud and I liked it. I was like, wow, this guy's like, you know, he's fucked. You're like, Moe's gonna go up and yell. Yeah. Good, good.

I'm glad that some people would say in the colony store hallway, you guys wanna go watch Moe? He's gonna go up and yell. Yeah. Good, I'm good. I'm glad that some people would say in the colony store hallway, you guys wanna go watch Moe? He's gonna yell? I'm good, I'll stay out here, I'll hear him. I'll hear him here and I'll walk outside so I don't hear him. I don't know if people were saying that, it's just what I was thinking.

No, I've definitely, yeah, no, for sure. And I would, but even as a kid, I would have like a raspy, I would tighten my throat. So this is my first gig on the road. I'm doing a show in Portland, the B Club, which I think is always funny with life, because if I'd gotten what I wanted to do helium, maybe I would have never met my wife.

Right, right, yeah. Luckily my career was where it was at, and now we got true love. Believe me, when I started the podcast and I was looking down the barrel at a life of B rooms, I was like, I'm gonna either die or figure something else out. Something's gotta give.

I either gotta die or I gotta marry a urologist. Those are my options. Oh yeah. Okay, so you're at Harvey's. So, Matt Harvey's. I see her in the crowd because this woman she's with is taking photos with a telescopic lens. I'm just like, what the fuck are you doing?

She's basically in the front row. I'm just like, all right, stop doing that. And then I start talking to this woman, my wife Ashley, and I'm selling my merch and she kind of just like leers around, like if she was a guy and I was a woman, this would be like very creepy behavior, just kind of like loiter's around me. I'm selling my t-shirts.

Meet her, we go out for drinks. This woman is a lesbian who had just befriended my wife. The camera. The camera, aggressive lesbian, where she's like, all out drinks and she's showing photos of women she's hooked up with. She's got like frat guy vibes. Yeah.

And my wife had just moved to Portland so they have like very new friends. Yeah. And I said to my wife, you know who became like, you know this woman's trying to hook up with you, right? You do realize that's what's going on. She's like, no, no, no, no. Yeah.

And she's like, yeah, I hooked up with this chick, hooked up with this chick. I was like, what is going on? Like it was so pro-y lesbian, I'd never experienced it. Anyway, so I asked my wife to come back to me, the red lion, she said, I'm not a floozy. Which is funny, because I've since found out she's had a ton of one-night stands,

but that night she threw the door down. Because she liked you. I guess so. Yeah. And then of course, yes, we met there, and then as soon as I left, that woman goes, he seems like a bad guy. I get a real bad vibe, you know?

And she kind of, yeah, they never hung out again. Cock blocker. Cock blocker, yeah. So I just be like, I was like, when you know, you know, you know, and I'd been, I'd been single for about four years, like, you know, dating, but no one, I didn't want to fall into a relationship because I could do that.

So when I met her, I was like, let's just do this. I'm going to fly up here every other weekend. You're going to fly down to LA. Like, let's not go more than two weeks before we see each other. Yeah. Did long distance. She's a dick doctor.

She's a surgeon. She's working at Kaiser up there. And yeah, and then we got engaged. And then COVID happened. I kind of ended up in Portland for basically two years. And then we moved back here. And we've got a kid. We in Portland for basically two years. And then we moved back here and we've got a kid, we got another one on the way and she just opened a dick doctor practice.

Wow, so the COVID sealed the deal. Well, we were already, I was nervous. You know, we're talking about neurosis. We had already been engaged and we never lived together. So I'm like, fuck, maybe this is like, maybe this is one of those things like, but I never lived with her and then I didn't know she did this.

But you got engaged before you lived together. Yeah, and then COVID happened, so I ended up living with her for six months before we got married. She's like, all right, I know I can handle it. Yeah. I know she can handle it. That's so funny. It's like, it was perfect.

It's like, no, she passed the test. Yeah. The Mo test. I mean, I could easily see her being like, fuck this guy. This guy is too much. You know what I mean? But... Well, is that what happened in the other relationships?

Um, I don't even know. It's like a mixture of booze and yelling. fuck this guy, this guy is too much, you know what I mean, but. Was that what happened in the other relationships? I don't even know, it's like, a mixture of both. Booze and yelling? I don't think being sober, I don't think being drinking helped. Yeah, were you yelling? No, no, I don't yell, I don't have a bad temper with like that.

I didn't grow up in a place where my father would ever yell at my mother. Yeah, yeah. Mostly the opposite, so I don't have that instinct. Well, that's good. Yeah, I think that's good. So that was a funny joke, but what's that joke in this in this special where What's the high five joke Oh saying like, you know, it is cuz it is concerning when like my wife looks at dicks all day

Yeah, you know, they have to show her mind. She's like, oh better my three o'clock, you know Yeah, but but it's not like but then I have to remind myself No one goes to the dick. No one goes to the doctor for a high five I know it's like got, but then I have to remind myself, no one goes to the doctor for a high five. And no one's like got a perfect dick like, hey, what do you think of this? I'm pretty good. Why are you here? What do you think of this?

High five? What do you have for a high five? Yeah, and so, but it is weird. I mean, it's like during COVID, this is true. I talk about the special, but like, you know, she was working at Kaiser up there. So I would, and they shut down the Kizers for a while. So I would hear her in her room on Zoom with people.

I'm like, are they showing her her dick on Zoom? Is that what's going on? Like, we just got married. Like, what the fuck's going on? It's an interesting thing where the dick pic takes a different agenda. Right. Yeah, yeah.

She was wicking her dicks in there, right? I'm sure she was, live streaming dicks. Live streaming dicks, sick dicks. Yeah, she could have just combined it with an OnlyFans. We could have a better house. You have the fetish of sick dicks. So now she just opened this sexual medicine practice in Pasadena, and she's also-

What does that mean? She's just like, just sexual dysfunction and sexual medicine. Oh, so it's the angle. Yeah, it's the angle, yeah. STDs and boner drugs? I don't think STDs. I think that more just like vaginal estrogen, so the angle, yeah. That's the angle, yeah. STDs and boner drugs? I don't think STDs. I think that more just like vaginal estrogen,

all this kind of stuff that I hear pieces of on the phone while she does these meetings and I don't really. How to make your sex life better. How to make it better, less painful. Right. This is actually funny, because our house has all these like dick books. Yeah.

And on the shelves, like, you know, what to do when sex hurts, you know, male impotency, all these kind of things. And we were moving. I noticed one of the movers was like, big burly guy holding the couch. He looks over and just he's like, what to do when your penis doesn't work?

I'm looking at him like, these are my books. These are my wife's books. She doesn't have a penis either, by the way. And he was like, okay, dude, whatever. I'll just move your couch for you. That's funny. It's like that Bargazzi joke about when they come to fix the water cooler or the water heater and the guy shows up at the door and he's like, I don't know where it is.

I think it's here. I don't know. Oh, that's so real. And they were trying to be progressive and they go, well, is your husband home? And he's like, yeah, she's out in the shed, I think. Because his wife does all that stuff at the house. That's so fucking good. That's so good.

But do you find that, sorry, do you get to spend more time with the kid, and is that the way it works? Yeah, I mean, she, like I said, she started this practice now so she's like, she's not like doing these crazy Kaiser gone all day shifts. Oh yeah. And I've stopped going on the road for a while

because like, it's just, you know, it's just, it's too unbearable to be away from your kid. Yeah. Like you know, you just. Well that's good. Yeah, you feel that, could be the other way. It could be the other way, yeah. Maybe when she gets older it will be the other way,

we'll see. I don't know. How far along is she? I take her back, I take her back, I take her back, I take her back. He takes her back, he takes it back, I take it back, I take it back. He takes it back, he takes it back, he takes it back, he takes it back. She's almost two and then we got a son on the way.

Wow, how pregnant is she? She's two in January. Wow. Yeah. You're doing the whole thing. Doing the whole thing, dude. Yeah, but like it's weird though, cause like I love standup,

but then I'm like, what if I had a great career? Yeah. What would that mean? I'd just be FaceTimeing my kid all the time. Well, your fortune is not happening. People are listening like, don't worry about it. You'll be fine. Yeah.

So guys, don't stream the special. God forbid I have to go on the road. Do not make Mo more successful. Where is the special? God forbid, I have to go on the road. Do not make Moe more successful. Where is the special? It's on 800-pound gorilla's YouTube channel. It's trying to make it. Yeah, it's all about, you know, because it took us like two years of fertility issues.

Oh, really? With the urologist? And she was hip to that stuff. She couldn't dissolve that magically enough, yeah. So actually, sometimes in life, problems equal good solutions, you know? And the WGA had just put fertility coverage into their benefits, and I was about to lose my WGA insurance, because you have to make

a certain amount of money every year. Where'd you have it from? I'd sold a screenplay in 2020, like an action movie. And, um. So you're writing. That's what I wanna do. I just really wanna be like, I wish I, like every day if I could just wake up, drink coffee and be creative all day

and sit in front of your, that would be my happy place. I play with my kid at night, hang out with my wife. That's not like what you're doing, no? Yeah, yeah. And then get the next kid here, play with him. Like that's what I wanna do. But I need to like, I just, I don't know. I just need to get more, I don't know.

It's good, but I need more of that. So you had a few months on that insurance? Yeah, so a few months on that insurance. And they were like, oh, I just need to get more, I don't know. It's good, but I need more of that. So you had a few months on that insurance? Yeah, so I had a few months on that insurance, and they were like, oh, we can do IVF, because we had had a miscarriage that was just brutal. I actually made a video of this that, oddly enough, where I'm doing standup about the miscarriage to just my wife in a comedy club in Helium.

It's like this weird, dark, short film with a standup set. And I was really worried to post it, and I actually had a lot of like really good like people had miscarriages like. Oh, it helped people. Yeah, but for us it was like helpful to like do something. Yeah. So anyway, so we have like two months left

and I'm like, we gotta do this IVF shit. So we get going and they just took so long the place in Portland, like they were like to schedule the appointments to do this. It was so much just like inept, you know, for whatever reason it was. And then by the time they finally got around to giving us the thing right before she got pregnant.

And then I lost the insurance. Wow. Yeah, worked out. Worked out. I mean, that happens, man. You know what I mean? There were no drugs. It was just, you know, just one of your sperm

finally found a way through it. Those little fucks finally figured it out. It is a very weird thing, the trying to have kids thing, cause it's like you spend your whole life terrified you're gonna have kids. Yeah. And then, and then you're like hit your forties or whatever and you're like,

I should probably think about doing that. If you wanna do it, yeah. I never did it. Yeah. You ever thought about it? I don't, I like, for reasons that you seem to have overcome and you don't give yourself enough credit. I just knew that because of the way I am emotionally

and mentally, because of the way I was brought up, that the fact I didn't think about it much. And when I did think about it, I really questioned my ability because of my brain and my emotional structure. Like I just, it didn't, it was never a priority to me, so why do it? You know, that must be telling.

Yeah, I wasn't just sort of like, I don't want kids. I'm like, you know, I just don't think about it, so I'm not gonna do it. I don't think about it either way. I knew I didn't want them, but it was mostly out of my own fear of my mental disposition. So, you know, I'm okay.

You mean out of a fear of the kind of father you would be? I think I'd be okay, but I think it would be fleeting. Like, I don't think I'd be a bad father, but I'm just so anxious and so prone to panic that I didn't wanna really put myself through that or put a kid through that. My brother ended up with three adopted kids. And, you know, he put myself through that or put a kid through that. Yeah. My brother ended up with three adopted kids. And, you know, he did all right,

but it just, I was just afraid. And I don't, and again, I don't have any regrets about it, so I'm not fucked up about it. Yeah. I think unless you really, yeah, it's hard. It's hard, like unless you really wanna do it, there's no reason to do it. But I'm in this thing now where I don't really know,

because like, I love doing standup. I'm actually one of those guys who loves being on the road. Before I had a family, I enjoy it. I feel like I live healthier. I go to the gym all the time. I like to- Yeah, you learn how to do it. Yeah, I ride a lot.

And it's nice and quiet. You don't have to take your car in. You can't deal with buffering your girlfriend's car. There's nothing you could do. Yeah. And so now I'm just like, well, what do I do? Because I love going on the road and doing standup, but I don't know how to, so I guess my hope is

that I'll keep doing standup around LA all the time, going to the road every now and then, get a huge career by the time my kids will go to college, and then I'll just be on the road when I'm 60, I guess. Yeah, but it sounds like you're chipping away at the writing, and despite whatever anyone thinks about AI, I mean, writing and doing original stuff is still, you know, still happens.

By the way, I had a Marin AI experience two days ago. So you had texted me to come to the podcast, which I was stoked about. And then I looked at my junk email, and I had a thing like, hey, come do Marin's podcast. Yeah, what is that? Everyone's getting them. Yeah, and a bunch of podcasts are like,

some of them are like, come do Bobby Altos podcast, we'll pay you $4,000. I gotz podcast. Yeah, what is that? Everyone's getting them. Yeah, and a bunch of podcasts are like, some of them are like, come to Bobby Altaf's podcast, we'll pay you $4,000. I got that one. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think it's real. No, it's not. Anyway, yours is hilarious because it's so clearly written by AI.

Yeah. So I should have written it down. But this is how it describes your podcast. Come on, Mark Marantz podcast to discuss life, some of the sadder parts of life, comedy, entertainment, and politics, including socialism. Oh my God. So that's what AI has deduced your mind against.

Is that what's generating those things? It's got to be. The way this is written, it literally says, politics period, including socialism period. They're after me. And I almost fell for it. I was like, oh shit, do I got to... How do you feel about socialism? I'm a big fan.

Good talking to you, buddy. Yeah. Thank you for having me on. Yeah, this has been great. There you go. That was Moe. You can watch Moe's special, trying to make it on YouTube.

Hang out for a minute. Hey, you've heard me talk about hosting your home on Airbnb to make some extra money while you're away, and for a lot of people It makes perfect sense, but I bet there are some people listening who thought it sounded like a good idea But they're just not sure it's for them like you want to do it, but it just sounds too overwhelming So here's the deal It's now easier than ever for anyone to host on Airbnb because a co-host can do the hosting for you

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you still make some cash while you're away and your space is being unused. I told you it was easier than ever. Find a co-host at airbnb.ca slash host. This is an ad by BetterHelp. What comes to mind when you hear the word gratitude? Maybe it's a daily practice, or maybe it feels hard to be grateful right now. Don't forget to give yourself some thanks by investing in your wellbeing.

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we have thousands of hours of WTF episodes that you can listen to ad free with a WTF plus subscription. Go all the way back to the beginning and start with episode one. It's exactly what I said. It's like listening to the history of Jewish show business. They're just a cadence that you can follow back right from him all the way back to probably Myron Cohen or whoever it was who performed for the Pharaohs in Egypt to keep from being killed. But I think we should leave this part on the podcast.

Whatever just happened. The abrupt stop because I didn't know what was supposed to happen, although I did on some level know what was supposed to happen, although I did on some level know what was supposed to happen. And then the, the seamless segue into my next WTF story, which happens to revolve around Ralph Lauren. I don't shop at Ralph, oh, now I can't do the R and the L at the same time. I have a speech impediment. I have rolling L's and I say them like R's because I don't put my tongue at the top of my mouth. I'd say L's like R's, like la, la, that's the right way,

but I go la, la, so it's over my throat. Doesn't matter. And then keep listening for as long as you want. Depending on how things go this week, maybe you just keep listening forever. To sign up for WTF+, go to the link in the episode description or go to WTFPod.com and click on WTF+. And a reminder before we go, this podcast is hosted by Acast. I'm not getting the hang of this looper, but I'm gonna keep doing it. Thank you. So So Boomer lives, Monkey and La Fonda, Cat Angels everywhere.